Lead me to your heart- Essentials Green Spring 2009 Week 5 – Final Creative Project
For The institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.
Here is a rough draft with the whole band
http://cedarhome.org/mp3/songs/rough%20drafts/leadmetoyourheart-may14roughdraft.mp3
Lead me to your heart
You’ve called me on a journey
To leave behind the sinful valley
To let go of the bitter pleasures
poisoning my soul
The road ahead is narrow
With twists and turns, it’s steep and winding
But Jesus with your hand in mine there’s
nowhere I can’t go!
Lead me to your heart
Help me climb your holy mountain
There is more to you
than I will ever know
I fix my eyes on You
Step by step, your path I follow
Though the way is long
I’m pressing on!
Words & Music by Jason Chollar April 23, 2009.
—
The Story
I sat down tonight to do my final creative project for my final class towards my music BA. As you have probably read, this module has been about worship values and spiritual formation. I was reading through and thinking about the Psalms of Ascent (120–134) sung by the Jews on their trips up to the city on the hill: Jerusalem going to the temple to worship. This is one of my favorite illustrations of congregational worship, a group of people heading up the mountain to worship the Lord. I was also thinking of Lot escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, notice the candles in the video shot, for mood. 
What do y’all think? I’d love some feedback!
-jason
hey jason,
thanks for sharing your tune!! i enjoyed it… you did a good job at conveying the thoughts of leaving things behind, perseverance in the journey, as well as the hope of what is to come. i like the ending statement of “i’m pressing on”, good prayer of faith.
i love the psalms of ascent too. eugene peterson’s book “a long obedience (in the same direction)” helped me spend a little more intentional time in those psalms. i wrote a little tune called “the pilgrim song” a few months ago if you want to listen here:
http://ilike.com/artist/Joel Limpic/album/Pilgrimage
all the best.
joel
Hey Jason, I like the song! Very nice setting for the mood with candles too. I want to show Sam when he gets home from work. Keep up the writing, my brother.
~Milena
I think the song is great! Very accessible, I was singing along. =)
Great imagery in the lyrics to. I love when I can picture what I’m singing.
Thanks, Kristi Rundvall
Nice!
I like the journey concept in worship too. Seems like we focus too much on some emotional experience sometimes.
May I recommend the word “winding” instead of “windy”?
love ya
Yep, it was late late late when I wrote it down. I meant winding. Changed it everywhere I think now.
thanks for noticing bro!
good stuff!!!
windy kind of brings a new dimension though (haha), love candles and by the way video is so the way to go.
donald
Hi Jason, Nice, very nice. I especially liked the second part about being led up the mountain and that there is more to God than we will ever know. That was my favorite part. I also thought your phrase “bitter pleasures poisoning my soul” was especially good. The lyrics of this one are some of your best work I’ve heard so far. I enjoyed the alternate tuning too. And you had some nice chords and chordlines in the song.
The candles are nice too. I do some silly things when writing and recording too. I had my prayer shawl on when I recorded the guitar parts. It is my tabernacle
Blessings to you, Jason!
Mark
I like the imagery that you used in your song. Not cliche. Great song.
Heather