You Raise Me Up

This has to be one of my all time favorite songs. 

The lyrics are great; the tune is so uplifting that you feel like you could soar through the sky like an eagle at any moment and it’s also such a fabulous song to sing in harmony with your friends.

Although it doesn’t have any definitive biblical reference, it is difficult to think of this song as a secular piece.  The very nature of its message inspires faith and it certainly wouldn't be out of place in a worship setting.

Over the past few months I have rehearsed, performed and directed this song countless times with various different groups, so thanks to Rolf Loveland and Brendan Graham for writing such a wonderfully uplifting number.

Our joint school and academy choir performed a particularly rousing version in the Cultural Hall in Bahrain last month with some wonderful dancers performing alongside us, trained by my fabulous colleague Louise Chapman, dancer, teacher and choreographer extraodinaire who I was privileged to work with over the past year and a half.  

Another performance I remember rather well was with two of my dear friends and work colleagues Brad Longfellow and Leah Churchill who sang with me in our own 3 part a capella version.  

It’s the kind of song that you can get lost in, metaphorically and literally, as we found out to our peril at one crucial moment during our performance……  happily we were among friends, our fabulous family at Rivers of Joy, Bahrain, who hardly would have noticed any mistakes because they just love us so much for the joy we were bringing everyone by arranging this concert.

The event entitled "Sing Out for Joy" was very dear to my heart as it was to be the first arts event that I had organised to glorify our awesome God.  The evening opened with the newly formed Rivers of Joy Gospel Choir (now called Inspire Gospel Choir) who gave a rousing performance of three gospel numbers, a traditional Appalachian hymn and an original piece composed especially for the choir which was featured in one previous blog post "A Highway in the Desert". The evening continued with some deeply meaningful and powerful performances in a diverse cross cultural mix of styles which really demonstrated the melting pot of internationalism which is our church family in Bahrain. 

I thank our every loving God with all my heart for placing me among such amazing people who have nurtured me so patiently and built me up through scripture and prayer so that I can walk in God's perfect will in faith and devotion.

I am also deeply thankful to the worship team at Rivers of Joy who do such a wonderful job of bringing us into God's presence each week.  For it is through worship that I have really been able to draw close to God. 

For around two months after I was saved I couldn't even get through a service without tears spilling down my cheeks during worship.  And taking communion was even more emotional, if that is possible.  Certainly God had moved me in a profound way, He had blessed me by sending the Holy Spirit on me several times during worship and I would find myself once more becoming increasingly familiar with the colour of the carpet.  But jokes aside, it was a really amazing experience that healed me in a way that only God can heal.  

Don't underestimate the power of words, especially God's words, the power of music, and in particular the power of the Name of Jesus.  To be able to call upon the Name of Jesus is a wonderful thing, but to get to the point where I could do that was a very steep and narrow path which would have previously seemed an impossible climb.

But, by the grace of God I made it, I reached the top of the mountain and all glory to Him who made all things possible. He well and truly "raised me up".

Sometimes our spirits can definitely be raised up by the lyrics of a song.  In my teaching I constantly look for songs that will inspire my students to feel good about themselves.  I was very lucky, whilst working at the British School of Bahrain to be able to teach the students their new school song written by Bahraini composer Seroos who had certainly written lyrics that would build up both the students and the school.

With constant references to feeling great, being united and in particular the repeated incantation "we are wonderful, wonderful", the students couldn't avoid being effected by the impact of singing such words again and again, as I drilled them on their almost wonderful diction, tuning and phrasing.  This was just one of the many songs we sang to bring a positive vibe to the classroom.  Another technique I would use would be to speak certain words of the songs to the students as they left the class so that the positivity would carry over into the remainder of the day.  Telling students to believe the words they are singing can have a very powerful result.  

Over the past few months God has given me a real passion for the book of Nehemiah.  

When I started reading the book I was deeply moved by the story of how Nehemiah found favour with the King and returned to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the city walls.  

As I was reading I was struck by the detail of Nehemiah's writing.  How he knew each of the builders by name. This seemed like an incredible feat and it really struck a chord with me.  In my day to day teaching I was, on one hand, building up the students through the positive message of my chosen songs but on the other hand I was making very little effort to learn their names.  I used the excuse that I had groups of fifty students at any one time which meant that name learning was time consuming and tedious resulting in a thorough neglect of this area on my part.  The very next day I went from making no effort whatsoever to successfully learning two hundred student names in one day alone.  

I noticed an immediate difference with the attitudes of the students.  Now that I knew their names I was also able to praise them much more effectively for their good work and this raised the creative and productive output of the group enormously.  They suddenly took ownership of their performance.  I had, without realising it, succeeded in raising them up in every sense of the word.

I can imagine Nehemiah praising his building teams in a similar way, there was such a fervour to finish the wall with everyone pulling their weight, which must have been in no small way because of Nehemiah's leadership strategy.  

Nehemiah had a vast knowledge of who was responsible for what and this clearly demonstrates the care he would have taken over commending his workers and organising the rebuilding programme.

To raise someone up in commendation is a sure and certain way to promote enthusiasm for the task at hand and develop a happy working atmosphere.  

Dear Lord, our Father in heaven,

God of all that is seen and unseen, of all that is and was and is to come.  

We thank you that you know us all by name, that you know every hair on our heads.  That you loved us and knew us before we were born.  You formed our inner parts, you wove us in our mother's womb, we thank you that we are beautiful and wonderfully made.

We thank you for noticing everything that we do, that you know our works and deeds and how we honour, praise and worship you with our whole hearts, with the very fibre of our being.

We thank you for our purpose in this world and for making plain our path, for trusting us with all the riches of heaven.  

We pray for all the children in the world who don't have the opportunity to be inspired by teachers that really care about their spiritual welfare as well as their education.  We pray for those children that don't even have the opportunity to attend school.  

We thank you Lord that we have been blessed with a good education and that you will use us as teachers and followers of your Word so that the Good News of your gracious and abundant love, your perfect sacrifice on the cross will be spread throughout the nations.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.