devotion

A THOUSAND SHORES – Citizens

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

“A Thousand Shores” (not Hallelujahs, Names, Tongues or Reasons. For real, I’m starting to get all of these “thousand” songs mixed up. 😂) is written by Leeland Mooring, Leslie Jordan, and Zachary Bolen. It ‘s part of Citizens’ 2023 album I Can’t Find the Edges of You, the home of certified banger “Good Ground,” which I love and have reviewed already.

While “Good Ground” and “Everything and More” were my initial favorites from this release, “A Thousand Shores” grew on me every time I heard it, and some of my fellow worship leaders agreed, so we introduced it at Christ’s Church a couple weeks ago. The band has really enjoyed it, and the congregation has grabbed ahold of it as well, but is “A Thousand Shores” biblical, and will it worship? Let’s figure out what we’ve been singing!

Focus

This song expresses the wonder and joy of being known by Jesus and filled with his life-sustaining love. The most repeated line and heartbeat of the song is “Jesus, You are my everything,” an expression of devotion to Jesus and a statement of his all-sufficiency.

This song is about the closeness of Jesus to the believer, so there’s lots of “my” in the song, and also lots of “You” referring to Jesus. Jesus is the only member of the Trinity mentioned specifically.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES 1 & 2
These verses express wonder at how deeply Jesus knows us and at the sovereign way he works in our lives. The author says God can read our hearts like a book, a sentiment the Eleven Disciples share in Acts 1:24, and that he knows what is in our minds before we ask it, an important principle Jesus teaches along with the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:8).

When this song says, “You write my story and call it good,” I think it’s paraphrasing Romans 8:28, which says “for those who love God, all things work together for good.” God is the author of our faith journey (Heb 12:2), and we can trust that his plans are good even as we are unable to imagine or comprehend his ways (Job 9:10, Isa 55:8). The phrase “You’re in my future, You’re in my past” reminds me of Psalm 139:13-16, where David praises God for knowing him and every one of his days even before he was formed in the womb.

As a response to this God’s wondrous knowledge of our inmost being and his unsearchable plans, we cry out with Moses, “Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Ex 15:11).

CHORUS
“You give my lungs the air to breathe // You are my everything”

In the chorus, we praise Jesus for things that he gives us. We’re not really talking about material blessings here; we’re more describing the experience of knowing Christ and walking with him. He gives light to our eyes (Pro 29:11), words to our lips (Matt 10:19), and breath to our lungs (Gen 2:7) as well putting a song in our soul (Zeph 3:17) and giving us every beat of our hearts. Jesus doesn’t just give us life when we’re born or when we become Christians, he sustains us by his power every moment, and the whole universe only holds together because of his active involvement (Col 1:17). “In him, we live and move and have our being.” (Ac 17:28) This is what we mean when we say, “You are my everything.”

I think it’s important to note that calling Jesus our everything does not dishonor the other Persons of the Trinity, devalue the community of the church, or denigrate our bodily and emotional needs. Regarding the Trinity, all of God fully receives all worship offered to Jesus. He is creator, sustainer, the head of the church, the beginning and the end, given preeminence in all things. The fullness of God is pleased to dwell in him (Col 1:15-20). The Father and Spirit are never threatened by honor given to Jesus but are fully included in it. The church is the very body of Christ, the fulness of his presence, the earthly epicenter of his all-in-all-ness (Eph 1:22-23). So participating in Christian community is part of what it means to have Jesus as our everything. Regarding physical needs, Christ promises that his Father provides for them when we seek after him (Matt 6:32-33). Trusting in Jesus as our everything means subordinating all those needs because we know that we need him more.

VERSE 3
This short verse is about the immensity and infinity of Jesus’ love. Much like the uncountable grains of sand on a thousand shores, the love of Christ can never run out. It is eternal, abounding, steadfast, forgiving, and perfect (1 Jn 4:18, John 3:16, Ps 136:26). I can’t imagine a greater truth than that either!

