Revelation Songs

Tomorrow marks the date when, nine years ago, my husband and I embarked on life together as a couple. It so happens that I was going to write about Third Day's song "Revelation," which is a plea for a specific, timely direction from the Lord. There are times when you just need that. There have been times in our marriage when we've said, in effect,

Tell me should I stay here
Or do I need to move
Give me a revelation
I've nothing without You.

The last line of the chorus is always true - I've nothing without Him. In good times and bad, sickness and health, in plenty and in lean times, I have Him, my husband has Him, we have Him. This is both humbling and reassuring. A bedrock on which to establish a marriage, a family, a life.

The title of Third Day's song combined with the wedding theme reminded me of "Revelation Song," originally recorded by Kari Jobe and now also by Phillips, Craigs, and Dean. This is an awesome song. It's in some kind of odd key - maybe minor? I tried playing it and can't quite figure it out. The effect is ethereal, and evokes the throne room, where four living creatures surround the throne, eternally singing,

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come,

We have a glimpse of this heavenly scene in Revelation 4, while here on earth -

With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!

Marriage is a glimpse of heaven, as well, meant to symbolize Christ and His bride. When they are united, Revelation 19 says that a great multitude say, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."

Oh babe, I don't really know that I was ready. You know that now. But we both know that our purpose here is to get ready for heaven, when things will be revealed "which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). It will be true then, as it is true now, that "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever," but for now I see only dimly.

Here is to more of the journey, of seeking, remembering, believing, and worshipping.

Worthy is the
Lamb who was slain
Holy, holy is He.

KMM

"Revelation" by Third Day, title track of the new album.

"Revelation Song" by Gateway Worship recorded by Kari Jobe on her self-titled album and Phillips, Craig and Dean on the album Fearless.

Step by Step

Ah, naptime. I call it "mommy time." A few hours when things are quiet and I can work on projects, or think.

Time has been telescoping in my mind lately. Every little moment seems huge, and yet I can all too easily look ahead twenty years and realize the world is going to be a much different place then.

My little one turns eight months old today. I've said it before, but people who say time just flies by when you have a baby are speaking from outside the event. Inside the phenomenon, time passes very slowly. There are diapers, feedings, endless nights when you hold her because she doesn't feel well enough to sleep peacefully. There are milestones, moments, pictures, visits from grandparents. There is fear, failure, victory and reward.

All the while, you are loving a little person - a baby, in other words. It has just become clear to my heart that this little person will grow up. In twenty years, I will not be able to just hold her, as much as I might want to, and that thought makes me sad. If I could indulge a single moment longer here, it also makes me sad to think that she won't remember how good we had it when we could just lay on the floor and play together. I have to take pictures to prove it to her. :)

So time passes slowly, still, and yet I can see past the horizon to know that these days are coming to an end very soon. There will be birthday parties, scraped knees, teeth, and - gasp - school! Walking through the school supply aisle today at the supermarket I was thankful we don't have to deal with that just yet.

There will soon be that first step. I admit that I am ambivalent about her walking, per se, because I know once she is mobile I will be worn out chasing her around. Of course I will be proud, though. I imagine that my husband I will both be there and I will let go of her hands as she toddles over to him. I hope it happens that way. :)

My daughter's Praise Baby video features the song "Step by Step," originally written and recorded by Rich Mullins. The video portion features babies taking some of their first steps, which is especially cute over the words, "learn to walk in Your ways." God is in it all, I've concluded. Cradle to grave.

Being mentally transported into the world of my daughter's future also means considering the years of my own life. That makes me think of other lyrics from the song, and I don't think these words are in the Praise Baby version:
Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that no less than he
A star in the Abraham's array - one that waited to be born for thousands of years, one of many. My life is put in perspective with these few lines. In the grand scheme, I am blessed through Abraham, blessed to be a child of the faith. In seeing my daughter's future I get the sense that my life is part of history. I do not understand all of my past and don't know what will happen in my temporal future, but I know one thing remains constant - He is my God, and by His grace I will ever praise Him.

Feeling inspired

Silent for a season. I've been finishing a semester of school, packing, moving, and traveling. And in the middle of it, I've felt kind of uninspired.

But, the other night I saw a sneak preview for Julie and Julia, a movie based on Julia Child's life story and the experience of a woman who blogged her way through Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I really enjoyed the movie. It wasn't Shakespeare, and far from scripture, but it did have its transcendent moments, I think, and what especially what worked for me was how she stuck with her blog out of the desire to finish something. The movie made blogging - and cooking - look fun, and it made me want to get back into the former.

I'm including some of my cooking in this first post-hiatus post. I'm relying on Super Foods for Babies and Children by Annabel Karmel for ideas and recipes. It's not French cooking, but it does involve sauteeing onions and making delicious food. I just added the frozen peas to "Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Pea Puree," in which I substituted regular potatoes. It smells wonderful. In a few minutes I will puree it and then freeze in ice cube trays what I don't serve my daughter for lunch. I have been successful making other purees and recipes from this book.

It's just what a cookbook should be - full of pictures, clear on directions, and enthusiastic about the food. It is also didactic; it tells you how to do what it's telling you to do. One learns how to cook. That is just what Julie wanted to get out of Julia's book. Ah, there's something hospitable, neighborly, and genuinely lovely about a good cook book.

Well, I'm hoping to get back to writing about songs soon but for now, Bon Appetit!

We're the issue

I've been reading a lot of feminist writing lately for school, in part because there is not much from any other perspective dealing with problems women face today. I'd like to offer another perspective, though: problems women face today, including chauvinism, are real, but their solutions are spiritual, not political. I hear a lot of talk about power relations. Isn't it obvious that the question of who has the power is just another way of asking who is abusing it? Much of the discourse I've read merely pits interest groups against one another. The conflict is real, but additional skirmishes of the same kind will not end it. Fighting will just lead to more fighting, more wounds, more animosity.

The real problem is a fundamental moral flaw in men and women. Among Switchfoot songs that have been relevant to me today is "Ammunition," which describes the strife aptly: "We've been blowing up, we're the issue. It's our condition. we've been blowing up; we're the issue. A detonation ... we are the fuse and the ammunition." The problems that exist among humans exist because of human nature. We start them - we're the fuse - and we make them worse when we add the ballistic forces of hatred, denunciation, and derision. As the song says, "We've got ourselves to blame. Look what a bomb we've made of love."

When women fight for rights while men continue to accuse them of the sameo old things; when men find that no woman is able to live up to every ideal, isn't it time to ask if the problem is perhaps both created and sustained by human nature itself?

If so, the question becomes not whether women and men can strike a power balance but whether or not human nature itself is redeemable. How do you make ammunition safe from its own volatile nature? Furthermore, how can this be done without taking away all of its spark? I don't believe we were meant to be either combustible or cold as gunmetal.

In the gospel according to Switchfoot there is another song, "Redemption Side." Four in the morning, the speaker is lonely and alienated, but says,

I've got my hands
At redemption's side
Whose scars are bigger than
These doubts of mine
I'll fit all of these monstrosities inside
and I'll come alive

That's what I want, and that's what I think we need - a savior big enough to handle all of our monstrosities - the messes we've made - and bring us into a real life that isn't about bruising each other for our own selfish gain but living for something bigger - something holy - an eternal flame that consumes what part of our ambitions make us impure and refines us to live for the glory of One who created us in His image, male and female.

Blessed Be Your Name

I started reading the book of Job the other day because, like him, I feel caught in the middle of circumstances I don't understand. I wondered what I would take away from this book which is at times very dark. I have found one bright spot that dispels this darkness. Chapter 1 verse 21 says, "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

I've been returning to that verse over the past few days as I have had occasion to bless the Lord on my behalf, and that of others. God gave a son to some friends this morning; blessed be His name! His name is also to be blessed though He took away a child growing in another mother's womb. The Lord took away a friend's job, but even the friend would declare "blessed be the name of the Lord."

The friend who experienced a miscarriage told me she has been meditating on Job's words in 2:10, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not adversity?" This has kept things in perspective for her. On my own small, private, scale, it keeps things in perspective for me, too. My daughter sleeps through the night at two months old - blessed be the name of the Lord! It is difficult to get her to nap and she yells in my ear when I try to burp her. Blessed be His name.

I have had the Matt Redman song in my head for the past few days. It is such a catchy tune that it's easy to forget the dark circumstances that were the context of those words.
Remembering Job's sufferings when I hear this song reminds me that I may not understand my circumstances, good or bad, but that God is still in control, has a purpose for my suffering, and plans to prosper me, as He did for Job.

