Friday, May 11, 2007

New Song

So we're in the middle of this worship series right now and the challenge has gone out for new songs to be contributed by the congregation. So I pulled a few strings (I'm sleeping with last Sunday's worship leader) and contributed this to the worship.

2 questions you might be interested in trying to answer:

1. I'm in desperate need of the right chord name for the second chord in the intro - I'm playing the following notes on keyboard E (bass) then C E F# A - any one actually know music out there?

2. I confess I slightly plagiarised the chords on the chorus from a secular song I like (you can't guess this if I told you). Of course verses, melody and lyrics are completely original - as original as they get I suppose - but chords are a bit harder to be truly original with - there are a limited number of combinations (as Chris Tomlin will tell you...) Any guesses?

Immerse Me

Intro E D2 7/E (repeat)

Verse 1

E D2 7/E E D2 7/E
I stand before You, Wounded and weary
E D2 7/E E D2 7/E
My heart laid bare before You Naked completely
C#m7 A2 C#m7 A2
In need of Your mercy Searching for Your face
C#m7 A2 D A2 E
Hungry, tired and thirsty Immerse me in Your grace

Chorus
B C#m7
Shape me and mould me Comfort and enfold me
A2 E
Temper and refine me Sculpt me and define me
B/D# C#m7
Direct me and lead me Nurture, grow and feed me
A2 E
Correct me and conform me Recreate, transform me
D A/C# B/D#
Make me in your image I pray
E
Immerse me in your grace

Verse 2

E D2 7/E E D2 7/E
I kneel before You, Dejected and defeated
E D2 7/E E D2 7/E
My life laid bare before You Fear I failed completely
C#m7 A2 C#m7 A2
In need of Your mercy Searching for Your face
C#m7 A2 D A2 E
Hungry, tired and thirsty Immerse me in Your grace

6 comments:

Jimmy Bizbang said...

I like any song with the word 'naked.'

Anonymous said...

I like it... one thing I've been thinking about though is what impact such songs would have if the lingo was made more corporate... 'me' becomes 'us', 'I' becomes 'we' etc.... enforcing community and the corporate act of worship?

What do you think?

BJ said...

I think that's a very valid thought process for a song writer to engage. Much modern music is singularly "I" focussed. In this case the verses are essentially confessional in nature concerning brokenness (verse 1) and bad choices (verse 2) - so I felt that it needed to have an individual point of reference/ownership - of course some confessions can definitely be corporate eg around injustice. Its a fair point to raise though and I think there's more room for corporate expression in songs that have a praise or direct worship point of view. But there's another option as well - and thats to remove the pronouns all together and simply direct praise to God that is disconnected from our intention/motive/request/stance.

Anonymous said...

Great thoughts.... especially that last one.

I like the new look as well... you look good in black.

Sharyn said...

Have you ever tried writing a song that's totaly God focussed and says nothing about yourself?

I have, it's almost impossible. The trouble is, I think, that worship is a RESPONCE, a personal one, so it's impossible to remove yourself from the equation. Removing yourself makes it, well, kind of a nonsense.

BJ said...

Funny you should make that point about worship as response, Sharyn - I made a very similar point over on Paul Windsor's blog (I've put the comment below).

I think its possible to write a song without pronouns identifying the worshipper. But I'd only do it if I was writing a worship song with the intention of offering direct praise of God's attributes. I wouldn't recommend it as a blanket practice cos it doesn't work to remove ourselves from the picture. Just as an option for a songwriter looking for a breadth of focus in lyrics. Psalms 110-114 are an example of a chunk of songs like this.

Comment from Paul Windsor's blog:
http://www.carey.ac.nz/pauls_blog/

"I couldn't agree more with your question on the placement of the preached word within the worship service. As a worship pastor and now a lead pastor I've had the opportunity to influence how its been done in the contexts I've served in - I think where I've come out is the idea of the Word in worship as the hinge on which the whole worship door swings.

In my relatively simple view of the world and scripture I see the dynamic of God's engagement with humanity as one of Revelation and Response - so to have the preached message right at the end with at best one song before you head home is putting considerable faith in our congregations to remain in a place of response.

While I don't like to find myself in a rut with service planning I think a good general principle is to frontload the service with plenty of praise elements - extolling the attributes of God that align with the message, then provide time and space for personal examination/reflection on that part of our humanity that the message addresses - sin, injustice, brokeness, whatever - sometimes this is confessional. But it can also be multimedia, provocative or even just plain fun as long as it opens the worshipper to a dialogue with God. The message then stands as the hinge between who God is and who we are and provokes us to reponse in a significant time of reflection/action/prayer/singing - again whatever serves the revelation that a leadership team has discerned in their planning processes.

But there's plenty of ways to go I guess."