Mythic Music

This is something of a tag-on to my last post. If you haven't, you should read that first.

Music is, for me, probably the most powerful source of myth in my life. These are two of the songs God has been speaking to me through recently.

The first is May It Be by Enya. Both the lyrics and the music are incredible.




The second is Metamorphosis One by Philip Glass. The piano music here is haunting and beautiful.

Incredible Piano Music

A few days ago I came across Lennon Aldort. I'd never heard of him before but after a couple days of listening to his music I'd say he's by far one of the most talented pianists I've ever heard.

The video below is a great example of what I'm talking about. It's 100% improvised with no prethought, sheet music or any other type of preplanning and it's one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard. Oh, and did I mention that Lennon Aldort is only 17?!

His youtube channel has videos of him playing Bach and Mozart by ear at age 3! Listen to just one minute and I'll guarantee you'll be hooked.

Strike One Match In The Dark

This being the Christmas season I've been listening a lot to my favorite Christmas music group, The Trans Siberian Orchestra. As I've been listening, one song in particular has stood out. It's called Dream Child off of The Christmas Attic album.

The song is about a man who in a vision sees a child representing Christ. The child leads him into a forest full of evergreens. On every tree is a candle but none of them are lit. Many were, but they're dead now, melted and tarnished by life. The only lit candle, the only light at all, in the whole darkness of the forest is in the child's hands and with it he begins to light the candles creating life where before only death ruled. And then, in the song, we get th

And there to that light
That young Child showed to me
All the things that he dreamt
All the things that might be
How for everything given
That something was gained
Strike one match in the dark
And all the world's not the same

Strike one match in the dark and all the world's not the same. That's it. That's the message of Christmas, of the Gospel, of the story God has been telling from the beginning of time. The Christ child comes into a world full of darkness and death and He alone is blazing with life. From His life He creates more life and the world has never been the same.

Let's remember this year that the offer of Christmas is Life and Life to the full.

The Importance Of Beauty

It's been a busy month. No, scratch that, it's been a busy year. I suppose that buying your first house and having your first child within six months of each other can do that. It's been a good year too, but busyness, even normal every day busyness, is corrosive. It wears us down and the enemy is right there waiting to use it to separate us from our hearts. Despite the joy this year has brought I've felt the busyness of the year beginning to wear on me.

Fortunately God has provided the cure: beauty. I believe that's one reason He placed us in as beautiful a world as He did. He knew we'd need it and lots of it if we were going to survive the busyness of life. Beauty brings restoration if we're willing to let it. And I'm not just talking about Grand Canyon level beauty. I'm talking about the sort of beauty we see when we look out the window at the leaves changing color, the type of beauty we find in the stillness and peace of a quiet afternoon, the way a good story stirs our hearts in a way that seems impossibly true and right.

We need beauty to remind us of the larger story because busyness isn't only corrosive, it's distracting. When Peter got out of the boat to walk on water he got so busy trying to figure out how he was doing what he was doing that he forgot he lived in a story where things like walking on water are an every day occurrence. He got sucked into his own small story where all he could see were the waves and his own inadequacy to do anything about them. It wasn't until he looked again at the beauty of The Master that his heart was restored.

Beauty can't be explained, it simply is. You can't possibly explain why Pachabell's Canon is beautiful and if you could you'd probably ruin it. It just is. And that's so important because for as much as I believe that learning, building, conquering and working are all good and noble parts of life God has given to us, we need to also have times where we simply stand in awe.

Beauty reminds us of God's heart towards us. He is the great romancer who is pursuing us, fighting for us and desperately in love with us. We are the bride of Christ and we must let beauty remind us of this.

For me lately, God has been using music. These are a few of the pieces that have been speaking to my heart.



This is an awesome guitar version of Together We Will Live Forever from The Fountain. I love playing this song on piano. The acoustic guitar used here is nothing short of haunting.



From the third season soundtrack of Battlestar Galactica, but don't let that scare you off. This is a great piece of music for nerds and non nerds alike.



My favorite piece of music, Canon in D. I have a ton of different arrangments on my ipod. I can (and have) listen to this over and over again.