Bethel Music – Goodness of God

Steve Barhydt

Tom,

First of all, a bridge is just a musical device available to the songwriters.

https://www.aulart.com/blog/the-bridge-a-key-element-for-a-good-song/#:~:text=The%20bridge%20is%20a%20crucial,song%2C%20keeping%20the%20listener%20engaged.
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What is a bridge in a song?

The bridge in a song is often considered one of the most important sections. It serves as a break from the repetitive verse-chorus structure and offers the listener a change in melody, harmony, and lyrics. The bridge provides the opportunity for the songwriter to take the story or message in a new direction, to add depth and dimension to the song. It’s a place for the song to shift gears, to build tension, or to offer a moment of reflection before returning to the chorus.
The bridge can also help to create a sense of anticipation for the final chorus and give the listener a sense of resolution when the chorus returns. In many cases, the bridge provides a climax to the song, offering a release of energy or emotions that were building throughout the song.
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Bridges (musically speaking) have been around for centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_(music)#:~:text=The%20term%20entered%20the%20English,popular%20music%20they%20were%20writing.
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The term comes from a German word for bridge, Steg, used by the Meistersingers of the 15th to the 18th century to describe a transitional section in medieval bar form. The German term became widely known in 1920s Germany through musicologist Alfred Lorenz and his exhaustive studies of Richard Wagner’s adaptations of bar form in his popular 19th-century neo-medieval operas. The term entered the English lexicon in the 1930s—translated as bridge—via composers fleeing Nazi Germany who, working in Hollywood and on Broadway, used the term to describe similar transitional sections in the American popular music they were writing.
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Hymns, on the other hand, are another style of songwriting. https://blog.musicscribe.com/2017/08/what-makes-a-hymn-a-hymn/
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1. A hymn may be arranged in many ways just like any other song, but when it’s all said and done, a hymn can be condensed down to verses and choruses, or even just verses with no choruses. If a bridge, coda, vamp section, etc. is crucial to the song, it’s not a hymn in the strictest sense of the word.
2. Hymns feature a fixed, predictable lyrical structure. Once established on the first pass, the pattern is repeated on subsequent passes, whether it’s just verses or verses with a common refrain. There can be mild variations in the number of syllables from verse to verse, but not to the point that the character of the melody is lost.
3. It is not enough that the number of syllables in verse two matches the number of syllables in verse one; the accents need to fall in the same spots as well.
4. Rhyming structures are consistent from verse to verse. If the first line rhymed with the third line in verse one, the first line of verse two should similarly rhyme with the third line of verse two.
5. Most hymns begin each line at the same point in each measure, so if the first line of the first verse starts on beat four, each line that follows will start on beat four.
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There is no right or wrong way when contrasting songs have a bridge to songs that do not, it’s merely using different ‘tools’.

You lament, ‘And why is it that worship leaders are always chasing some new song, many of which are questionable? Some very beautiful and God honoring music from the very recent past, not to mention hymns, are now in the dust bin.’

This is not a ‘new’ phenomenon either.

https://strawpoll.com/most-famous-hymn-writer

Fanny Crosby wrote over 8000 hymns.
Charles Wesley over 6000.
Isaac Watts 700

How many of these are in hymn books in churches today?

From just these three alone, if you could find a single hymn book with 100 of their works, that would only be 0.68%. The other 99.32% ‘are now in the dust bin.’

How many song so you know that are in the hymnal at your church?

I’m 63 years old, grew up in church, have been in various forms of ministry throughout my life (including leading worship) and I can honestly say that at least 50% of the songs in an average hymnal, I’ve never heard.

My point in all of this is that songs come and go. Very, very few reach the longevity of an ‘Amazing Grace.’

As to ‘many of which are questionable’, that’s why Vince has this wonderful website.

Let’s investigate your complaint about the bridge of this wonderful song.

1) You claim ‘This song is all about the Goodness of God, and then comes the bridge at which point it all falls down for me. We fly right past the Goodness of God and start singing about my GOODNESS.’

This bridge states…

‘With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now I give You everything’

Simple English comprehension shows that this is not talking about OUR goodness but our response to God’s goodness.

The bridge starts and ends with “ ‘Cause Your goodness is running after me.”

“‘Cause”, of course is shorthand for ‘Because’ which means (according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/because)
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1
: for the reason that : SINCE
2
: the fact that : THAT
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The songwriter is laying down their life, surrendering, and giving everything to God FOR THE REASON THAT , or due to THE FACT THAT, ‘Your goodness is running after me.’

The focus of the bridge is still 100% on the Goodness of God. There is nothing here that even mentions OUR goodness.

2) You say ‘How I have “laid my life down”, how I have “surrendered all”, and how I “give you everything”.’, and, ‘ I have never met the human who has done any of that, at least not long enough to sing about it.’

Whether or not any human (other than Jesus Himself) has ever fully accomplished this is irrelevant.

The fact is we are commanded to do so…

James 4:7-8 (KJV)
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Matthew 16:24-25 (KJV)
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is, of course, impossible within ourselves. That is one of the reasons Jesus sent to Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18 KJV)

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Phrases such as ‘my life laid down’, ‘I’m surrendered now’ and ‘I give You everything’ are part of a lifelong process called “Sanctification’ and you had better be doing it!

Since, this website is not the forum for extended Biblical study outside of the scope of a particular song, I will only offer Philippians 3:12-16 (ESV)

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

3) Finally, you complain, ‘I have suggested to my church (fell on deaf ears of course) that we change the bridge’

Your suggestion did not ‘fall on deaf ears’ it fell on wise ones!

It is against copyright law to change the lyrics without the permission of the author.

From the Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) website https://us.ccli.com/ccli-news/five-questions/
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Here’s another question we’re starting to hear more and more: Can I change song lyrics to fit our church’s preferences or theology? The answer is no—not without permission from the song owner. One of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner is derivative works, so any changes must have the owner’s permission.

Keep in mind that you are free to arrange songs as you wish, as long as it doesn’t change the melody, lyrics or fundamental character of a song. For example, you may want to start with the chorus, or even the bridge—if it fits the flow of your worship set. That’s fine. Maybe you don’t want to sing all the verses of a song, or maybe one of the verses has lyrics that you find objectionable. Feel free to skip verses. Just don’t change the lyrics.
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As I always try to say, if you can offer contextually relevant Scriptures to show where we are not say phrases such as ‘my life laid down’, ‘I’m surrendered now’ and ‘I give You everything’ I would love to have the chance to read and respond to them.