evangelism

WHOSOEVER – Rend Collective

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Image by Helena Lopes from Unsplash

I’ve loved Rend Collective since they were still an Experiment, and I still have their signed poster in my office from a concert my wife and I attended when we were in college. They have so much fun while genuinely worshiping God, and their joy is infectious. I’ve found that congregations respond really well to songs like “Build Your Kingdom Here” and “My Lighthouse.” “Whosoever” is the title track from their 2022 album, and it’s written by Chris Llewellyn, Gareth Gilkeson, and Matt Maher. Chris and Gareth are both Rend Collective members, and Matt Maher is a solo artist and legendary worship songwriter. This song is a bit of a departure from the type of lyric content I usually include in worship services, so let’s see if the lyrics of “Whosoever” are biblical and if they will worship!

Focus

The main theme of “Whosoever” is God’s love and its expression in his Church. The whole song is an invitation to join the loving community of God’s people. Usually when we say “you” in worship songs, we’re talking to God. But in this one, we are singing to the outsider who needs to be invited into the circle of love and safety described in the lyrics.

God is discussed in the third person, and he is identified as God, a savior, a man on a cross, and a Father. We don’t really distinguish between the Father and the Son in this song, but that’s because we’re focusing on God’s love, not the minutiae of the Trinity.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
“There’s no audition for true love // No matter what, you don’t have to earn it”

The first two lines of “Whosoever” establish that God loves us first. We don’t and can’t do anything to earn his love; it was the disposition of his heart toward us even before he made us, even before he made anything! In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul explains that before the foundation of the world, God set us apart for adoption as his children through Jesus. Why? Because of his love.

The next two lines offer good news to anyone who has ever felt excluded. What is that good news? Let’s ask the pre-chorus.

PRE-CHORUS
Here’s the good news: “God so loved the world, he never left you out of it.”

This is an odd turn of phrase. At first blush, it seems to say “God loves the world (including me) so much that he’ll never exclude me.” The song moves so quickly that I think people will take roughly this meaning from these words and move on.

John 3:16 is a probably the most well-known verse in the Bible, so many people will likely catch the allusion here and finish the line in their heads: “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” So I think the bridge is using the first few words of John 3:16 as a shorthand for the whole verse. I also think death, in the ultimate sense, is permanent exclusion from God’s presence, and eternal life is being forever included in his family, so “he never left you out” isn’t a bad summary of the second half of this Scripture.

CHORUS
“Every outsider // you are safe here // Whosoever”

While modern translations of John 3:16 say “whoever believes,” many of us memorized it in the KJV and still remember “whosoever believeth.” That’s where the song title comes from, and the chorus is an invitation addressed directly to “whosoever.” We further identify “whosoever” as outsiders and people who are wandering. Zacchaeus is an excellent example of this kind of person in Scripture (Lk. 19:1-10). He was likely hated and excluded by the Jewish community because he was a dishonest tax collector for Rome, and Jesus describes him as lost. Jesus doesn’t push this thief away, but invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ home. Zacchaeus responds in faith and repentance and finds his salvation.

The chorus paints Jesus as a savior and a shelter, and that’s exactly what outsiders and lost people are looking for. But the shelter isn’t just Jesus. It’s also his church. We can learn what kind of shelter God’s people are supposed to be from God’s stern rebuke to Israel’s leaders in Ezekiel 34:4. We’re supposed to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strayed, seek the lost, and lead with gentleness. In Acts 2:44-47, we see how deeply and sacrificially the early church cared for one another. This is the kind of people we are called to be.

So the chorus is an invitation to outsiders, but it’s also a call to the Church to become the kind of place that shelters people, makes them feel safe, and brings them near to Jesus the Savior.

VERSE 2
Being put on the sidelines is another way of being left out. God doesn’t want to bench you; you’re a work of art made by his hand, and he has good works prepared for you to do! (Eph. 2:10)

The rest of this verse is about welcoming people into community. Open doors, joining in song, and raising glasses evoke a party atmosphere, maybe in someone’s home or even a pub, but it’s also a cheerful and poetic description of what we do in church. We welcome people in, we sing together, and we partake of the cup that Jesus gave us at Communion, our deepest and most meaningful symbol of our unity in Christ.

BRIDGE
Here we give two scriptural examples of God’s love. First, the father of the prodigal son. When the son who has dishonored and abandoned him comes back home, the father can’t wait for him to reach the door. He is so overcome with love for his son that he runs out to meet him on the road and captures him in a big hug (Lk. 15:11-22).

The second image is a man (Jesus) on a cross. The songwriters see Jesus’ outstretched arms on the cross as the same welcoming arms of the Father. He sacrifices himself in order to embrace and welcome us into his family.

