At Christ Covenant Church, our 50 year goal is to train our body of believers to sing all 150 Psalms. In the month of February, we learned Psalm 144 which is, as most Psalms are, relevant to the battle at hand today. This metrical psalm was written by Julie and Timothy Tennent of Seedbed and the rousing music written by Leonard R. Payton of St. John Lutheran Church and the music was sourced from the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns #460.

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Music: Henry Smart, 1867Text: Timothy Dudley-Smith, 1972 ©Artwork: “Vision Of The Lamb And The Four Living Creatures”

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I was deeply distraught by the assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday. I, like many, felt a deep rage seeing one of our own taken down by demonic forces for simply speaking with people. Yesterday, many of us learned to truly hate what is evil.

The Psalter has answers for clinging to what is good so today I wrote and recorded the following setting of Psalm 120 arranged from the NKJV. It is written for Charlie Kirk, a true gentleman, who dedicated his life to speaking truth in the pursuit of peace. Charlie was truly a peacemaker but the enemies risen up against us only want war.

At the end of the song I take a small snippet from Gregory Wilbur’s setting of Psalm 68 - “Let God Arise.”

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

Rest in peace Charlie Kirk, son of God.

Psalm 120

1 In my distress I cried to the LORD,And He heard me.

2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lipsAnd from a deceitful tongue.

3 What shall be given to you,Or what shall be done to you,You false tongue?

4 Sharp arrows of the warrior,With coals of the broom tree!

5 Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech,That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

6 My soul has dwelt too longWith one who hates peace.

7 I am for peace;But when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 68

Let God arise in all His mightAnd put the troops of Hell to flight!

The text

1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.

2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

3 My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, O LORD—how long?

4 Return, O LORD, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!

5 For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears.

7 My eye wastes away because of grief; It grows old because of all my enemies.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.

9 The LORD has heard my supplication; The LORD will receive my prayer.

10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

The setting

In anger, LORD, rebuke me not, Nor judgment in Your wrath decide. My weakness pity, LORD, and heal, For in my bones I'm terrified.

My soul is greatly terrified. O LORD! - and yet how long You take! Return, O LORD, and free my soul, And save me for Your mercies' sake.

For none in death remembers You, Or there Your memory shall keep. And who can give You praises then, Within the region of the deep?

My groaning ever wearies me, Through every night till morn appears. My grieving makes my bed to swim And waters all my cot with tears.

Because of all my enemies This bitter grief consumes my eyes. Then let all evil men depart! The LORD has heard my weeping cries.

The LORD my supplication hears; The LORD has brought my prayers to mind; My foes shall be ashamed and vexed, And sudden shame they all will find.

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This song will be released on Spotify and other streaming services but you can download your own copy of it now for free!

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The Text

Isaiah 2:2-5

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Setting

Behold! the mountain of the LordIn latter days shall riseOn mountain tops above the hills,And draw the wondering eyes.

To this the joyful nations round,All tribes and tongues, shall flow;Up to the hill of God, they'll say,And to His house we'll go.

The beam that shines from Zion hillShall lighten every land;The King Who reigns in Salem's towersShall all the world command.

Among the nations He shall judge;His judgments truth shall guide;His scepter shall protect the just,And quell the sinner's pride.

No strife shall vex Messiah's reignOr mar the peaceful years;To plowshares soon they beat their swordsTo pruning hooks their spears.

No longer hosts encountering hosts,Their millions slain deplore;They hang the trumpets in the hallAnd study war no more.

Come then, O house of Jacob, comeTo worship at His shrine;And, walking in the light of God,With holy beauties shine.

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In John 13, Jesus tells his disciples “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Later, the Apostle John would remember this clearly when he wrote under the direction of Christ’s Spirit the words of 1 John 4:7-11

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

The “new” commandment Jesus gave us was second only to loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and so let us show the world we love Him by loving one another.

This SFS is being sung by the choir of Christ the King Academy.

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This song will be released on Spotify and other streaming services but you can download your own copy of it now for free!

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First published in 1851, The Eagle is a favorite here in the Stout house. Alfred Tennyson wrote this poem during what has been called the “Romanticism” period of English literature which was a reaction against the “Enlightenment.”

The enlightenment saw human reason as supreme while the romantics favored human emotion as supreme. As Christians we reject both and recognize that God is supreme over reason and emotion.

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

This poem is a short and powerfully worded masterpiece which is made all the more glorious when read in light of Job 12:7-10 which says explicitly that the hand of the Lord holds everything found in creation including both the reason and the emotions of man.

Job 12:7-10

“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;And the fish of the sea will explain to you.

Who among all these does not knowThat the hand of the LORD has done this,

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,And the breath of all mankind?”

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This song will be released on Spotify and other streaming services at the end of the month but you can download your own copy of it now for free!

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Sanctus (Latin for “holy”) is a new song that the saints at Christ Covenant Church are going to be adding to their liturgy each week. This setting was arranged by James B. Jordan and can be found in the Cantus Christi 2020.

Download this recording here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xuyOJc9cNO7sqvBnYxqbsdmtu0yMID0E/view?usp=sharing

All Four Parts

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Alto

Tenor

Bass

Music can be found in the YouTube link or by purchasing the Cantus Christi 2020 from Canon Press.

Here is another “one-take” Psalm recording that we made from Psalm 127. While we had a few less of our own kids in this video we were blessed to have a cousin join us! Connor O’Dell joined the ranks of Stout kids to declare that children are indeed a “heritage from the LORD.”

The Text

Psalm 127 (NKJV)

Unless the LORD builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;Unless the LORD guards the city,The watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,To sit up late,To eat the bread of sorrows;For so He gives His beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,So are the children of one’s youth.

5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;They shall not be ashamed,But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Sheet Music