Come to the Table -- Claire Cloninger and Marty Nystrom

 

This one needs almost no guesswork to define why two musical people decided to write “Come to the Table”, a song that was published in 1991. The 48-year-old Claire Cloninger and 35-year-old Marty Nystrom were the collaborators who knew each other through a music-publishing company, and decided that a communion song for churches was needed. They evidently thought the experience for believers should feel personal, as if the worshipped person Himself were inviting the meal’s guests into a special place of remembrance. How often has a group of believers prayed that God’s Spirit would join them as they sing, pray, study, and eat together? What if this invitation-giving and receiving relationship were instead reversed? After all, He initiated this meal, and has provided its main ingredients.

 

It was a project for Integrity Music that had Claire and Marty teaming up to write something pretty simple, yet meaningful, for Lord’s Supper participants. That relationship was crucial, since the Seattle, Washington native Marty, and the Lafayette, Louisiana-born Claire might otherwise never have crossed each other’s paths, though both of their Christian faith backgrounds had some common threads. Claire’s musical and Christian upbringing helped spawn her career as an author and songwriter, with several awards from the Gospel Music Association to her credit. Marty’s musical directorship in New York (Christ for the Nations) and then as song developer for Integrity were likewise the result of Christian parents and a love for music that pushed him toward a university education in that area. Both Claire and Marty must have spent many years taking part in communion in one church or another before 1990, and yet something pushed them to think a new song was a good idea for this part of worship. Perhaps it was just a sense that something fresh was needed, an addition to the scores of songs and hymns already in use to accompany the eucharist. No other circumstances are known, but the song contains no words or phrases that seem mysterious, requiring further explanation. Claire and Marty did think it was the ‘Lord’s invitation’ that brings believers to that point of a worship service. We might often think of that phrase when someone is coaxing a non-believer to take the step in a life-commitment to Him. But, perhaps it’s more effective to think of it in the way that Claire and Marty used it. Who would turn down an invitation to a meal when hunger pangs are making the insides growl, after all?  

 

Claire Cloninger and Marty Nystrom had a simple mission in 1991. Craft a song that draws the believer toward eating a unique meal, one that I need to sustain me each week. It doesn’t have to complicate or embellish the story beyond what I have already heard, but I do relish knowing that He’s the host. He’s made all the arrangements, and has provided all that’s on the table to make me salivate in anticipation. That happens because no matter how often I eat this meal and enjoy it among other believers, I have yet to attend the feast with Him in Eternity. I’m getting a foretaste, for now. Someday, I’ll see the nail-scarred hands in person that Claire and Marty remind me has issued the invitation to His table. You and I can spend a lifetime working up an appetite for that meal.    

 

See here for information about the song: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-come-to-the-table

 

http://www.jubileecast.com/articles/22091/20190901/claire-cloninger-christian-author-and-songwriter-dies-at-77.htm

 

https://hymnary.org/person/Nystrom_M

Glorious God -- David Baroni, Bob Fitts, Paul Smith, Claire Cloninger

There were four of them, with a common objective in mind. Whether or not they were actually in Colorado Springs (see the map here) when “Glorious God” was first created in 1995, David Baroni, Bob Fitts, Paul Smith, and Claire Cloninger had a musical relationship via the company called Integrity (based in Colorado) that must have been part of the cement for the song. But, that was just the vehicle; the contents inside the vehicle could not be contained in one space so easily, as the words they collaborated to write show. This God whom they proclaimed has a reputation across the globe, as David and Bob had seen many times over in their travels and associations. And so, what they penned has a calling ‘to every nation’ (end of song), words that they must have thought could be useful in the many cultures they wanted to touch. What glorious characteristics of this God did they want to relate?

All four of these writers came together from geographically different locations: David and his family live in the Nashville, Tennessee area; Bob is from southern California originally and has lived in Hawaii for nearly 40 years; Paul hails from Texas; Claire grew up in Louisiana. So, what happened to bring these four together for “Glorious God”? With David and Bob, particularly, maybe it was the international focus of their experiences that helped them see how big God is. David and his wife (Rita) relate that they’ve served in over 25 nations, and have lived in 49 different states. That surely must be a significant spur for David’s service as a faculty member of the International Worship Institute for 15 years. Likewise, Bob and his wife (Kathy) have been to over 50 nations to carry the message about God, and still call a church in Singapore their spiritual home. Let’s assume that Paul and Claire likewise felt that God’s reach was far beyond the borders they inhabited. What did they collectively say about Him? Repeatedly, He’s the ‘glorious God, a powerful Savior’, the One who distributes mercy and grace, possesses divine goodness, and inspires creation’s cries of adulation. His voice is like ‘a crashing cymbal’, and his touch causes earthly tremors (v.1) – that’s how this God’s power manifests itself. His risen nature is not just to show Himself powerful, but to extend mercy and grace in an ultimate way to redeem all of us from death; we ‘soar like eagles’ (v.2) to celebrate this truth. Those are universal notions that reverberate in all ears. One can imagine that David and Bob knew experientially this resonated far and wide on earth.

