Dayenu (It Would Have Been Enough) -- Anonymous Jew

 

They were remembering, and they were feeling grateful. That helps sum up what some anonymous Jewish people were doing and how they felt about themselves and the monotheistic God their ancestors had taught them to honor. At the center of this remembrance was something they began to sing to say ‘thank you’, something called the “Dayenu” – “It Would Have Been Enough”. (See here the musical score of the song that has been sung by Jews for over 1,500 years.) They’d been rescued from slavery, and so every Passover meal was an opportunity to reconnect with their own history and renew the faith their people had been practicing for centuries. Re-dig the well, so to speak. How would a people feel about God if others took this song and adapted it for another, so that they added another layer to the story of human-to-God relations? Some believe that’s what the origin of the story is all about – that this Dayenu  is a response to another song. What if the cycle repeats again, so that a third song is then generated? That this has occurred over such a long stretch of time says something about the God who is the object of this phenomenon – He doesn’t grow weary; and, neither should those who follow Him.    

 

The words of the Dayenu are recited in some episodes of the series The Chosen, including by the 12 Apostles in season five’s fourth episode (The Same Coin); and, it is then modified in the same episode by the first female disciples of Jesus, so that they expressed how they felt about Him. The evolution of this song may include something called the Improperia, which one Hebrew scholar (Israel Yuval) believes inspired Jews by the Middle Ages (and probably even before then) to compose the Dayenu in response. The Improperia (also known as Reproaches or Solemn Reproaches) has been used in Catholic liturgy on Good Friday (Jesus’ crucifixion day) to vocalize how Jesus remonstrated the Jews who had brought Him to that ignominious moment. How ungrateful they were, in other words, to crucify the God who’d rescued them from Egypt! Feeling this censure spurred some Jews to compose Dayenu, apparently; its 15 stanzas/verses recount how these rescued Jews were indeed grateful for His redemption from Pharaoh and guidance to Canaan. The first 10 verses/stanzas in particular recount each of the acts of Yahweh in their escape and guardianship, and each verse begins with ‘If’ and ends with the phrase ‘it would have been enough’. The last five of the stanzas/verses recount the other profound gifts He’d bestowed on them – the Shabbat (Sabbath); leading them to Mount Sinai; the Torah that He gave them, beginning at Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments Moses communicated to them; the journey’s end in the Promised Land; and the Temple, the center of their worship life. Movingly, the makers of The Chosen series have the women who follow Jesus compose and recite their own version to say how they feel about Him, in the manner of the Dayenu.  There’s seven ways they express, which I won’t try to describe – but here’s a link so you can watch the women’s Dayenu:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZp9k_ZFgwg

 

What would you say in your own Dayenu to God? If He had chosen to do just one thing that you could not discount, would that be enough for you to worship and follow Him? How about giving you life, beginning in mom’s womb? Or, how about the blessings of a family and home in which you were raised? Maybe it was that first big job after college? (That one’s on my list!) How about having Christian friends to share your ups and downs? Or, living in a land where you and I have so many blessings that they cannot be enumerated? Here’s one we all share: no matter what happens to me physically from this point on, I will be raised anew someday. Yeah! You see, He could have given you and me far less, but just look at how vast are His gifts. Each one of these is worth an Amen, in fact even more than the seven-fold Amens that we sometimes sing, and even 70 times seven wouldn’t come close to covering it either. Just try saying one every day you live. Perhaps that’s what He’s after.  

 

See information on the song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayenu

 

See information on a song that might have helped inspire the Dayenu: Improperia - Wikipedia

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dayeinuscore.PNG The following statement is associated with the public domain status of the image: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. The image can be found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayenu

The Saving One -- Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Mia Fieldes

 

They call themselves Starfield, so you might assume that this indicates they want the fans, the ones who attend their concerts and-or listen to the music they make, to look upward toward heaven and where the One about whom they sing is watching. And that sense of their mission is reflected in what they have to say about “The Saving One”, that they are signposts for Him. Tim and Jon Neufeld (founding members of the Starfield band), with probably eager agreement by their collaborator, Mia Fieldes, say that they are worship leaders, pointing people to Jesus and not to themselves, though culture tries to lift up the people who are on stage singing. (Indeed, He’s the one at the center of attention in this reproduction of the painting Ecco Homo (Behold the Man!), by 19^th Century artist Antonio Ciseri, which depicts Jesus preparing to offer Himself as a sacrifice when Pilate asked the rabid crowd what should be done with Him.) The song that Tim, Jon, and Mia wrote was released in Feb 2010, but what they voice in it has been around for centuries. And yet it still needs to be said, because everyone will be heading for a forever place, eventually.

