Lord, You Have My Heart -- Martin Smith

 

The band Martin Smith formed was called Delirious – with a question mark (?) to emphasize something in the band members’ collective psyche, perhaps. But, there was no question mark in the song that Martin wrote for the group in 1993 in which he said confidently “Lord, You Have My Heart”. This Englishman (see the English flag here) had a pretty good idea of how he felt, and so he needed no other narrative to explain how the song’s development had occurred. Saying what Martin decided to actually put to music was just his way of underscoring his commitment. He’d probably read plenty of his bible to feel fellowship with other like-minded musicians who were his ancient ancestors, so why not join them in spirit by putting to music how he felt, as they must have when they decided to express their inner spirits in like manner? There’s a pretty sizeable group of believers who have done the same across the centuries; do you think they’ll inhabit a particular corner of Eternity, or instead be scattered amongst the rest of us, and only occasionally congregate to share with one another their musical gifts? Perhaps Martin was already thinking about what it will be like when he penned the last words of this devotion.

 

Martin was ready to offer himself completely in what he calls a personal journey in 1993. ‘Lord…’ was the first song that he and his fellow band members (they originally called themselves The Cutting Edge Band, after a recurring youth event which they supported) wrote, which says something about what the song might have meant to Martin and the others. Was it like an anthem for them, a mission statement of their purpose in forming and playing and singing songs? Martin does not say, but it apparently stuck with him, so that he and his daughter were singing it together many years later (see the story link below). ‘Search(ing) for His’ heart (the 2^nd line of the song) is evidently something that the Smith family has passed along to the next generation. Martin used some other words to characterize how he felt, like ‘sacrifice’, ‘lead me on’, and ‘praise’, some key things he would do as he looked around for the God whose ‘love (had) come down’ and ‘show(n) (His) face. But, maybe Martin wasn’t thinking only of the terrestrial moments to come in 1993. Seeing His ‘glory’ would be quite a revelatory sight, would it not? After all, even Moses, whom God called ‘friend’ (Exodus 33:11), was not permitted to see God face-to-face (Ex. 33:18-23). Seeing His glory face-to-face would have meant death…maybe it was just too much voltage for the human being to handle. Indeed, Moses’ face was so radiant after this meeting with God, that he frightened the Israelites who met him at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, Martin has not stopped his search, and he looks to his predecessors for life-giving sustenance of God, even if seeing Him in full-face isn’t yet possible. He says many passages – like Psalm 139:23-24, Psalm 27:8, and Romans 12:1-2 – have helped him dig roots and connect his own song’s words with biblical truths. We’ll actually get to see His glory, one day.

 

Martin and the rest of us can long to see Him, as we’re doing each time we sing and read what He tells us. That is what you and I can take away from what Martin Smith wrote in 1993. It never really stops, as long as we don’t snuff out that curiosity streak in us, and long to draw as close to Him as possible while here on earth. The promise that I will get to be with Him, to meet Him whose image I try to mimic, is the basic instinct for all of us who are human. Is there something in me that is like Him, that he found worthy of creating? There’s only one way to answer this. Just one way to find my roots.   

  

 

Read the story behind this song here: Lord You Have My Heart Lyrics - Martin Smith

 

Read about the author-composer here: Martin Smith (English musician) - Wikipedia

 

Read here re: the album (Cutting Edge 1) on which the song was premiered by the group Delirious? Cutting Edge (recordings) - Wikipedia

 

See information on the England flag here: File:Flag of England.svg - Wikipedia…This work has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder. This applies worldwide.

Joy Has Dawned -- Stuart Townend and Keith Getty

 

Tell the complete story. That, in a very brief summary, is what Stuart Townend said that Keith Getty and he were trying to accomplish in 2004 when they wrote “Joy Has Dawned”. Although one might think there are plenty of Christmas carols, Stuart and Keith thought there were far too few that really speak of Jesus becoming human. And so, the Christmas nativity (see masterpiece artwork The Adoration of the Shepherds here by 17^th Century artist Matthias Stomer) was what they envisioned musically, but not just the scene. There’s so much depth in what God-With-Us meant for people as the 1^st Century dawned, that the import of His entry, life, sacrifice, and resurrection cannot be exaggerated 20 centuries later. It’s a story that’s too important to be limited to just one time of the year, and it begins with how He chose to come.

