Taste and See - Hymns Curriculum - · PDF filebrief bio of the hymn’s author, and some questions related to how the hymn speaks biblical truth and how we can apply that truth to

H Y M N S

Note from Kevin ....................... 5

Focus on Prayer ....................... 6

H Y M N S E D I T I O N

I N T R O W E E K

MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS Page 8

P R A I S E

JESUS PAID IT ALL Page 14

L A M E N T

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL Page 20

M I S S I O N

O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING Page 26

T H A N K S G I V I N G

AMAZING GRACE Page 32

W E L C O M E !

Music, song, and poetry are universal forms of cultural expression. Humanity experiences joy and frustration, love and hate, clarity and mania, hope and fear. These creative expressions have always been the arteries through which humanity’s heart pours itself out for all to see. Music and lyric deliver our emotions to a height that is hard to climb through any other method, and some might call this emotional summit “worship.” Humans are designed for worship. We have a need to raise something into a position of value—a place of trust and honor. But, do we always offer songs of worship?

Look at popular culture. Review the lyrics of any song at the top of the charts in just about every musical style, and you will see what our culture places in highest regard. Listen carefully and you will hear the human heart thumping its emotional energy toward what it esteems most, and in the same way,

music and song has played a critical role in Christian worship. Generation after generation of people who call Jesus “King” have weaved lyric with melody to communicate what the human heart feels, needs, and hopes for.

For this reason, we are rebooting Taste & See, our series that focuses on the spectrum of human emotion found in the Psalms. But this time we have opened the hymnals of recent history to see the breadth and depth of emotion and theology that has influenced the Christian faith and worship.

In each session over the next five weeks, you will find the lyrics to a popular hymn, a brief bio of the hymn’s author, and some questions related to how the hymn speaks biblical truth and how we can apply that truth to our lives. To take it a step further, we are concluding each session with a call for corporate prayer (see the Prayer note on the following page).

Our hearts must sing to the glory of God, so please unite with the church family in this series through song and in prayer over what God has done and what He is doing, here and now.

Kevin Kurzenknabe D I S C I P L E S H I P P A S T O R

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P R A Y E R I S A J O Y !

Well, um, if we’re honest, many of us would disagree, because often when we think about prayer it feels distant, weird, confusing or downright scary. We know that we should welcome conversation with “Our Father” as much as speaking with our best friend or spouse, but the process and motivation escapes us.

During this series, we are intentionally integrating prayer as a core part of your weekly meeting. Each week has a “Prayer Focus” section where we give your group an area to lift up in prayer. We recommend setting aside at least 15-20 minutes for this time together. If you feel awkward, fine. If you don’t want to pray out loud, okay. But our prayer is that you would grow to love sharing in prayer with your church family.

The truth is, there is no magic bullet or special method that will change this, but God can, if we let Him. When we continue to focus our mind on the person and work of Jesus, when we stare at the blazing, all-consuming reality of the Cross, God opens our hearts, minds, and mouths to Him. Here is one method you can use to remember the value and purpose of prayer:

The word in Greek for “joy” is χαρά or ca-RA—so, let us Connect, Align, Request, and Adore.

C O N N E C TAs you begin, try to find a quietness in location but also a quietness within yourself; a place where true listening can happen. This is seldom easy, but most effective. Think about a time

when you wanted to really soak up time with someone like your spouse or another loved one. You typically don’t prefer a loud raucous setting, but a quiet ambiance that allows you to focus

on the other. The same is true as we seek time to speak to and hear from God. It is a time for recognition of who the Triune God is in Himself, His role in our lives, and His passionate desire to save and adopt us through Jesus.

A L I G NDo we recognize our humble position in the grand scheme of things? Do we want God’s name to be “hallowed” in every context and culture of the world? To hallow is to set apart as holy and venerated. True submission is looking to God’s will first. We don’t always know what His will is, but still, in the midst of uncertainty, we submit to Him, trusting in His power and goodness. Aligning ourselves with God in this way allows deep introspection, true repentance, and a desire to change and BE CHANGED. Imagine taking all of your desires, hopes, and dreams and laying them on an altar of sacrifice. It is much like climbing up on the altar yourself and saying, “not my will, but yours be done.”

R E Q U E S T Is it safe now? Can we actually approach our Lord, come to His throne and place requests before Him. Of course! Like a Father lifting a knee-scuffed child onto his lap to console, heal, teach, and admonish is our God. How sad is the mother whose child does not bring hurts,

wants, and inquiry to her? How frustrated is the father whose child does not appeal for his defense and protection?

