Awesome -- Charles Jenkins

 

Charles Jenkins says that the day was so hectic, it was like the demands on him were trying to crowd out what he finally heard inside his head. He was trying to hear from and share with his Creator, but what kept coming through was that He’s “Awesome”, even in the hubbub of daily activities in the Chicago area where Charles was a minister. (See the seal of Chicago here.) This certainly wasn’t the first time that Charles had had a conversation with God, but it was unique in that he decided to preserve what emerged from it – his first musical endeavor in April 2012. He says it seemed like God was the ‘orchestrator’, so Charles took the hint that this divine discussion partner wanted him to take this conversation and let others know about it. Charles felt like he was the recorder, writing like never before and trying to get every thought and impression down on paper that God was communicating. What you and I can do is try to put ourselves in Charles’ shoes…and indeed we can, with what he penned about the Awesome.

 

The lyrics that Charles scribbled hurriedly in 2012 tell of a progression of his thoughts, and the many truths about the Almighty that kept building upon each other as he focused on His voice and how his spirit was meshing with His. Inside Charles’ house, following his busy day, he heard the word ‘awesome’. And then what followed in the next several minutes were the details of that one-word inspiration, giving Charles a multi-pronged answer, coming in three waves of poetry that only the great artist of the universe could really author. The 1^st verse answered the initial question, ‘Why’s He awesome?’ Picture Charles being captivated by this God and His mountains, valleys, and the rain, and that He provides ‘strength’ for each ‘broken’ person. It was then that Charles realized God is so much bigger than any one person’s life, and that’s how the 2^nd verse flowed from his pen; He’s the ‘whole world’s’ savior, the only author of ‘salvation’, by being the willing receiver of ‘stripes’ so that He could usher in a ‘forgiven’ world with His ‘grace’. The 3^rd wave of lyrics was all the reasons for God’s awesome nature that just crowded upon each other in Charles’ mind; and, the way Charles remembers it, these were one-word praises that responded to His roles as ‘holy’, as ‘great’, as ‘mighty’, as our ‘deliverer’, as our ‘provider’, and as our ‘protector’. So, when we sing the lyrics in the order that Charles wrote them, we’re reminding this composer and our God, too, about that one special conversation in 2012. How big is God, and how long has He been in this song-making business? Charles may have wondered the same thing.

 

Can anyone really count all of the songs that have ever been written for churches and the believers that inhabit them --- thousands upon thousands, even millions, and all the different dialogues that God has been having with us, His image-bearers, over the millennia? What about all of the ones that are still to be had? This God never tires of being creative, and of imparting that special quality to each of us. He really does want to be among us, and in spirit with each of us, and especially when we mimic His musical nature. That must be part of what’s going on inside of an artist when he/she creates something like ‘Awesome’, and why one keeps returning to that well of inspiration. Think about that when we sing and how you are connecting with Him, and with His body. Charles discovered that this God can talk to you and me, even at the end of an exhausting day, to refresh, lift, and mobilize your life to speak of Him. He can mesmerize, no matter what kind of day I’ve had.

 

 

Hear the song’s story here: The Story Behind The Song:My God Is Awesome

 

Read about the author-composer here: Charles Jenkins (American Gospel musician) - Wikipedia …and here: About Me – Charles Jenkins

 

See information on the seal of Chicago here: File:Seal of Chicago, Illinois.svg - Wikimedia Commons.  This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal.

Going Home -- Antonin Dvorak, William Arms Fisher and Ken Bible

 

Homesick. That is a one-word description that best sums up how the music-writer and the original lyricist felt about “Going Home”. Antonin Dvorak was from Bohemia (See here the flag of Bohemia, Dvorak’s native land, known in the present-day as the Czech Republic) and had some feelings of melancholy, something that one of his students, William Arms Fisher, heard not only in the music, but also from the great composer some 30 years after its inception. Later, a lyricist named Ken Bible modified some of Fisher’s words to give a hopeful Christian edge to the song’s message. Dvorak was missing his birthplace, and evidently found some scenery while on his journey through America in the late 19^th Century that accentuated an expression of his feelings of displacement, and his longing to reunite with family. It’s a longing that most people feel at least once, or most likely many times, while on Earth.

 

Dvorak had come to the ‘New World’ in America from the ‘Old World’ of Europe in 1892 to become director of a music conservatory in New York, where he would stay until 1895, a time that left him feeling vacant at times, but also energized with what he discovered. In that light, his music for the 9^th (New World) Symphony would emerge in 1893 as one of his most famous and well-received works. Part of the music was something called ‘Largo’, upon which his student William Fisher would later base the words for ‘Going Home’, nearly 30 years later (in 1922). Fisher shared that Dvorak missed Bohemia, and that this bit of gloom mingled with his experience in seeing the American continent’s prairie land horizons. The recent experience of native Americans in this area, as well as of negros and the slavery through which they had come – both heartrending in their history – spoke to Dvorak as he pondered his own mood. This deep wistfulness was evidently something that the great composer did not keep to himself, and Fisher likewise expressed it in his poetry, including the title words of the song that he said materialized easily from the first few notes of the Largo that his mentor had composed. That Dvorak died in 1904, some two decades before Fisher’s words for this classic hymn would arise, speaks of how enduring and affecting was the music that the composer created. It must have had somewhat of the same effect on Ken Bible, who added words many decades later (by the year 2000) to emphasize the Christian’s hope of seeing that ‘Jesus is the door’, that ‘He is waiting…’ along with friends to greet us in the afterwhile (v.1). He’s the ‘Morning Star’, the ‘Light’(v.2), and the ‘Smile’ (v.1) at the end of this life’s journey, according to Ken. It is comforting for grieving people, in the moments when they most likely hear this tune and its words sung.

