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I think it’s a wonderful thing when somebody stops long enough to consider the lyrics of a song we sing in church.  That tells me they are “getting it”.  They are aware of the importance of singing songs that have good theology and that express Scriptural truth.

I recently received an email from a person in our church who had some questions about one of my favorite new songs, “Glorious Impossible” by Carl Cartee.  She basically said “if with God ALL things ARE POSSIBLE”, the lyrics don’t make sense .. what did I miss, please explain”.

Well, Carl is a super guy, an incredible songwriter, and best of all – he’s accessible. I’ve known Carl for a few years, and even had him in my old church several years ago.  He replied to my email about the song within 24 hours.

Here’s his reply:

Happy to comment on the song. I guess stuff hits people in various ways…especially poetry which is what Glorious Impossible is.

Nothing is impossible with God, that’s true, but the song is intended to be a celebration of God stepping into what was impossible for us and making it glorious through his overcoming power. The verses try to set up pictures of things that seem impossible for us, the incarnation, walking on water, the resurrection and then invite us to believe beyond ourselves and look for miracles that move us to worship. Poetically using two words that don’t really go together normally, sets the listener up to have one word redeem the other…other songs that do that are “Beautiful Mess” by Diamond Rio or “Broken and Beautiful” by Mark Schultz (I think)

Outside of the verses, the chorus does not make sense, or stand alone. It’s a response to the truth in the verses. Full context is best and especially important for this song.

I am so glad you asked and thank Eileen for the question. I wish more people asked questions like this. It makes me want to be a better writer and work harder than ever to communicate truth for people.

Man … I love it when you can get info on a song directly from the songwriter.  Thanks, Carl.

Below are the lyrics:

Hey Everybody – Welcome to the Big #30 – Sunday Setlists!

First – I want to give credit where credit is due for the “Sunday Setlists” logo this week – it was submitted by our Associate Tech Director and good friend, Chris Moncus @ ChrisMoncus.Com.  If you’d like to submit a “Sunday Setlists” logo, send it via email and I’ll put it up!

OK … so this is the 30th consecutive week, and Sunday Setlists is growng each week.  A special welcome to new Twitter Followers who are participating this week.  Also, if you’d like a weekly email reminder to post your setlist – I have a separate email reminder list for that.  This list is served up by MailChimp, and you can subscribe to it here.  You’ll get an email reminder when Sunday Setlists is posted and ready to go each week.
(Note:  if you already subscribe to the entire blog’s email notification, you don’t need to signup for the Sunday Setlists reminder)

To participate in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival, you need to follow the rules.  Full details are on the “Sunday Setlists” page.  The short version is:

1. Blog about your worship service – you can be the worship leader, pastor, tech guy, or just a person who attended worship!
2. In your blog entry, mention and link back to today’s “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival.  The link for this week is:
   http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/02/15/sunday-setlists-30/
3. Fill out the “Mister Linky” below – be sure that the URL goes straight to your “Sunday Setlists” post or worship confessional, and does NOT go to your blog’s homepage.  Homepage links will be deleted.
4. Leave a comment below and visit the other sites in the Mister Linky.
5. Spread the word.  If you use Twitter, please reference the hash:  #sundaysetlists (click to see all the twitter posts

*** Sunday Setlists Worship Confessional for St. Simons Community Church, Feb 15 – 2009***
Guest – Mandy Thompson

Here’s our “worship confessional” video recap … press play and then pause and let the video load a while before trying to watch it!

Sunday Setlists – Worship Confessional (Fred McKinnon, Mandy Thompson, Jay Sellers) from Fred McKinnon on Vimeo.

Sunday, Feb 15 – Worship Leaders Fred McKinnon and Mandy Thompson discuss their day of worship at SSCC. Electric guitarist, Jay Sellers shines through with his humorous “mandy is a superstar” craziness.

———————

Songs:
Your Grace is Enough
Hosanna (Paul Baloche)
Mighty To Save & The Stand Medley (Hillsong)
This Is The Gift of God (Carl Cartee)
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Your turn … blog about it, link back here, and fill out the Mister Linky below.
Remember – put the full URL to your actual blog entry, and not your blog’s homepage in the URL field:

Hey Everybody,

Dawg, I’m tired.  Very tired.  My mind is numb – mush, from all the information, sensory overload.  It’s a good tired, though.  I’m sharing a hotel room with Joel Klampert (who is blogging much more than I this week) and both of us were so beat we ditched out of the last session tonight pretty much as soon as it was over.

Today was incredible – our first session this morning was with Founder of the re:create event, Randy Elrod.  Honestly, Randy’s been a bit of a mystery to me – haven’t really known who this guy was, what he really believed, or what re:create was all about.  I came here on the overwhelming recommendation of other blogger friends who have experienced it before … like Jim, Los, Chris, and Rich.    This guy (Randy) is amazing.  He’s one of those guys who you feel knit to the moment you meet him.  I would have no trouble spilling the most intimate secrets of my life to this guy within 10 minutes of being around him.  Hearing his story was incredible today and he challenged me in many, many ways … from habits, to family, to ministry, and more.

Ian Morgan Cron was fascinating today, and we had a memorable time in “communion”, or “the eucharist”.  The litury was amazing and left me hungry for more times like this.  I want to challenge you – GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE … and go experience worship in different ways.  It is refreshing.

Ken Davis made us laugh so hard we all hurt.  He knows how to bring it – he makes you laugh until you cry, then you cry because you realize the impact of what he’s saying to you.

Finally, we capped off the evening at yet another swanky, upscale restaurant with amazing food (I had prime rib) and incredible, up-close-and-personal performances from worship artists like Carl Cartee, Travis Cottrell, and American Idol singer/writer Chris Sligh.  I made the mistake of texting my brother that I was sitting at the table next to Chris, and for him to tell my two nephews – so, my phone started lighting up with texts for pictures!  Oh, how I wish I had an iPhone.  My crummy Treo just doesn’t do the job in low light at all … this was the best I could do:

This guy can sing – wow.  Just co-wrote the big single that Rascal Flatts has on the radio now.  Congrats, Chris.  You chose to chase after God … and He’s rewarding you.  I was gonna stay behind and be the starstruck freak and get a picture (it’s for my nephews, you know, haha) but we were all tired so we split.

Was going to come back to the hotel and just crash – but both Joel and I are downloading some of this info out of our brains onto these blogs.

I’ve met so many folks this week – and most of them I’ve followed on Twitter and blogs … and you know what … you wonder “are these people really my friends” …. I can tell you … it’s been amazing … it’s as if we’ve known each other for our entire lives.

Hope you’re able to follow our “live blogging feed” that I’ve got going on here:
http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/02/02/recreate-2009-nashville-tn-2/

It’s a bit random and sporadic … but most of the “a-ha” moments, great quotes, 1-liners, and soundbytes are being “twittered” and “posted” there by lots of us here at the event.

My heart is stirred in so many directions – developing the culture of worship further at SSCC is burning in me.  So many ideas.  So many questions.

See you tomorrow (Thursday).  I’m missing my family, and yeah – I’m loving it here, but I’m ready to be in the arms of my wife and kids, too!