Claire died in August 2019, so the words she co-wrote some 25 years earlier undoubtedly have more meaning for her currently – she’s seeing the glorious God face-to-face. Did she and the other three collaborators imagine together what each would face one day? What specific circumstances transpired to spark their teamwork? Perhaps there were none that stand out; maybe the life experience of each of them brought enough to the music-drafting table, and into the sound-mixing room to bring about ‘Glorious God’. God can shape a song any way He wants, using things we may not even notice. You think He’ll share those with us someday? I’m looking forward to His music lessons!

See this site for the author-composer listed first among the four credited with this song: http://www.davidbaroni.com/

And here: https://www.last.fm/music/David+Baroni/+wiki

See also: https://www.bobfitts.com/   and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Smith_(Christian_music_singer)  and here: http://www.hallels.com/articles/22091/20190901/claire-cloninger-christian-author-and-songwriter-dies-at-77.htm

Lord I Offer My Life – Don Moen and Claire Cloninger

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom. 12:1)

What am I doing here? Ever ask yourself this, as an awareness test, or a gut-check? Today is one of those kinda sleepy, dog-day, dull August ho-hums. I’m a lump, just waiting for something to make me say, ‘OK, I’ll go for that, since there’s not much else happenin’. I’ll offer up myself, but it had better be good, I think. That’s a confession, for it’s not really the kind of effort I should be eager to offer. Instead, consider the words of a song that Don Moen and his friend wrote during one late night phone conversation. Their song “Lord I Offer My Life” sounds more like someone making a conscious, determined decision to point oneself in a direction -- no matter what. That’s purpose, which isn’t captive to feelings or whim, but to something - -someone -- that lasts.

You can read in Don Moen’s own words how the song came to life that night in 1994. Here’s the link: http://www.donmoen.com/Blog.aspx?iid=26019

If you don’t have the link, here’s the trim version of the story. Moen was pondering a song he wanted to include on a record; something that he thought needed to say ‘Lord, I Offer My Life’, because the project (Firm Foundation, by John Chisum) was about how people are healed from hurt. It was 10:30 PM, but he knew who he could call, even at that late hour for just the right words to an unfinished lyric. Claire Cloninger, his friend and collaborator, readily offered some thoughts, and by Moen’s account, the song was complete 30 minutes later. What? There must be a story behind the story…ever get that feeling after hearing someone’s account of an incident like this? Sure, Moen’s story indicates he had had the song’s familiar chorus rolling around in his consciousness before he called Cloninger. And, he and Cloninger must have had some life episodes upon which they drew for the song’s thoughts. But, perhaps their stories are no more telling than yours or mine. Maybe what’s more key is how the words make me think about myself and the One above. Maybe the song’s worthy objective – pointing the believer toward Him – is what hastened its birth. If God wanted a message to get out, wouldn’t He bless its fruition?

If I really mean what I sing in Moen’s and Cloninger’s song, I give Him not just the good stuff, but the ugly, vile things too. Not just what’s already been, but what’s yet to come, too. A guy named David did this, over and over, as he wrote poetry that we now sing (perhaps while strumming on a harp – see the picture). What’s enlightening in Psalms is how brutally honest are the feelings, these expressions of torment. There are lots of evenings when I lay down to sleep, and I don’t. Stuff bugs me – at work, at church too. Or, I’m too upbeat, excited and expectant about something to wind down and relax. I haven’t learned how to give it to Him, yet. Have you? I’m still experimenting, and one thing I do to try to manage my mind’s nighttime obsessions involves two small tools -- a pen and a pad. I write something down, hoping it will exit my brain through my fingers, and stay on the paper. Maybe, in a way, that’s what Don Moen was doing at 10:30 one night too. He took a thought he had been pondering, and tried to write about it. If my mind won’t rest, give Him my attention, give it to Him. Maybe David had some 10:30 PM sessions too. …hmmm, is a song in my future? How many others out there write song offerings to Him in the night?