Come Unto Jesus -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, Laura Story, Jesus

 

This song has many writers, but it must begin with the One who first spoke the words that no human being could disparage. What Jesus said about wanting to give people rest from their burdens should reverberate within every one of us, for who doesn’t want to be relieved of trouble? No one wants anxiety, and yet it comes, coaxing us to listen closely to the God-Son’s promise. The text of Matthew chapter 11 begins by saying that Jesus went through the region of Galilee (see the map-graphic here that shows that area in about 50 AD) teaching and preaching, and the chapter ends (vv. 28-30) with Him saying something that Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, along with the tune-writer Samuel Webbe, highlighted in a 19^th Century hymn, Come, Ye Disconsolate. That hymn underscored what Jesus said, and then spoke lyrically once more to three 21^st Century songwriters -- Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Laura Story – in Come Unto Jesus. It is evidence that what Jesus said is still relevant, and always will be to those of us who need what He offers.

 

Laura Story says that Come Unto Jesus is a modern hymn for today (the song was published in 2023), and yet its roots are in something that Jesus wanted all of us to know 2,000 years ago. She reminds us of what Jesus’ words mean – that we don’t have to fix ourselves before coming to Him for relief. It’s a fallacy that our culture tries to get us to accept, that we cannot admit weakness, cannot be anything but complete, and certainly cannot have a mess in our lives when we approach Him. Laura says that she and her two collaborators, Jordan and Matt, asked themselves what the people in our world needed to be reminded of most when they sat down to think and write Come Unto Jesus.  Busyness and distraction were apparent, they said, impeding the worship atmosphere they felt they needed to foster in the songs they would bring before the church. What the ancient writer Matthew remembered that Jesus said in the region of Galilee came to them, and provided the foundation for what they wanted to say. Their lyrics also leaned heavily upon their 19^th Century musical ancestors, Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings, to reemphasize what those two evidently felt was plaguing their own era – the same thing that is still around in the 21^st Century. Weary people have all sorts of problems and turmoil, and may become the refuse of the culture, the ones society has shoved aside because of the chaos that is so pervasive in their lives. Laura points to what another writer, Paul, had to say regarding the peace that Jesus translates to us that is beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:7). People who have descended into a pit so deep that they cannot even recall how the mayhem actually began need something equally as powerful and transcendent to resurrect themselves. That is Jesus.  

 

Laura says another ancestor spoke words that still mean something today, because they also lean on this axiom – that Jesus is the only source of lasting peace. “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Saint Augustine of Hippo reminded people of his own era (4^th/5^th Century A.D.) with those words, so what does that communicate? If you are one that thinks you can help yourself, if you are a ‘pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps’ type of person, then reconsider that mindset. Yes, everyone needs to have some abilities to function in the world, to make civil society possible. But wars, disease, prisons and the criminal activity that puts people in them, and the strains of just daily living – financially, relationally, emotionally, and otherwise – can make you and me crack under the pressure so easily. I cannot handle all of myself, and cannot even contemplate controlling everyone and everything else within view. It all is a recipe for trouble in a place I cannot escape, except by death. Jesus offers something that even overcomes that terminal option. Don’t try the death part before you give Him a shot, OK?   

 

Read about the song’s story here: https://www.leadworshipwell.com/behind-the-song/laura-story-come-unto-jesus

 

This site indicates the song’s publishing year: https://hymnary.org/tune/come_unto_jesus_kauflin

 

See information about the 19^th Century hymn here:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/y/d/i/cydiscon.htm

 

See information on the map-graphic here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Galilee.jpg... The author died in 1934, 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 80 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 can be found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilee 

Oh the Deep Deep Love -- Samuel Trevor Francis (and Bob Kauflin)

 

He wasn’t the first to contemplate a radical solution to his misery, nor the first to instead salvage a hymn from his experience. It was a turning point for Samuel Trevor Francis, perhaps something that might be described as an epiphany when he thought about it years later and said “Oh the Deep Deep Love” about the God that he felt had saved him one night. What he wrote suggests he was looking upon a mighty body of water, and comparing that scene to what he’d probably read so many times before from the pen of an apostle. What might you and I ponder if we were on a bridge over the River Thames in London? (See a picture here of the Hungerford Bridge over that river, as it might have looked to Samuel Francis in 1845, some 30 years before he authored the hymn.) Is one’s life too gloomy to be saved by a God with a love that knows no bounds? That’s what Samuel asked himself.

 

Could a nighttime walk over the Thames while wallowing in his despondency decades earlier have been what Samuel was remembering as he reached middle age in 1875? This 41-year-old London merchant and preacher had apparently suffered from some depression as a teenager, and thus thought briefly about suicide one winter night as he walked across a bridge. Did the cold, roiling water change his mind, or was it his recollection of what an apostle wrote about the vast dimensions -- how deep God’s love is (Ephesians 3:17-19) – that helped him overcome this momentary darkness? Admittedly, we in the 21^st Century have only a general comment from this 19^th Century author, many years after this incident, to evaluate precisely if this bridge episode had indeed stuck with him and motivated ‘Oh, the Deep…’ in 1875. And yet, his own remarks (in an 1898 publication of some of his hymns; see them in the Hymnology Archive link below) indicate that many of his works were sparked by his desire to show how someone can overcome a despairing life with the love of God. ‘Oh, the Deep…’ fits seamlessly into that category. Certainly, the multiple references to water bodies signal that Samuel was observing a piece of His watery creation, one that especially struck him. It was ‘vast, unmeasured, boundless, free’ (v.1), and ‘ocean’ (vv.1 and 3) could suggest he was alternately near the English coast, observing the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, or the English Channel, instead of the River Thames in London. Any of these bodies of water would have served his temporary urge to end his life! Fortunately, he also discovered that God’s love was a ‘current’,’all around’ and ‘underneath’ him (v.1), that His praise could travel from ‘shore to shore’ (v.2). He returns again and again to how deep – one ‘deep’ is not enough – is God’s care and longing for us. His provision in this life is like that Divine River of Life that transports the soul ‘onward’ and ‘homeward’ (v.1).

