Let It Rise – Holland Davis

 

Distraction. Disappointment. Prayer. Surprise. Worship. If you asked Holland Davis to describe using one-word details how he coaxed the song “Let It Rise” to its fruition, that is how he might answer. The moment didn’t start out very auspiciously, though he and his bandmates were in a mellow setting on a beach in Point Loma, California (San Diego area, see postcard view of it here), a place that should have had the assembled worshippers feeling appreciative for the Creator’s handiwork all around them. Holland might add that such a moment is when God’s activity might be most apparent – when things seem to be going awry, a callout to Him can elicit a radical change that can only be attributed to the supernatural. Just focus on His presence coming into a group that wants Him to be near, maybe through the prayer of even just one distressed soul. Holland tried it out, probably not for the first time in 1997. The episode just reaffirms how God ‘inhabits the praises of His people’ (as the Psalmist David said, 22:3).

 

Holland took advantage of an opportunity for his band to guide some evening worship, but once at a beachside chapel in Point Loma, he felt that the opportunity was going downhill pretty precipitously. The band, including some new members, was stumbling a bit in the performance, and the church’s members were responding with inattention, a cycle that quickly had Holland feeling desolate. God was not being honored appropriately, neither in the music the band was presenting, nor in the crowd’s reaction. Where could Holland turn, except in prayer to the God he so much wanted to lift up in reverence and exultation? And so, the words just came to him spontaneously, a petition that turned out to be the song’s title with some additional words that Holland’s spirit formed that day. The lyrics were really those that came from deep inside his moment of despair, as he asked God to help the band and the crowd sense the divine Spirit, and to ‘let the glory’, the ‘praises’, the ‘songs’, and the ‘joy’ of the Lord ‘rise among’ them. Could Holland have really been surprised when the awkward moment evolved into something truly special, like a beauty that takes one’s breath away? He says it was a strange feeling, but Holland seemed to recognize God’s presence nevertheless. As he and band members relaxed and let the Spirit flow through them and the crowd, an uncertainty in the crowd yielded to a greater sensation, and what was going to be a bomb of an evening worship instead grew into a 45-minute elevating experience. Was Holland Davis and the band responsible? Holland remembers feeling that his only credit for the evening was trusting that the Spirit was already present, if he and the rest of the assembled would accept that God was indeed near, not far away. If a crowd gathers with the intent to praise Him, that is harmonious with God’s desire, too. Worship leaders only need to believe that, and let the worshippers know they can believe it too.   

 

What’s left after worship has been had? Perhaps that is the thought that had Holland on edge as the evening in 1997 began. How might the evening’s other plans have proceeded, if the music had not inspired genuine worship? It was a bible study night for the church, after all. Would a dispiriting worship harm a study that was meant to bring relevance of His word to them? I want to know that He can make a difference to me in the middle of a busy week, not leave me shrugging my shoulders. No doubt there might have been some in Jesus’ era who thought His life and effect was a ‘so what’. What was it Pilate meant when he said ‘What is truth?’ And yet, Jesus inspired so much passion among others – both venomous and adoring. Can you feel His passion for you? There’s something He’s put inside you, which He wants to make grow…it’s called eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No one should want this without Him there beside you. The alternative is too horrible, and He’s too great. Think about that if you find yourself talking to Him soon.      

 

 

The source for Holland Davis’s song story is the book “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000.

Here In This Place -- Chris Davis

This writer may be largely anonymous, though his name is known and what he wrote is blessing those of us who sing what he penned. So, if you are out there reading this post, and you know something about Chris Davis and what spurred his writing of “Here in This Place” in the late 1990s (song publication date of 1999), please share! This circumstance allows this blogger to play detective and use this forum to solicit your participation, but otherwise I will provide a few thoughts of my own, by looking at the words Chris authored. What’s the apparent setting for his song, and who was he thinking about when he coaxed others to sing his words? There may be lots of question marks in the rest of this entry, but Chris’ evident attachment to God is not one of them. See if you agree when you read what he wrote, and especially if you can remember a special moment when you have sung this bit of devotion that he’s offered up to the Holy One.  

