Stochastic Worship

Category: playlists

  • Nehemiah

    Nehemiah

    To those of you who are unfamiliar with the story: Nehemiah is a Jewish exile serving as cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes. Upon hearing about the dilapidated state of Jerusalem’s walls, he is deeply distressed and prays for guidance. Granted permission by the king, he returns to Jerusalem and rallies the people to rebuild the city’s walls, despite facing strong opposition from neighboring enemies like Sanballat and Tobiah. Nehemiah’s leadership, strategic planning, and reliance on prayer help complete the reconstruction in just 52 days.

    This is what my playlist focuses on.

    But the backstory is even more bizarre! Ninety years earlier, the Temple was rebuilt. Ninety years! For nine decades the walls lay in ruins, leaving God’s people vulnerable, open to attack; limiting their ability to live as a community by harming their ability to look after those who most needed assistance.

    There’s a message here for the modern church. Nehemiah teaches us that when God stirs your heart, it’s for a purpose bigger than you. Through prayer, boldness, teamwork, and trust, broken things can be made whole — and God’s name is glorified.


    In a world full of brokenness (inside and outside the church), Nehemiah’s story is a call to rebuild what matters most: faith, community, and hope. But it starts with prayer.

  • Jonah

    Jonah

    My latest playlist.

    Too many people write this off as a simple story, fit only for children. They forget the fact that Jonah was a historical figure, mentioned in 2 Kings 14 – a patriotic prophet who foresaw victory and restoration of Israel’s fortunes.

    You would have thought he would have been eager to predict doom and destruction on Israel’s enemies – but instead he did something totally illogical. He tried to run away from God. A situation he explains in chapter 1, verse 9 of his story. Jumping into a boat to evade the One who created both land and sea is insane. But Jonah did it.

    It’s as if he’s declared to the Almighty, “I refuse to fulfill my destiny! What are You going to do, kill me?” This is why we see Jesus referring to the sign of Jonah. After three days of contemplating his fate, Jonah resolves that God is God, and that he must do His will – whatever the cost to his dignity.

    And What a cost! Imagine this haggard and bleached specimen, dried out and dusty from his travel inland to Nineveh, calling out that this huge sprawling metropolis will be swept away in God’s judgement.

    And then all heaven broke loose! As Jonah waited for destruction to fall; the city turned in repentance, God stayed his hand and Jonah, the great prophet was made to look like a presumptuous fool. The man who got it wrong.

    And here’s the kicker. Jonah had seen God’s mercy from that first instant when he was called to speak truth to power in Nineveh. He knew that if he spoke out, and the people turned from evil, God would spare them – spare the mortal enemies of Israel; so that when Israel turned from God, there would be an alien nation ready to deliver God’s judgement to them.

    You can appreciate his flawed thinking. “If I don’t preach, they will be swept away without warning, and my own sinful people will be safe for another generation.”

    Jonah must have realised the futility of trying to run away from his fate. After all, no-one is indispensable. God could have raised up any number of successors to Jonah and sent them to Nineveh. But He wanted Jonah. Looking back through the lens of the Gospel story we glimpse why.

  • Happy Easter!

    Happy Easter!

    Here’s a playlist.

    For those of you who want to shout out, “Hallelujah, Jesus is Risen!” Here’s a few different ways of singing those words…

    And most important of all, have a great day. Meet with others and enjoy the reality of having a fresh start, thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

  • The Lent Cross Challenge

    The Lent Cross Challenge

    Earlier I mentioned the Lent Cross Challenge promoted by the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Each day, throughout the Lent season I have shared a new song generated by the prompt given for scriptural mediation.

    It has been an interesting experience. Some of the songs have certainly helped me express my thoughts as I’ve considered the meanings of the Bible verses and their direct relevance to my own life. Here’s a link to the playlist.

    As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the only person who has been using AI-generated music as an aid to focus my thoughts on the meaning of Lent. There are even people on Suno who have been faithfully posting a daily song to accompany the Bible reading plan they’ve been following.

  • A Suite for Good Friday

    A Suite for Good Friday

    Good Friday? If you don’t know how the story ends, it’s the most horrific time. The one person who you thought could change the world has been arrested, tried in a kangaroo court and executed in the cruelest way imaginable.

    But let’s spare a thought for the real victims of the story – or so they would portray themselves. A religious and political establishment who correctly identified the Author of Righteousness as an existential threat to their comfortable status quo.

    What if you looked at the events of Holy Week from their eyes? After their attempts to discredit Jesus have resulted in further exposing themselves as corrupt and foolish; they find a suitable patsy who will betray Him. They feel that their problem is dead and buried…

    Then, all heaven breaks loose!

    Here’s a short playlist of four songs telling the story of the Passion from their viewpoint. Because, truth be told, if we were in their position, we would have done the same.

  • The Playlists

    The Playlists

    One of the reasons why I began working on this site was to help organise the curated playlists of AI-generated worship music I’ve been working on.

    Here’s a link to an ever-expanding set of my playlists on Suno.

    I’ve tried to categorise them as:

    • Books of the Bible
    • Chants
    • The Church Year
    • People
    • Stories
    • Books
    • Themes

    Feel free to explore them: remix, experiment with your own ideas and comment on or like any individual songs or playlists while you are there.

  • Happy Holy Week

    Happy Holy Week

    Yes, there’s a playlist!

    We begin this week with Palm Sunday, but beneath all the rejoicing that the king is here, there’s a deeper, darker undercurrent. We know Jesus has to die.

    To a corrupt establishment, it’s a necessary political expedience. They tell us we cannot afford the luxury of a populist iconoclast who, if left unchecked, would overturn their comfortable status quo.

    It’s worth exploring musically.

  • Chants

    Chants

    I have a playlist, of course. And I’m not the only person at Suno using their tools to do this.

    There’s a rich tradition of using short, repetitive songs to focus the mind on who you’re singing to – from the Jesus Prayer uttered in the Egyptian deserts sixteen centuries ago to Taize-style worship in churches today.

    It’s a style which has often been parodied. I came across one based on Graham Kendrick’s Jesus Put This Song Into Our Hearts back in the 1980s. It’s still doing the rounds now in a slightly altered form:

    This is a modern Christian worship song,
    This is a modern Christian worship song,
    This is a modern Christian worship song,

    [change key and repeat]

    But it resonates with something deep inside us. We long for union with the God who created us, who loved us so much that He took on human form to live among us. Not just to show us how to live but to satisfy the demands of a Divine justice system that demanded our death and eternal separation from our Creator because of our rebellion against Him. Only through Him can we find the power to subdue the inward struggle to be less than we were designed to be.

    And so, we call out to Him.

    One of the experimental chants I’ve been working on is called Cry To The Lord:

    [Chorus]
    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    [Verse 1]
    I love the Lord
    he heard my prayer
    and saved me from
    the devil’s snare

    [Chorus]
    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    [Verse 2]
    Cry to the Lord
    He’ll hear your voice
    and in His love
    you will rejoice

    [Chorus]
    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    Jesus Christ
    Son of David
    have mercy on me
    a sinner

    It’s simple enough. Similar in structure to the Jesus Prayer, but more resonant of Bartimaeus’ cry in the 10th chapter of Mark’s Gospel. Like him, we’re blind. Searching for the One who can transform our sinful reality into one where His glorious presence shines through to give us joy.