Christ Is Risen -- Matt Maher and Mia Fields

 

It might have been an Easter Sunday, but as easily could have been any Sunday that helped Matt Maher and Mia Fields generate a song that proclaims “Christ Is Risen”. But since the song was inspired by a 3^rd Century sermon by John Chrysostom (see image of this Archbishop of Constantinople here), which was prepared for an Easter celebration, we can feel certain that Matt and Mia were also focused on Easter, even if the premier of the song did not actually fall on that day in 2009 when this contemporary hymn was introduced. Matt relates that this was an extraordinary sermon, not necessarily because of the preacher’s skill, but instead because of the great truths he communicated that day. And so, this 21^st Century music-writing pair wanted to echo what John had said some 18 centuries earlier. One doesn’t need to embellish the events to underscore the gravity of what Jesus accomplished. Instead, Matt and Mia seem to want us to revel in what happened to Him. Experience the overflowing joy, while gathered with the church, that we will all one day heed His call to mimic this resurrection.  

 

Matt relates (see video link below, in which he talks about the song’s meaning) that his ancient brother’s words said much to encourage the believer, including that Jesus used ‘death to destroy death’; that ‘Hell was fooled when it swallowed Jesus’ – it thought it had a mere man, but instead ‘encountered God’. Hell ‘took in earth and encountered heaven’. And so, there are echoes of these stunning realities in the words that Matt and his collaborator Mia have composed, including the defeat of death’s sting that the Apostle Paul used in his own words (1 Corinthians 15: 54-55, which were, in fact, echoes of what Isaiah [25:8] and Hosea [13:14] said, centuries before him). And, by accessing a 3^rd Century sermon to spur their own lyrics, Matt and Mia have reminded today’s Christ followers that we can celebrate now, but also be struck that we’ll one day rejoice with those of John’s era – in fact all of the saved from all time. ‘Come and rise up from the grave’ is a refrain that is paired with the words ‘Come awake!’ throughout the song, as if we who are still alive are calling out to those who’ve gone on before us; or, maybe we’re all just previewing words that we will long to hear in our own futures – words that Jesus will proclaim in a loud voice, and which no one will be able to resist. When one ponders that all of the human race, from all the millennia that will have lived by Judgement Day, will be there to ‘come awake’, is a ‘Wow!’ really sufficient to express what we’ll all be experiencing? Matt says that the thoughts of Easter cannot be limited to just that particular Sunday, but that all Sundays are opportunities – mini-Easters – for the church to gather and remind each other of this hub of our faith. Indeed, the potency of Easter is so great, that it cannot, and should not be confined to one Lord’s Day of the year.

 

If Matt and Mia have it correct, perhaps we should be singing Easter-like songs every Sunday! (And, in fact, I think we do where I worship – how about you?) But, just on Sundays? No, every day of the year, even 24/7 would probably not be really enough to tell how important this Christ-rising actually is. One cannot get in touch with this completely until one approaches his own crossing over. Funerals have a unique way of bringing me as a mortal to this unavoidable reality, and they happen to take place on all kinds of days of the year, not just on Sundays. So, if death invades my existence on whatever days it wants to, I need Easter every day on the calendar to counter this. Keep a copy of an Easter song, like this one Matt and Mia have given, nearby. That’ll be my strategy, along with a bookmark to John Chrysostom’s words. As John said from Constantinople to complete his message all those years ago, For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of them that have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

 

See the song’s story here: Bing Videos

 

Read about the 3^rd Century church father here: John Chrysostom - Wikipedia

 

Read about the sermon that inspired the song here: Paschal Homily - Wikipedia

 

See information about the image here: File:Johnchrysostom.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 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, 1929.

Beautiful Lamb – Gary Miller

 

Gary Miller really didn’t need to expound on why he chose to write some words about a rarely used name for the God-Son. At least, this name had been unusual – in fact, never-before used -- when one guy named John called Him the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), and then another John called out this Lamb in a great vision over 25 times (see Revelation, chapters 5 through 21). Could that have persuaded Gary that a “Beautiful Lamb” was worthy of a song in 1996? He must have also been very familiar with any number of pieces of artwork (like this Agnus Dei painting, shown here, by 17^th Century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran) that spoke in brushstrokes of this God sent to earth as a lamb-like sacrifice. Like a masterpiece artist, God presented His own Son in such a provocative way that His life would motivate the human race, and draw our attention not only as an innocent offering, but more importantly as the Almighty Creator who was willing to rescue those He made. He decided, all on His own, to transform my filth with His purity.

 

Gary Miller had been intimately involved with music for many years by the time he wrote ‘Beautiful Lamb’, as a veteran 45-year-old acapella singer/songwriter/producer/recording engineer. And though his precise circumstance and motivation for the song in 1996 are not common knowledge, Gary’s Christian life certainly was not a mystery. One might even say his life was in the Acapella Company and especially one of its offshoots, Vocal Union, wherein his testimony lives on through so many songs which his fingers and his heart touched. That he died at age 60 (on March 12, 2011) while in the midst of this active music career probably made his departure so affecting for those who knew him best and worked so closely with him. (See the link to the video tribute to him below.) Looking at the words of the song he wrote, and a description of his life by family and friends, one could really say that this fellow tried, as well as any of us, to mirror the God he served in his life. ‘Sweet and gentle…’ is how one of his closest friends (Keith Lancaster) eulogized him, not unlike how Gary saw the Lamb in the lyrics he wrote 15 years before his premature death. ‘Gentle and merciful’, and ‘guiltless and pure’ (v.1) are the qualities of Jesus that stood out in Gary’s poetry, characteristics that played out in this Lamb’s actions – in ‘redeem(ing) us with His blood’, by ‘suffering great pain’ through His ‘wounds’ (v.2); all to ‘take our sins away’ (v.3). This gentle and sweet musician was a kindred spirit with the Savior whose personality so resonated with his own. One can imagine that Gary’s words must have flowed effortlessly, huh?

