Instruments of Your Peace -- Kirk and Deby Dearman

A couple who’ve been around as much as these two might know a thing or two, because they’ve seen a thing or two (or, so the insurance commercial says!). Kirk and Deby Dearman spent a lot of time abroad prior to the 1990s trying to spread a message through a musical mission in Europe. And, even after they returned to U.S. soil in 1991 (in the Nashville area), they must have felt a calling that took form in one of their songs “Instruments of Your Peace”, allowing them to continue the mission they’d been conducting since their European days. This song’s purpose may be what took a further evolution into a still larger effort to draw people to a peaceful place. Wanna go there?

The Dearmans have had some varied experiences that have no doubt contributed to their development as worship ministry transmitters. Kirk’s musical adventures began as a five-year old with a mother’s wisdom to channel him with piano lessons, a path that blossomed into songwriting and worldwide touring with a musical group by the time he was 20. Meanwhile, Deby too was living all over the world as part of a military family, before meeting Kirk while in college and finding her artistic voice in speech, drama, and stage song and dance. They lived in Dallas, Texas for a while as Kirk ministered at a church as choir director, but it wasn’t long before this married couple and their two daughters went to Europe for seven years. Together with another couple, they formed Creative Arts Europe, a performing arts group that traveled all over the continent. By the early 1990s, Kirk and Deby moved the family back to Nashville from Brussels, where one could speculate they would slow down. This was where Come to the Quiet came to life, their effort to remind Christ-followers of the veneration God deserves. Therein, they combine the arts with contemplative worship in an Anglican service in the Episcopal church. It’s the focus of their website (see link below), as well as their life of encouragement via a joint ministry with some friends in something known as The Journey to Wholeness in Christ, designed to help emotionally troubled people heal. These two have indeed been all over, perhaps giving them a special taste and a need for peace themselves from what, at times, might look like a hectic jaunt from here to there. You might say they have now been living, as well as singing, as instruments of peace.

Hate, hurt, struggle, darkness, and grief – those are the episodes that seemed to have bothered the consciences of the Dearmans around 1993 when they wrote “Instruments…”. Those are the dark emotions they saw, apparently, and chose to not accept. They offer alternatives like these: God’s love, grace, peace, light, and a shoulder for support. It’s all packed into the two verses and chorus they offer, and it hasn’t stopped when Kirk’s fingers pull away from the keyboard, or when they both drop their microphones. They themselves are the instruments. Deby’s artist strokes, Kirk’s pen, and both’s ongoing advice to others in the arts and among the Christian community are tools too. God’s musical gifts are great, but they don’t stop there. Just ask Kirk and Deby.     

The composers’ website is here:

https://www.cometothequiet.com/about-us

New Doxology -- Thomas Miller and Thomas Ken

His goal was to help others see what he had just noticed, and re-appreciated, as one morning he reflected on something he’d been reading. Thomas Miller was a 38-year old minister, five years into his role in a Texas church, when he happened to be studying and spending some time in personal worship. He’d sung the very old and familiar hymn a long time ago, but perhaps that’s what helped make it fresh to his heart once again. And so, Miller crafted a couple of new verses and added ‘New’ to the “Doxology” that awoke something in his spirit. It was a personal moment for him, perhaps not too unlike the motivation that the original “Doxology” composer, the Anglican bishop Thomas Ken, employed in the 17^th Century to respond to God in his own way, despite how it challenged others in his era. Ask yourself, as Ken no doubt wanted people of his time to consider: Is God the ultimate of my existence – the Omega (see this Greek letter here in both upper- and lower-case)?

