Ephphatha Music: Precipice

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Precipice

Isaiah 12.2 | “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song..." (ESV)

I wrote this at a very low time in my life. I'd just been laid off from my job and I felt confused and weak and stupid. I went to the Christian Musician Conference -- which I thought was foolish since I didn't have any money coming in -- and let myself be immersed in music and songwriting for three days. When I came back and opened the book of Isaiah to 12:2... and the words took on a lyric quality that became a melody.

I wouldn't say I was suicidal. But I was definitely on a precipice of sorts, and the only thing I could do was rely on the goodness and graciousness of our God. I pray that these words comfort and console anyone who finds themself on their own precipice.

Key of D 4/4 Ballad About 92

VERSE 1

---------D------------------- D/Bm
On this precipice, with your finest gift

-------A-------------G
Set to throw it all away

-----------D----------------D/Bm
Clouds of fear and doubt surround me now

-----A-------------G
And hide your holy face

-----------Esus4----------------------Bm
But your prophet’s words reach out to me

---------Esus4------------G
With an ancient song of peace…

CHORUS

--------D --------- A ---------------G --------------Em
Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid

---------D----------------- A----------------G
For the Lord my God is my strength, and my song

--------D------------A--------------G-----------------Em
Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid

---------D --------------- A --------------- G
For the Lord my God is my strength, and my song

Bm---F#m ---Bm ----A---Bm---F#m
Hallelujah… ... Hallelujah… Hallelujah

----------D----------------A -----------------G
For the Lord my God is my strength and my song.

VERSE 2

-----------D---------------D/B
When your world becomes a storm-tossed sea

---------A---------------G
Neither hope nor land in sight

------------D--------------- D/B
When you’re on the run and overcome

------A-----------G
Surrendering the fight

----------Esus4 --------------Bm
Lift your eyes to Him let your tired heart sing

---------------Esus4 ---------G
The song that forces back the night…

CHORUS

BRIDGE
Bm----------------A ----------------G
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on … Hold on

Bm------------------A-------------------G
Hold on to the God who’s holding on to you
(repeat)

CHORUS

TAG

(after “Hallelujahs” sing)
-------------D--------------A
For the Lord my God is my strength…

---------Bm ---------------G
For the Lord my God is my strength…

---------D-----------------A --------------G
For the Lord my God is my strength and my song.

2 comments:

ReedMarch 17, 2009 at 9:47 AM
Michael,

This is a great song! I have the privilege of knowing you and knowing the struggle you had (if only from a short distance) during that time. The words are authentic, with regard to your experience, and true, with regard to God's faithfulness in those storm-tossed seas!

Thanks for encouraging me with this one :^)
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UnknownMay 21, 2009 at 8:34 PM
Pick me ~ Pick me ~ Pick me!!!!!!!
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Ephphatha Music

In Chapter 7 of Mark's Gospel we read this about Jesus:

"Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers in his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly."

This passage speaks to me. I've never considered myself a songwriter, or even a musician. But when I came to Christ in my 40th year something wondrously odd seemed to open up inside of me, and from somewhere in my soul the songs in this blog came pouring out.

I remember with a weird sort of clarity how startled I was when one day in the shower a complete chorus came to my mind and my lips. (If you're curious it's now in this blog as a mostly complete song called "Be Still.") I don't know how or why these things happen -- why I can be driving to work musing over words and melodies and suddenly find myself unraveling a song. But it happens every once in a while and I'm thankful for it.

Caveats and disclaimers: I'm not a piano player. I'm a bass player, and a pretty mediocre one at that. And my bass -- though I love my black Fender Jazz to pieces and affectionately call her "Bessie" -- just isn't a good accompaniment instrument. So the piano playing on these tracks is coarse and unrefined at its best, awful at its worst. Forgive me!

And I'm not a singer, either. Especially when I'm trying to remember where my fingers are supposed to go on the keyboard. So as I say in most of these posts: try to listen to the song while ignoring the stuff around it.

All songs displayed here in their current state are copyright Michael Thelander. But none of them are "finished." I'm more than willing to work with any partners who can help these tunes reach any potential they may have and speak to more people.

After all, they're not mine. All I can believe is that they came from God's own heart.

About these songs...

As I comment elsewhere in this blog, none of these songs are really "finished" in a true sense. They're at a point where they can tell an end-to-end-story, and where they can be played without too many gaps, but they're not finished.

Over the couple of years that I've been working on these songs I've come to realize that this perpetual state of "undone-ness" is a good thing. I believe songs are alive, and that they need to have room to grow. And I especially believe that songs of faith need input and shaping from more than one person: In as much as the spirt dwells in all who believe, it can't find its true expression in the outpouring of one voice.

MT

Ephphatha Music

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Precipice

2 comments:

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