Holy, Holy, Holy (Hosanna) -- Peter Scholtes

What would it be like to encounter a seraph? (See here St. Francis' vision of a seraph, entitled Stigmatization of St Francis [fresco attributed to Giotto; [1267–1337].) We know what one might say, even if its appearance might be something quite unfamiliar, apart from the six wings that Isaiah (6:3) noted were on the seraphim he observed. Peter Scholtes echoed these seraphim calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy” in 1966. It was part of Peter’s determination to bring God into the community where he lived that made him take the words of the seraphim and repeat them, so that they might ring more clearly in the world of 1966 South Side Chicago. How could what angels said to Isaiah be relevant to a culturally diverse neighborhood where Peter’s church resided, and where he tried to minister through a youth choir in a basement? Some people might have thought the rhythm style that Peter chose to accompany the seraphim’s words was rather unusual, maybe even a bit irreverent. It suggested that God could hear people in unconventional ways. Is God conventional? And, is the God of Isaiah’s time connected to other times? Peter answered that in the lyrics he pulled from both bible testaments.

 

Peter probably would have answered ‘no’ to the above question about God’s supposed predictability, when he put together his version of what the seraphim said. He appeared to Isaiah in a vision, after all, a method that God uses with not just anybody. He had a mission for Isaiah, one of prophecy. ‘Deliver my message’, God essentially said. It began with a reassertion of God’s nature, as testified by His servants -the seraphim. God is love, and is also holy. That was not something confined to the 7^th/8^th Century B.C. (700s/600s), as Peter’s words help us recall when he repeated what the crowds said about Jesus Christ when He entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9/Mark 11:9/Luke 19:38/John 12:13); with words like ‘Hosanna’ and ‘blessed is the One’, Peter reminded the people in that Chicago basement and in the surrounding community that God has not been confined to one time, nor to one place, and certainly not to just one people. With this kind of diversity, Peter surmised that God should not be restricted to one type of music to accompany the words about Him. The Missa Bossa Nova that Peter used was his way of connecting a Catholic mass with a bossa nova rhythm that would be familiar to those Chicagoans of 1966, though it originated on another continent (in Brazil). To some traditionalists in Christendom, this syncopated samba mingled with American jazz while singing ancient words to laud God was probably a bit too out-of-the-box, at least at first. You can listen for yourself (see the link below), but perhaps Peter was really just using what his observation of Jesus had already taught him. He upset everyone’s applecart with His methods, but did He stop? No, His was a resolute conviction (Luke 9:51).

 

Nothing was going to stop Jesus’ message, and that’s still true today. Only discomfort and stubborn natures can suspend temporarily what He wants done. He’s already spoken loudly in so many ways – like through His creation and through the bible -- that only the spiritually deaf, blind, and unrepentant would reject Him. ‘Bossa Nova’ in Portuguese means "new wave" or "new trend/knack", and that certainly spoke of Jesus. Even people today, particularly of other faiths, still cannot fathom or accept that this God would allow Himself to be sacrificed for our sins. With such utter power, and even after the crowds hailed Him as king, why would Jesus have to die? If you have ever tried to relate to people of a different culture, perhaps you have felt the divide that seems like it cannot be bridged. Is there anything that connects all of us, that overcomes the babel we use with each other? Human nature does indeed connect, and Jesus knew that – that’s why He came, to be like us. All of us humans have needs, which only a Divine Provider can meet. So, don’t let a different style get in the way of communicating a message that’s got a common foundation. Jesus had a different style, but He was still God, still love, and still holy. Now isn’t that something to celebrate with a bit of samba and jazz?        

 

Read about the song/album background here: https://vulcanhammer.org/2013/03/04/peter-scholtes-theyll-know-we-are-christians-by-our-love/ (hear the song here beginning at 15:30 in the distinctive bossa nova beat) and here: https://hymnary.org/person/Scholtes_P

 

Read about the author here: https://pscholtes.com/obituary.htm

 

See more information about the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giotto_-_Legend_of_St_Francis_-_-19-_-_Stigmatization_of_St_Francis.jpg …The author died in 1337, 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.

