Story Behind the Song
"Rapture" is an epic poem written by Rev. James Martin, that I'm (Edward Jerlin) currently in the process of setting to music. It is, in a nutshell, a unique look at the story of man's ongoing relationship with God.
It begins with the story of Creation told in Genesis 1. It continues through the perfection that man once fleetingly knew in Eden; to man's fall from Grace. It tells of the various ways that man has attempted to replace God, or alternately, get back into a relationship with and be closer to God, and of man's failures to do so. It takes the reader on quite a few twists & turns, fits & stops, weaving its way through a number of tangents. It gets quite personal in one section, where Jim evaluates his own relationship with God, and his need for salvation. There is a brilliant section on man's concept of time. It takes the reader through a faith journey like no other, eventually focusing on the return of Christ to gather his flock of believers. It is ultimately the story of God's Saving Light and Lamb, Jesus Christ.
"Rapture" spans 10 movements or "books" as Pastor Jim prefers to call them. Each "book" ranges in length from one page, to 6-7 pages in length. The poetry is laid out as prose, rather than having any kind of verse-chorus or rhyming scheme. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any rhyming in the entire poem. The reason for this is that Jim never imagined that "Rapture" would someday be set to music.
During one of our many "midnight" conversations about a whole range of topics, Jim mentioned to me that he had been working on an epic poem for a majority of his life and was close to completing it. I had never heard this before, and asked him if I could read it in the hopes of someday setting it to music. He resisted the idea at first as he had never shown this poetry to anyone, including his wife Meredith! He also had doubts that such a thing could be set to music, as that was not his intention for it, although he hoped to someday publish it if he could ever complete it to his satisfaction. Maybe because I was so persistent, maybe because Jim and I have a high level of trust, but Jim finally showed me what he had.
To put it mildly, I was totally blown away by what I read! This was nothing like the songs Jim had written. This was a whole new level of depth and creativity, the likes of which I had never seen before -- very different from the lyrics of the worship songs he had written. In a weird kind of way, I felt honored to be the first one to read it.
I immediately threw myself into putting parts of it to music. I then played some of it for Jim, which in turn inspired him to complete it. Unfortunately for me, that included revising some sections that I had already set to music, requiring me to re-think the whole musical structure and in one case, to do a total re-write.
One of the reasons our first album took so long to record was that I kept getting sidetracked. I would go into the studio with the intention of recording new tracks, and instead would find myself getting caught up in another section of "Rapture", and end up writing some more music for it.
Because Jim did not originally intend for this poem to be set to music, a few of the sections have proven to be a bit difficult to work with. But somehow, it seems to be working rather well so far, with only a couple of lines seemingly forced a bit. Along the way, I have edited a couple of words to fit some of my musical ideas, but not many. I have checked each edit out with Jim first. Some changes he approved, others he vetoed, at which point it was back to the drawing board for me! In no case did I change the meaning of what Jim is trying to express, only the syntax. All in all, I'm amazed at how little I've had to edit the words at all! It's been a ton of fun and work at the same time. We seem to have come to a tacit agreement to let me finish the music on my own (enthusiastically showing it all to Jim as each section gets completed.)
The music for the first seven "books" is now written, comprising around 70-75 minutes of music! We hope to fit these on one CD before we attempt to complete it. The entire production will probably end up being somewhere around 2 to 2 1/2 hours in duration when it is done. It may be many years before this project is completed. This is definitely a work in progress, and a labor of love.
What you hear here is part 1. The instrumental passage in the middle is intended to convey the act of creation. I highly recommend listening on headphones for "maximum effect."
Thanks for listening!
Lyrics
RAPTURE - BOOK I: "IN THE BEGINNING"
*PROLOGUE*
Zero remains zero,
remains so forever.
Zero begins zero,
and being of no consequence,
"nothing ventured, nothing gained."
That was the time when only God remained,
to create out of nothing that which was not before,
but soon would be after...
It was a time,
when no human eye or ear had ever seen,
or known in any other way,
the Majesty of God!
*CHAPTER I: "BEGINNINGS"*
It was a time,
when life was only a seed,
existing in the mind of God,
waiting, waiting, waiting to be rooted, and to grow.
Then God said: "Let there be Light." (GENESIS 1:1)
Then out of nothing,
nothing could be seen again!
And there was light,
and all creation obeyed, and groaned,
as the waiting was over!
*INSTRUMENTAL: "THE GROWING EARTH"*
*CHAPTER II: "THE LIGHT"*
And the light was not afraid of the darkness,
and the darkness knew enough to give way to the light.
And nothing, nothing at all could overwhelm
the infinite Majesty of God!
*CHAPTER III: "PERFECTION"*
And it was a first day unlike others before,
and the very heavens were filled
with the Rapture of the Word of God!
And the Holy Spirit was present,
mothering a new world for six days,
breathing life into it.
And God said: "It is good!" (GENESIS 1:31)
"And on the seventh day, God rested." (GENESIS 2:2)
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