{"id":1065,"date":"2012-04-06T19:46:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T19:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irreverin.com\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2012-04-06T19:46:09","modified_gmt":"2012-04-06T19:46:09","slug":"songs-from-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2012\/04\/songs-from-the-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs from the Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I spent the morning of Good Friday roaming about in the desert with my dog. If you ask me, the desert is the only place to spend this day\u2013literal or elsewise.<\/p>\n

Last year I wrote a piece about the proper sound track for Holy Week<\/a>, and this year, the good folks over at The Salt Project<\/a>\u00a0featured the post.\u00a0 They do beautiful work for Jesus and the world, and if you\u2019ve never checked out their stuff, now\u2019s a good time.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0my desert journey this morning took me back to the beginning of Lent, a sermon i did about \u201cSongs from the Wilderness.\u201d I talked about what Jesus might have listened to\/sung to himself\/heard from the spirit during his days of desert roaming.\u00a0 After all, music is where the sould finds its deepest expression. Who would we be, if not for the songs that have shaped us? With that in mind, I\u2019m revisiting the idea of a Holy Week playlist this year, grateful for all the ways a good song can set even our darkest patch of lyrics to a hopeful tune.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that what today is for, after all?\u00a0 We hear that book close with a finality that wracks our soul: it is finished.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0And we know it to be\u00a0true.<\/p>\n

And yes,\u00a0perhaps we already\u00a0bought candy, and hung butterflies in the sanctuary, and washed and ironed a beautiful dress for the small child at home; maybe there\u2019s a ham in the fridge, a cloudless blue sky overhead,\u00a0the beginnings of joy\u00a0pushing us quickly through the desert dust.<\/p>\n

But for an awful moment\u2013or for three days of them\u2013our story ends, and we sit with the awful truth that perhaps, this time, God is finished with us after all.\u00a0\u00a0This\u00a0story manages to settle on our soul in\u00a0a way that calls forth a deep and Holy longing; and yet, miraculously, it does not quite cripple us. Even now, there is an alleluia <\/em>forming on our lips.\u00a0It threatens to break forth, unbidden, before its time on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

So what do we sing in the meantime? Again, i wonder what Jesus sang in the wilderness. I wonder what Mary sang as she wandered, alone and shaken, from the sealed tomb. I wonder what the disciples hummed as they faced the awful burden of the calling Jesus left, warm and beating, \u00a0in their hands. I think it all went a little something like this\u2026<\/p>\n

Hard Times, Come Again No More<\/a><\/p>\n

Homeless<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus Walks<\/a><\/p>\n

One<\/a><\/p>\n

Lifeboy<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cave<\/a>\u00a0 (side note: if i could have M&Sons come and sing this on Sunday, i would not have to preach\u2026Anybody got a hook up? Think they\u2019d work for cheap?)<\/p>\n

And this one: this song runs all through at about 18 levels on any given day. But for now\u2026for right this moment, I can see those tortured, heartbroken women walking away from the tatters of a cross, this tune haunting them all the way home. And maybe, just maybe, bringing them back a few days later just to see\u2026just to see if dawn is coming, after all: Shake it Out<\/a>\u00a0ladies. Hard to dance with\u00a0the devil on your back, I know. But something\u2013some unseen, mysterious wonder of grace\u2013 keeps\u00a0you moving, all the way to Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent the morning of Good Friday roaming about in the desert with my dog. If you ask me, the desert is the only place to spend this day\u2013literal or elsewise. 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