CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHAT THIS SONG IS ABOUT?
I'M BEING SERIOUS, HERE...WHAT STATEMENT IS THIS SONG MAKING?
Verse 1
A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
Pre Chorus
In my heart in my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out
Chorus 1
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out
Verse 2
Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
Monday, February 19, 2007
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12 comments:
I almost posted about this song! This is how I see it:
It points back to the greatest commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This song is the confession of my sin (trusting in self rather than God), the repentance of that sin, a heart change which follows repentance and finally a new life in Christ. I think it speaks more to sanctification than justification; we must continually confess our sin to God, repent and be transformed by His grace.
V1 – Confession of sin, acknowledgement of God’s grace.
PC – Repentance, turning to God, who has the power to change our hearts.
C1 – Praise results from repentance as we response to the joy and peace we receive.
V2 - As a result of a heart change, our lives from that point forward are forever changed. We have a new purpose, to make less of ourselves and bring praise to God.
PC,C2 – Praise! In light of our new life we cannot help but respond in praise.
We sing this song at church usually in the context of how we try to “do better” as Christians instead of turning to God who gives us freely what we try to earn.
Jeez....Very well put Paul! I couldn't have come close to the wording you put. We just played this song...I think its a great one personally.
That's a lot of themes for one song, Paul. Although I think your dead on with the overall push of the tune.
My problem is that I can't get past two particular sections.
1. "Everlasting..." This is a song about repentance, true God-inspired repentance, not a song about God's forever nature. I find the "your light will always shine" sort of idea a huge distraction in this tune. Now, I'm sure if we sat around, we could most definitely plot some thin line of connection between the "everlasting" and "repentance," but for what it's worth, it's a flimsy line at best. Then we're talking about God's glory going beyond fame? Does it rhyme? Sure. Does it support the overarching theme of forgiveness? Not al all.
2. "Let justice and praise become my embrace." This is just a throw away line. While I like the idea of "embracing" praise, the justice concept just feels weird. Yes, it could be said that this is a song about justification, but it seems that singing about embracing justice would be better placed in a song built on the theme of putting feet to our faith, so to speak.
I don't think a worship song can survive on an "if A, then B" principle (like you mention with Verse 2)
I'm just one guy, but these two sections knock this tune out of the running when I'm looking for songs to do with my people.
That's right. You're just one guy who hates Hillsong United, amongst 36,493,989 people who love them.
Who's right here Todd? You? Or 36,493,989 guppie christians? You do the math...
Why can't somebody go out and write some rockin' worship music like that, but with simple, straight-forward, understandable lyrics? Honestly, a worship song shouldn't have to be disected to understand what it's really about. You should just be able to sing along and know what the heck you're talking about. Leave the songs that have depth and abstract meaning to the regular music, but not in a worship setting.
Don't get me wrong though. I love their sound a ton. I love the British sounding stuff. I think I'm drawn to that sorta British rock vibe more than a lot of other sounds. But in all seriousness, their songs will not work in the majority of worship settings. Especially in our lovely East Texas.
Am I done yet?
I don't really see it as different themes, just all parts to one big theme. I don't know anything about song writing or flow etc, but this is what my heart sings when I sing this song. Honestly before a few weeks ago I didn't know what it really meant for my heart to sing.
God has written some things on my heart and when I see these words and sing this song this is the response - I see my life refected in the pattern of the lyrics.
Worship leaders have a huge responsibility to prayerfully consider what they put before the people, and I respect that. I trust Bleecker in his decisions for worship because of the trust our elders and pastors have in him, because of his prayer and study offstage and his servant heart that seeks only to serve the Lord.
You know your people better than the guys at Hillsong and you are responsible for leading your people into worship. I hope they understand what you go through when creating orders of worship, choosing and writing songs.
Peace!
Check it though...
Why does a worship song have to be single themed anyways? Just so it will fit in a themed service? If you consider just normal, every day songs you listen to on the radio or whatever...do they have to be about only one thing in particular? For example, a simple love song...from a guy to a girl...does it have to be about just one thing that the guy likes/loves about the girl? Or can he go through all the things that are great about her? Isn't that basically what this is? Singing a song that goes through all the wonderful things about God...He's forgiving, everlasting, merciful, just, and worthy of praise.
Just a thought.
I still don't totally dig the "justice and praise" line though.
It's my belief that worship is about focus. For me, personally, I never show up at 10:30 on Sunday morning completely ready to run into the holy of holies.
And I would submit that most folks are like that. My personal philosophy of worship is that it almost acts like a radio dial. As I lead worship, my heart is that as we progress through the set, the "static" of everyday life would grow less and less and the clarion call of God's greatness would become more and more clear.
If we believe that God always has a word for His people, and I believe that He does, then we have to take seriously how vast He is. The point, for me, is that God is so big that I COULD spend an hour-and-a-half thinking, singing, reading and talking about God as a Righteous Judge. Yes, he's many more things than that, but worship songs that are more precise and less random seem to encourage me more personally. (And in all honesty, I think they do that for everbody.)
Sure, there are times, where we sort of just "lift God high" in our worship with more randomized sets...and you guys know how hard it is to find themed material in the contemporary/modern genre of worship.
It just concerns me when we get so dazzled by cool arrangements and riffs or even popularity, which is definitely the case for a lot of folks w/ regard to "From The Inside Out." It's hip, it's fun to sing, it rocks...and sadly, that's enough reason to do it for a lot of worship leaders out there.
Well, if you want the perspective of another worship leader who does this song not because it's hip and fun to sing then I'd recommend e-mailing Bleecker at mbleecker@thevillagechurch.net
Geez, it's just a song Todd.
Todd, I think we should sit down and talk sometime. We need to figure out a way to keep these Australian folks where they belong...down under.
I don't think I've been serious about anything I've typed here so far either. I'm just joining in the discussion...never giving an explanation or meaning for the song...never trying to add anything of value...I feel like starting a fight though.
Look!!! Todd's getting mad at me!!!
The thing I am most concerned about is the churches out there that do this song and the guys that stand on stage and lead it and don't even know what they're leading their people in. It's a very catchy tune, and I am sure fun to play, and for them - that's enough.
I am such a simple-minded person, I would go as far as to say slow...and lyrically, I don't grasp songs very well - particularily ones that jump around. I know that a lot of people are like that and it scares me that songs like these are just words...and nothing more. "
I think the musicians of United are fantastic, but I just don't know how I feel about their music. It would be hard for me as a worship leader to lead folks with songs that are beauitifully written, but have so much going on.
That's a great suggestion, Paul. I might actually email Bleeker to get his take on it.
I'd be the first to admit that I am simple minded. But through hearing the word of God preached and taught to me I'm growing in my understanding of who God really is which is making songs make so much more sense.
Can a church really have great worship if they don't understand who they are worshiping?
Howard Hendricks, a prof at DTS said "the saddest thing in the world is to hear unbelievers laughing; what do they have to laugh about?" The same way, apart from a right understanding of who God is, what do we have to rejoice in? If worship is a response, what are we really responding to?
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