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

The Girl-Queen, the Captive Conqueror: A Devotional Commentary on the Book of Esther (8:11-17)

God’s deliverance of his people is breaking in to the story at last, with light, and joy and happiness and honor (8:16). Ahasuerus issues a new decree, one that empowers the Jews to defend themselves against their enemies, and, incidentally, perfectly reverses his decree back in 3:12-13, word for word, right down to the letter. But here’s the verse that I find fascinating. In 8:17 it says, “Many people of the land ‘became Jews’ because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.” What we’re seeing here is a relatively rare instance of Gentiles converting to Judaism, in the Old Testament. There are similar instances of Gentiles coming to recognize, acknowledge, even worship the God of Abraham, but this is the only place where it’s actually framed in terms of Gentiles becoming Jews—converting to and adopting the Jewish way of life. The Hebrew word that’s used there--yâhad—is a verbal form of the noun yehûd, “Jew”; that is, it’s a verb that means “to become Jewish,” and here’s the thing: this is the only place in the whole Old Testament where this verb, yâhad, is used. The ancient Greek translators of Esther picked up on this: in their translation of this verse it says, “they were circumcised and lived like Jews.”

Modern readers like us might gloss over this little piece of verbal trivia, but it’s actually a really big deal: in the Book of Esther, the outcome of God’s deliverance is that a) the Jewish community thrives (with joy, feasting, honor and light) and b) when the Gentiles see this thriving community, they are so awed by it that they become Jews themselves—adopted into Abraham’s Family, not by blood, but by faithfully following the Jewish Way of Life.

I can’t help but think of Acts 2:46-47, where Luke is talking about the very first Christian community, and he says almost the exact same thing: “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved.”

 Am I the only one who thinks that sounds uncannily familiar? The outcome of God’s ultimate deliverance in Jesus is that a) the Christian community thrives, and b) when the non-Christians see this thriving community, they are so awed by it that they become Christian, too. As far as Acts is concerned, the outcome of Esther is quite literally fulfilled in the life of the Church.

There are of course, two differences, but these make all the difference. 1) In Esther, salvation comes about as the Jews slaughter the enemies that were set to slaughter them, whereas in Christ, salvation comes about as we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. And 2) in Esther, the Gentiles join the community by being circumcised and following the Jewish Way of Life, whereas in Christ, we are invited into the community through baptism (which is the fulfillment of circumcision; see Colossians 2:11) and by following Jesus, who is himself the Way and the Life.

The question that Jesus is asking us to ask ourselves through the Book of Esther, is this: is our Christian community thriving in the Esther 8:16/ Acts 2:46-47 sense of the word? And what might happen in our midst if it were?

0 comments: