{"id":2056,"date":"2012-07-15T15:01:20","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T20:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2012-07-15T15:01:20","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T20:01:20","slug":"expressing-the-inexpressible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/","title":{"rendered":"Expressing the Inexpressible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[2056]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2061\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic-200x300.jpg 200w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.northpark.edu\/\">North Park University<\/a>\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/em>I received a song request this week that caught me by surprise. On reflection, I viewed it with very mixed feelings. As a songwriter it is always nice to know that people remember and appreciate your songs; I went through a particularly rich vein of writing while leading the worship ministry in the Pennsylvania church where we spent fourteen very happy years from the mid-nineties onwards. Frequently people will remember a worship song that expressed their sentiments, or special music that was written for a friend\u2019s wedding that now seems perfect for their daughter\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>However, this particular request I received with mixed emotions. I wrote the song for a little boy named Kyle who had been diagnosed with cancer even before he was born. Nobody expected him to survive very long, but as he got older and still fought the disease, he became beloved to everybody in the congregation.<\/p>\n<p>After a few months it was decided that he would be dedicated and the ceremony was planned for a Sunday morning service. Sadly Kyle passed earlier during the week that the service was held and the song that I had written for his joyful dedication was instead sung in his memory.<\/p>\n<p>The request that I got this week that led to such mixed feelings was for those lyrics to be sent to another set of grieving parents. It&#8217;s always terribly sad when a child passes away and yet it\u2019s part of my calling as a songwriter is to express the inexpressible; to create the words that need to be said and give that vocabulary to the people who need it most.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes such a task can be seen to bring a blessing. You see, years before Kyle died, we ourselves had a child who passed away of sudden infant death syndrome and \u2013 until that time &#8211; I had never been able to express my grief at his passing. In writing the song for Kyle I was able not only to express my own grief but also to empathize with what those parents were suffering.<\/p>\n<p>As you read these words, perhaps you can join me in prayer for the parents who mourn this week for their son Colin.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a lifetime of pain in a moment,<br \/>\nA burden adding years to your soul.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s the sacrifice of all he had to live for,<br \/>\nA fascinating story left untold.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s the end of all we struggled for in hopeful prayer<br \/>\nAs we sensed the awful imminence of night;<br \/>\nAnd though we are standing, staring at the sunset,<br \/>\nHe will watch the sky of Heaven as it fills with glorious light\u2026<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lifetime of memories to treasure<br \/>\nAnd the life remembered far outweighs the pain.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s the privilege of loving someone beautiful<br \/>\nAnd the promise that we all will meet again.<br \/>\nThere\u2019s the ever-present echoing of laughter<br \/>\nAnd the glimpse of shadows running through the trees,<br \/>\nBut the joy for him continues ever after<br \/>\nIn a life of untold happiness, eternal love and peace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd a sword will pierce your own heart,\u201d Mary was told<br \/>\nAs she dedicated Jesus to the Lord.<br \/>\nThrough the years she watched God\u2019s mysterious purpose unfold<br \/>\nAnd the offering of love outpoured\u2026<\/p>\n<p>It was a lifetime of pain in a moment.<br \/>\nDrops of blood in an ocean of tears;<br \/>\nAnd the sacrifice of all he had to live for<br \/>\nBrought a moment of truth for all the years.<br \/>\nIn that crisis of pain Christ bought eternity<br \/>\nFor us all, for the weight of all wrong;<br \/>\nAnd the darkened silence looming over Calvary<br \/>\nWas the hush before the glorious song\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome home, my beloved! You are here at last!<br \/>\nAll the waiting is over, all the suffering is past!<br \/>\nWelcome home, my beloved! You\u2019re a child of the King!<br \/>\nCome and join the congregation! Hear the angels sing,<br \/>\nWelcome home!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=2056&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0North Park University\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship. I received a song request this week that caught me by surprise. On reflection, I viewed it with very [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0North Park University\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship. I received a song request this week that caught me by surprise. On reflection, I viewed it with very [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Geoff Twigg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Geoff Twigg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Geoff Twigg\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794\"},\"headline\":\"Expressing the Inexpressible\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"commentCount\":1,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/\",\"name\":\"Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/07\\\/expressing-the-inexpressible\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Expressing the Inexpressible\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Worship Connect\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794\",\"name\":\"Geoff Twigg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Geoff Twigg\"},\"description\":\"English composer and theologian. Fellow of Trinity College, London and Royal Philharmonic Society Prizeman. Married (since 1981) to Vicki; father of Cat, Stiv and Pete. Hobbies are Movies and Soccer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.geofftwigg.com,newpietist.tumblr.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/author\\\/geofft\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect","og_description":"Today\u2019s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at\u00a0North Park University\u00a0in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer\/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination\u2019s Commission on Worship. I received a song request this week that caught me by surprise. On reflection, I viewed it with very [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/","og_site_name":"Worship Connect","article_published_time":"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/07\/songwriting-graphic-200x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Geoff Twigg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Geoff Twigg","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/"},"author":{"name":"Geoff Twigg","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794"},"headline":"Expressing the Inexpressible","datePublished":"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/"},"wordCount":698,"commentCount":1,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/","name":"Expressing the Inexpressible - Worship Connect","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-15T20:01:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/07\/expressing-the-inexpressible\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Expressing the Inexpressible"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/","name":"Worship Connect","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/00bf658801760c3dce79f38afcaa3794","name":"Geoff Twigg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a9d1884338b8413d8f2e91e33e1c0d37aa35febba08509988a2f4010ba2983?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Geoff Twigg"},"description":"English composer and theologian. Fellow of Trinity College, London and Royal Philharmonic Society Prizeman. Married (since 1981) to Vicki; father of Cat, Stiv and Pete. Hobbies are Movies and Soccer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.geofftwigg.com,newpietist.tumblr.com"],"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/author\/geofft\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2060,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions\/2060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}