Jesus is here

Jesus is here, moving among us,
bringing good news to the poor.
Jesus is here, healing the broken,
calling the lost to come home.

Jesus, you're the living promise,
God has come among us
full of grace and truth.
Saviour, shining in the darkness,
rescuing the helpless,
making all things new.

Jesus is here, freeing the captives,
breaking the chains of our sin.
Jesus is here, raising the fallen,
making the dead live again.

Jesus is here, calling disciples,
teaching the way of the cross.
Jesus is here, giving his Spirit
breathing new life into us.

I wrote this song after hearing Trent Sheppard speak on the importance of the stories of people encountering Jesus in the Gospels. I'd noticed before when planning worship for King's Church Durham that it's hard to find songs that talk about the life and ministry of Jesus (as opposed to his birth, death and resurrection). We need to sing from the Gospels!

Working on the lyrics, I decided to limit myself to only say what the Gospels say about Jesus. The hook in my mind was 'what could the first disciples have said or sung about him?'. But I also wanted it to wholeheartedly express our experience of Jesus today. As I wrote, I was struck by how totally continuous his ministry amongst us now by the Holy Spirit is with the ministry he exercised in flesh 2000 years ago. I originally wrote the song as a meditative song of response.

You could definitely play it slower and more reflectively than this recording. But as I worked on it with the Resound Worship team, we realised that there's an irrepressible, uptempo joy in affirming these truths.

This is an important song to me. I'm only ever more aware of how much I need Jesus and how much my life heads towards health when I look to him.