They were both named Tom, and have a common link through the hymn they both have loved, even if they had widely different experiences with others because of the Christian worship they sought to inspire. Anglican bishop Ken has already been noted in this blogger’s history (see September 17, 2010 entry for “Doxology”), so let it suffice to say he was somewhat of an iconoclast of his time – a vocal critic of those who were traditionalists, especially those who favored music as it had been practiced for many centuries. Thus, Ken’s “Doxology” was his personal worship statement, yet also an affront to others because its words were not directly from the Psalms. Some three or four centuries later, our second Tom – Miller – was also making a statement of sorts via the Doxology vehicle. He says in a video of “New Doxology” that his two verses (the second and third, between the first and fourth that Ken wrote in 1673) came to him one morning (in 2008) as he spent some time in personal worship. An old hymnal song and an even older biblical text (Genesis) ‘struck a strong chord’ within him. Ken’s original 3^rd-person perspective in his two verses captured Miller’s attention, and so while this 21^st Century minister maintained the same perspective as his 17^th Century brother, he added the more personal 1^st-person approach. His main goal was to preserve Ken’s reverential viewpoint. He says that reading about creation reminded him of the Eternal One’s transcendence – He IS, even when there was nothing else. Miller concludes that he wants churches, including the Gateway Church where he ministers in Dallas, to maintain old hymns, rather than discard them for modern choruses. He says ‘new skin’ can enwrap an old hymn, helping to resurrect something that had been dead or dormant. Following that theme, Miller muses that Christ was still transcendent, even though crucified -- a startling concept this present-day composer wants to convey with the words of his third verse.   

While Miller has not experienced the persecution that would have been familiar to Ken, his goal may have been similar to Ken’s. “New Doxology” appears on an album entitled “Wake Up the World”. He evidently wanted to cause a stir, a condition from which Ken also refused to retreat.  Isn’t it odd that both Thomases may have had the same objective in Doxology? Yet, if one considers the derivation of the word, we may also appreciate what they were both saying.  The hymn historically has concluded worship, and the word’s etymology likewise indicates it means finality. In fact, it’s a kind of show-stopping climax that is intended. Nothing tops it. Kinda tells us what Ken and Miller were thinking and feeling, doesn’t it? Our God is the last word, the only word I need.    

The following site has Thomas Miller’s own story about how he came to write the new verses to this old hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhN5sdKLDcQ

Link to some biographic information on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Miller_(pastor)

See here for origin of the word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxology

Salvation Belongs to Our God -- Adrian Howard and Pat Turner

A song whose composers saw a vision – that’s what you might guess had happened when “Salvation Belongs to Our God” was written in 1985. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that these 20th Century composers - Adrian Howard and Pat Turner - were merely repeating a vision that they read from an inspired writer’s hand from two thousand years ago. But, wait a minute, for that might not be quite right either. That inspired guy, John, was actually repeating what he heard others saying in a vision of the future - Eternity - while he was on Patmos Island. The song title echoes what the beloved Apostle recorded that the multitude of saved souls sang in his vision (Revelation 7:10); and other words in the song are the response of the angels to the scene (Revelation 7:12). So, there’s actually many, many, even countless authors of this song.

We don’t know the circumstances that Adrian Howard and Pat Turner were experiencing as they put notes to the words in the song, but we can imagine what must have been some of their thoughts. They were pondering what heaven would be like, since the words they chose were undoubtedly those of Revelation. The second verse suggests Howard and Turner were declaring their allegiance to Him, and their intention to join loved ones already on the other side. When you read the prophetic words therein, what’s goin’ on with you? Has someone important to you passed on, crossing over the spiritual Jordan River? Or, is your own mortality becoming all too real? It can be a lonely episode, preparing to meet Him. If we can trust what we know of John’s experience, he too was alone when he heard this song, and was probably approaching his reward.

Musta been a jolt, don’t you think, to see and hear what John sensed? It’s hard to imagine or picture (though some have attempted – see the picture above). The multitude of people and legions of angels reassure me that the other side will be anything but lonely, however. Maybe that’s an essential part of the song – telling me that I’m not alone. This salvation He owns, He shares. Knowing the song’s background tells me that the saved can be certain of this fact. And, it’s also true for us mortals who voice the song's words here. So, when you hear these words of John now, think of yourself as one of the army of the saved, or perhaps among the angelic choir. It’s called ‘church’, the warm-up for the real thing.

