10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman

In addition to the great traditional Christian hymn, Love That Will Not Let Me Go, Phil and Amy have also chosen this great praise tune for their wedding this weekend. How could I not be absolutely chuffed with both of their choices?

The God we know in Christ is truly worthy of all our praise, honor, and glory for 10,000 years and an eternity more.

Breathe by Michael W. Smith

A love song to God that I love, love, love to sing!

"And I'm desperate for You,
"And I'm lost without You!"

Magnificent

U2's hymn of praise to God as performed on the Letterman show in March.



If you go to the U2 discography site, the words of Magnificent are the current featured lyrics.

Two oldies from delirious?

Brit Christian rockers, delirious?, came up with some great material in the last decade.

Here's 'Deeper.'



Here are the lyrics:

I want to go deeper
But I don't know how to swim
I want to be meeker
But have you seen this old earth?
I want to fly higher
But these arms won't take me there
I want to be, I want to be

Maybe I could run
Maybe I could fly, to you
Do you feel the same
When all you see is
Blame in me?

And the wonder of it all is that I'm living just to fall
More in love with you [x2]

I want to go deeper
But is it just a stupid whim?
I want to be weaker
Be a help to the strong
I want to run faster
But this old leg won't carry me
I want to be, I want to be

Maybe I could run
Maybe I could fly, to you
Do you feel the same
When all you see is
Blame in me?

And the wonder of it all is that I'm living just to fall
More in love with you [x2]

Maybe I could run
Maybe I could follow
It's time to walk the path
Where many seem to fall
Hold me in your arms
Just like any father would
How long do we have to wait?
How long, we're going all the way

And the wonder of it all is that I'm living just to fall
More in love with you

Written by Martin Smith/Stuart Garrard �1997 Curious? Music UK

And, here's a live version of 'My Glorious,' which I absolutely love!



These are the lyrics of 'My Glorious':

The world's shaking with the love of God
Great and glorious, let the whole earth sing
And all you ever do is change the old for new
People we believe that

God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we'll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious!

Clouds are breaking, heaven's come to earth
Hearts awakening let the church bells ring
And all you ever do is change the old for new
People we believe that

Written by Martin Smith/Stuart Garrard �2000 Curious? Music UK

"What's a sweetheart like you...

...doin' in a dump like this?"

(You can also listen and read the lyrics here.)

Dylan sings a praise song.

U2's Hymn of Praise from 'No Line on the Horizon': Magnificent

Music So Beautiful, It Nearly Brings Tears

In her post on living an artful life, Yellow Springs, Ohio-artist and blogger Jafabrit asks:

Have you ever listened to music and thought it so beautiful you could cry?

Yes, I remember the first time I listened to the entire Born to Run LP by Bruce Springsteen, I cried. I couldn't believe that someone could channel that much passion, that much stirring musicianship, and lyrics so vivid and so beautiful into one album. I not only could have cried, I actually did.

There was also jealousy in those tears. I've always tinkered with composing. But when I heard Born to Run, I thought, "What's the use?" My reaction was a bit like that of folkie Phil Ochs, thought in their Greenwich Village days to be Bob Dylan's chief rival, when he heard Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. Ochs laughed and cried at once, realizing that Dylan had surpassed him and everybody else.

After hearing Born to Run, I wrote a song, the lyrics to which began:

Aimless shuffle, Bruce Springsteen's got me down again

Speaking of Bob Dylan, by the way, my all-time favorite Dylan LP (and my son's) is Blood on the Tracks. The 1975 release is a painful break-up album, chronicling the end of Dylan's marriage. The poignance is palpable as we hear Dylan "singing through these tears." I'm moved to the brink of tears of empathy when I hear Dylan sing, for example:

If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier
She left here last early spring, is livin' there, I hear
Say for me that I'm all right though things get kind of slow
She might think that I've forgotten her, don't tell her it isn't so.

We had a falling-out, like lovers often will
And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart.

If you get close to her, kiss her once for me
I always have respected her for busting out and gettin' free
Oh, whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way
Though the bitter taste still lingers on from the night I tried to make her stay.

I see a lot of people as I make the rounds
And I hear her name here and there as I go from town to town
And I've never gotten used to it, I've just learned to turn it off
Either I'm too sensitive or else I'm gettin' soft.

Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past
I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast
If she's passin' back this way, I'm not that hard to find
Tell her she can look me up if she's got the time.

Or, how about, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, the words of a man seeing the end of a love at its beginning?:

I've seen love go by my door
It's never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow.
Been shooting in the dark too long
When somethin's not right it's wrong
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Dragon clouds so high above
I've only known careless love,
It's always hit me from below.
This time around it's more correct
Right on target, so direct,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Purple clover, Queen Anne lace,
Crimson hair across your face,
You could make me cry if you don't know.
Can't remember what I was thinkin' of
You might be spoilin' me too much, love,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy,
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme,
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy,
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.

Situations have ended sad,
Relationships have all been bad.
Mine've been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud.
But there's no way I can compare
All those scenes to this affair,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm doin',
Stayin' far behind without you.
Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm sayin',
Yer gonna make me give myself a good talkin' to.

I'll look for you in old Honolulu,
San Francisco, Ashtabula,
Yer gonna have to leave me now, I know.
But I'll see you in the sky above,
In the tall grass, in the ones I love,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

(I also love it that Dylan rhymes Honolulu and Ashtabula!)

Of course, Jafa seems to have had in mind songs that derive their power to move us from their melody. In that case, I mention Paul McCartney's melodies. Often described as haunting, they too can also bring me close to tears from their beauty. The final movement of his Standing Stone moves me every time I hear it. I pray that Paul McCartney will be in heaven; not only because I pray that for all people, but also because, selfishly, I would love to hear the music he would compose for God's glory there! (All can be in heaven. See here.)

Then, there are a whole bunch of hymns and praise songs that do that to me. Among them, Amazing Grace, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, Above All, My Glorious, Lead Me to the Cross, and Were You There?. We sing this last one at the conclusion of our Good Friday Tenebrae worship services and it always speaks powerfully about the wonder of God enfleshed giving Himself on the cross!

How about you, any music so beautiful, you think that you could cry?