 

Come Unto Jesus -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, Laura Story, Jesus

 

This song has many writers, but it must begin with the One who first spoke the words that no human being could disparage. What Jesus said about wanting to give people rest from their burdens should reverberate within every one of us, for who doesn’t want to be relieved of trouble? No one wants anxiety, and yet it comes, coaxing us to listen closely to the God-Son’s promise. The text of Matthew chapter 11 begins by saying that Jesus went through the region of Galilee (see the map-graphic here that shows that area in about 50 AD) teaching and preaching, and the chapter ends (vv. 28-30) with Him saying something that Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, along with the tune-writer Samuel Webbe, highlighted in a 19^th Century hymn, Come, Ye Disconsolate. That hymn underscored what Jesus said, and then spoke lyrically once more to three 21^st Century songwriters -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Laura Story – in Come Unto Jesus. It is evidence that what Jesus said is still relevant, and always will be to those of us who need what He offers.

 

Laura Story says that Come Unto Jesus is a modern hymn for today (the song was published in 2023), and yet its roots are in something that Jesus wanted all of us to know 2,000 years ago. She reminds us of what Jesus’ words mean – that we don’t have to fix ourselves before coming to Him for relief. It’s a fallacy that our culture tries to get us to accept, that we cannot admit weakness, cannot be anything but complete, and certainly cannot have a mess in our lives when we approach Him. Laura says that she and her two collaborators, Jordan and Matt, asked themselves what the people in our world needed to be reminded of most when they sat down to think and write Come Unto Jesus.  Busyness and distraction were apparent, they said, impeding the worship atmosphere they felt they needed to foster in the songs they would bring before the church. What the ancient writer Matthew remembered that Jesus said in the region of Galilee came to them, and provided the foundation for what they wanted to say. Their lyrics also leaned heavily upon their 19^th Century musical ancestors, Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, to reemphasize what those two evidently felt was plaguing their own era – the same thing that is still around in the 21^st Century. Weary people have all sorts of problems and turmoil, and may become the refuse of the culture, the ones society has shoved aside because of the chaos that is so pervasive in their lives. Laura points to what another writer, Paul, had to say regarding the peace that Jesus translates to us that is beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:7). People who have descended into a pit so deep that they cannot even recall how the mayhem actually began need something equally as powerful and transcendent to resurrect themselves. That is Jesus.  

 

Laura says another ancestor spoke words that still mean something today, because they also lean on this axiom – that Jesus is the only source of lasting peace. “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Saint Augustine of Hippo reminded people of his own era (4^th/5^th Century A.D.) with those words, so what does that communicate? If you are one that thinks you can help yourself, if you are a ‘pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps’ type of person, then reconsider that mindset. Yes, everyone needs to have some abilities to function in the world, to make civil society possible. But wars, disease, prisons and the criminal activity that puts people in them, and the strains of just daily living – financially, relationally, emotionally, and otherwise – can make you and me crack under the pressure so easily. I cannot handle all of myself, and cannot even contemplate controlling everyone and everything else within view. It all is a recipe for trouble in a place I cannot escape, except by death. Jesus offers something that even overcomes that terminal option. Don’t try the death part before you give Him a shot, OK?   

 

Read about the song’s story here: https://www.leadworshipwell.com/behind-the-song/laura-story-come-unto-jesus

 

This site indicates the song’s publishing year: https://hymnary.org/tune/come_unto_jesus_kauflin

 

See information about the 19^th Century hymn here:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/y/d/i/cydiscon.htm

 

See information on the map-graphic here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Galilee.jpg... The author died in 1934, 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 80 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, 1930. The image can be found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilee 

King of Kings -- Brooke and Scott Ligertwood, Jason Ingram

 

These three were in Nashville (see the map of Tennessee and highlight of Davidson County where Nashville resides) to collaborate and think about the “King of Kings”, though their thoughts began separately. The Ligertwoods, Scott and Brooke, had some ideas about how to tell the story of scripture, and then when they heard Jason Ingram’s melody as the three got together later, that’s when things really flowed. That’s the short version. How would one person or a group of three people really expect to share completely the full spectrum of God-in-the-flesh’s story, without leaving out something? The song might never end! That was perhaps the conclusion they too reached, but still the effort to direct the attention of hearers toward the spiritual foundation upon which believers stand was worth the time they spent. It was not a collection of ‘feelings’, but instead truths that underpin beliefs that spurred Scott, Brooke, and Jason forward.    

