Let Your Kingdom Come C
The Institute of Contemporary And Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
I wanted to write a song that worships and praises Jesus, yet propels us to respond, and tells us how to respond. Specifically, this song is a personal and direct declaration to Jesus and about who Jesus is to the worshiper, what he did for them on the cross (intentionally mentioned in the song),and the worshipers role now as they respond to what He has done for them/us/me in His ever-present advancing Kingdom for today and the future.
Lord -”Name above all Names”, “You reign on high”, “So just and holy”.
Creator-”Creator of all things”
Community-”You dwell with the broken”, “You restored the place of man with God”.
Redeemer/Restorer of all things-the cross theme, “You said, “It is finished””, “You came for the lowly”, “You restored the place of man with God”.
How we respond to what Christ had done, as well as celebrate and show our reverence towards God-”And we respond with praise and love as we bow”, “And we will be Your servants and kingdom in and to this world”, “We’ll tell Your story to all mankind, every man, woman, child.”,
How God’s voice of love and mercy echo throughout the world-“Your echoes of mercy fills the earth, in all the nations of this world.”
Kingdom Theology or inter-connected spheres of God and Man-”Your kingdom’s here today and forever”, meaning that it is not lost in the past, nor far away in the lofty future by and by, but for today.
The final tag is a simple prayer and a surrender allowing God to lead and do His will. This included the additional phrasing,”through me Lord, and, “Through the church Lord”, making it imminent or today-affecting, personal and communal.
I also wanted to point out the individual (small i’s)and broader humanity (small we’s) effect God’s love has:-”to all mankind, fill the earth, in all the nations of this world, every man, woman child”.
Then in the production of the song, I wanted to be creative with multiple sounds to demonstrate the creativity of God through music, and the delay and reverb to hint on to the “Echoes of God” as mentioned in the book “Simply Christianity” by Bishop N T Wright.
I hope it blesses you all. Believe it or not, the whole song ws done in my bedroom with just me. We live in a great day and age with technology and instruments that can be used for God! I love this day and age for that!
Let Your Kingdom Come
Capo 4 or 5 Play in G ( transposed from B or C)
Intro & tag: |:G Gsus|G D/F# 
G Gsus-G D G Gsus-G D
Jesus, Name above all Names
G Gsus-G D G Gsus-G D
Jesus, Creator of all things
C2
Jesus, our God You reign
G Gsus-G D G Gsus-G D
You reign on high, on high
Jesus, You dwell with the broken
Jesus, Your cross has spoken
Jesus, You cried,”It is finished”
You were raised on high
From the cross to the sky
Em C2 G D
You restored the place of man with God
Em C2 G D
And we respond with praise, and love, as we bow
Em C2 G D
Your Kingdom’s here today and forever
Am C2 Gsus-G D
And we will be Your servants to this world
Yes we will be Your Kingdom in this world
Jesus, creation is longing
Jesus, salvation is ringing
Jesus, Your echoes of mercy
Fill the earth
In all the nations of this world
Jesus, so just and holy
Jesus, You came for the lowly
Jesus, we’ll tell Your story
To all mankind,
Every man, woman, child
Let Your Kingdom come
(Through me Lord, through Your church Lord)
Let Your will be done (In all the earth)
Tags: christianity, course, Dan, emerging, essentials, institute, leader, Online, ssu, study, theology, training, university, Wilt, worship
February 15, 2009 at 8:04 am |
Hi Kurt
I love it man! The words and the melody are fresh and uplifting. (“Your cross has spoken” is a fantastic line!) Great job!!
February 15, 2009 at 3:57 pm |
Thanks Ryan! You know, I wasn’t sure about the line. But after your confirmation, I will leave it in. Thanks again! Love your song too!
February 18, 2009 at 4:50 am |
I like it too, but the use of man and mankind are barriers to a broader application of this song.
What does “restored the place of man with God” actually mean to you? It is a rather open phrase and could be said in a more precise way.
Theologically I would challenge the notion that we will be God’s Kingdom – it is pretty close to the highly contested notion equating the church with the Kingdom. Perhaps you meant we would be God’s Kingdom people in this world?
Apart from that some of the verses are really nice and they move from big picture (creator, nations, etc.) to small picture (dwell, broken). The last one could be tweaked a bit to keep with this pattern.
BTW whenever I hear mankind I always think of the Jack Handy line. Mankind, it is made up of two words: mank and ind, and nobody knows what they mean.
Great stuff Kurt!
February 18, 2009 at 6:49 am |
Thanks Frank,
I wrote it in a couple hours, and specific to the course material. It certainly will take time to finish. However, every line in the song was specific to what we were learning in the worship theology course.
In the course we talked a lot of re-creation, and restoration of man, especially with God. So what I mean by ‘restored the place of man with God’ is this: With what Adam and Eve did, we were no longer able to fellowship with God in the same way as they did in the garden. But because of what Jesus, the new Adam, did at the cross, we are now able to again to fellowship with God, even in the here and now, (though we must choose to accept this gift.) Our place has been restored. It’s now a us matter of individually accepting this and entering into it. And this is something worth singing about and celebrating.
Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10 refers to us being His kingdom. though ‘people’ would work to. Romans 8:17-heirs to His throne (of God’s kingdom). 1 Corinthians 6:3-judge angels
The term ‘mankind’ is used many times throughout the bible, even as God speaks. I like it. Your Jack Handy reference shouldn’t hinder using ‘mankind’ if God uses it when
There are two points to this line-the unlimited value of people, as eternal beings, in the eyes of God, and to inspire those who worship with this song to see their role under God as part of His kingdom. We have a role to continue the restoration to man and creation through the quest for justice and sharing God’s story of redemtion. It is not just to bask in God’s goodness of creation and love, but to share God’s love and advance His Kingdom through our lives, by His Spirit’s leading.
He uses it. I’m pretty sure God trumps Jack Handy.
Personally, I like the word mankind. When I think and use the word ‘mankind’ (as I use it in this song), I think of peoples abroad, the vastness of man on earth, and how so many still need to saved. And I hope that is what people will hear and feel-that it is not just about us, and our rich societies. God’s love is for everyone, and we need to get it to them, to all mankind.
Tha’s the whole idea of the song, to point out how awesome God is, then how good God is to ‘mankind’ as a whole (I just wanted to use the word again to bug you. lol!) and to us as individuals, and that in return, our response of praise and reverence, and servanthood in His Kingdom. Believeing in Him also means enlisting and doing His will as He leads us “on earth, as it is in Heaven”.
February 19, 2009 at 7:47 am |
Great stuff!
February 20, 2009 at 3:07 am |
Thanks Benjamin!
February 22, 2009 at 1:19 am |
Kurt, the word mankind does not appear in the Bible, it appears in English translations of the Bible. My issue is not the concept (humanity) but the language you chose. Mankind is actually falling out of use because it is misogynistic and can be better said with a more inclusive term like humanity or people. You might like it as a term, but it will mean that this song will not appeal beyond a demographic that have decided they don’t care about if their language excludes women in their congregations.
I get that Jesus restores us relationally to God and that this is awesome and worth celebrating. I am just questioning your choice of language to express that truth. Jesus’ actions to include us all, women and men, should be reflected also in your choice of words, otherwise you are failing to convey the heart of what that restoration of humanity really means.
As for the Revelation quotes – have you worked out the relationship between priests and kingdom in the Greek? (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) I’m just a bit cautious about this because I know there are popular theologies about the Kingdom of God being synonymous with the Church (as opposed to the Church being a reality brought about by the presence of the Kingdom). You are free to do either, but the Kingdom is an important concept (and a very specific concept) in the Vineyard. Because worship informs the incipient theology of a group, it is good to be very careful.
I think there are a lot of great things about this song, please hear that. I was giving some comments because I think you could adjust it so that it could be a great encouragement to the Church. But it’s your song bro.
February 22, 2009 at 5:47 am |
Thanks for your wise, pastoral advice Frank. You certainly ‘keep it real’. I absolutely respect that and heed your advice. You are far more theologically knowledgeable and wiser than I am. Everyone needs their personal theological editor like you for their songs like you. I have valued all you have shared. I certainly want to be theologically and socially (or politically) correct, so I don’t unintentionally offend anyone or segments of society, nor to communicate the wrong theological ideas.
I didn’t see what you were referring to originally with the word ‘mankind’, that is, the gender reference with the word. I see now. (In my reply, I meant the concept or ‘mankind’ or ‘humanity as a whole’ is used throughout the bible, not necessarily the word itself. I know that the bible is not written in English. lol! I thought you knew what I meant. My bad.). I don’t think you didn’t explain that very clearly in your previous post. You may have assumed I thought what you meant. I really thought you just didn’t like the word ‘mankind’ because of Jack Handy. I will change it somehow and commit to being more sensitive to this issue with future songs. I certainly wasn’t try to be exclusive to men of course.
I see what you were saying about the word ‘kingdom’. I will just use ‘servants’ or ‘people’ other than ‘kingdom’ (or something else if it works better). I certainly wasn’t trying to equate the church with the kingdom, but to say that we (or the worshipper) will step up and heed to the King’s will in this world, as a response to God’s restoration. That was my point. I hope you saw that.
Once I have time, I will also look at other things you have said too. It was literally the first draft due to time constraints in writing it, recording it, and then posting it in the six hours of free time I had to do it in. You know of all the other plates I have spinning in my life.
Thanks again Frank,
Kurt
February 23, 2009 at 12:51 am |
I appreciate you Kurt. Best plate spinner I know!
BTW don’t think it isn’t a tough issue, language that is. I probably made it trite by the Jack Handy joke, I was really trying to lighten it up a bit – guess that backfired. My bad. The reality is that most of us don’t think about our language. I’m all about naming God Father and King, so I’m not trying to be radical here. There is a balance – the line I look for is what can I reasonably change to make sure everyone feels like they can participate equally in this song. Once you start to become aware of it then you see it all over the place. It is frustrating for a bit then it becomes something you want to do, because you want to make sure everyone is able to worship fully and not stumble over the words.
I’m all about the worship bro. BTW are you on for Wednesday?