A D O R EAre we thankful? Are we full of the wonder of God, His works, and His moving in and around us? That breath you just eased in, have you connected that to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator of heaven and earth? We often miss the grand and lavish landscape of God’s character that includes love, grace, and mercy, but also truth, justice and even wrath. Do you trust Him? You will adore only that which you cherish and honor, so ask yourself, do you worship Him in His fullness?Our goal is to have our church family focused on corporate and personal prayer in the hopes that

P R A Y E R & M I S S I O NOur goal is to have our church family focused on corporate and personal prayer in the hopes that it will become a daily discipline of connection and alignment with God and that this “prayerful mindset” will merge with our mission as followers in His Kingdom. After all, if I pray for the healing and comfort of my spouse who has a cold, but I don’t serve her by bringing chicken soup, water, and tissues, could it be that my prayers and my heart are out of sync?

For those of us that are parents, we know that parenting is one of the hardest but most fulfilling parts of life. Once a child is born to you, you know that the stakes are high and that you have been called to a serious mission. Prayer is very similar. When we call Jesus King and He grabs us by our hearts, we must know that our unrelenting interaction with Him is necessary, life sustaining, and quite possibly world altering.

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MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS

I N T R O D U C T I O N

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me in the whelming flood;

When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found;

Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.

Composed: 1863, Melody: “Solid Rock” by William B. Bradbury, Published: 1837, Text: Edward Mote

Edward Mote was a pastor in London, but spent the majority of his life as a cabinet maker. In fact, he didn’t enter the ministry until he was in his 50s but when he

did, he was loved by his congregation for the 26 years of his pastorate. He was so beloved that they tried to give him the deed to the church, to which he is said to have replied, “I do not want the chapel, I only want the pulpit; and when I cease to

preach Christ, then turn me out of that.”

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Q U E S T I O N S

• Describe a time when your faith felt like it was on a slippery or weak foundation. What was the cause? Has your faith become more solid since then, and if so, what do you think helped?

• Read Luke 6:46-49. This hymn is likely derived from this section of Luke and the partner text in Matthew 7. What lyrics would seem to connect the hymn and the biblical text?

• How does the hymn speak to times of difficulty?

• When was the last time you felt distanced from God because of something that happened (or didn’t happen)?

• Read Exodus 26:31-33 and Hebrews 6:19-20. How is Jesus related to the Most Holy place in the Old Testament?

• Hope fills this hymn, but often this kind of hope eludes us. “In Him” and “in his righteousness” are examples of how this hymn connects us to Christ our King in order to be hopeful. Why is this so difficult?

• What are the things that you typically “hope” in or what are your “sweetest frames”? List them and ask what makes them seem more powerful than Jesus and His work on the Cross. Submit them in prayer as a group.

• If you are hopeful this week, who will you share your hope with? If you aren’t hopeful this week, who will you call to remind you of that hope? Why?

P R A Y E R

Imagine a king on a majestic throne arrayed in royal armor, scepter in hand, crown on head. You have seen his power firsthand on parade after conquest. The king has requested your immediate presence. As you come to the throne room, you feel the “weightiness” of the king simply by sharing the same oxygen as him. Are you afraid? Do you wonder why he called you in? You labor to swallow as you kneel in reverence and he says “I’ve really looked forward to spending some time with you for a while. Think of me like your father.” What?! You don’t even belong in the same air space, but this king not only wants you there but wants to converse with you, to know you, to be known by you. Remind yourselves that you were bought with a price by the Creator of the universe. He wants you in His family, for the purpose of carrying His name into all parts of your life and ultimately to the world.

Confess your sin aloud. Ask God for forgiveness and the power to steer away from your moral failures. Ask God to reveal blind spots in your life where you cannot see your own brokenness.

• How can you be more unified with your church family?

• Where is encouragement or help needed?

• Where is healing needed?

• Pray for opportunities to bless the church family with your unique giftedness.

• Who has God asked you to reach out to but you still haven’t?

P R A Y E R F O C U SPray for your church family.

Together you are to carry the gospel of Jesus to your city.

