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

Three Minute Theology 4.6: Law and Grace



One of the secrets behind Mozart’s musical genius was his ability to improvise. They say he once gave a concert where he took a simple musical theme and improvised on it for over an hour with such creativity that it astonished everyone in the audience.

One of Mozart’s piano concertos, in fact, has long sections where the score is unfinished. Scholars believe this is because Mozart was writing for a deadline, and to save time, he planned to improvise these unfinished sections during the performance.

Christians aren’t legendary composers, but this kind of improvisation helps us get at the relationship between Law and Grace in the Christian life.

It’s one of the basic teachings of the Bible that those who are in Christ are no longer under the Law, but under Grace. But what does this actually mean?

When the New Testament talks about being “under the Law” it’s referring in particular to the Way of Life that’s described in that part of the Bible we call “The Old Testament.”

And being “under the Law” means trying to maintain and experience a relationship with God by following the details of this way of life—its rituals, traditions, and regulations—as strictly as possible.

So for example, when the Book of Deuteronomy prohibits God’s people from eating pork; or when the Book of Leviticus tells people not to trim the sides of their beards, let’s say ... “Being Under the Law” means seeking to maintain and express a right relationship with God by practicing all these things.

The Law also talks about loving the Lord your God; being truthful and faithful and chaste; loving your neighbour as yourself. So “Being Under the Law” means holding yourself to the moral standards of the Law, too.

Part of the Christian Message is that through his death and resurrection, Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the Law—he’s fulfilled the meaning of all its rituals and traditions, and he’s satisfied its moral code.

And because he’s fulfilled the Law for us, anyone who is in Christ is no longer under the law. They no longer express and maintain their relationship with God by keeping the rituals and traditions of the Old Testament Law. They’re under grace.

But does that mean that the Way of Life we see in the Old Testament doesn’t matter anymore? Does it not matter how Christians actually live? Is there no moral standard that God wants to follow?

May it never be!

And this is where Mozart comes in. Because in one sense, the Old Testament Law is like a majestic Symphony, a master-piece by a Master composer, where every part is carefully orchestrated to make a harmonious whole. And to perform this piece means playing your part perfectly, note for note.

Being “under the Law” is a bit like playing in that orchestra.

But imagine this Master Composer wrote a piece that only laid out the basic melody and the broad themes of the music. He’s chosen the key, and planned the movements, but has left individual parts unwritten because he wants the musicians to improvise their parts.

What will they need to perform this piece? Obviously, they can’t play just any old notes. The rules of musical theory, the song’s key, and so on, all mean that some notes will “fit” and others won’t. So the musicians will need to have mastered these things and respect them as they play.

More than that, they will have to know the work of the composer himself, inside and out—his musical mind and soul—if they want their improvisation to reflect his heart for the piece.

But once they have all this, there will be a million different combinations of notes that they could play that would equally fulfill the composer’s intent for the performance.

Being under grace is a bit like this; it requires us to know the Master’s Heart for the Song, to respect the Musical Rules he’s given, but within that, to discover a million ways to creatively interpret what Life with God looks like, given our place in the orchestra.

0 comments: