The Wesley Project is an effort to reclaim the rich hymnody of
our Wesleyan heritage. All the songs in this project are combinations
of texts written by Charles Wesley, one of our founders and one of
the world's most prolific hymn writers, and new tunes by Carl Thomas
Gladstone and other musicians connected with the Emerge Community
and Birmingham First UMC.
Wesley wrote these texts dense with beautiful
expressions of our Methodist understanding of the Gospel and set them
to familiar tunes of his day. So, here we've gathered some of
his most striking texts and set them to new tunes that will allow
Wesley's words to be experienced again so that we may all continue
experiencing the Triune God in worship.
Below you'll find demo mp3's,
lyrics, and charts for the new songs that CTG and others are working
on. If you like these songs and would like your church to use
them, please do so! We simply ask that you cite us and direct
people to this site. Thanks!
The world could benefit
from the depth of Charles' theological lyrics - perhaps these new
formulations will help pull that sung theology back into our common
worship language. Many thanks to Indellible Grace Music and Kevin
Twit, the Reformed
University Fellowship online hymnal, and the musicians of Redmountain
Church in Birmingham, Alabama for helping inspire this new project.
Building
each other up and worshipping together allow us to give all our praise
to God. Particularly striking in this song is the wordplay - God both joins us (or is present with us) and joins us together (unites us) by his grace.
This
is a traditional text sung at yearly conferences of Methodists.
In the early days it literally celebrated the fact that these frontier
circuit riders were still living on this planet! Now the words,
in light of the troubles our churches have seen as institutions, remind
us that with a focusing on the mission of Jesus Christ for us - to make
disciples for the transformation of the world - we may continue experience
life in Christ together.
This song captures the ever-present teaching of Methodists hymns that the closer we get to one another in the spirit of Christ, the closer we are to God. We celebrate a common Lord, we celebrate a binding together that because of God's strength cannot be broke. We also get a taste of the hope the Wesley's had for Christian perfection.
This
song captures a sense of God's greatness and unimaginable depth.
It also reminds us of our baptisms during which we die to our selves and
Jesus claims us for his own. Even this power, though, that seems
crushing is a power bound by the love of goodness of God.
As
we hear the Gospel and God's call in our lives we have the responsibility
to respond. This song imagines that response as a charge placed
upon us by God. Keeping it is the way of life. Ignoring or
working against it is that which deadens us.
In the midst of painful lives, thristy times, and unmet wishes we turn to God. This songs rehearses a confidence in God's way even when the storms of life rage. Inherent in this is a prayer for patience, humbleness, and rest.
This
song revels in lives lived as pleasing servants of God. Even this
life that seems so difficult or so short can be lived beautifully and
the nearness of God's glory is offered.
Many
hymns use military imagery to talk about how we follow Christ or win over
evil. But, Jesus in no way would have us attempt to bring about
his kingdom by force. His armor (as described in Ephesians 6:10-18)
is always conditioned - it is the breastplate of righteousness, shodding
your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith,
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God. This song reminds us that even if we use images of war in
our hymns they should always be helping us to move from our own forms
of strength (military violence) to Jesus' form of strength - which is
love.
The
call in this song remembers God's redeeming hope for the whole world -
ours is not a God who will forsake anyone. The love that Jesus announced
was radical in it's breadth as well as its depth.
Built around the story of the hemorraging woman, this song recognizes her great faithfulness and asks if we too may have such faith in Christ. When we reach out to him, through study of his words and his work we may tremble. But, we remember that Jesus healed and cleansed, and always with an eye toward nurturing the faith of the individual and the community through such witness.
Some
hymns use light imagery only in contrast to "darkness."
But, the light of Christ and the Holy Spirit also offer us vibrant lives
lived amidst all the colors of the world. They deliver us from blandness
- not just darkness.
Jesus
constantly revealed God's love for the world to small groups around a
meal. But those dinners became so much more. In their sharing
disciples remember Jesus, pray to God and for one another, and give testimony
to the coming heavenly banquet of God. The Love Feast was also a
practice of early Methodist communities (and some - like Emerge - still
today) in which bread and water and witness are shared together.
Charles
Wesley once wrote an entire hymnal filled with songs about the Holy Trinity.
Rarely do pastors, let alone songwriters attempt to discuss, explain,
or interact with this mystery of the faith. Here Wesley capture
the Triune God in a text that cries our for that God to remember creation
and humanity.
Not
only do we turn away from God, sometimes we actively work counter to God's
will for the world which is love, justice, mercy, goodness. This song
uses the term "rebel heart" to describe that state of being
so interested in one's own way as to miss or undermine God's.
From time to time the "how" of worship replaces the "why". At these moments we may find ourselves doing all the right things for none of the right reasons. This song acknowledges those moments and asks God to help us reconnect to the substance of those practices.
The brokenness of the church and of church people acts in our world as a great de-evangelizer. This song confesses our own tendencies to be ingracious, and damning of others. It recognizes how that undermines the Good News of Jesus. The song further prays that even sinful persons like ourselves might become better temples of the Lord by allowing God to purge us of such pomp, wealth, and ease.
Moments of loniness creep up in our lives. In these dangerous moments we remember with this song God's continual care for us. Like Jesus asleep on the ship in the storm, we can connect to that great calm that God offers. Also, as we travel in our lives - moving from home, setting out to define our lives - we may feel caught up in storms and dangerous travels. This song reminds us of God's presence even along tumultuous travels.
The
Gospel of John reminds us constantly of Jesus' divine otherness.
Sometimes the only way we know how to talk about that is by talking about
Jesus as the one who "came from above." This song uses
that motif to usher Christians into a spirit of awe around this Jesus
who was the incarnate God.