 

The New World Symphony arrived on the Moon in 1969, via the astronaut Neil Armstrong (see Wikipedia article link below). What Armstrong wanted to emphasize was the novelty of the experience, as he planted the first human footsteps on the Earth’s planetary satellite. But what he found was a dust-like surface, barren of any life – like friends or family -- and therefore quite different from what he or any other human would consider a place like home. It certainly wasn’t the American prairie, or a Bohemian scene that would have resonated with Dvorak. What Dvorak, Fisher, and Bible have given us, instead, are music and words that evoke images of a place filled with good, with peace, and with people with whom to share it. He knows what we need in that moment of mortal transition, and He provides a serenity that comes from His nature exclusively. Find rest and reassurance in a reality that goes on forever – that’s what the tune and its words communicate. It really defies written description. Let’s just go with the auditory sensation, and that pinprick in the soul’s deepest part that Dvorak, Fisher, and Bible have made.            

 

See here for the song story: Story of Going Home

 

See here for background of the music and its composer: Wikipedia_Dvorak_9thSymphony

 

See site here for one author who wrote some alternate words for the song: KenBible.com | Nurturing Your Creativity & Your Life in Christ, and  LNWHymns.com (see About the Author on site)

 

See here for information on the song: San Francisco Symphony - DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95, From the New World Antonín Leopold Dvořák was born at

 

Check out this video for a very beautiful rendition of the song: Bing Videos

 

See here for information on the flag of Bohemia: File:Flag of Bohemia.svg - Wikimedia Commons. The following statement is associated with the image: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:
I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Draw Me Close -- Kelly Carpenter

 

He was feeling overwhelmed, and was ready to chuck all that he was doing if that would allow himself to return to a closer place with God. “Draw Me Close”, Kelly Carpenter prayed one Sunday in his Kirkland, Washington home (northeast of Seattle, see the map here that highlights King County, in which Kirkland lies) in January 1994. Ironically, Kelly was involved with a worship and music ministry at the church that he and his wife loved, but that circumstance did not necessarily guarantee his spirit was in tune with the One he was trying to serve. Kelly had known for many years that music was his purpose, particularly since he had rededicated himself to Christianity over a decade earlier. So, what could possibly be wrong with an apparent calling that had him on a trajectory that he had been seeking for some time? Was his position just too much, too soon? Whose purpose was Kelly really serving in January 1994?

 

Perhaps it was a growing sense of unease that had been gnawing at Kelly Carpenter over the previous 18 months, as he breathed in exasperation one Sunday in January 1994. If his job had been strictly the music that he had wanted to write and perform, Kelly might have felt differently. But, organizing and directing all of the various parts of the worship ministry at a church of several hundred people was beginning to wear on him. How was he supposed to be a pastor to people? Kelly was leaning on his wife (Merrilyn) for help, but he still felt like an obsession with accomplishing all that was on the ministry’s plate was becoming too normal. Had this same phenomenon contributed to the previous minister’s departure? Kelly wondered if he was actually going to fail at this, as he also lamented a noticeable gap growing wider between God and himself. The shine had worn off of the enthusiasm he had once felt for serving in the kingdom, and he wanted to recapture that. He says that one line in the lyrics he composed – in just 20 or 30 minutes, with no changes made later – conveyed the heart of the matter. He’d ‘lay it all down…to be (His, God’s) friend again’. The only person he was interested in pleasing, in that moment sitting at his piano keyboard, was the Lord. Yeh, he was a pastor, but he realized that his connection to God was paramount. He was like a psalmist who had been cut to the heart, like one who was longing for water in a desert. Kelly’s ancient songwriting ancestor, David, had made similar entreaties to God – ‘As the deer pants for …water, so my soul pants for you, my God. (Psalm 42:1) Or, how about when David cried out to God because he acknowledged how far he’d strayed from Him – ‘Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.’ (Psalm 51:12) Kelly’s opening lyrics-song title sounded a lot like a contemporary David, longing to be in God’s embrace once more.

 

Kelly’s testimony says something pretty key for all of us fallible creatures, including ministers/pastors, whom unknowing church members sometimes place on pedestals. We can all get too caught up in our human endeavors, even ones in a church. It’s supposed to be all about Him, isn’t it? If what someone or some circumstance wants from me seems like too much for me to handle, what happens? STRESS, in big capital letters that can cast shadows too tall and darken my spirit. Yes, some things need to get done, and I need to be intentional about working diligently in what He’s given me to do. And if I have found His work energizes and helps fulfill my life, I can enjoy His life flowing through me as His tool. But, even ones chosen by God need help, especially in long-term efforts. Remember how Moses’ father-in-law Jethro advised him once (Exodus 18:13-26)? Get some help, share the load, and you’ll serve God and the people more effectively. God gives in many ways, including putting Merrilyn close to Kelly Carpenter to help him share the load. And, He also gave Kelly a sensation that something was still amiss, and a song that drew him back to his Maker and Sustainer. Does Kelly’s message speak to you, you stressed-out worker, today?        

 

 

See the story of the song in the books Celebrate Jesus: The Stories Behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003; and, I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2008 

 

See the story of the song shared here also: Song Story:

 

See the story here also: Draw Me Close Meeting Place

 

See the composer-author perform the song here: Kelly Carpenter sings "Draw Me Close"

 

See information on the image here: File:Map of Washington highlighting King County.svg - Wikimedia Commons….the owner of the image has issued the following statement: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.