A song for a broken world
Her best friend: Liv Chapman with brother Sam in Edinburgh.
W
hen Liv Chapman penned “Take Heart” she was writing a song for her brother, whose life
was crippled by constant pain, hospital visits, disappointments and limitations. In God’s kindness, Emu Music’s latest release is a tune that any suffering Christian can sing. Its lyrics paint the picture of a broken and hurting world that longs for the Lord to return. Chapman is a songwriter for Emu Music living in England and serving at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford. She says it was her brother Sam who alerted her to the lack of lament songs one Sunday after church.
“He said it was hard for him to sing along, so I asked him if the songs were too high,” she recalls. “It wasn’t a musical issue. It was a theological issue. Sam found singing songs just of praise or victory hard week after week because they didn’t give him an opportunity to express lament and be real with God. I know in our church, Sam was not the only one feeling this way.” Sam Chapman desired to sing about suffering as it was a daily experience for him. Although he didn’t have a pain-free day for 12 years, Chapman remembers him as resilient and kind, and her best friend. “Even as a young boy, Sam was determined and disciplined,” she says. “As an eight-year-old he wanted to be a kicker for his rugby team, and so he would cycle to the local field and kick the ball again and again and again until he got it in the goal. He was one of the most accomplished people I knew, even in his condition, but he remained humble.” “We had lots of deep and serious chats, but we had lots of laughs together. It was one of the
SouthernCross
44
JUNE 2020