 

The Neufelds are from a small church in Winnipeg, Canada, carrying a big message that they themselves and those who’ve watched them perform say begins and ends with the One about whom they sing. They haven’t spelled out in detail why they wrote ‘The Saving One’, but they really don’t need to do so. In an interview they gave, Tim made it clear that they exist to direct attention to the person who’s the focus of their music: Jesus Christ. That part of themselves in their worship direction is also evident to others, including a reviewer of the album that the song title headlines. They don’t suspend their message by telling only about what Jesus did, but they also want to challenge believers to live like they mean it, to insert themselves into daily living with a purpose. And so, the lyrics of the song state with conviction what the God-Son did, inviting us who believe to also be unequivocal about life through Him. He is synonymous with words they sing, like ‘mercy’, ‘selflessness’, ‘peace’, ‘pardon’, ‘rescue(d)’, ‘bounty’, ‘love’ and ‘glory’. That these contrast so radically from the lyrics that tell of humans without Him – like ‘shame’, ‘slavery’, ‘sin’, ‘grave’, ‘fear’, and ‘darkness’ – is their point. It’s as if they are saying ‘look at the chasm that He’s bridged!’ So, when this group sings ‘Heaven can’t contain…’ Him, what they are suggesting, without explicitly saying so, is that His life and sacrifice for humanity isn’t just for us to applaud because heaven is our future home. We can lift up what He did, who He is, and what that means for us now, while we’re still unglorified mortals. ‘I am redeemed’, they sing, and ‘the grave is overcome’ even before I enter it. That’s a proclamation we who are saved should be wearing on our faces and in our attitudes, so that others can hear about death being defeated, the darkness overshadowed by joy, the fear that is cast out, and ‘the enemy (who is) destroyed’. Who wouldn’t want to be on the winning side in this kind of episode?   

 

Are others not listening, or are we saying too little about what Starfield and the Neufelds have emphasized in ‘The Saving One’? Perhaps it’s a bit of both. There is so much to distract here on planet Earth; even the God-Son saw this phenomenon exert itself right in front of Him, including among those who’d been His most ardent followers. It’s just that the non-believers have travelled further along the path away from Him for longer than those who truly believe Him. But, I have to say that it is not easy some days, even for me as a Jesus-follower. How many emails do I get daily, how many bills must I manage and pay, how many tasks on my calendar? These are just a few. Are you and I really that different? If it’s overpowering some days, just turn it all off, at least for a few moments, and turn on what Tim, Jon, and Mia are saying. The biggest issue for me is one that He’s already solved.     

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=costCQfWZa0 (see the comment at the 3:50 – 4:20 mark)

 

See some comments about the band’s style and purpose when they perform in concert:  https://www.indievisionmusic.com/reviews/starfield-the-saving-one/

 

Read about the musical group that the two principal composers are in here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfield_(band)

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecce_homo_by_Antonio_Ciseri_(1).jpg …The author died in 1891, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. 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, 1930. The image may be found within this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus

The River -- Brian Doerksen, Michael Hansen, Brian Thiessen

 

Was one of them reading something from apocalyptic literature in his bible? One might think so, and perhaps what they found spoke collectively to this trio of composers – Brian Doerksen, Michael Hansen, and Brian Thiessen – and spurred them onward as they sang about “The River”. It wouldn’t be just any ordinary river (such as the River Wey [a main tributary of the Thames River in SE England] shown here, which is one of thousands of rivers on the Earth), because this one that they were coaxing hearers to approach would offer something that no other one could. And that’s not because there was something magical in the two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen therein; instead, this river’s Creator and Healer would be there, giving of Himself to the surroundings and to those who accept His invitation to come there. The words and music that the two Brians and Michael wrote undoubtedly reached out from their spirits to express something that all us mortals need to acknowledge in order to get well: we have an imperfection infection. That’s you, and me, and everyone else on this spinning spheroid. He’s got the way out of this imperfect mess, but one first has to be willing to get wet.

 

None of the three co-writers of ‘The River’ have shared what was transpiring around the time that they fashioned the song’s lyrics and music (published in January 2004), but maybe the song’s message says enough on its own. Perhaps someone was about to take his/her last breath (as in the case of one family who commented on this song’s special place in their memory as they watched a mother leave this life – see the comments at this link  The River | Brian Doerksen Lyrics, Meaning & Videos); or maybe someone that one or more of them knew was pondering his spiritual condition and the way to rise above life’s troubles. Either of those scenarios would fit what these composers, via their composition, suggest was happening. Maybe they even shared with someone some vivid words written centuries ago, from Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:2, in which two different writers saw a very similar vision about a river and healing leaves on nearby trees. And so, it’s no accident that the song might have had an impact on people; that’s what special revelation like Ezekiel and John had is supposed to accomplish, and when it is turned into a unique mode of musical expression, it touches the human spirit. We all have ‘sins I cannot bear’, and need to get ‘cleanse(d)’ (v.1).  No one can force another, but when someone is ready to admit the truth about him-herself, that’s when the song’s chorus section can give such a person a loving nudge – ‘I am ready’, ‘surrender’, ‘take my hand…’, and ‘lead me closer’, can help that person express what’s buried deep within. Brian, Brian, and Michael penned the words that all of us need to know – ‘healing mercy’, and ‘freedom from despair’ (v.2) allows any of us to escape life’s dead-end alternative.

 

‘Life beyond compare’ (v.3) awaits, this threesome reminds us and others who honestly administer a self-examination. If you’re in physical prison, or worse yet nearing your deathbed, God will not shout His words louder for you. He’s already sent enough messengers in one or multiple forms of communication methods to get your attention. But, He’s a patient God and doesn’t want anyone to ‘perish’ (2 Peter 3:9); have you or someone close to you thought about that, that you’ve made it thus far because He’s still holding out hope that He’ll get to open the door to eternity for you? Could it be that ‘The River’ is but one more page in that journal of persuasion that He’s keeping about you? It’s still open today, but He will close it eventually. You got a better option than Him?     

 

Read about the principal composer here: Brian Doerksen - Wikipedia

 

See information on the image of the river here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wey_source_farringdon.jpg …This work has been released into the public domain by its author, SuzanneKn at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: SuzanneKn grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. Find the picture inside this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River