On my previous post I asked what single song you would sing if you were lying out in the gutter dying and you had time to sing one song…One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on earth. One song that would sum you up…
Whilst I often love clever lyrics, at the end of the day some things just need to be said as they are. Whatever our life experience or standing in society, we all fall short and hide behind masks and ultimately there comes a time when we simply stop pretending…
Is there time when old hymnals come back to mind and we recite phrases like “amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”? How seldom many of us see ourselves in that light. And yet for untold numbers of others, they see themselves simply in that light with no hope of restoration.
I’ve been thinking it over for a couple of days and have concluded that I’d choose the same song as Scott. So, when it all boils down to it the song I’d choose is as follows:
“Well I have wandered away from the narrow path
Have I gone so far that you won’t have me back?
You see my reaction to the world’s distractions.
If the apple is sweet, then I am bound to eat…
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy on me.
Well I came to you from that lonely place
At the end of the season from the sea and the sun
If you’re really there and you really care
Surely you will understand the depths of my despair
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy on me.
Will you listen to me in my moment of weakness?
I’m your prodigal son and I’m looking for rest
Forever
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy on me”.
From “Mercy” by Gena Rowlands Band.
The above comes from the “Flesh and Spirits” album which I consider my best find of 2007. I now regard it as one of the most important albums I own. Whilst, the language may not always be the way in which I would articulate things, this record has helped me view life, love, attraction, temptation, sex, death, God and the human condition in a way like precious little other music has done for a long time. If that has got you intrigued, then you can listen to some of the tracks at their myspace page here or order the album here.
One of my friends saw Gena Rowlands Band play a gig in Brooklyn last year. They finished the set with this song. Bob Massey sung the song whilst the rest of the band packed up their gear around him and those gathered in the venue began to sing along the refrain, “Lord, have mercy on us”. I love that picture – a small bar full of people, many of whom, I expect, would never consider entering a church and yet singing words together that they can understand and own. It makes me think about how little time Jesus spent in religious places compared with how much time he spent with ordinary people in their everyday lives.
As Scott also recently commented in an email to me – church is more like a hospital for sinners than a museum for saints. There’s a lot of truth in that and yet I wonder how many churches that actually rings true for?
The State That I Am In 