Stories Behind the Songs

Three songwriters spotlight three songs that hold spiritual significance in their lives; and they share more about the creative process behind each song.

By JESSICA GELINEAU

Read Time: 10 minutes

The members of The Seventh Day1 have become known in the global Christadelphian community for creating and sharing spiritual music. Their recent release is a double album entitled Window to Infinity.2 The album contains 23 original songs recorded with the highest level of professionalism the team has achieved. The new album has made its way to streaming devices and the hearts of many believers. 

The songs on this album represent a variety of songwriters, some of whom are just beginning to share their work with the wider community. Here, we spotlight for you three songs by three songwriters known for songs such as Wings of Dawn, Good News of the Kingdom of God, and Here at Last. The songwriters are Sis. Aletheia Burney, Bro. James DiLiberto and Bro. Phil Rosser. 

The songwriters were requested to choose one song that held spiritual significance in their lives and to share more about the creative process behind this song.3

Lord, I Know You’re Here
Aletheia Burney

Lord, I love the night,
I see You in the stars
as I gaze into that window to infinity,
And even when the city lights
shine neon bright,
enough to fill my eyes,
Even when I cannot see You,
Lord, I know You’re there.

Lord, I love the dawn,
I see You in the sun’s rays
as they climb across
that distant blue horizon,
And even when the highway noise
drowns out the sound of
birdsong on the air,
Even when I cannot hear You,
Lord, I know You’re there.

Lord, I love the light,
I feel You in the midday sun
and taste You on that summer sea breeze,
And even when I close the doors
and windows and hide behind these walls,
Even when I’m in the dark,
I still know You’re there.

Lord, I love the sound
Of a heartbeat in the quiet
as I listen for Your still, small voice.
And even when the life I lead
barely leaves enough space to breathe,
I know that if I find the stillness,
Lord, You’re there,
You have always been there,
You will always be there,
Father, You will never leave me,
Lord, I know You’re here.

This song is close to my heart because it was inspired by a specific scenario and a specific place. The structure of the song is simple, with just four verses. It goes from night to dawn, to midday, to dusk. In that way, it may be a little unconventional. If you were going to follow that pattern, you would start in the morning and work your way to night. But it was inspired by being out under the night sky, and then over maybe the next week or two, another verse would come, and then another, and the song became more like a collection of journal entries. 

The second verse came about when I had gotten up early in the morning when I was living in a house on a hill with this incredible balcony overlooking the river, just near the city of Perth in Western Australia. I could see one of the main highways full of people commuting to work. There’s incredible bird life here, even in one of our biggest cities. So, you have these connections to real life reflected in the lyrics. 

For some context behind the third verse, it was the middle of summer, and I talk about closing the doors and windows, which in Australia can be necessary just to survive the heat. I think having included these kinds of tangible and sensory anchors to places and times, hopefully will make this song relatable to other people as well. Many of us know what it is like to live in a city, have light pollution, and not be able to see the night sky. To have that connection to nature is not so accessible all the time. We know what it is to lead busy lives and to intentionally step out of that, seek the still small voice, and find God in silent spaces and wilderness recreations. 

Rise to Our Help
James DiLiberto

Awake!
Why are You sleeping? Only silence
Can You hear my desperate cry?
Come out!
Why are You hiding in the shadows?
Will You hide Your face from me?
I am here!
Did You forget me? My affliction
You know the secrets of my heart.
Rise to our help
for the sake of Your steadfast love,
redeem us.
Please do something!
We’re taking anything we can.
In this battle we are losing, are You willing?

Save me!
‘cause I am falling, my breath is failing
This pit is dark and I’m so lonely
Save me!
The waves are breaking, and I am sinking
I’m reaching up to take Your hand

Rise to our help
for the sake of Your steadfast love,
redeem us.
Please do something!
We’re taking anything we can.
In this battle we are losing,
are You not willing?

Awesome in wonder,
mighty to deliver,
We’re desperate
for the power of Your Presence.
Are You not with us?
Are You still with us?

You have broken me
(my face is to the ground)
You have covered me
(with the shadow of death)
I am a scorn to my neighbors…
I’m not alone, so…

Rise to our help
for the sake of Your steadfast love,
redeem us.
Please do something!
We’re taking anything we can.

There are a lot of mental health challenges in my family. We have depression, anxiety, and children on the autism spectrum. There are times in your life when you just need some help. And when it’s not coming, you can get angry at God. There was a time when my wife was having a lot of challenges with migraines, and I remember I kept praying day after day for help with it, and it wasn’t coming. I remember running outside when it was raining. It was like a movie. I ran outside in the rain, shook my fist at the sky, and screamed at God for the first time. I yelled at God. I screamed at Him, asking Him, “Why are you not doing anything? Why are you sleeping?” And I was so mad at God for not seeing me (or not feeling like He was seeing me!). 

Halfway through COVID, I was having similar feelings. “When are You going to come to our help here?” Around that time, in the Bible readings, we had gotten to Psalm 44, and I remember reading the end of Psalm 44 and thinking, “Can you say that to God? Is that all right?” Then I realized, wait, I’ve been there before. I’ve said exactly that before. 

