It’s time to continue the theme about music that I have composed over the years, which I started here and followed up in a couple of other posts since. I’ve already described several compositions from my childhood and one example from my mid teens, so this installment picks up the story in the late nineties, as I was approaching twenty.
This post looks at music that I composed on a religious theme using the Yamaha keyboard that I inherited from Grandpa. It reflects the Christian faith that I had at the time that I wrote them (I am more of an agnostic now).
I would like to share two songs, both of which I wrote in 1997 (when I was 19 or 20). Both songs are about the human condition as understood from a religious point of view. One of the more attractive aspects of Christianity is “blessed are the poor in spirit” – the notion that a being aware of your own inability to be morally self-sufficient is a prerequisite for God’s blessing.
The first song is called Something Sacred Screaming. Lyrics follow, and here’s the mp3.
There is something sacred screaming in me
Waiting for my God to lead me
To the things that he would have me know.
In the presence of Perfection
I will aim for nothing less than
To uphold the sacred course on which I go.Something sacred screaming in the presence of the Lord
I’ve chosen my direction, all things sacred to uphold
And while we seek God’s guidance as a part of every thought
Our lives, with sacred nature, shall unfold.Yet still great tension rises in me
Forces trying to convince me
To defy the guidance of my Lord.
In the presence of Perfection
I have prayed for nothing less than
That each God-defying thought will be ignored.Something sacred screaming in the presence of the Lord
I’ve chosen my direction, all things sacred to uphold
And while we seek God’s guidance as a part of every thought
Our lives, with sacred nature, shall unfold.
The second song is called State of Painful Tension. This song is based on Romans 8:23-25, which in the J.B.Phillips translation reads:
And it is plain, too, that we who have a foretaste of the Spirit are in a state of painful tension, while we wait for that redemption of our bodies which will mean that at last we have realised our full sonship in him. We were saved by this hope, but in our moments of impatience, let us remember that hope always means waiting for something that we do not yet possess. But if we hope for something we cannot see, then we must settle down to wait for it in patience.
The lyrics are below, and here’s the mp3.
State of painful tension, the horrors I find
When I think of the forces that rise in my mind.
Oh wondrous conclusion, our hope is for this:
God’s long-planned fulfilment of all that there is.
Yet that tension makes me painfully aware
It’s not a sacred course unless I let you lead me there.These painful illusions are there in my mind
To tell me of things that are unjustified.
My life must be sacred – my God tells me this:
Part of his intentions for all that there is.
Yet at times it pains me greatly to recall
It’s not a sacred course unless I let you choose it all.There is a solution my God has prepared
Of this he assures me – he’s leading me there.
In times of impatience, remind us of this
Our hope is fulfilment of all that there is.
Yet a part of me just will not understand
It’s not a sacred course unless I leave it in your hands.