Accessibility

I don’t see any potential for misleading or unsound teaching in this song. I think the overall message of invitation into a loving community is abundantly clear.

“God so loved the world he never left you out of it,” is a little confusing grammatically, but the sense of what’s being said is apparent. People unfamiliar with Scripture may not understand the lyrics of the song as references to John 3:16, but the song’s imagery communicate its message clearly. People who have qualms about alcohol may be bothered by the line about raising glasses in verse 2, but I would just remind them that we often raise non-alcoholic beverages in toast at weddings, and that we metaphorically raise the cup of Christ’s blood together every time we celebrate Communion.

The melody of this song is really high, but I was surprised to discover that this song actually only has a vocal range of an octave +1 (as long as you exclude the optional high note in the 2nd to last chorus). Most songs I review end up being more like an octave +4 or 5, so this one should be even more singable than average. Just transpose it lower if it doesn’t suit your voice or your congregation. We sing it in A, but G would be even easier to play and sing. If you go all the way down to F, it even fits the oft-repeated “C to shining C” rule.

Music

I sure hope your acoustic guitar player doesn’t mind his or her strumming hand falling off by the end of this song! A good portion of this song’s high-energy, Rend Collective, Irish folk-rock vibe comes from the constant 16th note strum pattern. It’s also a great song to utilize a mandolin and/or banjo player.

This upbeat song’s dynamics jump back and forth between medium-loud, loud, and louder. The key to nailing the dynamic arc is getting all your dropouts synced up, especially on the pre-choruses and the bridge. Speaking of the bridge, I love how this song deviates a little from the typical worship song format here. Instead of a decrescendo into a quiet bridge, we have a total dropout for the first half of each line and then three smash hits on the last word of each. It’s punchy, exciting, and breaks up the song so that we don’t ever get bored for lack of dynamic interest.

Conclusions

I mentioned already that “Whosoever” is different from most of the songs I choose for worship services. Usually I limit myself to songs that are to God or about God. This one is about God in a sense, but it’s more about his Church. I also tend to avoid songs that have such a strong element of invitation because they can often feel heavy-handed. But “Whosoever” is more than an invitation; it’s a description of what Jesus’ Church should look like. When we sing these words, we have the opportunity to make them a prayer that our church would be like this, a place where outcasts can find a home and feel loved and safe.

So, will it worship? Yes. I think this song will be a powerful tool for transformation and I look forward to seeing our congregation grow in love for the outcast, one another, and Christ as we sing it!

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.

MY JESUS – Anne Wilson

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Image by Priscilla Du Preez from Unsplash

I’m not a country music guy. This is a country worship song. But I dig it.

Anne Wilson, Jeff Pardo, and Matthew West have crafted a personal, engaging anthem of the power of Jesus in the life of the believer. At a first listen, all my questions are grammatical, not theological, so if you can’t handle singing “ain’t” in church, go ahead and stop reading now! If you’re still with me, let’s see what “My Jesus” is all about.

Focus

No question here. This song is very clearly about Jesus, what he’s done in my life, and what he can do to change yours.

Lyric Analysis

Before we get into specific lyrics, I want to address who this is song addressed to. It’s not being sung to Jesus, but about him, to an unspecified person. A congregant might hear the words as though they are addressed to them, or sing them with a particular friend in mind. Shouldn’t we be singing to God in church, not to other people? That’s not what Paul says.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 5:19, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” Do we sing to God when we come together? Absolutely. But we also have a duty to sing to one another. Part of the purpose of our songs is to build one another up as believers. Additionally, the Psalms are full of words addressed to God (Ps. 4:10), words addressed to people (Ps. 148:11-12), and even words addressed to angelic beings and inanimate natural objects (Ps. 148:2-3). So singing to someone else about Jesus is an appropriate liturgical activity.

I could also see where some people might not like the title, which is repeated twelve times through the song. Putting the word “my” in front of something could be interpreted as exercising ownership or control over it. I want to worship the real Jesus, not just my version of him that suits all my own preferences. But this song isn’t about controlling Jesus; it’s about living in a covenantal, marriage-like relationship with him that leads us to say “My Lord and my God,” with Thomas in John 28:20 and even “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” with the woman in Song of Solomon 6:3.

VERSE 1
“Is it all too much to carry? // Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus”

Both verses follow a pattern of questions addressed to a struggling friend followed by the refrain “let me tell you ’bout my Jesus.” In verse 1, the implication is that if your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then you need to hear about Jesus.

