Collect

Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity

O God, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal; grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Music: mewithoutYou

I am now back. But I don't feel like blogging tonight and it's getting late anyway, so I'm going to post some angsty beautiful music instead.

I discovered mewithoutYou through a friend of mine, and listened to their song O, Porcupine about a dozen times asking myself "Do I like this?" and being genuinely uncertain of the answer. Eventually I concluded that I did, and have acquired a slightly broader taste since then in their odd genre of underground indie hardcore alternative folk punk (for lack of a better way of describing it). This particular song, Carousels, from the album Catch For Us the Foxes, is one of my favorites; it exhibits their remarkable lyrical blend of intense, depressive darkness and suffering with an equally intense -- even perhaps mystical -- spirituality. It is, to my mind, head and shoulders above most contemporary Christian music, if only because it doesn't follow the cookie-cutter Shiny Happy People pattern that most Christian music does (which is done well by some groups, like Hillsong, and extremely poorly and/or with insufferable cheese by others who shall remain nameless).


On a bus ride into town
I wondered out loud
"Why am I going to town?"
And as I looked around
At the billboards and the stores
I thought "Why do I look around?"
And I kissed the filthy ground
The first dry spot I found I laid back down
And I didn't have to wonder
Why I was laying down

Before long I was too cold
Took a bus back to the station
And I found a letter left by a payphone
With no return contact
And it read like a horn blown by some sad angel
"Bunny, it was me
It was me who let you down"
It was the shyest attempt
I'd ever seen at conversation

But if I didn't have you as my guide I'd still wander
Lost in Sinai
And counting the plates of cars from out of state
(How I could jump in their path as they hurry along)
You surround me
You're pretty but you're all I can see
Like a thick fog
If there was no way into God
I would never have lain in this grave of a body for so long

And Bonner Fair always came through
The first week of September
But it's already the nineteenth
And there's no sign of it
Yet I have a hard time
Remembering all the things I should remember
And a hard time
Forgetting all the things
That I'm supposed to forget

Christ, when you're ready to come back
I think that I'm ready for you to come back
But if you want to stay
Wherever exactly it is you are
That's okay too
It's -- it's really none of my business

But if I didn't have you as my guide I'd still wander
Lost in Sinai
Or down by the tracks watching trains go by
To remind me there are places that aren't here
And I had a well
But all the water left -- I'll go ask your forgiveness
With every breath
If there was no way into God
I would never have lain in this grave of a body
For so long, dear

1 comment:

  1. "If there was no way into God
    I would never have lain in this grave of a body for so long"
    Not your father's Christian music.
    I can't decide if I like the music, but I definitely approve of the lyrics. Thanks for posting it.

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