A few weeks back a friend texted me a link to a song that had been sustaining him amidst some major difficulties within his family. So I began to listen to it… then again and again and again. I am still listening to it. Meditating on it actually.
It has even entered the regular rotation of songs that provide my kids’ soundtrack to and from school and daycare; nestled in between Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”, and The Lego 2 movie soundtrack, Bethel Music’s “Goodness of God” has found its place. Even my four-year old daughter Rosie is beginning to sing along.
And this week, Holy Week, when our imaginations are again confronted with the startling breadth and length and depth and height of God’s goodness–“even the dark is not dark to you Lord”–this song is leading the way in my mind and heart.
Wherever you find yourself today may this beautiful song stretch your horizons and address the longing of your heart. Let the name of Jesus live out…
But the bare goodness of God is what ought rather to be preached and known above all else, and we ought to learn that even as God saves us out of pure goodness, without any merit or works, so we in turn should do the works without reward or self-seeking for the sake of the bare goodness of God.
Martin Luther
It is not you that sings, it is the church that is singing, and you, as a member … may share in its song. Thus all singing together that is right must serve to widen our spiritual horizon, make us see our little company as a member of the great Christian church on earth, and help us willingly and gladly to join our singing, be it feeble or good, to the song of the church.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
