On June 17th, 2011 Emmaus released our first CD of original songs titled, Church Songs. Each of these 8 songs was born in our congregation and for our congregation with a desire to serve other Christians and congregations around the world. You can download the CD and name your own price – even free! – at this link. Pastor Cole Brown co-wrote each of the songs and the following is the story behind one of them.
Mighty Fortress
In the previous post I explained how Martin Luther’s theology and songwriting inspired the song “What a Trade.” Luther’s theology and songwriting did more than just inspire us on “Mighty Fortress.” The entire song is based on Luther’s famous hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” written in his native tongue of German in 1529 and translated countless times into English and other languages. Theologian James Moffatt called it, “the greatest hymn of the greatest man of the greatest period of German history.”
The song celebrates the victory of God and God’s people in the face of Satan’s lies, deceit, and other attacks. As such, it became the “battle hymn of the Reformation” and was sung as an anthem by Luther and his contemporaries as they fought against the lies and injustices of the powerful Roman Catholic Church.
I have loved the song since I first heard it but it wasn’t until I started preaching a sermon series on spiritual warfare last year that I was convinced we had to adapt it for use in our congregation. At Emmaus we like to sing songs that match the themes we are preaching on so that our worshipful response is connected to what we just heard from God’s Word. That was very difficult to do during the spiritual warfare series as there simply aren’t that many congregational songs that fit with that theme (a special thanks to Sojourn for providing us with “Warrior,” which was perfect for the series). I couldn’t imagine a more perfect song for that series than “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to adapt it in time for the series. But I was able to adapt it eventually.
The initial challenge was finding a melody that was more consistent with the sounds of our culture. Luther’s melody was perfect for his day and time but a little complex by modern pop music standards. The second challenge was reshaping the lyrics into the language of our people. For example, “a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing/Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing” became “a mighty fortress is our God, a wall that never collapses/he is our help amid the flood of pain that never lapses.”
Lastly, the song needed a hook/chorus to drive the lyrical theme into our minds and hearts. I wrote that before having any music for the song. I was shocked when co-writer HR Crump sent me the track that would become “Mighty Fortress,” having never heard anything I had written for this song, and the chorus fit perfectly.
The lyrics Luther wrote in this hymn have been exceedingly meaningful to me over the years, especially through the challenges of ministry. For that reason I was especially nervous when I presented this adaptation to my wife for her approval (no song makes it out of my house until my wife approves of it). Normally I just sing her the song and wait for her to tell me whether it’s a keeper or not. This time I recorded a vocal reference on GarageBand and then left the room – nervously awaiting her response. I was relieved when she gave it a “pass” so that our congregation and others can sing out Luther’s powerful confession of God’s victory over all opposition, in our own language.