Rebranded

1. Take a Bible verse. Cut it out of the bible.
2. Start up the Cliché Generator machine. Feed the bible verse through it. The machine will add plenty of additional verbal garbage.
3. You will be left with a bit of soggy, undesirable pap.
4. Put the pap into the Beat Box. Lower the handle to squeeze the pap into shape. The Beat Box will give it a totally predictable four-square shape, but at least it looks better now.
5. Put the cube you took out of the Beat Box into the Melody Maker. The Melody Maker garnishes the pap cube with a sugary coating. You can now swallow the sugar-coated-pap-cube you have created. It will give you a brief feelgood rush, and a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Good worship songs or hymns are not easy things to write. I know. I try. The very best have good theology which is given a fresh perspective by thoughtful lyrics, a tune which lifts up the soul and a deep emotional resonance. The vast majority don't come close to this.

Another problem is that worship songs are really vehicles, not songs. They are designed to get us to a place where we can communicate with God. If it's a congregational worship song, that means that you have to design a coach, not a Ferrari. So the music will never be thrilling, as it has to be sung by people who aren't musicians; the words will rarely be poetic, as they have to appeal to the sentiments of the majority, not the individual.

And I haven't even got to the theology yet. This is particularly problematic for me, as I have a relatively liberal theology, yet go to a conservative evangelical church. So when I write songs for the church to sing, they've got to have a theological content which expresses something I'm excited about (because what's the point in writing the song otherwise?), and can inspire – not irritate – everyone else.

Tempting as it may be to get my own back for when we've been made to sing bloody Hillsongs.

So, it's not very often that I manage to write one which actually overcomes the above problems, and when I do, I feel good about it. I’ve even got a fairly interesting tune for it, though whether it’s singable may be another matter. Here are the words anyway.

The Crucified God

I gaze up at the cross, and what do I see?
I see the Lord of all the earth looking back at me
His body broken, bleeding bruised and torn.
And for this king a crown of thorns as the crowd cries scorn

What do I see…

The powerless God
The naked God
The helpless God
The outcast God
The suffering God
The dying God
The crucified God
The crucified God

I gaze up at the cross, and what do I see?
I see the Lord of all the earth's great humility
He gave up riches, glory, love and praise
To reconcile the hateful hearts of the ones he made

What do I see…

The powerless God
The naked God
The helpless God
The outcast God
The suffering God
The dying God
The crucified God
The crucified God

(Middle eight)

What does it mean for me?
What does it mean for me,
That God should love me so?

What does it mean for me?
How do I live my life,
To worship the crucified God?
The crucified God?
The crucified God?

(Chorus, repeat middle

(Coda)
To find my life I must lose it
To worship the crucified God

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.