Jars of Clay has attained some of the greatest commercial success of Contemporary Christian Artists. Their songs are often catchy, but they can be dark, brooding, and beautiful. I have most of the albums by Jars of Clay, but I can't pick any one particular album as a favorite. There is a parity among them where whichever one I'm listening to at the time is my favorite.
L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stickis hosting her first ever blogfest in which we come up with some of our favorite songs that break our hearts. I have a difficult time resisting the pull of a blogfest of this nature so I decided to enter two of my blogs with songs of different natures. My other entry is at A Faraway View.
For those unfamiliar with this blog, A Few Words, this is usually a Sunday only blog that reflects on verses from Psalms and puts them into context with things that are on my mind. In hopes of bringing this blog out of its quiet corner of contemplation, in April I will be looking at Contemporary Christian Music from A to Z. If you aren't familiar with Christian music and think it's all a bunch of boring church hymns perhaps my A to Z series will shed some new light on the subject. I hope you'll give it a chance.
Today allows me to offer a preview of some of the music types that I'll be exploring in the upcoming month. Please at least sample the beginnings of the songs to let me know what you think of my choices.
There Forever -- Like most of the songs on my list, this song by the 77s has a message of hope within it, but seems to be confined in the loneliness, dejection, and despair of this often sad and confusing world.
I Wish We'd All Been Ready -- DC Talk delivers their version of the classic Larry Norman song lamenting those who have been left behind in the Rapture.
Love -- Matthew Ward who with his sisters performed as the vocal group 2nd Chapter of Acts released this poignant song on one of his solo albums. The story of the song reflects on the love his mother had for her children and how sometimes we realize things too late It's an incredibly powerful song by a truly amazing singer. This is a song that easily moves me to tears.
Don't Cry Performed by Adam Again, this song reflects upon the ache, the longing, and the sadness that we all feel at times. The song is particularly sad knowing that its singer / songwriter Gene Eugene died tragically, far too young.
Note to Anna The group Daniel Amos and the genius behind the music, Terry Scott Taylor, have been a mainstay of Modern Christian Music for over three decades. This song presented here is about a young woman who never received the message of salvation because nobody ever told her.
Frail Jars of Clay in a flawless live performance with orchestra performs a song about our weakness and fallibility which is why Jesus suffered in our place.
All I Ever Wanted This song by Margaret Becker reminds me of a very sad time in my life. I would sometimes listen to this song over and over hoping things in my life change--and things did change for the better eventually. Probably better classified as a beautiful song, it still sounds sad to me.
Who says Christian music has to be boring? I hope you enjoyed my picks here. Do you have any that you would chose in this genre? Do you have a favorite Christian artist?
