I find that music can sometimes be so fabricated you can’t touch it. Tracks playing, other people penning the music. Lyrics can be catchy, but still and lifeless, produced in a backroom by someone who doesn’t know the artist or the story that they are trying to sing.
It took several switches today on the radio dial to find a song with some sort of message or purpose. Normally I would usually hum along to whatever Christian music was playing at the time since I had my kids in the car, but today was different. Today I needed more than manufactured fluff.
I got agitated with every rhythm and turned back and forth between the Coffee House channel and Classic Vinyl, but nothing seemed to give way. Usually Paul Simon may do it for me, but not today. No; I needed something much deeper than that…
And so a song came on that I hadn’t heard in awhile, Imagine Dragons’ “It’s Time”, whose lyrics began to remind me of a more complicated time in my life. And although I wanted to turn it off, I couldn’t. Even with the polished track, you could feel and understand the songs depth and overreaching power to remind us that we are who God created us to be.
I wondered if the song wasn’t quite so manufactured, if it was in its most raw and pure form, if it would affect me differently. I quickly found the acoustic version to test out my theory, which quickly proved true. Unadulterated and unfiltered, unmanufactured, imperfect, pure voice and rhythm, I couldn’t help but think that this was such a metaphor for the lives we live. If we could live our lives acoustically, real, no cloudiness, extras, filters, in our purest most honest form, wouldn’t the music sound so much sweeter?
I realized how afraid I was of living like that. Of continuing to expose who I am and how God is changing me. Exposing my faults, talking about my troubles and complexities. I realized just how hard it was to be a raw and honest human.
When you read or listen to the words of those people who you know are being completely honest, it reminds you how hard it was for them and that we are not alone. The song, the writing sounds different, almost uneven and uncomfortable. There are trembling voices, unsteady words, awkwardness and how could you’s. The reality is what makes us uncomfortable, or as Dan Reynolds puts it, “When a song is most honest and most raw that’s when you know you’re doing something right.”
I am terrified. Terrified to just be who I am, terrified I’m not good enough, terrified that maybe I’ll be a terrible failure at Christianity, for the road is oftentimes fraught with rockiness and heartache. I remembered yesterday when I asked God, no, no rather I screamed out loud, “Where the F are you??????”
But I cannot be anything else than who I am. I can’t be a boxed in Christian. I am not a saint. I am just trying to be me.
With all the usual hate speech against Christians from the entertainment industry these days, it’s nice to hear from someone whose life turned around because of Jesus. Here is the story of someone who found Jesus after a sinful life, and now lives for Jesus in every part of his life.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.- 1 Peter 5:10
But on the eighth day and thereafter, they are able to be offered to the Lord.- Leviticus 22:27(b)
Mary’s virginity and giving birth, and even the Lord’s death escaped the notice of the prince of this world; these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God’s silence.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (498)
I usually don’t start off with scripture or readings from the Catechism. I usually start slow, building up an appetite for godly things. People see the bible and catechism and imagine a different perspective of where the writing may go, telling you what you need to do to be right with God, or simply scaring you away with words that were never intended to be scary. But if we see, as humans, these words as transcendent, as moving, as life in letters, as life-giving, as a life vest, as rescuers, we can become the lifeguard instead of the drowning victim.For God will call us out of the water when he is good and ready.
Sunday is always our eighth day, no matter where we are, a new chance at renewal, a new year’s resolution, once a week.And I’m beginning to see it in a different light. No matter where you are in your walk of faith, I hope you will too. Entering the church doors or maybe not ready to enter the church doors. You can enter the church doors, your innermost self. Just enter, and God will be ready to meet you.
Jesus rose from the dead “on the first day of the week.”Because it is the “first day,” the day of Christ’s Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the “eighth day” following the sabbath,it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica) Sunday:
(CC 2174)
Sunday provides the pathway and the light. It provides the opportunity to change. It provides a time to ask for forgiveness from the creator. It provides the opportunity to extend forgiveness. And there’s nothing the devil can do about it.
You can stop your addiction, your adultery, your dependence on the world, your anxiety, your depression; YOU CAN START OVER TODAY.
You can be bold, you can be brave, you can be free, you can be who you were created to be; YOU CAN DO IT TODAY.
Sunday is a gift, wrapped up in white, the gift of God, of His Son. Sunday is cleansing, beginning, the gift in and of itself, the gift of the Lord rising, the day to come out of your pit, the day to come out of your suffering.
Even if the week has plagued you, shaken you, forced you to hide in darkness, the light of Sunday has come. It is an offering, beckoning, Christ with open arms saying, Come to me my child, come to me.
The enemy he cannot touch you, he cannot hurt you, he has fallen. The greatest events this world has ever seen were accomplished without a word from the evil one. And if God’s plan was perfectly executed, Mary’s virginal conception, Christ’s crucifixion and His glorious resurrection, how much more will God’s plan in our own lives be accomplished if we move towards Him, if we move into Sunday.
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.- Jesus
I have always loved music. I have always been searching for the music that touches my heart in honesty and love in the deepest way. Music and words that speak truth and human emotions.
That is one reason that I have always related to David of the bible. Particularly, I have always loved the raw honesty in the Book of Psalms.
I came across this article and video today. It is truthful and honest. No religion in it just pure relationship.
I happen to like Bono very much. His spiritual journey has been an inspiration over the years. And Eugene Peterson of The Message translation fame has been a breath of fresh air in bible reading for me.
This video touched my heart. It speaks of thoughts and expressions I have felt for a long time. Please watch it and hear it with openness and not judgement.
This is a reworking of a post I have done before on a couple of other blogs.
It Is Well With My Soul
Isaiah 66:12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Horatio Spafford certainly knew a few things about peace like a river, as well as sorrow attending his way. In the mid 19th century, he was a prominent lawyer and real estate investor in the city of Chicago. He was also a good friend with Evangelist D.L Moody and devout man of God. Despite his wealth and prominence, things would not always be a peaceful river for Horatio Spafford; soon things would take a very bad turn for this fellow. First came a serious financial setback. Spafford, having invested heavily in the city of Chicago which was expanding northward, lost most of his substantial investment in the Chicago fire of 1871.
It was two years later when Horatio Spafford’s faith really became tested, it was then that the sorrows began to roll like sea billows in his life. He, his wife Anna, and their four daughters had decided to sail across the Atlantic to be with their friend D. L. Moody as he preached in Europe. Horatio himself was delayed by business, so we sent his wife and daughters on ahead, planning to meet them later. As they traveled across the Atlantic on the steamship Ville du Havre , it collided with another ship and was sunk. All four daughters died, and only Horatio’s wife Anna survived.
Upon receiving word of his great loss, Horatio Spafford immediately got on a ship of his own and headed across the Atlantic. It is thought that the inspiration for this song was given to him as he was notified that his own ship was passing the very spot where his four daughters had perished.
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,It is well, it is well with my soul. Whatever my lot, through the good times and the bad times. God is with us during all of these. James talked about this when he said,Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. There is a man we are all familiar with who’s story sounds so like the one told above. That man is Job, of course. Faced with the loss of everything: his children, his possessions, and ultimately the loss of his own health. Yet through it all, Job had one thing to say: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job did not know why God was allowing these trials; however, Job knew God. Job knew he had the promise of eternal life with his creator; it was well with his soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,. Time and time again in God’s Word we are told of the simple fact that trial WILL come our way. The words if are never used; trials are a promise and a guarantee. As he began his great writing on living the Christian life, James pointed this out to us when he wrote, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;. He was letting us know that, first of all, trials in this life are simply a part of life. He also instructed us that sometimes trials have a purpose in this life, in that they worketh patience and make us perfect and entire.
Sometimes they are even simply to show us the grace God provides to get us through the tough spots. We all remember Paul and the thorn in his flesh, and how he besought the Lord thrice that he be granted relief; but, the Lord didn’t remove that thorn, instead telling the Apostle, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Let this blest assurance control,That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul. Another great song is Blessed Assurance, where we see the following,Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, and how true that is. We are his also, as He did shed His blood for our very soul, and we are bought with a price
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—My sin, not in part but the whole, My sin, your sin, and the sin and sins of the entire world. All of us have sinned and transgressed God’s moral law; God Himself inspired Paul to tell us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and there is none righteous, no not one. We can say to our ourselves, “Oh, I’m not THAT bad” or, “Hey, I’m not as bad as THAT guy!” The problem is, we are not evaluated against our own standard of good and bad, or by comparison with any other person; we are evaluated against God’s standard of Holy perfection. Sin, literally means “To miss the mark.” If and archer misses the mark, or the bulls eye, it does not matter if he misses by a tenth of an inch, or by 10 feet, the mark was still missed. That is our problem with God’s standard, we can missed by one “tiny” little sin, or we can be the most heinous criminal who ever lived; we miss the mark either way. Read what James taught us:For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Now, however, comes our problem. God is perfect, and God sets the standard. Holy means perfect and without sin, and it also means God is incapable of abiding with or tolerating sin. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. It started way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve only had one small thing they could not do, and that is eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for God told them on that day you will surely die. Not only would they die physically, but spiritually, as their disobedience separated them from God. That is our problem as well, for the wages of sin is death.
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! The writer of this song had joy in the face of all of his tribulation, because he know all was well with his soul. He knew despite what he faced during his life here, that his eternity and his future were secure and that his eternity would be with Jesus in Heaven. Because even though the wages of sin is death, we also see the following promise come right after, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What was paid for on that cross? Every sin past, present, and future. My sin, not in part, but the whole.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Some day, no matter what happens in this world, and to us, we can always remember this one thing: The Lord is coming back, and things will be made right. If it is well with our soul, then we are Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul. Remember that right after Jesus ascended into Heaven, that the angels promised the staring disciples this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. This world is not our home, and what we may face and endure here is merely temporary, as our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: If it IS well with our souls, then we can have the hope of all of these things, and always know that the trials of this life are only passing as we prepare for an eternity where no sin, and no death exist anymore.
It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Is it well with YOUR soul?
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
By: Horatio G. Spafford
Sung by: The Gaithers featuring David Phelps and Guy Penrod
This song came across my worship time this morning, and captured me. I looked it up, and have been captivated by it. I’ve repeated it many times, as it has aided my prayer.
Thought I’d share it for your joy… Don’t even watch the video… just close your eyes and let the music do what music does. It may not affect others as it has me, but grace to you nonetheless…
The Lyric? “By your cross and passion, you free us O Lord. Lord…”
“that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
1 Samuel 8:20 (NKJV)
Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal- Mass entrance
We are all looking for our King, I am convinced of that. Our desire is to be free and do what we want, when we want, but soon thereafter we find ourselves craving structure, and form. It’s why we make New Year’s Resolutions, go on diets, make amends and go to confession. And some way, somehow, we are all connected by the sense that we need something more. It is what that “something” is that we make our ultimate King.
Prophets among men have always been extremely unpopular. So unpopular, their message has preceded their untimely death. The message and the mission of prophets is to bring God’s warning and wisdom to those who will listen. But ultimately, they are rejected by the very people who they were sent to preach to.
And so to it was with the prophet Samuel, that his people did not care to listen. Demanding a fleshly King rather than God, the King of the Universe. “We want to be like everyone else,” they said, “We don’t trust in a God that we cannot see.”
The people did not want to fight their battles with God or listen to what the prophet Samuel had to say. But no matter, Samuel had done his job. He had given his warning, he had spoken. But nobody wanted to listen.
And so it is in our own lives. We may have found God, but He’s so last year. We’ve moved on to the next thing. Now it’s about the wisdom of the wind, or whatever is trending. We don’t trust and cannot follow a God we cannot see. We say that we can do whatever we please, but are the first in line to hang onto every word of the next quote coming from the next best thing. Even if you believe in nothing, that is something, and that my friends is your King.
Our views on God are small, minute actually. They are good enough for now. And when God is just not good enough, we cast Him off to the side like an old and worn out pair of shoes. Until of course we need Him again.
I had an old friend come to visit me today. He was seeking answers. What I am supposed to do? He himself had left the throne empty. He wanted God, craved God, but not enough to want to hear my answer. When we do it our way, it just doesn’t seem to work out, and that message is not religious, its universal.
So who or what is the King in your life? What rules your day or even your life? Are you depending on a fleshly King, or could it be that there is something more?
“It is greater…to be a child of God than to be the ruler of a kingdom: this last I shall lose at death, but the other will be my passport to an everlasting destiny.” Saint Louis IX, King of France
“You can have it all, my empire of dirt.” Nine Inch Nails covered by Johnny Cash
Passports. They are an entry to another place. They allow us freedom of passage. They are a privilege, not a right. A picture and the country of origin. You can be transported to another place.
There are many books on how to change your life, thinking positive and living the life you want to lead by simply speaking it into the universe. I have read all of them. You can be rich, and famous and fabulous. You can have anything you want. But what if you garnered all of that only to have found out, it’s not what you really wanted at all? You are not satisfied.
You can travel the world with a passport, but still feel alone. You can dine with kings and with peasants and still not enjoy the freedom of travel. You can have it all, my empire of dirt.
The lyrics of the song “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails and covered by Johnny Cash is a reminder of the passport. The way we use it, where we go. It is a metaphor for the journey of life. It is an allusion to the words of Jesus, as I imagine myself before the crucifix, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Yes it is about drug addiction, but it can be manipulated into any type of pain. It is about what means the most in the end. It is about our humanness, and our struggle. It is about that passport. The one we all hold in our hands.
