"until we behold the pain become the pearl..."

hi.

i sang a song in church yesterday called "the pearl", written by emmylou harris. it's a beautiful reflection on our humanness and the pain and suffering which are part and parcel of living in skin, but that we are not without hope, even if it really seems like it.

i pray that those of you that were there were as moved by the song as i am -- not so much by my performance, i hope, but by what the song speaks to (and perhaps by JimiMac's virtuosic mandolin playing). one reason i like the song is that it won't fit snugly into the 'normal' canon of contemporary christian musical worship expressions -- just like the grain of sand which yields the titular pearl, perhaps -- but instead authentically expresses that being a broken human really does suck most of the time, and that out of those depths is produced a more honest heart-cry of "alleluia". it seems that much christian pop music avoids this subject in favor of happier, more immediately hopeful themes (though, thankfully, there is some some evidence that this is changing).

i found a nice article about these concepts and emmylou's music, specifically her record red dirt girl of which "the pearl" is the opening track. i think i had always dismissed emmylou as just another country singer, based partly on my father's incessant rotation of trio back in 1987. but i picked up wrecking ball (produced by daniel lanois) a few years ago, love it, and have been told that i need to experience more of her lexicon.

i'm on it, like an oyster on a pearl.