St Luke's Church Eccleshill

Immanuel right here

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Immanuel right here

Original version

CHORUS:
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh!
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh!
Immanuel, God with us, God near us,
Immanuel, right here!
We have a hope and we have a future,
God is with us, no fear!

VERSE 1:
Long time ago, as foretold by Isaiah,
the virgin gave birth to a son:
her little baby became the Messiah,
Immanuel, God has come.

CHORUS

VERSE 2:
God is not idle, he came down to see,
to live here and suffer and die.
In Jesus Christ he is with you and me,
his Spirit is here close by.

CHORUS

VERSE 3:
At home and school, at our work and our play,
Immanuel, God always here:
we'll get to know him some more every day,
and with him we'll never fear.

CHORUS

SPOKEN DIALOGUE* OVER INSTRUMENTAL VERSE:
Q. What are these "ooh-ooh"s?
A. The noise of a dove.
Q. What's the dove for?
A. The Holy Spirit.
Q. What's the Holy Spirit?
A. The way God comes to us.
Q. Oh, right.

CHORUS.

Second version (after critiques)

CHORUS:
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh!
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh!
Immanuel, God with us in Jesus,
Immanuel, God near!
We have a hope and we have a future,
Immanuel, right here!

VERSE 1:
Long time ago, as foretold by Isaiah,
the virgin gave birth to a son:
her little baby became the Messiah,
Immanuel, God has come.

CHORUS

VERSE 2:
God is not idle, he came down to see us,
to live here and suffer and die.
He rose again, and he's here now to free us:
Immanuel, God close by.

CHORUS

VERSE 3:
At home and school, at our work and our play,
his strength overcomes all fear:
Jesus is with us, he's close day by day:
Immanuel, God is here.

CHORUS

SPOKEN DIALOGUE* OVER INSTRUMENTAL VERSE:
Q. What are these "ooh-ooh"s?
A. The noise of a dove.
Q. Why is it a dove?
A. It means the Holy Spirit.
Q. What's the Holy Spirit?
A. The way God comes to us.
Q. Oh, right.

CHORUS.

* The 'dialogue' may be between leader and people, or between two members of the music group, or between two halves of the auditorium, whatever suits best.

Story behind the song

This song was written as a first draft for a possible school song for Immanuel College, a Church of England secondary school in Bradford. The school's emblem is a dove (hence the noise of the dove at the start of the chorus), and the song is intended to bring home the meaning of the word "Immanuel" - God with us. Verse 1 refers to the bible passage which speaks of Immanuel (in Isaiah). The school is located in Idle, a district of Bradford - hence the pun on the word "idle" in verse 2, and verse 3 refers to the ongoing life of the school and its pupils. I ought to add that the school itself has not yet decided if it wants me to write it a school song!

The second version was written in response to some pertinent comments by Orlando, a friend on the Christian Songwriting Organisation e-mail chat group. The colloquial phrase "no fear" (which means locally "of that there is no doubt") has been changed to make the song less "fearful", the rather vague start to verse 2 has been tidied, and the ends of the verses have been uniformized, and the dialogue has been slightly changed. I'm very greatful for Orlando's help, and further critiques are welcome.

John Hartley