J O U R N A LPrayer

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JESUS PAID IT ALL

P R A I S E

In August of 1865, Mrs. Elvina Hall was seated in the choir section of her church and upon the realization that her pastor’s closing prayer was of the lengthy variety, her thoughts turned to Jesus and His great salvation. Words in her mind began to fall like autumn leaves, and so she grabbed the nearest hymnal, opened to the blank flyleaf and began to pen what has become one of the most gospel-saturated hymns passed down to us. Unbeknownst to her, the church organist had recently composed a musical piece that was in need of a poetic partner. The rest is history.

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain: Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim; I’ll wash my garments white In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him, My robe, His righteousness, Close sheltered ’neath His side, I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow’r, and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone.

When from my dying bed My ransomed soul shall rise, “Jesus died my soul to save,” Shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, I’ll lay my trophies down, All down at Jesus’ feet.

Composed: 1865, Music: John Grape, Text: Elvina Hall

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Q U E S T I O N S

• We are a culture of “credit.” Imagine your biggest debt at a time when you couldn’t even pay a single installment let alone fathom when you could pay the full balance. What does it feel like to owe? How do you feel about your creditors?

• Walking through each verse, describe how the hymn writer pictures herself. Do you see things similarly or differently?

• To whom do you compare yourself? How often do you compare yourself with Jesus?

• Is “self-sufficiency” important to you? Do you discourage other people who want to help you or feel weak when helped? What does this hymn (and the gospel) say about this?

• Read Luke 17:12-19. The fourth verse speaks of changing a leper’s spots. In Luke’s passage, which of the lepers do you feel most like and why?

• We are called to humbly submit all of life to the Lordship of Jesus. The final verse speaks of laying “trophies” down. Do you have “trophies,” accomplishments, or other parts of your identity that you are not ready to “lay down” before His throne? What would help you?

P R A Y E R

Ransom is a word that we don’t use very much. It speaks to paying for the release of a prisoner. Have you ever seen yourself as a prisoner? A released prisoner? On someone else’s nickel? Do you see the city around you full of cultural and socioeconomic prisoners in need of release? The leaders in the church have felt the shackles removed, and have decided that the thrust of their lives is to pour themselves into the congregation and the surrounding city. They want people to recognize gospel freedom, but most of all the Gospel Giver of that freedom.

• Pray for their marriages and children.

• Pray for their character and continued growth.

• Do you know who the elders are?

• Have you been nitpicking or critical behind the scenes?

• When was the last time you encouraged one of your pastors?

• Have you seen areas where the local church could use your giftedness to help build up the church and love on the city?

P R A Y E R F O C U SPray for your Pastors, Elders and other Leaders in the Church.

They pour out their vocational lives to build you and the church up in general.

J O U R N A LPrayer

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IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

L A M E N T

Spafford was a well-known, successful lawyer, a Presbyterian elder, and a close friend of Dwight Moody. Beyond his notoriety in law, he found further success investing in Chicago real estate. In 1871, tragedy struck as he lost his young son to scarlet fever, and in the same year the Great Chicago Fire left him in near financial ruin. In the economic downturn that followed the Fire in 1873, he planned a holiday to England for his family partially because he knew Moody would be in country preaching. Delayed by business concerns, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead with plans to catch up on a later vessel. Imagine receiving a telegram from your wife that began “Saved, alone.” During the journey across the Atlantic, his family’s ship was struck by another vessel and all four of his daughters were now gone. Spafford is said to have penned this hymn as he traveled to meet his wife, his ship passing over the same place where his daughters perished.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain: It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.

Composed: 1873, Music: Philip Bliss, Text: Horatio G. Spafford

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Q U E S T I O N S

• Sometimes death and great loss make us feel as if we have partially died. How have you experienced great loss? What helped bring you back to the living?

• Read Psalm 6. Do you believe that God will hear your prayer, your sadness as well as your celebration?

• The doctrine of the sovereignty of God tells us that all things are under His rule and control. He is also perfectly good, “there is no darkness in him.” How do we reconcile this with difficulties we experience in life?

• What would it take for your faith to survive what Mr. Spafford’s did?

• The last verse pleads with God to “haste the day” of the return of Jesus. What keeps you from wanting this day to come?

• In the midst of all of the brokenness of humanity and culture, what is one small thing about which you are passionate for God to bring to an end?

P R A Y E R

Weeping and mourning are a part of life. It hurts to lose someone who is close to us. The pain is vivid and real. Humanity has been designed to create deep connections to each other, and to lose one of those connections is like losing a limb, a part of one’s own life. We should never reduce the importance of spending adequate time grieving or simply sitting next to those who are suffering loss. As Jesus walked the path to the cross, we see that the Son of God in His humanity felt loss, wept, and experienced human loneliness.

