So, as most of you know, I love listening to Rich Mullins' music. For those who don't know who he is, he was a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter, who died in a car accident in 1997. Some of his better known songs (though not my personal favorites) are Sing Your Praise to the Lord (first recorded by Amy Grant), Awesome God, and Sometimes By Step (you know, the one with the chorus: "And step by step You lead me, and I will follow You all of my days."
I don't remember when I first started listening to him. I think it was sometime in junior high. I remember reading an article about Rich Mullins in Release magazine, along with an essay by him, that was oddly moving. I remember borrowing a cd of his from the Amarillo public library, and falling in love with the music. The cd was The World As Best As I Remember It, vol 2. I especially loved the songs Everyman, Growing Young, and The Maker of Noses. Over time, I grew to love The Just Shall Live, Sometimes by Step (the whole thing, not the badly overused chorus), and Hello Old Friends.
I remember hearing about his death in 1997. It was sad, but I remember feeling that he himself was not sad, but happy beyond any happiness in this life.
Over the years, I got more of his albums (Songs, Canticle of the Plains, and A Lturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band) and read the essays he'd written for Release magazine. I think his music and writings have influenced me more than any other music, with the exception of the hymns I heard growing up.
His music was deeply influenced by folk songs and Appalachian hymnody (there's a phrase for you, Anne!).
Here are some of my favorite quotes from his songs. Some of these hit me right away, and some got into my blood quietly, laying dormant for years before the profound insights really hit home. They will not have the same impact without the music; if you like the quotes, I encourage you to listen to the whole song. There are quite a few on Yahoo's Launch, and I'm sure they are available for download on iTunes.
Calling Out Your Name: Well the moon moved past Nebraska
And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
Yeah, they danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
The whisper of a prayer
And the single hawk bursts into flight
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name
I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
And there's fury in a pheasant's wings
It tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I've seen love make heaven ring
Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name
From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes forever 'til you see
What time may never know
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward and shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
To run wild with the hope
The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
And I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name
Sorry, that's the whole song, but there's no way to take selections from that. It's too good.
From Elijah: This life has shown me how we're mended and how we're torn
How it's okay to be lonely as long as you're free
Sometimes my ground was stoney
And sometimes covered up with thorns
And only You could make it what it had to be
And now that it's done
Well if they dressed me like a pauper
Or if they dined me like a prince
If they lay me with my fathers
Or if my ashes scatter on the wind
I don't care
But when I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won't break my heart to say goodbye.
Growing Young (another full song, this is one of the best songs I have ever heard.)
I've gone so far from my home
Seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart
And everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
We are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
I've seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I'll tell you, it ain't worth what it costs
I remember my Father's house
What I wouldn't give right now
To see Him and hear Him tell me that He loves me so much
Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And when I thought that I was all alone
It was Your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Is Your love stronger than my foolish pride?
Will You take me back now, take me back and let me be Your child
'Cause I've been broken down, I've been saved
Learned to cry, and I've learned how to pray
And I'm learning, I'm learning even I can be changed
Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
From Hard To Get (this one made me cry the first few times I heard it)
Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free from what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get
From Here in America (the first time I heard this song, I didn't get it. Now I think it's beautiful.)
And once I went to Appalachia for my father he was born there
And I saw the mountains waking with the innocence of children
And my soul is still there with them wrapped in the songs they brought
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America
From Hold Me Jesus
Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees
And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin
Oh, hold me Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace
From If I Stand:
So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home
From The Love of God:
Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God
From The Maker of Noses (I get some laughs when I mention the song name, but it's beautiful)
And oh, I hear the voice of a million dreams
Then I wake in the world that I'm partly made of
And the world that is partly my homemaking
And oh, I hear the song of a heart set free
That will not be kept down
By the fury and sound
Of a world that is wasting away
Boy you just follow your heart
But my heart just led me into my chest
They said follow your nose
But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head
And they said boy you just follow your dreams
But my dreams were only misty notions
But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses
And the Giver of dreams He's the one I have chosen
From Sometimes By Step:
Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
From While the Nations Rage:
Where are the nails that pierced His hands?
Well the nails have turned to rust
But behold the Man
He is risen
And He reigns
In the hearts of the children
Rising up in His name
Where are the thorns that drew His blood?
Well, the thorns have turned to dust
But not so the love
He has given
No, it remains
In the hearts of the children
Who will love while the nations rage
Coming later today: excerpts from Rich Mullins' magazine articles.
