Haitian Lament

For the most part, lament is lost within current Christian worship. There are joyful praise songs and songs based out of more cheerful portions of scripture, but if a song does venture into lament territory, it makes a turn into a trite, happy message before the end. There are some songs of lament out there, but generally, the worship landscape is void of this type of song.

As I read the Psalms, I encounter songs of lament that don’t, as we say, resolve. They are raw, unbridled pleas for help from a God who seems to have abandoned or forgotten the writer and his people. See Psalms 44, 74, 123 and 129 for examples. There is a current of hope and trust in God that runs through these Psalms, but the writer stays in a spirit of lament. Apparently the sons of Korah didn’t have an AR guy looking over their shoulder telling them they’d never get radio play with that sad sack stuff.

I wrote this song last week in response to an image in the amazing Jeremy Cowart’s current photographic essay called Voices of Haiti. Jeremy is posting a photo a day from his recent trip to Haiti to raise awareness and money for A Home in Haiti which is working to purchase tents for the many thousand of people left homeless after the January 12 earthquake.

This image from Day 2 really struck me. This woman standing with her young son in a makeshift tent told Jeremy, “There is no worse feeling in the world, as a mother, than to be unable to properly take care of your child.” In English, the sign she’s holding reads, “God do not abandon your children.”

As soon as I read it, my heart ached and the line began to play in my head. I wrote down some quick verse but didn’t get to work on it until later that night. Once I did, the music and words just came together. I added a second verse the following morning and a third and final verse yesterday. I’m sharing it here for you to ponder. I hope to post audio to the music page in the next week sometime. In the meantime, dwell in the words…

Haitian Lament

O God, do not abandon your children.
Remember us in our affliction.
Turn your face to us.
We are tired and worn down.
Turn your face to us.
We are at the end of hope.

How long, O Lord, will you forget us?
How long will you leave us like this?
We are made in your image.
Your breath breathes within us.
We are crushed into dust.
Move yourself to rescue us.

O God, do not abandon your children.
O God, do not abandon your children.
In the midst of this darkness,
we will wait for the daylight.
In the depth of our suffering,
We will hope in you yet.

© 2010 David Peck and G.L. Baldman Media. All rights reserved.

Now go check out Voices of Haiti: A Daily Photo Essay by Jeremy Cowart.

This Is War

Dustin Kensrue’s This Is War many be one of the best new Christmas songs of the decade, but couple it with the video below and it becomes hauntingly, wonderfully mind-blowing. Watching it made me shudder…in a good way.

Derek Webb’s new CD

Derek Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome drops today. Bold, creative stuff. Go get it.

And check out the video for What Matters More.

Hidden treasures

I admit that I watch America’s Got Talent, though mostly for the train wrecks that litter the initial search rounds. Now last season did reveal some brilliant singers in Neal E. Boyd, Queen Emily and Eli Mattson. Of course, it also brought us some circus acts which had no business getting past the audition rounds.

The British version has found some real stunners though. In 2007, Paul Potts went from cell phone salesman to opera star. Now I don’t like opera, but the guy’s voice is just phenomenal. Watch his audition video.

This season, Susan Boyle, a 47-year-old church worker with a little sass, a lot of spunk and a ton guts, sings “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables and brings the house to their feet and absolutely takes Simon Cowell’s voice away. Don’t believe me? Go watch the video.

I love Les Miserables. Beth and I saw it on Broadway before it closed. It is one of the most stunning stories of grace and redemption, and it brought me to tears. I admit this video nearly brought me to tears. Just stunning. No other words. That’s a voice for the ages and a story you just can’t script.

No Line on the Horizon

U2 released a new album this week, and I’ve apparently raised my kids well. Sean, who is eight, handed me his Sandisk Shaker mp3 player yesterday and asked me to add the new album to it. Erin, who’s five, is a firm believer in the trinity; Jesus, Daddy and Bono. Gotta love these kids.