TOT STILSTAND
Carlyn Ganz, Gideon Nel
On the Vibrancy Song Writing Retreat, at _in Harmonie_ in November 2018, we had the chance to write original worship songs with musicians we have never worked with, or met, before. It was an exciting, but daunting opportunity. Standing quite hesitant in a sea of musicians, looking for the write group to work with, Carlyn Ganz approached me out of the blue to ask if we could write a song together. I was so struck by her sincere confidence in our ability to produce something beautiful and authentic, I said ‘yes’ before I even knew it.
After spending a few moments going through topics that were relevant and meaningful to us, we decided to write a song about rest — the rest one finds in God’s presence. The overall metaphor of the song came from Exodus 3, where God reveals Himself in a special way to Moses. God pulls Moses away from his every day, routine existence to spend a brief moment of rest and focus with Him, on sacred ground, in the presence of the burning bush. This song is about God who rescues us from our never-ending pursuit of tasks and objects to discover a source of life in the mystery of His presence.
My hope is that this song will open people’s hearts to the wonder of God — the God who blesses us with rest, stillness and focus in the daze of our fast-paced lives. My hope is also that this song may contribute, in a sincere and authentic way, to the Afrikaans-speaking community, who remains in need of new language to express spiritual truths. May this song bring hope, rest and wonder to the hearts that need it most. – Gideon Nel
We, as a diverse group, fell in love with this “Afrikaans” song. The lyrics, rich in its poetic metaphors, so beautifully capturing the Afrikaans language, accompanied by the unique and melancholic melody truly captures the heart of the song and leaves the listener comforted and embraced in the descriptive Afrikaans language as they can come to rest.
We believe that specifically in the gospel Afrikaans community, there is a big need for songs where the language really captures the way we feel, think and articulate ourselves. We love how this poetic master piece honors the beautiful language, and makes you proud to be an ‘Afrikaner’.