Wow, what a cool vibe, @Stephen Bates ! Love it... those harmonies... and your voice! I'm very curious to see how this will develop.

@Jaurel Michel those are great questions! My congregation is a mixture of old and young, and they generally love the old traditional hymns with rich lyrics, but are also very open to contemporary music. I try to balance those older hymns with newer hymns and worship songs - Sovereign Grace, Porter's Gate, Resound Worship, CityAlight, Getty and Worship Initiative are good examples of the resources I draw from. We have a large number of classical musicians, so our "band" is made up of mostly acoustic instruments and hand percussion (when we have it!). I was definitely in hymn mode when I wrote the lyrics to this song, and while I'm trying to get better at writing melodies for congregational singing, I often end up with something that's either too predictable or feels too much like a solo! All this background to answer your question: I would probably have the worship team sing/play this song over the congregation for an offertory special if it fits the theme that week. If I do end up with a singable melody (for a group), and if it seems to go well, then I would consider having everyone sing it.

@Jaurel Michel aw, man sorry to hear about your car!! That stinks...I hope everything gets resolved quickly/easily. Thanks so much for the feedback, that's super encouraging! I can definitely hear what you're talking about arrangement-wise, and in general I hope to move toward more everyday language.

That looks great, @Reid Parrott ! I like how going down to scale degree 5 coincides with going "beneath" the cross. But feel free to change however you like as you work with actual people singing it! I'm not precious about the notes; whatever is most natural I'm happy with. In terms of key - I do like a darker sound for this one, but I think you should decide based on how the choir sounds! I think that if I were to use my singers I'd probably choose Eb, partly because of where it would put the melody for the sopranos, and partly because flat keys sound darker to me on piano than sharp keys. But you know your singers best! I would definitely prioritize them over anything else. Oh, except that if you have string players in the mix, then I'd lean towards putting it in D for their sake! Intonation will be a lot easier/stabler.

Oh my goodness, @Reid Parrott , how special! They sound so good already! Thank you for sharing that - that's genuinely thrilling for me to hear. As fas as notes on the score, I'll mention a couple of things, but I'm realizing that a choir singing this might be quite different from what I would normally do with lead singer and background vocals in some of these spots (so take with a grain of salt). m14 and 51 - if it were me, I'd have the line under the melody stay in thirds and sing an A on the down beat, resolving down to the G. I like the momentary crunch on the down-beat (but it might be too crunchy irl, I don't know!). m18 and 55 - will the piano be staying on the G harmony, even though the lowest sung note goes down to the F#? I'm not sure about the bass line moving in parallel octaves with the melody there; if it were me I'd keep the G all the way through and then drop the third to the Em harmony in the next bar. m56 - is the bass line in the piano doing the same thing as the actual basses? I just wasn't sure about the parallel octaves again - going from an E to a D mid-bar. If it were me I'd hold the E in the bass (unless the piano is holding it beneath them). For the ending - if it were me I would definitely resolve to a D chord rather than a Bm in m83. Coming out of the diminished fifth between soprano/bass and moving to a fifth between them sounds a bit strange to me - I think the the C# leading tone in the bass should resolve up to scale degree 1 to support the F# in the melody? Sorry, this messes with your descending bass line...I do like the F#/A# in the next beat...but then it almost sounds like it should resolve to a Bm and then go to the E7/G# after that? That's probably what I would do, but I think you should go with your gut! :-) I love how you showcase the different voices in the verses and then add layers - so cool! If you ever record it next fall, I'd love to hear them do the whole thing!

Great song, @Dan Loch - I enjoyed it! I like the question/answer structure, and how singable it is! Also love the topic. This seems like a finished song... are you done, or still working in it and looking for feedback?

Wow, I like this a lot @Mike Somerville (and Ry!)! It's so intuitive and singable, and I like how the energy of the music reflects the feel of the lyrics. Well done keeping the vocal range modest, too! I really like the theme of looking up - all the lyrics are aimed so well at the concept. I think one spot I wondered about in chorus was no "triumph" - it definitely works, but I wondered if it could be even more specific, somehow? I can't quite put my finger on it, other than to suggest "power" as being more tangible? I guess I wasn't sure which triumph of God's we might be talking about, since he is responsible for seemingly small ones as well as the obvious cosmic ones. But it really could just be me, and you'd lose the nice "T" word, anyway... The other thought I had about the chorus was whether it the third line might benefit from deviating from the "No something is..." pattern, slightly on the third repetition? So, I wondered if you really need the "is" in that line: "No trouble too great, for his (something)" Another idea could be to find another word pair that doesn't repeat a form of "great"? No throne … is higher than his. No love … is deeper than his. No might, no power is greater than his. Look up Please ignore anything that doesn't fit with your vision! Such a great song as is.