travelight94
Words of Light: Grace & Truth for Your Journey Home
Soul Songs 1: This Is My Song
Last year, I had the privilege of being part of two singing ensembles. The first was a community choir. We were going to perform John Stainer’s Crucifixion for Easter, including the beautiful “God So Loved the World.” We sang through our whole program, rapid-fire, the last practice before lock-down. The second group, Heart Cry Ensemble, managed to work in practices throughout the summer and fall by practising in churches and large buildings, and we recorded the first weekend in November. Practicing six feet apart has it’s challenges, but I learned something about myself.
I need music. I need to make music. I need to sing with people. It’s a deep soul need, as deep as my body’s need for breath.
I have a suspicion that many of you, particularly those of you who worship in an Anabaptist Church, feel the same way. We sing together more naturally than we pray together.
I don’t know if you or I will be able to sing much in 2021, but if I can’t make good music, than I can at least share it with you here. I’m calling this series Soul Songs, because I want to share music that feeds the soul. They won’t all be hymns. They may not even all be “Christian,” but they will all give us something of what is good, true, and beautiful about the world.
This Is My Song
“This Is My Song” was written by Lloyd Stone in 1934. It is often sung to the tune “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius, which hymn-singers will recognize as the same tune as “Be Still My Soul.”
I first heard this song sung by our school’s choir when I was in the fifth grade. Something about the haunting minor melody caught my ear; and the words “My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine” caught my imagination.
So often the nature celebrated in the songs I sang as a child were things like mountains and oceans and other things my world did not contain. But clover and pines and blue skies–my country had these. It seemed so right to worship with the glories of nature that I saw every day.
Still, there was something deeper about the message that I couldn’t put into words then. Not only did the song celebrate my beloved country, but it admitted that other countries had glories, too. The glory of one blue sky called to the glory of another blue sky, all fashioned by one Creator. All equal. Other hearts in other places beat with dreams as daring and as precious as mine.
In 2007, Sam Candler described this theme as the “tension that rings through modern civilizations: the tension between the local and the global.” (Read more here.) In the years since then, this tension has only been amplified.
Yet, peace does not come from the absence of conflict, but from the grace God gives us to live with the differences He created.
I wonder how much our world would change if we lived like we believed that. I offer this now, as “A song of peace for their land and for mine.”
This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
You can listen to a lovely men’s a cappella version here. I dare you to sing along.
What stands out to you about this song (phrases, ideas, notes)? Do you have any special memories of listening to it or singing it?
Do you have any different favourite soul songs? We’d enjoy reading about it below.
10 Comments on “Soul Songs 1: This Is My Song”
Leave a comment
Conversation
 | Vitamins Revive DIY on Beloved, Wouldn’t It Be… |
 | Yolanda on Beloved, Wouldn’t It Be… |
 | Jackie on Beloved, Wouldn’t It Be… |
 | Juli on Beloved, Wouldn’t It Be… |
 | Dylan on Your Story |
 | Jasmine on An Anne Letter |
travelight94 
Pingback: Soul Songs 3: Inhabit the Praise – travelight94
Pingback: Soul Song 2: Indodana – travelight94
Thank you for sharing this, Yolanda. I look forward to the rest of the series too! Something about this song that I noticed–it always intrigues me how much our surroundings shape our thoughts, and it’s put well here. And how humbling to realize that everywhere are fellow humans who are going through their own angst, and yet God cares for each one and gives us individualized coaching. There’s no such thing as classwork in God’s kindgom.
Some of my soul songs: In Christ Alone; Be Thou My Vision; Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart; He Giveth More Grace (by Living Stones Quartet); Show Me Thy Face; Loved With Everlasting Love; Great Is Thy Faithfulness; Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus; the Hallelujah Chorus; and too many more=)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like many of those songs, too. I’m not familiar with “Loved with Everlasting Love.” I’ll have to look it up!
LikeLike
I’m looking forward to this series!
A few of my soul songs, in no particular order:
Chris Tomlin: The Table / Future of Forestry: Someday / John Rutter: Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep / Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium / The Porter’s Gate: Establish the Work of Our Hands / Randall Thompson: Alleluia / Philip Stopford: Do not be afraid / Strahan: Your Kingdom Come / June Collin: The Quiet Heart ( : Oasis Chorale)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s quite a list. Thank you for sharing. 🙂 I’m not familiar with many of them, which is a good thing, because then I know what to listen to next!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Okay, so I may or may not like too many songs (if that’s even possible). 😄 I also have a lot that I would call “soul songs,” I guess. But I tried to keep the list short and kind of like the one you shared (since I’m not sure exactly what you had in mind). You definitely don’t have to use all of them! 😄
1. “This Is My Song to Thee”. This focuses on the beauty of nature and how it inspires us to worship God, even tho we “can’t even sing like a lowly sparrow.”
2. “Beautiful Moments in Time” by Southern Raised.
3. “Beautiful” by Rescue.
4. “Blue Skies” (I love Hallal’s version). It talks about Jesus being our blue skies. 😊
5. I don’t listen to a lot of country songs but “I Saw God Today” (George Strait) is one I like. It reminds me that God’s “fingerprints are everywhere” if I’d just look.
If you’d ever like to listen to, um, a loooong, widely-varied list of songs, I have one I could send your way! 😄 Hope this list helps you out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Yes, I like the first one, too. Although I would have to say that I like the words better than the tune. The others are new to me. I’ll have to look them up. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
LikeLike
Yay! I LOVE music, and love discovering new songs! So excited you’re going to be doing this! (And yes, I agree about needing music.) 😊
I’ve never heard this song before (although I have heard “Be Still My Soul” and it’s one of my all-time faves), but I’ve already fallen in love with it! I love especially the words “a song of peace”, and the idea that other people are just like me, with hopes and dreams. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, but just recently is it really becoming – real, I guess? It’s really hitting home and I’m trying to live it out and love others as myself, as GOD loves them.
As for other songs, hmm. . . I’m going to have to go look through my long list of songs! 😄
Thank you so much for doing this! Looking forward to the next Soul Songs!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am glad to have you, Julie. Do look in that list! I’d like to hear of some good ones. 🙂
LikeLike