Songs

Street Graffiti by Banksy
Photo Credit: Doug Kovach

By Wendi Bernau

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…even when we try to dispose of them. For the past three days, I’ve had a particular song wandering around in my head for no good reason.

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…even when we have Alzheimer’s. Some folks who can’t remember their loved ones can still sing every word of every hymn from the church of their childhood.

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…when children are learning. I’ve used songs to teach the alphabet, multiplication, history, and the order of the books of the bible.

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…when we set passages of poetry to music, such as the Steve Green song based on Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it…” I can’t even read that verse without singing the song.

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…when we sing together for peace and harmony. Songs have been known to bring people together for social transformation.

I recently came across the David Wilcox song, “Three Brothers.” It’s from the 2008 album Airstream. I still cry like a baby every time I hear it; I long for the peace of which he sings.

Can you see these characters as the Christian, the Muslim and the Jewish person? And what of Faith, Bethlehem, their sister?

There is a man in northern New Jersey, where I’m from, who organizes singer-songwriters participating in benefit concerts to support local charities. This video is a segment of one of those concerts. Why use music to raise money for charity? Is it just to have a good time and financially support singer-songwriters? I think it’s more than that. I think it’s because:

Songs have this amazing capacity for sticking with us…and we must invite them into our heads, hearts, and souls wisely because they will alter and mold our thinking; and they will be there for a long, long time.