Each theme has its own introduction, explaining what the songs are for and when they help.
15 songs
Returning the season’s blessings to the One who gives them
The New Year is the most important stretch of the year for Chinese families, and often the hardest for Christians to find music for. Traditional festival songs are lively but usually stop at wishes for wealth and good fortune; church hymns are dignified but sit awkwardly at a reunion dinner. This theme was written for that gap.
6 songs
Stopping to pray for an unsettled world
The news changes by the day, and watching it can leave a person numb as much as concerned. The hardest part of praying for the world is not finding words but suspecting that prayer changes nothing. The songs in this theme exist to help someone start again.
6 songs
From the silence of Good Friday to the announcement of Easter morning
Holy Week and Easter are a road, not a single celebration. The songs in this theme are arranged along that road: the stillness before the cross first, and only then the announcement of the resurrection.
4 songs
Turning a passage into something you can remember by singing
A passage read is easily forgotten; a passage sung tends to stay. Every work in this theme starts from one specific portion of Scripture, rather than assembling general religious language.
7 songs
Worship that does not require you to sing
There are stretches when a person simply cannot sing — too tired, too scattered, or too close to something they cannot yet put into words. This theme asks nothing of your voice.
8 songs
Original worship for bilingual families and English services
Overseas Chinese churches usually carry two things at once: a Mandarin congregation for the first generation, and a second generation who grew up thinking in English. The seam between them is often held together by songs.
6 songs
Saying a blessing with more behind it than politeness
Most Chinese blessings are about the household: peace, health, everyone home, good fortune filling the door. Said often enough they turn into politeness — though the intent behind them is real.
