“Lead Us Back” is one of several modern hymns on “Before The Throne,” Sojourn’s newest CD, and one of two songs of repentance.  I wrote the lyrics in a hymn meter, and singer-songwriter Brooks Ritter then composed the haunting yet simple melody.

 The lyrics to “Lead Us Back” came from several ideas.  First, I wanted to write a song for the “confession” period of a worship service because our “Before The Throne” project needed songs for each liturgical movement, and also because I needed to confess some things to God.

I decided to write a hymn with three verses, each ending with the phrase “lead us back to life in You,” and to make each verse explore a different way in which we fail to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and carry out the gospel mandate. 

The first verse is all about how we Christians of the modern Church (especially those of us in prosperous countries) revel in our comfort and security, building enclaves for ourselves so we can have everything we need without having to deal with anyone or anything we don’t care for. 

I am indebted to Jay and Lindsay Eubanks for this verse because when I began attending Sojourn in 2004 they led a home study group that discussed urban renewal and all the related issues: “white flight,” gentrification of poor neighborhoods, the need for reconciliation between God and humankind, and then between humans of all races and cultures.  The discussions we had in that group weighed heavily on my heart as I wrote this verse, ending with the “valley of dry bones” analogy, great Biblical imagery borrowed from Ezekial.

The second verse deals with the problem of showing favoritism and trying too hard to be “relevant,” to confuse the goal of winning the lost with the goal of winning the favor of those we deem “cool.”  I am indebted to Lorie King for the many conversations we’ve had about these things and about the temptation to “become a talent show.” 

The line “worshipped beauty, courted kings” might seem controversial, because of course true beauty comes from God, and in a sense truth, no matter how shocking or hard, is beautiful.   But the modern Church has had problems with “beauty.”  I read an article not long ago that talked about how some churches create promotional photos for their worship services by getting physically attractive people to fill up the front rows.  Then they snap the photos of the congregation from the pulpit, giving the impression that Jesus doesn’t just saves your soul, he turns you into “America’s Next Top Model.”

 Harold Best says the Church acts as if “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” should read “worship the Lord in the holiness of beauty.”

The issue in the third verse, legalism, has been a hot topic for years and is certainly a problem for me.  I want to define “sin” as whatever I don’t like.  If someone is listening to music I don’t like, wearing clothes I don’t like or doing virtually anything I don’t like or understand, my first impulse is to consider it sinful. 

In the studio, someone thought to end the song by repeating the last two lines of each verse.  I wish I’d thought of it myself, and I’m indebted to whoever did. 

To get technical very briefly: the song is written in 7777D meter, meaning that each line is seven syllables long.  The lines are trochaic (strong-accented first syllable, soft second syllable) rather than the more usual iambic (soft first syllable, strong second).  For example, “falling” is trochaic — you pronounce it “FALLing.”  “Away” is iambic: “aWAY.”

The trochaic pattern is forceful, direct, abrupt.  This means it’s a good pattern for writing lyrics that are pleading, imploring or invoking.  Sample hymns that use this pattern include “Rock of Ages, cleft for me,” “Sinners turn: why will ye die?” and “Jesus, lover of my soul.” 

I was happy with how the lyrics turned out so I wanted to make sure the song would have a well-matched melody.  This is why I turned to Brooks Ritter, part of our songwriting group at Sojourn, and a Louisville-area singer-songwriter I had enjoyed catching in local shows for about a year.  He did a great job coming up with a melody that is penitent but not morose, that matches the mood of the lyrics and is easy for congregations to sing.

When people tell me this hymn convicts them, I respond that it convicts me too, no matter how often I hear and sing it.  I am guilty of all the things these lyrics confess.  I don’t know how many people may need ”Lead Us Back” to remind them of the things for which they need to repent, but I know I need it.  Heaven help me.

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