Blended/Folk

Showing 25–36 of 47 results

  • Psalm 136: The Gracious Love of God Will Never End

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_136-the_gracious_love.mp3

    Psalm 136 is a long Psalm with the repeated refrain, “His love endures forever.” The Hebrew is much richer. The word “love” encompasses loving-kindness, grace, mercy, and compassion. I arrived at a repeated refrain of “The gracious love of God will never end” and a simple call-and-response that can be learned quickly.

    This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church, please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • Psalm 137: So Far from Home

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/08-So-Far-From-Home.mp3"][/audio]

    “So Far from Home” is a setting of Psalm 137, which includes the imprecation: “Blessed is he who dashes their babies against the rocks.” What is an imprecation if it’s not a curse? In this case, I decided to recast Psalm 137 in a modern context, replacing harps with guitars and the Psalms oppressors with the modern forces of human misery: slave traders, pimps, and wars.

    This song is mentioned in Greg’s podcast, “Russians.”

    This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to OneLicense.

  • Psalm 14: We Wait for You, Our Savior

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_014-we_wait_for_you_our_savior.mp3

    At first blush, Psalm 14 seems almost catty. The Psalmist comes out swinging, calling the godless “fools,” “abominable,” “perverse,” and “evil.” Ouch! However, this vitriol is not aimed at random unbelievers, it is reserved for those “who eat my people as they eat bread” and who would “confound the plans of the poor.” By the end of the Psalm, anger has turned to prayer, asking God to give refuge to those in need.

    This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church, please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • Psalm 16: The Refuge of My Soul

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    [embed]http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm_016-the_refuge_of_my_soul.mp3[/embed]

    This song chronicles a life from birth to death under God’s care.

    At first glance, it may seem like the song has little to do with the Psalm 16. It uses none of the “protect me, God” or “path of life” phrases that other settings of this Psalm use. Instead, it goes a layer deeper, into the Psalm’s structure.

    Samuel Terrien proposes that Psalm 16 is made up of 6 strophes, with the first three mirroring the last three. In broad strokes, the Psalm begins its focus on things of earth and moves toward heaven. As I meditated on the Psalm it suddenly struck me that it closely follows the span of human life. It is very clear in the last two strophes, which focus on the grave and eternal life. Working your way backward, you can see further life milestones: the growth of wisdom (strophe 4) and earthly blessings (strophe 3). The first two strophes are less clear, but with a bit of imagination, I recast the first strophe’s protection and refuge as the womb and the sacrifices to false gods in strophe two as the sins of youth. It’s easier to understand when you see the Psalm and my song side by side as in this PDF.

  • Psalm 18: I Love You, God My Lord

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_18-i_love_you_god_my_lord.mp3

    In addition to being quite long, Psalm 18 presents the difficulty of wide-ranging content. It starts with praise for God’s strength and a plea for help, then extols God’s retribution of enemies, provides an overly flattering assessment of the Psalmist’s own piety, takes joy in the strength God gives the Psalmist, and ends with more praise for the victory God will give.

    Adam Carlill’s 20 verses do justice to the original while remaining accessible to modern ears. I added a refrain–it felt like the song needed something to break up all those verses. I could imagine a leader singing a few verses at a time and then handing it over to the congregation to sing the refrain.

    This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • Psalm 28: My God, the Rock

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_028-my_god_my_rock-sandy-1.mp3

    Kate Bluett follows the three-part prayer we find in Psalm 28, teasing out the image of God the Rock, as opposed to the stony silence of a god who doesn’t hear people’s prayers. I wrote two tunes for her text and simply couldn’t decide which I like better. The first tune (SANDY, sample above) is a jazzy melody that gives the song a mournful, prayerful character and brings out the pathos of Kate’s text. The other tune (ROCKY, sample below) is more rustic and forceful, which gives the song confidence in the midst of a trial.

    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_028-my_god_my_rock-rocky.mp3

  • Psalm 31: In Your Shadow Is My Refuge

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/Psalm-31_-In-Your-Shadow.mp3

    Psalm 31 has a place in Holy Week worship because Jesus quoted it from the cross: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Though verses 9-13 give a glimpse into the terror of the cross, much of the Psalm focuses on trust in God’s deliverance. Kate Bluett has written a lovely setting of 31 which captures not only the heart of the Psalm, but also the structure, from plea for help to description of affliction to final words of hope. It is a great comfort to me to know that I can meditate and hope in the same scriptures that Jesus recited in his time of deepest distress.

     

  • Psalm 37: An Antiphonal Acrostic

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/psalm_37_demo-complete.mp3"][/audio]

    Psalm 37 is an acrostic Psalm with 22 sections built on each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This musical setting follows that pattern, with 22 connected “songlets.” The last four measures of each songlet can be sung in counterpoint to the first four measures of the next songlet, creating a 22-link musical chain. It sounds complicated and esoteric; just take a listen to the MP3 demo and everything will make sense!

    This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense. Download includes side-by-side Scripture and lyrics.

  • Psalm 4: I Rest in You

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    [embed]http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm_004-i_rest_in_you.mp3[/embed]

    Psalm 4 is the lament of someone whose honor has been impugned. You can hear the theme of shame and honor recurring throughout. Ultimately, though, the Psalmist chooses to rest in the Lord. It reminds me of what Richard Foster says in The Celebration of Discipline—I believe in the section on silence—about not speaking in defense of yourself, but simply allowing your reputation to stand on its own. This lack of control is frightening, especially when your name is at stake, but ultimately we can’t control what others think of us. In this song, the lyrics and music turn the Psalm from an indignant defense (“Break their teeth, O Lord”) into a quiet prayer in the night. 

  • Psalm 41: Blessed Are the Weak

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_041-blessed_are_the_weak.mp3

    Psalm 41 is a prayer for healing–a prayer of hope though both enemies and friends are waiting for you to die. “Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.” This is very similar to Jesus’ words in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” God has always sided with the poor, the weak, and the outsiders. We should, too, knowing that God will side with us in our moment of weakness.

    This hymn is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • Psalm 44: For Your Mercy’s Sake

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_44-for_your_mercys_sake.mp3

    Lyricist T.L. (Tammy) Moody has a knack for finding fresh ways to express herself, or in this case express Psalm 44’s anguished cry for help of the original Psalm: “Awake, O Lord!” The Psalm is full of unresolved questions; similarly, the song’s harmonies remain unsettled throughout.

    This hymn is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • Psalm 46: O Lord of All, You Are Our Home

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    [embed]http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm_046-o_lord_of_all.mp3[/embed]

    Psalm 46 offers comfort and hope in times of trouble. It doesn’t promise that we won’t experience hardship, but that God will be with us in those times.

    In Martin Luther’s famous setting of Psalm 46, “A Mighty Fortress,” he focused on themes of strength and battle. In my setting, I highlight the Psalm’s images of God as a refuge–God’s stable presence among us in a chaotic world–concluding each verse with an affirmation of hope: “The Lord of all is with us.”

Showing 25–36 of 47 results