On a very practical level, this helps me accept the ups and downs of my day. When my daughter rests or entertains herself in the bouncy seat, I can bless the Lord. When she cries for a solid hour, and I don't understand why, though I've tried, blessed be His name. The Redman song reminds me how to respond, to: every blessing He pours out I'll turn back to praise, and when the darkness closes in, still I will say, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'

If this is a dream...

I've been thinking about a Charlie Hall song that is really a scripture song, entitled "You Have Done Great Things." Its Psalm 126 set to music, which makes memorization a cinch.

The Psalm is about how God had set His people free before, and now His people want Him to do it again.

When they were set free the first time, they felt as though they were in a dream state (v. 1). It must have seemed too good to be true. Like the Cardinals getting into the Superbowl after a history of bad seasons.

Charlie Hall takes the statement "we are glad" and turns it into "we are filled with joy." I like the simplicity of the Psalmic language. It doesn't need to be overblown; if you've been in captivity for awhile, just to be glad is enough.

For me, the "great things" the Lord has done have been little breakthroughs my seven-week-old daughter has made, like learning to smile. It sets my heart free to sing for joy. The bridge of the song, which is the end of the Psalm, tells why:

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joy
And return with shouts and songs
Carrying the fruit of God.

The season of sowing is different for everyone. I for one have sown in tears the past few weeks, as all new mothers do, and the harvest I reap is when my daughter reaches a new milestone. My heart is singing this song - "You have done
great things." If this is a dream, don't wake me!

Walk With Me

I put this song on a CD I made for my daughter. Her name means "annointed," and the verses I chose to bless her with with were Psalm 23:5-6, on which this song is based. Little did I know how much this song, and she, would be a source of overflowing blessing to me.

Here's how it works. I have more to do when taking care of my newborn daughter than I thought I could possibly handle. Minute by minute, my husband and I are providing 100% of care for her. We don't sleep or get out as much as we used to. Somehow it all works out; we get to the end of the day. And there is joy along the way, and sometimes, even some peace.

Like yesterday, when I got out to Wal-mart for the first time in a month. I got the whole trip, start to finish, done in an hour. That never happens. But it happened in part because WM was fairly empty. It was like the Lord was leading me beside quiet waters. And as I shopped, I was thanking the Lord that I could get out of the house and attend to the needs of my family. And suddenly I realized He was restoring my soul.

I started wondering if this song were written by someone in my exact situation; watered-down, or decaffeinated coffee, is about the only kind I can drink in any satisfying quantity. My husband and I must speak in hushed voices. Sometimes we feel empty and sometimes we feel strong. But I think that it's just a good song that speaks a universal lesson about trusting, and God providing, that peace like the Good Shepherd can.

Welcome to Our World

It's a bit late, but here is a post about a Christmas song.

"Welcome to Our World" wasn't originally on a Christmas album, but it is Chris Rice's best contribution to the Christmas repertoire. I remember making up a creative dramatic movement to this song that involved sign language and acting and having a group perform it at a Christmas party for our campus ministry. The words are sheer poetry and the melody is a lilting, yet plaintive lullabye.

As usualy, Rice has his doctrine right and at the ready so ably that one hardly notices it: he speaks of the baby who's "been promised/ we've been waiting," as though he were one of the Jews who knew a Messiah was prophesied. He writes of the incarnation in both physical and spiritual terms: "fragile fingers sent to heal us/ tender brow prepared for thorns/ tiny heart whose blood will save us." To this tiny infant, he sings a prayer for salvation: "wrap our injured flesh around you/ breathe our air and walk our sod/ rob our sin and make us holy/ perfect son of God." There has only ever been one baby on whom such hopes could be hung. It is a wonder, still, to think that the Savior was once a baby. To me it shows that God must love babies.

I suppose it is because I have my own tiny baby now that the reality of the incarnation seems more wondrous to me this year. A baby changes one's perspective on life; mine has done more than that and simply rocked my world. It was a world that needed rocking, though, and I'm so glad she's here. So baby, welcome to our world. I pray you grow up loving your Savior who came as a baby for you, loving His Word, and all the bright and beautiful things He made, especially music and poetry.

This blog began a few years ago as a response to Handel's Messiah during a Christmas visit to my grandparents' home. At the time I felt like I needed to start writing/doing something new. Now that another joyful Christmas has rolled around, I sense that this blog will take a new turn and be more personal responses to songs. We'll see.

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this -

Kim



I suppose that it is

Christmas to Remember

I woke up this morning with Amy Grant's "Christmas to Remember" song in my head. It's all about the comfort and joy of the Christmas season, like twinkling lights, the smell of evergreens, Nat King Cole, fireplaces, snow and time with loved ones. That is all good stuff, and you know what? I'm glad someone wrote a song about it. Because we need people to remind us how to be happy, and we need to teach our children how to enjoy things. So what if this song is not about the deeper meaning of Christmas. All of the good stuff emanates from that and allows us to enjoy "the hopefulness this season brings." I for one am thankful for it!



Amy Grant Lyrics
A Christmas to Remember Lyrics

Be My Escape

Up early this morning because it's Election Day and wanted to vote early, I have a little time to write.

I've been thinking about this Relient K song a lot lately, and just wanted to comment on the sheer cleverness of these lyrics:

And I’ve been housing all this doubt and insecurity
And I’ve been locked inside that house
All the while You hold the key
And I’ve been dying to get out
And that might be the death of me

There's a literary term for what the writers are doing with their words here, but basically it's a play on words, and it makes a point. He was "housing" all that doubt within himself, but by doing so, the doubt was "housing" him, and he was imprisoned by it.

There's a similar play on the dying/death term, which is equivocal; "it might be the death of me" could either indicate the fear of whatever lies beyond the familiar fears (better the devil you know), or it could indicate that some kind of metaphysical death must take place for him to escape the fears. Maybe both! I'm leaning toward the second because of the line, "I know to live you must give your life away."

Anyways, cool song.

"Be My Escape" is on Relient K's 2004 Capitol Records release, Mmmhmm.

You are God Alone

This song recorded by Phillips, Craig and Dean preaches the gospel to me, focusing on God's sovereignty. Some people argue that if anyone has power over you you are not free, and probably oppressed. That is true in the human realm where there are various little-k kings vying for power at the expense of others. On the other hand, beyond the theatre of human egos, there is God Himself, who does not need to compete with other kings; He is supreme. That's what this song recognizes, and what I have to recognize before I have much to be glad about.

On the other hand, I wish this song went a step further. It discusses God's might and immutability, and the futility of trying to be against Him. If you already know God's character - how He loves His creation, and provided the substitionary death of His son for the sins of His creatures, then you can be glad that He is on His throne. That the song is written in the context of such a worldview is probably true, but taken on its own, it tells me I should revere and awe, but not necessarily love God.


You are not a god created by human hands
You are not a god dependent on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You're the only God whose power none can contend
Youre the only God whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God
Who's worthy of everything we can give
You are God that's just the way it is

Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what You are

There are a couple of nice YouTube videos to this song, here's one.

How Then Shall We Sing?

I think that in heaven we'll hear many different types of songs with instrumental, acappella, and angel voices. We may even hear voices we're not used to hearing when "all the earth" sings His praises. I try to imagine flowers, bears, rocks and trees joining in our melodic worship and it is beyond my understanding but not beyond belief.

I think this because I believe Ephesians 5:19 teaches that on earth we should hear a variety of different types of songs, too. Paul instructs the Ephesian Christians to be "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." I think the three types of music listed there represent a variety of acceptable forms of musical worship.

Other writers have discussed what a good "Christian song" is to be. Most are good enough to say it isn't just a matter of a preference for a certain style. We have songs of such different styles, though, that sometimes they don't seem to mix in a single worship service. I'd like to suggest that the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 applies to worship services as well: there is a time and place for every event under heaven. Sometimes it is time for a somber tune, such as "Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus." Sometimes it is time for a contemporary tune that reflects pure wonder, such as "How Great is Our God" by Chris Tomlin. Sometimes it's time for an outright celebration, like "He Has Made Me Glad" (note that the happy song is actually based on a Psalm). Worship leaders need to be sensitive to the proper time for each type of song, not just the right occasion, but also the right moment inside a worship service, and provide appropriate transitions between them. Good transitions help the congregation understand the purpose behind each song.

