Great Are You Lord -- Steve and Vikki Cook

He and his wife were kinda new at the songwriting and publishing adventure to which they decided to devote themselves. But, only good thoughts emerge from what Steve Cook remembers of Great Are You Lord, and how it came to be penned by him and his wife Vikki. Perhaps that’s because the Lord wants to bless those who are praising Him, and who seek to draw others into that praise too. But, rather than you hearing it secondhand from this blogger, hear about it directly from Steve’s own words about this episode. Here’s what he has to say. 

We wrote Great Are You Lord around 1983 while living in northern California near Redding.  I was working at a Christian radio station and we were a part of a Calvary Chapel church in Redding and serving on the worship team.  The song was inspired by a book by Mel Tari called Like A Mighty Wind which chronicles the revival that took place on the island of Timor in the mid-1960s. (See a picture of that island here, taken from space by NASA.)  The book left me with a deep sense of awe on the greatness of God and most of the song was written in one sitting.  An important contribution to the song came from Tommy Coomes, who at the time, was the #2 man at Maranatha! Music in Costa Mesa, California. Through a contact with our senior pastor at the church we attended we were able to meet with Tommy and sing a few of our songs.  He was very encouraging and shortly thereafter offered to publish the songs, which we were delighted to do.  Maranatha! Music was one of the top two worship music publishers at the time.  Tommy also made a lyric suggestion which made the song stronger, but he asked for no co-writing credit.  He was very generous in that regard.  Once Maranatha! Music signed the song they included it on a number of their recordings over the next 5-10 years.  We were humbled and blessed by it.

The song also played a key role in our focus as songwriters.  Before writing this song Vikki and I primarily wrote Christian artist songs for our band.  The genre would come to be known as Contemporary Christian Music, but there seemed to be a grace on this simple worship song that we wrote that caused us to wonder and finally decide that writing for the local church was how we wanted to invest our songwriting talents, and so we have done that to this day.  To date, we have written something over 100 worship songs, but Great Are You Lord was the first.

Steve’s story should make us aware that God’s still doing amazing things all around the globe, though those things may not headline the news too often. Let them impress you, the way what happened on Timor did for Mel Tari, and then for Steve Cook too. You might end up writing something that is rather special, and help burn into your memory and spirit an historical event via a musical imprint. Steve related this story to me with nothing more to spark his memory than a brief e:mail from me. It happened 36 years ago, and Steve sounds like he remembered it like it happened yesterday. You think God knows something about our insides and how music helps us remember?

The story of the song was provided by one of the authors to this blogger in an e:mail dated 12 October 2019. Many thanks to Steve Cook!

See here for very brief information on author: https://hymnary.org/person/Cook_V

See for the worship ministry of which the authors are a part: https://www.weareworship.com/us/worship-leaders-2/sovereign-grace-music/

A site that tells some of the details of Sovereign Grace Music: https://sovereigngracemusic.org/about/faq/

Here I Am to Worship -- Tim Hughes

Englishman Tim Hughes was in or near the church he called home (in Hertfordshire County, England – see its flag here) just north of London, one day in 1999. He was a college student expecting to graduate soon, and had already captured the attention of a church leader there, so Tim might have had some reason to think of his own future and feel like he was walking in a spotlight. Yet, when he read some of his bible, he reflected instead upon the humility that God on earth had modeled for him, spurring this young worship leader to pen the words of “Here I Am to Worship” soon thereafter. The modesty that Tim grasped in this episode wasn’t just an intellectual idea or empty words; instead, the way the song he wrote evolved showed he had internalized what he’d read, and that he actually needed some prodding by others before taking further steps with what he’d written.

Tim Hughes was a 22-year old who showed patience in 1999, allowing his musical creation to mature over several months. And, it seems Tim is not a ‘fast-food’ type of musician, but knew where to go for the right type of nourishment needed for his song-writing meals. That place was his bible, and in the case of ‘Here I Am…’, he went to some verses that an Apostle wrote (Philippians 2: 5-11) to see what he could digest from this ancient piece of wisdom. Could it be that Tim was drawn to this spot because these words have a poetic character of their own, maybe indicative of a 1^st Century hymn? Hughes does not indicate what motivated his reading that day, but says his own poetic response was meant to acknowledge the humility he saw Christ model for him. And yet, though some pretty special words of his own came spontaneously, Tim admits that others he originally penned did not touch his musical ear. And so, he sat on what he’d written for several months, until he could devise a chorus that seemed more apt for the song’s main verses. The church (Soul Survivor) where he ministered played a key role in what would happen next. Though hesitant, Tim was convinced by a pastor to sing his creation – and to keep singing it. Perhaps Tim’s own explanation of his attitude best explains why he was reluctant; he indicates that he wondered if he just didn’t know how to respond correctly at first, when confronted with Jesus’ sacrificial example. Was the connection to this Holy – and yet, sacrificed – Son too much to comprehend? In the end, Tim was the church’s worship leader, albeit at this young age, so perhaps he felt some obligation to guide the worshippers there, despite some self-doubt. You can still sense some of Tim’s feelings of inadequacy in the song’s bridge, where he writes that he’d ‘…never know how much it cost…’. And still, he continued to sing and introduce the song to audiences across the world, perhaps because he eventually realized something key. We’re all inadequate, including in our abilities to express our shortcomings.

