Your Beloved is Ready

Here is a song I wrote for Advent last month. I wrote it in an effort to depict the church as she really is in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. I wanted to describe the beauty of her holiness and the intimacy of her love and relationship with her God. It was meant to entice and draw the Lord himself toward the one he died for, as if he needed someone to remind him of his beloved, his delight and joy. It was meant to be a vision for us, to remember who we are as the church and what it looks like to shine like stars in the depraved generation so that we might also yearn to be this beautiful for our Savior. It was also meant to be another sung-prayer added to the thousands of years of prayers that the church has cried out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” It was recorded live during worship on December 8th.

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Vocals: Nathan Partain, Kyle Ragsdale, Andrea Homoya
Guitar: Nathan Partain
Fiddle: Kipp Normand
Mandolin: Shawn Collins
Banjo: Kyle Edgell
Washboard: Elyce Elder
Bass: Rob Meyer
Percussion: Brian Allee

Photograph: Jamie MacGregor

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Your Beloved is Ready     (listen/download)     (chords)

She has saved her whole heart for you Lord,
She has kept her eyes pure for you Lord.
She has waited and waited, while her hungers were raging,
To taste only the love of her Lord.

She has set her delight in you Lord,
She has stayed all her thoughts on you Lord.
She has stilled her desires, all her tossing and straying,
She has put all her hope in you Lord.

You have washed her for the day of her wedding,
Promised yourself, by your Spirit abiding.
In the earthquakes and war, Lord, can you hear her singing,
Her arms are raised high, she is radiant, she is holy,
Your beloved is ready.

She has shut out the greed of her soul,
Scoffs at scarcity, rotting and mold.
She has given so freely, to the mean and unworthy,
She’s so loved that she cannot withhold.

She surrendered her fight for control,
She has waived every right that she holds.
She wiped out all the debts that she’d demanded from others,
Cause she knew that she’d owed so much more.

You have washed her for the day of her wedding,
Promised yourself, by your Spirit abiding.
In the earthquakes and war, Lord, can you hear her singing,
Her arms are raised high, she is radiant, she is holy,
Your beloved is ready.

She has torn up her murderous laws,
Her comparing and searching for flaws.
But you’ve made her so humble, holding others so highly,
That her joy has been filled to the full.

She took off her pretense for you Lord,
She confessed all her shame to you Lord.
She came out of her hiding, to be know so profoundly,
She’s so free she can dance for you Lord.

You have washed her for the day of her wedding,
Promised yourself, by your Spirit abiding.
In the earthquakes and war, Lord, can you hear her singing,
Her arms are raised high, she is holy, she is radiant,
Your beloved is ready.