Part of what we're concerned about in a church service is time - we have only, say 30 minutes to sing all of the songs we want, so we have to choose our songs and occasions carefully. Perhaps in heaven we will have much more freedom. There is a time and place for everything under heaven, but at some point in heavenly life there will be no more time. We'll be able to sing as many songs as we want, at the same time, for as long as we want, and I don't think we'll ever run out of new things to sing about or new ways to sing, listen, or play together, and that is something I really look forward to.

God Bless America

In the spirit of Independence Day, I decided to post about patriotic songs.

We sang "God Bless America" at church on Sunday, and I could hardly do it because I was so choked up. America is the land that I love, and I do pray that God would "stand beside her and guide her through the night" she is currently facing. I often wonder if there is hope. Even if there isn't, I still love America.

We recently took a drip up north to the Midwest and got to experience "America the Beautiful" again. The Chinese word for America means "beautiful land," and I think it's entirely appropriate. The mountains, the prairies, the oceans - it's all so beautiful and worth preserving. The verses of the hymn progress from America's physical beauty to the character of its founders and defenders. Each verse ends with a prayer or a hope.

Last thoughts are from the third verse, about fighting for what is good:

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America, America! May God thy gold refine!
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine.



Words by Katherine Lee Bates, music by Samuel A. Ward

Be Still

I am so impressed by new ideas, or new words for old ideas, that sometimes I'm a little prejudiced against good songs that sound like something I've heard before. Sometimes those seemingly mundane songs bear a powerful witness that turns out to be exactly what I needed to hear, and I am grateful that I can change my mind.

Such is the case with Storyside B:'s "Be Still." It bears witness to the simple, but profound truth that God is, and that sometimes He speaks when we listen. I'm grateful for the reminder, since I've recently been led to reflect that the Christian life is a lot about listening.

Here are the lyrics, and below, a theoretical point to ponder.


StorySide:B Lyrics
Be Still Lyrics

The editors of The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts(2007, Intervarsity) summarize an included essay by Bruce Benson in the following way. "God's call in creation precedes beauty, which therefore takes the character of response. As our response manifests divine beauty, it forwards the divine call to others, who then respond and call. And so forth. As a result, we cannot shrink art down to creativity or making, but must also see ... [as in jazz music] what characterizes art in general: repetition, not just innovation" (Treir, Husbands and Lundin 12). I may not grasp this fully, but one thing I think the authors mean is that there is artistic value in repeating what we've heard or seen before. It is a reference; a call for response. While there may be nothing new under the sun, there is always a new possible response - from a new person, in a new day - and I think sometimes a song calls for that in a way that is spiritually valuable.

Those are my thoughts. :)

Day By Day (the Hymn)

This is what you might call a devotional hymn, in that it is not exult in the majesty of God or weighty doctrine. Yet it carries a message that Christians need to hear in order to live in awe of the majesty of God and to apply doctrine to their lives.

Day by day, and with each passing moment
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment
I've no cause for worry or for fear...

The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made...

Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word...

I must admit: trust is the biggest battle I face in the Christian life. It all comes down to whether I believe the promises, or don't. The day-by-day steps of trust make a big difference to my overall spiritual trajectory. If I'm not believing that God is good, or, more specifically, that He is good to me, that doubt, especially if unperceived, can allow in a lot of other things like worry and strife, and those things ensnare me into sin.

I'm thankful for songs like this one that remind me of simple but profound truths. Not all truth is simple, and not all is profound; there are hymns that treat weighty matters like justification and sanctification which are both complex and profound. My point here is that if I don't have the simple things straight, I'll never be able to bear those weightier realities that provide a more substantive joy.

I was praying about what song to blog about this week and a friend mentioned this one. I've become familiar with it over the past year and now embrace it as part of my spiritual heritage and musical repertoire.

"Day By Day," Words by Caroline V. Sandell-Berg, Music by Oscar Ahnfelt. The lyrics printed here are half of each verse; for the full lyrics and melody, check it out on CyberHymnal.

O Great God

Was thinking about this song this morning, looked up the lyrics and found someone else blogging about this song, too. That's awesome; God works all things together for good, even national distribution of music.

We've been singing "O Great God" at church and it's gotten into my heart. Timmy's got the full lyrics at the link above; one verse in particular I wanted to note.

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

I was struck by how each of the first four lines mentions a different sense that was numbed or deadened before His Spirit gave the singer life. It is a confession that we are senseless until the Lord quickens us. I appreciate the artistry that conveyed this truth.

Programmed to Receive

"You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave."

I thought of this line from the Eagles' "Hotel California" in a discussion about church membership. It can be very hard to leave a church by un-joining, but a lot of people check out.

I think "Hotel California" is a nightmare version of a shallow, perverse, sensate culture. There is plenty of room, and you can live it up, but still, when you're in the middle of it, you think, "This could be heaven, or this could be hell." Nothing's quite straight: minds are "Tiffany-twisted," and materialism gives you the "Mercedes bends." No one quite knows what they're doing there, "some dance to remember, others dance to forget."

I think some people join churches this mindset - not quite sure what they're there for, except they think perhaps its a "lovely place." And maybe it is, but maybe that's all it is. The worst thing is, that the church may not quite know what it is there for, except that it is "programmed to receive."

I think "HC" is also about drug addiction, and I'm not meaning to say that churches or membership just feed addictions. I would say, though, that in the world we are all "just prisoners here of our own device." We may look pretty but need a radical salvation. Try as we may, we "just can't kill the beast" - the sin nature within or the Enemy who works against our souls. What does overcome the world is faith; that is what churches should be about, and that's what its members should have.

God of our Yesterdays

I am so glad He is sovereign over my yesterdays. My God is the God of my yesterdays - all the way He has led me to follow Him, all of the mistakes I've made, all the triumphant moments - and He is the God of my tomorrows.

This Matt Redman song declares that we praise the God of our yesterdays, our todays, and our tomorrows.

This is particularly poignant to me as I meditate on the words of Psalm 124.

"Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,"
Let Israel now say,
"Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us..."

If not for the Lord; I can't even imagine. I see His Providential intervention even in the hidden stories of my yesterdays that I'm glad didn't end up in the yearbook or in the gossip circles. And I'm glad I can praise Him for the deliverance He provided through His strength alone.



"God of our Yesterdays," by Matt Redman, is on the Passion God of this City album (2208).

Someday

It's the beginning of the New Year. A fresh start brings hope. Ultimately, hope in the Lord does not disappoint, but sometimes looking around at the world can be discouraging.

That's why I like this song by Nicole Nordeman, which puts things in perspective. It just says, in various ways, that the things the heart longs for will be fulfilled, someday.

Someday all that's crazy
All that's unexplained
Will fall into place
And someday all that's hazy
Through a clouded glass
Will be clear at last.

And for those days when our spirits really groan within us, Nordeman reminds us,

And sometimes we're just waiting
For someday.

Waiting implies faith in some future thing, and it implies not giving up. This song encourages me to not give up faith as I wait.

"Someday," by Nicole Nordeman, from the 2005 Sparrow Records album Brave.

Much Afraid

Jars of Clay is an important band to me, but their lyrics are kind of hard to figure out, in fact, sometimes they only make sense years later, and then I'm impressed; it's like there was this final insight I had to get that turned the key to unlock the song.

I guess it's been that way with the title track to JOC's 1997 album today. I've known it very well for close to ten years, but it just clicked. I feel that grace was extended to me through this song.

All of these things
Held up in vain
No reason or rhyme
Just the scars that remain
Of all of these things
I'm so much afraid
Scared out of my mind
By the demons I've made
Sweet Jesus, you never ever let me go.

A song like that is different from the Ricefoot Groves lyrics I like so much. The latter are usually about something abstract but not quite as introspective. I heard recently that the default mode of the pop song was to sing about the self; but there is self-obsession, and then there is self-reflection. In this case, it seems like the author of the song is contemplating his habit of entertaining senseless fears, and then realizing that he was held even while he held onto them. Thus, mercy turns the inward gaze upward.

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Advertisers can make us think anything is good by associating it with something else that is good: i.e., a certain brand of lemonade seems "good" because in the commercial it is associated with spacious wraparound porches, rocking chairs, sunsets, cool breezes, and family togetherness. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, a deodorant is "good" because in the commercial it is associated with well-dressed women with shiny hair. There are so many ads, I start to feel immune, but I'm probably not.

