2015
A Cry in the Wilderness | Songwriter Interview
Music, News | by Pastor Randy Lundy
Two weeks ago we announced the release of our Advent EP: God With Us. If you haven’t downloaded your copy, you can do so at our website through the end of the year!
One of the great privileges of recording this project was writing an original song to be included. A Cry in the Wilderness was birthed out of a series of songwriting sessions this past fall where a small group of us came together almost weekly to brainstorm, write and rewrite together in a collaborative effort.
Adrienne Haass was one of our lead songwriters through this process and was hugely instrumental in writing A Cry in the Wilderness. I asked her if she’d be willing to share a little bit of the story behind the song and her experience collaborating in the writing of it.
Can you share a little bit of the original vision/inspiration for A Cry in the Wilderness?
One of the realities that we were struck with early on in the writing was how the Christmas season can be a really difficult time when you are lonely or suffering. It hurts to fake a smile and sing “Joy to the World” when nothing about your life seems very joyful. Our goal was to write a song accessible to those in darkness and then help them move to a knowledge and conviction that Christ’s coming is good news.
As we thought about the biblical examples of those who are lost and hurting, we continually ran into the theme of “the wilderness.” Adam and Eve are banished from the garden to the wilderness, Cain is exiled to the wilderness, the Israelites wander in the wilderness, David hides from Saul in the wilderness. The wilderness in the Bible represents being cut off and cast out from civilization, from home, from the blessings of God in a land and a city. It is remarkable, then, that in the New Testament, we see Jesus, an exile in Egypt, sent out into the wilderness to be tempted and ultimately crucified outside the city. The powerful reality we resonated with here is that God not only promises to deliver us from the wilderness, he enters into our suffering and redeems it.
Could you walk us through how the song unpacks those themes?
The song is laid out as an answer to the question, “why is the incarnation good news for suffering people?” The answer is:
God HEARS us in our suffering (verse 1)
When we wrote this verse, I thought of Hagar, banished, lost, her infant son dying of thirst in the wilderness. God hears the baby’s cries and an angel tells Hagar, “Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy.” (Gen. 21:17)
God COMES into our suffering (verse 2/3)
God is not just a sympathetic listener, He comes after us and does something about our condition! He becomes an exile and takes our curse upon himself, literally cast out for us and nailed to a cross to bear our shame.
God REDEEMS our suffering (bridge)
God will ultimately turn the desert wilderness into the restored, thriving garden that he has promised. All of the wasteland experiences of our lives, everything that is barren, dead and dry, God redeems and makes fruitful.
The chorus is our response to this incredible good news. As our eyes turn from looking at ourselves to beholding what God has done, we are compelled to worship.
What was it like writing collaboratively with a team of songwriters?
It was an amazing experience to write a song for the body as the body (1 Cor 12:27) – to see the Lord bring an initial idea from one person, melody from another, the musical mood from a third. It was fun to just focus on being a finger and let the rest of the body do its part! The rigor of having every word subject to the critique and input of a team also forced a depth and precision of thought that could not have occurred working solo.
What was the hardest thing about writing this song? How did you see God show up along the way?
The hardest part of this song was starting! The night before Randy and I were scheduled to discuss an initial draft of the song… I had nothing. I had done the work, read the texts, applied the methods and come up empty. It was a humbling reminder from the Lord that I have nothing valuable to say about Him unless He first reveals himself to me. That evening, 12 hours before our meeting, God did speak, in the way He is faithful to speak – through His Word. I heard Pastor Adam read from Ephesians 2:12, “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,” and there was the first verse.
Do you have a favorite line/phrase/verse of the song?
My favorite part of the song is the bridge, it was actually one of the easiest pieces of the song to write! We were reading through Isaiah 35, and as we read, Randy began extemporaneously putting the passage to music. I love that this section of the song lifts our focus from our individual plight and even our individual salvation to God’s cosmic redemptive plan. The anticipation is palpable, come Lord Jesus!
What encouragement or advice would you give to an aspiring songwriter?
I truly believe every Christian can benefit from writing songs to our God. The reward is in the effort, not the result. Laboring over a scriptural theme, trying to understand it and express it, is a lot like Bible study. It is, in fact, Scriptural meditation. Start with a truth about God that moves you to worship, maybe a verse that you want to sing back to God, then start the work of saying it as beautifully and accurately as you can. There are delightful treasures waiting for those who take a pick and chip away at the rock!
What’s your hope for others listening to this song?
My hope is that those who listen and sing the song will experience what I did in writing it – a fresh understanding of why Christmas is such a big deal and why it is cause for joy. The birth of a baby in Bethlehem is not a cute fairy tale. God really did break into human history through a birth canal. It’s shocking, gritty, and it’s true. How can we remain unchanged in the presence of such scandalous love?
You can listen to A Cry in the Wilderness at our website or on YouTube. Feel free to share and distribute this song to any who you think would be blessed by it.
