∴ TO ONE ANOTHER
Recorded 12/24/2018, Written 12/22/2018
To me, Christian fellowship is distinctly reflected in hymns and doxologies; People joining their lives and voices together in the pursuit of worshiping the one true God. Hopefully this project (besides presenting hymns, doxologies, prayers, and songs) also reflects and portrays the ideas expressed in Galatians 5:13-14 and Ephesians 4:3-7, and in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16.
After coming up with the instrumental Selah(s) theme, I challenged myself to write words to that theme that might sum up the main concept of “To One Another,” while avoiding the obvious & cliche Christian song rhymes. The main concept being the fellowship of the church, and also that of the divine Trinity. This became the obvious introductory track for the project.
The reason for putting these songs together was merely that they were the remaining hymns and doxologies and some leftover songs I hadn’t recorded yet, and in most cases, hadn’t played in a long while. However, this group of songs was supposed to be the very last recording project, after what I thought would be two other Albums’ worth of songs I wanted to do first (which eventually became the three Ebenezer Stone Albums). But at some point there I began thinking that my wife, Laura, and I might record this batch together, and so I started working on fine tuning and practicing these songs instead of the other ones. Eventually Laura suggested that I should just record them myself, and that’s how this project became first, and the other (three) would now come after.
∴ HYMN TO THE ONE AND ONLY
Recorded 12/4/2018, Written sometime before 3/8/2006 *
This started out as a much slower paced (Sunday morning-type) hymn. But it was just too slow. I kept coming back to it over the years, but it was never quite right. As this project began to unfold, I found the right drum beat for it and wrote the little guitar riff to match the pre-programmed drum intro on the keyboard, and then wrote variations of it to introduce each subsequent verse. The short ending riff was written to match the pre-programmed drum ending supplied by the keyboard. This process actually happened a good bit on this project, and so I’ll try not to mention it again.
∴ DONE IN LOVE
Recorded 12/28/2018, Written sometime before 5/6/2006 *
This is a song, again, made up of two of my old memory verses. As I mention later in the notes for Jesus Washed the Feet of His Betrayer, it is wise to ponder and wait upon the Word of God. During a time of reflection one day, I realized that these two verses from different parts of the New Testament went together like peanut butter and jelly! That’s the beauty of the Bible and of the Spirit – when you are able to see how different parts fit together in profoundly meaningful ways, you see the singular authorship of the Bible by the triune God.
Quite a while ago when I thought I had this song “completed,” our son, Michael, who was in his teens at the time, was learning to play the guitar and was leading worship and playing in the coffeehouse band with us at times. One day I was explaining to him how songs sometimes jump up a key to give the sound that powerful rising strength. So, of course, he asked me if songs ever go down a key. I responded with something like “Uh…. I don’t think so…” To which he replied (of course), “Why not?” I told him that I didn’t really know, but that it seemed like it would be hard to do. Well, of course, that challenged me to write a song that would go down a key somewhere in the middle – and since this one had been fresh on my mind at the time, I decided to rewrite it in that way. It starts in the key of E Major and ends in the key of D Major. See if you can tell where it switches.
∴ HOLD ME…FOR ETERNITY
Recorded 12/1/2018, Written 11/4/2018
This song came to mind just as I was beginning to really rehearse and organize this project. I sang the first verse and the (original) chorus for Laura and Jenni on the way to church, because I wasn’t sure if it was something we had all heard before. They said it wasn’t, but that my (original) chorus was much too generic… So I rewrote that, and finished writing the song. I thought it was done until I was in the backyard a day or so later with the dog just as the weather was starting to turn cold. The second part of the bridge came to me like it had always been there. I don’t know whether this is the best song I’ve ever written or not, but I do believe it could be the most important one.
∴ HOLY AND AWESOME
Recorded 1/11/2019, Written sometime before 9/11/2004 *; Rewritten during the first full week of 2019
Another very old song. We played this live a couple times and it was just great, but then after that it never had quite the same robust feel, so I removed it from the rotation. Over the years I kept coming back to it and trying to recast it, but it just never worked. I considered including it on this project at least five or six times, but kept crossing it off the list.
Well, after I had all of these other songs recorded and was listening back through them, trying to finalize what order they should go in, I realized that the first “Book” of five songs was 16:47 long, and that the second “Book” of five songs was exactly the same amount of time! But the third “Book” only had four songs, and was 1:48 short of 16:47. So I immediately thought how cool it would be to have all three “Books” with fives songs each at exactly 16:47 each!!! My next thought was – So I need one more song, and it has to be 1:48 long! What about Holy and Awesome?
So I started rewriting it so that it would capture the essence of the original song, and include all of the same words, but in a much shorter amount of time. Step one: Speed it up. Step two: Figure out what I could repeat, and what I couldn’t repeat in order to hit the 1:48 mark exactly. Step Three: Switch it (subtly) from NKJV to ESV.