The Lord Is In His Holy Temple -- God

Habakkuk, William Kirkpatrick, and God. What do these people have in common? One being is timeless, another one lived some 2,600 years ago, and another is a relative babe compared to the other two (he lived in the 19th and early 20th Centuries). Yet, they all knew the words “The Lord Is In His Holy Temple”, a song that is one of the more unique compositions among Christian songs. Oh, the words seem pretty familiar, exhorting the audience (fellow Christians) to hold Him in reverence (perhaps as Solomon and the Israelites did, see the picture). But, who wrote the words? It might surprise you, as the exploration of the song did for me.

William Kirkpatrick wrote the music for the song in 1900, and the words first appeared in the prophet Habakkuk’s brief volume (Habakkuk 2:20) that was written in probably the 7th Century B.C (the 600s), but the words are not composed by the prophet. Instead, they are God’s. Habakkuk is sharing his angst with the Lord over injustice in the southern kingdom, and then his shock over God’s solution – sending Babylonia to punish the nation. The context of God’s song verse (2:20) is His discourse about idol worship’s futility, versus the True God. What has brought God to this point? Judah had survived the foreign invader longer than its northern neighbor, Israel, but by 605 B.C. (the approximate time of Habakkuk’s conversation with God) the Lord had seen enough. Idolatry, among other evils, permeated the nation. Habakkuk and his contemporary prophet Jeremiah could both see the approach of destruction. It came after decades of descent, telling us God was indeed patient with disobedience. Though resolute in His punishment on the people, He was not without compassion, for Babylonia would eventually be vanquished. ‘I am still GOD’, He seems to be saying with this verse. A nation will walk away from me, will be punished by evil invaders, and will be restored again – and I, the great I AM, am still here. Where have your idols gotten you?

Had God grown tired of Judah’s national waffle? Unlike Israel, which had a spate of evil kings for all of its 200 years (around 933 – 722 B.C.), Judah had been washed back and forth as bad and good kings reigned throughout its 350-year existence (933-586 B.C), first snubbing Him, then re-embracing Him. How would a volatile relationship like this work if it were person-to-person? I think it’s called divorce, usually, for most people who want stability and fidelity will tolerate nothing less. Think of it on God’s level, who regards time in eons, if you can. ‘Either choose me, or leave me’, He must have thought . And, this wasn’t the first era like this. Remember the 300 years of judges (roughly 1400 – 1100 B.C.) ? Can you hear Him saying ‘What else do I need to do to convince them? If they could just see things the way I do! ‘ Can you see the wheels turning in His head, later ? ‘Hey, what if I could get them to see me?’ I’m in heaven, my holy temple. Would it work if I visited them there, and became like them…? Hey, Jesus, I have an idea….’

See the following link for information about William Kirkpatrick: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/k/i/r/kirkpatrick_wj.htm

Come Into the Holy of Holies – John Sellers

John Sellers wouldn’t be surprised if you think about what it’s like to be in a Temple (see the picture of a Temple room) when you listen to or sing the song “Come Into the Holy of Holies” that he wrote in 1984. He might also approve if you think about your commitment as a believer in ways you haven’t considered before. Both of these themes helped trigger his creativity as he wrote the song. Like another composer decades before himself, an experience in an army also played a part in Sellers’ makeup and the development of the song he wanted to express as a turn in his faith. Like George Bennard (composer of “The Old Rugged Cross” – see this blog’s March 7, 2009 post, or click here http://songscoops.blogspot.com/search/label/Bennard) decades earlier, John Sellers’ early Christian experience was with the Salvation Army. He learned the basics of music there, while his parents were officers in the organization. Later in life, Sellers found he wanted to experience more, and he discovered a church that worshipped more energetically than he had experienced before. A personal connection with the Lord was also a stirring idea to which Sellers was introduced at the same time. His creativity in music was stimulated, while he was concurrently studying about the ancient temple practices versus what Jesus’ death did – ripping the temple veil. Soon, the words to “Come Into the Holy of Holies” were spawned. The revolution in the human-to-God relationship had jumped off the pages of Sellers’ bible, and onto the musical score he wrote. When was the last revolution in your life? No, not the rebellious kind, not one that made you abandon wisdom and good sense. But one in which you knew viscerally that something was missing, and you needed a new beginning. John Sellers felt this, and it led eventually to his writing this song with a revolutionary invitation. Maybe the old rules and methods have become ends, rather than means, blurring the true objective. What if you disregarded time-worn, accepted, stale standards, and threw caution to the winds? Be sure, someone or group nearby would surely sound the alarm - - you’ve certainly lost your mind! Can you imagine if someone had walked into Jerusalem in 33 A.D. and said ‘Hey, let’s just walk into the Holy of Holies, whaddya say’? Someone did. But, the way He took down the veil hiding that room was most unsettling. His method doesn’t allow the easy, safe turnaround. If I decide to link myself to His example, I accept this fact, this potentially hazardous duty. Has God’s seminal act that ‘Good Friday’ touched me the way it did John Sellers? If it does, I join Him for the adventure, the ride of a lifetime. It leads me places I wouldn’t otherwise go…including heaven. The source for John Sellers “Come Into the Holy of Holies” 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. Also see “The Complete Book of Hymns-Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ,2006.

