The Amazing Global Spread of ‘The Blessing’ Song During Covid
100+ digitally stitched-together YouTube renditions
A hymn with more than 100 digitally stitched-together YouTube renditions called The Blessing has spread like a global fire, jumping cities, countries, continents and oceans.
Sometimes called “the Amen song,” The Blessing has empowered people with spiritual hope and unity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to author and podcaster DJ Chuang’s YouTube playlist, at least 145 digitally choirs from Australia to Zimbabwe have now recorded and released their own geographically focused versions of the song, some in languages other than English.
I’m a former journalist who was once the editor-in-chief of a news service that covers religion around the world. I have never seen or heard anything spontaneously spread like this with no marketing. However, from what I can tell, The Blessing has been almost entirely ignored by a news media focused on doom and gloom these days.
The Blessing song, first sung at a gathering in North Carolina, has become an unorchestrated global movement that transcends beliefs and boundary lines. It could change history.
In some ways, it already has.
Christianity Today reported on the scope and spread:
“Beyond the U.S. and England, compilations have been made in Australia, Burma, Chile, Canada, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Romania, Spain, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. “The Arab World Blessing” features singers from 16 Arab-speaking countries in the Middle East, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and South Sudan.”
What you will learn in this article
Citing videos and interviews done by others, this article explores:
- WHAT: The Blessing Scripture is and the surprising effect it has.
- HOW: Who wrote The Blessing song and how it has spread on YouTube like fire around the globe.
- WHY: The Blessing song’s meaning is a timely encouragement for a global Christian church some see in decline.
- WHERE: You can get a list of local and national versions to tap into the power of The Blessing for yourself.
The Blessing Scripture
The Blessing is not just a bunch of Christians “preaching to the choir.”
Based almost entirely on an ancient prayer in the Bible, The Blessing lyrics that “The Lord bless you and keep you” proclaims God’s loving provision and his watchful, protective covering over his people.
What stands out about The Blessing is each rendition is an outer-directed to everyone in every city and nation that is the geographic focus of each version. It is a proclamation of goodwill for “1,000 generations” to “your family and your children and their children.” Maybe that’s why it made Spotify’s US Viral 50 and Global Viral 50 Playlists.
Get The Blessing song lyrics, chords and more here:
The Blessing Scripture is Numbers 6:24–26, a prayer given by God to Moses and his successor, Aaron:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Some Christians have criticized the contemporary song as too inclusive, taking a prayer meant for a specific nation (Israel) at a particular time under specified conditions and turning it into a universal blessing for all people at all times, regardless of their religious beliefs or actions.
“I felt the same spine-tingling sensation from this song that everyone else felt, until the addition ‘He is for you’ went on repeat and I started to feel very uncomfortable with what this could communicate to a godless nation,” writes Dave Brennan on the website brephos.
It started with Kari Jobe & Cody Barnes
The recording artists who wrote the song said in a video interview by Freeccm, a Christian music site, that after struggling more than 8 hours to come up with something special, it suddenly came together as if “something came into the room.”
It was publicly sung 48 hours later on March 1. The Blessing was not written to be a response to COVID-19, declared a global pandemic on March 11.
That first recording, with more than 23 million views on YouTube (and counting), occurred at an Elevation Church campus near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Singer Kari Jobe invited the audience to receive the song as “a blessing over you and your family and your children.”
How it took off on YouTube
Little did Jobe know what would happen next.
On April 10, one of the first group of churches in unity to produce a single song was called “The Pittsburgh Blessing.” The video hit YouTube.
On May 3, “The UK Blessing” showcased contributions from over 65 churches and movements, and tens of other individuals, coming together to sing the song online. That’s when the song and the movement picked up considerable steam.
“It’s been a beautiful thing seeing it come together,” said Tim Hughes, a pastor at Gas Street Church in Birmingham, England, who helped create “The UK Blessing.”
A timely encouragement for the church universal
The Blessing vocally and visually showcases that “church” is more than just a building with doors that can be shut by a pandemic, racial discord, economic crisis, or any calamity thrown at it, including those that are self-inflicted.
