I Have Been Thinking About My Final Project

For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

Song Link – http://www.essentialscourse.com/will/Projects/IC_A_001.MP3

PDF Link – https://share.acrobat.com/adc/adc.do?app=cpdf (in the window at the bottom of the page, scroll down and click on ‘Renewing.pdf)

One of the main themes that came out of the course for me was the theme of renewal.  Everything we do is set within the larger context of the story that God is telling and each of us has a part to play in that.  What we experience now cannot be understood in its richest terms if we only see them as stand alone incidents. 

When we understand what is to come in the future, the ultimate finale of the story once Christ returns, then we can experience anything in the present time and this doesn’t shake our hope that we have in God.  ‘Hope’ is one of the main components that our lives should be built upon as we get to grips with the fact that God is weaving out a narrative, and we are all a part of that.

We have times when things get dark in our lives.  I have had these moments and am currently living through one of those.  Circumstances can become overwhelming and like the smog that seems to be immoveable over the current Olympic city of Beijing, it can sometimes be difficult to focus our eyes on our own ultimate destination when all we can see around us is an immoveable fog.  Nevertheless, what remains true is eternal.  This is consistent whether we can see that reality clearly or whether things get a little foggy.  It is good to remind ourselves of our eternal hope when things get mirky.

The melody in the first verse indicate a solemnity and a sense of wading through tough times.  The gaps between the lines are deliberately drawn out.  Lyrically, the songs starts with a bang, admitting the pain and sorrow that we experience and acknowledging that the dreams we have and plans we make can sometimes fade to nothing.  So where do we turn?  It’s at this point we need to remember who we lift our eyes to and where our hope comes from.

As the song moves into the chorus, the melody leaves less gaps, a response of more fluidity and confidence.  The melody also peaks twice in each line of the chorus in comparison to once only in each line of the verse. We turn to THE King, not an earthly, less than perfect, unreliable King.  We turn to the King of Kings, who has ultimate authority over everything.  His reign is eternal and just, so we bow and give our adoration to Him.  In light of Dan’s comments that we don’t have enough kingly language in our worship songs, I deliberately wanted to turn to kingly language of alleigance and loyalty, indicating how we will choose to worship and how we will choose to live inspite of circumstances.

When we do this, while our circumstances may not change, our persepctive can.  Our tears will be dried, we have nothing to fear.  We can sing a new song with our mouths and with our lives.  Hope has returned.  Sometimes it takes waiting, giving everything i.e. kneeling and reaching, for the ultimate renewing, hence the tag.  Sometimes we may experience renewing on this side of heaven, maybe it won’t be until we reach the other side or until Christ returns.  Whichever it is, this hope is ours.