Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) -- Brenton Brown and Brian Doerkson

 

It was not the most auspicious epiphany that brought about this song in 2000, as both of these songwriters would admit. One of them, Brian Doerkson, was actually feeling rather agitated that his visiting friend, Brenton Brown, was trying to get him to say “Hallelujah, Your Love is Amazing” on a difficult day in his family’s home in Abbotsford (in Canada’s British Columbia, see a picture of its downtown here). It was the pretty ordinary and lackluster response of Brian that left Brenton unimpressed with his friend’s spontaneous musical suggestion regarding the song’s unfinished chorus. But, what ultimately emerged in the words just reaffirmed that the musical Spirit can work in circumstances that are challenging and distracting. In fact, if He doesn’t, what’s that say about His presence in everyday life, especially when things can be pretty tiresome? It was also Brian who thought that this ever-present God idea in the praises of His people should inhabit this song. His name carries with it praise, both of these two songwriters eventually emphasized.  

 

It was a February day in early 2000, a time when one of his six children was pitching a fit, Brian would remember, and his ebullient friend Brenton entered a room in the house, all fired up about a song idea. Brenton already had the first verse, but needed a catchy chorus phrase. He must have thought Brian was pretty unfocussed and uninspired when Brian immediately responded with the song’s title words, particularly when he suggested that just repeating this phrase multiple times was the hook for which Brenton was searching. This spur-of-the-moment, seemingly inadequate idea actually said all they needed, Brian reiterated. After all, the word ‘hallelujah’ fundamentally says ‘praise God’ in its original language (Hebrew), so when a believer wants to return God’s love in adulation, what could be better than this single, potent word? Together, the two friends concocted a second verse, one that concludes by saying their invention is in fact a ‘God song’. How many times would ‘hallelujah’ be enough to offer Him what He’s owed? At least 30 times, is what Brian and Brenton must have eventually decided, if you listen to the various renditions of the song. And yet, that cannot be enough to do Him justice, either. And, the verses they constructed likewise say only a few of the worthiest things about Him – that His love corresponds to so many adjectives, like ‘amazing’, ‘steady’, ‘unchanging’, besides being like a ‘mountain’ in its ‘firm(ness), while also being a ‘mystery’, and ‘gentl(e)’ as it ‘surrounds’, ‘lifts’, and ‘carries’ the believer (verse 1). You can imagine the two songwriters may have thought of personal episodes when they said His love is ‘surprising’, as it’s ‘rising’ and ‘glowing’ from the very ‘inside(s)’ of a person, as he revels in the ‘goodness’ of this God-love (verse 2). They conclude their ode to Him with ‘Your love makes me sing’, perhaps the only appropriate way to demonstrate that this lovefest cannot be captured with mere words, but needs a music infusion.

 

Light the heart’s fuse with the love synergy you share with your Creator. That’s what Brian and Brenton coax from the believer who’s calling out to God in a song, this song with God’s name intrinsically attached to it. Is there anything He’s not done to fertilize, nurture, teach, and sacrifice for me, to secure my devotion? He’s given not just His love, but the method for lifting His name, too. He touches those He chooses with a tune-making nature and vocabulary to birth something from His own great heart. He’s the essence of life, like the nuclear core with its mass attracting electrons to orbit His magnetic pole. God is indeed the critical mass of love, for without Him there would be no ‘hallelujah’, no reason for life itself. That’s something that it seems Brian and Brenton want us to remember.       

   

The song story is found in the following book: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2008.

See information on one of the writers here: Brian Doerksen - Wikipedia

See a description of the song’s title word here: Hallelujah - Wikipedia

For link to and information about the image, see here: File:Downtownabbotsford.JPG - Wikimedia Commons.  This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Sonicwolf at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Sonicwolf grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Still -- Reuben Morgan

 

This one must have come from deep inside, and maybe that’s why there’s not much shared about how it arose. Reuben Morgan just felt the need to be “Still”, early in this century (around 2002), and so that’s what he said to God about his own demeanor. He implicitly trusted God’s character and ability, and his own effort in the relationship was just that one word – Still. Perhaps Reuben was just taking a page from the psalmists’ playbooks (Psalm 37:7; 46:10; and 91:4), and reaffirmed by God Himself (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34), a posture that one takes when in need of a most certain protection. What else can one do when troubled by things visible, or maybe afraid of things that cannot even be seen or comprehended? Was it possible that Reuben had heard others who were in a state of anxiety, and that that was distressing his innards, too? Reuben knew where to turn.

 

 

Reuben Morgan was a 27-year-old songwriter with the Hillsong church in Sydney, Australia (in the state of New South Wales, on the nation’s southeast coast; see image here) when he wrote ‘Still’. For any person, living in a city of five million-plus people would just by itself be enough to generate stress – all those people, cars, etc., compressed together in a dense-pack condition. Even among the members of a healthy Christian church environment, the rhythms of 21^st Century life can be overwhelming at times. Was there a health, relationship, or financial struggle in progress that occupied Reuben’s thoughts? Perhaps all of the above, or something else was the spur for Reuben’s turn to scripture, evident in the few lyrics that he crafted to tackle what was taxing his being. David (Ps.37), a Korahite (Ps.46), and an anonymous poet-songwriter (Ps.91) all turned to their Creator-Protector with words that Reuben borrowed some three millennia later, demonstrating that you and I still need Him as much as ever. I am safe ‘under his wings’ (v.1 of Reuben’s song), and I can rest, being ‘still’ in his shadow, knowing He is God (Reuben’s chorus; Ps.37 and 46). Perhaps it was Jesus’ plaintive response to doubters (Pharisees and other teachers) in His earthly ministry that got Reuben’s attention. He longs to guard and reassure those He created, as a hen protects little chicks (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34). There’s a ‘storm’ and a ‘flood’ that Rueben felt he could endure, because God has a ‘mighty hand’, something that Reuben and the rest of us can read regarding how He rescued people from slavery (nine times in Exodus --chapters 3,6,7,1314,32; and equally in Deuteronomy – chapters 3,4,5,6,7,9,11,26). And, what about being ‘in Christ’ (Reuben’s v.2)? Could Reuben have done a word search like you and I can today, finding that powerful two-word phrase some 90 times in the New Testament? If he did, there’s a lot there to gird one’s faith, to make one’s courage grow because of being in Him.

