At Your Name (Yahweh, Yahweh)

Special edition blog!  The choir isn't singing this Sunday, but my kidz choir is!  We started our year in August as always and this will be the first time they sing for "big church".  We've been working on this song since then.  I try to choose songs that won't seem to "babyish" for the 5th graders, but that will still be understood by the kindergartners.  It's a tough line to straddle!  

Preschool choir music was so much easier in that regard!  But the book I have this year is basically just worship music sung by kids.  Even the adults can relate to these!  So here are the lyrics:

At Your name, the mountains shake and crumble
At Your name, the oceans roar and tumble
At Your name, angels will bow, the earth will rejoice
Your people cry out

Lord of all the earth
We shout Your name, shout Your name
Filling up the skies
With endless praise, endless praise
Yahweh, Yahweh
We love to shout Your name, oh Lord

At Your name, the morning breaks in glory
At Your name, creation sings Your story
At Your name, angels will bow, the earth will rejoice
Your people cry out

Lord of all the earth
We shout Your name, shout Your name
Filling up the skies
With endless praise, endless praise
Yahweh, Yahweh
We love to shout Your name, oh Lord

There is no one like our God
We will praise You, praise You
There is no one like our God
We will sing, we will sing

There is no one like our God
We will praise You, praise You
There is no one like our God
We will sing, we will sing

There is no one like our God
We will praise You, praise You
Jesus, You're our God
We will sing

Lord of all the earth
We shout Your name, shout Your name
Filling up the skies
With endless praise, endless praise
Yahweh, Yahweh
We love to shout Your name

Lord of all the earth
We shout Your name, shout Your name
Filling up the skies
With endless praise, endless praise
Yahweh, Yahweh
We love to shout Your name, oh Lord, oh Lord

Yahweh, Yahweh
We love to shout Your name, oh Lord

I hadn't actually heard this song before listening to the cd that came with the book.  There were a few others that I liked, a couple we even do in our worship services.  But I liked this one because of the lyrics!  As a music ministry as a whole, we want to always sing the songs we do with real meaning.  To give God all the praise and glory.  And these lyrics kind of put a definition to that sentiment.  

The first two lines of the song are set up as a solo, but I asked two girls to sing it together.  The sweetest twins on the planet!  Ava and Audrey have been attending the worship services with their parents for months now and I love to look out and see a little hand raised up high in praise to God.  They've been at choir every time and work hard to learn the songs.  Like a lot of my church family, when I hear these kids sing, it makes me want to cry!  The innocence they bring to it and just knowing that they're worshiping our great God makes me burst with joy!

I've taught them that Yahweh means "The Lord's Name" and their verse they learned this week was Isaiah 46:9b I am God and there is no one like Me.  Which is just perfect because in the bridge of the song, they sing "There is no one like our God, we will praise You, praise You.  There's no one like our God, we will sing, we will sing."  I don't know their verses in advance because another leader comes in to give the lesson.  So I think that's pretty awesome that their last verse of the semester is right in line with the song they're singing on Sunday!

It's been strange this time around because we have life groups on Sunday evenings now instead of a service.  I used to do kidz choir before the service, so I would have anywhere from 3 to 7 kids each time.  When I started kidz choir 4 years ago, I'd have around 20.  Each year, the numbers dwindled and it was very disheartening.  But now that we do the life groups for the adults, the kids have the option to attend choir.  We have over 40 on the roll now.  But the last month or so has been steady at around 20.  Next semester will be interesting, just to see how many kids come back (based on their parents attending a life group) and how many new faces we get. 

They are a handful at times, but it's fun teaching these kiddos about music!  I try to give them some musical terms like cut offs, beats per measure, crescendo and decrescendo, piano, mezzo piano, etc.  And I hope they walk away from it each time having learned something new.  

I know I don't have to remind them, but I also tell them to sing from their hearts and really think about the words.  Worship is entirely relative, but hopefully they will gain an appreciation for it in the long run!  Can't wait to hear them sing on stage!