Is Jesus the answer to a weary soul carrying burdens that are too heavy? Yes, he offers rest and a lighter burden (Matt. 11:29-30). If you’re feeling empty, God is the one who can satisfy you (Isa. 55:1-2). Jesus saves us from shame (Rom. 10:11) and offers healin’ (Matt. 8:16-17). Just remember that we’re not promised healing from every mental or physical ailment until our resurrection (2 Cor. 12:7, Rev. 21:4).

CHORUS
“He can do for you what He’s done for me // Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus”

We get to talk about verb tenses! Yay!

The chorus is all written in present tense, so the first couple lines feel a little odd. Jesus already made a way and already rose, didn’t he? But the writing here isn’t verb tense confusion, it’s using the historical present tense, describing past events in present language to give them more immediacy. There’s an interesting (to me, anyway…) article on it here.

God makes a way where there ain’t no way all throughout Scripture (Isa. 43:19). The parting of the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Ezra and Nehemiah’s reconstruction efforts, all of it ultimately points to Jesus making a way for us to be united to God when we were totally alienated from him (Eph. 2:4-6).

He rises from an empty grave in Matthew 28:6. He saves even the worst of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15. Jesus’ love is so strong, it’s unstoppable (Rom. 8:39), and he saves us by the free gift of his grace (Eph. 1:6).

The line “He can do for you what he’s done for me” shouldn’t be applied to specific, physical blessings, since God provides for each of us differently (my new car isn’t proof that you’re going to get a new car). Applied more generally, it is saying that he saved me and changed my life, and he absolutely can and will do the same for you. If being made a new creation isn’t life change, I don’t know what is (2 Cor. 5:17).

TAG

“Hallel” is a Hebrew word meaning to praise joyfully with song, and “Jah” is a shortened form of the name of Israel’s God. So “Hallelujah” is a command to sing praise to Yahweh. We commonly use it today as an expression of praise in and of itself.

“Amen” is a word used throughout the Old and New Testaments, often at the end of a prayer, that emphasizes and affirms that what has just been said is true. In this particular song, make sure you say “ay-men” instead of “ah-men,” or you’ll sound silly.

VERSE 2
“Who can wipe away the tears // From broken dreams and wasted years?”

The next two verses ask “who” questions, and the answer is always Jesus. Wiping away tears is a form of comfort, and Jesus comforts us in affliction (2 Cor 1:3-4). Telling the past to disappear seems like a poetic shorthand for removing our past transgressions, which God does (Ps. 103:12), and also alludes again to the idea that we are new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The next lines say that Jesus can take even our past regrets and mistakes and work them together to our good. In Romans 8:28, Paul says that God does just that, working all things together for our good if we love him and are called according to his purpose. So in singing this song to somebody who needs to know Jesus, we’re saying that that’s what’s going to happen once they meet him.

VERSE 3
“Who would take my cross to Calvary? // Pay the price for all my guilty?”

Calling the cross of Christ my cross is a way of taking ownership of the sins for which Jesus died. Paying the price for “all my guilty” is an awkward phrase, but I think the authors are using the word “guilty” as a collective noun to describe everything I’ve done wrong, all the things over which a judge might declare, “guilty.” Jesus paid the price for that. One of the clearest Biblical descriptions of this idea, called the substitutionary atonement, is in Isaiah 53:4-6.

“Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.”

Notice how many times Isaiah says “our.” Jesus must care very deeply about us to be willing to take on so much suffering and punishment that rightfully belonged to us.

Accessibility

This song is clear, uplifting, and easy to grab hold of. It sings the name of Jesus twelve times, so there’s no mistaking who it’s about. It offers plenty of concrete truths about God and what he does in the life of the believer, and provides two overt calls to action. I don’t see much opportunity for anyone to get the wrong message from this song.

Music

The instrumentation and vocal style of Anne Wilson’s recording are very country, and the chord structure and dynamic arc are very “worship music.” The melody is simple and repetitive and should be easy for a congregation to learn. The repeated line “let me tell you ’bout my Jesus,” is a good entry point for someone hearing it for the first time. I don’t hear anything especially challenging in the instrumental parts either. I do really enjoy the uplifting tone of the whole song and how it draws the listener in. I’ve also found that it gets stuck in my head easily.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yes.

This song is like a life saver at the end of a rope, tossed out for a lost, hopeless soul to cling onto. The twin invitations, “Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus,” and, “Let my Jesus change your life,” are clear, evangelistic offers of relationship, both with Jesus and the person singing the song. I think it would work well at the beginning of a service, as a celebration of God’s life-changing power in our lives, or at the end of a service as a reminder to share the life-saving good news of Jesus with our friends and neighbors who desperately need him.

Two thumbs up.

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.