critique

I went to church again this morning. TB was teaching of course. This song service was particularly painful (in a ‘I can’t believe I have to listen to this garbage kind of way’)—and I was really, really wanting a wonderful worship time. By the third song, I would have paid someone to smash a brick through my skull, hoping to have actual intelligent thought return to my brain. Then, out of the blue, this song began. I’d never heard it before. It’s not the prettiest song ever, or the most eloquent. Maybe it was waste that came before it, but the words spoke to me. They meant something. They acknowledge some of the world we live in and has an action tied to it. This song, I could sing. This song I could mean. This song, I think God actually respects.

The Power of Your Name
Lincoln Brewster

“Surely children weren’t made for the streets
And fathers were not made to leave
Surely this isn’t how it should be
Let Your kingdom come

Surely nations were not made for war
Or the broken meant to be ignored
Surely this just can’t be what You saw
Let your kingdom come here in my heart

And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that’s broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
(I LOVE these four lines.)

Surely life wasn’t made to regret
And the lost were not made to forget
Surely faith without action is dead
Let Your kingdom come, Lord, break this heart
(I used to pray that prayer constantly. I’ve learned my lesson—never again. It’s the only like I refused to sing).
Jesus, Your name is a shelter for the hurting
Your name is a refuge for the weak
Only Your name can redeem the undeserving
Jesus, Your name holds everything I need”
(These last four lines are a bit cliché and over simplified for my liking, but given the rest of the song, I can deal with them.)