Was Bob Gillman making a request, from inside a group,
which he hoped the Divine Intercessor would honor? Unity is undoubtedly an
important subject in the heavenly family, one that Gillman could have spotted
as he studied scripture, perhaps stimulating his composition “Bind Us Together”.
If a believer has ever been in a group, each of who are like-minded, the
prospect of sudden discord and separation is indeed painful. Was he a relative
newcomer, experiencing for the first time the familiarity and then distress of
a church crowd he’d grown to feel was a body with complementary parts? As a
28-year old, his experience indeed may have been limited with such an episode,
but maybe he’d observed others who’d overcome such a challenge, and sensed what
his own group needed to hear and say to one another. While being tied in knots
(see picture here) is often perceived negatively, Bob’s vision of being bound
was a positive one.
What else we can say with certainty about Bob
Gillman will have to come later, including what circumstances inspired his “Bind
Us Together” thoughts in 1974. Nothing more than what has already been
mentioned above is known of him in published media, but perhaps the timing of
his words and their content speak for themselves. By the early to mid-1970s, Gillman
was a 20-something, and if he was a U.S. citizen, he wrote during the latter
part of an era that certainly was turbulent. Had he been in Vietnam, or known
others who’d been there? Or, was he part of the Jesus movement, with followers
known as ‘Jesus freaks’? It would not have been atypical for that movement’s adherents
to express humanity’s need for God-inspired love and unity, opposites of the war
and government authority that Bob’s generation so mistrusted. With such strife
invading the culture at the time, was he engaged with a church infected in the
same way, perhaps split generationally by events of the time? Gillman’s
prescriptive cure, no matter what the potential situation was, is evident in
the verses he crafted. He talked to the Creator first (refrain of song, sung
first). Then, he focused his hearers and fellow believers on some very basic
tenets: the one God (v.1), each follower’s purpose in Him (v.2), and believers’
collective identity in Him (v.3).
If Bob Gillman was shaped by events of his time –
and who of us is not, by the way? – he certainly said what could not be denied,
no matter what historical period one inhabits. Too often, the refrain and verse
one are all I hear, however. Bob didn’t stop there. He felt it was important to
acknowledge how mortal life plays out in light of Divinity’s inspiration (vv.
2-3). If He’s true, and I’m the result of His creative genius, despite my
flaws, how do I proceed? Bob had surmised that whatever else is true of God, His
presence can draw and hold imperfect people as one. There’s no better glue than
God.
This site shows composer’s birth year: http://www.hymnary.org/person/Gillman_B
This site indicates composer wrote song three years
prior (in 1974) to its copyright date in 1977: http://www.hymnary.org/text/bind_us_together_lord
Link to brief description of the countercultural
group of the period: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_freak
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