How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves

How does one describe something he’s never seen with the naked eye? Or, how would you paint a picture of an invisible person? Chris Tomlin doesn’t try to make it too complicated for us with his song “How Great Is Our God”, his way of answering someone who says ‘what’s God look like?’. What he says about this song’s development suggests that just maybe that’s the way God wants it. Just celebrate Him, and that’s enough. Almost sounds too easy, and that was kinda how Tomlin thought about it too, at first.

Tomlin recalls that the song’s development began with the chorus section ‘how great is our God…’ , and that that’s all he was able to come up with initially. He says he almost felt regret when he said to Him in effect ‘...this is all I have Lord, there’s no other words I can summon in the English language to describe how great you are.’ Evidently, Tomlin then offered some other words to go with the chorus, but he says the refrain became the focus of the song, after he took to heart some comments by friends. As a result, he says the song’s spotlight shone more brightly on the Holy One’s nature, versus what it was originally when Tomlin focused more on what we as Christians get from Him. Light, majesty, a creature that’s both lion and lamb, and a three-in-one concept none of us can honestly fathom…those are mysterious words that Tomlin uses to try to capture God’s visage. Think of a brilliant light hidden in a cloud (see the picture). Still, the song’s simple yet potent declaration of God’s supremacy is the overriding message.

Maybe that’s all the Lord wanted Chris Tomlin to think and sing about, nothing else but God. And, maybe that’s the secret of its success, why it was a number one hit song in 2006 and in 2008. Could that be why we don’t know more about Tomlin’s motivation for this tune – because why he thinks God is great doesn’t really matter? And, why I think He’s great doesn’t add or subtract from Him, either. Sure, I have Jesus to show people God, and His creation says volumes about Him too. And, my story of devotion to Him might resonate with a neighbor, or maybe a coworker. But, ultimately, if I position myself properly next to Him – on my knees, or prostrate before Him – then all the flowery phrases I could use to describe Him leave me. How great is God? He’s in a category all by Himself. He just IS.

Chris Tomlin’s brief comments on the song: http://christian-vids.blogspot.com/2007/06/chris-tomlin-how-great-is-our-god.html
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin

(Chris Tomlin’s biography)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Great_Is_Our_God_(song)

(song’s history)