BRIDGE
The phrase “too wonderful” appears in the Bible when the speaker acknowledges that he can’t comprehend God’s power and wisdom and love. Job says this of God’s tremendous power in creating and sustaining the world, and of the way God has been active even through Job’s suffering (Job 42:3). David says it when praising God for how deeply and perfectly God knows each one of us (Ps 139:6). It conveys an inability to understand, but also a deep awe, reverence, and amazement.

If you are in Christ, you never have to worry about what life or eternity would be like without Jesus, because nothing can ever separate you from his love or rip you out of his hand (John 17:11-12, Rom 8:39). I’m not going to get into the once-saved-always-saved debate here; suffice it to say that the Bible warns us against falling away from Christ, but it also reassures us that nothing short of a full rejection of the Son of God can ever sever our relationship with him (Heb 6:4-6, 2 Tim 2:12-13).

Accessibility

While God’s ways and his love are incomprehensible, “A Thousand Shores” is not. It uses easy-to-understand language to describe and celebrate beautiful, biblical truths about God and his relationship to us. You don’t need a theology degree or a lifetime of accumulated Sunday school lessons to understand this one. 👍👍

I don’t see any danger of serious misunderstandings in this song. Some church people might think the song excludes the Father and Holy Spirit, or that it takes a particular stance on eternal security, but that’s just not the case, as I discussed above.

This song is highly congregational, as long as your congregation isn’t scared of a little syncopation! The melodies are highly repetitive, making them easy to learn, and the range is only a sixth! That’s super rare in contemporary worship songs and it means that just about anyone can find a comfortable place to sing this song whatever key you put it in.

Music

Simple, repetitive chord changes. Repetitive melody. Nothing insane going on rhythmically. The basic drum pattern of kick and snare is easy to grab onto. There’s lots of synth in this one, so I like to use a track for those arpeggiators and atmospheric effects. The only real challenge for the band is going to be the highly syncopated lyrics. It’s a little tricky to stay in time when the melody seems to avoid the beat.

The key to the dynamics of this song is contrast. The dramatic entrances and exits of different instruments, the octave jumps, the nearly yelled vocals on the bridge with almost no instrumentation, all of it makes this song exciting and easy to engage with.

I mentioned earlier that the range of this song is only a sixth. That’s not quite true for the lead vocalist. 😬 There is an octave jump from verse 3 to the chorus, so that makes the range for the lead singer an octave plus a sixth. Yikes! Fortunately, this is easily fixed by just not singing the first part of the song an octave lower, or having a singer of the opposite sex sing that portion. I’ve found that if I include the octave jump, it is helpful to have another man continue singing the melody an octave lower to give the men in the congregation an anchor so they don’t have to jump up high with me.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Totally. “A Thousand Shores” revels in the mysteries of Jesus: his love, his deep knowing, his life-giving presence. It is an exuberant anthem of joy and devotion, and I plan to keep on singing it!

Image by Mitchell Shwartz on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY –  Katherine Kennicott Davis

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Most of us are familiar with Bing Crosby‘s version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” and some of us grew up watching the stop motion television special with the same name. More recently, it’s been covered by the Pentatonix and for KING & COUNTRY. This song originates with the pen of Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941, and it was first recorded ten years later by the Trapp family of Sound of Music fame (thanks, Wikipedia!).

But is “The Little Drummer Boy” biblically accurate, and should you sing it in church? Excellent questions! Many traditional Christmas songs are obviously not worship songs (looking at you, Frosty and Rudolph!) while others are eminently Christ-centered. This one is a little trickier because it seems to sit somewhere in the middle. Let’s imagine ourselves in the scene this song paints and ask, will it worship?

Focus

“The Little Drummer Boy” teaches the importance of bringing God our best, whatever that may be, and it does so through a simple fictional story of a poor boy playing a drum for baby Jesus in the manger.

This song isn’t addressed to God, and God isn’t the main subject. It’s primarily about the drummer boy and his gift. Jesus is portrayed as a poor, newborn king in a stable. Some versions call him Baby Jesus (or Jesu), but others just say “little baby.”

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
The first verse seems to be from the perspective of the wise men. Matthew 2:1-18 gives us their story in Scripture. As the song says, they had come to honor the baby king, and they offered him gold, frankincense, and myrrh, fine gifts indeed. So far, so good!

This verse also perpetuates the misunderstanding that the wise men came to visit baby Jesus at the manger. Matthew indicates that their visit took place at a house, not a stable, and Herod’s murder of all male babies in Bethlehem two years old and younger indicates that Jesus was likely a year or two old at the time. Is this an important error? I don’t know. I don’t see the harm in compressing the nativity story for narrative purposes, and I don’t think this inaccuracy has any practical or theological implications.

VERSE 2
Now we shift to the perspective of the little drummer boy himself. He’s a fictitious character inserted into the nativity story as a stand-in for ourselves. The drummer boy sees that baby Jesus is poor like he is, and he regrets that he has no gift to offer alongside the treasures presented by the wise men. I appreciate that this verse encourages us to identify with the poor, a regular concern of Christ and his disciples in the New Testament (Matt. 19:21, Luke 14:13, Rom. 15:26). In lieu of lavish gifts, the drummer boy can only offer his skill as a musician in worship.

VERSE 3
The author imagines Mary and the animals participating in the music. Again, fictitious, but harmless.

An important principle is presented in the line “I played my best for Him.” In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded that their sacrifices to God should be the best of their produce and livestock (Exo. 34:26, Num. 18:29). The New Testament teaches that in all our work we should strive for excellence, taking the perspective that our work is for the Lord, not merely for human masters (Col. 3:23-24).

Is response to the drummer boy’s gift, the baby Jesus smiles. This is reflective of Jesus’ attitude toward those who give generously out of their poor estate. In the story of the Widow’s Offering, Jesus elevates the humble gift of a poor widow above the large sums offered by the rich (Mark 12:41-43). Similarly, he honors Mary of Bethany for pouring out expensive perfume on him in worship rather than taking financial considerations into account (Mark 14:3-9). It seems clear that Jesus’ concern is the total offering of the heart in worship, not the monetary value of the gift.

Accessibility

This song uses a fictionalized version of a Bible story to make a simple point from the heart. I don’t think anyone who is paying attention will miss that. The message of giving the best that we have to Jesus instead of fretting about what we don’t have is easy for even a seeker or brand new believer to understand.

It is possible that someone could misinterpret this song as saying that God doesn’t want your money, just your worship or your talents or spiritual gifts. This would be an error. God wants your whole heart, and if he has your heart, your time, money, and talents will all become glad sacrifices (Matt. 6:21).

The repetitive melody and pa-rum-pum-pum-pums are easy to learn, and the whole song falls within the range of a minor 7th, so it is very singable.

Music

The song is short and has a simple 3-verse structure. Contemporary arrangements sometimes add instrumentals for added excitement. The tonicization in the middle of each verse adds tonal interest. This song can range from simple to very difficult depending on the arrangement chosen.

Conclusions

I’ve gone back and forth a few times while writing this post! At first, I thought this song would be a no. Then as I meditated on the line “I played my best for him,” and thought of the baby Jesus’ smiling on this offering like the adult Christ smiled on the widow’s offering, I changed my tune. God wants our hearts, and a heart devoted to Jesus will always offer him its best. This is an offering that God delights in. That is a timeless truth that bears repeating. Then I thought about whether this song is really to God or about God, and if I’m honest, it’s neither.

So, in summary, I think I have to give “Little Drummer Boy” a no for Sunday worship. Will it worship? Not really, though it might meditate. In my opinion, a kernel of truth couched in a cute fictional story isn’t the best use of the limited time we have to sing together on Sunday morning. But it is a beautiful kernel! If you’re looking for a Christmas Carol that expresses this idea more fully, I would encourage you to consider “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

In any case, our diminutive percussionist friend is a much better witness to Christ than either a nasally effulgent reindeer or an anthropomorphic snow creature, so let’s call it a soft no. 😉🎄

Image by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

SEND ME – Bethel Music, Jenn Johnson, Chris Quilala

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

Image by Se Nuno from Unsplash

I heard this song for the first time this week, and I’m not sure how I missed it up to this point! “Send Me” is from the 2021 Bethel release Homecoming, and is the product of songwriters Jenn Johnson, Brandon Lake, and Kari Jobe Carnes. The recording features the voices of Jenn Johnson and Chris Quilala, which is fine with me; I could listen to Chris sing all day. At its heart, “Send Me” is a simple song of longing to serve and follow the Lord. Let’s dive in together and see how the song applies Scripture and whether it will serve your congregation well in worship.

Focus

The focus of this song is a commitment to serve God. The singer asks to be sent wherever the Lord wants, no matter the cost. This surrender is fueled by the singer’s love for Lord. This song doesn’t name Jesus or God as such, but the whole song addresses him by the title “Lord” over and over again (one of the New Testament’s favorite ways to refer to Jesus), and the clear biblical references leave no room for misunderstanding who we’re singing to.

Lyric Analysis

The tag we will hear throughout this song is a simple prayer, “here I am Lord, send me” These words find their origin in Isaiah 6, when God calls Isaiah to be a messenger for him. Before the call, God gives Isaiah a vision in which he cleanses him from his sin and guilt. God says he wants to send someone, and Isaiah’s immediate response is “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa. 6:8) The Lord goes on to describe the task he has for Isaiah, and it’s not a pleasant one. The people will refuse to listen, and indeed, Isaiah’s words will harden their hearts further. They will suffer greatly, and in the midst of it, God’s words through Isaiah will provide a glimmer of hope.

VERSE 1
Bandaging the broken is part of the example set for us in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34). It’s also something God expects of those who would shepherd his people (Ezek. 34:4). I think this idea applies not just to physical injuries, but also mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational wounds. When we seek to help heal people, we are serving God and showing his love.

Jesus washes his disciples’ feet in John 13. Washing feet was a necessary task in first century Middle-Eastern culture, and it also symbolized hospitality, service, and humility. The striking image of God washing the feet of mere men, who should have been serving him, and his accompanying words “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet,” have made foot washing an enduring symbol within Christianity of humble, self-sacrificing service.

In John 13:34, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This command surely extends to times when we disagree with one another. That addition feels appropriate and timely, after a particularly fractious couple of years in the U.S. with regard to politics, Covid, and race relations.

VERSE 2
Contented service to God in poverty or in wealth is what Paul is actually talking about in the oft-quoted Philippians 4:13, not winning a sports game. Similarly, mountains often represent the experience of God’s presence (Ex. 15:17) while valleys represent feeling like he’s far away (Ps. 23:4). In either circumstance, we can and should choose to praise and serve him.

CHORUS
“If I’m known by how I love // let my life reflect how much I love You”

We already referenced Jesus’ command to love one another in John 13:34, and now we sing about the natural result of that love. Jesus says in verse 35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” At first glance, it seems like the chorus of “Send Me” is misapplying this Scripture. It’s how we love one another that shows that we are his disciples, not how much we love God, right? In my opinion, part of the brilliance of this song is in how it blurs the distinction between the two, much like Jesus does. Look at how he gives the same command in a different way in Matthew 22:27-40:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

So loving our neighbor is like loving God. He goes even further in describing the final judgment and the separation of sheep and goats, where he says “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” So loving one another isn’t just like loving God; it’s a big piece of how we love God (Matthew 25:40).

How else does Jesus say we can express love for him? “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15) That’s why I love the second half of the chorus. We’re expressing a willingness to say yes to Jesus’ instructions, even before we know what they are, just like Isaiah did when he experienced his call. He said “Here I am! Send me,” and then God told him what he wanted him to do. When I sing these words, I’m praying that god will give me that same level of trust and obedience to him.

