Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

New Music Tuesday: “Awake, O Sleeper”

September 14, 2010

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At Grace Community Church, our pastor Scott Patty finished an exposition of the book of Ephesians in May of this year. As we approached Easter, we came to this text in Ephesians 5:14 – “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Since this part of the text is set apart like a song lyric, Scott (somewhat light-heartedly, but wanting to get a point across) said we should find a song or write a little song for ourselves with these words so that we would remember to wake up to God’s grace and respond by allowing Him to lead us to good works. He re-visited this verse for his Easter sermon, so with a choir and a full team ready to go, I figured it would be a good idea to put the verse to music.

So, here it is as it was recorded Easter Sunday morning. The verses are taken from Romans 6 and the rest of Ephesians 5. Be sure to listen until at least the second chorus, where all the amazing players at my church get going!

We are all sinners / saved by God’s grace / we have died in Christ’s death / and in Christ we are raised / How can we live in the sin we despise / when our old self was crucified?

For death could not hold Him / He conquered the curse / its power was broken / and our fate was reversed / No longer slaves / we are free, but must fight / take hold of the gift of new life.

The mp3, chart, and lead sheet are available here.

Filed under: New Music Tuesdays,Our Songs