"Hear" in America

 

The words and music of Rich Mullins are no strangers to readers of Truth Is.... Don't believe me? Just click THIS LINK and be taken to all the posts that reference this Indiana boy who became an international singer of songs about Jesus and the experience of following him.

For many, Rich's 7th solo album, A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band, was the pinnacle of his career. With October 26, 2023 having been the 30th anniversary of its release, it is high time for a song-by-song meditation.

The album opens with introductory remarks and remembrances anchored in nature and nurture as "Here in America" reminds Rich...and us...that the Father's love is majestic and powerful and life-giving.

Saints and children we have gathered here
to hear the sacred story

And I'm glad to bring it to you
with my best rhyming and rhythm

'Cause I know the thirsty listen
and down to the waters come

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

And if you listen to my songs
I hope you hear the water falling

I hope you feel the oceans crashing
on the coast of north New England

I wish I could be there just to see them,
two summers past I was

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

And if I were a painter
I do not know which I'd paint

The calling of the ancient stars
or assembling of the saints

And there's so much beauty around us
for just two eyes to see

But everywhere I go I'm looking

And once I went to Appalachia
for my father he was born there

And I saw the mountains waking
with the innocence of children

And my soul is still there with them
wrapped in the songs they brought

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

And I've seen by the highways
on a million exit ramps

Those two-legged memorials
to the laws of happenstance

Waiting for four-wheeled messiahs
to take them home again

But I am home anywhere if You are where I am

And if you listen to my songs
I hope you hear the water falling

I hope you feel the oceans crashing
on the coast of north New England

I wish I could be there just to see them,
two summers past I was

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

1992 - BMG Songs, Inc.

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Truth is...If you read my blogs, I hope you hear the Spirit calling. I hope you feel God's love come crashing through your walls of deep resistance. I wish I could be there just to see it like in years of youth ministry past. And the Holy King of Israel loves us here in America...and around the world.