Days of Elijah – Robin Mark

If you watch the evening news frequently, you have felt some anxiety on occasion, am I right? Indeed, the world’s events seem like a great weight, for who can control them, or predict their course? One would have to be a prophet to do that, you answer. What must it have been like to be a prophet in the old earth days? An Elijah? The earth’s behavior was less well understood then, more of a mystery, holding humans in a fog as they encountered life-changing calamities, or at other times perhaps God’s favor. Earthquakes, floods, eruptions, hurricanes…all are described as ‘biblical’ events or ‘acts of God’ when we read the fine print in our insurance policies. You cannot stop ‘em, and although we’ve come two or three millennia since Elijah, we really haven’t found our way around (nor above or beyond) the earth’s fickle behavior. That was Robin Mark’s reaction in 1994 when he wrote “Days of Elijah”.

Though he’s been a Christian in Belfast, Ireland and a worship leader for some time, Mark has asked himself if God is really in control at times. The composer was watching the news in late 1994, and he admits he despaired at what he saw, for it was the year of Rwanda, when a million people perished. To call it a tragedy is an understatement, but what else can we do but cry out to God? Mark’s conversation with the Lord informed him, he says, that God is present. He calls us to be people of right-living, and trust-giving – to Him. And, though 21st Century humans may think they’re far-removed from somebody like Elijah, Mark sees him, and events in our day too, as signposts for the Creator. Famine, but also harvest opportunities are evident in our time, Mark tells us musically, and it’s no accident that they are reminiscent of Old Testament events. And, Mark’s words also draw upon the biblical imagery of bones knitting together in Ezekiel’s day to remind us that we as a church should unite, to proclaim a cohesive message of hope in the Lord. We as His people should, above all else, be worshippers, Mark says, an imperative that “Days of Elijah” proclaims as well.

To sum it up, Mark says the song gives us four directives: “….declaration, righteousness, unity and worship. I chose to express these thoughts by reference to the characters that represented these virtues in the Old Testament. It is in essence a song of hope for the Church and the world in times of great trial.” So, remind others that God is watching; He wants us to act with integrity; the Lord yearns for His people to come together; and the Holy One communes with us in worship. Hard to go wrong with those, huh?

You can read Mark’s “Days of Elijah” story in his own words, and read some about his life with the links below:

https://robinmark.com/the-story-behind-days-of-elijah/ (this is the link to the story behind the song).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Mark(this is the link to Robin Mark’s biography).

God of This City - Bluetree

Urban blight…crime…drug gangs…slums…prostitution. Could you ever imagine feeling positive about this kind of existence? Would you have dared to live in Sodom and Gomorrah, or maybe Nineveh? The characters we read about in the Old Testament who visited those diseased places were repulsed too …after all, who wants a mob pounding on your door, demanding you hand over your guests for gang rape (Lot’s quandary in Genesis 19) ? I’d have run away, wouldn’t any sane person? Who willingly goes to such places, especially after seeing the pictures of squalor? But, hold on! If you see the pictures of a contemporary Sodom-like city, it does look rather enticing. The travel guides know how to dress up a place like Pattaya Beach, Thailand (see the picture above). I wonder if the members of the Irish band Bluetree knew what awaited them when they prepared to visit Pattaya a few years ago. Bluetree -- the band’s name tells Christians to stand out from the crowd, like blue trees in a green forest – is from Belfast, Ireland. That was how the group’s lead singer Aaron Boyd says they must have appeared to a crowd in the “Climax Bar” – basically a brothel -- in Pattaya. After all, why would a group of Christians sing for two hours in such a place, and in a city of such infamous reputation, considered to be a world-renowned hub of the sex industry? Boyd admits he and his bandmates were leery of this proposition at first, but their powerful witness in the song “God of This City” came to them as they considered the city’s lifestyle and its poverty, afflicting the spirit as well as the daily life of its residents. You can read about their story and even see a video by Boyd, who tells of the experience in Pattaya, with these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetree http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXh_tgjnYJw http://www.experiencingworship.com/articles/reviews/2009-2-Bluetree-God-Of.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattaya Bluetree has not forgotten Pattaya. They are preparing to begin a charity in May 2009 called "Stand Out International", an effort to save kids from the sex industry. Boyd relates their attitude about themselves and the world about them, in an age when morbid news can desensitize even Christians …"you eventually grow so numb that when you hear that a car bomb killed 10 people, you immediately go on with the mundane business of the day without as much as giving it a second thought." Boyd doesn’t want his Christian message to stop at the stage, and Bluetree’s charity raises the bar for all of us. I can be like Lot, and try to live in my own cocoon inside an evil that will eventually claw at me. Or, will I be like Jonah, angry and dismissive of the depraved, wishing for their destruction? It's tough to be a lonely blue tree, but with others we might persuade to paint themselves this garish color, maybe we can turn the green forest into a brilliant sapphire.

