William Petruzzo

A friend recently shared a quote from Matt Chandler, speaking about the church:

“What you win them with, you’ll keep them with.”

The words are an admonishment to the church, namely here in America. It’s grown large, in many ways, as a product of being “large” in its production. In fact, just moments ago a friend an I jested about using Power Point for our small group worship, but feared the group might grow too big and we might need to buy a building.

If people are coming in and sitting in our congregations because of good music, nice lighting, tasty donuts and tickling words, then the moment those begin to shift, those folks will be gone.

Donuts cannot save a soul. A person receives the Gospel because it is good news, not because of a preacher’s pearly whites. Therefore, if we want to see people follow Christ, if we want to see people renounce the world and give their lives to glory of God, then we must preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For many, the frills will have to be abandoned completely. For others, they’ll only need to be refocused.

But, in all cases, the Gospel must return to the limelight. Grace, justification, sanctification, glorification–from the pulpit.

So today at church, the electricity went out.

The Chesapeake Bay are suffered an ice storm last night and apparently a pretty large tree knocked over some power lines–about 10 minutes before the start of the church’s second service of the day. The mixup had people scrambling to figure out what to do.

When I arrived just a minute or two after the first song began I thought that the dark sanctuary and excessive candles were a gimmick for the holidays. But, it wasn’t long before I realized that the microphones weren’t on and the projector wasn’t feeding the congregation the lines to the songs.

I stumbled through looking for a seat. It was dark. I mean really dark. I almost stepped on a baby that was left in a car carrier in the aisle (what were they thinking?). I finally found a seat on the far left side of the sanctuary. Now, because of the way the room is laid out, the far right side of the room has trouble hearing things that are said from the stage–well, at least when there’s no power amplifying the noises. So, when I settled into my seat, the sound of the worship team singing was muffled and the sounds of the congregations around me were much easier to hear than elsewhere in the room. Which leads me to my first observation.

I laughed. Almost no one around me was singing. We weren’t singing new songs. They were Christmas carols. Ones that many of us have grown up with. They were things that people should have known–or at least for the most part. Yet, no one was singing. It was almost uncanny. Everyone just stood there, all wrestling to put up with the discomfort of an awkwardly quiet room, no one bold enough to just sing regardless of what everyone else thought.

After a few minutes, a friend who’d seen me come in came and found me and brought me closer to the middle of the room where there were a collection of my friends already sitting. Once I got reseated, I found more people singing, but soon after the pastor got up to preach. There begins my second observation.

The preaching in many ways was nearly crippled at the loss of its projector. The teaching was from the beginning of Colossians. The preacher’s usual method was to guide the congregation through the exegesis of the passage using the projector as a scriptural guide or the congregation. It also would serve to provide the scripture for those that didn’t have bibles (which, thanks to the projector, is almost everyone). Well, this morning, no projector meant no visual aid. We were left to the skill of a preacher to keep us on the same page. (All things considered, he did a fairly good job).

If the lack of projector didn’t cause enough problems, the building was, itself, designed to support a certain type of service and is really unforgiving if you try to break out of that mold. No electricity meant no lights. In a room designed without windows, even those who had their bibles had no hope in being able to read them–it was just too dark.

So, we had a room filled with about 350 people and when the most basic of the church’s comforts were taken away the congregations dependance on them were highlighted.

For me, the event posed a good question: Where is the line between using the comforts and conveniences of modern technology to help encourage our faith, and stunting our own maturing process with those comforts and conveniences?

What do you think?

I’ve spent the last few days with Indelible Grace Music. I’m sure some of you are familiar with the project, but others are not. The idea behind the ministry is honorable and frankly, just plain cool. The gist, although over simplified, is to reproduce very old, often forgotten, hymns for a new generation of Christian worshippers and thinkers. Here’s a quick excerpt from the statement on their website:

We want to be a voice calling our generation back to something rich and solid and beyond the fluff and the trendy. We want to remind God’s people that thinking and worship are not mutually exclusive, and that not everything worth knowing happened in the last three years. We want to invite the Church to appreciate her heritage without idolizing it. We want to open up a world of passion and truth and make it more that just an archaic curiosity for the religiously sentimental. We believe worship is formative, and that it does matter what we think.

Pretty cool, right? I agree. I stumbled on Indelible Grace while looking for really excellent renditions and arrangements of old hymns. You’d be surprised how few there really are. In fact, if you search for hymns on Amazon MP3, you’ll come up with several thousand results that all sound more or less exactly the same.

Then, while doing my monthly peruse of eMusic (read about it here), I came across Indelible Grace’s Music. I was stunned. They literally have a plethora of modern hymn arrangements, something like 85 of them. While there are a handful I’m really not enthusiastic about (i.e., really cheesy), the majority of them are performed with a great deal of care and, dare I say, relevance.

Most of the arrangements range from mellow indie-folk melodies, to heavier rock, to full blown southern-slide-guitar country. The performers also range from people I’ve never heard of, to bigger names in Christian music, like Derek Webb.

Indelible Grace also makes implementing hymn arrangements into worship services relatively easy. On their website you’ll find pretty comprehensive listings of hymns they perform, as well as lyrics and chord charts for various instruments.

I would very much like to see churches put Indelible Grace’s hard work to good use in their local congregations. Because the words we sing are indeed formative. And, in many ways they do shape our theologies and our ideas about God. In fact, I fairly often hear people quote songs, thinking they’re quoting scripture. If that is the case, then let’s bring real depth and real substance into our songs. Lets sing hymns.

Here are some of my favorite recordings from Indelible Grace Music so far:

O Help My Unbelief
Album: Wake Thy Slumbering Children

Come Then, Lord Jesus
Album: Wake Thy Slumbering Children

Hear Our Prayer (The Litany Song)
Album: Wake Thy Slumbering Children

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
Album: Indelible Grace Side B

O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus
Album: Indelible Grace Side A

O Come and Mourn
Album: For All the Saints

Not What My Hands Have Done
Album: For All the Saints

Lead Me On O King Eternal
Album: Beams of Heaven

Jesus Lover of My Soul
Album: Beams of Heaven

Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
Album: Beams of Heaven

Poor Sinner Dejected With Fear
Album: Pilgrim Days

This list is in no wise exhaustive. There are many other great recordings on these albums, but this list is a pretty good taste of what’s there. If you like what you hear in these, I would strongly recommend you go ahead and buy the albums. You won’t be disappointed. But, good news!

Get Indelible Grace Music for FREE!

I’m probably breaking some rules somewhere, but I just think that this music will be a great blessing to many, so I’m going suggest it anyway.

On eMusic now, if you’ve never signed up, then sign up! They’ll give you 50 songs for free. They’re yours to keep. When you sign up, you’ll have to give them a credit card so that when the month is over they can start charging you the subscription fee, but it’s a trial. So, just cancel before the month is up and it wont cost you anything. But for the purposes today, the trial will get you about 4 out of 6 of the Indelible Grace albums.

So, get on there. Sign up. Download the Indelible Grace Music. Cancel your account right away. Or, keep the service going. It really is great.

I just got home from a nearly two hour conversation about church practice and theory. Not by any means a bad conversation, however, in all that time, it’s easy to become distracted from the heart of ecclesiological doctrines. I thought the quotation of this old hymn was in order.

There is more substance in the four minute hymn written by by Samuel Stone over 100 years ago, The Church’s One Foundation. It’s a nearly complete history and ecclesiology.

The church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.

Elect from every nation,
Yet one over all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
Their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish,
Her dear Lord to defend
To guide, sustain and cherish,
Is with her to the end
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale
Against a foe or traitor,
She ever shall prevail

Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
‘Til, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blessed,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee.

The Past couple days I’ve been listening to various recordings of the hymn I Need Thee Every Hour. My favorite so far is the version found on Indelible Grace’s album “Side A”. But, regardless, the lyrics are rich and soothing. I’m hung on the line, "…teach me Thy will; And Thy rich promises in me fulfill”.

I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
O I need Thee every hour;
I need you Lord, O bless me now,
My Savior, I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain
I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son

I need Thee every hour,
I need Thee every hour,
I need Thee every hour,
I need Thee every hour.

I remember when I was younger, like middle school, and it seemed I heard a lot about the debate over whether or not children are deeply influenced by the music they listen to. Like, do kids who listen to gangster rap end up killing people. Or, do songs about suicide lead kids to commit suicide.

Well, being a kid in the demographic under discussion I obviously considered their ideas absurd. I didn’t listen to Eminem and consider raping my girlfriend. In fact, the thought wouldn’t even cross my mind. Like a brain washed person rejecting the idea that they’re brain washed, I wouldn’t even think of taking the influence of music seriously.

Well, yesterday I was driving to church and happened to not have my iPod with me. So, I attempted to tune the car’s radio to something worth hearing. There isn’t much, by the way. I settled on a local rock station which eventually played the early 00’s hit “Last Resort”, by Papa Roach.

Frankly, the song was stupid when it first came out and it certainly hasn’t aged well. But I can remember so many of my class mates thinking it was the coolest song. Here’s a little excerpt:

Cut my life into pieces
I’ve reached my last resort
Suffocation
No breathing
Don’t give a f**k if I cut my arm bleeding
Do you even care if I die bleeding
Would it be wrong
Would it be right
If I took my life tonight
Chances are that I might
Mutilation outta sight
And I’m contemplating suicide

I know, it’s a beacon of beautiful modern poetry, and while I’d love to discuss it further, it would diverge from our more pressing discussion at hand.

Hearing the song again, it gave me a more sober look into the adolescent time in my life and it made a lot more sense. No youngster was going to hear Papa Roach’s hit and think to themselves, “Papa Roach is committing suicide, I think I will too.” It just doesn’t really happen like that. At least not much.

