Said I Wasn't – Anonymous

 

It’s got spirit, and you cannot help feeling the energy and clapping in time with this one. Who’s responsible for generating the old spiritual “Said I Wasn’t”? Frankly, perhaps no one can say, but it might be a pretty good bet that a group like the Fisk Jubilee Singers (see this 1875 photo of the group) sang this popular song to lift worship and spur audience participation in a celebratory style. They made what are commonly known as the negro spirituals popular in the 19^th Century. But, they were really just helping perpetuate what had already been true for two or three millennia, in a land far from the Nashville, Tennessee area that was home to the Fisk group. The spirit they brought to the gospel music scene is still alive in other groups and audiences that go to see them --- see the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and their rendition of “Said I Wasn’t” in the link below. It’s a spirit that says the joy He brings cannot be held inside a person…it just has to escape and infect others.

 

Whoever conceived the lyrics for ‘Said I Wasn’t’ was likely drawing upon any number of biblical scriptures, including one sung by Hebrews as they approached their worship day – Psalm 126:2-3  -- ‘Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations,     “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.’ This anonymous poet was echoed by another unknown writer centuries later in ‘Said…’. Perhaps this later writer was also purposely drawing others into the song’s story, with a series of verbs to underline how the joyous message could be spread. If you’re good at ‘tell(ing)’ what the Lord has done, others can ‘sing’, ‘preach’, ‘shout’, and ‘pray’ about the same thing. And, that probably doesn’t exhaust the methods of dispatch for this ecstatic proclamation. As the writer has said – he ‘couldn’t keep it to myself’. Confident that his name was ‘on the roll’ as a ‘saved…soul’, he intended to keep proclaiming what he’d received. If the hearers did not actually witness the saving moment for the writer, they are invited to join in as if they had been – ‘You oughta been there’ – by joining in the crowd that’s already participating in what came to be known as the ‘solo call and union response’. One leads the song in a style that allows a group to reply in unison to the leader’s impassioned words with a similar verve. Would anything else but this method be appropriate for something called the Good News!   

 

That’s enough words from this blogger about a nameless songwriter and the dynamic creation that has endured for who knows how long. You are invited to click on the links and read more yourself about this song genre’s background, and especially make use of the link to Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir singing ‘Said I Wasn’t’ below. Then, go do the same message spreading about which they sing!

 

 

See here for a good, energetic rendition of the song: Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody | Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir - YouTube

 

See here for description of this type of music, oftentimes called ‘Folk’ music: Folk music - Wikipedia

…also see  Spirituals - Wikipedia

 

See this link for the photo and for public domain information about it: File:The Story of the Jubilee Singers.jpg - Wikimedia Commons  …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, 1928.

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) -- Brenton Brown and Brian Doerkson

 

It was not the most auspicious epiphany that brought about this song in 2000, as both of these songwriters would admit. One of them, Brian Doerkson, was actually feeling rather agitated that his visiting friend, Brenton Brown, was trying to get him to say “Hallelujah, Your Love is Amazing” on a difficult day in his family’s home in Abbotsford (in Canada’s British Columbia, see a picture of its downtown here). It was the pretty ordinary and lackluster response of Brian that left Brenton unimpressed with his friend’s spontaneous musical suggestion regarding the song’s unfinished chorus. But, what ultimately emerged in the words just reaffirmed that the musical Spirit can work in circumstances that are challenging and distracting. In fact, if He doesn’t, what’s that say about His presence in everyday life, especially when things can be pretty tiresome? It was also Brian who thought that this ever-present God idea in the praises of His people should inhabit this song. His name carries with it praise, both of these two songwriters eventually emphasized.  

 

It was a February day in early 2000, a time when one of his six children was pitching a fit, Brian would remember, and his ebullient friend Brenton entered a room in the house, all fired up about a song idea. Brenton already had the first verse, but needed a catchy chorus phrase. He must have thought Brian was pretty unfocussed and uninspired when Brian immediately responded with the song’s title words, particularly when he suggested that just repeating this phrase multiple times was the hook for which Brenton was searching. This spur-of-the-moment, seemingly inadequate idea actually said all they needed, Brian reiterated. After all, the word ‘hallelujah’ fundamentally says ‘praise God’ in its original language (Hebrew), so when a believer wants to return God’s love in adulation, what could be better than this single, potent word? Together, the two friends concocted a second verse, one that concludes by saying their invention is in fact a ‘God song’. How many times would ‘hallelujah’ be enough to offer Him what He’s owed? At least 30 times, is what Brian and Brenton must have eventually decided, if you listen to the various renditions of the song. And yet, that cannot be enough to do Him justice, either. And, the verses they constructed likewise say only a few of the worthiest things about Him – that His love corresponds to so many adjectives, like ‘amazing’, ‘steady’, ‘unchanging’, besides being like a ‘mountain’ in its ‘firm(ness), while also being a ‘mystery’, and ‘gentl(e)’ as it ‘surrounds’, ‘lifts’, and ‘carries’ the believer (verse 1). You can imagine the two songwriters may have thought of personal episodes when they said His love is ‘surprising’, as it’s ‘rising’ and ‘glowing’ from the very ‘inside(s)’ of a person, as he revels in the ‘goodness’ of this God-love (verse 2). They conclude their ode to Him with ‘Your love makes me sing’, perhaps the only appropriate way to demonstrate that this lovefest cannot be captured with mere words, but needs a music infusion.

