Author Archives: thegreatknock

I'm weary and wary of compacting life into a plain, white text box. Fit a human life on an index card? I think not.

Waiting for Godot (with Daphne)

Daph is wondering why we’ve been parked in front of the Precept building for 25 minutes while a multitude passes by wondering at the man in the Jeep cranking up the worship music. Well, Daph, we go our own way.

“We know where the Spirit of the Lord is… Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!…”

All the same, I’ll be glad when Brooke shows up.

Community

An old college friend of mine updated the blogosphere today about how she is joining a group of people in her town to start a “new church” of “ordinary people committed to living out the Mission of God in community and for the community.”

First, I have to wonder at the term “new church.”  I’ll leave it simply in quotation marks, and let you ponder the significance (and possible error) of this phrase.

But then I began to comtemplate the nature of community.  I must confess that I have not the sweet feelings toward this term “community” which so many seem to hold.  Community can be as corrupt as its individual members.  Community can be dishonest, just as any man can deceive himself.  Community can be less than a warm, fuzzy place.  Community can be more than a hard, rough-edged place.  Community can lack authority, lack accountability, lack merit.  Most of all, community is not a magic word.

Faces

This is a new song I wrote over the weekend, to play at a concert at the barking Legs Theater. If you’d like to listen to the song, click on this post’s title and it’ll take you to where you can hear it (smile). If I were computer-savvy, I’m sure I could have posted it here somehow…

Faces

Have you seen the face of Suffering
A common face, ordinary, plain
Yet somehow familiar to the human race

Moving through the crowd Humanity
He stops one man walking dully by
All the other faces turn away and smile
Careless of their brother, they move on awhile

But as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason—hold onto him, don’t let go till he tells you so…

Have you seen the face of perfect Peace
Disfigured face, brutalised and maimed
Difficult to look on, lovely all the same

His beauty spoils the following:
Loneliness, Despair, and heavy Shame
But like a treasure hidden—hidden in a field of pain
The guilty go on looking, desperate for his face

And as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason—hold onto him, don’t let go till he tells you so…

He’ll tell you that you have to see him to believe
That his face of Suffering is the face of Peace
Only eyes open wide see the Loveliness inside
But you have to be near—so near—for the Beauty to appear
Through the painful tears…

So as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason—hold onto him—

And as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
And he’ll tell you why it must be so
He has to give a reason to hold onto him and not let go…he won’t let you go…

Faces


http://thegreatknock-blog.tumblr.com/post/183684851/audio_player_iframe/thegreatknock-blog/tumblr_kppjuaJZkC1qzggkl?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fthegreatknock-blog%2F183684851%2Ftumblr_kppjuaJZkC1qzggkl

This is a new song I wrote over the weekend, to play at a concert at the Barking Legs Theater.  Sorry about the bootleg recording, but I happen to think my wife did a fantastic job with the iPhone voice memo app (grin)…

Faces

Have you seen the face of Suffering
A common face, ordinary, plain
Yet somehow familiar to the human race

Moving through the crowd Humanity
He stops one man walking dully by
All the other faces turn away and smile
Careless of their brother, they move on awhile

But as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason–hold onto him, don’t let go till he tells you so…

Have you seen the face of perfect Peace
Disfigured face, brutalised and maimed
Difficult to look on, lovely all the same

His beauty spoils the following:
Loneliness, despair, and heavy shame
But like a treasure hidden–hidden in a field of pain
The guilty go on looking, desperate for his face

And as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason–hold onto him, don’t let go till he tells you so…

He’ll tell you that you have to see him to believe
That his face of suffering is the face of peace
Only eyes open wide see the loveliness inside
But you have to be near–so near–for the beauty to appear
Through the painful tears…

So as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
Make him tell you why it must be so
There has to be a reason–hold onto him–

And as faces come and faces go
Turn around a moment, ask him what he knows
And he’ll tell you why it must be so
He has to give a reason to hold onto him, not let go…he won’t let you go…