Sublimating...

So it's been a while, but here's another song. It's been on my heart for a very long time and I have just finished the lyrics. I prayed to God whether I needed to change anything and checked out the passage of Scripture that has in part inspired it, and reading through it I thought "That's it, I don't need to change it." I'm still a bit iffy on the melody, and my voice is sounding like an angry cat at times these days for whatever reason, the cold I think, but the lyrics are sweet as, even though I do say so myself. But it's like a legal download from heaven, so the copyright is kinda Jesus'. But I still put my name on it.

I want to give special thanks (this is the first time I've ever done this) to Dr. Tim Keller who has profoundly impacted me with his teaching on the subject matter, my Connect Group and other people at ICF who have forced me to think through my theology to explain it better, which only reinforced it and taught me grace, a few people who shall remain nameless whom God used to shake my world and break my heart, teaching me something about humility, and ultimately God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who lovingly opened a can of whoop on me and especially on my own idols this last year and broke me down to build me up again... who keeps doing this, and who provided me with very vivid images that have undergirded the making of this song.

I have been able to come up with an adage which describes my objectives when I write a song, it may seem pretentious, but whatever, I don't care, I'm a wordsmith, that's what I do (though not always very well), and this is it: "Sublimating theology into music"... I love it. That's what I want to do.

As you can see, there's a lot of my heart poured into this song, so by all means, leave a comment, but be gentle. That'll be much appreciated.



I will redeem you
(Bringing down idols and grinding them into
dust to feed them to the wind...)

Written between 08/2009 and 03/2010

We are so alienated but I know you still long for me,
Every plan frustrated spelling how much you are weak.
The things you were so attentive to have caught you off guard
and turned themselves against you, bracing chains to your heart.

Weighed down by the very things you’d hoped would free you still
I’m coming after you, my feelings so strong they could kill…

Let my words come, running through the fabric of what makes you,
gently traumatising all you thought you knew…
Let my word go, cut right through the fetters that defiled you,
hurting, hurting to renew…

(Could anyone foresee or understand…?
For whose sake this blow will land?)

I’ll reach into my heart, and tear it asunder
hoping that my cry- will break the spell you’re under.
There’s fire in my eyes, I have nothing left to ponder.
My hammer will rain down the fury of a lover!

And all the statues came crumbling down, rubble covering all the ground,
perfect man-made carved detail, shown for imperfection veiled.
As the idols broke apart they lost their hold on your heart,
crushing gods crushed in this scene, there you stood, spotless, pure, redeemed…

You shine, with the knowledge that turns all things upside-down…
The splendour reflected in you is the beauty of all things true.

I want to sing my song over you,
I want to sing my song over you,
to call your name, forever: My Delight Is In You,
I’m here to sing this song over you.

That once barren ground has now grown a tree,
a garden of pleasures for just you and me…

© Joseph Antonio Natali, 2010.