Come Share the Lord -- Bryan Jeffery Leech

(The Clownfish and the Sea Anemone share the ocean floor)

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had (Acts 4:32). Do you remember hearing this one growing up -- ‘Now share that toy with your brother’? Or, maybe it was a lollipop or the TV control your momma had to pry loose from your fist. Would Halloween exist if neighbors refused to share with kids, maybe even kids they don’t know? And what about Christmas? It’s down the tubes without that holiday giving spirit. How about our roads or even our global economy…what if we refused to share the transportation routes, or commercial goods with others? I confess that sometimes I have really wished that someone would get outta the way on I-495, or that I wasn’t all that fired up about Halloween or Christmas. How about you? Bryan Jeffery Leech has written a song that calls us to share, but curiously to share someone, rather than something. How do we do that? His song’s words tell us how, but its genesis also shows us something else, a reality we often miss or under-appreciate about God and each other. Leech was born in England in 1931, and came to the U.S. in 1955 for part of his ministerial education at Barrington College and Chicago’s North Park Seminary. But, he did not take up the composer’s pen for several years, not until he was in his mid-30’s. One might say, with hindsight, that maybe the Lord was patiently preparing him. Leech has authored over 500 tunes, written several plays and books, and pastored several churches from coast-to-coast. Still, when he wrote “Come Share the Lord”, Leech remembers he had a creative block that was broken only by sharing. It was 1982, and that autumn Leech had fixed in his mind that he would write a communion hymn, but then forgot about his resolution. Or, had he? At Christmas in England with his family, Leech composed a melody, “but my mind was barren of any lyric ideas”, he admitted. It wasn’t until the next summer that he played this orphan tune for a friend, in order to get an objective opinion about its utility. His friend’s reaction -- ‘It’s obvious: Holy Communion.’ Spurred on by this, Leech says he wrote the song’s lyrics that same hour. Do you think he realized how important, even crucial, sharing with someone else can be after this? Indeed, the song’s words, which had been gestating for months, gave birth in rapid fashion to a message, the same message that Leech discovered was active in his own experience – sharing. Leech is living evidence that God is a patient, but not inactive, being. When we know this, and can live it, our world changes. He provides, most notably in the people He puts around me. I guess I have forgotten this at times, if I’m honest. But, a great principle is at work in Leech’s composition, one that should motivate and energize us, and make us appreciate and spur forward each other – like Leech’s friend did for him. It’s called symbiosis in the science world, like the sea anemone and the clownfish that mutually provide for each other in the ocean (see picture above). We have each other as a family, as the song says, and collectively have the Creator as our model. A great, amazing calling is ours. His church should be the world’s greatest creative engine, but perhaps only when we share with each other, and thereby draw on one another and upon Him too. He may seem absent at times, but realizing that the great creative force who made me is nevertheless present is more than just comforting – it unlocks something inside. I love to think that I am mimicking God when I’m creative, and that He’s put this family around me to help me be more like Him.

