Holy Ground – Geron Davis

Geron Davis was a 19-year old songwriter, pushed and prodded by his father to make a special moment happen in Savannah, Tennessee in 1979. Geron’s father was pastor of a small-town church that was looking forward to the dedication of a new building (probably not like St. Peters’ Basilica [see picture]), and Geron agreed that he could write a song for this occasion. Even though he waited until almost the last moment to compose “Holy Ground”, Geron says the song was written in just a few minutes. He says its introduction to the church went well…”the power of God moved in”, he says. Although he never anticipated that one day his song would stir a president, as well as a recording songstress-icon, the song’s message tells us Davis’ real audience was God, not well-known public figures like Bill Clinton and Barbara Streisand. (Clinton asked for the song to be sung on two occasions while he was president, and Streisand later cut an album…see bottom paragraph.) The song’s occasion also might make us think that Davis was identifying with Ezra and Solomon as he composed. Watching new buildings take shape is really intoxicating, have you noticed? Maybe it’s a home, or a new work-site, or a church that has captured your attention. I used to drive by a new library being built near where I live, even though the route was inconvenient on the way home from work, just to see it evolve. An engineer might marvel at how the building takes shape, but for me it’s my imagination of what the future holds -- the anticipation of potential -- that energizes the mind. Knowing what is to come makes me lean forward. Knowing what was about to take place in Savannah, Tennessee in 1979, and thinking about my own similar experiences, helps me connect with something in “Holy Ground” that others have celebrated too, even if it was thousands of years ago. Ezra and Solomon and their contemporaries built buildings too, magnificent ones meant for God himself to inhabit. That’s an awesome thought, enough to make one tremble, and certainly worthy of a “Holy Ground” echo. Yet, those people seemed not just reverent, but joyous (Ezra 6:16 and 1 Kings 8:62-66). They must have exulted, knowing that they had completed God’s work, but maybe like us today, they also had expectant feelings about what was yet to come. Geron Davis taps into that emotion with his version of “Holy Ground”. Its harmonies draw out my enthusiasm, a zeal unlike the sensation that another version of “Holy Ground” evokes (Christopher Beatty’s 1982 song, which invites me instead to revere God). I celebrate as I sing Geron Davis’ “Holy Ground”, and wonder what else God has in store for my spiritual family. Davis was asked how he felt, knowing that his song had ‘electrified’ Barbara Streisand (she later cut an album, Higher Ground, after hearing “Holy Ground”). Davis deflects the compliment…’we’re all on level ground’ when we’re on His holy ground. One source for Geron Davis’s song story is the book “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000. See also “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.