Because We Believe -- Nancy N. Gordon and Jamie Harvill

 

He looked intently at others whose worship he wanted to improve. And, Jamie Harvill also took a long look at himself in the same vein, feeling that something was missing and that what he and others had been saying musically for a long time lacked depth. This was something he also shared with a musical collaborator, Nancy Gordon, and together they dove deeper into the seeds of their shared faith. This self-examination and the resulting investigation allowed Jamie and Nancy to declare “Because We Believe”, an answer with many facets to the questions they had asked themselves to consider in 1997.

 

One very important building block of the multifaceted beliefs Jamie and Nancy discovered was summed up in a four-word line in the song and title of the booklet, To Jesus We Sing, which Jamie eventually authored some 20 years later (in 2016).  Incidentally, all the various locations or a single spot where Jamie sat, mulled over, and put together To Jesus We Sing would be difficult to sum up, but he was likely living on Alabama’s Gulf Coast in Mobile in 2016 (see graphic here). More broadly, how far back, and exactly where do all your beliefs and practices go for their original seeds of germination? Jamie’s booklet is concise, yet wide-ranging, and cites dozens – even hundreds, thousands, and probably countless characters – who set the tone across all history for that which we call ‘worship’ today. Jamie calls all of them and us pieces of the ‘Big Story’. Jamie and Nancy were after this historical perspective in their song, summed up in a short paragraph in the preface of Jamie’s booklet (p.8; also shown on his website – see link below). From Abraham and all of Old Testament history, through Jesus and the new covenant, and up through the 21 centuries since He ascended, some key ideas have endured. Those are the beliefs that Jamie and Nancy address. ‘God the Father’, ‘Christ the Son’, and the ‘Holy Spirit’ – this triune God, the inaugurators of ‘the church’ (v.1), are the foundation. Jesus is the center point of it all, echoed again and again in their song’s chorus, and also repeatedly in verses 2 and 3. Christendom’s history relies on these for sustenance – the ‘Holy Bible’, the ‘virgin birth’, the ‘resurrection’, and the hope of His ‘return to earth’; and further, the ‘blood of Jesus’ and that it ‘frees’ every believer unto ‘eternal life’, and into being Christ’s ‘bride’, a divine concept us earth dwellers admittedly don’t yet fully comprehend. There’s also fourth and fifth verses that are spelled out for the Christmas season, focusing the worshipper’s attention on the ‘King of kings’, a ‘newborn baby’, the ‘shepherd’s journey’, a ‘guiding star’, and a ‘humble manger’. Jamie’s last few words of his booklet’s preface (p.11) remind us that all believers throughout time have ached for a Jesus to whom we can sing, even though congregational singing lapsed for a period of some 1,000 years. That’s a stunning fact, underscoring the value of this that we call worship through song.

 

What Jamie says with his booklet’s few words is that my heart’s fullness overflows into song about the God who came to save me. There’s other ways to express my devotion to Him, but singing is uniquely capable of channeling my emotions. There’s a lot going on there, and it’s the genius of God who gives His created ones this tool that fuses notes, chords, other sounds, poetry, and so many intangibles into a piece of artwork. It would be tempting to worship the song or the earthly composer as we ponder a song’s intricacies. Lest we think that today’s worship music is comparatively bursting with imagination and energy while earlier periods were dull, Jamie’s booklet tells me that music and worship to Him has accumulated lots of momentum by 2022. I and my contemporary worshippers are riding a huge wave -- the Big Story. Are you content to merely spectate in this Big Story? How about joining in?  

 

See the following: To Jesus We Sing, by Jamie Harvill; Wyatt House Publishing; Mobile, Alabama 2016.

 

See here a concise description of one author’s books: https://jamieharvill.com/books/

 

See one author’s information here: https://jamieharvill.com/about/

Firm Foundation -- Nancy Gordon and Jamie Harvill

Disappointment. One might even say it was bitter disappointment. But, ‘out of the ashes’…as one has said before. Nancy Gordon and Jamie Harvill might even say upon reflection that Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone (see an early advertisement here for one), played a remote role in “Firm Foundation” that the two of them first spoke to each other over a telephone line in 1994. Was this the first time a song was conceived over the phone? Perhaps not, but what they had expected to happen a few days earlier could not have been more different than what actually transpired, so having an unforeseen method for this song’s development was actually in tune with events. Do you and I know how our Creator is always working, and am I ready to be His tool? What do you think Nancy and Jamie might say after you hear their story?

