There were
four of them, with a common objective in mind. Whether or not they were
actually in Colorado Springs (see the map here) when “Glorious God” was first
created in 1995, David Baroni, Bob Fitts, Paul Smith, and Claire Cloninger had
a musical relationship via the company called Integrity (based in Colorado)
that must have been part of the cement for the song. But, that was just the
vehicle; the contents inside the vehicle could not be contained in one space so
easily, as the words they collaborated to write show. This God whom they
proclaimed has a reputation across the globe, as David and Bob had seen many
times over in their travels and associations. And so, what they penned has a
calling ‘to every nation’ (end of song), words that they must have thought
could be useful in the many cultures they wanted to touch. What glorious
characteristics of this God did they want to relate?
All four
of these writers came together from geographically different locations: David
and his family live in the Nashville, Tennessee area; Bob is from southern
California originally and has lived in Hawaii for nearly 40 years; Paul hails
from Texas; Claire grew up in Louisiana. So, what happened to bring these four
together for “Glorious God”? With David and Bob, particularly, maybe it was the
international focus of their experiences that helped them see how big God is. David
and his wife (Rita) relate that they’ve served in over 25 nations, and have
lived in 49 different states. That surely must be a significant spur for
David’s service as a faculty member of the International Worship Institute for
15 years. Likewise, Bob and his wife (Kathy) have been to over 50 nations to
carry the message about God, and still call a church in Singapore their
spiritual home. Let’s assume that Paul and Claire likewise felt that God’s
reach was far beyond the borders they inhabited. What did they collectively say
about Him? Repeatedly, He’s the ‘glorious God, a powerful Savior’, the One who
distributes mercy and grace, possesses divine goodness, and inspires creation’s
cries of adulation. His voice is like ‘a crashing cymbal’, and his touch causes
earthly tremors (v.1) – that’s how this God’s power manifests itself. His risen
nature is not just to show Himself powerful, but to extend mercy and grace in
an ultimate way to redeem all of us from death; we ‘soar like eagles’ (v.2) to
celebrate this truth. Those are universal notions that reverberate in all ears.
One can imagine that David and Bob knew experientially this resonated far and
wide on earth.
Claire
died in August 2019, so the words she co-wrote some 25 years earlier
undoubtedly have more meaning for her currently – she’s seeing the glorious God
face-to-face. Did she and the other three collaborators imagine together what
each would face one day? What specific circumstances transpired to spark their
teamwork? Perhaps there were none that stand out; maybe the life experience of
each of them brought enough to the music-drafting table, and into the
sound-mixing room to bring about ‘Glorious God’. God can shape a song any way
He wants, using things we may not even notice. You think He’ll share those with
us someday? I’m looking forward to His music lessons!
See this
site for the author-composer listed first among the four credited with this
song: http://www.davidbaroni.com/
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