Christ, We Do All Adore Thee – Theodore Baker

Theodore Baker is someone I would have really liked to have met. He was a musicologist, which means he practiced professionally what I do as a hobby…what I love to do as a hobby. He compiled an encyclopedia, the Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians in 1900, a work that is apparently still in print over 100 years later. But, Baker was not yet done. I might have sat on my laurels at that point, but Baker was still fruitful at his love two or three decades later, in 1927 when he developed (some say translated) the song “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” that came in part from a French song (“Les Sept Paroles du Christ” or the English version “The Seven Last Words of Christ ”), thereby adding to the encyclopedia he had written. He was 76 at this point in his life, retired, and probably looking toward his eternal reward, which he went to receive in 1934. Baker was an American by birth, but spent his education and retirement abroad. His start in adult life provides encouragement to those of us who have been on the more-than-four-year-college-degree plan. Baker thought he’d be a businessman and pursued study as such initially, but then radically altered direction toward music. He played the organ in Massachusetts for a while, and then went to Germany to study and obtain a doctorate in music by 1882. His dissertation was on Seneca Indian (Native Americans) music, so he was thinking of his homeland while in Germany. He returned and was the G. Schirmer Music Company’s editor in the U.S. for over 30 years, and then retired to Germany following the conclusion of his professional career in 1926. How does one sum up a life spent producing an encyclopedia, and then far beyond that? He could have said ‘read my encyclopedia…’, but perhaps this song “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” tells us the reply of this septuagenarian instead. Look at what occupied the mind of this learned historian in this simple song attributed to him in 1927. It’s an adoration address to Him, one that repeats and swells, and finally whispers its main theme. It’s sort of how a believer’s life might be encapsulated, as a once vibrant and strong voice wanes with age. Yet, belief persists, even in an aging, worn body. Baker could look back, but I have the sense that he wasn’t thinking about the past, but instead was thinking and feeling awestruck by what lay just ahead. In God’s epoch, perhaps that’s what I should be doing much earlier. What do you think?

Two great blogs and two other sites listed below are encyclopedic in their depth about hymns, including “Christ We Do All Adore Thee”, and the translator-composer Theodore Baker:

http://wordwisehymns.com/2009/06/03/today-in-1815-theodore-baker-born/

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hymnstudies/623476/

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/a/k/baker_t.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Baker

Holy Ground – Christopher Beatty

The below is the text of an e:mail that Chris Beatty sent this author on December 15, 2009, telling in his own words how “Holy Ground” was written (in 1982). Enjoy! I was a young pastor in Southern California on vacation with my wife, Carole, in San Diego. As was my practice I started my day with some Scripture reading, singing and exploring song ideas. Exodus 3:5 jumped out at me as having a profound meaning, not just for Moses, but for us all. "Do not come any closer," God told Moses. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." Two things immediately hit me: First, we should approach the Lord with deliberate preparation; Second, because He is everywhere we go, we can always expect a holy ground experience. There are four verses to Holy Ground, though they are not always all sung. The first verse sets up the premise that where we are, He is: This is holy ground. We're standing on holy ground. For the Lord is present, and where He is, is holy. The second verse engages us physically, acknowledging that all we do can be holy works: These are holy hands. He's given us holy hands. He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy. Verse three addresses our words, one of the most challenging areas of all to keep under His guidance: These are holy lips. He's given us holy lips. He speaks through these lips, and so these lips are holy. As this third verse repeats I like the sing the last phrase using the word "sing." He sings through these lips, and so these lips are holy. The fourth and final verse reminds us that were it not for his gift of life and time we would not exist: This is holy time. He's given us holy time. Time is His, and He's given us this holy time. Holy Ground as been sung around the world for 30 years in gatherings large and small. It is often used as congregations dedicate new worship spaces as well as in weekly worship. My prayer for us all is to remember the reality that God is in us, and around us and ever will be. See the following websites for singing advice from Christopher Beatty, who is a vocal coach – a guy who’s still behaving like he’s on holy ground, and therefore deliberately preparing others to be in God’s presence with their lips and voices. http://www.youtube.com/user/vocalcoach http://vocalcoach.com/about.html http://blog.vocalcoach.com/

He Is Exalted - Twila Paris

Little Twila Paris. That’s what she came to be called when she started out singing as a four-year old, and that was the name of her first record, cut when she was just six. So, it wasn’t hard to think of her as ‘little’ then, although she might have been thought of as small the way Shirley Temple was. Some 45 years later, no one probably calls her that anymore, not if they want to thank her and applaud her career, to recognize her for all the wonderful music she has contributed to Christendom. But, it could probably be said that Paris still thinks of herself as ‘Little Twila’, at least when she thinks about her calling and the song, “He Is Exalted”, that she wrote in 1985.


