Welcome to Sunday Setlists, a part of Fred McKinnon’s Blog Carnival! This week, we had a special guest to lead us in worship. Jeremy Casella is a big member of the New Hymns movement and recently spent a tour with Caedmon’s Call. All instrumentals this week were minimal: Acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, percussion and vocals.

1 – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing  –  Robert Robinson, 1758 / John Wyth’s Repository of Sacred Music, 1817
Again with the Irish! While the instrumentation did not entirely reflect upon the hymn’s Irish roots, the message was the same. The hymn is a longing hymn for Christ to come and be our Savior. As we progress through Lent, hymns of longing are appropriate to remind us of the anticipation we still hold for Christ’s return.

2 – Jesus, I Come  –  William T. Sleeper, 1887 / Greg Thompson, 2000
As we prepare for Holy Week, “Jesus, I Come” is a perfect song to help us to contemplate the transition out of our sinful estate and into His Glorious Mercy as we progress in Lent towards Easter.

3 – Jesus, Cast a Look on Me  –  John Berridge / Matthew Perryman Jones
“Jesus, Cast a Look on Me” is a song of humility and confession. As we come to God in repentance, we must humble ourselves and cast all our pride away in order to recognize that we are wholly unrighteous and in need of His mercy.

4 – Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder  –  John Newton, 1774 / Darmstadt Gesangbuch, 1698
This hymn is largely forgotten despite its author. It reminds us that we have been saved from God’s Wrath and, instead we are shown mercy and Grace: “He has hushed the law’s loud thunder//He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame”.

5 – On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand  –  Samuel Stennett, 1787 / Christopher Miner, 1997
This hymn, set to new music as a part of the New Hymns movement, is set joy and anticipating our ultimate arrival in paradise, where all our possessions are.  As the service closes, we are once again reminded that a glorious end to our suffering is coming.

~Robert