As I get older and look back on my journey of faith, I've started to notice how huge a role the hope of the Second Coming has played in my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. I was raised in a largely dispensational tradition that regularly talked about the End Times and held to very clear dogmas about the timeline of the millenial reign of Christ. My parents has a copy of the Ryrie Study Bible on the bookshelf. My Grandfather would often share his theories with me, about why he was convinced Christ would return in his lifetime, or what he believed the Mark of the Beast really was, or any number of similiar eschatological speculations. The first book of the Bible that I have a very clear memory of reading for myself was the Book of Revelaiton. One of my favorite storybooks as a child was The Last Battle. I never really added this stuff up before, but my childhood was shot through with a deep sense that the Second Coming was more than just a matter of credal assent; it was an urgent, pressing reality.
The subliminal eschatological orientation of my life has shown up in my songwriting over the years, too. The first album of music I ever recorded, with a group of musicians from my home church in 2004, had at least 2 songs on it that were explicitly about the Second Coming, and at least three others that alluded to it. Nearly twenty years later, these songs strike me as a bit naif and pedantic, but they also remind me of the orientation towards hope and the future that my faith has given me over the years, and the "Already/Not Yet" tension I've always carried in my heart.
This song, called "Wait," is probably the most explicitly eschatological song I've ever written. It goes back to 2001, and although I hope I'd handle the subject matter with a good deal more subtlety and sensitivity today than I did a two decades ago, still, it captures a feeling that has been throbbing in my heart, I think, all my life.
How long will you be silent
How long will you hide your face?
Wake O Lord the arm of your righteousness
Cleanse our land with your love and grace
And we will wait for the dawn of your righteousness
We will wait for that thief in the night
We will hold out the hope of your glory
Shatter the darkness with your truth and light
How long will the wicked prosper
How long will the lie seem right?
Arise O Lord and scatter your enemies
Shatter the darkness with your truth and light
And we will wait for the dawn of your righteousness
We will wait for that thief in the night
We will hold out the hope of your glory
Shatter the darkness with your truth and light
Wait, we will wait for you
Hope, we will hope in you
Watch, we will watch for you
And we will wait for the dawn of your righteousness
We will wait for that thief in the night
We will hold out the hope of your glory
Shatter the darkness with your truth and light
Wait, a song
Labels: eschatology, songs, songwriting
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