What "Today Is the Day" means
Lincoln Brewster's "Today Is the Day" is a song built on a decision. Not a feeling, a decision. The distinction matters because the lyric is not celebrating the fact that today feels wonderful. It is declaring that today is the day the Lord has made and that the appropriate response is rejoicing, whether or not that rejoicing comes naturally. The song is drawn from Psalm 118:24, which is itself one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament, including by Jesus at his entry into Jerusalem. That context is worth sitting with. The day the psalm originally celebrated was not an ordinary good day. It was a day of deliverance from impossibility, a day when the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone. The joy in the original context is not the joy of circumstances going well. It is the joy of unexpected rescue. When Brewster picks up that psalm and puts it in a contemporary worship song at 124 BPM, he is not asking for superficial happiness. He is asking the congregation to declare that every day they wake up is a day of the Lord's making, and that deliverance is the permanent context for Christian life, even when today specifically does not feel like it. That tension between the declaration and the experience is where the song lives. The gap between what you declare and what you feel is not hypocrisy. It is faith in practice.
What this song does in a room
At 124 BPM, this song creates momentum. It is a high-energy song designed to produce movement, engagement, and participatory joy in a congregation. When it starts, it signals that the church has gathered for something active rather than passive. Rooms that have been warming up through slower songs tend to break open at the tempo and energy of this song. It is a natural opener or a second song that builds off an opener, and it sets a tone for a service built around celebration, mission, or declarations of faith. The song's repetitive chorus ("this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it") means the congregation is saying the central declaration multiple times. By the third time through, the declaration has moved from the head toward something more embodied. People who walked in uncertain are often singing with genuine conviction by the bridge. Watch for that shift and stay in the song long enough to let it happen. Cutting the song short before the bridge arrives can leave the momentum unfinished. The song needs to reach its peak to do its full work.
What this song is saying about God
The song says that God is the maker of days, which sounds simple but carries significant weight. If God makes this day, then this day is not accidental, not meaningless, not a cosmic indifference. Every day has a maker, and the maker is good. The song is also saying that the proper posture toward a day God has made is active joy, not passive waiting for something to happen. "Rejoice and be glad in it" is a command the psalmist gives to himself, not a description of a feeling that arrived on its own. The song is inviting congregations to participate in that same self-directed declaration. You are not rejoicing because you feel like it. You are rejoicing because it is right to rejoice. The song trusts that the act of declaring shapes the heart over time, which is the biblical logic behind the psalms of ascent and behind Paul's instruction in Philippians 4 to let your gentleness be evident to all. Behavior and posture are not simply downstream of emotion. They also form it. The congregation that learns to declare joy in a worship service is training a posture that carries into the week.
Scriptural backbone
Psalm 118:24 is the text at the center: "The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad." The phrase "the Lord has done it" is the reason for the rejoicing. It is not an invitation to manufacture a mood but a response to an action. What has the Lord done? In Psalm 118's original context, he has brought deliverance from enemies and from death. In the New Testament appropriation, the "stone the builders rejected" who has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22) is Jesus, referenced in Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, and 1 Peter 2:7. Every time the congregation sings Psalm 118:24 in a worship service, they are singing a messianic psalm. The day being celebrated is every day that follows the resurrection. Philippians 4:4 echoes the call: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Again, this is a command, not a description. This is how the biblical tradition consistently handles joy: not as something to wait for but as something to practice.
How to use it in a service
"Today Is the Day" earns its place at the front of a set or in the energetic early movement of a service built around celebration, commissioning, or the joy of gathering. It is a natural fit for first Sundays of a new season, Easter season services, all-church celebration moments, and services where the pastoral goal is to lift the room out of a season of discouragement or heaviness into a declaration of faith. The song is also a strong fit for outdoor services, camps, conferences, and youth-heavy services because the energy is accessible and the lyric is direct enough that new people can be in it quickly. If your set calls for a big finish rather than a big opening, this song can also land at the close of a set as a sending song, though its momentum tends to work harder at the front of a sequence. In E, the key sits well for most mixed congregations and allows the chorus to land in a singable upper register.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The greatest danger in leading a high-energy song is leading it from the outside rather than the inside. If you are performing joy rather than experiencing it, the congregation will feel the gap. Before you bring "Today Is the Day" into a service, spend time with Psalm 118. Let the declaration work on you before you ask the room to declare it. The song should feel like something that burst out of you, not something you are administering to others. Also watch the room's energy level and adjust accordingly. If the congregation is not rising to the energy, do not keep pushing harder. Sometimes the song needs to slow slightly at the verse to let people find their footing before the chorus lifts. And be honest about timing: if significant difficult news just landed in the congregation the week before, a straight-ahead joy song needs to be introduced with care. You can still sing it. But a sentence of honest acknowledgment before the song keeps the declaration from feeling dismissive of what people are carrying.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Drummers, this is a song that asks you to drive. The 124 BPM groove needs to be locked and confident from the first measure. A solid kick-snare pattern on two and four with active hi-hat work will push the congregation forward. Keep the snare crisp and present. This is not a song for a light touch on the kit. Fills should be musical and intentional, landing the congregation in the right place for the chorus rather than calling attention to themselves. Guitarists, this is a song for full strumming patterns, big open chords, and some grit if the style of your room supports it. The guitar needs to be a source of energy, not just harmonic filler. Keys players, layer the pad underneath and keep a bright piano or synth part moving on top to add sparkle without creating muddiness. Vocalists, the backgrounds should sing with full voice and clear articulation, especially on the chorus. The congregation learns the lyric partly by watching and hearing the vocals on stage. If background vocalists are at half-effort, the congregation will follow that lead. Front-of-house engineers, this song rewards a bright, forward mix. The kick and snare need presence without overwhelming the vocal. The lead vocal needs to cut clearly above a full-band arrangement. Watch for low-mid buildup when the full band is in. Monitor engineers, the drummer and bass player need a locked reference mix so the rhythm section stays tight at 124. Confirm those monitors are solid before the band runs the song at full energy.