There's nothing wrong with wraparound porches or great clothes; they can be beautiful, refreshing, and promote positive social interaction. Advertisers may not be appealing to this aspect, however; they are more than likely appealing to a gut-level physical desire for pleasure.

The same tactics are used to make other kinds of pitches, too, like a commercial I saw for a technical school, and another I saw for a birth-control device.

Physical comfort is, obviously, pleasurable. It's good; I'm not saying it isn't.

I am saying that there are things in life even better, but their appeal is felt on a level beyond the physical or visceral.

In Desiring God, John Piper tries to meet our pleasure-seeking culture on its own terms, and show that God is the most desirable, most wonderful thing there is. I read this book eight years ago and have not been the same sense, nor have my senses been the same. Reading it, I have learned how to love and value things I used to think were stodgy and dry just because they did not immediately result in my physical pleasure. Life has been better.

One way of putting this is to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, who contrasted joy with pleasure. In the absence of joy, there is physical pleasure, which fades, while joy last longer and is actually spiritually sustaining.

Can I find joy in lemonade? I can now, realizing that it is a gift of God, but the desire for more is under control because I know there's something better. To paraphrase Lewis again, when the greater love comes, the little loves can stay. They know their place, and should they forgot, the greater love will not be ignored.

Ricefoot Groves

It comes down to Chris Rice, Switchfoot, and Sara Groves. They write most of the songs that make me feel like writing about them.

Like Chris Rice's - "Love Has the Final Move." It's about a chess game and eschatology, and even though a fifth-grader could get it, every adult can be rationally comforted by it.

Or Switchfoot's "Awakening." I don't quite know what this song is about, but it's like audio caffeine.

Or Sara Groves' "Kingdom Comes." The song has a rhythm that sounds like a train coming, and the lyrics make you feel like God's kingdom is right on track - just a little this, a little that, and it's coming.

Good stuff! How do they keep doing it?

Add to the Beauty

Unintentionally, I began writing an album review in my journal this morning, because the songs on Sara Groves' album Add to the Beauty are so closely knit thematically. The title cut says "this is grace, an invitation to be beautiful... and I want to add to the beauty." All of the songs are about beautiful things that can't be explained other than through grace. It's a truly inspiring album, and inspired me to seek God's beauty today.

And so I have. It's been a good day. I thought about His artistry this morning, and wrote a poem about it. It made me think about the fundamentals of art. I had to actually look them up online. In case you're curious, here's the poem I wrote:

There is a beauty
In all His processes
There is a harmony
In demand and supply
There is a purpose
And a poetry of motion
When a flower drinks the rain and hails the sky.

There is an artist
Who is the living Light
His works engage the heart
And His word gives sight
He mixes pigments
On a pallette of the spectrum
The details of His masterpieces fill me with delight.

Not bad for sitting on the porch on a rainy morning. It felt like the perfect way to spend my time.

In the midst of my reveries I checked the headlines for today. Hamas vs. Fatah vs. Israel and the US. International intervention? War, scandal, hatred, deceit, death. I had to ask myself, is it puerile to live my life wanting to add to the beauty in times when it doesn't seem like there's even any beauty to begin with?

So I read along in Genesis, where I left my bookmark at the begining of the story of Joseph's trials. His brothers hated him, almost left him for dead, then sold him instead. Awful. But he was sold into an Egyptian official's house, where God was with him. Then the official's wife wanted him so badly, and her pride was so injured when he refused to offend his master that way, that she accused him of rape and had him sent to prison. Terrible. But God was with Joseph there, too. I know the rest of the story; he was kept in jail for a time, until he began to interpret dreams. Eventually he rose to become second in command to Pharoah, and had the responsibility of managing Egypt's reserves in order to get them successfully through a famine. Because of him, many people lived who would otherwise have died, including his entire family, and as part of that provision, his entire was reconciled. Reconciliation, favor, provision, from an awful story about hatred, demise, deceit, and jealousy.

I may not understand what's going around the world, and it may be hard to see beauty in it. Frankly, God's beauty is more and more astounding to me the more I look at the world. Even when I look at the world, though, I know that somehow He is working all things out for His glory, which is in turn for my good. There is a process to it, but I believe, still, that God has beautiful things in store.

For better or for worse, this is really as deep as I get. I'm not trying to make commentary about world events, I'm just building a worldview that incorporates beauty and art. A friend e-mailed me this link to a group thinking through how art relates to God: http://www.thegauisproject.org/. I'm sure they've done some better thinking on the subject but I have yet to read it through.

Less like scars

Sometimes a good writer has the power to inspire their readers' expression. Writers like that are worth attention and worth keeping in circulation. I've written about Sara Groves before, and maybe I've even written about this song before. Looking through the leaves of All Right Here's CD insert I see big blocks of text that I know Sara worked hard to write. Songwriting is an intense process. To end up with as many words as she has that do have the power to speak to and even for her audience is a notable lifetime achievement. Keep writing, Sara!

It is "Less Like Scars" that I thought about today. It's a song about when the breaking down process has already occurred, and there is a change in the air and you realize that God is started to rebuild you. If it hadn't been for this song, I wouldn't have really understood what God was up to.

Her songs have so many words that I feel it would be ineffective for me to write many of them here. I'll just post a few representative lines and explain the frame. The song starts:

It's been a hard year, but I'm climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard, and healing changes are subtle
But every day its..
Here are a few from the "less like/more like" sections:

Less like tearing more like building
Less like captive more like willing
Less like breakdown more like surrender
Less like haunting more like remember

I love the chorus:

I can feel you here, and you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
Seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
You are able
And in your hands, the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like character.

This is really good. Sara is gifted and using her gifts to bless the body of Christ. I for one want to say how thankful I am!

You go, Sara! God uses your songs in my life, and as the guestbook of your website attests, He uses them in others' lives as well. Thank you for using and sharing your gifts.

That goes for all good songwriters, and that is really the point of this blog. God gives gifts of various kinds to the body, and whatever we have, we're supposed to give back. It blesses me to no end that God has given each believer a gift to bring, and that each believer in turns receives gifts from the rest of the body. I'll never get over it; I'll just keep watching it and participating into it until He leads us all up to one big celebration in heaven.

"Less Like Scars," by Sara Groves and Nate Sabin. From the album All Right Here, 2002, Sponge Records and INO Records. To hear a song sample and see all the lyrics, go here:

How good and pleasant

This morning I do not have a particular song that goes with this scripture. Perhaps if someone knows of one they will let me know.

I have been thinking about working together in unity, and read Psalm 133 last night. It's full of imagery that makes me wonder.

"How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity.
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore."

What gets through to me here is that: a) It is good when brothers live together in unity! 2) It is like when the chief priest is blessed. Aaron became the head of the priestly order, and I assume that most of the time he would be the one doing the annointing, but in this case, it's Aaron himself getting blessed. When brothers live in unity, even the leaders get blessed, and that blessing inevitably overflows to others. 3) It is refreshing when brothers dwell together in unity. 4) Just as Mount Zion is already blessed, those who are blessed can still stand another blessing. Unity among brethren is just such an extra blessing.

Let me know if you know a song that goes with this Psalm, so I can sing it and keep the idea in my heart.

In any case, this is what I was thinking of today, because I have been pleased to see a bit of unity lately. I know the Lord is pleased by it, too.

Untame Lion

This post commemorates my first read of The Magician's Nephew, the sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I would recommend it to anyone! It is my favorite of all of them so far (The Silver Chair comes in second). C.S. Lewis said that a good children's book will have something to say to the child that will still matter to him fifty years later. Perhaps what matters most is the character of Aslan, the huge, untame Lion who created and rules the kingdom of Narnia, which is in another dimension apart from this world. He is strong, but kind; He looks in the eyes of His subjects, sees into their souls, and says exactly what they need to hear to be encouraged, admonished, or comforted. He's a lot like the Aslan in the Disney movie that came out last year, except as you read the Chronicles you get to know Him more deeply. For me, the most magical thing about the Chronicles is that as I read about Aslan, I know it is a character in a fantasy story, but I love him more and more. I know He represents Christ, and I think to myself, He is so good. I could really follow Him.

That's what Michelle Tumes' song is about. I wish it were on the soundtrack of the Disney The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but it's probably too spiritual for that.

The song is ethereal sounding, like many of Michelle Tumes' songs, and it focuses on Aslan's power. Untame power can be kind of scary, and yet it can also give a person courage to follow through. Here are some of the beautiful words to Tumes' song.

