Abide -- Aaron Keyes, Aaron Williams, Jake Fauber

Aaron Williams was reading something in his bible that made him stop. “Abide” to Aaron was not really a stop and be silent moment, though that’s part of what he did when he read what the God-son said, prior to crafting the song by that name that was released in January 2021. If you want to bear fruit -- do something for God -- just make certain from where the root of that inspiration comes. The plants and trees that grow all kinds of fruits and nuts (see an example of Concord grapes here, a common fruit which would have been familiar to people of Jesus’ era and geographic location) don’t do so because the individual branches are so well kept, though that is part of what makes them productive. It’s the main root, the vine from which the smaller branches grow, which gives the essential vitality to this growing thing and yields such a bountiful harvest. Aaron Williams, along with his musical partners Aaron Keyes and Jake Fauber, read Jesus’ message to His closest followers in His last week before being crucified, and translated it for us who too often are in a hurry.
 
Aaron Williams points to John 15:1-10, in which Jesus used that word ‘Abide’ ten times to teach His disciples. It must have been a pretty important concept, huh? These three 21st Century musical collaborators must have decided that a large part of abiding in Jesus means depending on Him. They wrote that word into their collectively-generated lyrics 20 times. Or, how about teach? That one is in their poetry eight times. So, the Williams-Keyes-Fauber way of abiding in Him means that depending on Him and letting Him teach me are pretty important. Aaron Williams says the human mistake is to launch right out there into being busy without first taking note that the relationship with Him is the first priority. Consult Him first. Remaining in Him is often seen as backwards to what the culture tells us, a reality that Aaron reinforces by saying this Jesus way is an ‘anti-strategy’ or ‘the upside-down way’. It’s going to be the opposite of what the real hustlers and go-getters might tell you. He cites the fruits of the Spirit that one of His abiders – Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 -- used as a teaching guide for Christ-followers who want to know what fruit He's still looking for us to produce today. And, as for depending on Him – what did that mean musically for these three songwriters? My ‘waking breath’, ‘daily bread’, ‘the sunrise’, ‘sleep’, ‘the Spirit’s guiding’, my future ‘victories’; and most especially as I ‘pass through death’, find ‘eternal rest’, and finally expect ‘to be raised’ – all those things, many of which I might take for granted, exist because of Him. He can teach me nothing if I’m not willing to feel His close embrace and the strength He offers.    

It seems that a by-product of abiding that the two Aarons and Jake found, as they read what Jesus said and then interpreted that musically, is that the hurly-burly and stress of my life should be overcome. The traps in daily living are all the little things that mount up and can so easily overshadow what I should feel with Him; and then they unfortunately mute my attempts at fruit-bearing. Was it any different for Him when He walked around here as flesh-and-blood? He once said He had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20/Luke 9:58), so did Jesus struggle with some anxiety about that? On occasion He received strength from one or more attending angels (Matthew 4:11/Mark 1:13, and Luke 22:43), an indication that even He felt weak and needed sustenance from above, particularly in spiritual warfare situations like these (following the temptation by the devil in the wilderness; and His profound anguish in a garden as He awaited arrest, persecution, and death). And, He often went off by Himself to pray. He abided. His moments of apparent distress were far more consequential than most of mine that I can recall…but does that matter to Him? Peter – another Jesus abider, who once felt anxious and overwhelmed because He had failed so miserably as an abider – once wrote Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) So take heart, and realize He is willing to help you find fruitfulness again, if only you and I will abide.

 

Read about the song’s story here: "Walk by Faith" Singer Aaron Williams on John 15:5-8 and here Faith Behind The Song: 'Abide' Aaron Williams feat. Mission House | Air1 Worship Music  also see it here: Worship Collective Dwell Songs Releases New Single ‘Abide’ – CCM Magazine

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ConcordGrapes.jpg.... Concord grapes… This image is a work of a United States Department of Transportation employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Here With Us -- Ben Glover, Jason Ingram, Joy Williams

 

They said it was still a mystery, but that doesn’t mean they shrugged their shoulders and dismissed the seasonal celebration, nor did they diminish the miracle of His being “Here With Us”. It was Christmastime for three composers in 2005, and Ben Glover, Jason Ingram, and Joy Williams were undoubtedly thinking about the Christ child (see here the nativity picture, Adoration of the Shepherds, by 17^th Century Italian artist Matthias Stom [Stomer in English]), apparently in a way that was similar to the emotions we can imagine were expressed on the faces of the people at that time. Wonder and probably bewilderment at the same time, and yet great joy inhabited these witnesses, as God still invites us to do today. Will you and I ever figure out everything about this, or is that really what He wants from us during the annual Christmas celebration? Or, how about everyday life? Perhaps the mystery part is something He intends to leave alone, as part of the lure, the fascination that keeps drawing us toward Him, to a time and place and attachment. Just draw nearer.

