“How Great is Our God”, music by Ed Cash, words by Chris Tomlin and Jesse Reeves, is No 70 in As One Voice: the Next Generation. This is designed for stadium worship with acres of swaying arms held aloft. Wouldn’t be sad if no-one would “sing with me”? Nevertheless it would be hard to resist the song in the right setting. The CD has Joshua Blakesley’s version. The video version below has Chris Tomlin overemoting (OK probably fine in context).
VERSE 1
The splendor of a King,
clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
all the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
and darkness tries to hide
it trembles at his voice,
trembles at his voice
CHORUS
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great
How great is our God
VERSE 2
And age to age He stands
and time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
the Lion and the Lamb,
the Lion and the Lamb
CHORUS BRIDGE
Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
how great is our God
Name above all names
you are worthy of all praise
and my heart will sing
how great is our God
Gina Ogilvie and Monica O’Brien’s song, “Hope is Found Again,” is No69 in AOV NG. This is lovely simple song that would be useful as part of a second rite service or a funeral. Gina’s vocal on the CD takes the song well beyond the arrangement but for those not so blessed I’m sure it will work fine as written.
There is a missing tie in the top line on p218.
Your people long to know the wonder of your grace,
To know forgiveness for the times we’ve turned away.
You have called us to yourself, we are longing to be whole,
For you call us back to you and hope is found…again.
No height or ocean deep, no pain or loss through death,
No power within this world can keep us far from you.
You have called us by our name and you claim us as your own,
For you call us back to you and hope is found…again.
No 68 in As One Voice: the Next Generation is “Holy Spirit, Come Now” by Jesse Manibusan. Does that sound like an order? Perhaps spiritandsong have the third person of the Trinity at their beck and call. Or maybe it is just a heartfelt plea. I like the line “Serving each other, God’s presence is known.”
The video has an interview with the composer as well as the song. He sings the song with a simple guitar accompaniment, which is lovely, but at the end of the video is a snippet of the recording on the CD that gets to a gospel crescendo that does sound a bit too pushy for the lyric.
This would work for Pentecost, Confirmation and even as a gathering song.
It can be purchased for download at spiritandsong. There is a choral arrangement here.
Refrain
Holy Spirit, come,
Holy Spirit, come now, come now.
Holy Spirit, come,
Holy Spirit, come now, come now.
Verse 1.
Oh, the sweetness of your mercy and grace!
Bring us true wisdom right here in this place.
Bring a glimmer of the depth of God’s will.
Bring understanding; God’s plan be fulfilled.
Refrain
Verse 2.
In the faith we share, flowing from truth,
bring us the knowledge that brings us to you.
Through the darkness of despair and of fear,
give us the courage to know you are here.
Refrain (key change)
Verse 3.
With the rev’rence of the Lord, love is shown.
Serving each other, God’s presence is known.
Oh, the goodness and the glory of God!
Hearts overflowing with wonder and awe.
No. 67 in As One Voice: the Next Generation is another song by Michael Mangan called “Holy Spirit Come”. We seem to have used it for confirmation with the kids forever (It can’t be that long – it was only published in 2007) and it works beautifully. I used to do it much too fast, but it benefits from slowing it down. The chorus really lifts things nicely. My backing isn’t wonderful – it works best with simple instrumentation and voice. I’m quite disappointed with the recording on the CD, I think the arrangements lets the song down badly – the sax never lets up. You can hear it on MySpace.
You can buy the music as a single sheet at sheetmusicplus, but WLP and Litmus would also stock this Mangan collections.
You can sing “vene sancte” against the verse and “Holy Spirit Come” against the chorus the second time through.
Verse
Holy Spirit come.
Holy Spirit come.
Holy Spirit come.
Holy Spirit come. x2
Chorus
Blow winds of change, breathe in our lives.
Stir in our hearts, shine through our eyes.
Come and pour out your gifts, work through our hands
This is another excellent Chris de Silva song, “Hold Us, Jesus.” In As One Voice: the Next Generation, you will find it at number 66. This is another song invoking the presence of Christ that I think makes sense as a communion song. Even the latin Kyrie fits unobtrusively and the recording on the CD isn’t sickly.
The text is available from GIA in this preview and can be purchased as part of a collection here.
