Music
By The Waters of Babylon I: Help Me to Pray
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
Psalm 137:1-6
Nik Ripken, the author of the book The Insanity of God, has a chapter on “Heartsongs.” He became aware of a pattern among people in contexts of intense hostility and persecution – the impulse to sing to the Lord. These were songs flowing up spontaneously from the heart, strengthening their faith and witnessing to the reality of the resurrected Jesus in their lives. These heartsongs helped to sustain and strengthen the faith of men and women in persecution and difficult contexts; the places of exile, the foreign lands the children of God experience as they journey through this present age.
As followers of Jesus, we must learn how to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land because we cannot forget where our true home is. Singing a new song to the Lord is a contemplative act that powerfully cultivates the loves and desires of our heart. Singing our heartsongs to the Lover of our souls helps us to set the New Jerusalem and its King above our highest joy. It sustains our hope, testifies to a far greater reality towards which we journey and fans into a flame the aching joy of our longing for Jesus's return.
By the Waters of Babylon I: Help Me to Pray is the first in a series of three collections of Songs in the House of our Sojourning. They are my heartsongs. They are the fruit of beholding Jesus in the context of ministry in the streets of our exile. They are my songs of love, longing and anticipation; songs creating a liturgy that work to cultivate my affections for the beauty of Jesus little by little.
Lyrics
Lord, Open My Lips
Lord, Open My Lips and Help Me to Pray come from the liturgy of the Divine Hours which are prayed daily. I was praying those phrases daily during a time of extended prayer in an apartment building that had become a new ministry initiative. These prayers eventually became songs. We have used these regularly as part of our team prayer. I added the "create in me..." and "renew..." during recording. Those came from another song I had written, all from Ps. 51.
Lord, Open my lips
And my mouth will proclaim your praise (2x)
Lord, Open my lips
And my mouth will proclaim your praise, your praise
Create in me, Lord, a clean heart
One that is broken and contrite, O Lord, O Lord
And renew a right spirit within me,
And renew a right spirit within me,
And renew a right spirit within me, O Lord, O Lord
Lord, Open my lips
And my mouth will proclaim your praise (2x)
Lord, Open my lips
And my mouth will proclaim your praise, your praise
Currents of our Lives
Currents was originally written in 1996 as an offering to InnerCHANGE as part of our induction, a meditation for me on InnerCHANGE's three currents. Derived from Micah 6:8, these currents (the missionary, contemplative, prophetic) are the ethos in which we have been immersed for last quarter of a century. There has been some refining of the words and style of the song over time.
In quiet contemplation he unveils our face to see The beauty of perfection light of all reality
With the ache of joyful longing that we'll see him as he is
Changed into his likeness, our lives reflecting his
With hearts transfixed on glory while in silence we adore
Lavish gifts of mercy are received before his throne
Oh what life! What light! What grace is ours how can we now ignore
The love of Christ compels us to bring his mercy to the poor
He has made known the currents of our lives
What is good and what is pleasing in his eyes
To live a life of justice, with mercy offer Christ
And in lowly contemplation to walk before the God of life
Like a flame his word burns in us while his love within us grows
By the fast that he has chosen we seek his mercy to be known
By word and deed we'll give our lives the broken to restore
Looking for our King to come with justice for us all
Psalm 100
Psalm 100 was written during the same period as Lord, Open My Lips and Help Me to Pray. It is a Psalm regularly recited at the beginning of morning prayer in the Divine Hours. My heart needs to be continually encouraged in joy and thankfulness to the Lord because "the Lord is good and his steadfast love eternal."
The Lord is good, his steadfast love eternal
The Lord is good, his faithfulness forever
With joy shout to the Lord all the earth
Serve the Lord with gladness
Come before him singing songs of joy
Know that he the Lord alone is God
We are his, he made us
His people, the sheep he calls his own
Within his gates give thanks
In his courts with songs of praise
Give thanks to him and bless his holy name
Help Me to Pray
Oh God my God, come to my assistance
Father of all, come to my aid
Oh Lord, my Lord come quickly to help me
Jesus my savior, help me to pray, help me to pray.
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
This was written as a meditation on John 14-16. The repetition of the first two lines of each verse is to internalize the truth that though we live in a broken troubled world, our peace is derived the one who has overcome the world and will resurrect us one day to be with him forever.
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
Believe in God, believe in me
And I will be with you always
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
Within my Father's house are many rooms
I go prepare for you a place
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
If I go prepare a place for you
I will come back for you one day
Within this world you will have trouble
Sorrow that breaks the strongest heart
To you I've spoken all these promises
That in me you will have peace and will not fall
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
I will not leave you without my care
I'll send the Spirit in my name
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
My peace I give and leave with you
That through my love you may be safe
You have seen me do you believe
I'm in the Father, he is in me
If my words you will keep
The Spirit of all truth you will receive
Within this world you will have trouble
Sorrow that breaks the strongest heart
To you I've spoken all these promises
That in me you will have peace and will not fall (2x)
Let not your heart be troubled
Neither let it be afraid
Believe in God, believe in me
And I will be with you always
Be Strong My Son
Singing the songs of Zion in the house of our sojourning also means singing those songs for our children as intercession, in faith that the Lord will use them to shape their imaginations and point to their true home.
Lift up your eyes
Where is your help?
Trust in the Lord
You will not be moved
As the mountains surround
The city of God
So, the strength of his love
Will forever surround you
Be strong, take heart
Be strong my son
Be strong, take heart
And be of good courage
And be not afraid
For I the Lord am with you
Be not dismayed
Though many voices call out to you
Promising life for your life, do not obey
For I the Lord am with you, your light in the night
For I alone have loved you and laid down my life
Though the forces of death may surround you
And threaten with malice to steal your life away
I the Lord am with you, stronger than they
I the Lord am risen, your life will remain
Let the truth you’ve been taught from your youth
The faith of your father and mother, be now your food
For I the Lord am faithful, steadfast my love
And I the Lord will surround you with plenty and good
Lift up your eyes
Where is your help?
Trust in the Lord
You will not be moved
As the mountains surround
The city of God
So, the strength of his love
Will forever surround you