After recording nine different (live) versions (all at exactly 1:48 in length), I painstakingly decided on the one final version to go on the Album. But then when I got it loaded from my computer into the media library on the website, it was somehow now 1:49 long!!! What??? Apparently the computer and the website round to the half second differently…. Ugh. Cool plan completely ruined… However, I then noticed that one song in Book Two was rounding up an extra second too, and one other song (besides Holy and Awesome) was also rounding up in Book Three. So now the Books were 16:47, 16:48 and 16:49 in length respectively. That’s cool too… Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
{Update – now that I’ve switched up the album’s song order, the whole timing thing is out the window…. But the story remains the same.}
∴ PRAISING THE NAME
Recorded 12/6/2018, Written sometime before 12/10/2004 *
This song has had several variations throughout the years, and we sang it for worship services a few times. I kept juggling the words around, changing the chorus, changing the phrasing… never quite right, but I could just never give up on singing these words. I finally got it into a format that I’m very pleased with for this Album. Another one of the few songs I decided to do without any drums; mainly because I was never quite sure exactly what tempo or time signature I was really playing it at (or in).
∴ SELAH III, II, I
Recorded 12/24/2018, Written 12/20/2018
If you are already familiar with my music, you know that I like to put short, themed passages into the scheme of each Album. This little theme came out of nowhere one evening as I was wrapping up some rehearsing for this project. I played it into the recording device quickly and then headed downstairs to see what Laura and Jenni were up to. After polishing it up the next day, I decided it would be interesting to record it in a few different “voices” to give it some variation throughout the Album. “Selah,” comes from the Psalms and is generally believed to mean to pause and to reflect.
∴ THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS
Recorded 12/28/2018, Written sometime before 11/18/2005 *
In 2005 I was studying 1 Timothy with three other guys (part of the Home Fellowship), and one of them told me that I had to put this verse to music. So I did, and then brought my guitar and played it for them at our Bible study the next week. We sang it at worship services a couple times (at the original slower hymn-like pace), but I “retired” it because it just didn’t sound right to me anymore. As this project rolled around I decided this would be one of the tracks without any drums, and I actually came up with the choppy guitar strumming right as I was recording the song as a way of trying to keep the track more interesting to listen to. The words are just so “out there” if you don’t know what Paul is writing to Timothy about and if you don’t understand the Gospel itself. Please let me know if you need help understanding this one. Please.
∴ AS YOU THEREFORE
Recorded 1/1/2019, Written 12/28/2018
During the very final days of recording this Album, someone dear to me mentioned that he was reading through the book of Colossians with one of the Elders at our church (Missio Church of Syracuse). That got me thinking about a few of my old memory verses from Colossians and just so happened to be on the very same day that I had been thinking that I really needed one more song for this project. That night I sat up in bed reading through Colossians, and began jotting down the passages for this song with a tune in my head. As soon as I woke up the next morning I went downstairs with my guitar and plunked out the chords and got it all on paper. This song fits perfectly into the overall concept of “To One Another.” If only we were all able to encourage each other in the way the Scriptures exhort us to! Man, what a Church we could be…
∴ AND NOW, O LORD GOD
Recorded 12/24/2018, Written 12/9/2018
I’ve prayed these two verses every morning for well over ten years now, followed by Psalm 90:16-17, Psalm 33:22, Psalm 119:125, and Luke 21:36 (paraphrased). So naturally, these verses would pop into my head as a song quite often, but I could only get the first few lines straight each time and then the rest would get muddled and the thought would pass. (In my head it always sounded like a Broadway showtune.) As I was preparing for this project I knew that I needed to finally write the whole thing out. I used the pre-programmed drum sounds to help develop the music, and it turned into something that is certainly not like a showtune. Think about this – this powerful prayer was first offered by one of the greatest men in all of Jewish history and it is over 3,000 years old!
Also – The second half of my morning prayer can now be found at the end of The First & The Last – Disc 2 in a song called “Let Your Mercy, O Lord, Be Upon Us”.
∴ IF WE WALK IN THE LIGHT
Recorded 11/29/2018, Written 1/1/2007
Laura and I wrote this one together. A co-written song about fellowship on an Album about fellowship. Nice. However, it’s also about our propensity to lie to ourselves about our own “goodness,” and is (thankfully) about God’s faithfulness displayed through His Son, Jesus (that Divine Fellowship!).
Again, more of my old memory verses (thank you, Pastor Ken) put to music. We never played this song live anywhere because, although I thought it was a great song, I was just never quite satisfied that it was ready – until now.
∴ FILL ME UP
Recorded 12/22/2018, Written sometime before 7/9/2005 *
Right around the time we left the one church and started the Home Fellowship, I was sitting alone in our bedroom one Saturday morning praying this very sincere prayer in a moment of absolute desperation. Somehow (by God’s grace) that prayer became this song. He works all things together for good to those who love Him, and He makes all things new!