 

Stuart and Keith set out to add one song to the world’s Christmas music repertoire, and what they discovered was that a whole album about this subject would emerge (see its contents at the end of this blog post with the link provided).  These two British songwriters’ passion is to share the whole story about Jesus, and to spur the church to sing songs that have scriptural truths embedded within them. And so, they thought about ‘Joy…’ as part of a collection that would focus on musically accomplishing what the Apostles’ Creed has done for centuries. Telling the fundamentals of the Christian faith is therefore underscored with each one of the four verses they penned. Jesus was the ‘humble gift of love’ (v.1), a rather amazing present to mankind from the one who actually created all we can see (see Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3). Think of that: the One who is the Creator chose to be a new creature in the arms of a young woman named Mary whom He created. Incomprehensible and physically impossible, you say? Not for this God. He even ‘set the stars in place’ and ‘shaped the earth’, and now He’s a baby in a ‘stable’, ‘vulnerable and helpless’ (v.2). How could the Father entrust His Only Begotten to fallible humans?! Despite His lowly arrival, this baby was recognized as special, with appropriate gifts that could be seen as especially indicative of Jesus’ identity as a king and eventual Divine Sacrifice – ‘gold’ for his role as king of the Jews; ‘incense’ like that used by priests as an offering in the presence of God Himself; and ‘myrrh’ that was commonly used to embalm a dead body (v.3). Stuart and Keith round out their description of Jesus with several synonyms for Him: ‘Son of Adam, Son of heaven’, ‘ransom’, ‘reconcil(er)’, ‘Christ’, ‘Savior’, ‘Friend’, ‘glorious mystery’, ‘babe’, and finally ‘Lord of history’(v.4). Others are sprinkled through the other verses, like ‘Prince of life’ (v.2), and ‘the lamb’ (v.3). Are there really enough names for Him?

 

What Stuart and Keith might have concluded is that Jesus is a mouthful, and so much more. That is what spurred these two to write a new Christmas hymn -- that there was really too little that had been said musically about Him to properly express what He means to humanity. Maybe we all ought to be singing Christmas songs year-round, although doing so might make them rote performances. God needs to be special in the lives of people, and the Christmas season does that in some measure. But what Stuart and Keith have said in their title of the song – that this ‘Joy Has Dawned’ – in fact persists throughout the year and all of life. And, this characteristic will be true of the Afterlife and Heaven where we will be. His light will always be there (Revelation 21:23-24; 22:5). This joy that has already dawned has no sunset.     

 

Read the song story here: Joy Has Dawned (December's Hymn of the Month)

 

See the entire album’s contents here: Joy Has Dawned - Downloadable Listening Tracks (FULL ALBUM) | Lifeway

 

Read about the two composers here: Stuart Townend (musician) - Wikipedia  and Keith Getty - Wikipedia

 

See information on the picture here: File:Adoration of the sheperds - Matthias Stomer.jpg - Wikimedia Commons…The author died in 1660, so 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. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.

Joy -- Anthony Brown and Pat Barrett

 

The song title says pretty much what Anthony Brown and Pat Barrett wanted to say in 2013. Do you have “Joy”?, they must have asked themselves, and if you said yes, how would that look? Though they haven’t said so explicitly, the name of their band and the premier album for their music that included this Joy song may help describe that emotion, to visualize joy in action. And not only that, for Joy shines through gloom because of the source of that light that exudes something that puts those it inhabits on another plane. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Atlanta (see its seal here) where Anthony and Pat probably were when they created this song, or any other place on the planet. Joy puts all of us in the same place, as long as the womb of that emotion is a certain one – a miraculous one.  

 

They called it Housefires, perhaps because Anthony and Pat wanted to express metaphorically what an exuberant people would look like to the rest of the people around them if they were on fire for the God who saved them. This name they chose for their group must have really resonated with what they wanted to communicate, for the first album and nearly every one after that (9 of the total 10 albums by late 2023) likewise contain this name. Perhaps they envisioned a fire a bit like what happened for the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to inhabit them (Acts 2:3). Or, perhaps when they thought about the joy part of their lives, they remembered what that Hebrews writer said (12:18-24); that the place was no longer Mount Sinai where the presence of God and the appearance of Moses’ lit-up face reminded them of the fire of God’s wrath, but instead ‘Mount Zion’ where ‘the joyful assembly’ of many thousands of angels are gathered in that place. And so, these two songwriters could sing confidently the first lines in their song – that ‘beauty’, ‘true love’, and ‘freedom’ lead to unbounded ‘joy’, overcoming ‘brokenness’, ‘pain’, captivity, and ‘mourning’. It’s not a surface-level happiness, but one that is ‘down deep in my soul’. Freedom, security in His love and salvation, and being connected to His great heart – those cannot be expressed in any way suitable if not in ecstasy.

 

Ecstasy might be a more impressive word, but what Anthony and Pat sought for the Atlanta church where they ministered in 2013 was something more easily sung and grasped. Something that would coax a crowd really feeling it to put their hands together in complete joy…that is what they seemed to be after. Can you imagine it? You might be limited to your imagination (for now) when you read what that Hebrews writer said – the thousands upon thousands of angels, after all! – but give yourself a preview and be present where a group sings this. (There is a link below for that purpose, at least online.) Be on the mountain for a few moments, and don’t think it ends when the song is over. Churches and believers in joyful assembly happen all over this planet every week. Go find one.       

 

Read about the band here: Househttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housefiresfires - Wikipedia

 

Watch/listen to the band perform Joy here: Housefires - Joy (feat. Tony Brown and Pat Barrett)

 

See here for image of Atlanta seal and its public domain status -- File:Seal of Atlanta.svg - 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 50 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.