One of the key songs I’m re-imagining for the new album (K) is “Diseases That Have Cures.” The video above is of the original. The re-imagined version will be.. well.. re-imagined. You’ll dig it.
Like all the songs on the CMYK project, I wrote a corresponding letter to the sister for whom the song was written. The letter, along with an essay on the themes that run through both, will be featured in the CMYK book which you can help to fund at Kickstarter.
Below is a short glimpse into why I find this song a key song.
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I’ll be leading songs this morning and among them will be “Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.” It’s one of my favorites. It’s a song that, in christian-y, theological language is about the sufficiency of the Cross of Christ; that only the sacrifice of Jesus can reconcile God’s kids to our Maker. I believe that to be theologically true. But I also believe The Cross to be a practical truth and wrote the song “Diseases That Have Cures” to flesh out what I mean by that.
The Cross was/is an act; It is something God did. I have far to often left “The Cross” in the christian-y, theological world of Ideas. That was until a series of conversations with friends, including the thoughtful and affected sister for whom the song “Diseases” was written. It was a series of conversations about why terrible things happen in a world governed by a good God and more pointedly how do we reconcile the idea of God’s goodness with realities like human slavery and pervasive economic injustice. In all of the Scriptures we hold sacred (these friends and I) there is not one sufficient, philosophical “answer” to that dilemma. God doesn’t lay it all out it. He doesn’t explain it.. He acts.
I am re-imagining the song “Diseases That Have Cures” for the album “K” because this is a vital element to my faith process: I do not have a sufficient philosophical answer from God about the condition of the world and I do not need one. I need to do what He has done… I need to act. Even if I could “make sense of it all,” the pain of those who directly suffer from hunger, oppression, slavery etc… would remain untouched. Sure, there is an element of The Cross that is to be considered and meditated upon… but it is also intended to be a model for the good life and particularly as a response to sin and brokenness.
In the letter to that sister I say it this way:
“The only thing like ‘relief’ I’ve ever experienced in the shadow of violence, hunger and tragedy,.. the only reasonable response I’ve found has been not been to contend with it intellectually but to bear whatever degree of that pain I can responsibly bear.”
I believe the best, truest and fullest form of theology is not what I think in my head but how I live my life. A huge part of what it means to believe in Jesus is acting like He did.
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I’m currently working on the album and book. I’d sincerely appreciate your help to fund this project at Kickstarter.
