Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

My Soul Wants to Soar

April 27, 2011

This week is always both a sigh of relief from all the prep work that goes into Good Friday and Easter and a joyful evaluation of the services. We had a great weekend at Grace remembering the cross and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

And I couldn’t make it through 4 out of the 5 services without getting choked up. On Good Friday, it was “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” that got me. On Easter Sunday, “In Christ Alone” did it all three services. The lines that took me there were:

“When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy power to save”

(I’m tearing up just typing it!)

And then in “In Christ Alone”:

“And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine,
Bought with the precious blood of Christ”

(The “From life’s first cry” line in the final verse got me in one of the services because I was watching my wife sway with my 4-month old in the back.)

Now that I look at it, I can see a theme. My soul wants to soar. It wants to be free from all the fleshly yuck of mortality and be free to worship without any earthly restrictions. Jesus has made the way for this to be possible through his death and resurrection. It just hasn’t happened fully yet.

So every once in a while, my soul tells me what it wants. It usually happens when I’m listening to beautiful, God-honoring music or singing praise. My throat gets tight, the tears come, and I try to keep singing (it sounds GREAT, let me tell you…). It’s especially awkward in times like this weekend when I’m trying to lead. Sometimes I have to rally myself like a coach so I can do what I’m called to do and keep the melody going for the congregation. Other times, I just step away from the mic and try to cause as little distraction as possible. We had a worship choir for both of these services which was very helpful in such moments!

Now, I am admittedly not nearly as into the Word or spending time in prayer as I would like to be, so I know these experiences have nothing to do with my achieving some sort of spiritual level. With two little ones, life is chaotic, and time to be quiet is very limited around our house. I attribute the life I feel in my soul to God’s Spirit reminding me that I am His, that the gospel is beautiful and powerful, and that I am not the hypocrite I sometimes feel like. I am very thankful for His hold on me.

And one great day, because of the death and resurrection of Christ, my soul will soar.

Filed under: Heart,Leading Worship