I Will Rise -- Louis Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher, Jesse Reeves

 

He was thinking musically of a moment unlike any other that will fully define and culminate all of human history. Chris Tomlin says his friend Louis Giglio gave him a mission to sing something like that. So, Chris, evidently with the help of two other friends, Matt Maher and Jesse Reeves, used Louis’s charge and a one-liner that he said he couldn’t shake, to say “I Will Rise” in 2008. So many masterpiece artists have taken on this same mission with the paintbrush, which Chris and his friends alternately articulated in their music. See the Noel Coypel work of art here (painted in 1700), which only attempts to show, but cannot possibly depict with full appreciation, the stunning moment when Jesus arose from death, terrifying those nearby with how He overcame the grave. What a moment! Maybe if you and I combine looking at something like this painting and singing the song by Chris and friends, we might come just a little closer to reality. We all need hope in that most difficult moment, when we’re staring at the grave.

 

Chris shares that he was having lunch with Louis when the toughest part of life came up in the conversation. It happens to all of us, eventually, and maybe you’ve also been in Louis’s shoes, having a heart-to-heart with a friend over a meal. He was still bereaved over his father’s recent death, and while scriptures like Psalm 46 – with the line ‘Be still and know that I am God’ – provided solace, he asked Chris to write something new, a song that would echo that old hymn ‘It Is Well (With My Soul)’ (by Horatio Spafford, see 5/31/2014 blog entry). That one line that Louis said was stuck in his brain was this: The grave is overwhelmed. Chris says his goal was to gird the spirits of people like Louis who’ve lost someone, by singing about how mortal death is not the final chapter. Death cannot be overcome any other way, except by knowing it is not the end, it’s just an interlude. No doubt, Chris and his friends had read other scriptures (in addition to Psalm 46) to salve a broken spirit. Jesus also had moments when he felt bereaved, including over his friend Lazarus and the woe that others around Him felt (Luke 11: 33-35). The poignancy got to Him…He was really human. But, unlike us, He has already experienced that death-conquering moment, and He’s the ‘firstborn’ (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5), preparing to lead the army of believers into eternity. That’s got to be worth a ‘hallelujah!’, and more than one. So, that’s what Louis and Chris thought about, that there needs to be more than Horatio Spafford’s song (and others that have been written) to remind us, to re-christen that hope that lies within. Jesus rose, and so will I. That brings a ‘peace’, an ‘anchor’, and a ‘victory’, all contained in this new ‘hallelujah’ song to prompt the believer that those are available even now, before this death interlude ensues.  

 

So, you’re sitting in the funeral home, just trying to get through that gloomy episode. Been there? No one likes to remember, but somehow those memories don’t fade very easily. I still remember the minister saying that death and what follows is an appointment (Acts 17:31). That passage moment won’t last forever, and then at some point I will go on to another place. It can be scary, terrifying. Even Jesus said that He felt forsaken (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34), and that must have been the lowest point for Him and those who stood watching and listening. But, this same God has Spafford, and Tomlin and friends, and so many other writers and artists depict the scene three days hence, also. Someone has summed up Revelation and the end this way: God wins. Choose a side. Don’t be stupid! Don’t get trapped dwelling on the interlude, the passageway, that appointment with death, unless you also imprint Louis’s line onto your brain waves, and into your heart. The grave is overwhelmed. And add the exclamation mark (!) also. Feel free to use more than one…like this !!!!  

 

 

Read the song story here: I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin - Songfacts

 

Read some more about the song’s story here: The Meaning Behind The Song: I Will Rise by Louie Giglio - Old Time Music

 

Another source of the song story is here: Chris Tomlin talks about "I Will Rise" (youtube.com)

 

See information about the image of Christ’s Resurrection here: File:Noel-coypel-the-resurrection-of-christ-1700.jpg - Wikimedia Commons . 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.  {{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 1929.

If You Say Go -- Diane Thiel-Sharp

 

Her own words have echoed deeply and broadly as the years have mounted up, and as life experiences have engulfed her. But, could Diane Thiel (she’s since remarried Rod Sharp) have reasonably perceived that what was going on in Chicago (see its seal here) in the 1990s would have meaning for her some two decades later? She believed – and still does – that the Holy Spirit had her say “If You Say Go” once upon a time. That little phrase compelled her and her family to make an emotional move, away from a place and people that they loved, and into another life-stage where it seemed one trouble after another beset her. ‘Why?’, she might have cried out in aggravation, except that her disposition was to follow Him, no matter what. That’s what has helped her see, with patience and devotion, how that little song-title has taken on multiple meanings, and filled out her days with appreciation for how He works in unexpected ways. ‘Amazing’, she would probably admit.

 

It all began in her car, as she recalls what she was doing in the Chicago area, sometime before 1997. In a podcast (see its link below), Diane reminisces that she felt an overflow, and a response to what was happening in her life – that it was a desperation to love God wholly, to want what He wanted, and that this came from a life of passion and joy. She says that this steadfastness also later connected with people in difficult circumstances. The song just came over her, such that she felt like she was taking dictation from someone -- the Holy Spirit -- even as she was eating and driving at the same time. Later at home, she refined the song further as she sat at her piano. And the effect, which her song’s words would shortly have, were indeed life-changing. She and her husband decided that leaving Chicago, a place with a rewarding worship ministry where they’d been for some time, was part of His call. When her husband was seriously injured, even as their move was still in progress, Diane might have blanched if she’d had a crystal ball and could have seen ahead for the next several years. In short, Diane’s husband’s debilitation derailed their lives for the next seven years. When he finally had a surgery, life briefly seemed to return to normal. But then, her husband was killed in a car accident – a shock like none she’d ever had before. But wait, it got worse for Diane, whose close friend was dying of disease, so that one tragedy piled upon another over a period of another three years. ‘If You Say Go’? A positive turnaround began as she and her friend’s widowed husband grieved and tried to help each other, and as Diane continued to serve in ministry by attending conferences. Two unexpected events – this time, positive ones – then transpired. At one conference, her song, which had never been published, was sung by others, prompting a producer to approach her about introducing it to the wider music world. And then, the friendship that she and her widowed friend’s husband had shared, as they grieved the losses of their mates, blossomed into remarriage for the two. Looking backward in the early 2020s, Diane has seen ‘If You Say Go’ as a thread that’s run through her life over 25 years. How many of us would still be saying those words, if we’d experienced what she has?

 

Diane added a few words (at the end of her podcast) that help her sum up how she feels about what has happened to herself in the wake of writing ‘If You Say Go’. Trusting and being patient with God, and agreeing to not inhibit what He’s doing, no matter how slow the process seems, are keys for her. But, she also seems to think each person’s heart is different, and may not be as expressive as another’s, so a worship leader should not be trying to judge others by outward appearances. Facing what God has for each of us is an individual decision; but everyone should eventually face what God has for them. Let Him bring to the surface what you need to experience. Keep your eyes on Him, and just watch what He can do. That’s been Diane’s voice inside of herself for some time. Is He saying that to you, too?

    

Listen to the podcast at this link for the song story and more about the author-composer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZa3ZOXDaVg (at minute 30:00 for story)  See the same podcast here: https://chartable.com/podcasts/the-ferment-podcast-conversations-about-worship-and-transformation/episodes/115585470-if-you-say-go-diane-thielsharps-incredible-journey

 

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