 

Jesus’ contemporaries seemed a bit skeptical the first couple of times that John the Baptist told others that this carpenter’s son named Jesus was the Lamb of God. In fact, only one of the four biblical biographers of Jesus (John) highlighted this naming episode for posterity, while the other three gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) seem to have forgotten it. Maybe they just didn’t yet get it, that a lamb could be so robust, so mighty to take away all sin. Lambs that you and I see are cuddly and cute, and one might even say attractive, but still fragile and weak. This Lamb of God is completely different, making beauty not just something soft and harmless. This beauty has incredible power. Gary Miller apparently got it, for he says in his song’s last line, after lauding Him as beautiful, the following two words -- ‘But Jesus…’. You may look upon Jesus and admire any number of his visible qualities, but His beauty goes deeper than that. This beauty saves, a beauty that Gary is fully understanding today.   

 

See  a 21-minute tribute to the composer at this link, including text in the first 20 seconds: Bing Videos  

 

Another brief obituary of the author-composer is here: https://christianchronicle.org/a-cappella-recording-artist-gary-miller-dies-at-60/

 

Read here some about the Acapella group and Gary’s membership in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acappella_(group)

 

Read some about Gary Miller here also: https://www.acappella.org/about-the-artists/vocal-union/

 

See information about the painting here: File:Francisco de Zurbarán 006.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …The author died in 1664, 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, 1929.

Be Exalted O God -- Brent Chambers

 

Can you put yourself in this composer’s shoes, when examining the lyrics he wrote? Perhaps Brent Chambers’ mind could imagine the God who is way above all creation, and seeing things from His perspective as He looked down on the people and the world He created (as the photo here depicts, showing Napier and southern Hawke Bay on the North Island of New Zealand where Brent was born and may have been in 1977 when the song was conceived.) The setting where his words gestated had provided a spark, making Brent ponder the unity of his and others’ humanity. We might all come from different backgrounds, skin colors, experiences, habits, and beliefs, but are all those differences really that significant? Brent must have concluded that the fellow-man principle, and the Creator’s hand on himself and all the others in his vicinity one evening spoke the only reply he needed.

 

‘…great to the heavens’, and ‘…to the clouds’ – those were some of the words that emerged from Brent’s spirit as he reflected on his time one evening when he witnessed an ethnic music and dance event. That Brent composed a song in the wake of this experience suggests he had had a good time, perhaps reacquainting himself with a culture with which he was already somewhat familiar, or on the other hand maybe seeing it in a way that was new. Was it some of the Maori or Moriori ethnic dances and music that Brent saw that evening, something with a Polynesian flavor? Was it a group of Pakeha -- a mix of New Zealand and European culture -- that captured Brent’s attention? Something rich and meaningful evidently struck a chord in Brent’s spirit, and he might even have looked heavenward as he considered how such a group had come to inhabit the area. “Among the nations…’, Brent wrote, as he thought about and looked upon the people living in the same island nation where he’d grown up. This 29-year-old New Zealander would eventually write hundreds of songs, but that night Brent apparently turned to an ancient songbook – the Psalms – to borrow some others’ thoughts. Psalms 22 (v.3), 52 (v.9), and 145 (v.7) were potentially the origin of what Brent would write, as he thought about exalting God among other humans that He created, to celebrate His goodness and acknowledge His holy presence – His ‘glory…over all the earth’ (2^nd verse of the song). It was a message about togetherness in diversity, and being under the same umbrella of Godly influence, that flowed from Brent’s pen and out through the music that accompanied the words. We can all address God personally, because we’re all equally His image-bearers and live in a place that He alone created for us.  

 

Brent’s experience coaxes a certain attitude. It incorporates humility and understanding of each other here on planet Earth, because of Him who made us. Brent says God is ‘steadfast’ and ‘faithful’, worthy to be praised among the nations, without apparent favoritism for one nation over another. ‘All the earth’, Brent reminds us as he thought of God’s presence, so think about that the next time you grouse about not being able to understand someone else’s tongue, or maybe an accent that you have to decipher just to achieve communication with another person. He can help us all come together. No separation will hold sway when we gather in eternity, so it’s a good idea to get used to our commonalities, about sharing the same space. The heavens, the clouds, and the terra firma (earth) that we all live on are His. I do find myself having to ask sometimes, ‘Do I really believe that it’s all His’?       

 

See the song’s story at this link: Be Exalted, O God | Hymnary.org

 

Read here about the rich culture of New Zealand: Culture of New Zealand - Wikipedia 

 

See information on the photo here: File:Napier06.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …This image is in the public domain because it is a screenshot from NASA’s globe software World Wind using a public domain layer, such as Blue Marble, MODIS, Landsat, SRTM, USGS or GLOBE.