10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman

This song is already extremely popular in part because of its wonderful chorus, but I wanted to highlight it because of the first verse. The idea that we rise each day to sing God's song in the world is a beautiful metaphor for the Christian life. It speaks to a playful, dynamic, and yet structured life with God. The last line in the verse is a prayer for faithfulness: "whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes." Remembering that faithfulness to God is the definition of a successful day strikes me as being particularly helpful for Christians living in a world where success is so often measured differently!

With Every Act of Love - Jason Gray

This is a song that I've really enjoyed over the last several weeks. A lot of contemporary worship speaks about individual relationship with God, and while that's a component of this song as well, it sets individual discipleship in the context of community, and encourages us to see the coming kingdom of God in the way that we love one another. What a wonderful articulation of our faith.