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.
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