Congregational Songwriting Praise And Worship Music for Church Study

This is a study in songwriting on Congregational Songwriting used for churches in Praise and Worship Music. We're taking a look at the sng The Blessing and this is part 1 of this study. Click here to get to the beginning of this study if you arrived here first. Congregational music is Praise and Worship Music written for the purpose of them being used in a church service.

THE BLESSING SONG STUDY PART ONE

Verse 1

The Lord bless you and keep you

Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you

The Lord turn His face toward you

And give you peace

Chorus 1

Amen, Amen, Amen

Amen, Amen, Amen

Chorus 2

Amen, Amen, Amen

Amen, Amen, Amen

Bridge 1

May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations

And your family and your children and their children and their children

Bridge 2

May His presence go before you and behind you and beside you

All around you and within you, He is with you, He is with you

Bridge 3

In the morning, in the evening, in Your coming and your going

In your weeping and rejoicing, He is for you, He is for you

Bridge 4

He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you, yeah

Bridge 5

He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you

According to praisecharts this is the #1 P&W song of this current year. The Blessing. It seemed to make sense to take a good look at it right off the bat and see what makes it tick.

The uniqueness of the title:

It's pretty unique. I think it also fell at a time where we all wanted and needed to hear this as well. I did it at my church just last week and I have to say I got a bit choked up singing it while watching the congregation hook into it. The "your family and your children and their children" part really hit hard. 

Strength of the hook:

 It's certainly easy for people to sing along. The chorus is amen, though the title is nowhere to be found which is very odd. In fact, the title is nowhere to be found... in THE ENTIRE SONG! lol! No this blows most all of my fundamentals out of the water about hook repetition etc. lol! Most songs follow that format but then there's that song that comes along and breaks all the rules. It's backed by Elevation and Kari Jobe has a history in P&W as well so that helps tremendously as I'm not sure someone writing this from nowheresville gets a song without the title in the song a lot of consideration. Its quite interesting. So is the hook the amens, or the "your family and your children and their children" part that's so thrilling to hear? 

Click here to go to part 2 of this study and continue.