 

Was Chris a worship leader in the late 1990s, and how many other worship songs did he create? A simple search on his name and the word ‘song’ suggests that Chris has written at least a few others in collaboration with other artists, but that ‘Here in This Place’ may be the only one he has authored alone. It seems his poetry here is addressed to a group that needed to release some things weighing them down emotionally and spiritually, as suggested in both of the first two stanzas. They had ‘burden(s)’, and felt ‘unworthy’ to approach Him who is holy. That applies to everyone on this planet, doesn’t it? But Chris wanted to reassure those who assembled that God is not one who recoils from sinners. How many stories in biblical accounts can you and I find in which it seems He embraces rejected people? It’s not too speculative to presume that Chris likewise found hope in those same stories, and if he shared some spoken words before launching into this song, maybe some of them referenced Jesus’ encounters with the religious outcasts of his day. This stemmed from Jesus willingly challenging the pious leaders of the time and thus making Himself a pariah. So, He knew all about rejection-dejection. Even his own hometown threw him out (Luke 4:14-30). Chris could probably imagine Jesus walking right into a group, such as the one to whom Chris could have been speaking and encouraging in worship. This God doesn’t stand on the sideline watching, Chris said. He’s present, ‘here in this place’ with us. That’s just a reflection of his ‘love’ for us (refrain), and so we can ‘raise our voices’, ‘lift up our hands’, ‘fall on…knees’ before this One who sacrificed for us, and wants to join with us. Was this the ‘altar call’ song in that gathering where Chris first introduced ‘Here in This Place’? If it wasn’t, it certainly fits there. Keep coming to Him, no matter what the setting is, Chris might say.

 

So, Chris Davis, thank you! You have made some touching music for those of us who want to draw close to God. Confession, release of guilt, receipt of mercy and grace, devotion, consecration, and union with this God are what your words and notes prompt me to seek in Him. It must have been special with the group where you first shared this. It’s indescribable to think it will go on, and on, and on. Though we praise Him now, just try to get your mind around a New Heaven and New Earth, and how we’ll be joining Him in His place! This place I’m in now is just a faint glimpse of that next place. He will be breathtaking to behold in His home…our home. Let’s go!

 

This site indicates a few songs associated with the writer of the song addressed in this blog entry: https://songselect.ccli.com/Search/Results?List=contributor_P429247_Chris%20Davis&PageSize=10&CurrentPage=1

Savior, Lead Me -- Frank Marion Davis

One of his contemporaries might have asked him ‘Are you afraid of losing your faith?’ What problems might have bothered Frank Marion Davis when he chose to make himself vulnerable and record the words to “Savior, Lead Me” in 1880? He travelled a lot, and evidently carried a good reputation and led many groups wherever he went, so maybe he just tried to reflect the human condition as he encountered it among the various people he came to know. Or was it the travel itself that made him uneasy, or at least reminded him of the hazards of this earth, and the analogous relationship of accidents while travelling and a believer’s path of faith?  See what you think might have made Frank M. Davis share a little bit of who he was in the late 19^th Century.

Whether there was a specific circumstance or instead a collection of many conditions in Davis’ life that crystallized in August 1880 on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay

(perhaps not too unlike the scene in the picture here) – where “Savior, Lead Me” came to life -- is an open question. He certainly had a lot going on, and was often on the move, from New York, to Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, or Michigan. Davis was a teacher of voice and instrumental music, and reportedly led many choir groups, while also singing many solos. He wrote hundreds of songs, and published at least seven musical collections, so we can imagine his reputation was probably well-known and appreciated. But, on a steamship in the Chesapeake Bay when he was 41 years old, apparently he didn’t feel secure on the strength of his abilities, accomplishments, or relationships. He was unmarried throughout his 57 years, so a family of his own was not the root of his disquiet. Alternatively, perhaps he’d encountered others whose troubles weighed on him. How was his health, or that of siblings or parents? Whatever the cause, he wrote in all three of the song’s brief verses and its refrain of a tempest, evidently some trouble that caused him anxiety. A frequent traveler, including by boat on this trip, may also have been reminded of storms while in transit; was the Chesapeake Bay a rough ride that day? Could it have been mid-life crisis for this 40-something? Short answer: Unknown.

