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

A Tale of Two Kings: A Devotional Thought

In 1 Kings 22:41-53, the Bible presents us with the death of two kings, the King of Judah and the King of Israel, juxtaposed against each other in a thought-provoking way. It describes the death of King Ahab of Israel first, who died in battle when a stray arrow pierced a seam of his armour, and then the death of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, who died at the ripe old age of 60. But by worldly standards, Ahab appears to have been the more successful king-- wealthier, more accomplished, and more powerful. Notice the palace of ivory and the huge cities mentioned in v. 39. And yet for all his wealth and influence, what 1 Kings emphasizes about his reign is that he set a new standard for doing evil in the sight of the Lord (his son, for instance, "walked in all his ways," worshipping idols and inciting the Lord to anger).

Jehoshaphat, on the other hand, was less wealthy and influential than his regal cousin to the north. He didn't build any cities or ivory palaces. At least 1 Kings doesn't mention any. But what 1 Kings does mention is the fact that he walked in the way of the Lord, never turning from it and doing right in God's eyes. God, it turns out, measures our lives by a much different rubric than the world does. He doesn't count the degrees on the wall or the number of rooms in the "ivory palace" or the numbers in the retirement fund; he measures success according to one simple standard: "Did you do right in my eyes?"

Not to sound morbid, but it leaves me thinking about the end of my own life, and how I want to go. Will I be a success in the eyes of the world but a failure in the eyes of the Lord, or a success in the eyes of the Lord, come what may?

 

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