JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback Lyric Feedback Forum 3 Prayers Go Up (Blessings Come Down)

Please critique. Written with an eye to arranging it for a mixed quartet who sing at my Jamaican congregation.


Prayers Go Up
(Blessings Come Down)

Israel in the wilderness,
Hungry as can be.
Grumbling to Moses,
“Why did you set us free?
Can't you see we're starving?
Soon we'll all be dead.”
Moses sent up a prayer,
Down came angels' bread.

Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Heaven's riches start to flow
When God's children bow down low.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down.

Elijah on Mount Carmel,
His head between his knees.
Praying for the seventh time,
“Lord, send rain clouds, please!”
When he'd prayed just one time,
God answered by flame.
But Elijah kept on praying
'Till heav'n sent down rain.

Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Heaven's riches start to flow
When God's children bow down low.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down.

Disciples in the Upper Room,
Humbled hearts unite.
They've prayed for a week and more,
Setting all things right.
Came the day of Pentecost,
Their praises rose up higher,
Touched the throne of Mighty God,
And down rained tongues of fire!

Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down.
Heaven's riches start to flow
When God's children bow down low.
Prayers go up,
Blessings come down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down.

c2007 Skip Johnson
All rights reserved

Note: I snagged this hook off the saying posted on the sign of a church I passed today. The three incidents involved in the verses are ones drawn from the Bible itself.

The first was the giving of the miraculous manna, or angels' bread, to the approximately two million former slaves during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness on their way to the land of Canaan. You can read the original story in Exodus, chapter 16, if you are unfamiliar with the tale.

The second verse tells of the prophet Elijah, who faced off against wicked King Ahab and the villianess, Queen Jezebel, who had led the nation of Israel into the worship of the false idol god, Baal. He prayed that God would shut up the sky to prove He was the sender of rain, rather than the idol god, Baal--who was worshipped as the sender of the rains among the heathen peoples in Canaan. After three and a half years had proven to the nation that Baal couldn't provide the rain, and everyone was in a very bad way due to no crops or water, God sent Elijah back to face off against 450 prophets of Baal in a showdown of the gods/God on top of Mount Carmel.

This battle was simple enough. They would build two altars, put on wood and a sacrifice, then call upon their respective gods/God. Which ever diety answered by lighting the sacrifice without their worshippers applying the flame, would be the nation's God.

Baal's 450 prophets went first. They danced around their altar from morning until noon. No fire. Elijah called, "Cry louder! Maybe Baal is asleep, or on a trip, or sitting on the toilet. You need to get his attention!" So the 450 grew wilder and wilder in their dance around the altar. They even slashed themselves with knives so that their blood ran down their bodies. I even came across information during my time at the seminary that suggested this particular god was worshipped by some through the practice of self-castration. This do-it-yourself sex change surgury was for the purpose of fitting the devotee to serve as a male prostitute in Baal's fertility shrine sacred orgies. It likely happened up there on Mount Carmel, too.

By evening, there was still no anwer from Baal. His bloodied and self-mutilated prophets were exhausted. All the left was a gory ring of their own blood around a still unlit altar. It was Elijah's turn. He built the fallen altar of Jehovah, put the wood and sacrifice on it, dug a trench around its base, and had the people pour so much water on the whole thing that it soaked the sacrifice, wood, and filled the trench. Then he asked the people, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Baal is god, serve him. But if Jehovah, the God who brought your fathers up from Egypt, is God, follow Him." Not a single person would step forward to declare himself in favor of either diety.

Then Elijah prayed, and fire fell from heaven. It burned up the sacrifice, burned up the stones of the altar, and even licked up the water in the trench around the altar's base. The people fell on their faces, crying, "The Lord, He is God!" Elijah had the people seize the 450 priests of Baal and take them down to the brook at the base of the mountain. There he cut a little deeper than they had themselves, killing each one of the self-wounded false prophets with the sword. This was a bloody, but appropriate judgment. In past decades, wicked Queen Jezabel had killed the prophets of Jehovah throughout the land until Elijah was the only one left. Turn about was entirely fair play.

Still no rain, however. That's when Elijah climbed the mountain again, and crouched with his head between his knees. There he prayed seven times for rain to end the drought. Each time he sent his servant to look out over the sea. Finally, after the 7th time, the servant came back with reports of a cloud the size of a man's hand on the horizon. Soon the rain was falling in torrents, and the nation was saved both from its idolatrous allegiance to Baal, and from the drought.

The third verse is drawn from the New Testament account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit fifty days after Jesus' resurrection during the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. According to Jesus' instructions, 120 had been praying together in the same upper room where Jesus celebrated his last supper with the 12 disciples earlier. He had told them to wait there and pray until God sent them the Holy Spirit to give them power in preaching the gospel.

They had done so for ten days, setting differences between themselves aside, and seeking God for the promised blessing. When it came, it appeared as "tongues of fire" which came down and rested on the head of each praying person present. They began to speak in the languages of people who were gathered there in Jerusalem from countries all over that part of the world. Each person heard the gospel being preached in their own native language. Peter stood up and preached a sermon, and 3,000 people joined the Christian church and were baptized at that time.

So that's the Biblical background for each of the blessings that God's people have prayed down in the past. The lyric is a means of remembering these things, and of helping people remember to pray still.

Wow, Skip... it looks great as-is, as far as I'm concerned. It tells each story nicely, ties together, and has a catchy chorus.

No nits from me. I hope we get to hear this over in the MP3 forum soon.

I'm the choir director at my church (formerly Music Director, too) and so I wade through hundreds and hundreds of songs each year, many of them really, really bad, to be quite frank. If this one popped up in the stack, I would consider it a keeper, depending on the music. The lyric has no problems that I can see, and I can get pretty picky about religious lyrics.

Keep 'em coming.

- James

James,

Glad for a good word from such a knowledgable source. Some minor nits may get fixed as this is set to music. I've got a basic idea of how it should sound in my head. Just need to sit down and peck it out to be sure all the parts fit.

On the chorus, the basses and tenors sing "Prayers go up" in an ascending melody line, and the altos and sapranoes do the "Blessings come down" echo, like rain falling from above. Both come in on the 5th through 7th lines, with the bass taking that "down, down, down" part clear on down to the lowest note the lowest bass can handle. Then it cuts back to the next verse, which can be passed around between various vocalists, with the others singing the back up. I'd like to arrange it so it could be done accapella--though piano music later would probably work well for a full choir.

We'll see how it turns out. I did write this with an eye on a specific group as the initial performers. I need to get it into order so they can try it out.

Thanks for the look.

Skip

P.S. Choral music is my absolute favorite of all forms. It can have anything from a single solo voice to the great booming of the entire large choir--and any back up from none at all, to a full orchestra. I'm not sure there is any form that exceeds a choir, so far as musical scope and possibilities go. It has the greatest range and scope available.

It was a barbershop choir festival in the gym at the Christian high school I attended as a Freshman that so inspired me that as I was walking back to the dorm afterward, I said to myself, "I can do that. I can make stuff like they were singing." I went back and wrote my first two songs the same evening, over 35 years ago now. Most of the writing I've done since has been for me to sing myself, but quite a bit could, and should be adapted for choral applications, I think. Particularly the reset Psalms.

Hi Skip,

Another lyric well done. It sounds like you've got a great idea for this song. Let us know when you get it all together.

Hey Skip!

This is awesome! It will sound great as a quartet number.

I really like the way you've included these wonderful miracles in it.

Charlann

Hi Skip,

I like this style of writing. Sorta reminds me of the Cradle song I wrote (stylewise). You've kept yours simpler though and that is good. I will keep watching and learning.

I agree this will make a good quartet number. But, like you say it could be a full choral production. I just recently wrote one about Naaman that I thought would make a good choral number too.

Keep writing. How are things going with your street performances in Boston?

Vanessa

Ps. this afternoon the neatest thing happened. Hope you don't mind me sharing it here. It goes right along with your song.

I was driving to the Garden District over in nearby Montgomery to the Old Cloverdale Park for a Spring Concert series. One of my new friends at Old Alabama Towne told me his daughter was performing there today. Didn't get to hear her at the coffee shop a couple weeks ago so decided to make a special effort to go today. My six year old was in the back seat. After waiting patiently for almost an hour for me to find the park (should have only taken about 20 minutes) he said, "Mommy when ARE we going to get there?"

Then I had to admit that I wasn't sure we would even find it. Well, he gets discouraged easily (hmmm) so I said, "Why don't you ask God to help us find the park, son?" His response caught me by surprise. "Well, I don't think God realy cares about things like that Mommy----we're not dying or anything!"

I don't know how to describe how my heart sorta just squeezed out a few extra pumps of 'prayer'. But, that's the closest I can do at an attempt to describe how it felt to hear him say that. God read my heart. Five seconds later I looked up to see the street sign for "Old Cloverdale Road". Then I knew we were VERY close to our destination. Within five minutes we were there.

I thought he knew God cared about all our worries. Somehow he hadn't picked up on that. So, now I know I've got to make passing that 'little' tidbit of knowlege on to him much better than I have so far. My silent prayer today was "God please show him that is NOT true." (Show him You DO care about everything that happens to us---not just serious danger or death). He DID and he did it BEFORE I'd even asked.

Thanks for sharing this timely lryic. Hope we get to hear it soon!

Vanessa

Skip, I Love this...very well done.
Crafted well...,interprets itself easily...and has a certain
oomph (sp?)..about it.

best....to you....
Kaley