The Evidence is Against Me

...It's against all of us.

[evidenceagainst]

Yes. More All Sons and Daughters. This song has really been on my heart this week. I'll get into more of an exposition on the near-perfect lyrics bringing this into the personal worship realm. But before that, I scoured the Interwebs for great versions of the tune. 

I ran across the well-meaning, the disgusting, and down-right douchey. (Apologies if that doesn't seem very Christ-centered... But I name no names.) But when I stumbled across this one... I knew within seconds that it was going to be good. 

No pretension. Not trying too hard. Just easy, breezy, but pure worship. 

There's one other version that I found that also fit the bill, and I'll post about that later as well. But until then... Here you go. 

[gracecamedown]

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV Photo Credit 

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Love it, tossing aside "the spirit of fear" with a clothed jump in the lake. 

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I've been obsessed with Hillsong's "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)." (I recently offered this song in worship at our church.) Another great example of personal worship. And just skin-tingling poetry that puts us in a strange place that's immediately recognizable (from scripture) and takes us along a journey. 

It starts like a dream... You wake up, called out upon an ocean, where we take a great leap of faith--still heady from sleep--and in pure sacrificial trust take that step ("where feet may fail"). 

And then the bridge comes. Just great song-craft. Up until this point the song sits in a comfortable range, but the bridge asks almost anyone singing the song to reach high and push your lungs... Evoking the impassioned plea the song reads. And with again that amazing poetry ("lead me where my trust is without borders"). 

So with my obsession with this song, I went looking for great covers. And here are the ones I think bring it the best. The one above by Lauren Daigle, and the ones below with Andrea Yeung and Danielle Wilson. 

Lauren brings a great Amy Winehouse-richness to the song, and doesn't overdo the vocal fireworks unlike others who fall easily and often into that temptation. So it's fun and impressive, but still replicable by anyone singing along. 

The Andrea Yeung version highlights the team behind her real well and the bedroom musician-ship at task. The two multi-instrumentalists in the back really make the song, turning what's usually a simple instrumentation into a full-throated rendition. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkFcSkYbmVo

Lastly, this Sarah Reeves-inspired cut by Danielle Wilson is simple, respectful of the song, and you can feel the worship. Unfortunately there's a vocal honk toward the end where the harmonies clash, but that's easily overlooked as the rest is so well-performed. In any case, you can see that it's all for the Lord, and He is served well in all of these. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTE7lPwSCc

[evidenceagainst]

"Instead of a Show" by Jon Foreman.

I stumbled across this song on my iTunes radio. It moved me so that I had to look up this "Jon Foreman" guy. I checked out Wikipedia... And Switchfoot? Wasn't that some lame mega-mainstream band that I never considered listening to? 

Yes, that Jon Foreman. And what a great song. It's harsh, damning, and judgmental on first blush. (And even thought it's all that, it's based on scripture: Isaiah 1:11-18 and Amos 5:21-24.) But I think it's just what we all need to hear, particularly those involved in leading worship at our churches. 

But what I really love about this video is here is a mega-star, playing a simple set in a simple setting--it looks like someone's living room. And it's a rough, raw song. He's far from a perfect guitar player. But that puts us all on the same level. It's just some guy, a brother, playing a song he wrote as an act of worship. And that's personal worship at its finest. 

[the-worship-project]

You Are My All In All - Dennis Jernigan (Shepherd’s Heart) [ 1991 ]

From the album "Break My Heart, O God" by Dennis Jernigan

241 / 365

*Click here to view the complete “365 Worship Project!”

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I love how this juxtaposes words of praise against an awe-ful backdrop. It's our "Lamb of God" on top of destruction and the powerful forces of nature. It's love, but also fear and respect. Well done. 

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"Steady My Heart" by Kari Jobe. 

OK, not my usual fare, but I do really think Kari Jobe is her own kind of great. I love this song. It may not work well as a corporate worship song because it's so personal--and it's for that it's a wonderful personal worship song. It doesn't stick to broad, generic, over-sweeping themes. (E.g., "we lay our crowns / at the feet of Jesus" What does that mean? What crown? What does that crown represent? What am I doing when, what am I confessing, when I lay down my crown?) It doesn't rely too heavily on meaningless cliches. 

These are thoughts that I've actually had in my head: Why is life so messy? Why does it have to be so painful sometimes? Nothing went right today, and it sucks. But if I pray to You, You'll comfort me because You love me--not just my thoughts (because You wouldn't) or my actions (not great!), but my soul (something I can't change). 

"Healer of my scars"--such a great line. It shows that we are damaged, and the wound healed imperfectly on its own, but You can come and heal that scar. 

The last comment I want to make about the brilliance of this song is it's singability. It's not American Idol fireworks, spastic trilling, earthquake-induced vibrato... It's straightforward. I can't sing Aretha Franklin, but I can sing Kari Jobe. It's accessible. I can make it mine. 

Thank you, Kari. 

[evidenceagainst]

"Sing Winter" by Jonathan and Melissa Helser.

One of the first songs that brought me out, expanding beyond the typical worship menu and fanfare was this soft, intimate track with Jonathan and Melissa Helser. So, yeah, really hipster (a lit candelabra outside? a ukulele?), but digging the Ray LaMontagne-vibe, and the fact that, yes, you should sing praise songs on your porch with your wife. 

That brought me down the rabbit hole of “Abba" and that was that. I haven’t incorporated any of his songs into my worship leading yet, but reflecting on this reminds me that I should. 

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I’ve been deeply moved by this song recently by All Sons and Daughters—and in particular this performance which melds “Reason to Sing” with the beginning of “Oh Our Lord.” I’ve heard it described as a “journey,” which is absolutely apropos. 

Beautiful, simple, good song craft, with a great Civil Wars-like harmonies crashing like waves over the bridge. 

I also love it because it doesn’t reach out and rely upon simple cliches and hyperbole. One of my pet peeves are when songs say things like “holy is the Lamb”… Thoughts that are so abstract and reflective upon passage but lack context and meaning. (I’ve been stuck on phrases like “my flesh may fail”… What flesh? How is it failing? What’s wrong with failing flesh? Is my flesh failing?)

This is a song I could speak, use as a prayer in the morning or late at night. It reflects real doubt that we feel, deals with it, challenges it, then resolves it the only way we ever can, by giving ourselves up in faith and trust to our Lord.

Lastly, the other thing All Sons and Daughters does right is that they make freely available official lyrics and chord charts. That’s right. It reminds me to back in the days of tapes, records, and CDs when I’d be puzzled and frustrated why bands didn’t put lyric sheets with their music. Do they not want me to sing and understand their songs? Why so obtuse? Here, ASD understands that and gives us what we need so we can worship with them. It baffles me why others don’t, and all I can think is that it’s some copyright/licensing issue which further frustrates me because it prevents us all from worshipping for the sake of protecting wealth. 

[evidenceagainst]

I’ll admit, I like Chris Tomlin… And I do like Kari Jobe. Matt Redman, Kristian Stanfill, etc. But this… This… I wasn’t there, but this is all so wrong. I understand that finding God and feeling Him and participating in worship is a blessing… But how can this not be aggrandizing the celebrity of the worship leaders involved? It’s obviously modeled after the mainstream flash bang shows, a la VMAs, and what are those for? They are designed to worship the celebrity, and the music is all but secondary. 

On top of it all, you have top-notch musicians like Chris and Matt pick-synching… Chris wants to be playing, he threw a capo on, but his guitar is nowhere in the mix. And it looks like Matt’s not even mic’ed. Kari has a mic, but where’s her voice? Everyone just disappears. It’s show and spectacle. Wrenches my heart.