I’m not sure I’ll get all the songs from Easter that were suggested by commentators here before the season of Easter is over.
Geoff Bullock’s “Refresh My Heart” is a fine P&W ballad but I’m not sure it is a particularly good song for liturgical purposes (please debate). Songs that have lots of “me” and “I” in them are problematic for a communal activity.
The text is here. The sheet music can be purchased at praisecharts.
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We sing the longer (newer) (and more reflective) version of “Refresh My Heart” (the one in the second purple YouTube video and the one on the ‘music’ page of Geoff’s website) because of the richer lyrics. In interviews Geoff has talked about reworking his earlier songs to be less P&W and more “a creative expression of grace” (http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/interview/bullock13.8.04.php) and “brokenness being repaired in the most extraordinary way” (http://www.christianfaith.com/resources/geoff-bullock-opens-up) and in my experience there is a place for songs like these during Eucharist. Years ago I wrote to Geoff about changing the words in “The Power of Your Love” from ‘I’ to ‘we’ – it was for a wedding, and the couple requested this song. Geoff kindly wrote back but declined the change. (We sang it, happily, as written.)
I am a little uncomfortable singing ‘I’ songs rather than ‘we’ songs during Eucharist but decades of music ministry have shown to me that, every now and then, the right ‘I’ song captures the spirit of the Eucharistic celebration and releases and acknowledges something profound within the people and the community.
Thanks Yola. I knew he’d reworked some of his other songs, but I wasn’t aware that he had updated this one.
I am also uncomfortable with black and white statements about liturgy (especially if I make them) and I value the nuance of your comment.
Geoff