My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) -- Andrae Crouch

 

Glory. I recently learned that despite what I thought I knew, the word when it’s connected to God of the universe means a quality or characteristic of His nature that is too weighty for me to observe face-to-face. That should be evident if I had really grasped the import of Moses’ request at one time to see His glory, and that God’s response was ‘no’ (Exodus 33:18-23).  And yet, there are other places in which God-in-the-flesh Jesus, and then one of His apostles named Paul, expressly say that we mere humans will somehow be able to share in this glory. Once was during Jesus’ prayer (John 17; and see the artwork here that depicts Jesus giving His farewell discourse to 11 of the Apostles, recorded in John chapters 14-17, the occasion on which He prayed to His Father about glory in several ways), and that was one that evidently struck Andrae Crouch, motivating Him to write something himself about glory in “My Tribute” (also known as To God Be the Glory). Andrae wasn’t the only one who was involved in this exchange; read on about someone named Larry Reed.

 

Glory to God! Hallelujah! Imagine someone calling out those words really loudly, and that was Larry Reed, though most people who knew him not too much earlier in his life would never have guessed that this same Larry would ever shout those words. Larry was a teenage drug addict that Andrae befriended at a rehabilitation house in central Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Though he was an atheist, Larry would hang around the house just a little longer whenever Andrae coaxed him to stay and listen to some music. Eventually, Larry’s mental and emotional barriers to God broke down, especially as he listened to Andrae sing about God’s blood one day, and it wasn’t long before Larry became an on-fire Christian whose trademark was the phrase that began this paragraph. He telephoned Andrae once, years later after they both had moved out of that central LA house, to persuade him to read Jesus’ prayer in John 17, with the confident prediction that Andrae would write a great song based on that prayer. Though Andrae was skeptical, he did write ‘My Tribute’ and shared it with some friends who had also met Larry and were likewise dubious about loudmouth Larry’s premonition. But, upon re-reading John 17, they all immediately recognized why Larry had been so confident. The rest is history, as someone has said. You can hear Andrae re-tell the story in his own words with the link below, and see how the power of God’s glory can be so inspirational in a rendition of My Tribute sung by a group of believers (see another link below). Those links say it better than this blogger can!

 

Glory is pretty awesome stuff, but what is even more amazing beyond its meaning (see it described via one of the links below) is that believers get to be part of it. It’s in John’s gospel 27 times, including five times during Jesus chapter 17 prayer, and twice in that prayer (John 17:10, 22) He indicates the Apostles have actually participated in this glory that is God’s. It must have been something that the great apostle Paul picked up on too, especially as you read his letter to Romans. (See Romans 1:21-23; 3:23; 4:20: 5:2-3; 6:4; 8:17-9:23; 15:6-16:27 [21 times in all of Romans].) It’s not something easily captured however, as Paul’s opening words relate that humans had been in the habit of casting aside this glory (1:21-23). The whole dissertation by Paul to the Romans reads like a progression or an arc of gradual evolution regarding His glory and we humans. If/when humanity gets over itself (in Romans 1), we can only begin to navigate successfully to meet God and His glory by exercising something pretty basic --- humility. Read Romans 3:23 and see if you can manage that. Then you can press forward and react perhaps like Abraham (4:20), and press onward like others who’ve pursued God (5:2-3 and 6:4), so that you might actually do the incredible (8:17-18, 21, 30 and 9:4, 23) and share in this glory. When that is part of one’s life, your end result might be what also was in Paul’s overflowing cup as he thought and wrote about glory (11:36; 15:6-17; 16:27). Could that be what touched Larry Reed and Andrae Crouch too?

 

The song story is shared in the following: the book Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003; and the book I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2008. See here also: https://www.staugustine.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2015/09/03/story-behind-song-my-tribute/16265280007/   and here, straight from the composer’s mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw7SQq1LZa4 (at about the 6:53 – end of video).

 

See/watch/hear/experience a stirring rendition of the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RZTYDPavEY

 

Read about the word ‘glory’ here: https://firmisrael.org/learn/the-weight-of-glory-and-the-hebrew-word-kavod/

 

See information on the artwork image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Taking_Leave_of_the_Apostles.jpg... The author died in 1319, 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, 1931. ...found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Discourse   

God So Loved -- Andrew Bergthold, Ed/Franni/Martin/Scott Cash

 

Has anyone ever not seen the multicolored hair-guy at a sporting event with the sign that reads John 3:16? Perhaps that is one reason why this brief statement that Jesus makes has become so well known, and maybe has even played a part in why “God So Loved” was penned with music in 2019 by the musical group We the Kingdom. Andrew Bergthold and the Cashes (Ed, Franni, Martin, and Scott) are just the latest group of humanity to be fascinated by God’s saving act, which culminated in His march to the cross and death there (See Jesus as God in the flesh acting out His most important bit of love for humanity, as He prepared to die, shown here in the painting Ecce Homo [Behold the Man!] by Antonio Ciseri.) It was such a momentous event, that it’s a wonder that more of us don’t snap wide awake with this on our minds. That part helps explain why Ed felt like the song just had to be born in 2019, and though the main theme of the verse is key, the subtext of the song also resonates personally with members of the group, too.  

 

We the Kingdom was sharing, beginning with Ed Cash, in 2020 how the song came to light and what it meant to them. Ed said that he woke up one morning with the John 3:16 verse on his mind, and an accompanying musical phrase just kept repeating for him, so he wanted a song to continually remind him of the beauty of that verse. Ed pondered what God was really preparing to do when he sent Jesus, and   Scott then shared that what God did was say that we humans don’t have to get all fixed up before coming to Him. We can bring all the hurts, and sins/shames/filth to him, and anybody that says otherwise is a liar. He welcomes us as we are, and therefore shed His blood to save us from those things. All we have to do is to be vulnerable and acknowledge our condition. Franni talked about the song’s 2^nd verse, which admits the hardship of life, addictions and darkness, and how the song’s bridge lifts people above those things. We let Him be sovereign when we admit who we are, and seek His greatness. That evidently was pretty significant for all the Cashes, who had been part of an addiction of sorts, having formerly been part of a religious cult. Another group member, Martin, shared that God loves not just America or some particular state or city, but the whole world and every culture, so there are no borders restricting who can come to Jesus. Everyone in the world is spiritually thirsty, just as everyone also needs physical water.

 

Failures, addictions, weariness, power of hell – those are all part of the subtext of the song that We the Kingdom says that Jesus has buried for people who come to Him. God so loved the world, that He was willing to do what He did. Anyone who thinks they have it all together is really saying that God’s deepest expression of Himself for us was a vain act, an exercise that would be rooted in a hoax so great that we would really have to question how this God could still be Creator and Sustainer. Would He really be able to make everything sensible if His coming to earth and dying and rising weren’t necessary? We the Kingdom, probably more than some others, were people that felt like something ‘was off’, as they recall their time in a cult before leaving it in Franni’s 18^th year. That’s how other people who don’t have God may ultimately think as well, when they aren’t in touch with the real, authentic, compassionate God of John 3:16. Things eventually go awry in our mortal existence, but are set right eventually when we have Him and connect with His Spirit, and recognize Jesus as the doorway. Have you walked through that doorway yet, as the Cashes did some years ago?        

 

Read the song’s story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_So_Loved

 

Watch/hear the song’s story shared here by the composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-3CW4qQ9gQ (Story starts at 0:24 of video.)

 

Read about the composing group here: We the Kingdom - Wikipedia

 

Read about one of the composers here: ‘God Is Not Done With You,’ Says Former Cult Member Franni Cash, Now Opening for Brandon Lake

 

Information on the image:  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, 1931.