Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2)

New song … as I prepare to preach this Sunday on Philippians 2:1-13; one of the great passages of the Christian scriptures.   Still working on the sermon (barely started 🙂 but I’ve got a new song, paraphrasing verses 5 to 11, which many scholars think was an early Christian hymn.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Over the years I’ve wondered how this hymn actually went, especially musically.  How singable was it?  Was it upbeat?  Was it reflective?   Parallel to all this, I’ve been reading a great article from a book by the late Henri Nouwen called The Selfless Way of Christ, in which Nouwen points to Christ in full humility taking the path of “downward mobility” in the form of a slave, all the way to the Cross and beyond. I’ll connect with that this Sunday. A minor key seemed to be in order, yet rounded off with a repeated coda of “Jesus is Lord”.  Done score,  lyrics  and demo backing track for now (piano/flute melody line).  A nice echo at the end!

Meanwhile, here’s my adapted lyrics, David.

Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus
Though he was God freely emptied himself
Taking the form of a servant
in human likeness
Humbled himself in obedience
– to death on the cross

So God exalted him
his name high over all names
At Jesus’ name every knee should bow down
In all of heaven
and on earth around and under
To the Father’s glory
every tongue cries, “Jesus is Lord!”
“Jesus is Lord!”
“Jesus is Lord!”
“Jesus is Lord!”

from Philippians 2:5-11
David MacGregor   © 2017  Willow Publishing