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

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

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

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

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 God-Anger, a devotional thought.

In 2 Kings 19, there's this interesting line about "raging against the Lord," that bears careful reflection. It's in 2 Kings 19:27 specifically, and God's speaking against Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah. He says, "I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me."

The word he uses there to describe King Sennacherib's "rage" (ragaz) actually refers to physical agitation-- to quiver, tremble or quake with intense emotion. On the one hand, of course, it's a bit of a stretch to take what was happening in ancient Israel, when Assyria "raged" against God by attacking God's people in an imperialistic campaign for world domination, and apply that to the anger towards God that this or that individual might express in our modern-day society. But on the other hand, on a spiritual level, it's not that big of a leap at all. "Rage" towards God is not only an ancient Assyrian phenomenon, and expressing that anger through hostility towards God's people is not something that only happened way back then, when emperors ruled the world.

Put simply: I've heard people express quite real, quite serious anger towards God, and even once in a while seen it come out in actual physical agitation.

Sometimes, even, I've let the fear of encountering someone's hostility towards God prevent me from being transparent and open about my faith. And perhaps that's where, in particular, 23 Kings 19:27 speaks to us, especially, today. After all, God's not really speaking to the King of Assyria there, but to his people who are taking the brunt of Assyria's hostility towards Him. And he's asking his people simply to trust him to handle it, in his own time, in his own way, and not to let anyone's god-anger cause them to dismay.

May God give us the grace to do the same.

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