The Music of Hope

This first week of Advent has blown through in a bit of a blur; the calendar pushing and pulling in all directions and filling the week of hope with distraction I keep trying to see through. But, last night, I sat, finally still and present in the moment in a sanctuary full of people and music, and I marveled at the way God had my attention. My wrestling match with hope subsided for a moment. And it all felt holy.

Here’s a bit of the story. Last summer a good friend of mine called and asked if I’d help him with some lyrics for a song. About Advent, he said, as the heat of the pavement burned through my flip-flops in the pool parking lot. Advent? I thought, pretty sure that even I couldn’t conjure up enough words to wrap around that cold and far away season. Advent in the middle of summer felt odd and out place. But I love working with him and am always up for a good challenge; so I told him I’d give it a try.

And it turns out there doesn’t have to be snow on the ground or candles in the window for a season of waiting and listening to grab your heart. I was there. In the middle of a difficult season, hemmed in by pool-time kid shenanigans and hot summer sun, God gave me some words that changed everything about the way I was looking for him.

And my friend Chris gave those words a melody. And I don’t think I’ll ever stop being amazed that making music is thing God has allowed me to do.

So here at the end of this week of hope was a gift I never expected to be given. My own words coming back to me through the voices of a choir, the music pushing and pulling the edges of the whole sanctuary into its grip. And I just marveled at a God who weaved this all together.

And maybe that’s how hope works. It stops you in your tracks and reminds you that you are not alone. It fills a room and yet speaks directly to each person. The music of hope is how God reminds us that he came to be with us; and that our seasons of waiting are always leading us back to him.

I often want God to reveal the long plan and show me how the details will be ironed out. I want to see where I’m going and exactly how I should get there all before I take the first step. I don’t want to have to hope. I want to know.

But, as the last note of this song we wrote echoed through the sanctuary and held its weight in that second of silence right before the applause, I felt something shift in me. Maybe its okay to not be able to see exactly where I am going. God’s plans and God’s ways will always be more than I can understand. But he is an amazingly creative God who can redeem even the darkest things of our lives in ways we can never imagine.

And so we can hope without having to know what comes next. We can put our hope for all of the things right into his hands and trust that he knows how to hold them well.

That’s what Advent reminds us. Even in the darkness, God is always coming for us.

I don’t know what this week has held for you, but as it wraps up and we continue our walk through Advent, my prayer is that we would all find a bit of pause to breathe in a little hope.

I’m going to put the lyrics for the song that my friend Chris and I wrote here in this post and the performance from last night is in the link below. May it bless your first week of Advent and may God get all of the glory for making the beautiful music of hope something we can all hold onto.

Amen.

I AM – Music, Chris Owenby Lyrics, Leigh Sain

The prophets promised he would come;

Into this world they said he loved.

But years of darkness drowned all hope; until it was no longer heard.

The first words to break the silence; navigated through the night,

Do not be afraid.

I AM hope lighting this darkness;

I AM peace holding your pain;

I AM joy revealed in sorrow;

I AM love that will remain.

I AM faithful when you wander; I am with you when your weak;

I AM always there beside; I am everything you seek. I AM; I AM.

Can you see me in the darkness even when you feel alone?

I AM with you in the shadows; I am calling you my own.

A holy God born in a stable; your king cries helpless as a babe.

I could have come among you glorious, but it’s your hearts I came to save.

I could declare the heavens open light the world for all to see;

But a single star I place before you and a call to follow me.

I AM hope lighting this darkness

I AM peace holding your pain

I AM joy revealed in sorrow

I AM love that will remain

I AM faithful when you wander; I AM with you when your weak

I AM always there beside you; I AM everything you seek

I AM ; I AM

CLICK HERE to hear and see the song performed by the Georgia festival Chorus at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church under the incredible direction of Mr. Chris Owenby. Chris is a masterful composer and you can see more of his work on his website The Artful Composer.

“And now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!” (Ephesians 3:20-21).