I love an untame lion
He's calling me to come
My cold heart how it hesitates
I want to turn and run

His power is dangerous
His power is endless love

He's calling me
To a place where love's the only song
He's calling me
To a place where night will dance
With endless dawn dancing on and on and on.

Most of the lines of the song seem to refer to things characters in the books do. What is magical about this song, though, is that you don't have to have read the books to understand that God's power is both wild and loving, and that when He calls, it is a call to both security and adventure, away from the mundance of life. He's not a tame lion, but He is good.

- "Untame Lion" by Michelle Tumes, from her 1998 album Listen

Welcome to Delaware!

Listening to the self-titled Watermark album from 1998. I guess that was the year my husband and I started dating. Two years later we were married, and one year after that, we moved far away, because we felt like we should. There was a spiritual impulse to go, and a hope that we'd find something.

Now reflecting on the past six years of being here, I feel the same way again: like we are finding our way again, and finding God in our midst, finding that all we really have here and now is... Him.

Though I headed to what seemed like nowhere,
You told me you'd come,
You told me you'd meet me here,
And you were here to say
Welcome to Delaware!

Feels like we're in "Delaware" again, although we never really were in Delaware, and we're not really changing locations. We're changing our landscape in other ways, trusting that if it's what the Lord wanted, He will meet us and be all we need. Hooray!

"Welcome to Delaware," by Nathan and Christy Nockels.

Song of Deliverance

I saw a video at church on Sunday called "light." The whole thing was symbolic, and felt very noir because it was filmed in black and white with heavey shadow and the dialogue was general. Yet there were characters who seemed to have real-life relationships: a husband and wife, and the husband's friend. The wife announced that when she first heard the story, she didn't understand it, but then, she did. Apparently hearing the story made her want to leave the darkness, and walk through this door to a place filled with light. Beyond the door, the film was shot in color, which made a very nice, clear distinction. The husband thought she was crazy, but she knew she just had to go. The part I wanted to get to is that she kept telling him she was hearing this music. "Don't you hear it?" She kept asking. He didn't. He just thought she was crazy, until he heard it for himself.

Ponder Anew

I've posted about "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" before, but I'm coming back to it; it's one of my favorite hymns.

I'm doing what it says: "ponder[ing] anew / What the Almighty can do,/ If with His love He befriend" me.

I am pondering anew that the fact that can befriend me with His love means He is able to deal with my shortcomings. I suppose I often fail to believe Him, fail to be anxious for nothing, fail to rejoice always, because I am pretty sure that where I have fallen short I have dug myself a pit so deep He can't get me out.

I'm into taking things seriously. I take every kind of failure seriously. I need to ponder His love when I ponder my shortcomings or else I will not have faith that He can "prosper [my] work and defend [me]."

Everlasting God

I've had this newish praise song called "Everlasting God" that we sang at church in my head:

You are the everlasting God
You do not faint, you won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles.

I looked up the Bible verses it's based on, and it inspired me (Isaiah 40:28-31). They say that God does not grow faint or weary, and that those who wait on Him will not grow faint or weary either. That is awesome.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

I watched the Hallmark TV movie Love Came Softly last night and it made me feel good. It's based on a book by Janette Oke which I read when I was younger - junior high/high school, I think. It's about settlers in the pioneer West, seemingly mid-nineteenth century. If you'd like to see a heartwarming film and you like pioneer stories, check it out from Blockbuster, like I did.

The best part about the film is that it reminded me to be thankful for little things. Everything that Clark and Marty Davis have they prayed for or made with their own hands, including the cabin they live in. It made them thankful for friends, warms fires, and fried chicken. Since there was no minister in that part of the country, Clark set up a bench atop a hill overlooking sloping meadows, and be his own church choir singing "Come Thou Fount." Now, just so you know, Clark didn't want it to be a solo thing; in fact, he doesn't call it "church" until his wife joins him. When she does, that hymn makes her think of all the things the Lord provided for her, and makes her glad.

Watching the movie did the same thing for me. It was a great reminder to be thankful for the simple things. It doesn't take a particular song to make me thankful, but a good song can help. If you'd like to hear this one and read the words, you can go to http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm.

Have a good one today - may you remember the Lord's mercies anew!

A Besieged City

Monday was "oh, what a beautiful day" in Norman. It was also the day of the V-tech massacre. The violence was almost unthinkable.

Yesterday I couldn't wait for it to be a beautiful day. It turned out to be one of those days that brings in May flowers. In the middle of my first class we were warned that the whole school was on lockdown, which we knew had something to do with Monday's tragedy.

All day long, I couldn't quite shake how I'd been shaken in those thirty locked-down minutes. I knew that just because something happened in Virginia didn't mean it would happen anywhere else, in the same way that the rain could be coming down in one place and the sun shining in another. It turned out to be nothing, and by the afternon people were laughing at the realization that the suspicious individual was toting nothing more dangerous than an umbrella.

How do you get out of this fear, though? I wondered. One can be in bondage without locked doors, because bondage to fear is internal.

I reflected last night on God's goodness to me during the day, and how even during those thirty minutes we were having a class that was helping me do my job as a student. And in the midst of the panic, he was still helping me do my work, and still sovereignly in control of every hour. I borrowed the language of a Psalm, and thanked the Lord, who had made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.

Morning has Broken

Morning has not yet broken, but as I sit with my coffee mug in front of my workroom window, I am absolutely sure it will, and I will thank the Lord for it. I woke up with this song in my mind - I absolutely love it, it is one of my favorite hymns. I think I was just anticipating how God would be good, but as I sang the words, I knew that they were not quite true, because, well, I sang them very early (so early I couldn't even sing out loud because my vocal chords were drowsy).

My guided Bible study today was on Romans 13:12-14, which says that the night is almost past, and the day is near. The day referred to is Christ's return. The New Testament writers wrote in several places that His coming was very near, nearer than they originally thought, so near that it should affect our everyday behavior. Well, they wrote that 2000 years ago. Were they mistaken? I can't help relating it to my singing morning songs before the morning has risen. I absolutely know it's coming, and I'm so thrilled about it it affects my behavior. I know I'm no fool to praise God for the sunlight even though it hasn't come yet.

He is so good - the dawn of each morning is just a token of a future glorious dawn. Awake my heart! We'll awaken the dawn!

A New Song

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've still been thinking about the words of songs, and in the meantime, God has put a new song in my heart - a song of freedom and trust - a song of courage, deliverance, and strength! It is beauty for ashes, strength for fear, and I know that the Lord is the only one who could bring it out - Glory to God.

I may seem like a ranter for a while. I'm a person who has just found something new and hasn't found the proper or accepted terms in which to speak about it, but I gotta testify! Glory to God!

God is so good, so patient, so timely. The silences are just the hush before the symphony, I think. The contrast to freshen your spiritual palette.

It is cold this day in April. Tax day - maybe some will think its frigidity appropriate, but never mind. I am content with my coffee, my computer, and even with the cold. It brings back Christmassy feelings. This past Christmas was so great that after it I started making plans for this year's Christmas. Hopefully I will have a gift to give friends and family in the form of a new song about Christmas - more on that later!

Happy Sunday!

Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus!

My music minister introduced me to a hymn a few weeks ago by singing it as a special. I'm so glad he did - it's a good one, and I really like it because it talks about songs. Here comes the first verse:

There is never a day so dreary,
There is never a night so long
But the soul that is trusting in Jesus
Will somewhere find a song.

The other verses have the same effect - there is never a situation in which the godsong can't be heard in a Christian's heart. This is a tremendous reality for christians that I'm just beginning to embrace myself. The chorus brings the praise back to Jesus -

Wonderful, wonderful Jesus,
In the heart He implanteth a song:
A song of deliverance, of courage, of strength;
In the heart He implanteth a song.

I like to think of the song as joy, which is part of the fruit of the Spirit. That joy is a token - an intimation of things not seen, but believed. I would not know to sing a song of joy unless someone else were provoking me to do so, and I'm so glad the song is there, reminding me that God is good.

Words: Anna B. Russell. Music: Ernest O. Sellers

Beautiful Letdown (Switchfoot pt. 2)

I can't get "Beautiful Letdown" off my mind... I'm trying to figure out what's beautiful about what the guys are talking about, especially as I consider doing something that feels more like a letdown... they say,

What a beautiful letdown
Painfully uncool
The church of the drop outs, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools.
What a beautiful letdown
Are we salt in the wound?
Let us sing one true tune.

KMM

A New Song

I was looking toward my backyard this morning and a song of the Spring welled up in my heart like a breath of fresh air in my lungs. It was perfect. This morning I read a story about a man who began to write new songs about God once he became a Christian, and others in his community began to listen and understand the message. Hooray for new songs! Well, I decided that in keeping with the theme of newness, that I would post something I wrote a few weeks ago in combination with something I wrote today. It's not exactly a song - it's just a poem at this point - but if someone wants to add a melody to it, go ahead, and let me hear it!

Nothing is wasted
The grief is for aught
It's moments of mercy,
but not like you thought,
It's compulsory surrender
In pain, on your knees
You'll always remember
What you've come to believe.
Through sorrow and healing
Your light will break through
Each morning revealing
His mercies anew
All you've known brings
Mercy home to you.

Outside where the gardens grow
Is where my heartsong flies
Something in that beauty
Something Spring does to me
My heart says, "renewal!"
My sleeping joy wakes -
I'm gonna find that song today
No matter what it takes.

Hmm... when it's my own stuff I'm biased... I'd like to think these two verses go together thematically - suffering and joy - but maybe they don't. Maybe there are too many syllables in the second verse. This time I'd really like to hear from friends who read my blog!

Peace out...

Held

Last week I had the pleasure of watching Natalie Grant sing this song on television, and then hearing friend sing it in church. It's a strongly sentimental song, and I think it contains some good advice. If not, it's a song that opens peoples' hearts, and allows them to receive comfort from the Lord.

It goes like this.

Two months is too little;
They let him go
They had no
Sudden healing.
To think that Providence
Would take a child
From his mother while she prayed
Is appalling.
Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and
Why should we be saved
From nightmares?
--- I'm not sure what she means by "what has changed." The tone of the song has changed abruptly and it's a little confusing. Does she mean that thinking that Providence would take an infant from his praying mother is appalling is a change? But anyway, it's a good question that she asks: why should we be saved from nightmares?

We're asking why this happened
To those of us who have died to live
It's unfair.

--- Of course we ask why this happened. We want things to make sense. There's a question of enjambment here - is it, "we're asking why this happened to those of us," or, "to those of us who have died live it's unfair"? After this ambibuity comes the chorus:

This is what it means
To be held
How it feels
When the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is
To be loved
And to know
That the promise was when everything fell we'd be held.

--- I know that I am held all the time by the Father, not just when everything else falls - in fact, to some extent, it's all already fallen - I mean, who do I really have but God? So I wonder what the song means when it says "this is what it means." What does it mean to be held? The best sense I can make of it is that it's about resting in God's protection and sovereignty when everything else falls apart. But that's not an answer to the mistaken notion that we'd be rescued and spared from nightmares, which belief can cause a person to become bitter against the Lord.

Speaking of bitterness, the song talks about it. This is my faavorite part:

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it
Let the hatred numb
Our sorrow.

The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and
Tomorrow.

--- This part makes sense to me impressionistically; it's pretty deep and analytical, too. That I would want to focus on the hatred so I wouldn't hurt so much is interesting; I think hatred functions as another form of self-hurt. My hurting can not give any grief or in any way affect the original cause of my hurt, so hurting for hurting's sake only causes more personal hurt. That's why I like the next line - the wise hand opens - slowly - to possible blessings in the future.

I hope this song and these notes bless someone. Good things can happen when you really think about the words of songs.

KMM

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Easter Sunday! I love worshipping with my church, but I especially love it on the day when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. My music minister tells me that it was customary at some point in church history for the leader to call out, "He is risen!" and the congregation to respond, "He is risen indeed!" We like this tradition, so we do it at our church every Easter. Such an exclamation expresses the joy of one simple but life-changing truth. It is life-changing because death is the great equalizer, and the great inevitable for all of us, and yet, it is not unconquerable, because God has power over it. I gotta say it - Hallelujah!

Apparently Charles Wesley felt the same impulse, because he punctuated each line of his hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," with an "Alleluia," which is the holy equivalent to "woohoo" and actually means "Praise God." So when you hear someone say alleluia instead of "woohoo," or "great!" they're not just trying to be stuffy, they're being specific in directing their praise.

I'd like to interpret a few of the alleuias in "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," because I think I can. Someone else might choose different lines or interpret them differently, and that would actually be great. Being different or seeing things from a different angle doesn't make us contradictory or prevent us from getting along. This is my blog, though, so I'm going to tell you which of the alleluias really swelled in my heart.

Lives again our glorious King!
Alleuia! He did not stay dead!
Where, O Death, is now thy sting?
Alleluia! That was a line from scripture. Nicely rhymed.
Love's redeeming work is done
Alleuia! God loved us enough to bring us back to Him, and the project of forgiveness is complete!
Fought the fight, the battle won!
Alleluia! I could not have won that battle on my own.
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Alleluia! But wait a minute, there's some serious theology packed in this tidy little line. I think it means that when we become Christians, that is, when we accept God's gift and God's authority, we become like his son, Jesus, somehow. And the Bible says that one day the dead in Christ - Christians who died - will be brought back to life and given new bodies, like Christ was. It's even too complicated for me, but it sets up this next line:
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies
Alleuia! When a writer deliberately omits conjunctions from a series it's called "asyndeton," and it is often done at the end of speech or other discourse. This is the last line of the song, and it's a big finish. Forgiveness comes through the cross. The grave proves that the work of sacrifice was complete. As Christ was resurrected, so will we be one day. No need for extra padding of conjunctions to make it seem significant - the cross, the grave, the skies. What can we get that is worth more that that? Alleluia!

Happy Easter.

KMM

Music: Lyra Davidica

How Firm a Foundation

Again I owe inspiration and affirmation to a hymn. The first verse sets up that God's word is full of things I need to hear, and the last three are Him speaking to me through His word. That first verse reminds me to read His word and believe it.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Words: John Rippon, Music: Joseph Funk

Smells Like ... Lifehouse?

So on my morning walk I was listening to the Stanley Climbfall album by Lifehouse and mused again at how much "Out of Breath" sounds like something by Nirvana. It's a really athletic song about pursuing a goal, and if you listen to it while you exercise, you will get out of breath, but in a good way.

The lyrics reminded me of a recent conversation I had with someone about Hebrews 12:1. That verse says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance, and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (emphasis mine, and I'm quoting from memory, so there might also be mistakes, but I know it's close). I was having a conversation with a person who has made mistakes but now wants to really run after Christ. This person knew where they came from, and knew that to get closer to the Lord they needed to run, and to run, they needed to let go of some things. I praise the Lord that this person wants to run again! You know who you are, and this song reminded me of you.

I still feel the same
Though everything has changed
The pain it cost now I feel lost inside of my own name

The past has left its stain
Now I feel the shame
I'll seize the day if you take away the chains of yesterday

But I keep running
I am running
I keep living for the day that I'm with you
And I am waiting
I keep waiting for the day that I'm with you

A new day the sun is shining
Seems I'm closer to finding
That life is more than what we hide
No way that I am turning
As long as this sun is burning
It seems now that all I want is you...

When your past faces you, keep turning to Him, and when your present has extra baggage, let it go! Keep running the race!

And, you-know-who, I want you to know the Lord used you in my life, too, to remind me to throw off everything that hinders and sins that entangle, and run.

"Out of Breath," by Jason Wade and Ron Aniello, from the Lifehouse album Stanley Climbfall, published 2002 by G-Chills/ Songs of DreamWorks/ Aneillo Music (BMI).

How Great

Two songs from The David Crowder* Band's album Illuminate were on my mind this morning, and I thought they were the same song. I enjoy this album a lot, as it contains one of my favorite contemporary praise songs, "O Praise Him (All This for a King)" and also lots of lyrics and licks that make you realize that the Crowder boys are free-spirited but know exactly what they're doing. They're worshipping the Lord with new songs. Praise Him!

The two on my mind were, "How Great," and "Intoxicating." Squeamish listeners will have to get over that the Crowder Band, like Derek Webb, often uses metaphors of intoxication to describe the joy and rapture they find in the Lord. The lyricists creatively assist listeners in understand the spirit of the song. For instance, lyrics like:

If I'm out of my mind it's You, you
'Cause I'm crazy in love with You, You
Inebriated by You, You
'Cause I'm head over heels for You, You

(from "Intoxicating") make more sense when the song bursts into a chorus of -

La, la dee da
La dee da, dee da
Dee da da da

- with full vocals and a roaring band behind it. This song and this band is about being completely in love, captured, consumed, impassioned.

"Intoxicating" is a hard act to follow, but actually what I thought of first this morning were a few lines from "How Great." Sometimes a situation reminds you of a song, and in this case, the song helped me form an attitude of praise for the day. Like other Crowder songs, this one has some moments that are lyrically simple, but the parts of the song taken together add up to beautiful praise. In case you're wondering, here are the words I thought of this morning, that I hope run through my mind all day.

What a glorious day
What a wonderful day, today
Glorious day.

How great your love for us
How great our love for You
That grace could cover us
How great your love.

It could be a glorious, wonderful day! Peace out!

"How Great" and "Intoxicating" words and music by David Crowder from the album Illuminate, 2003, Sparrow Records /Six Steps Music.

The Church's One Foundation

I took communion at the church I visited while I was away from home last week, and it struck me as never before that we are all saved by one body and one blood. This morning I saw an Assyrian Christian man speaking on a U.S. Christian television program about the long-tradition of Assyrian (or Syrian?) Christianity. As He spoke I thought about the difference between his traditions and mine, and yet again, how we were connected through Christ. I read the words to this hymn this morning after listening to the tune, and I think it says it all.

The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord
She is His new creation, by Spirit and the Word:
From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride,
With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.

Elect from ev'ry nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, with ev'ry grace endued.

'Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace forevermore;
Till with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.

Hooray! Peace to my brothers and sisters around the world in tumult and tribulation.

"The Churc's One Foundation," Words: Samuel J. Stone; Music: Samuel S. Wesley

Beautiful Letdown, part one?

Meant to Live

I don't know whether I'll write several posts over this album or not, but it sure deserves it. I've just begun to really listen to the Switchfoot Beautiful Letdown album, and it really speaks to me. Every other song lifts me, hauntingly, beyond my mundane thoughts. Let me start with the first one - "Meant to Live."

Fumbling his confidence and wondering
Why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bent for more
Than arguments and failed attempts to fly

We were made to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside.

Yowza! These California surfers have their finger on the pulse of what's going on in the world and its effects on the human heart. How about this, from "This is Your Life"?

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything that you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger,
And you had everything to lose?

Whoa! I find myself trying to answer those questions. They answers would generally be, "I don't know," but that's the point; they're getting me thinking about stuff.

For another example of having their finger on the pulse of counterculture, here's a sample from "Dare You to Move":

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be.

These guys have thought about it and lived to tell about it, and I'm so glad to know there's someone else who feels like really living is resistance. Even though this album is two years old, it seems new to me and it really renews me. Thanks, dudes.

I must say a word about their musicianship; I think the main guy responsible is Jon Foreman, but there are four guys who are, like I said, surfer dudes (Switchfoot being a surfing term, I think). Anyway, Jon has a great voice and the music has a great kick to it; it's so good you'd almost ignore what they're saying, but ah, if you don't, you find that there's inspiration in the words as well as the music.

I must also say I have an automatic softspot for this band for two reasons: one, my husband has always really liked them (I'm just slow to get it) and two, they remind me of my California friends, who are really cool and love Jesus in a fresh way.

"Meant to Live," W&M by Jonathan Foreman and Tim Foreman; "This is Your Life" and "Dare You to Move" W&M by Jonathan Foreman. Beautiful Letdown, 2003, Sony/Columbia.

Emmanuel, God With Us

It has been an interesting Christmas shock. I'm not sure whether it was school shellshock or the state of global affairs or something even bigger - I'm not sure what that would be - or something smaller, like my metabolism, but I was just not into it this year the way I normally am. I normally love Christmas and just want the whole world to perk up to hear the angels songs again for a little while, knowing they might be listening, I usually sing louder. This year, I don't know - I guess I was just listening, listening, and didn't hear much.

So strange.

I thought of this song - it always makes me get a little choked up, and it's funny because usually this is not a band that makes me think much, but it's Point of Grace's song, "Emmanuel, God With Us." The lyrics talk about a woman left alone after her family is gone, spending a lonely christmas, when someone else invites her to become part of their christmas gathering. Simple, really. The chorus says this:

Oh, Emmanuel, God with us
Spirit revealed in us
That we may be your hope to the world
Oh Emmanuel, God with us
With a light to break the darkness
That we may share your hope to the world
Emmanuel, be God with us
Be God in us.

Selah.

Advent pt. 2

We actually got snow yesterday, and some of it is still on the ground. Everyone I talked to yesterday was at least a little bit enchanted by the snow. Speaking of enchantment, the Narnia film opens this weekend, and I'm planning to go see it with friends.

Today's song has been on my mind a lot. It's simple, not sacred, but special. "The Happiest Christmas" by Michael W. Smith has just this many words:

Oh the happiest Christmas
Is a homecoming Christmas
With the snow flutering down 'til the world seems new

Bright candles burning
Old friends returning
The wishes of children coming true.

And the happiest wishes
Are just old fashioned wishes
May your days be merry, your sorrows be small.

May the ones you love be near you;
That's the happiest Christmas of all.

I celebrate Christmas as Christ's birth, and I love a lot of the things that orbit around that celebration - wishes, candles, snow, homecomings, friends, merry-making. I am already enjoying it. To anyone reading this, I wish you a merry Christmas, too.

KMM

"The Happiest Christmas," by Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks.

Advent pt. 1

Christmas music is a comforting and catalyzing part of the Christmas season for me. I find it interesting to reflect on the words and imagine the circumstances that led to particular lyrics. For the first time, this year, I thought about "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." I'd never realized how much the song talked about peace and hearing God's message. It seems I hear so much about the Iraq "war" that my mind is distracted from the good news, and when I heard these lines, I felt that someone else had thought the same thing

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long,
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong.
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

The third and fourth verses of the song alude to some kind of prophetic hope - I don't entirely understand it, but I want it, and I want to be able to extend that kind of hope to those who toil "with painful steps and slow." What are those "glad and golden hours"?

There's more great Christmas music and more yet to be written. I love the rich stuff.

"It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." Words by Edmund H. Sears, music by Richard Storrs Willis.

Freedom

Listening to Darrell Evans' Freedom album is kind of like getting a glimpse into heaven - you want to go there but you're kind of ashamed at your unreadiness. That's how I feel right now, anyway. I'm encouraged by what he has to say, and yet walking in that freedom and liberty are something of a mystery to me in the path I'm on right now. The title track is a joyous celebration of the freedom we have in Christ - a freedom, I think, is from shame, legalism, and sin. All of the lyrics assume a closeness to God that I believe but want to experience more in my daily life.

Great Light of the World

Bebo Norman's "Great Light of the World" talks about both God's greatness in relationship to the world and His goodness to fill up something so small as a human heart. I know my human heart doesn't feel small - it feels big to me - yet it takes some gumption and the right amount of perspective to acknowledge God's bigness and yet ask Him to "fill up my soul."

I especially like what Bebo writes about nighttime - it is at night that he feels shame and loneliness, and in the dark when he calls on the Lord's grace. I'm reminded of the saying, "In the dark night of the soul, it is always two o'clock in the morning." Those who know the Lord still have those dark nights. Those who don't know the Lord need to know - there is someone to call on.

Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)

This song caught me this morning, as it did the first time I heard it, in the shame of failure. I most appreciated its message of forgiveness. The forgiveness of Jesus is the most complete thing I know, and when it is put simply, well, it still says a lot.

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for Love is passing by
Come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain... so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

Singing to Him - my privilege, my necessity, and my last resort.

Indescribable

I started to think about God this morning, trying not to think about His gifts, or His house, and I just got this image of a great God, above the round, blue earth. And the words came to me:

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea...

Then I thought more about how superior God is, and I realized I could hardly talk about it. That's a challenge, since I feel like in some way I'm meant to spread the knowledge of Him.

The more I think about the songs Chris Tomlin writes, the more I see where he's coming from. This morning, when I was searching for expression, I thought of words he's written that I have sung -

Indescribable, uncontainable, you placed the stars in the sky and you called them by name.
You are amazing, God.
All powerful, unstoppable, awestruck we fall to our knees and we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God.

It's true - He is amazing. I don't often give any sort of charge, but today will be different. If you're reading this, I urge you to spend sixty seconds just thinking about God, and see if in doing so you remember what life is all about.

"Indescribable," written by Chris Tomlin.

