Today’s song from Sing Praise is “I will worship with all of my heart” by Dave Ruis. It dates from 1991, I remember it being briefly popular around that time. It’s a devotional song rather than a doctrinal hymn, and of course there is a place for both in the Church’s worship. The structure is that of ‘call and echo’ which can either be leader and congregation, or two sides of the congregation, or men and women, as preferred. Without the echo it would sound a bit odd, with pauses between two halves of each line.
The words are those of commitment: “I will worship with all of my heart, I will praise you with all of my strength, I will seek you all of my days, I will follow all of your ways”, and similar in the second verse and chorus. The whole song is available here.
The challenge, of course, is to put these fine words into practice. Pledging during a worship meeting to devote oneself entirely to God is one thing, doing so in real life is another. But without making the pledge, there’s even less chance of fulfilling it.
Yes, I have also known this song for a long while, and yes I agree with Stephen’s analysis. We still use it at St Luke’s Eccleshill, as its “call and response” atmosphere lends itself to occasional use in worship.
Stephen says that without the echo it would sound a bit odd, but it is of course possible to have everyone sing everything provided that they miss out some of the words of response. And I think quite a lot of our people do that.