Theme: Endurance

The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint — and the worship tradition that doesn't form endurance produces congregations that are always chasing the next experience rather than developing the deep roots that survive drought. Songs about endurance are about the long obedience in the same direction, the patient holding on to what we know is true when what we feel is something very different. These songs have a particular gravity that lighter praise songs don't carry, and they're essential for the full diet of a healthy congregation. I've reached for them most often in communal seasons of extended difficulty — when the church needs not more enthusiasm, but deeper roots. They plant what the next storm will need to find already there.