God So Loved -- Andrew Bergthold, Ed/Franni/Martin/Scott Cash

 

Has anyone ever not seen the multicolored hair-guy at a sporting event with the sign that reads John 3:16? Perhaps that is one reason why this brief statement that Jesus makes has become so well known, and maybe has even played a part in why “God So Loved” was penned with music in 2019 by the musical group We the Kingdom. Andrew Bergthold and the Cashes (Ed, Franni, Martin, and Scott) are just the latest group of humanity to be fascinated by God’s saving act, which culminated in His march to the cross and death there (See Jesus as God in the flesh acting out His most important bit of love for humanity, as He prepared to die, shown here in the painting Ecce Homo [Behold the Man!] by Antonio Ciseri.) It was such a momentous event, that it’s a wonder that more of us don’t snap wide awake with this on our minds. That part helps explain why Ed felt like the song just had to be born in 2019, and though the main theme of the verse is key, the subtext of the song also resonates personally with members of the group, too.  

 

We the Kingdom was sharing, beginning with Ed Cash, in 2020 how the song came to light and what it meant to them. Ed said that he woke up one morning with the John 3:16 verse on his mind, and an accompanying musical phrase just kept repeating for him, so he wanted a song to continually remind him of the beauty of that verse. Ed pondered what God was really preparing to do when he sent Jesus, and   Scott then shared that what God did was say that we humans don’t have to get all fixed up before coming to Him. We can bring all the hurts, and sins/shames/filth to him, and anybody that says otherwise is a liar. He welcomes us as we are, and therefore shed His blood to save us from those things. All we have to do is to be vulnerable and acknowledge our condition. Franni talked about the song’s 2^nd verse, which admits the hardship of life, addictions and darkness, and how the song’s bridge lifts people above those things. We let Him be sovereign when we admit who we are, and seek His greatness. That evidently was pretty significant for all the Cashes, who had been part of an addiction of sorts, having formerly been part of a religious cult. Another group member, Martin, shared that God loves not just America or some particular state or city, but the whole world and every culture, so there are no borders restricting who can come to Jesus. Everyone in the world is spiritually thirsty, just as everyone also needs physical water.

 

Failures, addictions, weariness, power of hell – those are all part of the subtext of the song that We the Kingdom says that Jesus has buried for people who come to Him. God so loved the world, that He was willing to do what He did. Anyone who thinks they have it all together is really saying that God’s deepest expression of Himself for us was a vain act, an exercise that would be rooted in a hoax so great that we would really have to question how this God could still be Creator and Sustainer. Would He really be able to make everything sensible if His coming to earth and dying and rising weren’t necessary? We the Kingdom, probably more than some others, were people that felt like something ‘was off’, as they recall their time in a cult before leaving it in Franni’s 18^th year. That’s how other people who don’t have God may ultimately think as well, when they aren’t in touch with the real, authentic, compassionate God of John 3:16. Things eventually go awry in our mortal existence, but are set right eventually when we have Him and connect with His Spirit, and recognize Jesus as the doorway. Have you walked through that doorway yet, as the Cashes did some years ago?        

 

Read the song’s story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_So_Loved

 

Watch/hear the song’s story shared here by the composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-3CW4qQ9gQ (Story starts at 0:24 of video.)

 

Read about the composing group here: We the Kingdom - Wikipedia

 

Read about one of the composers here: ‘God Is Not Done With You,’ Says Former Cult Member Franni Cash, Now Opening for Brandon Lake

 

Information on the image:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecce_homo_by_Antonio_Ciseri_(1).jpg …The author died in 1891, so 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 100 years or fewer….This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931.

Goodness of God -- Jenn Johnson, Ed Cash, Jason Ingram, Ben Fielding, Brian Johnson

God is good. Have you ever heard someone say that? And yet, even Jesus – God in the flesh – had a reply to that compliment which must have befuddled those with whom he traveled and spoke (see Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19). Jenn Johnson had a reason to say out loud something about the “Goodness of God” though, because a new life was in her arms, and in a most unexpected way since she hadn’t even been pregnant nor really considering having another child. But, adopting a new baby boy was an awesome thing, and has been for so many parents over the decades since its beginning in America in the latter part of the 19^th Century (see Sister Irene and children at New York Foundling orphanage in this picture; Sister Irene is among the pioneers of modern adoption, establishing a system to board out children rather than institutionalize them.) And, it wasn’t an accident that the song spoke to the four men – her husband Brian, and Ben Fielding, Jason Ingram, and Ed Cash -- who helped Jenn finish off what she started writing in a car one day.

 

Adoption by many people can be a long process, with lots of anxiety and uncertainty, but for Jenn and Brian, it was like a miracle that proceeded so smoothly. The birth mother even related to the Johnsons so well, that she appeared at the hearing that finalized the process, one that had begun when this woman hand-picked this Christian songwriting couple to be her baby’s parents and even met them at the hospital on the day of the baby’s delivery. Even a judge of several decades who presided at the court said he’d never seen anything like it. That’s how it must be when God’s intimately involved, one might conclude. That must have been on Jenn’s mind too, when one day on the way to a doctor’s appointment, she spontaneously began to sing a song about God’s goodness, as she reflected back on her life and had a feeling that God’s faithfulness had shone through to her. Her newest child (they named him Ryder Moses) was the latest sign of His goodness, and this thought helped her produce 50-60% of the song about God’s goodness on the spot in an otherwise routine car trip to see a doctor. In talking with Ben and Jason a short time later in Redding, California, they remembered feeling that Jenn’s efforts had already produced a winner, and that little remained to do in its creation. One thing that stood out to them was that her words were so universally true, that they felt like the story she was relating through the already-completed lyrics was also theirs. Ed also contributed with some thoughts that became the song’s bridge section, saying that while the message of the song was one he hadn’t heard before, he felt that it had been around for some time. And so, he thought that that was something he wanted to communicate -- that God is relentless in running after us, meeting us in all the pain and struggle of life, even if His presence sometimes might not be very discernible. Amazingly, Ed says his anxiety at flying on a plane would depart from him whenever he listened to the song in flight.

 

Thank God for adoption! None but One is His unique (some bible translations say ‘begotten’) Son, so for me to be part of His family, I have to agree to be His adopted son. That idea was really special for someone like the apostle Paul (see Romans 8:15,23; 9:4; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5), for though of Jewish birth, he considered himself to have been the worst sinner (1 Timothy 1:15-16), and deservedly far from being included in God’s family. And so, when he talked to Gentiles whom he often encountered, that same message flowed to them from him, an adopted son in God’s kingdom. It is indeed special to be chosen by Him. What is the alternative to being adopted? Sister Irene must have seen and grimaced so many times at the circumstances that ensued when a baby was rejected by everyone, leaving it without a home and loving parents. God doesn’t operate an orphanage, and He sure doesn’t want to reject you and me (2 Peter 3:9). In His image-making generosity, He’s already visualized you on a path toward, and living space inside His home, and even provided a special brother and a Spirit to make sure you find the way there. The other operative factors really are the choices that you and I make.

 

Watch/hear the song story here: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/goodness-of-god-bethel/

 

See it here also: https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/adoption-miracle-worship-song

 

See information on the photo here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children_at_New_York_Foundling_cph.3a23917.jpg … 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-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1931. …found inside this article -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption