A Far Green Country

This is worth a whole song post. Christian music struggles to paint the picture of a glorious God & often in turn diminishes the beauty & magnificence of God by trite, poppy lyrics & songs. I do listen to as much Christian music as possible, & though the above statement I think is very true, there are a few bright spots, & I try to use those artists & lyrics to worship & praise God. I also, however, find grandeur & beauty & joy in composed music that to my ears often sounds heaven sent. And another area of music I enjoy is folk or songwriter music. The redemptive quality I find in folk music is that most of the songs are simply stories about life. If it's a story about death, birth, a hummingbird, an old country road, a particular city, nature, love, loss, pain, family, etc...I can't help as a Christian to think about God, the Author of all those things. I am grateful for the secular artists who use their God given (even if He's not recognized) talents of writing & music to help me contemplate the life we're given by God, though I recognize the limits to being able to truly worship this way & the need for directly God glorifying music.

All that to say, an artist who I listen to after hearing him do some background work for one of my favorite artists is a guy named Mark Erelli. He has a sweet album of lullabies for his son & is a gifted, gifted song writer. Singing talent isn't the best or easiest to listen to in my opinion - kind of like Bob Dylan but a bit better - but I love to be in the stories he creates.

Mark graduated with a biology degree & has a master's degree in evolutionary biology & is an atheist. What I have learned is that the gay, the liberal, the atheist, the secularist, the lost, they are deceived, not our enemy. Yes, I understand some hate Christianity & are on a mission to rid the world of us, but if they die without repenting God will judge them as His enemies. But here & now for us, we should have our hearts broken in humility for those who don't know the saving grace we have. We should realize that with the divorce rate among Christians & the lost in the US being the same, calls for Koran burnings, websites like godhatesfags.com set up by 'churches,' it's clear to see why those who by their own sinful nature already don't want to bend the knee find plenty of extra excuses by looking at the 'church.'

So my hopes are that you can read these lyrics & hear this song & have your heart broken for those who haven't been divinely rescued like you or me. Jesus came to seek & save the lost, so to have a heart like His I think is to have a broken heart for those who don't know Him as well as a love for those who do. I do not think this is the same thing as listening to Eminem rap about killing his wife or tying his girlfriend to the bed & burning the house down in order to study the mindset of the unbeliever. This isn't trashy but an artistic expression of a faith point of view - atheism. It's like reading Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. But, just to be clear, I'm not advocating this as a replacement to music that directly worships, honors, glorifies, & praises God. My hopes for writing all the above is that some Christians would replace self-righteousness towards unbelievers with the love of Christ. It was the love of Jesus, not the wrath of His believers, that ultimately broke me & made me His.

This song is Kingdom Come by Mark Erelli & it was written for the album called the Darwin Song Project:



KINGDOM COME:

The wasp she lays an egg
'Neath a caterpillar's skin
It hatches and the larva grows
Feasting from within
It kills the host then off it goes
To sting another one
Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come

I've a secret guaranteed
To make the theologians squirm
All it takes is time to make a man
From the lowliest of worms
We are not the pinnacle
Nobody's chosen ones
Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come

Once I had a daughter
She died before her time
I sponged her fevered brow
And cursed her bilious decline
I feel her like a phantom limb
Pins and needles numb
Friend I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Friend I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Seems to me there's too much misery
Can the minds of men be trusted
I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come

I've known communion in conviction
And the loneliness of doubt
Does the master mark the sparrow's fall
Or just let it all play out
If only for your sake my love
I wish I could succumb
Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come
Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come