chrisgreenhalgh
From LifeChurch, Manchester
Hey guys, this is a song I wrote a couple of months ago called "Worship You Require"...
It is based on Micah 6:8, and works as a sort of meditation. I have deliberately quoted quite a few different scriptures (such as Isaiah 58:6-7, James 1:27 etc) as I thought the words spoke for themselves. The song was inspired after going to "The Stand" back in July (an event put on in Manchester about stamping out human trafficking - I was deeply moved by this and wrote this song the day after). Please let me know what you think!
I've attached a demo recording to this post, and the lyrics are as follows:
Acting justly, loving mercy
Walking humbly with You, God
Giving freely, unreservedly
To freely give as I've received
This is the worship You require
A sacrifice that pleases Your heart
Louder than any song I sing
Richer than any offering
This is the worship You require
To break injustice, to free the captives
To seek Your kingdom first, my God
To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked
To care for orphans in their need
To love like You have loved me
To love 'cause You first loved
To love like You have loved me
To love despite the cost
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I love the structure and build up on this, the way the backing vocals come in and the wording on the chorus in particular. I'm new to this site and have just started posting my own songs, but hearing songs like this make we wonder whether to give up or keep going! The latter I'm sure. A really nice song to hear!
Well done Chris, well composed and full of truth - the main requirement for any sung offerings in my little book! I love tweaking with possibilities so entertain me as I throw these ideas out...you can disregard them at your leisure if they don't appeal.
What about starting with the chorus to set the scene...then leading explicitly into "acting justly" as the kind of worship required of us?
The "giving freely" might be a tad redundant as it's phrased pretty fully in the following line "to freely give" - were you looking extra emphasis there? Maybe something about how we get from love-of-God (already mentioned) to love-of-neighbour (about to arrive on scene).
Very nice though, keep serving up the right kind of worship!
Cheers for your comments guys! I feel so encouraged!! :-)
Larry, in response to your comments, I know what you mean re. "giving freely"... I did kind of want the extra emphasis there (hence the repetition), but I've also been considering "Loving deeply".. I'll have a good think!
The only reservations I have about starting with "this is the worship" is that it starts on an E (i.e. chord IV), plus I think by the time of the big "to love like You have loved me" bridge, people will have got sick of hearing it! (it would have been sung 4 times)... If I could restructure the song to maybe introduce the bridge earlier or not double the chorus after the 2nd verse, maybe that'd work.. I guess ultimately it's down to how the song's used in a congregational context too.
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yes im really liking these lyrics, not many songs are written like this.