I\u2019m sitting in my office, doing the Holy Week Hustle\u2013the painful and sacred dance that church leaders learn while simultaneously planning services for Good Friday and Easter. All the awkwardness of dancing at prom, with the joy of dancing at a wedding and the pain of the morning AFTER dancing at said wedding, realizing that you are far too old and out of shape to dance for hours in 3-inch-heels. It\u2019s that kind of dance.<\/p>\n
So, here i am, trying to get into a dark and twisty (thanks, Drs. Grey and Yang) friday place, while still trying to whip up not one but TWO high holy and joyful Easter sermons\u2026 and wondering what in the world one should listen to as the foundation of this sacred and uncomfortable routine. What is the music that speaks to the tension of this week, the shared living space of grief and hope?<\/p>\n
Quite alot, actually. Turns out, alot of it is country. Let me qualify that\u2013GOOD country. Real country. Also, some folk and rock. And let us not forget Lady Gaga.<\/p>\n
Maybe country music goes\u00a0with this unique bit of choreography because there\u2019s really quite alot of pain at it\u2019s core. A bittersweet connection with the land, of knowing what it is to live and die with the earth at your feet; but also knowing that, even in seasons of death, there is life just beneath the surface, waiting to spring forth.<\/p>\n
So, my good playlist for Good Friday.\u00a0 Emmylou, \u201cPrayer in Open D.\u201d Allison and Robert, \u201cYour Long Journey.\u201d Patti, \u201cMary.\u201d\u00a0Allison again, \u201cA Living Prayer.\u201d\u00a0 A little Zeppelin goes a long way to take you into the darkness and rock your socks back out of it. Throw in the prophetic prose of Bono, Dylan, and\u2013need i say it?\u2013Johnny Cash (with one song, he not only wrote the soundtrack for Good Friday, he prescribed the dress code\u2026) And yes, i\u2019ll have to shout out to Lady Gaga this year. I was already working\u00a0\u201cBorn This Way\u201d into my Easter sermon, but with her timely release of\u00a0 \u201cJudas\u201d today, i\u2019m finding i\u2019m not nearly done with her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0It is interesting to me that many of these artists speak to all the darkness and hope of this week without ever saying the name \u201cJesus,\u201d and yet\u2013someone so Gaga dares to mention his name and all hell breaks loose on the dance floor\u2026 I\u2019m not quite done processing why that is, but i have a feeling it\u2019s got something to do with this dance between Friday and Sunday, and the many ways we want Jesus to stay in an \u201cus\u201d sized box, an us-sized world, a we-sized tomb.\u00a0 And what do we learn on Friday, but the harm that comes of that desire? And what do we hope for Sunday, but that God will overcome us, yet again\u2026<\/p>\n
Dance, folks. Preachers, teachers, singers, writers, mothers, fathers, farmers, cowgirls, rockstars and everybody that drives the truck in between. Dance as if your life depends on it today. Sore as your feet might be tomorrow\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All the awkwardness of dancing at prom, with the joy of dancing at a wedding and the pain of the morning AFTER dancing at said wedding, realizing that you are far too old and out of shape to dance for hours in 3-inch-heels. It’s that kind of dance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,118,56,1],"tags":[119,120,121,11,100,122,27,123,124,68,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,10,132],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-desert-life","category-lent-and-easter","category-spirituality-in-culture","category-uncategorized","tag-allison-krauss","tag-bob-dylan","tag-bono","tag-christianity","tag-easter","tag-emmylou-harris","tag-faith","tag-good-friday","tag-holy-week","tag-hope","tag-johnny-cash","tag-judas","tag-lady-gaga","tag-led-zeppelin","tag-patti-griffin","tag-prophetic","tag-robert-plant","tag-spirituality","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"\n