 

The power of water, that is something perhaps unappreciated until you’ve seen what it can do in a flood or worse yet a tidal wave. Samuel Francis must have thought about what it would mean to drown in the Thames or elsewhere, how suffocating in water would feel, and how it might have been for those who scorned God’s provision in Noah’s day. Those are the negative examples of God’s water. God also makes transport possible with it, provides life in it – fish and other creatures man can consume for nourishment – and how it is necessary to make land-based crops grow to feed and sustain us and the rest of his creation. Samuel was likewise pondering the positives of God’s watery ingenuity, one night on a bridge. What He’s made can point to Him, if I’ll just take a moment to turn around my negative thoughts and look at things from a different direction. That’s what Samuel did. Would you prefer to drown or ride the waves?         

 

See here for some biographic information on the original writer: S. Trevor Francis | Hymnary.org

 

See here also for biographic information on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Trevor_Francis

 

See information on the hymn here: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus - Wikipedia

 

See more information on the song and its writer here: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus - The Center For Church Music, Songs and Hymns

 

See some pretty extensive notes on the song here (including a brief note on how the new chorus was written by Bob Kauflin): O the deep, deep love of Jesus — Hymnology Archive

 

See this link for image of the Hungerford Bridge over the River Thames in London, and its public domain status: File:Hungerford Suspension Bridge (1845).jpg - Wikimedia Commons  The following statement appears with the image: 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. {{PD-US-expired}} – published anywhere (or registered with the US Copyright Office) before 1928 and public domain in the US.  

The Gospel Song -- Drew Jones and Bob Kauflin

 

It was two guys with a desire to sing something truly foundational, as part of a celebration. What Bob Kauflin and Drew Jones produced in 2002 did not really begin with them, since “The Gospel Song” really had a much earlier origin…where? By whom? The first two words of their four-line poem tell who the true author and creator is, someone who had a vision and a plan that looked forward through all of history. What Bob and Drew meant to do, and what they accomplished on a significant occasion for their church (in Gaithersburg, Maryland – a DC suburb – see map-graphic), was to merely refocus those people on what really matters above all else. All those other things became secondary, even if they were facilitating the main thing. Just imagine what would be worthy of celebration, as a body of believers, if the foundation hadn’t first been built?

 

Holy God. Love. Blame. Cross. Sin. Death. Live. Those are the key words that Bob Kauflin and Drew Jones thought about most intently, with the first two – our Creator’s name, Holy God – being the cornerstone of everything else, as someone else has said (Psalm 118:22). Nothing else proceeds without this Holy God taking the initiative. And, it was one thing after another that He instigated: He came as a human being. He went to a cross on His own volition. He took my sin, when He died. He arose to life without anyone’s aid, and will convey that risen life to me. These God-centered events coalesced in the minds of Bob and Drew as the 25-year anniversary of the church in Gaithersburg approached, evidently prompting them to think most fundamentally about what their shared faith meant. It was an occasion that was reason for celebration, and so they thought of producing a musical to put a stamp on that time. Bob indicates he wrote music for multiple sets of lyrics in the musical, but ‘The Gospel Song’, many years later, was the only one of those songs that was still sung by the church during Sunday morning worship times. You think Bob and Drew hit the nail on the head with their musical rendition of the gospel? Bob mentioned, eight years after the musical’s production, that there were, and are, many ancillary matters that help facilitate the gospel that could potentially overshadow it, if we are not vigilant. Jesus – His life, death, and resurrection -- is the hub of everything. Perhaps those few facts were why ‘The Gospel Song’ needed no more than four lines comprising one verse. We just need to keep repeating this brief, powerful message, the implicit point contained in an animated video presentation of the song (see its link below).

 

Gospel – good news! Just good news? Could it be that too many superlatives have populated our languages since the arrival of Christ, so that good is no longer good enough? The phrase appears 44 times in the bible (New International Version), most of which refer to Jesus and what He brought to the theological picture. So, that word gospel – the good news – is worth having on your lips constantly, even in other languages. It means being able to overcome barriers in a foreign tongue with that word, and a few others, that can mean everything to any culture. For example, Kenyans receive the gospel (in Swahili) as injili, redemption as ukombozi, and resurrection as ufufuo. And, Jesus is Yesu, while God is Mungu. So, now you too have five good words to tell the next Kenyan you meet. The gospel message reverberates in any language!

 

See here for story of song’s development: https://worshipmatters.com/2010/08/24/the-gospel-song-an-animation/

 

See here for song’s words, replay of song, and album on which it appears: https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/the-gospel-song/

 

See here a moving animation of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoxWSk9fLMU

 

See one author-composer bio here: https://sovereigngracemusic.org/about/bob-kauflin/

 

This site shows four verses for the song: https://www.theanchor.org/page/song-The-Gospel-Song#!

 

Use the link here to translate words from one language to another: https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=sw&text=God&op=translate

 

The map-graphic of Maryland and Montgomery County is in the Public Domain, with no other tags associated with it necessary for its use.