In God’s big picture, the things that bring us the greatest sadness and confusion are often the things that we look back to with a wide-eyed understanding of just what He was doing and preparing us for… (For instance, see Mark 8:31-32, 9:31-32 & 10:32-35 or John 9:1-3.) Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
∴ TO HIM WHO IS ABLE
Recorded 12/27/2018, Written sometime before June 2002 *
This is one of my earliest songs as a baptized follower of Christ. Because I was so new to the Word and to the Christian music scene, I didn’t realize that several other people had already put these two verses to music. If I had known that, I probably would have shied away from doing so myself. But I believe God, in His infinite wisdom and kindness, wanted me to write this song and prompted me to write it before I had the opportunity to decide against it on my own. This song is actually sort of hard to play because of the weird timing of the chords against the singing in the bridge section.
∴ ALL HEART
Recorded 12/1/2018, Written sometime before 10/31/2004 *
This song is basically a summary of a message I heard at the first or second Bible Conference that I ever attended. The Speaker that day talked about true worship and related it to Genesis Chapter 4, which struck me in a very profound and life-changing way.
I don’t think (true) worship (of God) is an easy thing to do. In the Spirit, yes, of course it is easy. But we’re trapped in this flesh, trying to break free – seeking to be in the Spirit. It’s a daily struggle, man.
Worshiping the things of this world (in our flesh) is easy. Way too easy. But Jesus told the woman at the well (in John 4) that true worshipers would worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Another mystery of Godliness… God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but He rejected Cain’s. I think I understand why, but I wish there was another verse or two in Genesis Chapter 4 to explain it a little more. Maybe one day God will explain that one to me. Or maybe not…
I suppose one of the keys of true worship (in spirit and truth) is to have a constant desire to be doing it right. Because if you read through the Bible, you’ll notice that God does require worship to be done according to His design and according to His standards. The Psalmist(s) obviously understood that (see Psalm 104:33-34 and Psalm 19:14).
∴ TELL ME ABOUT THIS JESUS
Recorded 12/22/2018, Written sometime before 12/21/2003 *
This was one of my very first attempts at a traditional-type hymn. This one goes up a key towards the end (in case you weren’t sure what I was talking about in the Done In Love comments). I wrote this one with a co-worker in mind. The drum beat I found for this gives it a bit of a different feel than how the song was originally written.
∴ JESUS WASHED THE FEET OF HIS BETRAYER
Recorded 12/6/2018, Written sometime before 2/29/2008 *
This song takes a verse from each of these four hymns (written by other people): How Great Thou Art, Blessed Assurance, I Will Sing of My Redeemer, and Amazing Grace.
When we started leading a Bible study at an Assisted Living Facility in September 2001, we realized pretty quickly that I needed to learn how to play some of the old familiar hymns. Over the next five and a half years, I learned plenty of them, and we sang each one of them plenty of times. This song is, in part, a tribute to all of the songwriting saints who walked the earth and praised the Lord before us. It is also a song that testifies to the importance of not only reading the Bible, but also thinking about it and pondering it. You see, one day I was thinking about the Last Supper, and it occurred to me that Judas is dismissed after the supper had ended. But wait – Jesus washed all of the disciples’ feet during supper (according to most translations). Wow. Jesus already knew who would betray Him (John 6:70-71), so that means He truly humbled Himself and knelt down and washed the feet of His betrayer just a few hours before receiving that famous kiss on the cheek from Judas.
∴ DOXOLOGY
Recorded 1/2/2019, Written sometime before 12/21/2003 *
I’ve known this tune most of my life (you probably have, too). So familiar. So uplifting. So corporate, and yet so personal. So I wrote my own verses to it early on in my Christian walk because I thought it was such a shame that there wasn’t anything more to it than just that one well-known verse. (Which, of course, I found out later wasn’t true…) Just like with To Him Who Is Able, if I had known there were already more verses written, I probably wouldn’t have done it myself. Once again, God allowed my naive blindness to help me create something for His glory!
The prequel to my arrangement is found on O My Soul! from …And Let the Hills Hear Your Voice, and the final verse – being played live for the first time so very long ago with What Then? – is found on Track 13 of Alive in the Chapel – Disc 2.
At one time I had all of Psalm 103 memorized. You really should read that one today (it’s got to be where the traditional Doxology comes from). What amazing promises – which only the God who created everything could possibly make! He is absolutely astounding. Psalm 103 also squeezes most of the main points of the Bible into one compact place. As you read it, try to identify them. And don’t forget to ponder God’s Word. Hebrews 11:6 says that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Amen.
∴ NOW MAY THE GOD OF HOPE
Recorded 11/29/2018, Written sometime before 3/4/2006 *