If I’m honest this was a real challenge. I did study music back in my school days but this was restricted to the Russian composers and Vivaldi, and these don’t have many lyrics and I’m not sure how prayerful Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture and Mussorgsky’s Night on a bare Mountain are. You may find them inspiring??
So, I have gone with one of my challenging area of music, musicals, but I have taken an easy option, Les Misérables. It is a story of redemption, someone putting their life back after an early set back. The hero Jean Valjean has discovered forgiveness and now seeks to live for others, but Inspector Javert remains bound by the Law. Jesus came to free us so we can have life in all its fullness. Not easy at the moment but it is a useful reminder. I want to highlight 2 songs which I believe help our thinking on prayer.
Bring Him Home. Sung by Colm Wilkinson (sorry, can’t accept any other version)
God on high Hear my prayer In my need
You have always been there He is young, He’s afraid
Let him rest, Heaven blessed
Bring him home, Bring him home Bring him home
He’s like the son I might have known If God had granted me a son
The summers die one by one
How soon they fly on and on
And I am old and will be gone
Bring him peace, Bring him joy
He is young, He is only a boy
You can take, You can give
Let him be, Let him live
If I die, Let me die Let him live
Bring him home, Bring him home Bring him home
And the Epilogue is about hope
Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
They will live again in freedom In the garden of the Lord.
We will walk behind the ploughshare;
We will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!
Ah! Ah! Ah! Tomorrow comes!
(Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boubli)