What have I become, my sweetest friend,
everyone I know goes away in the end
And you could have it all, my empire of dirt
I will let you down, I will make you hurt
If I could start again, a million miles away
I would keep myself, I would find a way
Life is a funny thing. If you think about it, we are all connected by the same thing- the need for satisfaction in life, the dire hunt for happiness, and the struggles we go through to get it. We mostly don’t allow ourselves to connect with others in those deep places. There are no more outdoor philosophical discussions about a man’s inner being. But if you really listen, really listen to Johnny Cash’s cover, it provides a simplified glimpse into that notion. It is painfully real and exposing and true. You can have everything, yet nothing, nothing at all.
How are you traveling and where are you going? Is your passport an attempt to chase happiness in order to be free or are you using it for eternal purposes? Are you simply moving from place to place or does your passport allow you to travel to and from the heavenlies?
“During the time when Israel was deprived of land and Temple, God- according to the traditional criteria-could not compete with other gods, for a god who had no land and could not be worshiped was not a god at all.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, p.347
Pause thought. There’s another half to that thought that Pope Benedict XVI had, but not just quite yet. When God wakes you up to finish a book, you do it. And this book has been difficult for me to finish. Not because it’s not fantastic, because oh it is. But because it’s savory, and I eat books, fast, some would say (some being my husband) I eat them with my hands like an animal at a table without the use of fork and knife. But no, not this one. I think I’m ready to do a dissertation on it I took so many notes, so many pauses. It didn’t hit me like the light on Paul’s Damascus Road, it came in a long Elijah- like subtle whisper, begging me to read more, begging me to stay.
So 5 am, in the closet, on the floor, tired eyes, ok Lord, hair messy no coffee, I snuck away there like I was about to rob the place. I have been desperate, searching, slap me God do something. I’ll only run to Him. He is my source and my destiny and He likes when I am crazy over Him. And I am crazy over Him.
So when He invited me away with Him I jumped and smiled and I didn’t have to get ready or look my best. He took me, the mess that I was from being awake from my youngest.
“Don’t go back to sleep, don’t go,” it was deep within my soul. I was so ready for a stolen moment, an adventure, even in my closet.
“Finish the book,” He says.
I did. I finished the book. But read every page this time like He was there. And I found treasure, and romance and Him. And it led off with the thought I started with above.
“During the time when Israel was deprived of land and Temple, God- according to the traditional criteria-could not compete with other gods, for a god who had no land and could not be worshiped was not a god at all.”
Oh, I was in it. Drawn in. I felt His pull. My pulls are a knee-jerk let’s go! His; his are subtle, small, gentle, gliding. Hold my hand and take me. Like a little girl. I was inside that sentence. He was showing me how to be a child, how to be inside what he was showing me. I listened… calm, peaceful. I was with Him yesterday before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. It was still penetrating my being.
Inside, God was not there. No temple, no land, no place to rest his head. A wanderer, a sojourner. Nothing to look at. Open space and movement. But He, he was still living and breathing. In this closet. Far from Jerusalem. Far from my church. I realized it then. Even in my longing to pray daily in His church, He’s made a space for me, a place for me. I live in God’s house or rather, He’s made His house inside of me.
“It was during this period that the people learned to understand fully what was different and new about Israel’s God, the god of one people and one land, but quite simply God, the God of the universe, to whom all lands, all heaven and earth belong, The God who is master of all…Once again: Israel came to realize that its God was simply “God” without qualification.” (Pope Benedict XVI pp.347-348).
Inside that closet was me and Him and silent worship. It was time away with Him. I had no shrine or offerings but myself. Like St. Peter exclaimed during the transfiguration, I was so overcome and had nothing to say but, “It is so good that we are here.” Sounded more in my mind like a nervous uttering on a first date, but it was all I had. I was in open territory, free, free at 5 am with an invitation from God to read and sit with him. And I could care less if the rest of the world doesn’t understand me.
Are you deprived of land and temple? Space or place? Nowhere to go? Roaming in physicality or even in spirit? In wide open spaces that are just too big? The God of the universe had no place to rest his head, so you are in excellent company! And I’m there with you saying, Yes! Yes! Me too! I am shouting Yes! I have nowhere to go than to Him. Always searching, always traveling, continuously finding my way back to Him. This lover will never leave me, never let me go. We are two hippy purveyors of land, He’s there, He’s always there. Still in love with me.
I write most of my pieces while listening to music. The Holy Spirit leads me to songs that ignite me. I want to share this with you today as you will often see music associated with my pieces. Today, the music is crucial to understanding my piece. It is intended to be listened to while you read through it. I hope you see as deep and wide as I do today. Love you all-
Church Set Free 