The Greatness of Our God -- Jason Ingram, Reuben Morgan, Stuart David Garrard

 

‘I AM.’ (Exodus 3:14; John 4:26; John 8:58) How often did He need to say this? The God Moses met, and the One who talked with a Samaritan woman at a water hole, and then debated with some skeptical Jews, did not only mouth this claim. He lived it, so that no one would be able to doubt “The Greatness of Our God”, except those who were too stubborn and prideful to admit what was obvious. That’s what Jason Ingram, Reuben Morgan, and Stuart David Garrard were also echoing for worshippers at the Hillsong Convention Center in Australia (see it pictured here) in the 2009 period. Jason’s conversation with a performing artist (Natalie Grant) at the time underscored some takeaways for her, too, though her initial reaction to the song suggested she was dubious about its novelty. But, just consider the matchless nature of Him, the Creator and Sustainer. Is it really overkill to sing about His renown one more time, with a different set of words and new music that these three composers developed? It’s also safe to say that eternity will never grow old because of Him, and the wonder of discovering every facet of Him.  

 

‘The Greatness of Our God’ was undoubtedly something intrinsic to the experience of people who actually met Him face-to-face in the person of Jesus. Watch well-done video depictions of His life that try to show the biblically-recorded episodes of someone who was healed. It was new and breathtaking every time; it never became rote or casual to see Him show His power. Perhaps that might be part of the inspiration, though they don’t necessarily say so, which moved Jason, Reuben and Stuart to compose their words and music. The people He healed were downtrodden and fearful before His touch revolutionized their existence; and when He raised Lazarus, that was His way of demonstrating that He even controls life itself, that He overcomes even death. Is there any greater anxiety for mortals? Natalie Grant’s recollection of a conversation with Jason Ingram about this song, which he convinced her to record, suggests that this basic human weakness – anxiety – and how God makes us overcomers was what she appreciated about the song’s message. Paul’s courageous proclamation in his letter to the Romans highlighted that for Natalie -- For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39) That pretty well sums up just how great Paul thought Jesus was, and is. They are potent words, and Jason, Reuben, and Stuart crafted some of their own effective lyrics, especially in the song’s chorus that say the ‘sky (cannot) contain’, and human ‘doubt (cannot) restrain’ His greatness. He’s got it all in His hands. We just need ‘eyes to see’ (v.1), and ‘grace to see’ (v.2) Him for who He is. These three songwriters are also humble enough to write in their own lyrics that a ‘song (cannot) convey’ Him adequately. That humility runs through the song, prompting each of us to embrace that for everyday life. Pretty good message to remember – He’s unquenchably great, and I’m not. I don’t need to be, because He already is.

 

Have fear? How about a pride problem? If you have had that first trait, perhaps that has also, in a way, cured you of that second characteristic, an arrogance that has previously deceived you into thinking you had life under control. Meet God. He’s the one that can take you to a place where there’s no anxiety. And, any pride that you might have had can be instead moved onto boasting about knowing the God who’s really in control (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17; Galatians 6:14). He’s the One who has it all worked out. You see, you can trust Him because He’s the Creator – the sky above us is His handiwork, after all – so if He can do that, do you think He’s capable of taking care of life too? Try on the poetry set to music that Jason, Reuben, and Stuart have given us as a reminder of our smallness, and yet our access to His greatness. It’s never ever too much to sing about one more time.

  

See some comments from an artist who recorded the song after discussing it with one of the writers: Behind The Song: Interview About "Greatness Of Our God" | PraiseCharts

 

Read about the album on which the song appears: A Beautiful Exchange - Wikipedia (indicates the album recorded in 2009, so song composed sometime that year?)

 

See Hillsong Convention Centre image information here: File:Hillsong Convention Centre.jpg - Wikimedia Commons.  This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Tatie2189. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Tatie2189 grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

The Family Prayer Song -- Morris Chapman and Joshua

 

Morris Chapman was thinking of his own family, and probably many other men’s families too when he uttered some words that echoed what an ancient leader of Hebrews said to admonish a people who were at a crossroads. It was in a place called Shechem (see the map-image of Shechem here), where Joshua told the people “As for Me and My House”, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). (The song’s title is alternately “The Family Prayer Song.) It had been a long struggle, and Joshua sensed that the people needed to be challenged – ‘Whom will you serve?’ Morris, some 3,400 years later, was a music leader of Promise Keepers in 1995, and could he have been having similar feelings as his ancient predecessor? It is a question that people of faith should be asking themselves many times along the journey, for there are many crossroads; who is my God, and am I really serving Him?

 

It's not explicitly indicated in the song’s details, nor among the 20^th Century composer’s information that is available in the open, to explain the circumstances of the evolution of ‘The Family Prayer Song’, but certain elements can be reasonably assumed. Morris obviously didn’t just arrive at the key phrase in the song on his own, so there was some situation among Morris’ contemporaries which called to mind what Joshua said to the Israelites so long ago, after they had arrived in the Promised Land and achieved in large measure the objectives that God had set before them. They still had much to do, however, and Joshua was therefore intent on getting their attention to not let up and become complacent; what happened later – as told throughout the book of Judges – was what Joshua must have feared. Much of what Promise Keepers has stood for, from its inception in the early 1990s, has been about men being who God intended them to be – committed to men-women marriage, including in monogamous relationships, strong fatherhood, and racial harmony. One can see why Morris might have written about God-serving with the words that Joshua first used, and then with some of his own too, to counter the drift in American culture that was ongoing in the early and mid-1990s. He must have thought that Joshua was thinking similarly, when Morris lyricized about God ‘filling…homes with your presence’, giving Him ‘reverence’. Being ‘holy’ before Him was also really recalling what Joshua admonished the people to do, by getting rid of the foreign idols among them. And then Morris turned his 20^th Century crowd’s attention on themselves just a bit, by reminding them that by ‘staying’ and ‘praying’ with each other was part of their therapy, because ‘storm(y) weather’ was threatening; family members needed to practice ‘harmony and love’, and especially commit to being in ‘God’s word’. People ‘need each other’, Morris said, and that’s something that has always been true, from Joshua’s days – and indeed from the very beginning, when God made Eve for Adam – until our own time. We don’t live alone here, and we cannot make it without Him either.

 

Morris certainly didn’t say anything new, did he? But, how often do we actually express the thoughts in what’s spelled out in his lyrics? We might go through the motions just a bit too easily – attending church, carrying a bible, singing songs, giving money to charity, clasping our hands and bowing heads, and even in eating a piece of cracker and swallowing a few drops of juice. If that sums up what I do, without more depth, I probably need to do a bit of self-examination. And, as Joshua and Morris would probably say also, I need to make myself accountable to some others in this. They might see something that I don’t, like am I wavering in some of the basics, and allowing God to be pushed aside on occasion. That matters, because that’s how other gods make their inroads, just a little bit at a time. Have I accomplished something that might put me in self-congratulatory mode, like what happened some 3,400 years ago? Is there a crossroads in sight for you, too? Is there a Joshua nearby?      

 

This site indicates the composer’s situation when he wrote the song (music leader of Promise Keepers in 1995):  https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.cloversites.com/19/196db2ea-297d-4503-9a12-49043489c907/documents/June_18_-_Family_Prayer_Song.pdf

 

See here some information about the organization in which the composer-author was involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_Keepers

 

See information on the map image here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shechem and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shechem#/media/File:Nablus_and_Balata_in_the_Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.11_(cropped).jpg …This file is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.

The Church -- Chris Brown and Mack Brock

 

You can just about hear these two songwriters vocalizing their thoughts, and see in your mind’s eye the scene in which “The Church” was sung. Chris Brown and Mack Brock were part of the Elevation Church in Charlotte in 2010 (see the seal of Charlotte, NC here), and so their objective was to motivate the crowd that was before them. Was it a reaction like what some others experienced when a church was moved to action by potent words two millennia earlier? That event at which Peter and others witnessed the birth of the Christian church was unlike any event since then, and yet Chris and Mack must have felt that another fire needed to begin in Charlotte. What would one say to a crowd that needed or desired a spark? What would draw more seekers to a church, like a magnet drawing metal to itself, or a feast of exquisite food that wafts an irresistible odor among the hungry? That’s what Chris and Mack and the rest of their Elevation Worship friends were trying to prompt, a recognition by those who are on the outside that The Church has something they want, something they need.     

 

Chris and Mack offer no special insights into what prompted ‘The Church’, but their own lyrics and the album on which the song was premiered offer some food for thought. For the Honor was the name attached to the album that included the song about the church that the two songwriters were contemplating, so they must have thought that one way to esteem God was to be the kind of church that points to Him, to be who He intended His body to be. The early church of the 1^st Century A.D. had that mission in front of itself too, so how’d it respond? It’s not really a mystery today, if one just looks at what Luke recorded for us: Acts 2:42-47 spells it out. Listening to preaching and teaching, praying and eating together, and giving to those in need from their own resources – those were the responses of those few thousand inaugural church members. Chris and Mack could not have missed what is written in black and white, and so they emphasized some key things that stood out to them, things that relate to the world of the 21^st Century as clearly as they did to people of the 1^st Century A.D. They note that the world is ‘desperate’ today, as indeed it was centuries ago as well. Peter’s sermon convicted his hearers, and they knew they were in great need spiritually; just read Acts 2:37 -- When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” The church today still offers a solution (which begins by getting into Christ through repentance and baptism -- Acts 2:38), and that is what Chris and Mack illustrate with lyrics that include words like ‘hope’, ‘love’, ‘compassion’ and ‘mercy’ to a people that are seeking and ‘waiting for change’. And so, the church is called to ‘rise’ and get out in the ‘streets’ with this news. ‘Shine’ His love light, they coax. The church, His people, and what He offers is ‘real’, and still ‘alive’ and ‘active’.

