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Archive for August, 2004

Elisha's Bones

August 30th, 2004 No comments


And I can taste You in the Bread and in the Wine
There You spread Your feast of joy before me
And like the man who had fallen
On Elisha's bones
I'm alive again
...

Rich Mullins, ‘… And I Love You’

William Luse recently spurred me to comment on matters of the Eucharist. (“Fools rush in …”)

Supposedly, Rich Mullins was near to converting to Catholicism before his untimely death. I wonder, was this song inspired by his hungering and thirsting for the Body and Blood that he could not (yet) have?

No. I shouldn’t wonder. I know that he was.


“There was a sense of urgency,” said the priest. “He told me, ‘This may sound strange, but I HAVE to receive the body and blood of Christ.’ I told him, ‘That doesn’t sound strange at all. That sounds wonderful.’ … Of course, I’ll always remember that conversation. Rich finally sounded like he was at peace with his decision.”

That part, from Terry Mattingly’s article, I already knew. This I just found tonight, from a concert transcript (Plymouth, Michigan Concert Review: Temple Baptist Church, August 15, 1997)


Thanks so much! We’re gonna do a couple of songs now that you might not have heard because they’re from a musical that I wrote with Beaker and with Mitch, and I guess some of you have probably heard rumors that we started a religious order… (laughter from audience) (Rich chuckles) and they’re probably true! Because the truth is, we’d all like to be Franciscans, but we don’t even have the guts to really be Catholics. (laughter from audience) It’s hard on you, but I do love, as Mitch and Beaker do, Francis of Assisi…

“… don’t even have the guts to really be Catholics …” (I know the feeling.)

And to think, Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth was released in 1988. That’s quite a long time to be hungering and thirsting.

God bless you, Rich. Enjoy the Banquet. And do remember to pray for those of us who live in time.

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Psalm 49

August 6th, 2004 No comments

Psalm 49 (1-13) was the Psalm for last Sunday in the ECUSA lectionary.

I am finding verse 4 in particular a great comfort this week. We are in evil days indeed, but hope is a virtue and despair is a sin.


Psalm 49 Audite haec, omne

1 Hear this, all you peoples;
hearken, all you who dwell in the world, *
you of high degree and low, rich and poor together.

2 My mouth shall speak of wisdom, *
and my heart shall meditate on understanding.

3 I will incline my ear to a proverb *
and set forth my riddle upon the harp.

4 Why should I be afraid in evil days, *
when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me,

5 The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods, *
and boast of their great riches?

6 We can never ransom ourselves, *
or deliver to God the price of our life;

7 For the ransom of our life is so great, *
that we should never have enough to pay it,

8 In order to live for ever and ever, *
and never see the grave.

9 For we see that the wise die also;
like the dull and stupid they perish *
and leave their wealth to those who come after them.

10 Their graves shall be their homes for ever,
their dwelling places from generation to generation, *
though they call the lands after their own names.

11 Even though honored, they cannot live for ever; *
they are like the beasts that perish.

12 Such is the way of those who foolishly trust in themselves, *
and the end of those who delight in their own words.

13 Like a flock of sheep they are destined to die;
Death is their shepherd; *
they go down straightway to the grave.

14 Their form shall waste away, *
and the land of the dead shall be their home.

15 But God will ransom my life; *
he will snatch me from the grasp of death.

16 Do not be envious when some become rich, *
or when the grandeur of their house increases;

17 For they will carry nothing away at their death, *
nor will their grandeur follow them.

18 Though they thought highly of themselves while they lived, *
and were praised for their success,

19 They shall join the company of their forebears, *
who will never see the light again.

20 Those who are honored, but have no understanding, *
are like the beasts that perish.
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