• Remember your greatest losses.

• Name those that are hurting around you. Identify with them.

• Pray that you and the congregation would surround those who weep with care and concern.

• Look at this week’s prayer list and pull out those that have life-altering or life-ending disease. Take turns praying for each specifically.

• Pray for God to bring an end to the “one small thing” you named in the last question above.

P R A Y E R F O C U SPray for those who are mourning.

Whether mourning death, loss of a job, or sickness, the world around you is hurting and the King of Kings cares.

J O U R N A LPrayer

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O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim, To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease; ’Tis music in the sinner’s ears, ’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice, New life the dead receive, The mournful, broken hearts rejoice, The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ; Ye blind, behold your Savior come, And leap, ye lame, for joy.

In Christ your Head, you then shall know, Shall feel your sins forgiven; Anticipate your heaven below, And own that love is heaven.

Glory to God, and praise and love Be ever, ever given, By saints below and saints above, The church in earth and heaven.

O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING

M I S S I O N

On this glad day the glorious Sun Of Righteousness arose; On my benighted soul He shone And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife, ‘Twas then I ceased to grieve; My second, real, living life I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed, Believed with faith divine, Power with the Holy Ghost received To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood Close to my soul applied; Me, me He loved, the Son of God, For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true, Ascertained of my part, My pardon passed in heaven I knew When written on my heart.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own Your God, ye fallen race; Look, and be saved through faith alone, Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid: The Lamb of God was slain, His soul was once an offering made For every soul of man.

Awake from guilty nature’s sleep, And Christ shall give you light, Cast all your sins into the deep, And wash the Æthiop white.

Harlots and publicans and thieves In holy triumph join! Saved is the sinner that believes From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew In holy triumph join! Believe the Savior died for you; For me the Savior died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know, Shall feel your sins forgiven; Anticipate your heaven below, And own that love is heaven.

Written: 1739, Text: Charles Wesley, Azmon Carl G. Gläser, 1828; arranged by Lowell Mason, Modern Psalmist, 1839

Sometimes referred to as “the forgotten Wesley” (overshadowed by his brother John who is credited with founding the Methodists), Charles Wesley is said to have written nearly 9,000 hymns during his life. That works out to one hymn per day for almost 25 years straight. That’s pretty good work for an eighteenth child of nineteen who was born premature and lived his first several weeks wrapped in wool uncertain of whether he would survive. After returning from a failed missionary venture in America in 1735, the already ordained Charles returned to England where he was challenged to dig deeper into the condition of his soul. Pressed into deeper reflection, Charles found Jesus afresh and penned this hymn. As an evangelist, he is said to have preached to nearly 150,000 people in his itinerant preaching ministry. Charles Wesley heard God’s call to mission.

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Q U E S T I O N S

• Have you ever been so passionate about something that it consumed your weekly (or daily) life for years? Describe it.

• Read Revelation 4 and 5 out loud, a picture of the Divine throne room. From the description, use your own words to describe what it looks like and feels like in that throne room.

• In the second half of Revelation 5 we start to see worship radiating out from the “lamb” as if He is the epicenter of a massive earthquake. Does our worship and witness radiate out from where God has placed us? In our family, our friends, our workplace, our city, in our country? Why or why not?

• As people look at you, what are specific characteristics and activities that would reveal who you worship, who is Lord and on the throne?

• Read Colossians 4:2-4. The Apostle Paul is ending his letter with a request for prayer. He is asking the brothers and sisters in Colosse to join in his work by praying for his mission (though he is currently in JAIL!). What can we learn from Paul’s request about how prayer relates to missions work? Would you say your prayer is “missional” or outward focused? Why or why not?

P R A Y E R

Mission can be defined as God’s plan to reconcile all things back to himself. God created the Church as His Spirit-infused agents within His creation to continue this work of reconciliation. We have to ask ourselves what this means in our daily lives. Given our unique gifts, vocations, relationships, and locations, how is this reconciliation to happen with our hands, feet, and mouths?

• Pray against those things blocking our church family, individually and corporately, from being on God’s mission.

• Who can you pray for to “join into their mission” even though you are not physically present?

• Do you know the names of any of the homeless in your city?