The music says “very simply” and de Silva ignores that completely… as do I with my backing!
This is the second song called “Here I Am” and is 64 in As One Voice: The Next Generation. This one is by Tom Booth and in this case we are singing as God rather as ourselves as we were in Tony Alonso’s song. This is another quiet reflective song and is much easier to sing than its namesake. As a song about the presence of God in our midst, I see no reason it could not be used as a communion song.
The sheet music can be purchased for download at spiritandsong.
Refrain
Here I am, standing right beside you.
Here I am; do not be afraid.
Here I am, waiting like a lover.
I am here; here I am.
Verse 1.
Do not fear when the tempter calls you.
Do not fear even though you fall.
Do not fear, I have conquered evil.
Do not fear, never be afraid.
Refrain
Verse 2.
I am here in the face of ev’ry child.
I am here in ev’ry warm embrace.
I am here with tenderness and mercy.
Here I am; I am here.
Refrain
Verse 3.
I am here in the midst of ev’ry trial.
I am here in the face of despair.
I am here when pardoning your brother.
Here I am, I am here.
I’m doing this one out of order to have it ready in plenty of time for Easter Sunday. It is a great new song called “Jesus is Risen” by Monica O’Brien and Gina Ogilvie and is No 82 in AOV NG. I heard Gina sing it with a crowd of young people at their conference last September and it raised the roof. I’d recommend you listen to her version on the CD or the sample at AOV. I hope we get a chance to use it ourselves this year. I’ve tried to get the excitement into my backing that I heard when Gina played it.
Chorus
The stone has been rolled away and freedom is witnessed today.
This is the first of two songs named “Here I Am”, this one by Tony Alonso. It is No 63 in AOV NG.
It’s based on Ps 40 so it might come in handy, especially just as a refrain. Otherwise you will need a cantor for the three verses, each of which is different and challenging. If the music is challenging the lyrics are direct, simple and effective. Its relaxed style is a welcome relief after all these P&W songs and my backing tries to capture this.
GIA have provided the lyrics in this preview, and you can purchase the music for download here.
It’s also one of the few in the book I’ve played a lot, so I can offer more practical insights than usual. Firstly, it is somewhat miraculous, in that Michael Mangan has written roughly a million songs for schools (I know – I’ve had to play most of them) and they are somewhat restricted by their context, so much so, that we had thought he wrote them in a special language called manganese. But this song turned up that he wrote for the National Evangelisation Conference in Brisbane in 1999 and, once we learnt it properly (we thought), was the noisiest thing we did at church and a great recessional.
If possible I’d suggest you get his original arrangement and lyrics. The latest version loses the rush up the fretboard to the chorus and the transition back to the verse has been neutered. The international lyrics are less specific and less effective and Michael says he only does them outside Australia.
I’d also suggest that his version on the CD is much more quiet and polite than he sings it live and even that is still far too restrained -turn it up to eleven.
You can still have a lot of dynamics, though. We have vocals only for “With our hearts on” at the start of the chorus and really hit the “fire” with a crashing guitar chord. It also should stop suddenly at the end – my backing doesn’t stop as abruptly as we do it in church.
In my backing the chords are how we were taught them and I find on real sheet music the intervals are a little different. I can’t change now so I’ll keep playing it slightly wrong. These are the original lyrics by the way. Don’t forget the actions that go with the song.
Verse 1
We come from ancient dreamtime,
From the bush, or by the sea.
We come from a thousand city streets,
We are the rich and lowly,
We are the poor and strong,
We come to share this moment,
Gathering here, singing one song
Chorus
With our hearts on fire with the love of Jesus Hearts on fire, let’s spread the Word Hearts on fire, feel the Spirit blazing Hearts on fire Called to live the Good News in this land Setting hearts on fire, with our hearts on fire Setting hearts on fire
Verse 2
We long to live in freedom, we yearn for unity
We dream of justice, joy and peace
Spirit fill us with your power
Jesus help us live your call
O Creator give us wisdom
So we will be Good News for all
Chorus
Verse 3
We are the voice of Jesus
We are His hearts and hands
We are His body in our land
Stand up! Live the story
To all the world proclaim
Go out to all creation
Lighting the fire, fanning the flames
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
