New Song: Great High Priest

Great High Priest is a simple mid-tempo worship song based on Hebrews 7:26-27 and was the first song I wrote for Grace Church Nottingham in 2004. We’ve been singing it there ever since.

Read the story behind the song here

(Download this song for free!)

mp3, Chord Sheet, Lyrics

Jesus, Holy One
Jesus, Blameless One
Totally pure, set apart from sinners
Now you are exalted above the heavens


Jesus you’re my great high priest
The only one who meets my need,
My need to be forgiven & set free.
The anger of a Holy God
Defamed by all the wrong I’ve done
You took upon yourself so willingly
When you sacrificed your sinless life for me.


Great High Priest & Perfect Lamb.
Almighty God & Suffering Man.

© Matt Blick. Grace Church Nottingham 2004.


(Download this song for free!)

mp3, Chord Sheet, Lyrics

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Song Of The Redeemed

Making The Word Of God Sticky

The word of God has an incredible life-changing power but when wedded to music it can stick in the mind till it becomes almost impossible to remove. Here is D.A. Carson talking about his mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s:

Nine or ten months before she died, you'd get a small flicker from the eyes or squeeze of the hand if you held up pictures of her grandchildren. Six months before she died, if you sang an old hymn like 'Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine', you'd get a squeeze. Or a quote from the King James Version that she'd been brought up on. That was about the last thing that produced any response in her. The most deeply embedded memories in that decaying brain were those old hymns and memorised Scripture.

(BeginningWithMoses.Org)

Sung words can remain, stubbornly bearing witness against the seared unbelieving conscience. Author D.H. Lawrence once said;

...all these lovely poems woven deep onto a man's consciousness are still not woven so deep in me as the rather banal Nonconformist hymns that penetrated through and through my childhood.

(Nick Page: And Now Let's Move into a Time of Nonsense p.112)

Songs can endure even when barely a remnant of the language is retained. Here is some of fruit of David Livingstone’s ministry:

Each night [Livingstone] spent some time in prayer and even sang a bedtime hymn…these hymns he also taught to his faithful followers. Wakatani, who had left …nine years earlier and had forgotten most of his English, was recognised one night by the seaman, Young, to be singing a hymn. This Wakatani said was a four-line bedtime hymn Livingstone had taught him.

(Rob Mackenzie: David Livingstone: The Truth Behind The Legend p323)

In the light of testimonies like this it’s worth pausing to consider what words we are putting in the mouths of God’s people Sunday by Sunday.

As D.A. Carson says

There is something worrying to me about a generation that sings choruses that won't last more than five years. There's not much memorization of Scripture, and there's not much memorization of doctrinally profound hymns. I want to see that reborn. Nobody's going to die remembering 'He's a great big wonderful God'.

(BeginningWithMoses.Org)

(P.S. Music can also make us feel powerful emotions too…)

Ominous Music Heard Throughout U.S. Sends Nation Into Panic

[If you're subscribed to this blog via email, you will have to click on the post's title to watch any video content (the link will take you my site).

This is so feedburner doesn't clog up your inbox with large files!]

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Free Newday Sheet Music

Brighton's Worship School Blog are giving away sheet music for two songs from the upcoming Newday CD,
My Soul Is Well (Jordon Dillon/Simon Brading) and
The Third Day (Simon Brading/Matt Redman), here.

Go get em!


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The Weight Of Glory

Multicultural Worship: From Cape Town To Brazil (Via Cambridge)

If you ever needed proof that the planet is becoming a global village here's a song by Brenton Brown (a South African) written while he was part of a church in Cambridge UK, translated into Portuguese, performed by Brazilians, in the style of classic British rock band Led Zeppelin.

So what's not to like?




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Hand Raising Worship - The 10 Styles

One of the blogs I've been enjoying recently is Stuff Christians Like. Jonathan Acuff has a real nice line in sanctified sarcasm that's right up my street.

Here's a taster from his post on Hand Raising Worship - The 10 Styles.

The Half & Half. This person often wants to sing with both hands raised, but they go to a conservative church and don’t want to be known as “that guy.” So instead of singing with both hands up, they hold one in the air and put one in their pocket or on the chair in front of them. It’s like half their body is saying,

“YAY JESUS!!!!”

and the other half is saying,

“Nothing to see here folks, move it along please, move it along.”

Here's Jon's top ten hand raising styles-

Turtle image from National Geographic.

1. The Ninja
2. The Half & Half
3. The Single Hand Salute
4. The Elevator
5. The Pound Cake
6. The Tickler
7. The Double High Five (AKA The "Secret Passageway")
8. The Huge Watermelon
9. The Helicopter Rail
10. The YMCA

In the interests of full disclosure I'm pretty much a Double High Five/Secret Passageway guy, with Pound Cake tenancies if I'm receiving prayer ministry. Give me a good conference and an aisle seat and I might even do The Tickler (I've reworked that sentence several times but there just is no good way of saying it. Any sinful ideas are in the mind of the beholder).

In my old age I'd like to be like the woman who, when she lifted her hands, "always looked like she was clearing a runway for God to land".

Read the post and let me know what style you prefer. Just try not to think about this when you're looking out at the congregation as you're leading worship!

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Matt Redman Going Cheap!

If you're looking to get the new Matt Redman album, We Shall Not Be Shaken on CD, Acorn Direct is one of the cheapest places I've found for UK customers. It can be yours for the princely sum of £10:99. Postage is free.

Matt Redman photo by Jennifer


I think the album might be really good, but I can't be sure because my oldest child, Groucho, keeps kidnapping it. I'll let you know when she gets tired of it...


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You Alone Can Rescue - Free Download

O.K. O.K. don't get too excited. We're talking the pdf not an mp3 - but what d'yall want for nothing?

The whole album signed by Matt?
And £20?!

I see what I can do - keep reading...

For the price of an email you can download the sheet music from Kingsway. They also posted this -




Lastly but not leastly - Kingsway have a competition to win a copy of We Shall Not Be Shaken signed by Matt, plus £20 to spend in the Kingswayshop . Here's the question:

Q: How many different countries has Matt Redman played the song 'You Alone Can Rescue' in? (Ask the Holy Spirit for a word of knowledge, or, alternatively, watch the video).

Email your answer to Kingsway: (closing date: 18th Sep 09)


Worship together had it first BUT they only post their videos for about a week, don't allow you to embed them and all their sheet music is only available as a scorch file which is just about the glitchiest dumbest piece of software ever to blight a musicians life. WT = nil points!


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Rotten Apples?

Apple doing something less than perfectly? Surely not!

Well, it looks like even Apple believe the "Macs never get viruses" hype and have been getting a little sloppy with their security. Forbes.com has the details.


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The One WithThe Redman Video

I'm back!

This video has been linked and reposted so much that it feels like a new Rickrolling craze, but it is well worth listening to.
So, just in case you've been under a rock (or a rick), here it is...



Obviously Bob saw it first

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The Final Lucky Bag - #14

So, are you ready for the very last lucky bag?

No, I still don't know what you're talking about, even though I've read the last 13 posts.

Yes I am. = Here you go -

Lucky Bag #14



Thanks for stopping by and getting involved in my random shennigans.


(Normal service should resume tomorrow...Thank you for leaving me a comment or two).

Lucky Bag #13

So, are you ready for the next lucky bag?

No, I don't even know what you're talking about.

Yes I am. = Here you go -

Lucky Bag #13

and just to show I don't believe in that "13 being unlucky" guff here's another one

Extra Lucky Bag #13B


Leave me a comment (but no spoilers please!)