However, what is far more likely is emotional conditioning, creating a predisposition for certain behavior. Not based on isolated lyrics in any one song, but in the whole of music, or even music genres. The music is simply depressing. Before long, people will feel depressed. The suggestions therein don’t follow far behind.

For this reason, I begin to think it’s awfully important that we consider carefully how we allow our emotions to be manipulated.

But, on the flip side, it also creates an interesting window to peer through. How might music be used to manipulate our emotions in a positive way toward the Lord? Where is the line? When is our spiritual integrity compromised?

One thing is for sure: music is an incredibly powerful thing and shouldn’t be ignored in any spectrum.

I spent the day today in Washington, DC. I was there expressly for the purpose of photographing the major event “The Call”.

The event called sought to gather thousands of young adults together for a day of mourning, fasting, repentance and prayer for the sake of our nation. The event also had an extremely heavy emphasis on abortion issues.

The event was hosted by folks from several churches, but most notably IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City and Morning Star down in North Carolina.

If you’re at all familiar with Morning Star or IHOP, you know they’re part of, what I call, the hyper-charismatic church. Not a criticism, just trying to get you into today’s environment a bit.

The crowd however was surprisingly diverse. There were folks there from what seemed to be nearly every denomination I can think of. Even the strange ones with dress codes.

Truthfully, I have mixed feelings about the event. I’m torn because of what seems clear to be questionable theology amongst the hosting organizations and much of their execution of the event. However, there were many on the Washington DC mall that were genuinely interceding and fasting on behalf of our nation and the unborn. So, in that respect, I’m encouraged.

I won’t go into the specifics of my theological questions. I’m just not sure how important it is.

Keep an eye on my professional website over the next couple days. I’ll be posting an introduction to the photographs from today as well as a large number of them.

I came across an interesting segment in Religious Affections tonight. Bear with it, it’s worth reading.

[Among “the evidence that true religion lies much in the affections… is that] it appears from the nature and design of the ordinances and duties, which God hath appointed, as means and expressions of true religion.

To instance in the duty of prayer: it is manifest, we are not appointed in this duty, to declare God’s perfections, his majesty, holiness, goodness, and all-sufficiency, and our own meanness, emptiness, dependence, and unworthiness, and our wants and desires, to inform God of these things, or to incline his heart, and prevail with him to be willing to show us mercy; but suitably to affect our own hearts with the things we express, and so to prepare us to receive the blessings we ask. And such gestures and manner of external behavior in the worship of God, which custom has made to be significations of humility and reverence, can be of no further use than as they have some tendency to affect our own hearts, or the hearts of others.

And the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.”

Indeed, these things do have a “tendency to move our affections”. In fact, so much so that I’ve argued against the risks of emotionalism. I’m sure there’s a balance to the whole lot, but it definitely makes me think. With all that scripture commands about emotional response to God, perhaps the emotional response to music and prayer is not only useful but also necessary.

Perhaps, as Edwards has suggested, it’s not so much to move and to bless God, as it is to move ourselves into a position able to receive blessing from God.

Much to ponder, indeed.

About a week ago I read on Challies.com that Sovereign Grace Ministries was looking for a handful of bloggers to give their new CD a listen. So I sent the gentleman from Sovereign Grace an email and told him that I’d be willing to listen and probably write a spot about it. A few days back the CD arrived in the mail and since then I’ve been working through it and thinking and worshipping with it. Here’s my thoughts.

On a purely musical level, this CD can’t stand up against the “big dogs” in the Christian music industry. You won’t be hearing any of these things on your daily inspiration radio station. Odds are you won’t be seeing posters in your churches sporting the Sovereign Grace Music team coming to town. The vocals are sufficient, but clearly not professional. The instrumentals are adequate but won’t knock anyone’s socks off (I guess that’s a good thing; especially if it’s cold outside). But here’s the good news, I’m pretty sure that’s not the point.

This album is expressly for the purpose of aiding people in worship. So, no it’s probably not going to stand up to the scrutinizing ears of American Christian Culture. However, as anyone who has really engaged in worship through music knows, it’s not about the music itself. It’s clear that there was great care taken in crafting the words to the songs on this album. Theologically, they’re sound. Spiritually, they’re profound.

The vocals at times almost seem to mirror the heart of ancient hymns. Many songs are purely written in praise and adoration of Christ. When the individual is introduced in some way in the song, the focus remains reverently on God. In an atmosphere of man-centered worship songs, these lyrics are a breath of fresh air.

You Are Good stands out as a holistic gem, skillfully covering the lyrics, vocals and instrumentals. We used this song in a worship gathering recently. Although no one knew the song by heart, it seemed to be accepted well. Another that stands out well is Lord You Are Gracious, sung by a female vocalist, it beckons many profound thoughts.

I would recommend this album to anyone who would like to introduce some new tools for personal and corporate worship in song; it’s not a toy, it’s a tool. I would especially recommend this album to worship leaders to learn and tweak and to lead their congregations with.