I've put more theological thought into this one than most. And its closer to the edge of orthodoxy than most. It is meant to be about faith. Does it give a decent picture of faith? What do you think? I'd prefer theological critique pre-publication...
Beyond Horizons
1. Beyond horizons faith can see
Into a distant land
Across the ocean waits for me
My home, my promised land.
Looking past today
To a world away
The eyes of faith can see
CHORUS:
Beyond horizons, across the oceans
There is more than life today
A flowing river, a shining city
where all our tears are wiped away
So in faith we take our cross and bear
All things for joy will meet us there
Beyond horizons.
2. Beyond horizons Jesus saw
A land of pure delight
And for its sake he gave up all
His throne, his name, his life
Knowing God would save
Him from the grave
His eyes of faith could see…
3. Beyond horizons we will see
That faith was not in vain
For every promise Christ will keep
And every glory claim
With his word our guide,
Our vision, light
Our eyes of faith can see…
sar 2011
So it did turn out to be a song about heaven after all! Minor theological critique - I didn't think faith was about heaven and it doesn't seem to be the core of Jesus' vision of the Kingdom as "now and not yet". I thought he gave up his throne for us, not "it". But I guess the "not yet" bit is still real so that's OK. I don't think a song should be a theology lesson anyway.
ReplyDeleteA couple of small things I'd edit but of course you might not - the lines in the chorus seem to have too many words.
"Beyond horizons, over oceans
There is more than life today
Flowing river, shining city
All our tears are wiped away"
Or even get rid of "are" in line four and give "tears" two syllables. And a single syllable word instead of "Beyond" would sound better except it would stuff up your title and I can't think of one that really does it. "Past Horizons"?
Inverted sentences in Verse 3 especially and also Verse 1. My pet hate, but not everyone's :)
Rhymes not quite there yet.
Line 6 verse 1 has an extra syllable. Ignore my pedantry if you prefer, I often do.
Hi Jon. I'm glad you commented.
ReplyDelete1.Rhyme. I didn't want heaps of full rhyme. For the style of song it is, assonance is enough. Often its better. Had some more full rhymes in and chucked them out because they felt too strong.
2. Inverted lines - I thought of you when I wrote them! From the start the song was doomed to have heaps of inverted lines. It's the problem when the feature words are 'beyond horizons' - to put them at the front of the verse immediately inverts the whole thing. I'd rather not have them too, but...
3. 'Beyond' - Works with the tune. It's the feature of the song. Wait and see if you like it.
4. Yeah. Now the fun stuff. Faith/hope - I think they're linked pretty closely. Based this on Heb 11-12 ideas. Heb 12 seems to say that it was future hope than made jesus go to the cross.
"..fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:2
What do you think faith is? How would you define it? What difference does it make in your life?
I liked this version of the song better than the last - it has a stronger message and I could see the passages of scripture you were alluding to quite clearly.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't like the phrase "a land of pure delight" as the "it" Jesus sacrificed for. I get your link to Hebrews - the idea of the promised land or the city to come is very strong. But "land of pure delight" makes it sound like he's looking for a paradise of indulgence or something. I think that line needs refining. And looking back to the end of Hebrews 11, the emphasis seems to be on the saints being finally perfected together. It would be stronger if the line referred to Jesus looking forward to everything being restored and made perfect. "Pure delight" doesn't work for me.
hm. Good point. I'll try to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWhat is in my head when I think about faith is Hebrews 11:1 which says "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"....so I am struggling a little bit with the lines where it says "faith can see"....not that I think the way it is written is theologically incorrect (well, not that I would consider myself highly qualified to know that either) but it just seems a bit....incongruous maybe??
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I can see where it was fighting to be about heaven....
I do like the ideas and the imagery though.
There you go....completely unhelpful here....
Yes Simone, it's hard to comment on the words without the tune, as what sounds clunky on its own can flow with the music.
ReplyDeleteRe faith, it's a huge subject. If we keep with Hebrews, "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" does not seem to be purely a future hope - eg verse 3 "by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command." Or verse 6 referring to Enoch; "anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him".
So for me faith is this - God's presence in the world, his love for us, are not obvious, there is no compelling evidence for them, but we believe them anyway and live our lives accordingly (or try to). We have faith that God is, and we attempt to live faithfully to this calling.
This is what I mean when I say its not about the future, it's about the present. Of course one of the things we believe is that there is a better future, hence your song, but that's not the heart of faith, that is just a small part of our overall faith in God's love and mercy.
I don't think I could write a song about that, though, its such a huge and abstract concept. I would have to do what you've done, and write about a part of it.
I wouldn't have naturally linked the idea of faith to thinking about heaven before...but I do now that I've read your song and thought over it. It was the promise Abraham was looking forward to, and it's sprinkled throughout Hebrews (13:14 for example). That we have a true home that still awaits us has been essential hope within the faith of saints throughout the centuries, especially those in persecution.
ReplyDeleteYes. This is a stronger draft.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Tolkien would approve.
But the metaphor is fair enough.
What I'd like is more of a sense of the land coming to us, rather than vice versa. At the moment, the hope is still pie in the sky. I think if you can fix that, you'll also solve the Jesus-died-for-it thing.
