last december marked yet another year of unused christmas labels bearing my name and address. but: behold! it actually happened this year; on sunday, in fact. looks like i've got another five years or so of slacktasticness before people start wondering if they still have my correct address. or, maybe i'll send cards again next year. that's so crazy
it just might work.
easter was on my mind around this time last christmas, as i reflected on the bigger picture regarding the birth of a tiny savior. this year it seems i'm reflecting not on the end of this
scandalous story, but more on its beginning, thanks to andrew peterson.
not your typical
christmas cd -- who writes carols about moses? king david? the first sixteen verses of matthew? -- it's been in heavy rotation in my car and elsewhere. different songs have given me chills at various times. the most somber one signifies the silence between the old and new testaments, as well as the man-made shackles and rules created to draw nearer to God... when the reality of the situation is man's need for freedom. this is the reason for Emmanuel,
God with us. this is the reason for celebration. this is our need.
deliver us.
Deliver Us featuring Derek Webb [from Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ, 2004]
Our enemy, our captor is no Pharaoh on the Nile
Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand
Our ankles bear no calluses from chains, yet Lord, we're bound
Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land
Deliver us, deliver us
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath your wings tonight
Our sins they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay
These shackles they were made with our own hands
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom yours to give
So Yahweh, break your silence if you can
Deliver us, deliver us
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath your wings tonight
'Jerusalem, Jerusalem
How often I have longed
To gather you beneath my gentle wings'
Words and music by Andrew Peterson. Copyright 2004 New Spring Publishing, Inc./ASCAP.
[lyrics also found here. inexplicably poor audio of this track and others found here.]
mdog
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