• Has God been leading your thoughts toward someone in your congregation?

• Our focus countries are Cuba, Haiti, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Whatever mission your church body has committed to, how much do you know about the organizations and people that are behind those missions? Pray for them.

• Do you know any single moms or dads that are struggling?

• Do you know anyone that has moderate to severe mental illness?

• Are you aware of refugee situations around the world?

P R A Y E R F O C U SPray for the Last, Lost and Least.

Within the walls of our sanctuary, within the city limits, within the country and within the world, there are lost souls and those who are downtrodden—forgotten.

J O U R N A LPrayer

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AMAZING GRACET H A N K S G I V I N G

John Newton spent much of his early life at sea. The son of an English shipmaster, he had already recorded six sea voyages between the age of 11 and 17 with his father. It was on one such trip in his early twenties when he experienced God for the first time. Off the coast of Donegal Ireland, he and his shipmates were caught in a severe storm that nearly sank his ship. Waking from sleep below deck as the vessel took on water, Newton cried out to God and in the midst of what he thought was his end, he watched as the ship’s cargo shifted to seal the hole in the hull allowing he and his shipmates to see another day. Though he came to Christ early in life, he would spend many years captaining ships, many of them slave ships. Haunted by his years at sea supporting such an ungracious and cruel trade, he would come to be an Anglican priest and an active force in the Abolitionist movement in England, encouraging William Wilberforce to stay in the British Parliament to fight for the abolition of slavery.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound  that saved a wretch like me!  I once was lost, but now am found;  was blind, but now I see. 

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,  and grace my fears relieved;  how precious did that grace appear  the hour I first believed. 

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,  I have already come;  ‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,  and grace will lead me home. 

The Lord has promised good to me,  his word my hope secures;  he will my shield and portion be,  as long as life endures. 

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,  and mortal life shall cease,  I shall possess, within the veil,  a life of joy and peace. 

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,  bright shining as the sun,  we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise 

than when we first begun. 

Written: 1739, Text: John Newton

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Q U E S T I O N S

• Do you remember when you first heard “Amazing Grace”? What do the song’s lyric’s and melody bring to mind for you?

• In your own words, define grace. Read Deuteronomy 7:6-8 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Now define grace as portrayed in the Bible. How close were your definitions?

• Why do many say that the biggest difference between Christianity and other religions is “grace”?

• Few of us want to accept the label of “wretch.” Do you feel like a wretch? Why or why not?

• Share some personal examples of when you thought you were a “wretch.”

• Consider “twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.” Now read Deuteronomy 7:9-11 (the continuation of the verses read above). How do you think grace and fear should be related in a logical and healthy way?

• Notice the last stanza moves away from first person singular (I and me) to first person plural (we and we’ve). How has your understanding of grace and hope begun to move you from singular (you) to plural (others) in your Christian walk? If it hasn’t, why not?

P R A Y E R F O C U S

At the center of all of the hymns is Jesus, the most amazing of graces. You must remember in the ancient world, the firstborn son was in many ways the promise of the future for a family and its name, so when you hear that God “gave His one and only Son” for you, both individually and for you His Church, you must realize that this declares Good News that is worth hearing over and over, and it compels us into action on behalf of God and others. Let prayer be a part of your life on mission.

• What are you struggling with right now?

• How are your relationships? Spouses? Children?

• “Gospel” (Good News) each other in your prayer. Remind each other that God has taken care of your cosmic debt because He loves each of you, and He loves you as a group. He wants you to grow beyond yourselves and see the raw material of your life as useful in His Kingdom when placed in His hands.

• Pray for each other looking to the future. Go out on a limb and ask God to grow someone beyond their own imagination and shortsightedness. If it is God’s will, you can’t stop it, but somehow He asks us to ask anyway.

• Pray that PRAYER would continue in your group and individual lives as a rich and purposeful gift.

P R A Y E R F O C U SPray for each other in your group.

Pray specifically.

J O U R N A LPrayer

THANK YOU for participating in this study.

Taste and See - HYMNS

Copyright © 2017 South Valley Community Church

Text Copyright © 2017 by Kevin Kurzenknabe

Illustration Copyright © 2017 by Andrea Kovach

All rights reserved throughout the world. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means–electronic, mechanical, photocopy, record, or any other–expect for brief quotations on printed reviews without the prior permission of the publisher.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!P S A L M 3 4 : 8

H Y M N SS V C C C h u r C h . C o m