Schwoebel - Christ's Love Compels Us (organ view)

INTROIT Christ’s Love Compels Us (music by David Schwoebel, 2017)
Quire in Quarantine; Dale Morehouse, pianist and conductor
St. John's Methodist - Kansas City, MO
January 31, 2021
David Schwoebel’s “Christ’s Love Compels Us” is a profoundly moving commissioned anthem that speaks to the heart of ministry and servanthood. With an emphasis on the power of divine love, the lyric challenges us to make grace-based responses to contemporary situations. The thrilling music moves us through these thoughts with soaring lines and engaging harmonies, while respecting the importance of clarity in its delivery of the message. The piano part is symphonic in itself filling the sanctuary with a multi-colored tapestry of sound, adding an even more epic quality to this very timely sermon in song.
REFRAIN: Christ’s love compels us. Christ’s love sustains us.
Christ’s love unleashes Heaven’s kingdom here on earth!
When tears become the lens through which we see the enemy,
Our arms, outstretched, receive the stranger and the refugee. REFRAIN
When fear is not allowed to tie the hands of ministry,
Our arms, outstretched, embrace the person whom the world won’t see. REFRAIN
When “any place on earth” describes where we will follow Him,
Our arms, outstretched, confess our constant need of strength from Him. REFRAIN
And may it ever be that Jesus is our liberty.
Our arms, outstretched, reflect our daily cross and Calvary. REFRAIN
Amen!
(words based on 2 Corinthians 5:14 by Terry York, 2017)