 

Light the heart’s fuse with the love synergy you share with your Creator. That’s what Brian and Brenton coax from the believer who’s calling out to God in a song, this song with God’s name intrinsically attached to it. Is there anything He’s not done to fertilize, nurture, teach, and sacrifice for me, to secure my devotion? He’s given not just His love, but the method for lifting His name, too. He touches those He chooses with a tune-making nature and vocabulary to birth something from His own great heart. He’s the essence of life, like the nuclear core with its mass attracting electrons to orbit His magnetic pole. God is indeed the critical mass of love, for without Him there would be no ‘hallelujah’, no reason for life itself. That’s something that it seems Brian and Brenton want us to remember.       

   

The song story is found in the following book: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2008.

See information on one of the writers here: Brian Doerksen - Wikipedia

See a description of the song’s title word here: Hallelujah - Wikipedia

For link to and information about the image, see here: File:Downtownabbotsford.JPG - Wikimedia Commons.  This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Sonicwolf at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Sonicwolf grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Still -- Reuben Morgan

 

This one must have come from deep inside, and maybe that’s why there’s not much shared about how it arose. Reuben Morgan just felt the need to be “Still”, early in this century (around 2002), and so that’s what he said to God about his own demeanor. He implicitly trusted God’s character and ability, and his own effort in the relationship was just that one word – Still. Perhaps Reuben was just taking a page from the psalmists’ playbooks (Psalm 37:7; 46:10; and 91:4), and reaffirmed by God Himself (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34), a posture that one takes when in need of a most certain protection. What else can one do when troubled by things visible, or maybe afraid of things that cannot even be seen or comprehended? Was it possible that Reuben had heard others who were in a state of anxiety, and that that was distressing his innards, too? Reuben knew where to turn.

 

 

Reuben Morgan was a 27-year-old songwriter with the Hillsong church in Sydney, Australia (in the state of New South Wales, on the nation’s southeast coast; see image here) when he wrote ‘Still’. For any person, living in a city of five million-plus people would just by itself be enough to generate stress – all those people, cars, etc., compressed together in a dense-pack condition. Even among the members of a healthy Christian church environment, the rhythms of 21^st Century life can be overwhelming at times. Was there a health, relationship, or financial struggle in progress that occupied Reuben’s thoughts? Perhaps all of the above, or something else was the spur for Reuben’s turn to scripture, evident in the few lyrics that he crafted to tackle what was taxing his being. David (Ps.37), a Korahite (Ps.46), and an anonymous poet-songwriter (Ps.91) all turned to their Creator-Protector with words that Reuben borrowed some three millennia later, demonstrating that you and I still need Him as much as ever. I am safe ‘under his wings’ (v.1 of Reuben’s song), and I can rest, being ‘still’ in his shadow, knowing He is God (Reuben’s chorus; Ps.37 and 46). Perhaps it was Jesus’ plaintive response to doubters (Pharisees and other teachers) in His earthly ministry that got Reuben’s attention. He longs to guard and reassure those He created, as a hen protects little chicks (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34). There’s a ‘storm’ and a ‘flood’ that Rueben felt he could endure, because God has a ‘mighty hand’, something that Reuben and the rest of us can read regarding how He rescued people from slavery (nine times in Exodus --chapters 3,6,7,1314,32; and equally in Deuteronomy – chapters 3,4,5,6,7,9,11,26). And, what about being ‘in Christ’ (Reuben’s v.2)? Could Reuben have done a word search like you and I can today, finding that powerful two-word phrase some 90 times in the New Testament? If he did, there’s a lot there to gird one’s faith, to make one’s courage grow because of being in Him.

 

 

It seems like knowing that I’m in Christ is the key to that rest, the stillness that He has for me. Reuben also evidently settled on that rock, the foundation for a sigh of relief and contentment, a ‘rest (for) my soul’ (v.2). And yet, that doesn’t tell the storms, floods, rising oceans, and thunders to go away. So, true confession time, I admit I still feel stress and the tedium of my existence pretty much every day, sometimes more intensely than other days. Stuff happens and has to be managed, so there’s no getting away from it, is there? How about finding a way through it? Find your way through it, as Jesus did. He prayed constantly, angels came and ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11), and He shared Himself with earthly companions. He’s our model, for how to be still.

 

 

See here for information on the songwriter: Reuben Morgan - Wikipedia

 

See here for information about the image of New South Wales flag: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_New_South_Wales.svg ; This image or other work is of Australian origin and is now in the public domain because its term of copyright has expired.

 

See here for information about Australia’s largest city: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney