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 Grace, a devotional thought

There's a spot in 2 Kings that gets me thinking about the mysterious ways that God is able to use us for his purposes, in spite of our worst spiritual failures. In 2 Kings 14:23-24, it says that a king named Jeroboam came to the throne in Israel, and he as bad as any King they've ever had (in v.24 we read the familiar refrain: "he did evil in the sight of the Lord").

So you might be ready to write this guy off, but then in verse 27, it says that YHWH saw the sufferings of his people (presumably from the military aggression of the surrounding nations), and he saw how bitter it was for them, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam.

This is fascinating, and, I think, good news.  As big a spiritual failure as he was, the Lord was still able to work deliverance for his people through King Jeroboam. And when you ask why and how, verse 27 gives the answer very clearly. It had nothing to do with Jeroboam himself and everything to do with YHWH's faithfulness: he had promised never to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, and he was committed to his word, whatever it took.

I find this encouraging, because, truth be told, I'm no spiritual super-star, either, and I'm not sure but if I were on the throne in Jeroboam's day, my reign would probably have gotten the familiar disclaimer of verse 24, too. And yet, God's purposes for us transcend our sin; to augment the U2 song only slightly, "His grace makes beauty out of ugly things." May God grant us the grace simply to rest in that knowledge.

 

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