A long post on Lewis’s understanding of praise, followed by a survey of his thoughts on the corporate nature of worship, including church music, liturgy, and the sacraments. I conclude with a brief analysis.

A new entry in the award-winning Radio Theatre dramas.

The latest installment in the full-cast, full-orchestration audio dramas.

Biographer Faith Cook gives us five recommended biographies of women from church history, along with a short bonus list of six books recommended by Michael Haykin.

With an internationally acclaimed cast of actors, cinema-quality sound effects, and full orchestration, Focus on the Family’s “Radio Theatre” is one of the best-kept secrets of family entertainment. Here are all the CDs, with audio samples when available.

Christianity Today‘s Mark Moring interviews singer/songwriter/novelist Andrew Peterson on his Christmas album and tour Behold the Lamb of God, his books for children and young adults, and Hutchmoot.

You can stream Behold the Lamb of God for free online. I highly recommend it, and especially recommend seeing the concert in person if you can.

Here’s a video someone made for one of the songs:

Here is a nice video of Isaac Wardell explaining some of the compelling vision of Bifrost Arts:

If this vision intrigues you, then check out the conference they are hosting in March 2011:

Here’s a description:

Each week, we tell our congregations a story with how we use liturgy, how we use music, and how we use space in worship. Bifrost Arts has developed a small group and Sunday School curriculum entitled “Liturgy, Music, & Space” to help churches walk through a coherent, biblical view of how these elements of worship are forming us.

Join us from March 29-31 as we present this curriculum at a conference with lectures, workshops, and times of worship in St. Louis, Missouri with:

* Nicholas Wolterstorff
* Bryan Chapell
* Greg Thompson
* Kevin Twit
* Betsy Steele Halstead
* Isaac Wardell
* & The Welcome Wagon.

The curriculum—developed in conjunction with Covenant Seminary—will be unveiled and given away at the conference.

Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace Music, wrote a review of their Christmas album, Salvation Is Created:

This is an exquisitely beautiful record. The string arrangements are lush and creative. The sonic quality of the recording and the mixing is superb. But it is not a light sappy project at all—Thomas Kincaid and his ilk had nothing to do with this music, and for that we can be thankful. Christmas has a context. …

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I’m grateful for  Sojourn Music, who last year gave me permission to post two songs for free from their album Advent Songs.

Joy to the World:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3)

Hosanna in the Highest:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3)

In particular I love the new twist on “Joy to the World.”

If you’re now familiar with Sojourn Music, here’s a brief description:

New songs for modern missional worship, rich in Christian teaching and contextualized in modern culture.

Contemporary hymns, psalms, songs of lament and praise written by members of the Louisville, KY-based Sojourn Community.

Here’s a list of all the tracks on this album:

Joy to the World
Glory Be
God Is With Us
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
What Child Is This?
O Come All Ye Faithful
Amen, Amen
Hosanna in the Highest

You can see their other albums here.

I’m thankful for the permission from Isaac Wardell and the folks at Bifrost Arts to post two free songs from their album Salvation Is Created: A Christmas Record From Bifrost Arts. I’m not sure how to describe this album, except to say: this ain’t your Grandma’s Christmas album.

Here’s how Steve McCoy described it in a review:

I love this Christmas album. The overwhelming feel of this CD for me is haunt. It’s dark. Bing Crosby is about to get a beat-down. Don’t let that scare you away! It’s unique and beautiful. . . . This album is about letting the imagination run to the manger scene, and contemplating the theological and practical realities of God made flesh. Sometimes these realities are captured by marionettes in muted colors on a dimly lit stage. Sometimes they are found in the march of wooden soldiers who never show their faces. Sometimes they are expressed in a solemn dance. This is music more inspired by Tim Burton than Frank Capra. It’s the subversion of Christmas as we know it, and it’s wonderfully dark.

Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace Music, also wrote a recent review:

This is an exquisitely beautiful record. The string arrangements are lush and creative. The sonic quality of the recording and the mixing is superb. But it is not a light sappy project at all—Thomas Kincaid and his ilk had nothing to do with this music, and for that we can be thankful. Christmas has a context. Jesus came …

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I’m thankful for the friends at Sovereign Grace Music who have offered two songs from their Incarnation album for free download on my blog. The album is Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man.

Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man is an exaltation of the One who resolved that dilemma through the miracle of the Incarnation. The baby in a manger is God himself, the Savior who came to bear our sins and reconcile us to the Father.

Savior contains twelve truth-saturated songs, suitable for worshiping God year-round. Each song ponders and celebrates the reason for Christ’s coming.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the mp3)

Rejoice

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the mp3)

At their site you can also download for free the song Glory Be to God, get free lead sheets and guitar charts, sample other songs, etc. Enjoy!

[Update: I’ve now made the files available for download. Right click and then choose “save as.”]

I’m grateful to the folks at Red Mountain Music for permission to post a couple of songs from their album, Silent Night.

Red Mountain specializes in taking old hymns and using contemporary tunes. But with this album they retained the original tunes, but with modern arrangements.

Here are the two songs for you to enjoy, with Ashley Spurling on vocals:

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3.)

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3.)

Here’s the full list of tracks:

Silent Night
Joy To The World
What Child Is This?
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Little Drummer Boy
Away In A Manger
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

You can purchase and sample all of their albums—either as physical CDs or MP3 downloads—here.

[Update: I’ve now made the files available for download. Right click and then choose “save as.”]

I’m grateful for our friends at Sojourn Music, who have given me permission to post two songs for free from their album Advent Songs.

Joy to the World:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3)

Hosanna in the Highest:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

(Download the MP3)

I’ve been listening over and over to their version of “Joy to the World” in particular. Putting the old words to a new tune has helped me worship afresh.

If you’re now familiar with Sojourn Music, here’s a brief description:

New songs for modern missional worship, rich in Christian teaching and contextualized in modern culture.

Contemporary hymns, psalms, songs of lament and praise written by members of the Louisville, KY-based Sojourn Community.

Here’s a list of all the tracks on this album:

Joy to the World
Glory Be
God is With Us
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
What Child Is This?
O Come All Ye Faithful
Amen, Amen
Hosanna in the Highest

You can see their other albums here.

Here’s a way to get the whole album for free:

Here’s another new Christmas album from the church Grace EV Free in La Mirada, CA: So Much Joy.

You can listen to samples below. “Joy to the World” definitely wasn’t my style, but I enjoyed sampling the other tracks:

Advent Songs CD:

Original and Traditional Christmas Songs from Sojourn Artists, including Jamie Barnes, Dirt Poor Robins, Brooks Ritter, and more. Available now for free or pay-what-you-want.

The emphasis here is on the already/ not-yet tension of Advent, the season of waiting and anticipation before Christmas. Advent comes to us in the darkest season of the year — a season when the nights are long, the days are cold, and we look with anticipation for the return of the warmth in the spring. The songs have both a dark sense of anticipation and glimpses of light dawning in the face of the Christ child.

As we celebrate this season, we celebrate that our Messiah has come, and we look with longing to the day when he comes again. As St. John says, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus.”

HT: Russell Moore, who recommends the song “We Are Listening.”

From the Sovereign Grace e-newsletter:

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

In one sense, the answer is easy: We celebrate the coming of Jesus. But in another sense the answer is beyond our comprehension: The eternal God became a man. The Holy One came to live with sinners. The Savior came to bear our sins and bring us to God.

This astounding truth is the reason for our newest music CD: Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. This CD contains twelve new songs for worship, each one truth-saturated and singable, most of them suitable for use in corporate praise. The songs ponder not only Christ’s coming, but also the reason he came:

God has sent His greatest treasure
Shown His love in greatest measure
Sending Christ to bleed and suffer
Purchasing our joy forever
Let the earth rejoice!

Savior will be released, Lord willing, in early November. But you can pre-order it now at our online store ($14.00). You can also listen to song samples, download lyrics, and see a video interview with songwriters Mark and Stephen Altrogge at the CD webpage: www.SaviorCD.com.

And as we celebrate, we want you to have more than a brief preview. We want to give you the song “Hope Has Come” from Savior as a free MP3 download. Written and sung by Stephen Altrogge (Mark Altrogge’s son), “Hope Has Come” rejoices in the One who came to break sin’s power and set us free. To download the song, visit our online store (http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=M4185-02-51), place the song in …

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