This song by Carey Landry is one I don’t look forward to playing. The original can be heard here. There is nothing wrong with the text, but I suspect we sing it a bit too fast and it becomes harsh – that said I know it means a lot to many people. This church does it very quickly and I’m not sure it helps. Here it is a better tempo but it shows how it get can get rather sing-songy, although they manage harmonies and tempo variations with aplomb. I suspect this song is much harder to sing well than it appears at first glance and familiarity hasn’t helped.
It can be purchased for download at OCP.
We never get past verse 2, which is just as well as the tune varies in verses 3 & 4 and the music in AOV becomes very hard to follow in the truncated guitar version with verse 3 superimposed on verse 1 and verse 4 on 2. If you really want to play the whole song you should look for music with each verse printed separately.
We sing it refrain/verse/refrain, but I note the music probably actually indicates refrain/verse/verse. My backing is how we do it, although I’ve slowed it down to a stated tempo and it seems less of a problem.
Refrain
We are companions on the journey,
Breaking bread and sharing life;
And in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.Verse 1
No longer strangers to each other,
No longer strangers in God’s House;
We are fed and we are nourished
by the strength of those who care,
By the strength of those who care.Refrain
Verse 2
We have been gifted each other,
And we are called by the Word of the Lord:
To act with justice, to love tenderly
And to walk humbly with our God,
To walk humbly with our God.Refrain
Verse 3
We will seek and we shall find;
We will knock and the door will be opened;
We will ask and it shall be given
For we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.Refrain
Verse 4
We are made for the glory of our God,
For service in the name of Jesus,
To walk side by side with hope in our Hearts,
For we believe in the love of our God,
We believe in the love of our God.Refrain
© Carey Landry and NALR 1985.