An Anthem Of Faith
Elaine Utting
A couple of weeks ago we saw a trailer unloading on The Stray. It was marked ‘Fake Festivals’. I googled them and, quoting from their website, it was least six tribute bands playing ‘A full day of non-stop, adrenaline-pumping mega anthems that are just screaming to be rocked!’
We may not all want to express it in the Fake Festivals way. But it seems that, as humans, we need those times when hearts are joined together - by songs that touch on shared experiences of life.
There seems to be something about the fusion of a melody, a rhythm, some simple words, and sharing them with like-minded people, that fulfils a very human longing.
This is a God-given longing. He created the wonders of melody, harmony, rhythm, poetry, and has given us hearts, minds and spirits that respond to them.
This is why, in our meetings, our times of worship are so important.
Now, an apology for going way back in the past - this song was a regular in the worship at my church in the late 80’s and through the 90’s. Though the latest YouTube version I found was December 2023, so it’s still inspiring people. To me it is an anthem in worship:
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise
the city of our God, the holy place,
the joy of the whole earth.
Great is the Lord in whom we have the victory,
He aids us against the enemy,
we bow down on our knees.And Lord we want to lift your name on high,
and Lord, we want to thank you,
for the works you’ve done in our lives;
and Lord we trust in your unfailing love,
for you alone are God eternal,
throughout earth and heaven above.
(Steve McEwan © 1985 Body Songs)
I love the way the words weave together phrases and thoughts from the Bible, linking together in just a few words, eternal truths, and our response. And the melody and the chords create a sense of both strength and yearning. So it’s the music as well as the words. They work together, and I suppose that’s the way an anthem is.
It begins with words that connect the physical Jerusalem that David the psalmist knew, the spiritual city he saw with the eyes of the spirit, and the eternal city in the book of Revelation.
To me they are saying that the spiritual background to our life now is the great sweep of history - His story. We are part of a story written by a God of strength and power, that has a glorious end. And this great God makes his strength and power available to us today, helping us with our everyday battles.
That puts heart and hope into me.
This great God is concerned to help me and act on my behalf in the tough times.
Then the song moves on to our response. We kneel before Him, giving Him our worship. We sing words of thanksgiving, faith and trust. And then the yearning in the music seems to resolve, and the words return to the main theme.
For You alone are God eternal
Throughout earth and heaven above.
I loved the song when I sang it all those years ago. But it’s only now as I’ve been writing this reflection that I’ve found out the story behind it. It may be Steve McEwan’s only published worship song.
He works in the secular music industry, a multi Grammy award-winning songwriter, with a long career of writing and playing for big names in pop, country and rock. This year he won the Grammy Best Song For Social Change for ‘Refugee’.
He started writing in his teens, having moved to South Africa with his family when he was 10. When he was 17, Miriam Makeba, an internationally famous black South African singer and activist against apartheid, recorded one of his songs.
During the often violent struggles against apartheid in 1985, one of his close friends was shot and died. ‘Great is the Lord’ was written in response. How amazing his faith, and how great the God who inspired him, that in those desperate, heartrending circumstances, a song of such great power was created.
Lord we trust in your unfailing love
For You alone are God eternal
Throughout earth and heaven above.
Psalm 48:1-2, Psalm 60:11-12, Revelation 21:2, Revelation 22:3
