Tear Down That Wall

This is what I hope will be the first blog of a series highlighting some of the songs I have written over the years. With them are some unpolished home videos of the songs.
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I didn't have much interest in music as a child. All of us kids were required to take a year of piano lessons (though it took us two years to go through a one year program) taught by my mom's youngest sister, who was a part-time piano instructor and also an organist. My sisters continued piano beyond the requirement. Some of my siblings studied some kind of musical instrument or vocals in school. I had no such interest, though I did do well in music appreciation when it was taught to us in sixth grade—not so much because I liked the music part but I liked the analytical aspect of it. I think one reason I had little interest in music was because I had nothing to sing about.

Then, when I was seventeen, I ended up getting involved with a youth group at a Baptist Church in a nearby town. As part of our weekly activities, we sang praise songs. When I became a believer, I finally discovered something worth singing about. After I graduated high school, I realized I would like to bring some of the songs with me to university. My mom at one point had puchased a 3/4 size nylon string guitar which, at that point, no one had bothered to try to learn to play. I started teaching myself a little bit and put together a notebook of songs with chords—a notebook that I still have lying around. I started playing some of the songs I learned at youth group plus other choruses that I put together myself. I got a cheap case for the guitar and off to university I went.

My first time performing in public was a week prior to starting university. At that point I had been playing for about 3 months. There was this optional program called freshman camp, which started a few days before classes began. During some free time, I was sitting around, strumming my guitar and singing. At one point, I 'm playing the tune, "We are One in the Spirit," and this girl I don't know walks up to me and says, "We're going to sing that for the talent show." I replied, "No, we're not," to which she said, "yes, we are." This went on for a few minutes, and I finally gave in. It was probably the only song I could play half-way decently at that point.

During my university years, my guitar playing improved a bit. Also, a friend who was a music major invited some of us to join a choir as part of a class project, so we got to perform an entire cantata in front of her music instructors. That was a bit nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Original chord chart used in my first public guitar-playing

Since then, I have sung in church and community choirs and have also helped lead worship in various churches with guitar, vocals and/or percussion.

I'm at best a mediocre guitar player. Still, I was able to teach some guitar to some young people when we were in Thailand. Some of those went on to become much better players than myself.

Over the years, I've put together some songs, mostly as part of my own private worship. However, I'm beginning this series with a song I was reminded of by two sermons we heard at Butler Church in the past two weeks. This last Sunday's message was based on Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Back in 2006, I was part of the missions team at our church. At the time we were trying to encourage the church to think beyond the walls. In the Bible, the church is never a building or place to go to, rather, it is a group of people. Yet often our outreach efforts are focused on getting people to "come to church." Jesus tells us to, "Go...and make disciples," not to sit around and wait for people to show up. How can we be a "light" to our neighbors if the light is blocked by the walls of our houses and church buildings? So, our missions team encouraged people to find ways to get to know their neighbors so that we might be a blessing to them in some way.

That was the background for the song. I also borrowed a line from a speech by Ronald Regan at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987:

“Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (emphasis mine)

Tear Down That Wall
© Edd Russell, Fresno 11/2006



D
  You are a God without borders,
          Em
  You stepped out from heaven for us,
           C
  You reached in the dark, lonely places;
     D                                    Asus-A
  Illuminated us with Your love.
D
  You tore down all of the fences
           Em
  That kept us from coming to You.
          C
  You opened the doorway to heaven
             D
  When Jesus stepped into our lives.


C/G
  But we’ve erected some fences
D
  To keep all Your love to ourselves.
C/G
  We hide Your light under a basket
D
  So everyone stays in the dark.


                    C/G                                             D
We want to tear down that wall. We want to tear down that wall. (2x)
                      C/G                                                        D
Jesus help us tear down that wall. Cuz we’ve got to tear down that wall.
                          C/G                                              D
Yes, we need to tear down that wall. We want to tear down that wall.