Information on Bryan Jeffery Leech and the song obtained from these three websites. http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=3900 (article written by C. Michael Hawn, Aug 8, 2008) http://songsandhymns.org/people/detail/bryan-leech (Center for Church Music) http://www.fredbock.com/Promo.asp?page=258 (Fred Bock Music Companies)

The Old Rugged Cross - George Bennard

It won’t be long now, I thought, until the grass starts to grow, the plants leap outta the ground, and the trees begin to bud. It wasn’t hard to conjure up thoughts like that as I walked through the yard on a warm March Saturday morning. I have two trees, a maple and a dogwood – about 25 bags of leaves every autumn. Every spring, the dogwood blooms are a shade of pink, and come out first, followed by the Maple that comes on in a flash in a two-week stretch in May. That’s about as much notice as I give ‘em, really, and it shows. Another maple I used to have was taken over and eaten by beetles (or so I was informed by tree experts) because I didn’t see what was going on in time … and neither did my tree experts! How about your trees…do you notice ‘em? Most of us know about a tree that was made into a cross 21 centuries ago, even if we haven’t been to a church in ages, or maybe go just occasionally. Many songwriters have thought about this famous tree, but perhaps none have written about it with more memorable words than George Bennard, who wrote “The Old Rugged Cross”. Bennard wrote “The Old Rugged Cross” in 1913 at a time when he was going through a difficult, though unspecific, experience. It made him think about Christ’s cross suffering (Philippians 3:10) and how the Lord’s redemptive act for mankind was so central to his faith. He soon penned the songs’ words and gave them to Charles Gabriel, a leading hymn-writer in the early 20th Century. As someone has said, ‘Now you know the rest of the story’, for the song has been so well-loved that by some estimates it was America’s favorite hymn in the 1925-60 period. Three towns -- Al­bi­on, Mi­chi­gan; Po­ka­gon, Mi­chi­gan; and Stur­geon Bay, Wis­con­sin -- have claimed to be the birthplace of Bennard’s song. In Reed Ci­ty, Mi­chi­gan, where Bennard spent the last years of his life, the Cham­ber of Com­merce put a cross near his home, and a museum has been dedicated to his work. This song appears very different from the hallelujah psalms that Jesus and His Apostles might have sung, with words like ‘cross’ -- a very cruel instrument of death -- and ‘blood’, ‘suffering’, ‘slain’, ‘reproach’, and ‘shame’. Not much praiseworthy there, right? But, as I read a little more about “The Old Rugged Cross”, I discovered something that struck me. George Bennard began his Christian life as a worker in the well-known relief organization The Salvation Army, when his father died and he needed to support his mother and sisters. Bennard and his wife served in the Salvation Army in Illinois, and later he was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and conducted revivals in New York and Michigan. Think about The Salvation Army -- the good-hearted folks who stand in front of K-Mart in the cold in December, ringing bells and asking for donations -- for a moment. We don’t ring bells, and the collection plates don’t look like kettles at the church (usually), but we do have one thing in common with Bennard and his co-workers. We who are saved are also part of God’s Salvation Army, and we (like Jesus, see Hebrews 12) overcome our sadness because of the joy set before us. When he wrote that he loved the old cross, George Bennard wasn’t expressing an illogical attachment to a hunk of wood…he was zeroing in on Jesus’ deepest act of love toward him, and reflecting that devotion back to the Lord through a song. So, don’t avoid the cross, nor those words ‘blood’, ‘suffering’, ‘slain’, ‘reproach’, and ‘shame’. Join with the Army of God, and sing Bennard’s reminder that we’ve overcome!

Sources for the song’s history and its composer obtained from the following site: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/r/oruggedc.htm Also see the following books: “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990. “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982. “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Step by Step - Beaker (David Strasser)

"His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step.” (Job 34:21) 

 

 A zookeeper probably can tell you that newborns in the animal kingdom are quick learners. And having grown up on a farm where we had a few animals, I feel somewhat qualified to add that they are indeed quick beginners. All the animals I’ve ever seen enter the world (a few calves and kittens) are able to take steps within hours, or at least after several days or weeks. In fact, the calves I’ve seen, if not captured within a few hours or days, seem more like deer than bovine. I’ve chased my share of ‘em through the tall grass of a large field! What about human babies? Most pediatricians and veteran parents can tell you that infants don’t walk for several months, most likely not even until they’re a year old. And why is that? Are we less intelligent than the animals? Perhaps taking those first few steps are instinctual for the animal, whereas I, the human being, must learn this skill. Without delving into this deeper, we could also say that babies are pretty dependent on adults – for food, shelter, language development, well-being, and all sorts of things. If you really think about it, none of us actually becomes truly independent however…we all depend on others for something. A guy we know as Beaker may have been onto something similar when in 1991 he wrote a well-known Christian chorus “Step by Step”, which was popularized by his friend Rich Mullins. 

