I recently wrote a song based on Romans 15:7 which was the year verse at my kids’ school this past year. You can download the song at my bandcamp page or you can listen using the play bar above.
My goal was to put the verse to music to aid the kids in memorizing it and taking its message to heart while also making the chords easy enough for a child to play on the ukulele. The first version of the song (simply a setting of the straight biblical text, which I simply call “Romans 15:7”) ended up as the chorus for a longer song called Song of Acceptance.
I studied and used all of Romans 14 – 15 in the creation of the song. St. Paul writes about valuing people and relationships above our own opinions and dogmas and exhorts us basically to keep our opinions to ourselves. This isn’t a message that I usually associate with the Bible and it was refreshing to find it in there! There is a purity of heart required of us if we are to accept others in such an unabashed way as this passage asks us to. Frustrated with your spouse? Accept her. Can’t stand your neighbor’s politics? Don’t judge him. That grating personality at your job? Try to do what will feel peaceful to her.
The transformative power of the statement “I will accept you” extends both to our own inner emotional and spiritual world as well as the outer world of our relationships with other stumbling persons making it through another day in a world too often full of pain and confusion.
I’d love to help you and/or your child learn this song on ukulele, guitar or piano! Please email me if you’d like to set up a lesson totally free of charge–I’d love to work with you or your child on this song even if you are already taking lessons at Southtown Guitar.
Some resources for this song:
Ukulele Tutorial for Romans 15:7
Ukulele Instruction Sheet for Romans 15:7
Lead Sheet for Song of Acceptance
Chord Chart for Song of Acceptance
Song of Acceptance
by Dean Wiers-Windemuller
chorus:
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
verse 1:
I will accept you I hope you will accept me, too I will accept you, my sister
I will accept you I hope you will accept me, too my brother I will accept you.
verse 2:
I will not judge you I hope to not be judged by you I will not judge you, when you’re weak
I will not judge you I hope to not be judged by you, when you’re strong I will not judge you.
[chorus]
verse 3:
I will do for you what leads to peace and builds you up God accepts you, you are God’s child
I will do for you what leads to peace and builds you up, stumbling servant God accepts you
bridge:
Whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God
Blessed is the one who lives in light before God, with nothing to prove.
[chorus 2x]