The Power of Your Name -- Lincoln Brewster and Mia Fieldes

 

What they wanted to see was a heartbeat. Lincoln Brewster tells in his remembrance of the development of “The Power of Your Name” that he and Mia Fieldes wanted there to be something of heart in the song in 2008. So, Lincoln actually recorded his son’s heartbeat before he was born, so that it could be inserted as a rhythmic reminder in the song’s recording. What he saw that day in the doctor’s office was probably what you’ve probably seen if you’ve ever had your heart monitored, or have seen a TV show about doctors and hospitals: what’s known as an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) (see the diagram here of one). Lincoln and Mia really wanted to inject Jesus’ ‘kingdom come’ prayer into their musical effort, to make plain from the lyrics’ first few lines that life as God values it is something we cannot ignore when we see how He approached people with compassion. He made us all to reflect Him, so how does it feel for us to see some people in desperate straits, those people to whom social injustice is a daily reality? Lincoln and Mia offer something that is a prayer that we could say every morning, as we contemplate how our days should unfold.   

 

The purpose of the Lincoln-Mia composition was to spur its hearers to deal with social injustice, to see people in the church ‘take a stand’ and make social injustice something that is resisted and reversed. The in-the-womb heartbeat was Lincoln’s way of inserting some special and intimate feeling from himself and his family into the song, and to say in an audible way that every person is a life that is unique and valuable, particularly to God, even before any of us were born. God has conceived what the life of each human will mean on this earth, so Christians who believe and live life at His direction will try to make certain others’ lives are not demeaned, but rather counted as precious and meaningful. To have the opportunity to live and experience life as God intended is what Lincoln and Mia felt was the message of the song they co-wrote. That means especially, as Lincoln shared in a video message, that God-followers should make sure they pursue life-affirming actions outside of the church buildings where they mouth belief in His way of life every Sunday. That means ‘comfort zone’ is excised from the people’s vocabulary, because so many people live in circumstances that are difficult, and which cannot be repaired easily. It’s hard work, and challenges will undoubtedly threaten the commitment of God’s people to endure in His work to make social justice a reality, and not just an aspiration. I should take the words and phrases that Lincoln and Mia have put to music – like ‘compassion’ that is expressed explicitly (in the chorus) and otherwise in many other words -- and internalize them. That would be the way to make ‘the power of (His) name’ consequential.

 

It really needs to be ‘in my heart’, as the words of Lincoln and Mia say at the end of verse two. If I really intellectually accept that Jesus’ Matthew 6/Luke 11 prayer is an action plan, then I will seek out ways to make His kingdom more real to the hurting. You don’t have to look very far to find opportunities to make social justice yours and my way of life, and there are literally hundreds of ways to do this. The first few words of the Lincoln-Mia song use the phrase ‘made for the streets’ to admit that some children are actually in that condition -- a place where far too many homeless find themselves, including in very prosperous nations and poorer ones too. I cannot help every child in the streets, but there is a group that does help give kids like this a brighter future in Nairobi, Kenya. It’s called Made in the Streets (see a link to it below), and is just one that you can join. Just listen, see, and have a heart.     

 

See the song story told here: the power of your name brewster fields lyrics - Search

 

Read about one way to change the lives of children in one social justice effort in Kenya here: MADE IN THE STREETS | Serving street-connected youth in Kenya

 

See information on the heartbeat image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SinusRhythmLabels.svg ... Re: the copyright the following statement is associated with the image: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Majestic -- Lincoln Brewster

Meet Lincoln Brewster, a 40-year old in 2011 who could have been a rock star, but who chose instead to make the Rock a star. That kinda sums up what Brewster might say about himself. And, it would also be recapped in the song “Majestic” that he wrote in 2005, a paraphrase of some of the messages (Psalms 8 and 19) that King David composed three millennia before Brewster took up his own pen and added a few words to that king’s thoughts that resonated with him in the early 21^st Century. What had brought him to that point in 2005?

Lincoln Brewster had seen plenty of scenery during his youth, we might guess, from what he writes in his biography. Scenery, like oceans and mountains (like the picture here) that maybe he recalled as he wrote “Majestic”. Brewster had perhaps seen both during his growth into a young adult in Alaska and California, and as he and his mother and siblings played music for cruise ship vacationers. His childhood also had darker scenery, in which his stepfather’s alcoholism and volatile behavior created a void in Brewster’s life, one without a positive father-figure. The “silver-lining in the dark cloud” was his mother’s encouragement of his musical development, which enlarged his world and gave him a stepping stone to a career. Perhaps the void also pushed him toward a father who wouldn’t fail him – God. He had an opportunity to tour with rock star Steve Perry (from the band Journey), but chose instead a Christian music career, and linked himself to a local church. By the time he was 34 in 2005, Brewster himself was father of two young sons. Was he pondering his own upbringing as he assumed the father-figure role in the lives of two young children? Probably, if he was like any other parent who searches for answers from one’s own experience or from others who offer it. What better place to look than above for Fatherly advice? His majestic nature, including the mountains and oceans He created, might go unnoticed for some people, but they didn’t escape Lincoln Brewster’s attention in 2005. Armed with his childhood memories of Alaska and California, and yes with the male-parent void from that period too, Brewster drew upon the Psalms and how King David related to Him.  

   

Can you picture mountains bowing before God, or oceans crying out to Him? Evidently, that’s what Lincoln Brewster saw in 2005 as he composed, adding to what David had seen. Perhaps he also drew upon his time with fellow Christian Michael W. Smith, with whom he toured for a while and who also wrote a 1981 tune “How Majestic Is Your Name”, strikingly similar to Brewster’s 2005 effort. If it worked for Smith, who can blame Brewster for trying to glean something from the same Davidic words? Fathers and children – and worshippers – need only turn themselves toward what worked for the original poet. It still works, and He’s still there listening.  

   

Biographic information on the composer at these sites:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Brewster

http://www.lincolnbrewster.com/

http://www.verticalmusic.com/index.php?page=worship&ID=4

http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/artistdetail.php?artist_id=45