Quibbles. Verse 1, ocean is singular, chorus, it's plural. Verse 3, second last line, I'm not really sure what you mean. I can construe some (different) possibilities, but it's too Reuben for me, I'm afraid!
Correction: I still want the Hebrews 11 heroes of old verse. They don't have to be the OT guys either - I'm happy to stand with the martyrs and reformers and...
ReplyDelete(RSS arrived as soon as I complained about it. Typical)
2. Beyond horizons Jesus saw
ReplyDeleteA land of pure delight
And so by faith he gave up all
for us in sacrifice
Knowing God would save
Him from the grave
His eyes of faith could see…
How is that Deb?
Anthony - Obviously Tolkien would approve? Tell me more. I've only read LOTR. Thinking how to make it not so pie-in-the-sky.
ReplyDeleteJon - To me, faith is believing that God will do what he's said he'll do, and has done what he says he's done. So this song is the 'will do' part. However you look at it, faith is a huge topic.
Karen - I was kind of trying to play on that seeing idea. Not sure yet if it worked.
With his word our guide,
ReplyDeleteOur vision, light
Our eyes of faith can see…
Anthony - this is the fun part. Think ps119 - your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Also think about the horizon image. We can't see beyond the horizon - our eyes aren't good enough. But faith is. With faith we know what tomorrow will bring - because God has told us (Jesus will return to judge etc.) God's word - which we are convinced is true - tells us what will happen in the future, gives us eyes to see beyond horizons.
What do you think?
Yep, except I really liked the line "his throne, his name, his life" because I think it would sound awesome sung but also because it echoes Hebrews 12:2.
ReplyDeleteCan you just change "it" to "for us"?
2. Beyond horizons Jesus saw
A land of pure delight
And so for us he gave up all
His throne, his name, his life
Knowing God would save
Him from the grave
His eyes of faith could see…
yep. that's an easy fit.
ReplyDeleteNothing worse than a song that tries to say everything. Did I say I like it? Anyway I do. A good song has to connect emotionally and this one has that yearning in it. The hope for a better future is crucial not just for Christians but for anyone attuned to the suffering of this world. I think that's part of the reason people of all persuasions relate so much to those American spirituals - "I'll fly away", "On my way to Canaan Land" or almost anything by Blind Willie Johnson, because they express a deep hope humans share. The difference faith makes is the peace of assurance that the hope will be fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteStupid question time: is it a performance piece or for congregational singing?
ReplyDeletenot a stupid question. Hoping it will make it as a congregational song.
ReplyDeleteLOTR - that whole sailing off into the sunset finale for Bilbo and Frodo and their buddies. Tolkien nicked the Arthurian notion of the land to the west, across the seas...maybe Enya will sing for your recording...!
ReplyDelete'Our vision, light' - one and two half options strike me immediately.
1)His word is our guide, our vision (is) light (ie easy)
2a)His word our guide, our vision, (his) light
2b)His word our guide, our vision, (our) light
See what I mean? (Pun intended!) There has to be an understood word to parse it, but there are a number of options. And the whole inversion thing makes it even more muddly.
I know, I know. There ain't many syllables to play with, and vision takes two. If it's any help, you could use 'sight' instead of vision, and reorder the line. Don't say I never help ;-)
But the big one is, the city comes to us. The Israelites had to journey to their land, and never really made it. God has to bring his to us.
LOTR - yes - I worked that out after I asked. I do like that idea of another land across the sea (or over the rainbow.)
ReplyDeleteI need a one syllable word to replace vision. Sight is possibly too rhymy though I'll try it. It'd need to go first.
Still trying to work out how to make it less pie in the sky. Thanks.
Jesus seemed to simultaneously see the Kingdom of God as a earthly possibility and a future state. I've been reading lots of Lives of Jesus recently and many of them suggest that the boundary line between present and future, earth and heaven, was not so fixed in the first century mind. Platonism helped the Christian church to seperate the two so heaven became a different realm in the Christian imagination. It's fascinating to try to read the New Testament passages without this assumption of heaven as another place - some passages are not amenable to it but many are. For instance we were talking about Hebrews 12 - verse 28 says "therefore since we ARE RECEIVING a kingdom which cannot be shaken" - this is in the present, and the kingdom is coming to us not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it this way, "beyond horizons" is a metaphor or a symbol. The journey is a spiritual one, not a physical one. This is not an attempt to deny the reality of heaven, it is to suggest its nature might be different to our usual imagining - it may be closer than we think - like just over the horizon, not right across the ocean. And it might be coming towards us, not us towards it, like the New Jerusalem descending from the clouds. "Listen, the Kingdom of God is at hand!".
This might all be completely unhelpful to you of course - just giving you access to a little of my headspace in case it does help.
it did remind me a lot of 'into the west' that Annie Lennox sung for LOTR. So I can imagine it being sung at a memorial? Maybe not as connected to faith now as faith for the future.
ReplyDeleteAnd I sung it in my head to the tune of 'I have a shelter in the storm.'
That is probably not helpful at all...sorry