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Open Spirit musicians create originals for worship

News | November 10, 2015

The songs began on a Tuesday evening in September.

A few of the members of the Open Spirit contemporary ensemble – which provide worship leadership for St. Paul’s 11:45 a.m. service – got together at Hans Schnekloth’s house. Chris Ryan had created a set of words, with a few ideas for the chorus and a couple of verses.

Over the next couple of weeks, five people contributed something to the lyrics via email and text, changed the chorus a bit, and then rehearsed with the group to share with the congregation. Heavy Lifting debuted in October.

“It was a wonderful experience,” said Bill Campbell, the leader of this crew – the one who sits at the piano during contemporary worship.

Then, Bill challenged the group to write an original piece for Joy Sunday, Nov. 8. It’s the weekend where St. Paul people pledge their financial commitment to the church for the following year.

They tried out a couple of beginnings of songs, but none quite hit the mark. Then a jam session during a rehearsal seemed really right. With inspiration from the gospel reading for the week, Chris Ryan wrote lyrics, others helped fine tune, and another Open Spirit original was born.

Light Up the Way debuted last Sunday.

 

It hopefully won’t be the last, Bill said.

“Each of us contribute what we have and together we’re creating some really good songs to share with the congregation,” he said. “Just like that first session we still have no expectations.  Well, that’s not totally true. We each expect to continue doing this and are happy to be bringing some new ideas to share.”

 

LIGHT UP THE WAY

Words & music: Steve Baril, Bill Campbell, Chris Ryan, Hans Schnekloth & Brad Suhr
V1
We live as children of light

We can know what is good and what is right,
God’s kingdom come, and will be done,
And we can light the way
But when the road still seems dim,
Jesus speaks and we follow Him
He clears a path, through the darkness of our past,
And lights the way

CHORUS 1

Light the way, through the darkness

Light the way.

He clears a path, through the darkness of our past,
And lights the way

V2
You may think your flame is small
But it’s enough to share with all
When your favor, shines upon your neighbor,
You’re the light along the way

Now the fire won’t die down
To all in need, we pass it around
Our candle’s bright, like stars in the night
We can light up the way

CHORUS 1

Light the way, through the darkness

Light the way.

Our candle’s bright, like stars in the night
We can light up the way

CODA

God’s kingdom come, and will be done,
And we can light the way

3 Comments on “Open Spirit musicians create originals for worship”

  • Cindee Schnekloth

    November 12, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    meaningful and very cool!

  • Erin

    November 12, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    amazing tune, I was totally lit up after hearing this last week 🙂
    Thank you!

  • TOM HEBBELN

    November 12, 2015 at 3:40 pm

    GREAT JOB BAND-DITO’S!

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