Despite its many human flaws, recounted by hurting and angry humans throughout history, the church is an incredibly diverse, always breathing global community of believers, a wounded but living entity Jesus himself called “the body of Christ.”
You can close its doors. You can knock down its walls. You can even separate and punish believers trying together. But the church can’t be destroyed because it’s more than a building. Like its architect, it always rises.
“I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” — Jesus, Matthew 16:18 (NLT):
At a time of fear and high anxiety, when surveys show Christianity in decline in the U.S. and other countries, The Blessing” is evidence that Jesus’ biblical promise holds today.
Where to get a YouTube list of 145 versions (and counting) of The Blessing
The Blessing is for everyone, free of charge.
The Blessing (Official Lyric Video)on YouTube is here.
You can get The Blessing chords in a free download.
For a moving experience of what the church looks and sounds like around the world, see the playlist of 145 renditions compiled on YouTube by author and podcaster DJ Chuang (@djchuang).
Once you start, the songs will keep coming, soothing your soul. Mesmerized by the voices and faces of passionate believers around the world, can’t get seem to get enough of it. I woke up at 1 a.m. one morning to write the words you are reading and didn’t stop until the sun started to come up.
If you want to, listen to more than 10 consecutive hours of recordings of “The Blessing” in multiple languages and locations around the world.
The images alone are compelling. Take, for example, the breathtaking landscape of Australia or scenes of COVID treatment in overrun hospitals of New York City as well as racial turmoil playing out on the streets.
Geographically-focused renditions include:
- The Blessing Australia
- La Bendición (Español)
- La Bénédiction France
- The Blessing Lebanon
- The Hawaii Blessing
- The Blessing Sweden
- The UK Blessing
- PHƯỚC THIÊNG BLESSING (Vietnam)
- The Blessing Zimbabwe
Can this hymn change history as others have?
After reading some of the thousands of comments on the various YouTube renditions of The Blessing, I noticed a theme: Tears.
“Was just listening and viewing for viewing’s sake and just got hit by the Holy Spirit and burst into tears out of nowhere & just wept,” said “Daniel Scribbz, commenting on The Blessing Australia.’ “Friends, He really cares about us aye.. wow.”
“I have cried so many times as I’ve watched different people all over the world declaring the blessing over their families, their churches and their nations,” said Kari Jobe on the impact of the song she helped write and first sing. “God is a God of His word and this song is straight from Scripture.
“I love how He never changes and is always with us and for us. That brings so much peace, especially in a season of disappointment, uncertainty and fear like we have all been waking through this year. ‘The Blessing’ is truth that we can declare daily over our lives, families, and others.”
Could this be one of those emotional songs, like John Newton’s “Amazing Grace,” that takes off around the world to change hearts, cultures and unjust laws, like the ones legalizing slavery? We will have to wait and see how this ends.
The lyrics of The Blessing soothe the soul
The Blessing doesn’t ignore the turmoil of 2020. It invades and heals this trying year with fresh faces, strong voices and stirring visuals. It’s not just a song. It’s a global worship experience shared by millions.
You and everyone you know are invited to attend from the safety of your own home. I urge you to check it out. Tip: Have tissues nearby.
May His presence go before you And behind you, and beside you All around you, and within you He is with you, He is with you
In the morning, in the evening In your coming, and your going In your weeping, and rejoicing He is for you, He is for you
The surprising effect of The Blessing on me
My wife casually told me, “You have to see this.”
I remember it was late on a Sunday night several months ago. I was dog tired, thinking of the workday ahead. To be honest, I don’t listen to a lot of contemporary music, Christian or otherwise. But I did a Google search, found it and clicked.
I was curious how digital editing maestro could splice so many voices of people into one harmonious choir.
Surprisingly, seeing passionate, young singers of diverse ethnicity from more than 65 churches and ministries across the UK — each self-recorded from the socially distanced safety of their own homes — filled my heart with something resembling hope. It pushed out some of the anxiety I was feeling about COVID-19, economic uncertainty and riots in the streets spawned by racial injustice. I didn’t feel a tingle in my spine.
I was surprised when I felt a soothing, warm tear streaming down my cheek.
