Forever Reign -- Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan

This was a reflective moment, shared between friends. One of them told the other of the overwhelming sensation of contact with the Divine One, mirrored in the words he and his buddy eventually recorded that day. Thirty-somethings Jason Ingram and his friend Reuben Morgan are, ethnically, what someone might describe as cousins because of their American and British backgrounds. But, they’re also brothers in their musical poetry, and they were doing what comes naturally in their tradecraft one day in 2010. Feeling and thinking and writing, perhaps in that order, were the modes of their composition “Forever Reign”. Was one of these friends thinking about the prodigal son (see James Tissot picture, here)?

Reuben Morgan says he and Jason Ingram were crafting some music one day, an environment where they were just ‘hanging out” and trading thoughts. Jason had the initial ideas, borne from some inner thoughts of how he related to God. It wouldn’t be a surprise if much of what he’d already developed had emerged from some scripture; some references are made to two different ancient authors (Jeremiah’s Lamentations 5:19, and Isaiah 9:7) as the song’s story is told by Reuben. Jason and Reuben assigned multiple attributes to God in their verses, capped with a chorus that Reuben says surfaced very easily. Is it an accident that they hit upon the words ‘running to your arms’ after thinking of God’s nature in various positive ways?  They didn’t ponder judgment, or the destructive power of tornadoes or hurricanes in His creation. It’s a window into how Jason Ingram was feeling that day, as Reuben says his friend shared the traits of God in low tones, something that was an intimate expression – between a believer and the infinite Creator. His goodness -- though His awesome, terrifying presence is real, too – was what inspired the Ingram-Morgan collaboration that day.

Think of His basic nature – love – toward you, and repeat what you feel He’s translating to you, from Creator to created being. He’s welcoming you into His world. It would take away one’s breath, be too much to imagine, and perhaps be too much to sum up in human words, all this goodness flowing from Him to me. That’s what heaven must be like. Those are mental images that the words of “Forever Reign” conjure up. Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan are probably, like many believers, decades from their eternal inheritance. But, with their song, they seem to be saying ‘why wait?’ Sing it quietly, gently at first, and be reassured that He’s not make-believe. He’s an historical fact, an eternal certainty, and a present-day calm in my storm-ridden life. Reuben acknowledges that the song’s words become a proclamation, a testimony for others to hear after the opening verse. Go ahead. Sing it loud!

  

See this site for the video that is the sole source for the song story: http://worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1804807