Written by Joel payne, isaac wardell, taylor leonhardt
lyrics
Wherever your feet tread, let it be holy ground.
And wherever you rest your head, let it be holy ground.
For the people of God are the temple of the Lord
and the place where the Spirit dwells,
so wherever those people stand:
Let it be holy ground, holy ground.
In the marketplace and city square: holy ground.
In the class and the clinic God’s Spirit is there: holy ground.
On the factory floor and the office suite: holy ground.
In every little place that you put your feet.
Every bush is burning, and all the water’s wine
You want to see God’s glory, you’ve gotta open up your eyes
This song was the winner of our “Sending Songs” song search in 2024. Winner, Joel Payne, leads Resound Worship, a collective of songwriters who provide the church with inspiring songs, as well as encouraging grass roots songwriters in local churches. When Joel submitted this song, he wrote the following:
People often casually talk about the church building as the ‘house of God’ as if it is the new temple. But in the New Testament it is within God’s people that the Spirit dwells. This song takes the idea of ‘holy ground‘ from Exodus and flips it to say that everywhere we go throughout our daily lives as Christians becomes de facto holy ground. When we leave the church building we don’t leave holy ground behind us, we take it with us. Maybe on Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon the refrain ‘holy ground‘ would buzz through our heads and we’d remember and we would live our lives of worship. The approach of cantor/congregation with unison singing and hands and feet making the rhythm is an attempt to make it feel participatory and retain the sense of being sent by someone.