 

 

Beaker (as a kid, his friends said he looked like the muppet named Beaker) is the nickname for David Strasser, a Christian songwriter and collaborator on many tunes written by his good friend Rich Mullins. Beaker and Mullins co-wrote over 30 songs together, including "Step by Step",after meeting as teenagers years earlier. Mullins also incorporated the chorus that Beaker wrote into “Sometimes by Step”, another musical hit the two friends produced. Before the untimely death of Mullins in 1997 (a car accident took his life), Beaker and Mullins were also co-writers of a musical, based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, called the “Canticle of the Plains”. They were so captivated by the life of St. Francis that they also formed something called “The Kid Brothers of St. Frank”. It’s a ministry to Native Americans, in which Mullins and Beaker sought to mentor young men -- to help them in their life steps. Mullins took concrete steps to put this ministry into action by moving to Tse Bonito, New Mexico in 1995. Even after his death, Mullins’ family and friends have continued the ‘Kid Brothers’ dream, by creating the Legacy of a Kid Brother of St. Frank, a mission work that provides art, drama, and music camps for youth and a traveling music school to Native American reservations. 

 

 

Two friends, a common purpose, and talent…that’s what one might say about the combination of Beaker (aka David Strasser) and Rich Mullins. But, they no doubt learned their skills with the help of others, through someone willing to help them with a few steps. Certainly their songs demonstrate that God has been guiding their steps too. And, their musical walk with God didn’t end at the stage or the recording studio, but has continued, even beyond the grave (in Mullins’ case). There’s a preschool at the church where I worship called Stepping Stones. It’s a visible example of the first part of step-taking – we all begin by learning from someone else. Later, hopefully, I put my learning into action, maybe even in an exceptional way like Beaker and Mullins, so that others learn from and perhaps are inspired by me. As I get older, I think maybe the teaching part takes over more and more, but I confess I don’t know that I’m a very good teacher, or that I’m such a good example of skill in action. Trial and error, that’s me. But, with my Father leading, at least I can be sure this awkward stride is taking me in the right direction. 

 

 The following is the Wikipedia website from which the information about Beaker was obtained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaker_(musician)

 

The following is the Wikipedia site from which the information about Rich Mullins was obtained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Mullins

 

Information on the mission work of Kid Bothers of St. Frank obtained at http://www.richmullins.com/kidbrothers.html

Sing Hallelujah to the Lord - Linda Stassen

If you heard someone mention hippies, Jesus freaks, and communes, or phrases like "free love", "One Way",or "Just Drop Jesus"(instead of ‘dropping acid’), you might think you’d stepped into a time machine and been transported to the 1970s. And, you’d be right. These words were coined during the Jesus (or Jesus People) movement in that decade. Instead of saying ‘I’m walking with the Lord’, a believer might have said he was ‘Truckin’ with Jesus’ 35 years ago. It was an era when college campuses vented frustration over the Vietnam War, the government, and American culture at large.

The counterculture reaction extended to Christianity too, so that most Jesus People rejected orthodox, organized churches in favor of simpler (at least to them) methods used in exercising faith. Such well-known evangelistic organizations as Jews for Jesus came from that era. And, many of today’s contemporary Christian music artists’ roots were in the Jesus People movement, in groups with names like the All Saved Freak Band, Petra, Love Song, Resurrection Band, Second Chapter of Acts, and Joyful Noise. Maranatha music was also spawned from a church of that time, Calvary Chapel, in Costa Mesa, California. One of its ‘freaks’, Linda Stassen, is the composer of the song “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, a tune still familiar in mainline churches in the U.S today. Linda Stassen’s “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” is a very simple song, known not only by Americans, but also by people across the globe, including Europeans, Chinese, Persians, and Eskimos, testifying to its broad acceptance. One wonders whether Stassen knew what would eventually happen to one of her Calvary Chapel experiments.

“Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, although beautiful in its simplicity, is a somewhat unusual praise song. Can you picture its composer, perhaps wearing a tie-dyed shirt, raggedy shorts and sandals, and maybe a flower in her hair? Not exactly what most of us today would recommend for your Sunday morning garb, huh? And, in keeping with the unconventional flow, her musical invention was different. Consider a proper hallelujah…most song-writers probably would begin with a bright and upbeat major key to aptly, and musically express praise to God, correct? Not Stassen. She wrote this song in a minor key (C minor). Why? Was she trying to fail?! The combination of Stassen’s musical chords and the words she chose tell us that perhaps she began to compose by drawing on how she felt viscerally about God, and what mood she wanted to convey. As we sing, we can sense that she was moved by the awesome, haunting sense of what God had accomplished for her, and wanted to express that feeling through the music structure, in a minor key. Did you notice that the minor key matches what we sing about Jesus rising from the dead in verse two (an awesome, overwhelming event), and that other things we sing about our king in the song -- his reign in the church and over earth, and his sure return to claim us -- should make us sense the majesty, and the greatness of our Lord, with deep reverence. It makes me re-evaluate the significance of this song’s message to my spirit. I used to think it’s just a simple tune that I could hum in a carefree way, but now I think it’s something I need to contemplate and dwell upon, and so carry myself to respect and honor Him in all that I do. …kind of an unexpected lesson from a freak.

 Information on Linda Stassen in the story was gathered from the “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories about 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Information on the “Jesus People Movement” was gathered from the following Wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_movement.

I Stand in Awe of You - Mark Altrogge

What’s the most awesome sight you’ve captured on film or perhaps glimpsed briefly? A snow-capped mountain against an unpolluted, sapphire-like sky…or maybe a roaring tornado, cutting a half-mile swath of destruction…how about an encounter with a charging polar bear, or a grizzly who stands to show his ten-foot fury? When I think of awesome things, I tend to think of nature, something that I can witness with the naked eye, a phenomenon or creature that is completely out of my control, in whose presence I feel small. What would you say if I told you the most awesome spectacle was not even visible to the human eye? That’s so illogical, you’d probably at first scoff and dismiss such a thought. Yet, that’s Mark Altrogge’s message in “I Stand in Awe of You”, a song about our God, and how I should feel about Him.

Mark Altrogge wrote “I Stand in Awe of You” in 1987 as he contemplated the holiness of the Lord. He’d read R.C. Sproul’s “The Holiness of God” and A.W. Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” to gain some insight, a necessity when one is trying to capture the essence of the invisible. Altrogge’s conclusion is summed up with words like this: ‘beyond’, ‘like nothing ever…’, ‘too…’, ‘infinite’. No, we cannot see Him, and in many ways, if not for Jesus, He’s unknowable. To the rational, scientific, experiential observer, an exercise to describe -- and worship -- someone we admit is beyond comprehension is cuckoo. But that’s what we proclaim when we sing Altrogge’s composition. From his home in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where he’s a worship leader, Altrogge says his goal is to write doctrinally rich, passionate songs. He also relates that he thought at first that worship songs would be simple to compose, a belief that he now admits was shallow.

You might think his song, because of its single verse (at least, in most hymnals; a comment below links us to another verse!), lacks depth, but think again. Story after story in the Bible tell us that God is beyond our grasp, so we simply, pointedly reaffirm that principle when we sing Altrogge’s tune. I don’t need to sing lots of different verses to communicate this straightforward, overriding truth to the Creator. I’m not trying to impress God with my words, with my puny understanding of His nature. I just confess that I cannot, and I prostrate myself at his feet. The same God who inspires the sublime when I gasp at the mountains, windstorms, and fearsome creatures is the same One who gave Himself up, for me. That’s the most awesome, baffling, mind-blowing part of Him.

Source for Mark Altrogge’s story is the book “Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003. A shorter version of Altrogge’s song story is in “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006.