This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
If you go down
If you go down to Jerusalem
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’re sure of a big surprise:
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’ll hardly believe your eyes -
Today’s the day the Spirit came.
He looked like fire with tongues of flame.
He made the disciples praise the name ... of Jesus.
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’re sure of a big surprise:
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’ll hardly believe your eyes -
Today’s the day they were waiting for:
The Spirit came with a mighty roar -
like rushing wind, and they wanted more ... of Jesus.
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’re sure of a big surprise:
If you go down to Jerusalem, you’ll hardly believe your eyes -
Today’s the day that shyness ends.
He gave them courage to tell their friends:
“There’s life for all who the Spirit sends ... to Jesus.”
Copyright © John Hartley 2005.
Story behind the song
This song was written in a little bit of a hurry. We were having a "Teddy Bear's Picnic at Pentecost" event for the children at church, and I had been reading Nicky Gumbell's explanation of Acts 2:2-4 (the wind, the fire and the tongues on the day of Pentecost) as part of my sermon-preparation for that Sunday. The format was we would start the hour with a song, then the children would do activities, and then we would have a short time of drawing it together in worship before tea. The children were making windmills and wind chimes, and headbands of flames of fire ... and I suddenly realized how it could all come together. With a frenetic effort the song was written and posted up onto the overhead projector within the hour.
In a way, this song isn't finished. It needs a last verse along the lines of
If you go down to your local church, you'll find that it's still the same:
the Holy Spirit will come to those who ask him in Jesus' name.
... (I haven't written the rest yet!)
Not that every believer or every church experiences Pentecost as dramatically as on that occasion, and not that every church is as lively as the one in Acts, but every church has within it the seeds of the same experience - for Pentecost is supposed to be a timeless event in the lives of Christians (which explains the peculiar tenses: "Today's the day" (present) "the Spirit came" (past) ).
John Hartley
The words of the "Teddy Bears' Picnic" were added by Jimmy Kennedy in the 1930s. The above link gives these words, and you can also find them by following this link.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.