 In fact, she’d probably not want us to think too much about her, but instead about the one she exalts in this song. Paris thought a long time as a teenager and then as a young woman before she decided music was her mission in life, but she knew that it had to be about Him ultimately. She started producing albums by 1980, and when she composed “He Is Exalted” in 1985 she obviously had not forgotten that God’s praise was still the primary focus of her music. Look at the rest of her song library and one can see that that divine hub remains firmly in place. In fact, she’s returned to this song to re-emphasize its point to an international audience, when she recorded it in Portuguese for Brazilian churches in 1992 (It’s on the album Sanctuary.). Wouldn’t it be something to hear God exalted in every language spoken around the globe? I think, in my corner of the world, that I need to begin with that attitude in my neighborhood and my workplace, how about you?


When I think about His exaltation, I couldn’t help addressing that this week, in a way I need to more frequently. I had to summon my courage with someone I work with every day, to remind him of my feelings. I was a bit apprehensive, I admit, although I am convicted that God is indeed worthy of my praise, and of my actions flowing from that conviction. Sensitively, but firmly, I broached this with my co-worker, and guess what? It was OK that I felt God’s name should be held in respect. None of us are perfect, for I too have been frustrated and overwhelmed in the office, with spleen-venting vocal tirades still occupying my memory. But, this episode reminded me that my God hasn’t moved, and He still occupies a position that I can applaud with renewed commitment. I don’t have to go being a world-class evangelist on Broadway to exalt Him. I did that, at least a little bit this week, in my 50 X 50 foot area in a pretty ordinary-looking building in Glen Echo, Maryland. I just need to keep singing “He Is Exalted”, wherever I am.


 Some information on Twila Paris is from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twila_Paris

Information on Twila Paris ia also available at the following website:http://www.twilaparis.com/

Information on the song story is in “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.

Father I Adore You – Terrye Coelho Strom

A birth took place in sisters Terrye and Cathy Coelho’s car in southern California in 1972. But, it wasn’t a boy or a girl. It could be said that in fact a ‘father’ was born in that car. What? Terrye says that car ride with her sister was where she wrote the song “Father, I Adore You”, a tune that extols the Father, and the Son and Holy Spirit too. Terrye Coelho says some other things about this song’s origin that probably seem unconventional, at least to those who haven’t been born like her.

The Coelho sisters were driving to and from a fun time in Newport Beach that summer, and doing what lots of teenagers do when on the road. Singing. I remember being on a bus with other teenagers in the 1970’s, and we sang lots of songs to pass the time, perhaps because we were all band kids and music seemed so natural to us. I cannot remember ever having sung spiritual tunes, though, so our singing never conceived nor brought to fruition anything that notable. Terrye Coelho seems to have somewhat the same attitude, saying that she was only the “vessel” through whom God worked that day. And, the song she helped God deliver that day was so simple, at least on paper it might look a little underwhelming. It contains some very simple thoughts about love and devotion, and transparency before the Holy One. One might say it’s summed up as ‘God, I’m open to you and I love and admire you’. That’s it. Indeed, the words of the song are just about that simple. Terrye says that’s what makes the song, and one other thing she and her sister did with it, such a winner.

Terrye and Cathy sang the song as a round, meaning one of them sang about the Father first, and then the other joined in singing about Jesus. With three people, a third person could join in on the third ‘round’ appreciating the Spirit. That makes it possible for a group -- like a church -- to sing to the Trinity all at the same moment. And, the musical harmony that Terrye heard the Spirit speaking to her was pretty simple too, but just as memorable as the words. Each voice sings a different part of the song’s chords, perhaps not unlike the unique, but complementary, voices of the Trinity. It’s a beautifully straightforward way to think about music – hear the chords, and just do a ‘do-mi-so’. It’s not hard, but one does have to listen and sense how one’s voice and notes fit into the overall scheme. Hmmm…kinda how one’s life fits into and around others in the kingdom, huh? Maybe God says something in music that we need to listen to and practice more intently.


 One source for Terrye Coelho Strom’s 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 also “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.

We Shall Assemble – Twila Paris

What famous people have you met, or seen close up? Were you nervous? Did your voice crack or fumble for words? Those would all be natural reactions to meeting the President, or maybe a movie star, a celebrity whose picture we’ve seen only on screen before. I wonder, how come they don’t get sweaty palms as they come near me? After all, we’re both red-blooded, covered with skin and bones, and ridden with imperfection. A giddy, nervous, or apprehensive response would logically be more appropriate at the sight of an alien, something unfamiliar and potentially dangerous. Maybe that’s what Twila Paris was thinking in 1991 as she wrote “We Shall Assemble”, an expectant, hope-filled encounter with an alien, a being unlike us – God.


Twila Paris has a lot to share about morality and her relationship to God. Both in her music and in her spoken words, you can tell she reveres Him, with her life and her avocation. What she composes for us to sing also shows she has hope, although it long ago might have been considered heresy, not reverence. You see, saying that believers, who are mere humans compared to our divine creator, will be on a mountain with Him would have been unthinkable, even terrifying once upon a time. In scripture, it’s often called a ‘holy’ mountain (Psalm 48:1), a place the average worshipper wouldn’t dare ascend. It was a death sentence to approach and see God’s face. Yet, Twila has us thinking and singing about this very thing. She’s written a book (with co-author Robert Webber) titled “In This Sanctuary: An Invitation to Worship the Savior”, and the album (also called “Sanctuary”) on which “We Shall Assemble” appears also reminds us of our privileged position, compared to our spiritual forefathers. Her thoughts resonate with believers, a fact also borne out in the Gospel Music Association’s award of praise and worship album of the year in 1991 for “Sanctuary”. Her message of an encounter with the Divine One doesn’t stop with the song or her book, either.


Twila Paris tries to live her life in the shadow of the holiness she has observed in the song we sing. You can read on her website that she lives by a moral compass, including when she steps in the voting booth on election day. In her words “Human beings are imperfect. We make mistakes. It’s who we are. We’re not going to find one of us who has all the answers. The only one who has all the answers is the One who created and sustains humankind and the world in which we live. So the most important issue in any election … Do I honor God and acknowledge His authority in my life? … As God’s people, we must continually fall to our knees and find our collective voice.” Falling on our knees will probably be par for the course on the mountain. And, her message for daily living here on earth is one for any believer, not just for one who writes songs. Her music makes me ask myself, ‘Will I be on that mountain with the way I lived this week? Was I the right example today?’ Sure, I have the promise that I will be on high with God, but I need Twila’s reminder, and my Bible, to tell me that God’s home is HOLY. I hope that as I draw closer to home, my trembles will be from anticipation, not foreboding. What’s causing your goosebumps today?


 Information on Twila Paris available at the following website:http://www.twilaparis.com/

Sing Hallelujah to the Lord - Linda Stassen

If you heard someone mention hippies, Jesus freaks, and communes, or phrases like "free love", "One Way",or "Just Drop Jesus"(instead of ‘dropping acid’), you might think you’d stepped into a time machine and been transported to the 1970s. And, you’d be right. These words were coined during the Jesus (or Jesus People) movement in that decade. Instead of saying ‘I’m walking with the Lord’, a believer might have said he was ‘Truckin’ with Jesus’ 35 years ago. It was an era when college campuses vented frustration over the Vietnam War, the government, and American culture at large.

The counterculture reaction extended to Christianity too, so that most Jesus People rejected orthodox, organized churches in favor of simpler (at least to them) methods used in exercising faith. Such well-known evangelistic organizations as Jews for Jesus came from that era. And, many of today’s contemporary Christian music artists’ roots were in the Jesus People movement, in groups with names like the All Saved Freak Band, Petra, Love Song, Resurrection Band, Second Chapter of Acts, and Joyful Noise. Maranatha music was also spawned from a church of that time, Calvary Chapel, in Costa Mesa, California. One of its ‘freaks’, Linda Stassen, is the composer of the song “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, a tune still familiar in mainline churches in the U.S today. Linda Stassen’s “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” is a very simple song, known not only by Americans, but also by people across the globe, including Europeans, Chinese, Persians, and Eskimos, testifying to its broad acceptance. One wonders whether Stassen knew what would eventually happen to one of her Calvary Chapel experiments.

“Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, although beautiful in its simplicity, is a somewhat unusual praise song. Can you picture its composer, perhaps wearing a tie-dyed shirt, raggedy shorts and sandals, and maybe a flower in her hair? Not exactly what most of us today would recommend for your Sunday morning garb, huh? And, in keeping with the unconventional flow, her musical invention was different. Consider a proper hallelujah…most song-writers probably would begin with a bright and upbeat major key to aptly, and musically express praise to God, correct? Not Stassen. She wrote this song in a minor key (C minor). Why? Was she trying to fail?! The combination of Stassen’s musical chords and the words she chose tell us that perhaps she began to compose by drawing on how she felt viscerally about God, and what mood she wanted to convey. As we sing, we can sense that she was moved by the awesome, haunting sense of what God had accomplished for her, and wanted to express that feeling through the music structure, in a minor key. Did you notice that the minor key matches what we sing about Jesus rising from the dead in verse two (an awesome, overwhelming event), and that other things we sing about our king in the song -- his reign in the church and over earth, and his sure return to claim us -- should make us sense the majesty, and the greatness of our Lord, with deep reverence. It makes me re-evaluate the significance of this song’s message to my spirit. I used to think it’s just a simple tune that I could hum in a carefree way, but now I think it’s something I need to contemplate and dwell upon, and so carry myself to respect and honor Him in all that I do. …kind of an unexpected lesson from a freak.

 Information on Linda Stassen in the story was gathered from the “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories about 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Information on the “Jesus People Movement” was gathered from the following Wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_movement.

I Stand in Awe of You - Mark Altrogge

What’s the most awesome sight you’ve captured on film or perhaps glimpsed briefly? A snow-capped mountain against an unpolluted, sapphire-like sky…or maybe a roaring tornado, cutting a half-mile swath of destruction…how about an encounter with a charging polar bear, or a grizzly who stands to show his ten-foot fury? When I think of awesome things, I tend to think of nature, something that I can witness with the naked eye, a phenomenon or creature that is completely out of my control, in whose presence I feel small. What would you say if I told you the most awesome spectacle was not even visible to the human eye? That’s so illogical, you’d probably at first scoff and dismiss such a thought. Yet, that’s Mark Altrogge’s message in “I Stand in Awe of You”, a song about our God, and how I should feel about Him.

Mark Altrogge wrote “I Stand in Awe of You” in 1987 as he contemplated the holiness of the Lord. He’d read R.C. Sproul’s “The Holiness of God” and A.W. Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” to gain some insight, a necessity when one is trying to capture the essence of the invisible. Altrogge’s conclusion is summed up with words like this: ‘beyond’, ‘like nothing ever…’, ‘too…’, ‘infinite’. No, we cannot see Him, and in many ways, if not for Jesus, He’s unknowable. To the rational, scientific, experiential observer, an exercise to describe -- and worship -- someone we admit is beyond comprehension is cuckoo. But that’s what we proclaim when we sing Altrogge’s composition. From his home in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where he’s a worship leader, Altrogge says his goal is to write doctrinally rich, passionate songs. He also relates that he thought at first that worship songs would be simple to compose, a belief that he now admits was shallow.

You might think his song, because of its single verse (at least, in most hymnals; a comment below links us to another verse!), lacks depth, but think again. Story after story in the Bible tell us that God is beyond our grasp, so we simply, pointedly reaffirm that principle when we sing Altrogge’s tune. I don’t need to sing lots of different verses to communicate this straightforward, overriding truth to the Creator. I’m not trying to impress God with my words, with my puny understanding of His nature. I just confess that I cannot, and I prostrate myself at his feet. The same God who inspires the sublime when I gasp at the mountains, windstorms, and fearsome creatures is the same One who gave Himself up, for me. That’s the most awesome, baffling, mind-blowing part of Him.

Source for Mark Altrogge’s story is the book “Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003. A shorter version of Altrogge’s song story is in “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006.