This is exciting! I preordered Matthew Smith’s new CD All I Owe and I don’t regret it. Matthew is the lead singer of Indelible Grace, a group who take hymns and set them to new tunes, mostly without changing the words. My soul is blessed often by listening to them. Matthew’s new CD is no exception. And to make it even better, he’s streaming the entire CD for free this month. If you’re not sure if you trust my taste in music, take a listen. My favorites are The Lord Will Provide and My Lord I Did Not Choose You. Listen to the CD a few times and then when you find you can’t get these great songs out of your head or your heart, go order the CD. You can also get it on iTunes.

Two of my friends are going through rough times this Christmas season and I find that I just want to quote some of these hymns for them. While that probably isn’t the best thing to do for them, it does show how rich and sweet the theology is in the songs. There is something about singing our theology. As C. J. Mahaney puts it, “Worship songs should serve the church as take-home theology, reinforcing God-glorifying doctrine and teaching through Christ-centered lyrics and memorable melodies.” It frames how we think about life. Some of the lectures given at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary were very helpful to me in thinking through this issue. Take a look at that list and if you have some idle time in front of the computer, I recommend the talks given by Bob Kauflin, Kevin Twit and Matthew Smith. You’ll have to scroll down the list to get to them. Kevin’s was the most helpful.