Everyone has good days and bad ones. And, what bothers one may not affect another. The only universal truth is the muck I make of something cannot ever be clean, and your missteps do the same to you. Frank Davis was an honest guy, and wasn’t afraid to admit he was a screwup. He’d undoubtedly had some troubles – how could he write of ‘stormy billows’ otherwise? He was on a ship, and felt the need to reestablish the connection, to firm up the bond that he knew was crucial. He knew enough about music’s effect too, that it helps remind one what sometimes might be forgotten in the day’s tedium. If I hum to myself what Frank wrote, you suppose God will help me dodge a few more potholes?        

See following site for playing of the song, and some very brief background on its history: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/m/s/lmsavior.htm   

See following site for brief biography on the composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/a/v/davis_fm.htm

Holy Ground – Geron Davis

Geron Davis was a 19-year old songwriter, pushed and prodded by his father to make a special moment happen in Savannah, Tennessee in 1979. Geron’s father was pastor of a small-town church that was looking forward to the dedication of a new building (probably not like St. Peters’ Basilica [see picture]), and Geron agreed that he could write a song for this occasion. Even though he waited until almost the last moment to compose “Holy Ground”, Geron says the song was written in just a few minutes. He says its introduction to the church went well…”the power of God moved in”, he says. Although he never anticipated that one day his song would stir a president, as well as a recording songstress-icon, the song’s message tells us Davis’ real audience was God, not well-known public figures like Bill Clinton and Barbara Streisand. (Clinton asked for the song to be sung on two occasions while he was president, and Streisand later cut an album…see bottom paragraph.) The song’s occasion also might make us think that Davis was identifying with Ezra and Solomon as he composed. Watching new buildings take shape is really intoxicating, have you noticed? Maybe it’s a home, or a new work-site, or a church that has captured your attention. I used to drive by a new library being built near where I live, even though the route was inconvenient on the way home from work, just to see it evolve. An engineer might marvel at how the building takes shape, but for me it’s my imagination of what the future holds -- the anticipation of potential -- that energizes the mind. Knowing what is to come makes me lean forward. Knowing what was about to take place in Savannah, Tennessee in 1979, and thinking about my own similar experiences, helps me connect with something in “Holy Ground” that others have celebrated too, even if it was thousands of years ago. Ezra and Solomon and their contemporaries built buildings too, magnificent ones meant for God himself to inhabit. That’s an awesome thought, enough to make one tremble, and certainly worthy of a “Holy Ground” echo. Yet, those people seemed not just reverent, but joyous (Ezra 6:16 and 1 Kings 8:62-66). They must have exulted, knowing that they had completed God’s work, but maybe like us today, they also had expectant feelings about what was yet to come. Geron Davis taps into that emotion with his version of “Holy Ground”. Its harmonies draw out my enthusiasm, a zeal unlike the sensation that another version of “Holy Ground” evokes (Christopher Beatty’s 1982 song, which invites me instead to revere God). I celebrate as I sing Geron Davis’ “Holy Ground”, and wonder what else God has in store for my spiritual family. Davis was asked how he felt, knowing that his song had ‘electrified’ Barbara Streisand (she later cut an album, Higher Ground, after hearing “Holy Ground”). Davis deflects the compliment…’we’re all on level ground’ when we’re on His holy ground. One source for Geron Davis’s song story is the book “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000. See also “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.