 

So, just be what you sing, Chris and Mack and the rest of Elevation Worship were saying in ‘The Church’. And, the church today still takes it cues from what the church looked like so long ago. It shouldn’t really be that difficult to promote, should it? And yet, from what we read of Luke’s history, there wasn’t always a welcome mat laid out for the spreaders of the good news. The apostles did not flinch, even when arrests, beatings, scorn, and eventually martyrdom became part of their experience. They found, as honestly as we oftentimes do today, that there are doubters, and even hostile opponents that might resort to violence. There’s nothing to be done about those types of people, except to keep being the church; and, there are others who might not say so at first, but they can be touched, maybe with repeated attempts by you and me. The Spirit will move in people’s hearts, if they are willing. You and I are the ones throwing the seed around and giving it some water – as Paul and Apollos did (1 Corinthians 3:6) – but only our Sovereign can make the seed grow into belief and devotion. Chris and Mack have reminded us what the seed-spreading and watering looks like. If you’ve not seen that, it’s probably not too far away from your front door.   

 

 

Read about the musical group here: Elevation Worship - Wikipedia

 

See information about the seal of Charlotte here: File:New seal of Charlotte, North Carolina.svg - Wikimedia Commons…This file is in the public domain because official item legally exempt from copyright in its country of origin.

Start a Fire -- Jason Harrison and Darrin Sasser

 

They began with a modest goal, and then their collective experiment and experience just went to another place for this pair and the musical endeavor that they and their friends spawned. They were all from Houston, Texas (see the flag of Houston here), and what Darrin Sasser and Jason Harrison and some of the others said with lyrics may have grown from something they had found in the pages of a bible. They would not have needed to study too many times to find someone who said “Start a Fire”, either physically or metaphorically – perhaps it was actually God from whom they derived this inspiration. Maybe it was something about the way Abraham was supposed to offer Isaac (Genesis 22), or was it the way that Moses first encountered God (Exodus 3), or jumping ahead many centuries, was it the way the Apostles were equipped for their mission to the world after Jesus ascended (Acts 2)? In all these, some fire was God’s method for communicating or carrying out His purpose for those following Him. Want to be with God, or involved in His plan? Get ready with the fire. That seemed to be what Jason and Darrin saw.

 

Jason and Darrin haven’t shared specifically what inspired the fire about which they wrote, but one can make an educated guess at what happened generally around the end of the 20^th Century (in or about 1998-99) in Houston. They were a group of guys who wanted to help advance a bible study, especially for teenagers and college age young adults, with the music that they offered to provide. It wasn’t just for a few months, but for six years that this effort endured, offering these fellows, who eventually named their group Among Thorns, the opportunity to hone their skills and really capture a vision for something broader. Their own group’s name and the ‘Start a Fire’ song they wrote could have emerged from the pages of one or more of those study times. Many fires in scripture (as already mentioned) could have been the focus of what they read and discussed together. As for the name they chose for themselves – Among Thorns – we’d really have to quiz them to see exactly what they were thinking, but could it have been an allusion to the parable in which Jesus spoke about His word being sown, and unfortunately choked, among thorns (Matthew 13)? One could imagine a group of young people trying to live for God, and yet finding so many daily urgencies and distractions that challenged their aspirations. Their group’s biography mentions that they felt God had been preparing them for ministry in music in those six years, but Darrin indicated that none of them had really thought initially about worship ministry as a calling. Their desires had to change so that they could become His tools. Perhaps some other things had to be burned away in a fire, even some thorns that they and the bible study group had discussed, before that purpose toward which they felt God was directing them could be realized. Some of their lyrics say ‘burn away the dross’, and so one can hear their thoughts emerge from the music they wrote, and as they considered their group’s name.

 

Fire is a dangerous thing. Just read all of the 430 ways that the word occurs in the bible’s pages (in the English Standard Version), and it’s just part of fire’s nature that it was used to destroy or frighten or capture the attention of people that God wanted to direct. So, starting one is not usually part of a casual attitude, although one might be started in order to provide warmth and so that food can be cooked. Jesus’s cousin John the Baptizer said he was preaching in order to usher in the One who would baptize with fire (Matthew 3:11). We can be reasonably sure that Jason and Darrin were thinking of a fire that ushers in a new way, and not one just to make them feel comfortable and well-fed. Sometimes things need to be upended, so that a better, fresher growth can begin; a forest fire is like that oftentimes. God is like that, as Darrin noted in his own thoughts about Among Thorns and their purpose – that He was ‘cut(ting) and prun(ing)’ during those six years of a bible study that Darrin, Jason, and their friends helped facilitate. Six years might seem like a lengthy time for trimming, but is it really? Moses went through a period like that for decades. And so might you and I, if we’ll let Him.       

 

 

 

See a profile of the group Among Thorns Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday

 

This site indicates the year of the album (1998) on which the song appears, and the group (Among Thorns) that sang it: Among Thorns - Start A Fire lyrics | Musixmatch

 

Some biographic information on the group: Among Thorns Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | Discogs

 

See information on the picture of Houston’s flag here: File:Flag of Houston, Texas.svg - Wikimedia Commons…This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1930, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation. This image might not be in the public domain outside of the United States; this especially applies in the countries and areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada, Mainland China (not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. The creator and year of publication are essential information and must be provided. See Wikipedia:Public domain and Wikipedia:Copyrights for more details.