Love Never Ends...on my "to read" list

Last year was a blur of busyness. Hindsight, it feels like a lot was going on but nothing was getting done. This is very frustrating and disconcerting. One of the things that I regret having to let go of last year was reading. I love to read. I like that it takes me to places and times that I can not visit. I like to meet, in a virtual respect, people that are intriguing and I love that it is almost impossible to finish a book and not be better for reading it. Sure I have read books that I wonder why I wasted my time with it, but that is why I learned many years ago that it is important to pick words out of books that you like or don't know the meaning of and add them to your repertoire so that at the very least I can say I learned a new word.

I have a few books that I got last year and either never got to finish or worst yet, have yet to crack the spine of it. I have promised myself that I would finish these before I seek another book. But darn the luck, a book has found me and I absolutely can not wait to hold it in my hands (yes I prefer the tactile pleasures of holding a book rather than reading from an electronic reading device).

The book I am speaking of is...."The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer" edited by Isabel Best. Here is a snippet from an excerpt that I recently read.

There will be just one thing in the end, and that is the love that was in our thoughts, worries, wishes, and hopes. Everything else ends and passes away - everything we did not think, and long for, out of love. All thoughts, all knowledge, all talk that has not love comes to an end - only love never ends.

Bonhoeffer goes on to answer why everything else meets an end and yet love continues....

Because only in love does a person let go of himself or herself and give up his or her will, for the others person's benefit. Because love alone comes not from my own self but from another self, from God's self.

I must admit that I have been meaning to read Bonhoeffer's biography for a few years now and have never gotten around to it, however, this excerpt has awakened a new desire to not only read his biography but this newly released collection of sermons. Good thing my birthday is not to far off and I have about a month to finish my current book so that I might sink my teeth into this one.

When listening becomes hearing

Its been several weeks since I first heard "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons. When I first heard it I thought it was cute but it didn't really catch my attention. Next time I heard it I found myself enjoying the instrumentation and uniqueness of sound that emanated from them. Their voices where that of  storytellers. I love songs that envelope a story, I believe it adds a depth to an otherwise "flat" interpretation of life in song. So, I decided that if they sounded like storytellers then perhaps I should listen to the story they were telling. Boy am I glad I did.

I do not know much detail of the band but I do believe they are a folk rock band that is influenced by literature. Not sure if they meant this song to have a strong Christian undertone but it sure does drive at it with some of the most beautiful amalgamations of words and sentiment I have heard in a while. If they did intend it to be so I love that they didn't cloud it with the false pious bravado that is often found in some Christian songs and hymns. They opened the words and managed to give them the freedom to dance and smile on the ears of the hearer so much so that it is difficult to hear the humility and longing that is being spoke of. Theologians the world over have stumbled over esoteric words and hyper religious banter that eventually fail where these words minister to the secret longing in the depths of the heart with a blinding clarity. Bravo.

I am sure that some will say that I am only hearing what I want to hear from the words of the song. To them I say - perhaps. But that just makes this song so much more intriguing as that is exactly what the Word of God does. It means what you need it to mean, when you need it to mean it. Not in a frivolous, cherry-picking way but one that is personal and provoking.

To think that I might have missed all of this if I had settled for listening instead of hearing the song. To think that many who listen may have deaf ears to its meaning.

Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

Well I came home like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of dust, which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down, wait for now
And I'll kneel down know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step, and relent
Well you forgave, and I won't forget
Know what we've seen and him with less
Now in some way shake the excess

But I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

Now I'll be bold as well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh and fix my eyes
A tethered mind freed from the lies

And I'll kneel down, wait for now
I'll kneel down know my ground

Raise my hands, paint my spirit gold
Bow my head, keep my heart slow

Cause I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you