Travis Ryan
From Saddleback Church San Clemente
26 May 2009 - 6:31pm
To the Body-
This is a song called "Reaching". I would love to get your thoughts on the song. This song is a co-write with another worship leader named Caleb Clements.
The Lyrics are:
Verse:
Through times of old,-------- and times to come
You’ve been with us, You’ve been with us
And though we’ve turned---------- our face from You
You pursue us, You pursue us
Pre-Chorus:
Lord hear the cries----- of desperation
The lonely sighs--- longing for salvation
Chorus:
Jesus, come and free us
We are reaching out to You
To heal us, O come Lord Jesus
We are reaching out to You
We are reaching
Verse2:
We bring our doubt, we bring our fear
To Your mercy, to Your mercy
In brokenness, we turn to You
Come and heal us, come and heal us
Pre-Chorus:
Chorus:
Bridge:
Before the great divide
You draw us to Your side
Awakened to Your name
Our ready hearts now sing
Chorus: (2x)
Travis Ryan
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Peter
From Chowdene Community Church
26 May 2009 - 8:09pm
Hi Travis
A really well crafted song, well done!
I listened twice then came back to the song and could remember the tune to the chorus but couldnt for the verses. Not to sure what this means but I felt at times waiting for the words to sing , if that makes any sense!
But overall I liked it, well recorded and a good voice to bring it with.
Pete
Great song Travis!
Really well crafted and recorded. Thanks for sharing!
Josh
Hi Travis,
I really liked this. The message is one for our times and the tune is easy to remember and to sing. I liked the way that you used the notes of the major chord for the verse and the intro was really imaginative - I felt a sense of awe at the God who's been with His people since the times of old.
It builds really nicely which suits congregational worship.
Two small suggestions/observations if I may:
1) Melodically the strongest part of the tune for me is the pre chorus.
2) The best part of the chorus for me is the last line 'We are reaching'. I really wanted you to do more with it. You actually missed it out to go to the bridge. If I had got your ideas I probably would have repeated that line in an 'anthemic' way - I could see that working really well in a live worship setting.
I really tried hard to listen past the excellent production values to see if the song would stand up and I felt that it did. Blessings on you brother!
Ian
Hi Travis,
Thanks for posting this, it's lyrically and melodically a very strong song, and obviously very well recorded. A few small comments:
- The pre-chorus is a great tune, but quite long - could you maybe only sing half of it the second round and get to the chorus sooner?
- I'm not quite sure what the line 'Before the great divide' means - could you explain? Is the divide a reference to the Fall? Or the divide between heaven and hell? Not sure why it's 'before' - would 'beyond' make more sense?
- my biggest concern is I've noticed an increasing number of worship songs use 'Jesus' when they really mean 'God', and I think this is one of them. It's a concern because we believe in one God who is Father, Son and Spirit, and we lose massive chunks of our faith if we neglect the truth of the Trinity at the heart of it - and of course our songs need to reflect our underlying theology.
Saying stuff like 'Jesus come and free us' is obviously theologically fine, but the first verse sounds a lot like it's echoing the Old Testament period with phrases like 'through times of old you've been with us' - and of course although Jesus is eternally co-existent with the Father, when you see 'God' in the OT it doesn't simply equal 'Jesus'.
Would it be an option to change the chorus:
Father, come and free us
We are reaching out to You
To heal us, Lord come and heal us
We are reaching out to You
We are reaching
??
Dunno if that makes sense - it's just a bit of a concern of mine which I've mentioned on this forum before (more than once! :) that we seem to sing about Jesus an awful lot, but rather overlook the Father (and the Spirit), despite the fact that Jesus said he came to reveal the Father to us. Anyway, enough rambling, it's a great song as it is!
God bless
Matt
www.RESOUNDworship.org
Free New Worship Songs
I took 'The Great Divide' to be the 'sheep and the goats' image, but Matt is right - I did wonder about it.
hey travis
think this a great song, and nicely produced too
i tend to agree with matt on this one - having re-scanned over the lyrics, for me it does naturally point to a song more directed to God the Father rather than to Jesus
i really like the simplicity (in a good way!) of the lyrics, and especially the way that song almost depicts a journey, through brokenness to a place where we can sing 'our ready hearts now sing'
good stuff
sim
Really nice stuff Travis! Great song and fantastic production. Really like this.
Wayne
Thank you so much for posting this song. We do it at church and I love it and have been wanting to learn it. Since you've supplied the recording and the words I will learn it now.
Thanks again.
Thanks Travis. Great solid song, excellently produced. Like it.
On a very picky note, I found myself doing a second take on the tenses in the first two lines:
"Through times of old,-------- and times to come
You’ve been with us..."
If you remove the first (past tense) part it reads "Through... times to come...You [have] been with us". Surely it would have to be "Through... times to come...You WILL BE with us" Don't know if it would work to tweak the second line minimally to become "You’ve been with us, you'll be with us."? Trouble is in effect that would split two sentences and glue them together in bits! But hey, just a thought.
Mart
Could do You've been with us, you'll be with us?
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