Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do
This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

Three Hands Clapping
This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

inversions
Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

Accidentals
This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

Random Reads

The Thunderous Whisper of God

Still thinking about the voice of the Lord, I thought I'd share this song I wrote a while back inspired by Psalm 29 (click play to listen).


When I was growing up, the "small still voice" from 1 Kings 19 got a lot of press. People would talk about listening for the small still voice of the Lord, with the implication that this was how God typically spoke. He doesn't speak in dramatic ways; you have to learn to listen for his small still voice.

Of course, 1 Kings 19:12 never says specifically that the "gentle whisper" was the voice of Yahweh; and the Hebrew's pretty difficult to translate here, anyways. Literally, after the wind and fire and earthquake, Elijah heard the "sound of crushed silence." Some interpreters suggest that what he heard was absolutely nothing-- the deafening roar of utter silence.

So does the voice of the Lord always come to us as a "small still voice"? Is this the point of 1 Kings 19:12?

I'm not sure. Psalm 29 says that the voice of the Lord flashes forth like lightning. And Job 35:7 says that God thunders wondrously with his voice. And Psalm 68:33 says that the one who rides in the ancient heavens sends out his mighty voice. (And look at Psalm 18:16, and Job 37:2, 37:4, 40:9, and Isaiah 30:30 and Jeremiah 10:13...).

That's "thunderous": 9; "small-still": 1.

Maybe the "small still voice" appeals to us especially because our ears have grown so dull from years of living in the modern kingdom of noise. The idea that God's voice is hard to hear resonates more with our experience. But the ancients seemed pretty convinced that, more often than not, when the Most High God spoke, you couldn't miss it.

Well. In thunder or in whisper, may God give his children open ears to hear him when he speaks; and may he give us courageous hearts to respond when we do hear. Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.

 

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