Tired Of These Songs
as i was considering the things that impacted me in the course as well as things that had been stirring in my heart, one of the main things was the idea of integrity and how tired i was of all my prayers and songs that were divorced from action. i sort of hit a prophetic vein today, and figured i'd run with it. i felt a bit "james-esque" with a heart to exhort people. dan spoke of "flat lives" and a hollowness to people if they're merely singing and not living. this song sort of flowed out of my heart from a place of frustration in my personal life as well as from observing people's understanding of "worship", of an orthodoxy that's disconnected from orthopraxy.
a massive question for me has been if i proclaim jesus as bright and beautiful on sunday (or whenever i'm "feeling" it), then why don't i see him as such later (when i'm tired, alone, etc.). obviously there are a few different factors at play within this, but i pray that my heart would continue to gaze at him with the same intensity later as well as see that love poured out in every aspect of my life. i chose words that accompany these thoughts: "let the whole of us sing out to you" (romans 12 imagery), "let the ordinary and everyday speak out praise", "let the simple things and mundane voice your name" (this was tied into some of the devotional classics), even somethings semi-stupid like using references to days of the week.
i also tackle the whole horizontal connection to the vertical. the old testament prophets very clearly tied our worship to the poor, orphans and widows. if our songs and prayers don't have any "earth" in them, there's a disconnect between our hearts and God's heart because he loved the world, the cosmos, he said it was good. we should continue to learn to love the unloved, and help the helpless.
ok. i'm done.