‘It’s just part of being human’. One might imagine that Tim’s pastor could have said those words, or ones like them, to this young diffident musician. Tim was brave enough to read his bible, and then respond with many words, probably ones that the Spirit had given him, right? Because I’m human, and He’s spirit, there are many times – even most times? – that I’m not quite certain if I’ve produced something that meets His expectations. Frankly, it’s even more of a problem how I think my fellow earth-dwellers will react, though. Tim Hughes must have felt this way, at least a few times, especially given the vocation he has chosen. Not all one’s songs are Dove Award-winners – maybe just a bare few. That is just a reality of this side of life. Just wait until we get to the place where more doves abound!    

Source for the song story is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_I_Am_to_Worship_(song)

See also here: https://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-here-i-am-to-worship-1227531.html

Biography of the author/composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hughes

O Holy Night – Placide Cappeau and John S. Dwight

A 35-year old French poet was asked to celebrate Christmas in his hometown. That must have been an easy request for this fellow, who loved to write poetry. The town was Roquemaure (see its coat of arms here) in southern France, where Placide Cappeau was the mayor and wine merchant, and the poet to whom the church’s priest looked for some words to rejoice on the occasion of Christmas and the use of the church’s refurbished organ in 1843. It must have been a hit, for it made its way across the ocean not long afterwards to another poet in America, 42-year old John Sullivan Dwight, who translated the song-poem into English in 1855. What was it Placide and John wanted to say about the holy night? For Placide, did the renovation of the church’s organ remind him at all of the celebration of humankind’s renewed condition because of Him?        

Jesus was the central message of the poem that Placide wrote and that John recast into English – not really a surprise for a Christmas message. The Divine babe is the focus, with the scriptural imagery of rejoicing angels and worshipping wise men from the East inhabiting the words of the first two verses translated into the English language version. Man’s troubled condition lay in juxtaposition to the holy child, as the author reminds us that He’s here to address…’the world in sin and error…’ (v.1) and in ‘…our trials’ and ‘…our weakness’ (v.2). It’s evident that the Frenchman Cappeau and his American counterpart Dwight were of the same mind – we earthlings need help from above, and that His arrival should indeed spawn elation among us who acknowledge our mortal condition. The message of love, brotherhood, and redemption that the Christ conveyed once He came out of the crib walking and talking and relating to people (v.3) concludes ‘O Holy Night’. This was a new concept that was difficult for the first century’s humans, even if they accepted their prophets’ and scribes’ teachings, to grasp. Just look at Jesus’ contemporaries’ reactions. What, no earthly kingdom? And, we’re supposed to love our enemies? And, the Christ will die (something that Placide and John do not directly mention, actually) in order to trigger the redemption clause in this God-to-human relationship? Kinda revolutionary, wouldn’t you say? Yet, it is the beginning of His earthly life, and His undisputed power to reclaim my lowly, decaying state, where Cappeau and Dwight center their thoughts.

Let’s rejoice! When Placide’s priest suggested to him that repair of the church’s organ should arouse their spirits, we can imagine that the poet agreed, since he did take up his pen to write. The circumstances of ‘O Holy Night’s’ inception may have been the successful repair of a piece of equipment, but what stuck out to Cappeau –and translated by Dwight – was the same sort of regeneration for the human. Where do you and I go to get the repairs we need? Doctors are really helpful, with diagnoses that usually have me feeling better and at peak (as peak as I can be here in this body!) condition before too long. And yet, I often have a recurrence of the ailment, or I get others I haven’t had before. And, there’s that other type of problem that never seems to heal up – that blemish, like an ugly wart. Placide and John had this affliction too. It’s called SIN. You think that maybe that’s why they cherished the holy night so much?     

See the following site for all three verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/h/o/l/oholynit.htm

See history of the song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night

See the link here for brief biography on the original French author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/a/p/cappeau_p.htm

See the link here for brief biography on the American writer/translator of the English language version of the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/w/i/dwight_js.htm