Featured song: God With Us, from Bob Bennett’s 2009 album, Christmastide.
I rarely post a new song, since there are so many excellent older ones. But every so often I find there is a new song that stands out and really speaks to me, and then I feel I must share it. I have enjoyed Bob Bennett’s voice and music for some time; click on his name in the tags to the right and see other posts where I have used his songs. This is from a new 2009 Christmas album of his; as in the past, his words are powerful, and his simple guitar backgrounds are pleasing to the ear. For me, this is a new Christmas favorite!
Make wide the way and straight the path
God with Us
He comes in mercy, not in wrath
God with Us
Behold an ancient mystery
God stepping into history
Hail the incarnate deity
God with Us
Good will to men and peace on earth
God with Us
He comes to us by humble birth
God with Us
Clothed alike in flesh and bone
He comes to make His Father known
His Spirit says we’re not alone
God with Us
God with Us
Because we fell
Yeshua Hamashiach
Emmanuel
God with Us
It was always meant to be
God with Us
With you, with me
Innocent as a newborn child
God with Us
The souls of sinners reconciled
God with Us
From Bethlehem to Calvary
Come to set the captives free
That every grave might empty be
God with Us
God with Us
What a story to tell
Jesus Christ
Our Emmanuel
The lame will dance
The blind will see
God with Us
With you, with me
Not by merit do we proclaim
He is fully God and fully Man
Blessed be His Name
For the Eternal One
Has surely kept his Vow
To be God with Us
Here and now
So light the lights and trim the tree
God with Us
A holiday with a mongrel pedigree
God with Us
But at the heart of why we’re here
The morning after midnight clear
Reverence replaces fear
God with Us
God with Us
Our hearts compel
Our worship of the Living God
Emmanuel
May His Spirit give
Open eyes to see
God with Us
With you, with me
As I mentioned in my previous post, the emotional heart is a delicate thing, and it can be injured easily. The emotional heart is also something that cannot be quantified; that is, it is difficult to measure a person’s emotional state. I can order a test that shows the function of the heart in electrical terms (the EKG), and a test that shows the function of the heart in physcial terms (the echocardiogram), and I can measure the function of the heart in terms of power and fitness (a stress test). But the state of your emotional heart cannot be measured in any way that I know of. It requires talking, and observing, and spending time with someone.
My own heart can be difficult for others to observe and measure, depending on how good I am at hiding my emotions. However, someone who gets to know me will be able to spend just a short time with me and say, “Okay, what’s the matter? What’s going on with you today?” They are not observing test results to arrive at this conclusion; it is a matter of knowing and paying attention to me.
Bob Bennett, from his 1982 album, Matters Of The Heart, has two songs that look at this topic in various ways. As I read the words, I don’t feel like I get the same impact that I do when I hear it with the music, so be sure to read the words while the song is playing. The way he crafts his song is a reminder to me that the song writers are the poets of our generation. A hundred and fifty years ago, Bennett would possibly been writing poetry for a magazine or to published in book form. In the modern era, the poets find ways to put their works to song, and the result had more impact that the written word alone would have had.
This post actually includes two songs from Bennett’s album. The title song comes first, and then the final song of the album, Heart Of The Matter.
Baby smiling for an unknown reason
Birds singing in the dead of night
Hand reaching out for another one
Breeze catching a falling kite
Sigh at the end of a working day
Sun sinking down in the ocean
Love letters from far away
Rain dancing in motion
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
But there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Eyes laughing in the face of disaster
Voices bleating on the telephone line
A spark of truth that catches on fire
First taste of the new wine
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curves
But there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
Oh, oh,
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
These matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
And now, Heart Of The Matter, which starts with one theme, and then returns to the theme of the previous song.
I’m just a man in a world full of men just like me
With a heart full of question and answers
That seem to be somewhat connected
And a head full of pre-conceived notions
That manage to get in the way
And I find myself longing to return
Back to the place where I started
Back when I knew next to nothing
Back to the heart
Back to the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matter
Hearts
alternate
between tears and a rage
A short journey through the human zoo
In this mortal cage
Words
like weapons
ask no questions as they kill
People
wounded
Once dancing, now they’re standing still
And all these things, I can’t explain
They keep on running, round my brain
Drive me deep, deep to the heart
To the heart of the matter
Lambs
to the slaughter
Well aware of their consequence
Saving (saving)
fallen man
Living and dying in this present tense
So many things I can’t explain, oh
They lose and confuse me, again and again
Drive me deep, deep to the heart
To the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matter
The heart of the matter
A light shining in this heart of darkness
A new beginning and a miracle
Day by day integration, the concrete and the spiritual
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can count up your converts
And miss where it all starts
You can show me your sales curves
But there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
These fragile pieces, priceless treasure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
(A spark of truth that catches on fire)
Matters of the heart
These matters of the heart
Today, I attended a funeral. It was for one of my wife’s friends, who had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. As I listened to the minister’s message, I was struck by one of things suffered by those who lose someone close to them. A death rarely occurs in an expected fashion, where there is time to plan a final conversation, share a final meal, or make a final expression of friendship or gratitude. What we are left with are the many things unspoken, forgiveness never asked or granted, and regrets that may be intense and may follow us for years. The obvious answer to this dilemma is to “keep short accounts”, not to leave things alone that are in need of resolution. And that is a fine and appropriate way to decide to live my life from this point on.
But what about the things from prior to this moment, the things from all of my life before now? Sure, I can make my own list of all those to whom I’ve done wrong, or who have done wrong to me, and resolve to contact them and try to make everything alright. But what happens if I cannot contact that person, or if they refuse to speak to me, or if, as in the case of today’s funeral, they are no longer living? That failed event of life still exists, and I may still be affected by it.
God is master of the present, the future, and the past. He can come into that episode of years ago: a bad memory, a destroyed friendship, a failed marriage, or anything you might name, and bring healing and resolution from the pain it still causes. Even if that event has damaged me in some way, His healing can begin to repair the wounds and make me new.
Bob Bennett wrote a song, Lord Of The Past, that describes this process beautifully. I do not know for certain on which album it first appeared; I do know it is available on a currently available album titled The View From Here, available here. I believe it first was released on Lord Of The Past: A Compilation, released in 1989.
Every harsh word spoken
Every promise ever broken to me
Total recall of data in the memory
Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I’ve ever felt alone
Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That you can heal these wounds of yesterday
So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of the past
Oh, how I want You to
Be the Lord of the past
All the chances I let slip by
All the dreams that I let die in vain
Afraid of failure and afraid of pain
Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I’ve ever felt alone
Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
You can redeem these things so far away
So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of my past
Oh, how I want You to
Be the Lord of the past
Well, I picked up all these pieces
And I built a strong deception
And I locked myself inside of it
For my own protection
And I sit alone inside myself
And curse my company
For this thing that has kept me alive for so long
Is now killing me
And as sure as the sin rose this morning
The man in the moon hides his face tonight
And I lay myself down on my bed
And I pray this prayer inside my head
Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That You can heal these wounds of yesterday
So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of my past
You can do anything
Be the Lord of the past