Never Been Unloved

I work in an environment where it seems intellect is everything. Both pride and discouragement come very easily and sometimes in sudden turns, challenging my faith and testing my character. This summer I participated in a study on the life of John, the beloved disciple (Beloved Disciple by Beth Moore), knowing even without doing the study that I'd need to be convinced of God's love for me if I was going to complete the task to which God appointed me. The words "forsaking ambition for affection" really resonated with me. I know ambition has motivated me but it's a fuel that runs out when I get discouraged. Love is a more powerful motivation because it doesn't give up easily. The love of God is, I think, a river in which I occasionally wet my feet. Well, earlier this week I felt like the Lord invited me for a swim, and He reminded me of these words from the Michael W. Smith song "Never Been Unloved."

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful
I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I have been undesirable
And sometimes I have been unwise
I've been undone by what I'm unsure of
But because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved.

I must admit I've been all of these things - some of them at the the same time and some of them recently. To know that God loves me keeps me going even when I feel utterly unworthy by any standard. It is that knowledge that reminds me that my God is different - there is none like Him.

Holy Is the Lord

We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength

... and my only strength, sometimes. Last night I felt musically weak, but even in the midst of the messy harmonies, I couldn't help but notice that the lyrics were saying there was more to it than the music, anyway.

We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He!

I read something kind of bleak yesterday about a preacher - Bellamy, his last name was, a disciple of Jonathan Edwards, that preached in such a way that, as one congregation member put it, made God "SO GREAT!" The bleakness was that his preaching was frightening, of the soul-searing, insanity-producing brand of Calvinism, and that the author of what I was reading said that such preaching gave worshippers a definite purpose/goal/end - an intense, sublimely powerful God. Well, that made me think. See, I don't think we create God, and I think that emphasizing something about Him so that people can worship Him could in some sense be manipulative. However - He is sublimely powerful and awesome. If worship is an experience of the sublime, it could be because it is an experience of God.

I've also been reading about the watering down of theology in the late victorian period in the U.S. - overemphasizing the love part of God. Why do these two extremes seem to be at odds? In beautiful music, we can say, "We bow down and worship Him now - how great, how awesome is He!"

I don't know the answers to these things. That is perhaps why I love to sing His praises - for a moment, I acknowledge and exult in what I know to be true.

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship

My pastor preached a really encouraging sermon on Sunday, based on Ephesians 5:18-19, which talk about being filled with the spirit and singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs. Not coincidentally, I'm sure, I woke up that morning with the hymn, "Brethren, We Have Met to Worship" on my mind. As I prepared for worship, I thought particularly of the lines that say:

All is vain unless the spirit
Of the Holy One comes down.

As I prepared, I desired that the Holy Spirit would empower our worship - would work in each heart, activate and release praise to Him. I'm not sure how that works, but I know that a redeemed heart longs to worship its redeemer, a creature longs to worship its creator, and that it is a spiritual act. I know that if it's just a show, regardless of how big or small, it's in vain. The song is a good reminder to people like me who feel like 'part of the show' because we're on stage on Sunday morning. It's all about you, Jesus.

This Day

I have had hard days this past week, and I have had really good ones. I want the good ones to last, but they don't. There's only enough grace yesterday for yesterday, as much as I want to stretch it out. I know God doesn't think in 24-hour time periods and is not regulated by a clock, but I know that the rythm of life makes a pattern from one day to the next, and that within that pattern, God chooses to act.

Legacy

In my weak pride, I have a hard time taking a compliment. In my strong pride, I want people to say I'm awesome - a prime example of what a human woman was meant to be.

Then, when I get real, when I get humble, I start to think about all the things I spend my time on and how much they matter. And all the things I want to be said about me. And most of it doesn't matter at all.

That's the point of Nicole Nordeman's song, "Legacy." The chorus says:

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough to leave a mark on things?

It's a question I've been asking myself as I get into the prime of my life. I mean, what am I gonna do with myself? What will my life say? I think being well-fashioned in the eyes of the world, in many ways, is not bad - being well-read, being multiculturally literate, and having good manners are all good things. But at the end of my life -

I just wanna hear instead
"Well done, good and faithful one."

That will mean more to me than, "smart," "pretty," or "engaging." It's fairly easy for me to impress people if I want to, and it's somewhat meaningful. But to earn a commendation from my God, well, I don't think that's easy, and it is indeed meaningful.

In, Not Of

So, honestly, I really wanted to write about the Cheat Commandoes today (homestarrunner.com) because it is so funny - the good old laugh-out-loud funny that originally made me like homestarrunner.com.

However, in this blog I talk about songs. So, I'm going to talk about "In Not Of," by Avalon. It's based on the verse that says, though we are in the world, we are not of the world. That's a difficult position to negotiate. How to be in the world, but not of it, especially when it is so seductive an alluring?

This is a beautiful song - highly singable - in fact, I want to sing it in church someday. I think it speaks not so much to how hard it is to be in the world but, for starters, the importance of being in it. I know a lot of Christians are in the world, but some hide out. I sympathize, as did whoever wrote this song, which says,

I hide me far away from trouble
The world outside me grows darker by the day
And so I promise to stay here close beside you
Surely God would want His children safe.

I feel like that sometimes, and fear keeps me from taking the land. In fact, fear of explaining 'taking the land' is going to keep me from talking about it here. It's the concept by which I feel comfortable in the world at all. I hope I make a difference there. I know He's growing His love in me so that I can actually love the world, so even as this song challenges me, it encourages me that something is going right. Here's the chorus:

Come take the light to darker parts
Share His truth with hardened hearts
We are not like the world, but we can love it
Come take the hope to hopeless men
'Til the lost are found in Him
He came to save the world, so let us be
In and not of it.

I know being in the world can go too far, and there are people who've developed really complex ways of addressing how far too far is. I do want to find out more about that, but I know I also need courage to engage with my world.

(I can't tell who this song was written by; here's what the CD jacket says: "Vocal Arrangement: Chris Harris (Nick Gonzales, Grant Cunningham)". )

Lord of All Creation

A moment ago, a hummingbird sipped nectar from an upturned crimson star outside my window. My cat is sitting on the back porch, and even though I can't see him right now, I know he is watching the other cat that is prowling in our backyard. He and I both have our eyes on nature this morning.

For I have chosen no particular song, but rather a subject, about which to write: God's revelation through creation. It seems that since I read a few pages on the subject in Charles Ryrie's Basic Theology that I've heard and sang half a dozen songs about the glory of the Lord and His creation.

I confess it's not something about which I've actively thought much, but I know that when I look out and see the bright magenta of a crepe myrtle against the dark evergreen, and the sunlight dappled through the Georgia pine, or when I see a squirel scuttle across the phone lines, spinning his tail like he's winding up to smack one out of the park, I get happy. In fact, I get a little blessed, and that's what I think Creation is supposed to do for a person.

As Ryrie points out, creation itself is not alone to bring about salvation - only the very specific revelation about the atoning death of Christ is sufficient for that. A person can't get saved by looking at crepe myrtle, but they can get inspired. Something in their heart dilates, and that dilation, I think, is an expansion that gets a heart ready to receive something really big - the awesome revelation of Christ.

On another point, Ryrie points out that creation itself helps to support the argument that there is an eternal creator, which in turn can lead individuals to believe Him by faith. He points more to the complexity of nature than to the beauty of it as a useful proof. From the little I know about science, the beauty that emerges from the complexity of biology is wondrous to me, so I think we're really talking about the same thing from different angles of experience and knowledge.

Creation has been pouring forth speech about the Lord's majesty since before there was writing, before there was math, before there was science. And certainly before there was a formalized cosmology that explained God out of all existence. I have a book sitting next to me on my desk called One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought. The book by Ernst Mayr, published in 1991, won the Phi Beta Kappa award for science. I haven't read it and may not, but I picked it up because it was free and I was intrigued by the title: One Long Argument. What intrigues me is that Darwin's argument, and of course not Darwin alone (and surely I misunderstand or underestimate Darwin and surely, given the wealth of information available and the poverty of my reading on the subject, I am unitiated in such things) but his ideas, in effect, are an argument that invalidates one of the proofs of the argument for an eternal Creator.

It seems like a morbid and defeatist note on which to end, but let me frame it this way: I had never until this morning really thought about how Darwin could affects one's very heart and soul - stealing those rapturous, blessed moments that nature provides, that dilate the soul and prepare me for what I could not naturally understand. Even as a non-scientist, I am affected and a little stirred up by this.