VERSE 3
“If the truth cuts like an arrow // I will say it anyway”

Now we come to the only line in this song that gives me cause for concern. There’s nothing wrong in it; it just seems like it could be easily misapplied. The Bible says that God’s word does indeed cut like a sword (Heb. 4:12), and I’m not at all concerned with the poetic license of changing a sword to an arrow. And if we read the book of Isaiah, we see that this was a theme of his ministry. God gave him a hard message of judgment to deliver to a stubborn people who ignored and persecuted him. Sometimes the truth is sharp. But we must be kind in how we present the truth. John 1:14 says that Jesus was full of grace and truth. 1 Peter 3:15 says that when we present the Gospel, we must do it with gentleness and respect. Ephesians 4:29 says that our words should be helpful for building others up according to their needs. So yes, sometimes we must speak truth that cuts deep, but we shouldn’t swing that sword around willy-nilly, careless of who we hurt with it. There are helpful and harmful ways to present truth.

Jesus says that when we carry his name, we will face rejection (Luke 6:22). It’s also what Isaiah and many of the prophets faced, as well as the persecuted New Testament Church. For someone who stood firm and declared God’s truth despite the danger to his life, see the story of Stephen in Acts 6-7.

VERSE 4
Those who use the gifts and resources God has given them to serve him will one day hear him say the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:14-30) In the same chapter, Jesus makes it clear that the visible difference between those who will inherit the Kingdom with him and those who are banished from his presence forever is whether or not they chose to serve him by caring for people in need (Matt. 25:31-46).

Accessibility

This song has a lot to say, and many of the lines have at least a couple layers of meaning. I think the top layer is very accessible, even to people who aren’t churched or trained in Scripture. For more seasoned saints, I think the scriptural context of some of these words will be apparent, giving deeper meaning.

Like I said earlier, there’s not really any room for confusion about who we’re singing to. This song somehow manages to say “oh I love you” several times while staying firmly out of “Jesus-is-my-boyfriend” territory. That’s hard to do!

Music

“Send Me” is a simple song designed for congregational singing. Some minimalist finger picking on an electric guitar is the main accompaniment to the first half of the song, which completely lacks drums. Instead, we let the prayerful lyrics and the singing of the people carry the song forward. Synths and bass layer in gradually, and in the second chorus we get some cymbal swells. We drop back down for a reverent, longing fourth verse that builds through the tag, “here I am Lord, send me!” This leads into the final two choruses, where we finally get some toms to undergird the declarative lyrics. The recording continues for another 1:45 of ad libs and repeating the tag, but I typically stop it at about 4:45.

The chord rhythm of this song is a little trickier than most praise and worship songs, so be very sure that you have the chord sheet exactly how you want it before handing it out to your players. Watch out for the atypical length of the instrumental between verses one and two. The Ab/C pickup chords at the beginning of each line of the chorus are easy to miss. But with a little practice, the chords are still fairly intuitive and it’s not a difficult song to play. The electric guitar picking that plays under nearly the whole thing also sounds like it wouldn’t be too difficult to pick up. I think the hardest part of this song is going to be restraint. Building volume or adding instruments too early is going to kill the dynamic arc of the song and suck the life out of the final choruses.

One of the real strengths of this song is its singability. The tag line is easy to learn and repeated frequently. The chorus rhythm is straightforward and the melody is mostly stepwise and easy to sing along with, even on a first or second hearing. The song is even pitched for maximum congregational involvement, a relative rarity in worship recordings. its medium-low range should be comfortably within the tessitura of nearly everyone in your church.

Conclusions

Will it worship? 100%

This is a very direct “sending” song designed to prayerfully mobilize congregations for a life of service to Jesus and the Gospel. The lyrics are grounded in Scripture, especially Isaiah’s call to ministry and Jesus’ commands to love God by loving one another. I’m introducing it to my congregation this week, so I’ll have to let you know how it goes!

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.