I've been fortunate to spend my life making music for people from all walks of life. Broken people.  Hungry people.  People trying to pursue grace in a very ungracious world.  People on the verge of greatness and people on the precipice of collapse. These all make up the beautiful mosaic that are the people of the Church.  

For a few thousand years now, groups of imperfect men and women, the young and old, have gathered on a regular basis to practice the communal experience of what we now call Church.  And one of the core practices holding these groups together has been singing.  Despite your denominational preference, singing has been a universal way the Church has expressed the mysterious truths of God, to God.  That we get to share it with each other, experiencing God's grace in community, is truly a gift.

But what makes this 'practice' so important to the life of the Church and to our own individual lives, whether we go to church or not? 

Because music moves.

An old acquaintance of mine once told me something that has stayed with me for a long time...he said that the heart can go places the mind cannot.  In other words, we don't think our way into love, we just love.  We don't hesitate to react to tragic circumstances, we just react.  We are hard-wired to feel.  And music makes us do just that, to feel beyond our intellectual ability to comprehend what we're feeling. That's why it's so hard to explain the love of a father for his child or the way a beautiful sunset can calm your soul.  And this is also why there are thousands of songs about love and hardly no songs about the science behind it...

In the Church, we get to sing about a God who, in the words of Francis Chan, cannot be exaggerated.  We get to remind ourselves the truth that God is love, that we can forgive and be forgiven.  And our songs serve as vehicles to the heart of God.  These songs have the ability to move us from knowledge about God to relationship with God.  And when we're moved, we change, hopefully to make the world a better place to live.

What songs have recently driven you to God's heart?  
What songs (from any genre) have moved you recently and why? 
Also, bonus points for naming songs that scientifically/intellectually explain love.  Go!
 


Comments

Blake link
08/22/2011 13:38

Great Awakening has two songs I've drawn near to God with many times over the past month. The Invitation and Lazarus. And that album is free!

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Jeremiah
08/22/2011 13:40

I'll check them out!

Reply
Tammy Taylor
08/23/2011 11:44

John Mark McMillan and Molly Williams and I keep listening to In the Arms every chance I get.

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