Where were Nancy Gordon and Jamie Harvill exactly on that day in 1994 when they commiserated with each other on the telephone? Perhaps each had returned home (in Alabama for Nancy, and California for Jamie), to figuratively lick their wounds. It’s a bit of conjecture, but since they chose to talk on the phone, we can imagine that they weren’t in close geographic proximity. Nancy relates that they had been saddened to learn that a song they’d written together (‘Belle of the Ball’) would not be part of an album. They’d thought, because of the reaction of the recording artist when she heard the song for the first time, that their collaborative effort was about to bear fruit. This was their profession, and the song was their initial expedition on this musical partnership, after all, so dejection was not unreasonable, from a human standpoint. But Nancy relates that she’d been buoyed during her reading that morning of a bible verse about ‘living hope’, and then the mutual affirmation about their long-term prospects took off, as they deflected the gloom that had been present. Words like ‘I have a future’ were soon consoling them as they talked, and they both confessed that they had placed too much confidence in a song, rather than in God.  What Nancy says indicates she’d been reading what one or two apostles had written (1 Peter 1:3, and 2 Timothy 2:19). From what the two of them say, they were soon sharing bible verses back and forth, and the song was nearly completed during that phoneline discussion, a time that was like ‘a volleyball game of encouragement’. A couple of other moments later on helped put a wrapper on this song, but the phone conversation is what stands out to Nancy and Jamie. As is so often true of something really special, a unique coalescence of events, as well as the inspiration of a couple of apostles (Peter and Paul), must be credited with creating ‘Firm Foundation’. Who makes events happen this way?

How’s He work? If you ask Nancy and Jamie, they might say the first song they wrote really was meant to be a failure and a launching pad for something better. He can make a washout into a success, and even more. He’s got a handle on things, and perhaps He is most providential when he takes me by surprise. That’s worth a bible study isn’t it? See how often he does what people think makes no earthly sense. As someone has said, ’faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse’ (Philip Yancey, in The Question That Never Goes Away, p. 48). And, He doesn’t sit back and ask us to do/believe without going there Himself. He went somewhere and did something that confused everyone at the time… Tap into His ‘failure’, and see if it stays that way for you.        

Song story source is at this link: http://newhopemusic.com/FCSongwriters/FCSJamieHarvillFF.htm

Also see the story here: https://books.google.com/books?id=0dVKKd5HOb0C&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=nancy+gordon+songwriter&source=bl&ots=GLIy9m9bSf&sig=ACfU3U37Pvl6BjicSeVC28aOdHjJKsWgAQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilzLTNke3pAhUEhHIEHWw2CIMQ6AEwCHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=nancy%20gordon%20songwriter&f=false

Ancient of Days -- Jamie Harvill and Gary Sadler

Maybe the two of them saw this watercolor drawing (a William Blake etching from 1794), or perhaps they had just imagined something similar from the prophet Daniel’s written description. The latter was how Jamie Harvill remembers the gestation inspiration for the “Ancient of Days” that he and his long-time friend Gary Sadler co-wrote in 1991. One might even say that their decision to collaborate had begun years earlier when Jamie was travelling and performing, and also meeting and getting to know Gary while on the road. Could they have known that one day in a small room in Jamie’s house in Mobile, Alabama, the two of them would craft and tape the song on a small four-track recorder? They seemed to know that they would work together on something special; others who heard what they’d done soon thereafter agreed that they were right.

Jamie Harvill and Gary Sadler were in the early stages of their musical careers when they got together to brainstorm “Ancient of Days” in a converted bedroom – a rather inauspicious venue for what they wanted to accomplish. Gary was out of work, but sensed that he wanted to make music work in his life. And Jamie used a gift of $100 to help complete his investment in the equipment that he needed to launch their songwriting and recording venture. So, a son’s bedroom in Jamie’s house became their ad hoc studio, with some key scripture and their own desires creating the foundation for what they’d write. Daniel chapter 7 captured their imagination, as they thought about being around the throne of the One they wished to honor. But, rather than describe Him, Jamie and Gary chose to focus on their response to seeing Him. So many visons inhabit the story of the Ancient of Days and the trappings that Daniel saw --perhaps so breathtaking that Gary and Jamie felt inadequate to further depict Him, either verbally or musically.  His hair is like wool and a flaming throne is nearby, and four bizarre creatures usher in the scenery of this episode about God. How do we and others address Him appropriately? These two 20^th Century songwriters chose to echo the Daniel 7 worshippers – after all, what other method and whose words would be more fitting? Glory, authority, power – they’re all His, Harvill and Sandler remind us. And, every nation, every tongue joins in this unique, never-before-heard chorus. Sounds exciting!

Those who heard the Harvill-Sandler creation saw and heard what the two men must have hoped would translate to worshippers. We who are so far away – in time and distance – from what Daniel saw, may lament our position. That doesn’t have to remain so, however, if I embrace the words and the music that Jamie and Gary provide here. Enter the scenery of Daniel, and be amazed by His wooly hair, the blazing throne, and the fiery river. Join in with the thousands – even more? – that surround you, adoring Him who has always been, and who will always be, too. If everyone is speaking in his or her own language, do you suppose He will make us able to understand each other? Will it be like what He did at Pentecost (Acts 2)? It’ll be amazing to be there to see and hear that! Now do you feel like singing what Jamie and Gary wrote?

A source for the song story is the book “Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003.

See here for information about one of the authors: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Jamie+Harvill