 

 

It seems like knowing that I’m in Christ is the key to that rest, the stillness that He has for me. Reuben also evidently settled on that rock, the foundation for a sigh of relief and contentment, a ‘rest (for) my soul’ (v.2). And yet, that doesn’t tell the storms, floods, rising oceans, and thunders to go away. So, true confession time, I admit I still feel stress and the tedium of my existence pretty much every day, sometimes more intensely than other days. Stuff happens and has to be managed, so there’s no getting away from it, is there? How about finding a way through it? Find your way through it, as Jesus did. He prayed constantly, angels came and ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11), and He shared Himself with earthly companions. He’s our model, for how to be still.

 

 

See here for information on the songwriter: Reuben Morgan - Wikipedia

 

See here for information about the image of New South Wales flag: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_New_South_Wales.svg ; This image or other work is of Australian origin and is now in the public domain because its term of copyright has expired.

 

See here for information about Australia’s largest city: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney

Great Are You Lord -- David Leonard, Jason Ingram, Leslie Jordan

 

These three friends set out to make a song, a LOUD song. That is how David Leonard envisioned “Great Are You Lord”, something not terribly original, but one that could let a crowd sing with abandon and energy. He must have felt like the worship crowds he was trying to guide could use an injection of life, something that would metaphorically look like some old dry bones coming to life (as in what the prophet Ezekiel saw, reproduced in this 19^th Century engraving by Gustave Dorè). And actually, David and his friends Jason Ingram and Leslie Jordan also borrowed and re-phrased an idea from a fourth musical friend (Matt Redman) to provide some of the inspiration for the song they were trying to bring about. And still, according to David Leonard, the song almost didn’t happen, except that this group kept working this one over and over until something clicked. Was it their own dry bones that needed the Spirit’s influence?

 

This song really was a group effort, with each of the members bringing some of their own thoughts to what would eventually emerge (sometime in either 2012 or 2013). Jason apparently had been sharing with Matt Redman about David’s desire to create a spirited anthem, a feeling not unfamiliar to Matt, who told Jason he felt that hearing a crowd really lifting God’s name in worship through song while in the very presence of Him was a matchless experience. That gave Jason a thought which was inserted into the song’s lyrics – that God’s ‘breath (was) in our lungs…’, so praise just could not be limited. That thought provided the initial push for the song’s creation as Jason, David, and Leslie sought to add more lyrics in their joint session. They eventually added words about God giving ‘life’ and ‘hope’; being ‘love’; ‘restor(ing) …broken hearts’; and bringing ‘light to the darkness’ – all great reasons to shout the song’s title words. Whether it was one of them alone or a collaborative thought, the imagery of Ezekiel 37 leapt to their lips too, as they imagined a whole army of lifeless skeletons suddenly becoming reanimated. ‘These bones will sing’, they said, but it was more than just one valley where they saw God’s hand at work; they believe He’s got ‘the whole earth’ on His mind. As Leslie explained, this vivid imagery helps spur a certain fervor and unparalleled power among His people, something that can speak volumes to a world filled with those who don’t yet believe. We’re all waiting with great anticipation the New Heaven and New Earth, but it’s not too soon to tell Him now what we think of that great future that He’s preparing.

 

There’s a point in the podcast with David (see its link below – ‘simplecast….david-leonard’) in which he admits that there’s not a whole lot more to the lyrics that he and Jason and Leslie settled on. Perhaps that’s why David suggests that the group almost put aside the song as an unfinished work, thinking it still needed some more. But, as they think now, what more needs to be said, in order to say ‘thank you’ to Him over and over? The blessings He’s already delivered are plenty to acknowledge, and to mull over in their depth and breadth. He’s lived up to His promises about bringing hope and life and purpose, not to mention restoration to broken people through countless Christian communities. Further, access your imagination, and just think of your lifeless form rising from a coffin someday. Be reborn, with rejuvenated parts, and just look around at your friends and loved ones alongside. Wow! That’s the feeling that David, Jason, and Leslie were after with this song. Pass that along to others, and watch this electric contagion take hold!       

 

See here for the song story: https://www.logos.com/grow/great-lord-new-classic/

Hear the story of the song here: https://jesus-songs.simplecast.com/episodes/001-great-are-you-lord-david-leonard-ju2TebN6 (begin here: 18:20 – 22:11)

See here for information about the authors/composers: Great Are You Lord | Hymnary.org

 

Information and link to the image of the dry bones: The Vision of The Valley of The Dry Bones - Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones - Wikipedia. This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason: 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.