Hope of the Nations -- Brian Doerksen

 

He was trying to write a song, and had a brain cramp as he tried to finish it off. Then Sep 11, 2001 happened, and who could forget the images (including this one shown here, when an airliner slammed into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City’s Manhattan district) that we all saw on television and other video screens. Brian Doerksen found his “Hope of the Nations” amidst a great terrorist tragedy, and perhaps more people than ever were open to listening to who Brian said was the source of hope. To watch thousands of people die violently no doubt changes how we humans think about life and how quickly it can be snuffed out. Where can you and I turn if this existence is so fragile and uncertain? That was the mental and emotional torment so present on that day, a reality that many of us experienced near the scenes in New York; Arlington, Virginia; and the rural countryside of southwestern Pennsylvania. What Brian wanted was to recenter our attention on another scene, one which showed the opposite of what was seared in memories on that terrible day in September 2001.

 

The scene Brain wanted to draw for people in the wake of 9-11 was in fact a face – a divine one, the only one which could possibly take the sting out of what had happened so unexpectedly in the space of two hours. Brian says he’d been thinking about writing a song of hope since 1999, in expectation of the angst many people might have felt as the turn of the century approached. Y2K had people on edge, for who could really know which computers and other electronic devices might crash as January 1, 2000 arrived, and which ones would still work? But, evidently those fears were not enough to stimulate Brian’s creativity, and his musical project stalled, though he kept trying. By early September 2001, the juices were once again flowing for Brian, allowing him to write much of the song, at least until he hit another creative block. Brian knew that Jesus was the source of hope in what he wanted to communicate, including the thought that this God-Man was needed by all nations, and yet the song remained in limbo for a few days. The tragic events of terrorism a few days hence seemed to crystallize the message in Brian’s spirit, and with newfound clarity he finished the song’s chorus section. In short, Brian said lyrically that Jesus is a ‘hope (that is) living…’ even amidst so many deaths that had horrified those in North America and around the world. Brian’s strategy was to say musically what Jesus provides for stunned people. ‘You are…’ so many things, Brian said to God in that moment. He is ‘hope’, ‘the rock’, ‘the light’, and ‘truth’ (pre-chorus and chorus). Before the 9-11-inspired chorus section, Brian had already written that Jesus is the ‘comfort (for) mourn(ers)’, and ‘Heaven’s hope (for those) on earth’ (v.1), a message that provides for those who suffer, but especially and most poignantly for people in the wake of 9-11. To know that ‘in history, (Jesus) lived and died…(then) rose to life’ cannot but speak intimately to anyone who’s lost someone close. Nothing is more important, as Brian described it, than having a God who ‘conquered fear’ by coming out of a grave that was so brutally imposed upon Him. It doesn’t matter how unfair death is – Jesus is stronger.   

 

Brian Doerksen was in a special place, a place he’d probably have preferred to not be in, in September 2001. And yet, his experience really highlights how supreme is the Creator of life. His is the last say-so, and that is something that Brian counted on as he mused about the calamity that was before his eyes. No death could hold Him down, and that is indeed a ‘light in the darkness’, capable of overcoming the gloom that had enveloped the public who were glued to horrific scenes broadcast in living color. Brian was no doubt as shocked as anyone by what he could see via his television that day, but he didn’t stay there. Imagine a day when all death is swallowed up by life, by the One who gives life. Trust in His benevolent nature, and in His almighty hand. He’s led the way out of the grave already. Get ready to follow, no matter how you went there.       

 

See the song story here: BRIAN DOERKSEN HOPE OF THE NATIONS LYRICS | JustSomeLyrics

 

Read here about the author-composer: Brian Doerksen - Wikipedia

 

See information on the World Trade Center image here: File:Explosion following the plane impact into the South Tower (WTC 2) - B6019~11.jpg - Wikimedia Commons…This image is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government, specifically an employee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

Cornerstone -- Edward Mote, Eric Liljero, Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan

 

Some music lovers would probably have said that there’s a silver lining in this tragic episode. Reuben Morgan and his co-writers Jonas Myrin and Eric Liljero would probably actually say that the message of the “Cornerstone” song they collaborated to write was a lot more than a silver lining. This Divine One about whom they sang in 2011 was a God capable of turning things upside down, which is what believing people in Scandinavia, and indeed around the world, needed to help make sense of what had just happened. Senseless hate and death had hurting people searching for answers, as they pored over the heartbreaking news from Norway and two places where events had invaded; one was a place called Utoya Island (see a map/picture here, and note the red circle), a place where the infamy won’t soon be forgotten. Mercifully, it will however be outlived by the One we call Cornerstone.

 

Reuben Morgan tells the story of how ‘Cornerstone’ emerged in 2011, in the wake of a car bombing and a mass shooting in Norway. He relates (in a New Song Café telling of the story on 7/14/2016, see link below) that he was in Stockholm, Sweden just about the same time in July 2011 when terrorists killed 77 people in two places (one in Oslo, the capital; the other at a summer camp at Utoya Island), leaving people in shock, including kids who had been at the camp and saw their friends die. What could they do to help, Reuben and his friends Jonas Myrin (another songwriter) and Eric Liljero (worship pastor in Stockholm’s Hillsong Church) wondered. What made them think of the classic old hymn written by Edward Mote (My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less) is not known, except that they all thought its original words fit their circumstances and that this was the message people needed at that moment. They re-shaped the melody and added a new chorus to emphasize that Jesus is an anchor – a cornerstone -- who can be relied upon during times like that. These suffering Norwegians had just been in ‘the storm’, and certainly needed a ‘Lord’ who could turn the ‘weak’ into ‘strong’. Mote’s nearly two-centuries old poetry still had a balm for their aching hearts. ‘Hope’ in our world is based only on Jesus’ righteous act to spill His own blood for everyone else (v.1). ‘Darkness’ might seem to obscure even God’s visage at times like July 2011, but His ‘grace’ endures, no matter how fierce the storm, because Jesus is a firm ‘anchor’ (v.2). All believers can await the ‘trumpet sound’ with composure, since he transmits His own ‘righteous’ and ‘faultless’ attributes to each of us; we won’t stand before His ‘throne’ naked and vulnerable (v.3). He won’t let the ground crumble beneath us on that last eternal day, even if we might have felt like that was happening here on earth on July 22^nd, 2011. That indeed is a message with more that a sliver lining in it, even for those who experienced the numbing events in Oslo and on Utoya Island.   

 

Reuben emphasized that writing songs is ‘pastoral’ work, meaning that songs aren’t just composed to sound pretty in God’s ears and satisfy our internal temperaments. Instead, incidents like those of 22 July 2011 affect masses of people; Reuben shared that he thought lots of Norwegians knew people who were affected personally on that day. And so, songwriting has a purpose, to help the emotionally afflicted people trying to work and sing through what they were feeling about their faith. Reuben felt that hymns throughout history have been like that for believers. They speak of real life, gritty and ugly though it may be, with a beam of light shining through that gets larger and brighter as time elapses. That light will eventually envelope everything, except those that run instead for the darkness, like that in July 2011. Get ready with more songs to counter the darkness in our world. Reuben and company are doing their part, so let’s join them in this work!

 

See this link for an interview with one songwriter (Reuben Morgan) about this song: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/cornerstone-hillsong-worship/

 

Information on the 2011 attacks in Norway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks