Take it to the Streets is from Matt Redman’s CD Beautiful News and is a call for gospel proclamation.
Verse 1
I am not a stranger to mercy, for you found me
Wrapped your truth around me
I am not a stranger to grace
I have seen it in your face
I am not a stranger to kindness
We’re the broken with your life inside us
You have brought your gospel to me
And I breathe it every day
How did I become your miracle?
Now to take your truth and tell the world
Chorus
I’m going to take it to the streets
I’m going to sing it ’til we meet
Heaven is open
Come on all the earth rejoice
I’m going to take it to the streets
Wake up the dead heart from its sleep
Heaven is open
Now the time to raise our voice
Loud and energetic, the song wouldn’t fit every context, but the song could serve well especially with younger groups or if your church is used to a loud style.
The line from the chorus, “wake up the dead heart from its sleep” is unclear and perhaps unhelpful. We are called to go into the world, proclaiming the good news, and doing works in the power of the spirit, but the power to wake dead hearts is God’s. It might be worth an explanation if you use it.
One could wonder why Redman didn’t put “We’re going to take it to the streets,” emphasizing the work of the church together in this task, but there is a necessary recognition of our individual responsibility to proclaim the gospel, which this song emphasizes.
I think we are given the authority by God, to lay hands on the sick and the dead, and they should recover. So i dont see anything wrong with the sentence ‘wake up the dead heart from its sleep’. Its not us anyway, its Him doing it through us.
God bless
Parsa,
Thanks for the comment. I don’t disagree that we should go and do those things. What is unclear in the song, though, is that God is the one who awakens hearts. We preach, we proclaim, but he does the waking.