Highest Place – Ramon Pink

Have you sung about Jesus being the high priest before? If you have, and done so with a genuine desire to make Him be in the place He deserves, it means you have taken your own ego totally out of the picture. How would you feel about doing this if you were on vacation, say perhaps in Hawaii? When I think of Hawaii, I think of doing something for me, about treating myself to a little corner of paradise here on earth. So, for me, Hawaii and the High Priest just might not fit in the same space. This apparent contradiction is what makes the song “Highest Place” intriguing, knowing where the composer Ramon Pink was, and what he was doing and thinking when he wrote about making Christ the High Priest.

The below are Ramon Pink’s own words (shared with me on Thursday, February 11th 2010) about “Highest Place”: I wrote “Highest Place” when I had first visited Hawaii, around 1982. It’s a beautiful chain of Islands, warm and picturesque. It’s also a place of a lot of spiritual activity. I found myself speaking out the Lordship of Jesus frequently, and saying “I place you above all else”. I wrote the song, in a personal time of worship, and put it on a tape that I played in my room. I wanted the song to affirm the lordship of Jesus where ever it was sung/played and it was only right to start in my room! Some 6-12 months after I wrote it, I sang it at a camp I was at. The campsite was set in amongst some bushclad hills: it seemed appropriate to sing out the lordship of Jesus. The group I was with responded in worship to God through the song, and it went from there. I had the privilege of being with David and Dale Garratt, worship pioneers (Scripture in Song). In their extensive travels, they shared the song and it grew from there. The song still challenges me at the personal level. I think the key is that when Jesus is worshipped, the spiritual order of things is put right, at a personal level and at a ‘corporate gathering of believers’ level. I fear that too many songs are becoming “me” centred; we need to focus back on worshipping Jesus. The personal needs get put into perspective, and it feels easier to identify what is on the heart of God.

Today, some 28 years later, Ramon Pink is a public health physician in Christchurch in New Zealand. Knowing this, you might think, ‘OK, this guy probably gave up being a composer after one song – a one-hit wonder’. But, Ramon wrote or co-wrote several other songs (see the links below), hinting that he was talented for many years, prior to his next (or maybe it was coincident) calling as a doctor. I wonder how many of his colleagues or patients think about his background as a musician, and now physician. Do his hands sing as he treats patients? Hmmm, maybe he’s been cultivating something these last few decades to become more like our great High Priest…someone with a musical spirit (Exodus 15:2 and Zephaniah 3:17 describe God as a musical being) and physician skills both. No better way to go, than to compose His praises and treat and heal your fellow man, and so enthrone God. Someone else to meet in the hereafter! Thanks to Ramon Pink for sharing!

Following website lists another song by Ramon Pink: "God Has Not given Us a Spirit of Fear," words and music by Ramon Pink (© 1989 Scripture in Song (Maranatha! Music)) http://www.jesuswalk.com/timothy/timothy-songs.htm

Following website has a U-Tube rendition of another song Ramon Pink co-wrote: “Romans 16:19-Be Excellent at What Is Good” (co-writers John Childers, Ramon Pink, Graham Burt & Dale Garratt) http://www.topchristianlyrics.com/2010/01/15/romans-1619-chords-and-lyrics/

Following link shows a U-Tube video of an acoustic guitar piece (Jesus ist der Herr [Jesus is the Lord?]) composed by Ramon Pink: http://new.us.music.yahoo.com/ramon-pink/
 

Following link shows a song “Keep On Praying (Ephesians 6:18)” by Ramon Pink: http://pwarchive.com/song.aspx?SongID=929&v=1

Finally, the following website is one among many that show the words to Ramon Pink’s song “Highest Place”: http://www.higherpraise.com/lyrics/love/love201097.htm

The Lord Bless You and Keep You – Peter C. Lutkin

Priest: someone who administers religious rites in the church, who makes sacrifices to God as an official of the church. I have hardly ever though of myself in that way, have you? That’s the role I invoke as I sing Peter C. Lutkin’s song “The Lord Bless You and Keep You”, a scary proposition when I think about it. I don’t put on a robe, nor sprinkle holy water, but I do stand before God to make an appeal to Him to bless someone. A sincere appeal, a desire so pressing that I call out God’s name three times in this brief invocation. And this is something a body of people, not just one individual to another, has done for others, traditionally. Perhaps that’s why it taps into our emotions as believers, as we together call out our plea to Him. It’s a very basic, moving prayer, an expression of care and love among family. This was not discovered by Lutkin when he composed the song, but instead draws upon words believers have known for three millennia, first used by Aaron and his sons. Did they sing it? We can, because of Peter Lutkin.

 Peter Lutkin was born and educated in the American Midwest, although he also studied some in Europe. He began as an organist while a child in an Episcopal church in Chicago, and also sang and studied choral music. He became well-known as professor and dean of the Northwestern University’s Conservatory of Music in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was primarily engaged in church and choral music throughout his life. Lutkin is credited with reviving the university’s music school, which had declined and was in danger of discontinuing by the last decade of the 19th Century. He was perhaps best known for organizing and leading the A Cappella Choir in 1906 at Northwestern, the first permanent organization of its kind in America, and many of his musical compositions were created for this group to perform. He composed “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” in 1900, originally for four-part vocal harmony, without accompaniment, which is traditionally sung as a closing benediction in churches, and especially at the closing of a wedding, prayer response, or as a communion hymn. One of Lutkin's most noteworthy endeavors also was the North Shore Music Festival, which began in 1910 and became internationally famous under his leadership.

 It’s June, the time of year when couples are making marital vows. Lots of teenagers and young men and women are also at turning points – graduation. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if Peter Lutkin composed this benediction as he watched students graduating from Northwestern. As we celebrate these occasions, Lutkin’s inspiration helps us link back to a centuries-old practice. I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a priest, but it never gets old to look people in the eye and say ‘take care, be blessed by Him’.

A short biography on the composer is available in the following publication: Favorite Wedding Classics for Solo Singers, by Patrick Liebergen, Alfred Publishing, publication date unknown. More information on Peter C. Lutkin was found at the website:http://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/fedora/get/inu:inu-ead-nua-19-1-1/inu:EADbDef11/getEntireFindingAidHTML