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.
Faith
Faith - the certainty
Faith - the certainty,
the knowing what we do not see,
my hope in God's Son
the reliable one,
being sure of eternity,
convinced of his love for me.
By faith we understand
the world was made at God's command.
So Noah, when God said: "Build me a boat",
built it - he was ready to float
when rain flooded the land -
that's faith: Noah will stand!
By faith we find a home
although on earth we wander and roam.
So Abraham, when God said to go,
left his house and he didn't know
where God would give him land -
that's faith: Abram will stand!
By faith we will receive:
we don't yet have, but still we believe.
So Moses went and called all the slaves,
led them forth, God parted the waves,
they came to their own land -
that's faith: Moses will stand!
Now time's too short to tell
of heroes who reached heaven through hell:
they prayed, they saw God's answers to prayer,
round us now, they beckon us there
to join them in that land -
by faith, with them we'll stand!
Words & tune copyright © John Hartley 2005.
Story behind the song
This song was written as an entry to Christian Songwriters' Network's Lyrical Challenge. I had joined "Christian Songwriters' Organisation" in an attempt to receive some critiques of the songs I had written to date, and the CSN challenge was promoted on CSO. You had to write a song (lyrics only, no words at this stage) based on one of three passages of scripture.
The chorus came first. Faith is the certainty of things which are not seen at present - it's the being sure. The verses came later: as I looked at Hebrews 11 I wanted to see what aspects of faith the people mentioned were particularly commended for - and in the cases of Noah, Abraham and Moses the answers are given in the scripture: for believing that the world obeys God's directions, for believing God will lead us to our home, and for persevering despite not reaching our goal in this lifetime.
The song was used in church on the first Sunday of Lent. What is supposed to be the result of faith? It's supposed to be not just resistance to the temptations of the world, but positive action in the direction God leads. Like many of my songs it came as the conclusion to a sermon!
John Hartley
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.