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Posted By: swestern The Lord Your God - 07/04/20 01:13 AM
I was inspired to write this lyric some time ago when a report was on the news about how many Catholics, even those attending Mass weekly, do not believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through the Consecration that takes place. I hoped this could be used during the Communion meditation portion of the Mass and maybe, this would help some people take that sacred pilgrimage back to believe.
Skip

https://soundclick.com/r/s8dign

The Lord Your God

Chorus
Come indulge, the Lamb of God
Take this My flesh, and eat of it
Take this My blood, and drink of it
I Am the Lord, the Lord your God

Verse
Without your gift, of bread and wine
How might you, become one with me?
How might you, become divine?
You were made, for our communion

Chorus
Come indulge, the Lamb of God
Take this My flesh, and eat of it
Take this My blood, and drink of it
I Am the Lord, the Lord your God

Verse
Do this, and remember Me
As I Am one with the Father
That you may become one with Me
And Me with you, two shall be one flesh

Bridge
Take My Heart, the Lord your God
Until you hold my heart in your hand
I will hold your most precious heart in mine
Oh, in mine

Chorus
Come indulge, the Lamb of God
Take this My flesh, and eat of it
Take this My blood, and drink of it
I Am the Lord, the Lord your God

I Am the Lord, the Lord your God
Posted By: Deej56 Re: The Lord Your God - 07/04/20 03:31 AM
swestern,

As I think I’ve said on some of your other songs, not my genre of music . . . but, man, your songs have such a wonderful, gravitating sound to them. Beautifully put together and sung. Warm stripped sound on this—just perfect for the theme. Doesn’t need to be my genre to admire the artistry.

Hope all is well in your world,

Deej
Posted By: IronKnee Re: The Lord Your God - 07/04/20 05:19 AM
Hey there Skip.................The lyric is awesome, and right out of the Gospel. The melody is really, really compelling....I would suggest more melodic difference between the verses, chorus, and bridge.
Your vocal is superb..........lovely, in fact!
Good stuff.........and have a blessed Independence Day!
-Tom
Posted By: Steve Altonian Re: The Lord Your God - 07/04/20 08:06 AM
Hi Skip,

So beautiful melody & piano. Cuts to the heart & sets the mood. This song has great potential to be played throughout the world IMO in Churches everywhere

You say FINAL...But I gotta speak up on this. Your TITLE is not a "communion" TITLE. If there is 1 thing that sticks out like a sore thumb to me on this song...It is your TITLE/HOOK.. I love everythig about it, except the TITLE?HOOK...Here's why

When I pick a song for communion, I want it to be about communion totally...The TITLE should be could be something that is "Communion". Your TITLE is confusing, because it has nothing to do with "communion". The TITLE doesn't support the first 3 lines of the CHORUS to be honest. You are talking communion the first 3 lines & go off to I am the Lord, the Lord your God. The natural flow of the LYRIC lends itself to a "communion" HOOK...IMO

I do CCM & Praise & Worship, & you & I both know "I am the Lord Your God" is pretty generic. Probably 50 copyrights to it...And I personally will start off many Praise & worship songs I am writing this way, with a "generic" I am the Lord, the Lord your God type lyric..It kind of feels to me you kept hook line from your TITLE pretty early in the writing process. I may be wrong, but you may have sang that HOOK line since the songs inception???

You could have gone something like...

"I am the Wine & Bread of Life"... or
"I am the Vine & Bread of Life"...

This drives home what this song is all about: Your concern is Worshippers do not believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through the Consecration that takes place. In the statement above you wrap everything the song is about, in one HOOK/CHORUS.

This fits your meter perfectly & is descriptive of what communion is all about...It could be TITLED "The Wine & Bread" or "The Vine & Bread", or simply "Wine/Vine & Bread" (Much better than a generic "I am the Wine/Vine" or " I am the Bread") THOUGH if you go Wine", I am the Wine" is probably a TITLE that is not used often, & is definitely a "communion' TITLE

You say you want this sung at communion at CATHOLIC Churches, but this should be sung at every communion service all over the world, & I believe it could be...But your TITLE is NOT communion...Even if your TITLE is generic as most praise & worship songs are, your TITLE should at least reflect communion. I will say this, if you get a TITLE that reflects communion in this song, your desire of this being used in congregations will increase dramatically IMO. Because when worship leaders & team members are scrambling for a communion song, they will say hey for communion let's do "In Remembrance of Me" or let's sing "When we eat this bread" or "The Communion Song"' or "The Table" or "I know it was the Blood" . You see where i am going with this?

Beautiful communion song that should be wrapped up in a one line & CHORUS/HOOK...Ask yourself does the TITLE/HOOK “I am the Lord your God” do that? Or does something like "The Wine & Bread", or "Wine & Bread" serve the purpose of this song better for the congregation to understand without a shadow of a doubt what this song is about? Which HOOK/CHORUS/TITLE better describes what the song is all about?

That's my thought...

This is not meant to discourage this great & ANNONTED work in any way. I feel the annointing all over this tune, & I have no doubt in my mind where this song was birthed. But, as one who has done this type of music for over 30 years, I would be doing you a great disservice if I just said great tune & atta boy & not tell you this could be much better & far reaching with a change in the TITLE & HOOK ONLY......

Pray on it Bro...

Posted By: Songbird52 Re: The Lord Your God - 07/04/20 01:31 PM
Plain and simple, but effective, music. Always good to hear more songs about the great mysteries, of any and all religions. There is simple and true devotion expressed in the singing.
Posted By: swestern Re: The Lord Your God - 07/05/20 09:05 PM
Deej, Yes, thankfully all is well in my families world. Thanks for your kind comments on the demo quality, development and artistry exhibited. Although I am not responsible for that portion of this song, I also am very happy with its outcome. It is very appropriate for how it should be presented. Thanks for your time to listen in and comment.

Tom, Thank you for your affirmative and supportive comments, they mean a lot. As for the melodic difference you suggest, I was pretty happy with its simplicity and knowing it was for a congregation to sing along or quietly reflect on the words. I guess in my mind, I didn't want to take the focus off the words, but that is what is important to me, LOL.

Polly, Thank you for your encouraging remarks and taking the time to listen and comment. Yes, it would be great to hear more songs on the mysteries, miracles or even mythical stories in religions of the world.
Posted By: swestern Re: The Lord Your God - 07/05/20 09:05 PM
Steve,
Wow, first I have to thank you for the time you obviously spent listening and commenting, I am very appreciative.
Actually, this song was starting to be written back in August of 2019, almost a year ago. I don't write like most others lyricists but rather depend on inspirations on where the song development should go that I feel along the way. Sometimes a spoken word or phrase, sometimes something that shows up in my inbox or whatever but I usually sense it when I see or hear it and then follow the lead. So this song started out as "Call Down My Spirit", named after the Epiclesis in a Catholic Eucharistic celebration when the priest brings his hands over the bread and wine and calls on the Holy Spirit to transform it into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Then it became "Remember When" for a short time and next was "My Lord, My God" when the focus shifted to how you might give a stronger affirmation of what you just received instead of saying the traditional Amen. Finally it settled on "The Lord Your God".

I think when you consider that God is speaking to us throughout the song and His/my intention was trying to reinforce the miracle of transformation that can and hopefully will, take place in the minds and hearts of the congregation, the title has validity, it is all about being in communion with The Lord Your God, two shall be one flesh.

Steve, if you feel particularly drawn to making some adjustments to suite your congregation/audience, please feel free to do that. I would love to hear your further development on this. Maybe that was the next step the Holy Spirit wanted to happen anyway.
Christ's peace and blessings be upon you and your ministry,
Skip
Posted By: Tom Franz Re: The Lord Your God - 07/06/20 01:08 AM
Skip,
That is just beautiful. Love the solemn sadness of this. I don't know if you intended that emotion but you accomplished it.
I envy your faith.
Tom
Posted By: swestern Re: The Lord Your God - 07/10/20 12:15 PM
Thank you Tom for taking time to listen in and for your thoughtful comments. Solemn and sacred was certainly what I wanted and I think sad can kind of go hand-in-hand with it because of the realization of what Jesus ultimately went through to give us this opportunity to be one with Him.
Blessings to you,
Skip
Posted By: coder Re: The Lord Your God - 07/12/20 05:32 PM
I like the music.

:.. the disciples probably took what he said literally and believed...

Those referred to in the article should have more faith.
Posted By: E Swartz Re: The Lord Your God - 07/13/20 02:10 AM
swest,

A very beautiful song and oozes with spirituality.

I'm not sure, but was just wondering about the usage of 1st person when Jesus Christ is the subject? It doesn't bother me, but just wondered whether it was considered appropriate? Without using 1st, you could say, " He is the Lord, the Lord your God."

This is really good!

steady-eddie
Posted By: swestern Re: The Lord Your God - 07/19/20 09:02 PM
Sorry for the delay in replying to both of you, I've been on vacation.

coder,
Thank you.
I would also think the Disciples took what Jesus said literally and knew Him well enough to wait for more explanation because they did not leave Him when He made the statement "Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life" despite how crazy that must have sounded to them. If the others who left had stuck around until the Last Supper, they might have had a different experience.
Faith can sometimes be hard to come by for anyone.

steady-eddie,
Thanks for your kind comments. You know, I had a lot of feedback from people as I was writing these lyrics who had the same concern about using first person but I found with some research that there are some pretty popular Christian songs that have used it in the past. For example, I Am the Bread of Life by John Michael Talbot. I believe there is also some Gregorian Chants that take this position. Interestingly though, I had people tell me they would never sing a song in the first person but I find that difficult to believe because I think this example by Talbot is so popular that they probably have sung it and didn't consider what they were singing.
I used first person because I wanted those reflecting on what they just received to feel like Christ is speaking directly to their heart. Seemed like a powerful way to present a message.

Skip
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