I sat down and put a chord progression together in a minor key. With lots of tension and anger, I started singing some of the end verses of Psalm 44, word for word. I could not believe what I was singing. “Why are you sleeping? Why are you hiding? What is going on with you? I’m here. Did you forget me?” At the very end of that Psalm is this pleading—I know You’re sitting, but now, please rise to our help. It’s not for me. It’s for the sake of your steadfast love. Not for me, not for my problem’s sake, but for the sake of your steadfast love, redeem us.

Sis. Aletheia recently helped me see a key change in the verse about God’s steadfast love. So, when you get to that musical shift, you’re metaphorically at the end of the day. You’re saying, “Give me something. God, just give me something. Do something. I’ll take anything you can. Just give me a little bit of relief. Just give me something. Give me a breadcrumb. Because we’re losing in this battle right now.”

Some of the other Scriptural allusions here would be the person with leprosy with Jesus, asking him, “Are you willing?” He says, “Lord, if you’re willing.” Sometimes, we don’t know if God is willing. We don’t necessarily know. That can be an open question to God or Jesus. 

The song gets to maximum tension and instrumental turbulence in that second verse. Lyrically, I had initially only thought about Peter falling in the waves, reaching up to take Christ’s hand. Even in the presence of Christ, he was falling. Bro. Phil helped me bring in more imagery there, evoking the loneliness and isolation we all have sometimes felt. Similar to what Joseph would have experienced while in the pit or when John the Baptist was in prison.

We experienced this globally during COVID 19, being locked in and isolated. I think everyone got a sense of that loneliness we can experience in really dark places, even to the point of facing death. It’s one of the reasons for the line about the shadow of death in the outro (concluding section). It’s from Psalm 44, but at times, we, as believers, are a scorn to our neighbors. The shadow of death surrounds us. Our loved ones die. In those moments, sometimes we can ask, “Are you still with Israel when she was losing battles?” They would say, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

At the end of the day, we ask God to rise, but we leave it all in God’s hands. It’s the idea of “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Or “Please do something. We’re taking anything we can, and we’ll leave it up to you to provide and leave it there.” That’s why it ends on that cliffhanger.

One more thing: this is the only song on the album that is a duet with my wife and me. It’s very autobiographical of our challenges since the pandemic and our children’s struggles. So, this song is my favorite because it’s been the most therapeutic for me and my family. It hasn’t been a happy time, but it has worked something far greater in our hearts. 

The King
Phil Rosser

Dry were the tears from the eyes
from the ones who recognised
the voice of the King
When He cried to the Father of Lights
and the Father heard His cry
when the darkness covered Him
Turned were the captives now set free
by the righteousness of liberty
When the King passed through death’s gate
and brave was the face of the slave
on the day salvation gave
the heartless hope
to the voices that sung

How long, O Lord,
will you forget us now forever?
How long, O Lord,
will you hide your face from me?

Now there’s a change of the scene
Now prisoners are set free
Now there’s a change of the scene

Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son

I’ll change my life, I’ll change my heart
now that I live by the Son of God
I’ll change my mind, I’ll be set apart,
the King of light has conquered dark

Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son

You changed my life,
You changed my heart,
now I live by the Son of God
You changed my mind, set me apart.
The King of light has conquered dark

Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna to David’s greater Son

Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to the King
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to the King
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to the King

The King was the song in this collection that I had been very reluctant to re-record from my early demos. It’s a very personal one in terms of how the life of Jesus affects and impacts me. The song is an imagined scene of Jesus coming up to the gates of Jerusalem just before he’s about to be crucified and people welcoming him as their king, hoping all their burdens would be lifted. For those people at that time, they did not understand Jesus was going to release them of the far greater burden of sin and death, and that’s what was on his mind. They were thinking about their immediate problems, but he was thinking about their eternal position. 

For me, The King is one of those songs that took a while to mature to where it is now. It has a lot of the DNA of the early demo that I did, but some of the changes have added a lot of richness to the song.

It was quite late in the recording process with James that I said, “Hey, how about we change that bridge around the second time instead of, I’ll change my life, let’s say, ‘You changed my life.’” In the life of a believer—when the work of Jesus initially impacts you, say, after you have recently been baptized, you really desire to do something for Him and to change your life. But as shown through the slight changes of that second bridge, there’s a change of thinking as we age. We learn that this is not about me at all. It’s not about what I can do for Christ. It’s about what Christ is doing for me and through me. I think this progression in the lyrics shows how we often start with a desire to do something and come later to the realization that Christ is working in us.

Being such a personal song, The King also reflects a little bit on Hymn 330, my favorite in the Green Hymn Book. “I heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest.” If you look over from The King to that hymn, you’ll notice a lot of similar elements, for example, a key change from the minor to the major for the second half. I love that hymn and how it can move people to think about how Jesus is calling them to lay down their burdens and rest on the eternal hope in him. 

Jessica Gelineau,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA