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

On Coming Second Last, a devotional thought

There's this interesting story in 2 Kings 2, where the prophet Elijah passes on his prophetic mantle to his successor, Elisha, just before he's taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. I call it interesting because this "passing on" of the spiritual baton reflects a consistent, if somewhat mysterious pattern in the Old Testament. There always seems to be a "leader yet to come" who will accomplish for God's servants what they cannot accomplish on their own. Moses was not able to lead the people into the Promised Land; Joshua came after him to do that. Saul was not able to rule as king in Israel; David came after him. But David was unable to build the temple; Solomon came after him for that. And then there's Elijah and Elisha. None of God's servants, it seems, are ever "ultimate" (the final word). They are only ever "penultimate" (i.e. the second last word).

None, of course, but one.

Because John the Baptist was pretty clear that he fit the pattern of "being second last."  "One is coming after me," he said, "whose sandals I am unfit to untie." But the one who came after him--the Ultimate Elisha to his penultimate Elijah--was Jesus Christ, and after him we are no longer waiting for one yet to come, only for one to come yet again.

Once you see this pattern, it raises some soul-searching questions.  Am I living as though I get the final word on the matter (you name the matter) in my life, or am I living as though I were penultimate? That is to say: am I letting Jesus have the final word on everything, and acknowledging, with Moses, David, Elijah and John the Baptist, that I just can't do it on my own?

 

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