Rejoice -- Ben Shive, Bryan Fowler, Keith + Kristyn Getty, Skye Peterson

 

What began as an inspiration from an anonymous author, and from a time over two or three millennia ago, coalesced into something broader with the help of five 21^st Century songwriters. The home of Keith and Kristyn Getty was the scene (see the map of County Londonderry made in 1837, with Portstewart, where the Gettys live, shown outlined in a blue circle) where this pair had invited three others – Ben Shive, Bryan Fowler, and Skye Peterson – to work out a new song they simply entitled “Rejoice”. It’s a theme that not only the original psalmist captured in six short verses of poetry, but which was also picked up by a 1^st Century writer who knew all about this emotional context even if it stood in stark contrast to his own circumstances. Even the Creator Himself would say that praise and rejoicing must be heard, lest the rocks (stones) cry out instead (Luke 19:40).

 

Bryan Fowler first suggested the theme of rejoicing to the group assembled in Northern Ireland, and it quickly stirred the imaginations of the rest of the group (sometime either in, or in the months preceding 2022). Bryan had evidently been reading what the ancient and unknown psalmist had written, and which we now call Psalm 150, especially verse six that is the capstone of the psalms. Bryan’s spark had already allowed him to concoct a chorus based on Psalm 150:6, and the others, especially Kristyn, felt that this spirit of praise was not something based on one’s comfortable conditions, and in fact should ring out despite what someone was experiencing. The apostle Paul’s Philippians 4:4 message to ‘Rejoice!’ spoke to them collectively. These five could not have missed that Paul’s exclamation came though he was experiencing imprisonment at the time. They acknowledged amongst each other that ‘sing(ing) the bible’ meant that anxieties we humans endure, particularly among young people, cannot be ignored. Indeed, that’s where the Christian truths come into play, so that people look upward to recall Jesus’ promises, to pray for one another, to be thankful to Him in all things, and to offer praise as a sign of courage and trust. Their lyrics especially echo what the psalmist and Paul spoke so that others would follow, though difficulties intrude on one’s joy – ‘…be anxious for nothing’ (v.2), ‘the dark cannot destroy’ (v.3), and ‘…throughout every season’ (chorus), we all have reason to lift up a shout of rejoicing. Some might even call ‘Rejoice’ an anthem, something we use to re-center ourselves daily, to remind us that He is worthy and should be the focus of our beings.

 

The Gettys, Bryan Fowler, Ben Shive, and Skye Peterson would be the first to admit that they had recorded something in ‘Rejoice’ that was not new. And yet, the number of times that this refrain is repeated in the bible’s pages underscores that what they have produced musically is reflective of what God wants us to never forget. Run a search in your own bible app for forms of the words rejoice and praise…it should be constantly on our lips, if we recall His character and His actions for us. These five composers have not left those Godly character traits and the transport He gives as mysteries for us – ‘love’, ‘gentleness’, ‘goodness’ ‘grace’ (v.1); that He is ‘peace’, a ‘shepherd’, and ‘reigns eternal’ (v.2); that He gives us ‘hope’ and ‘joy yet to come’ (v.3) – those are what He possesses and translates as offerings to you and me. How could you turn down such an offer?    

Read and hear the entire story of the song’s development here: The Story Behind: Rejoice

 

Read some brief comments about the song’s purpose (from Keith Getty) here: Keith & Kristyn Getty & Rend Collective – Rejoice Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

 

See information on the map-graphic here: File:1837Londonderry.jpg - 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 70 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States. This map-graphic may be found inside this article: County Londonderry - Wikipedia

Come Unto Jesus -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, Laura Story, Jesus

 

This song has many writers, but it must begin with the One who first spoke the words that no human being could disparage. What Jesus said about wanting to give people rest from their burdens should reverberate within every one of us, for who doesn’t want to be relieved of trouble? No one wants anxiety, and yet it comes, coaxing us to listen closely to the God-Son’s promise. The text of Matthew chapter 11 begins by saying that Jesus went through the region of Galilee (see the map-graphic here that shows that area in about 50 AD) teaching and preaching, and the chapter ends (vv. 28-30) with Him saying something that Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, along with the tune-writer Samuel Webbe, highlighted in a 19^th Century hymn, Come, Ye Disconsolate. That hymn underscored what Jesus said, and then spoke lyrically once more to three 21^st Century songwriters -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Laura Story – in Come Unto Jesus. It is evidence that what Jesus said is still relevant, and always will be to those of us who need what He offers.

 

Laura Story says that Come Unto Jesus is a modern hymn for today (the song was published in 2023), and yet its roots are in something that Jesus wanted all of us to know 2,000 years ago. She reminds us of what Jesus’ words mean – that we don’t have to fix ourselves before coming to Him for relief. It’s a fallacy that our culture tries to get us to accept, that we cannot admit weakness, cannot be anything but complete, and certainly cannot have a mess in our lives when we approach Him. Laura says that she and her two collaborators, Jordan and Matt, asked themselves what the people in our world needed to be reminded of most when they sat down to think and write Come Unto Jesus.  Busyness and distraction were apparent, they said, impeding the worship atmosphere they felt they needed to foster in the songs they would bring before the church. What the ancient writer Matthew remembered that Jesus said in the region of Galilee came to them, and provided the foundation for what they wanted to say. Their lyrics also leaned heavily upon their 19^th Century musical ancestors, Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, to reemphasize what those two evidently felt was plaguing their own era – the same thing that is still around in the 21^st Century. Weary people have all sorts of problems and turmoil, and may become the refuse of the culture, the ones society has shoved aside because of the chaos that is so pervasive in their lives. Laura points to what another writer, Paul, had to say regarding the peace that Jesus translates to us that is beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:7). People who have descended into a pit so deep that they cannot even recall how the mayhem actually began need something equally as powerful and transcendent to resurrect themselves. That is Jesus.  

 

Laura says another ancestor spoke words that still mean something today, because they also lean on this axiom – that Jesus is the only source of lasting peace. “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Saint Augustine of Hippo reminded people of his own era (4^th/5^th Century A.D.) with those words, so what does that communicate? If you are one that thinks you can help yourself, if you are a ‘pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps’ type of person, then reconsider that mindset. Yes, everyone needs to have some abilities to function in the world, to make civil society possible. But wars, disease, prisons and the criminal activity that puts people in them, and the strains of just daily living – financially, relationally, emotionally, and otherwise – can make you and me crack under the pressure so easily. I cannot handle all of myself, and cannot even contemplate controlling everyone and everything else within view. It all is a recipe for trouble in a place I cannot escape, except by death. Jesus offers something that even overcomes that terminal option. Don’t try the death part before you give Him a shot, OK?   

 

Read about the song’s story here: https://www.leadworshipwell.com/behind-the-song/laura-story-come-unto-jesus

 

This site indicates the song’s publishing year: https://hymnary.org/tune/come_unto_jesus_kauflin

 

See information about the 19^th Century hymn here:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/y/d/i/cydiscon.htm

 

See information on the map-graphic here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Galilee.jpg... The author died in 1934, 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 80 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. The image can be found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilee 

As For Me -- Chris Tomlin, Jason Ingram, Pat Barrett, and Joshua

 

Control and Choice. That in a very succinct way describes what Pat Barrett, Jason Ingram, and Chris Tomlin were discussing one day in 2020. Their joint thinking process led one of them to recall something he’d read, and as they all talked about the episode when Joshua challenged the people (Joshua 24:14-15) (see the map-graphic here that shows Shechem, where Joshua issued what some might say was a dare), a song emerged that used this ancient leader’s own words “As For Me”. Pat especially thought a lot about what Joshua’s words meant, and what effects that should have for his family and himself. It is rather incongruous, seemingly, that the Almighty God, the Creator and Guide and Protector, the One who brought the people through the wilderness, would then prompt Joshua to say that the people had to right to choose, that they did possess some control. What would a people or an individual do with that? Why would God take a risk on people who could turn away? Take one more look at Him before you do.

 

Perhaps that was what Pat Barrett and his two musical collaborators did, and what they saw that Joshua also modeled some 3,300 years ago as he told the people to exercise their memories and then choose. He told them all about their ancestors’ days since the time of Abraham, right up until that moment, so they were thinking about all that God had meant to them jointly in their history. So how could they say anything else but ‘Yes, we will follow Him!’. Joshua told them ‘As for me…’, and the people essentially responded, ‘we too…we’re with you’. Pat said in an interview 33 centuries later what all the choice for God has meant for him, in a similar way that really echoes what those Israelites must have considered as well. Pat said it’s really stunning to understand that you and I have a say in how our lives proceed, but that this kind of control certainly doesn’t extend to everything we see and touch. No one can make you serve God, Pat remembered, and so lots of people do not, unfortunately. And, to underscore this point, the world turned and seemed very chaotic in 2020, and Pat recalled a feeling of helplessness was very present. And yet, we can all make a contribution, even if each of us thinks of himself as insignificant and really incapacitated when it comes to everything around us. But, when it comes to one’s own family and what goes on inside your home’s four walls, you can make choices about what values will prevail in that space. Pat (and his wife, Megan?) decided that that was a principle to guide their family, and he says that the song’s bridge helped remind him that choosing God should permeate ‘…every room, [and be on] every wall, and door’, so to speak. A Christian’s lifestyle doesn’t have to be ‘flashy’, he said, but one’s own family can decide how to be around others, including those who might enter their home; so, being ‘present’, and ‘gracious’, ‘generous’, ‘hospitable’, holding to the ‘truth’, and ‘forgiving’ others, and also capable of having the ‘hard conversations’…in short, being all of the things that are ‘Godly and good’, as Pat put it, is someone making the decision to exercise control and make a choice in one’s own life.

 

‘As for me’ means seeing who He is and has been for you, and making the choice to stay with Him. Pat ended the interview by saying that ‘as for me’ has been a daily selection, and a way that spurs him to reflect each day about whom he’s serving. Be honest with yourself, Pat said. Have there been other gods elbowing their way into my space, coaxing me to look in their direction? In Pat’s life, he’s had to watch out for popularity (as a performer), but also fear. Do those have control, and steer one’s course? You can be a pastor’s/minister’s/elder’s kid, and have Joshua’s words at Shechem on your lips, but does that itself become a risk, something that becomes too familiar? Pat hinted that that was something he’d thought about too (since he was a pastor’s kid). Does my Creator see me essentially as a part of my family’s lineage – as many of Joshua’s day, and later also, might have thought? I – me, myself, and I -- make my way with Him, or I don’t. No one else can do it for me. Jesus opened the door, certainly. Will you walk through it?  

 

See/hear the song story here (at 3:05 – 11:22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWT5StJU2XU

 

See information on the map image here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shechem and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shechem#/media/File:Nablus_and_Balata_in_the_Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.11_(cropped).jpg …This file 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 70 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.