Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New Song...Old Poem...

Growing up I didn't have much exposure to hymns. This is one of the "liabilities" of growing up in a Charismatic church in the '80's. Lots of "Ra-Ra" but not a lot of content. But that is topic for another post. My post today is about a NEW SONG!!

I was recently at a memorial service and on the inside of the program was a poem by Sabine Baring-Gould titled, An Evening Hymn. I read it during the service and I was blown away!! The lyric and thought flow was fantastic and the melody immediately popped into my head.

Sabine Baring-Gould is the man (yes that is a dudes name) that wrote "Onward Christian Soldier" and 1,200 other hymns!! This particular poem was written in 1865 and I have yet to find any recordings indicating what it might have sounded like. I dug around a bit more and read, although titled a hymn it might have only been a poem and never been put to music.

I got home from the memorial service and set to working on the melody, chorus and arraignment. It just came together! So here i am sharing it with you all. Please, please, please share your comments and thoughts. I appreciate EVERY SINGLE one!

Caveats: I am not sold on the chorus and there are some pitch issues at the end :-)

Download Link: Click Here

An Evening Hymn

Verse1
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

Verse2
Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep,
Birds and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.

Chorus
Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to thee, bless'd Spirit,
Whilst all ages run.

Verse3
Through the long night-watches
May thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.

Bridge
Jesu, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With thy tenderest blessing
May our eyelids close.

Verse4
When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure and fresh and sinless
In thy holy eyes.

Chorus
Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to thee, bless'd Spirit,
Whilst all ages run.






Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Community and Creativity...

I was looking at some old videos of Michael Card playing some of his songs on YouTube today when I came across something.

During the intro of one song, there is a quote from Michael that says the following.

"Creativity does not truly come from the popularized image of the tormented artist, struggling with the muse. True creativity is born in community as men and women of God listen to each other and to Him; as we seek to understand each other's woundedness strengths.
I don't think I have heard the idea of community + creativity put any better.

What do you find is the environment that lends to your best creativity?

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Happy Names...

After filling up at the gas station the other day I decided to purchase the optional drive through car wash. When the selection screen came up to select the desired wash, my options were: Deluxe, Complete or The Works.

I had NO idea which option was as better than another.

I finally walked over to the entrance to the wash and read the sign listing what was included in each wash, then made the appropriate selection. Who knew "Complete" was the ultimate wash of the three?!

I am finding more and more our culture has systematically neutered the negative elements from everything! I go to Starbucks and I don't have Small, Medium or Large I have Tall, Grande and Venti. Not that this is necessarily bad. But when we leave out anything "less" or "negative" in our naming or descriptions of things, we lose objectivity. I would go so far as to say that we need Bad in order to know what Good is!

I am fine with marketing departments coming up with whatever naming convention they want to differentiate their product from a competitors product. But please people, it is OK to call something small that is...well small! Or call something big that is big!

What are some other example of our culture giving everything a happy name?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Recap on our "Truth" conversation...

Thank you guys so much for the awesome comments! The conversation was rocking and deep.

If you missed the original post, go here to get caught up and then share your thoughts.


Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What Makes Something True??

I made a quick video about an interesting conversation with a friend today about "truth" and the validity of those who speak truth.



Leave some comments, lets start a conversation!

Friday, January 16, 2009

New song to share...

I have been working on this song for the last couple of months and I finished it last night. I posted the lyrics below and I would love some feedback on it.

Update
People have weighed in and made some great suggestions!
- Try the song in a higher key, maybe a 1/2 or full step
- Find a better title that better fits
- Find some different/better chords for the pre-bridge in each verse
- I am thinking about reworking the last verse and specifically, the last line
- The reference to "morning/mourning" in the last line doesn't really jive
With the whole "river" and "washing" idea in the rest of the song.


KEEP THE COMMENTS COMING!!



Download link 1: Click Here

Download link 2: Click Here
(Click "Open" when the download prompt comes up)

The River
© Chad Markley 2009
Take me to the river

To the waters edge

Help me get down closer

The rocks are digging in

On the shore are burdens

Of those that came before

Take me to the river

It's what my hearts been aching for

Take me in the water

Out where I cannot touch
The sand is getting smoother
Am I asking for too much

The heavy weight is lifting

As the bottoms dropping out

Take me in the water
Why did I ever doubt


There's grace in the current

There's such hope in the flow

The washing of the water

The waves are crashing on my/your soul


Walk with Him to the water

Trust Him and venture deep

He took your shame and heartbreak

His scars were written with your grief

He made your soul for freedom

Why would you stop and wait

Walk with Him to the water, my friend

Your morning/mourning is about to break

Leave me some feed back!!


Friday, January 2, 2009

Making it right....

This last Sunday I had an opportunity to speak at our church. It being the end of one year and the start of another I wanted to find a good topic that focused well on beginnings and endings, renewal and all the other things that a new year brings.

I mulled over a couple of topics that I thought would be good and then something my wife has said to me more than once came to mind; "speak scripture, infused with the story of what you ARE going through or what you HAVE been through". Immediately after remembering what Sarah had said the word "Reconciliation" popped right into my brain.

Reconciliation; what a brilliant central theme to EVERYTHING! The Cross, the birth of Christ, the entire story of God and his journey to reestablish relationship with us! The word reconcile means to reestablish a close relationship between. Or essentially, to make things right.

I was super stoked to have read "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller which gave me an amazing look into one of the best parables Jesus spoke on the topic of reconciliation, The Prodigal Son. The author spends the majority of the book focusing on the relationship between not the father and the son but rather the two sons and their relationship with each other.


THIS is the journey I had started some time ago with a friend that had deeply hurt me.
THIS is the story I had been living these last few months.
THIS is the story of how I had begun to "make it right" with my own Prodigal Brother.

If you would like to listen to the teaching I did on 12/28 you can click here to download it