10/19/04

I love Rich Mullins. He was just an awesome songwriter. Poetic, earnest, but most importantly, meaningful. If there was a word that I could use to describe his lyrics and music, it would be "worshipful." If you ever get a chance, buy some of his stuff. I would probably start with The World As Best As I Can Remember It, volumes 1 and 2, and then go from there. If you don't know his story, he was a Christian musician. He wrote Sing Your Praise to the Lord that Amy Grant recorded in the early 80s, and also wrote Awesome God, which is probably his most famous song. I know that he took some time off music to be a missionary, and was involved with Native American missions. Apparently, he also had no idea how much money his music made. See, he set it up so that his church would receive all the proceeds of his music. Then he asked them to just give him the average salary for a person in America. Which if you think about it, is pretty extraordinary. Anyway, he passed away tragically when he got into a car accident in 1997. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt in a Jeep and got thrown from the car.

Anyway, one of the reasons that I love his music so much is that no matter when I listen to it, it makes me think about and appreciate God more. How much higher of a calling can you have as a musician/songwriter than that? To write so that people would want to worship God. That's how I feel every single time I listen to his music. The great thing is that, from everything I've ever seen or heard, that's how he lived his life, that's how he performed. They recently released a double CD/concert DVD. The concert is amazing. I mean, honestly, the music is pretty mediocre. There's a couple mistakes, the band doesn't really seem in sync, and the recording quality isn't great. Things are all out of balance. But the concert is amazing. I felt like I learned so much from those brief moments, and there was just a sense of worship. The eerie thing is that the concert took place in 1997, probably just months before he passed. There's this one song that he sings, that I think Danny made a great observation about. The song is about Elijah, and he's talking about how his face is old and grey, and in the chorus he says how he wants to go out like Elijah in a burning chariot, or something to that effect. Anyway, there was Rich, banging away at the piano, his face looking very old and weathered, and there was just something in his eyes, just a melancholy wisdom that seeped through them. And he was singing about going out like Elijah in a chariot of fire, months away from going out in his own chariot of fire. It was just a powerful, bittersweet moment that can only come about in retrospect.

Anyway, with all of the stuff that's out there, this is why I love the Christian music I grew up with. I mean, yeah, there's definitely a lower quality of musicality and all that. But I have been seriously ministered to through it. As I've gotten older, I've expanded my musical tastes (a little bit). But sometimes, it's just a little dry. I think, is this really worth listening to?

But I digress. My point is, go get a Rich Mullins CD sometime and really listen to what he has to say about God, about life, about the Bible. He was probably the best lyricist that I've run across in Christian music. But I think his music ended up being powerful because his life was powerful. I think I can honestly say that he is a role model of mine. Thanks Rich.