I wrote my first worship song in the first lockdown of the covid pandemic in 2020. I found myself with time to spare and emotions that wanted to be expressed, and I found it a very therapeutic experience. It wasn’t a polished song and it didn’t rhyme, but it enabled me to express something to God in a new way.
Apparently Yip Harburg (writer of the lyrics to “Somewhere over the rainbow”) said “Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” To me, this expresses well one of the things that I find so beautiful about sung worship. The emotional connection with the true things that I understand and believe in my mind reaches a new depth when I sing. Even more than this, writing a song is a way to distil the thoughts chasing around my mind. It gives them a form that can be felt and shared, and even, in the context of congregational worship, reciprocated and amplified.
Writing for St Stephen’s
Since writing my first song, God has given me inspiration to write more and to share those with my local church, St Stephen’s. I find the process much more natural when writing about something specific to which I have a strong personal connection and where I know there is a gap in the songs familiar to my own church. “We are one body” was written during the joining together of my congregation and a more traditional Anglican congregation as we relocated into their building. At the time I found it difficult to find good songs to express the significance of our unity in Christ. It is actually surprisingly uncommon for modern worship songs even to use the pronouns “we” and “us”.
The apostle Paul expresses so well in 1 Corinthians 12 and elsewhere the reality of being one body, which can be a source of great difficulty as well as great joy. For me, unity is made that much more possible by looking forward to the time when the perfecting of our humanity will finally be completed as we are united with Christ to spend eternity with him.
Most of the song was written in a couple of hours, with the bridge added later. Most other songs have taken much more concerted effort and time for me, so I am even more aware of my dependence on the Holy Spirit in writing this one! It’s been wonderful to be encouraged in songwriting by my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those in the worship band at St Stephen’s. I am so grateful to Jacob Spencer who patiently allowed me to learn through the process of producing the new recording that has been released recently. Many thanks to Talitha Young for the beautiful artwork.
I hope that this song can encourage others in their experience as part of God’s imperfect but beautiful and amazing worldwide church.
Links and resources for “We are one body” and other songs
