Taking Hannah's words from 1 Samuel 2: 1-10, I have created this reflection and prayer for a more just and equitable world. This song might also have been titled "Song of Hannah: a Hymn of Praise and Protest". The hymn is free to use but please report congregational use to One License or CCLI.
For free downloads go to:
www.sites.google.com/view/musicbydavidwkai/home/song-of-hannah
Resound Worship’s 12 Song Challenge this month was to take inspiration from the great creeds of the church. I was at the annual Resound Worship Songwriters’ Retreat at Wydale Hall in Yorkshire, UK so had plenty of time to reflection, and I took inspiration from the Nicene Creed. Pairing up with the very talented Sue Crossman of Hopestream Worship, we came up with this.
Each verse focusses on expanding, in language simple enough for children, each person of the Trinity. Since writing it, we’ve used it regularly in our Sunday School and family services and it’s a hit with young and old alike.
I wanted to write a song which recognised the busyness of life, and the doubt and uncertainty many people experience. This was inspired by Jesus’ words from Matthew 10. Keiko Ying and Dave Forrey from the Resound Worship "12 Song Challenge" gave a lot of help with lyrics.
This is not a worship song. It is a call to righteous action. Through history, to our day, the courageous (very often people of faith) have spoken up against tyranny, injustice, lies etc. Our God is a God of justice and truth and we can shrink back from confronting wrongdoing affecting society.
I think we constantly need to be encouraged to say something.
This song draws its origins from the time of the illness and death of my Dad. Singing and making music before the Lord became a particularly important expression of worship for me at a time when I was largely unable to process exactly how I was feeling. And yet there were very few songs that resounded with how I was feeling; often it wasn’t the lyrics that were the problem, but the tone or mood of the song that just didn’t resonate.
While sitting at the piano with these kinds of thoughts in mind one day, this song began to emerge. It sought to express a confidence in God, albeit a confidence expressed in brokenness rather than in triumph; yet a confidence determinedly holding on to the promises of God - not least the ultimate promise that, one day, God will make all things new.
The second, third and fourth verses were written first, and came together relatively straightforwardly - though with lots of tinkering on the way. The first verse was the struggle, and the writing of it encapsulated the move I had to make from seeing it as ‘my song’, coming out of my particular experience, to one that, hopefully, can be sung by others within their own contexts of brokenness - past, present or future.
Looking to God in our situations. Holding on to Him through trial, battle, and every stage of life. A prayer of trust and faith, even now, in the middle of trials.
This song is a reflection on Psalm 46. Like many Psalms, it contains elements of questioning, challenge and finally, faith. It is written in a Contemporary Christian/Christian Rock style, with lots of 80's sounding synths!