“Your Word” – Storytellers

We are making finishing touches on “The Word” songs for our big event in April.  These are a special collection of songs as we walk through the grand narrative of the Bible.

Please keep the prayers coming!

Yesterday, we shared a new song from the upcoming project.  This one is entitled “Your Word.”

It was somewhat simple to begin songwriting on Creation, Exodus, Pentecost, etc.  Big events to tackle but they were at least manageable to get our heads around them regarding a starting point.

But what do we do with these epistles?

These 21 letters compose the majority of our theology and comprise a huge percentage of the New Testament.

As they are written to different churches with different situations, we couldn’t neglect the content but it also seemed impossible to summarize the content.

The Song’s Idea

Weeks ago, I had a wedding in Hartsville and had some time to drive.  During that trip, I prayed and thought through how to pull this song off.  I had this idea about using one thematic verse from each book as a line in the song.  What if we could sing through one of these iconic phrases?  What if we could find one from Romans to Jude and every one in between and sing it out in one song?

It seemed like a satisfactory idea but I wondered if it could be accomplished.

After the wedding rehearsal, I went back to the hotel to get some sleep.  The next morning, I got up, got some breakfast, and then started reading through the epistles.  With my Bible open, Evernote up, guitar strapped on, I tried to work out this idea.

Much of songwriting is laborious, but then there are those times when it comes so quickly.  In this instance, I could barely type the words out quickly enough before I needed to get to the other book.  The crazy thing was how it felt like one linear song as one book’s line would lead in perfectly into the next book.

Eventually, housekeeping was knocking on the door and I had to beg for five more minutes so I could finish and pack my stuff!

The Tweaking

When I got home and was able to share what happened with the band, they were so excited to hear it and loved how God’s Word put the song together.  I then used many of their abilities to really craft the lyrics and melody lines.  While much of it was done in the hotel that day, the rest of it was tweaked and improved by many folks in our band.

This week’s band also did a great job of hearing it for the first time and getting it ready by Sunday.  Everyone had a lot of great ideas about how to make this song really symphonic, melodic, and powerful.

It was so neat to sing it with our church yesterday.  I hoped everyone would like the song, but I had a few people in our church who I knew would get extremely jacked up about the song.

There are those people who love the Word so much that it just kinda comes out of them all the time.

Those folks were coming out of their seats!  Loved watching it connect with them.

As we sang it, the graphic would turn with the names of the books as we went through each book.

I love these words because they remind me of who I am in Christ.

So for those who were there and were asking for the lyrics or for those of you are interested, here are the words and Scriptures that go along with them.  We will sing it again this coming Sunday so get your practice in!

“Your Word” Lyrics

VERSE 1
O, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it’s the power of God to save (Rom. 1:16)
The word of the cross may be rejected but it’s the message I proclaim (1 Co. 1:18)
For I am a new creation, the new has come, the old has passed away (2 Cor. 5:17)
I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live (Gal. 2:20)
I have been saved by grace through faith, not of my works but by his gift (Eph. 2:8)
And whatever was gain for me, I count it loss for the sake of Christ (Phil. 3:7-8)

CHORUS
Your Word alive in me (Heb. 4:12)
Your Word has set me free (John 8:32)
Your Word, the truth that I need (John 17:17; Eph. 1:13; James 1:18)

VERSE 2
I have been raised along with Christ, setting my mind on things above (Col. 3:1-2)
One day he’ll come like a thief in the night, I hope in the coming of our Lord (1 Thess. 4:15; 5:2)
When I am faithless, he is faithful, he will guard me from the evil one (2 Thess. 3:3)
Jesus Christ came to save sinners, there is no sinner worse than me (1 Tim. 1:15)
By all the Scriptures God has breathed out, I am equipped for all good things (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
For the grace of God gives salvation, and turning me from these worldly things (Titus 2:11-12)

BRIDGE
For the sake of Christ in me (Phile. 1:6)
I’ll lay down the sin which clings (Heb. 12:1)
I will do your word and not hear only (James 1:22)
I will suffer for your name (1 Pet. 3:17)
I will grow within your grace (2 Pet. 3:18)
Greater is the one who lives inside of me (1 John 4:8)
Your truth still abides in me (2 John 1:2)
I will teach it faithfully (3 John 1:4)
To the only God be glory forevermore (Jude 1:25)