 

From the lyrics these three wrote, one might ask if Ben, Jason, or Joy had recently welcomed a newborn into their midst. Or, maybe they had visited a hospital’s neonatal unit and beheld some new arrivals of one or more friends or acquaintances. We could expect that these three might also have been reading from biblical accounts of the Christ-child’s birth or expected arrival, perhaps in Isaiah 9:6, or in Matthew 2 or Luke 1-2. And yet, none of these biblical stories contain details about the child’s physical appearance, so we cannot say for certain what Ben, Jason, and Joy used for inspiration for their own words about Him as a baby. Videos for the song strongly imply the songwriters were thinking of the Christmas story, so that much we could say, although no more specifics are known. The lyrics that Ben, Jason, and Joy wrote are pretty clear about what mystified them – and should, likewise, stun us – about this baby, however. They marveled at the ‘tiny fingers’ of hands ‘so small’, that these same flesh-and-blood human appendages had also ‘measured the sky’ as the universe’s Creator. Or, how about His ‘infant eyes’ and ‘ears’ that made the ‘dawn’ and heard ‘an angel’s symphony’, demonstrating that His human form and divine nature had been amazingly accomplished in the same small body. Someone once said ‘great things come in small packages’, and this was never more true than with Jesus in Bethlehem on a night over two millennia past. No one ever arrived as a baby carrying such significance, a divine ‘love reaching down to save the world’, in the form of a baby. Incredible. And yet, we know that Jesus Himself would say that saving people wasn’t impossible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27). A baby who is God…nonetheless, that still staggers the imagination, until you realize that the Creator-God in involved.   

 

The words Ben, Jason, and Joy wrote tell us something more on top of the incredible but true God-baby story that we should remember. Don’t let it become routine. Something quite predictable happens when people live through several Christmases: they begin to say, ‘Oh yeh, we’ve heard this one before, and it’s no different than what we heard last year’. But, could that be why these three composers have us remember that this human form that occupied a manger also made everything we can see above us in the heavens? The next time Christmas seems hum drum, take a close look at a newborn baby, and then look up and observe the stars, the moon, some of the larger planets, and even the sun. His handiwork is there, in that small child’s diminutive hands and goo-goo eyes looking back at you, and in those heavenly bodies that look down on us too. Who else but Him could have fingerprints in both?

 

Read here some thoughts about the song’s meaning: Here With Us | Joy Williams Lyrics, Meaning & Videos

 

Watch a video of the song here: Bing Videos

 

See information on the image here: File:Adoration of the sheperds - Matthias Stomer.jpg - Wikimedia Commons…The author died in 1660, 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, 1930.

A Shield About Me – Donn Thomas, Charles Williams

 

They were natives of Georgia and Kansas, and presumably crossed paths in or around 1980. We might also guess that Donn Thomas (the Georgian) and Charles Williams (from Kansas) were both reading from the same set of texts when they collaborated to write “A Shield About Me”, drawing on the poetry of the famous Israelite King David, one anonymous writer, and perhaps even God, for their inspiration. What was it these two 20^th Century poets-musicians were facing that prompted their own coordinated thoughts? Could they have also been drawing on the moods and events that were in progress for others surrounding them? Something drew their attention to ancient verses, something that they thought spoke to peoples across the centuries trying to live with the things that just won’t go away. What is it about troublesome issues that I cannot resolve? Am I too dependent on what ‘me, myself, and I’ can control? What does someone do, or where can one turn when the realization dawns that my control is really not mine? ‘Better start hunting for the source of real control’, someone might advise.  

 

 

Donn was apparently the one who learned of God’s protection, His shield, at an early age, making one think that his may have been the encounter that provided a spark for the song that he and Williams later wrote. He had an illness (spinal meningitis) that doctors said was terminal at the age of nine, and yet he recovered. His mother’s prayers and a call to ministry that Donn said he heard delivered personally from God were the major factors that he would tell us allowed him to survive. A friend (LaVoughn, later his wife by 1972) also provided encouragement that reportedly was a key to his recovery. Although Charles had no such obvious and momentous life-threatening event in his early years, his musical skills were honed early and often, such that one might say God was likewise preparing him for what was to come. His experiences in high school under the guidance of two instructors were the stepping stones to performing with many noted musicians, as well as his entry into music ministry in multiple venues in the Kansas City area. Donn’s musical career was also guided with help, like Charles’, and he eventually produced albums and likewise grew into formal music ministry in his native area. The poetry the two men accessed for ‘A Shield…’ reflected their deep and abiding reliance on scripture. Both of them likely knew of David’s psalms (3, 5, 7, 18, 28, 59, and 144), in which this poet-king called out to his Divine Shield in one episode after another. An anonymous poet (Psalm 91) and even God’s own testimony (Genesis 15:1) could also have spurred Donn and Charles to mimic their poetic predecessors. Something in both their experiences spoke to them and said He was ‘a shield about me’, and ‘the lifter of my head’. This ‘glory’, they felt, was Him as their ever-present protector, the One whom they lauded with a recurring ‘hallelujah’.  

 

A shield says two things, when I use it, that Donn and Charles must have implicitly recognized. I can expect something to test me, even try to destroy me. And so, I may know that I’m not strong enough to counter this threat, if I am wise – or scared – enough to admit it. Then, I can either cower or call upon my Protector. Donn and Charles, drawing upon their own experiences and those around them, must have on more than one occasion reasoned with their hearers and fellow worshippers that using the Shield is the only option that makes sense. I cannot stop what is coming, namely health challenges and eventually life’s end. He’s real, and this universe’s testimony and all those who’ve staked their lives on His truth are firm, reliable evidence of Him. He’s got the shield. Will you use it?

 

 

 

Biographies on the two authors are here: https://hymnary.org/hymn/LUYH2013/382

 

Some background documents and scripture references for the song are here:  https://hymnary.org/hymn/LUYH2013/382