In our Year of Joy and the lead up to our 156th Convention, “A Joyful Noise: Celebrating the Work of God,” we’re sharing music and songs that bring joy to people in our diocese along with brief descriptions of why the songs matter to them. Join the fun! You can send your songs and stories to communications@cnyepiscopal.org. Don’t want to share a story? That’s fine, too! Just share your song(s) and we’ll add them to our already-very-eclectic playlist on Spotify!
I had a rather rocky autumn this year. My mother was very ill (and then died suddenly) while I was leaving my beloved parish, and starting a new job. On one of my trips to Philadelphia, to visit my parents, in the middle of all this, while we were racing to hospitals and whatnot, my brother played this song. “You’ll like it,” he said.
My brother, I should tell you, is an avowed agnostic with little use for organized religion. Yet out of his speakers burst the jazzy chords of old-school 1960s gospel–”If you think your God is dead, try mine; He’s still alive.” I did like it quite a bit.
There are times when the usual care and niceness we coat faith in does not cut it. Life is just too difficult, bitter, and complex, and we want something that cuts right through and acknowledges that. We want our lives–in their complexity– to be seen, and I love this song because that is what it accomplishes. To see the brokenness and messiness of life and insist, with a grin, that God is still present in the middle of it and we will not be defeated by this. It finds joy in God’s abiding presence, even as it names the struggle we too often face, and it makes you dance in the face of hardship. (Also, it’s slightly snarky, and who doesn’t love that?) – Canon Megan Castellan