 

One doesn’t have to read too far in one’s bible to really find inspiration for what the Ligertwoods and Jason Ingram would write in 2018/2019. Apparently, two of the scriptures that motivated them were about how Jesus is to be exalted – Revelation 19:16 and Philippians 2:9-11. A great place to begin, as it turned out, but the Ligertwoods also had thoughts about packing even more scriptures into verses, as part of an objective to explore and tell the story of the gospel. The three of them thought about Genesis clear through to Revelation, and were ‘unpacking’ quite a bit as they talked about what in scripture creates belief. Jason’s melody and a bridge section of the song stuck immediately, and as they sorted through the Word, Brooke’s mind and spontaneity kicked in with lots more for the verses. The wanted to sing scripture and use the song as an opportunity to teach why Christians can believe, to even impart some theological truths. Some that eventually emerged (after about a year of working and re-working notes and words) were some things that they found exciting, things that somehow often get glossed over. That Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17); that Mary’s virgin pregnancy with the God-Son was not a surprise, but another foretold prophecy (see Isaiah 7:4; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:21-23); that many dead arose when Jesus died (see Matt. 27:50-53); and that the church was born through the work of the Holy Spirit enabling men in a miraculous way (Acts 2) were all energizing to these three 21^st Century songwriters. They firmly believed that this same Spirit is active today, and that we who believe are part of this ongoing story. It’s a song that should never be completed, if you think of yourself as an heir of Christ, as someone who wants to connect yourself to Him and what He means to human beings.

 

The words that Scott, Brooke, and Jason wrote are meant to draw you and me in. Now this gospel truth of old Shall not kneel, shall not faint…If you think history, including bigger-than-life heroes of heart-stirring episodes – maybe an Abraham Lincoln-like person – is what motivates you onward, then what about the one upon whom our calendar (at least the Gregorian one) pivots? He is the Truth, the One who rose so that you and I need not kneel or faint as we think about our graves. Death is certain, so it seems to make sense to connect myself with Him toward whom so much evidence points as the Conqueror of the grave. Don’t believe because it gives you solace, a crutch to lean upon and salve your fear of life’s end. Believe because there’s too much history – irrefutable and enduring, some 20 centuries after the facts -- for you and me to ignore this life, this King of Kings. Be like Lee Strobel (author of the The Case for Christ and so many other books that investigate the credibility of Christianity) and Josh McDowell (author of More Than a Carpenter, and like Strobel, so many other books to help us see Christ’s truth-bearing nature), both of whom started their journeys as skeptics, intending to disprove Christ, and instead found His truth the most compelling, and worthy of belief. Read some, investigate, and see what takes more faith – to believe or disregard it. As Brooke has said, the gospel story is not a ‘relic’, but something that ‘demands’ our attention. See if you agree that it’s ‘reality’, as she and so many others have said. Or, are  you too wedded to mere feelings, or to things in this world that will decay?      

 

 

Hear/see the song story here: (begin at 4:15 thru 9:20, and 12:20 thru 12:33) Behind The Song: Hillsong Worship Shares The Heart Behind Their Song “King Of Kings” | Freeccm.com

 

Read some brief information about the song here: King of Kings (Hillsong song) - Wikipedia

 

See information on the map-image of Davidson County (where Nashville is) here, including the public domain status of the graphic: File:Map of Tennessee highlighting Davidson County.svg - Wikimedia Commons . The following statement is associated with the graphic re: its public domain status: 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.