Vanessa Lynn Music

Kyrie

Chorus:
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy, Amen

Verse 1:
I confess to almighty God
and to you my brothers and sisters
I have sinned through my own fault
in my thoughts and words
in what I have done
in what I have failed to do
I ask you, my brothers and sisters
pray for me to the Lord, our God

Verse 2:
I have not loved You with all my heart
or with all my mind and strength
I have not loved those in my life
like I care for myself
//(or) like you show love to me
forgive us
renew us
teach us now to walk in Your ways
as we sing to praise Your name

Bridge:
Jesus was given to die for us
For his sake God forgives all our sin

Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Amen

I grew up going to Catholic school and participating in Mass. When I went to college I ended up a part of a sort-of-baptist evangelical church. A few months after getting ‘saved’ in the typical evangelical fashion, I visited a catholic service with my grandparents. As much as I’ll make fun of my ‘salvation’ experience these days, I have to admit it re-directed my experience of church and spirituality in a radical fashion. I’d participated in Mass lots and lots of times before – but as this getting ‘saved’ experience was re-fashioning me, when I re-visited the catholic mass I felt like my eyes (and something more than just my eyes) were opened to what the mass really MEANT. Thus was planted the seed in me of wanting to re-frame the mass in a way that people could see glimpses of the hope and power of God I began to see (and have seen in so many unexpected places since).

This Kyrie I imagine as the first of a series of songs where I use (borrow, steal) texts of the mass and other liturgies and set it to the ‘form of liturgy’ I’ve grown accustomed to in contemporary services: (probably) a two/three song worship set, introductory, communion, and closing songs. I’m looking at texts from a number of different places: a Common Prayer book instigated by Shane Claiborne, many prayers of which are traditional prayers. For this Kyrie I used some of the Lutheran versions of the ‘Act of Penitence‘ text.

I think my favorite part about the Kyrie and ‘Act of Penitence’ part of the service, is realizing how wrong I was when I as a newly saved evengelical thought “well, the catholic church didn’t preach the gospel.” It was staring me in the face in the form of the liturgy – for whatever list of reasons, I hadn’t, well, received it. I’ve heard liturgy defined as ‘work of the people’, and I think we can confuse this liturgy work with ‘good works’ (which we’re called to do). It might be even harder than doing ‘good works to do the liturgical ‘work’ of admitting we’re often broken and wrong, asking God for his mercy, and letting him give it to us = receiving good news. The act of penitence and Kyrie give us a chance at the beginning of a worship service to corporately admit we’ve messed things up, ask God for his mercy (and our brothers and sisters for help), and be told the gospel: “Jesus Christ was given to die for us – For His sake, God forgives all our sins.”

Which sets us up for Liturgy part 2 – Gloria! Praise God, who forgives and restores us…

The first, an overdue original. The ideas, if not the tune have been percolating for some time. The second, a favorite hymn-remake.

Choosing Goodbye

We tried the best we could
We tried to find a way
To walk this road together

Then the road divided
We found ourselves apart
Fighting over which road to follow

Maybe it’s time to
Walk the ways our hearts are leading us
Grieve the loss and remember to trust
That God is making better things of us
And he can walk two roads at once

Leaving can seem like
a self-centered dream
Breaking what’s grown together

But what I seem to find
Is the space for our lives
To grow in ways we never would have known

Maybe it’s time to
Walk the ways our hearts are leading us
Grieve the loss and remember to trust
That God is making better things of us
And he can walk two roads at once

Broken, beloved
I chose to say goodbye
Longing and looking
For the day we will arrive

For now it’s time to
Walk the ways our hearts are leading us
Grieve the loss and remember to trust
That God is making better things of us
And he can walk two roads at once

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Sing the Mighty Power of God
Lyrics: Isaac Watts (1715) Music: Ralph Williams (1906)

I sing the mighty power of God
That made the mountains rise
That spread the flowing seas abroad
And built the lofty skies
I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day
The moon shines full at God’s command
And all the stars obey

I sing the goodness of the Lord
Who filled the earth with food
Who formed the creatures through the Word
And then pronounced them good
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed
Where’er I turn my eye
If I survey the ground I tread
Or gaze upon the sky

Chorus:
The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
Now and forevermore!

There’s not a plant or flower below
But makes Thy glories known
And clouds arise, and tempests blow
By order from Thy throne
While all that borrows life from Thee
Is ever in Thy care
And everywhere that we can be
Thou, God, art present there

The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
The kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours
Now and forevermore!

Over the past couple years I’ve been experimenting with ideas for sharing the music I write, and this year decided to begin a season of blogging it.

I know it’s a little late by most calendars to be listening to Christmas music, and I wrote this song with Christmas in mind (and theology being talked about at church.)  I always thought we got to celebrate Christmas for the two weeks following..

Light Doctrine

A light shines in the darkness
A light shines in the darkness
I don’t understand, I don’t understand

Could the world be full of a beautiful mystery
That is shining out, it’s a light in the dark to see
A child who is hope, who is life, who is breath of eternity
The one who’s come to set us free
The one who’s come that we may be

A light, shining in the darkness
A light, shining in the darkness
I don’t understand, but I believe

Creation cries in ceaseless complexity
Of the three in one, tied together in unity
Showing love, breathing life, Christ is born as a light
Shining for all to see
Living in love that sets us free

And the darkness twisting blinding dividing
Searching striving and never finding
The light it cannot be

A light, shines in the darkness
A light, shines in the darkness
I believe, I can see

“notes”

I hadn’t thought before how Doctrine could be beautiful, and how Beauty could be doctrine…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

I’d always thought of this passage more in the ‘beauty’ category than doctrine – something poetic, metaphysical perhaps, but not along the lines of rules and doctrines.  Even saying the word ‘doctrine’ leaves a bad feeling feeling in my mouth, as if it’s something sharp and biting meant for dividing us when we’re trying to love each other.

But maybe doctrine is beautiful.

The greek ‘doctrina’ where ‘doctor’ (as in physician) and our theological word ‘doctrine’ come from has to do with teaching and learning: A medical doctor learns and teaches about the complexities of the human body.  A ‘doctor’ who teaches at a university learns and teaches about her area of specialty.  Our theology ‘doctrine’ is a collection of teaching and learning – how could it be anything but incomplete, as a medical doctor’s set of ‘doctrine’ – teachings about the human body – is as yet incomplete?  Our Pastor taught on that doctrine/poetic passage above, and compared the complexities of God to the complexities of the human body.  We can seek to understand those complexities, as a doctor researches into the workings of the body.

Maybe my distaste for doctrine isn’t unlike a distaste for visiting the doctor… who with his set of learnings about the body, MY body, divides the truth from the mystery of some ailiment.  We learn the truth, even if it’s far from pleasant.

But this isn’t about what doctrine the opening of John teaches.. I don’t really expect to understand that.  I can be (and have been) in awe of it’s beauty and complexity, without an understanding – like looking at a tree only to have no real understanding of the mechanisms that cause it to grow in the first place.  I take trees for granted.  I don’t understand them.  I am in darkness – that comprehends not. But I can see and appreciate it’s beauty – like the light shines in the darkness – a beautiful thing that leads me toward understanding and right doctrine.