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.

The Empire Struck Down, a devotional thought

These thoughts are still sort of half-baked, but the other day I was reading Revelation 18:1-19:6, with its dark, heart-rending lament for the fallen “city of Babylon,” and the whole thing has been lingering in my imagination ever since. 

As far as I can tell, in Revelation, the “City of Babylon” is both a cipher for the City of Rome, and also an archetype for any and all imperialistic city-building projects, from the original Babylon, up to and including those of the present day. “Babylon” was unimaginably rich (18:12), powerful (18:19), luxurious (18:14) and sensual (18:13). Babylon is the hedonism of Las Vegas and the intrigue of Washington D.C. and the wealth of Abu Dhabi rolled up into one, with a bit of Hollywood’s glamour and Berlin’s political weight thrown in, and laced with some old-school Emperor worship for good measure.

Of course, no one ever imagined, at the height of Rome’s power, that Rome would one day cease to be; citizens of Empires never imagine that the glory and wealth and power and luxury of the thing they’ve collectively built will ever fade. Which is why Revelation’s lament is so arresting and so haunting: “Fallen, Fallen, is Babylon the great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every unclean bird ... the music no longer plays in her streets, the merchants no longer buy and sell, in one hour all her wealth and glamour and luxury has been brought to ruin ...” 

As far as Revelation is concerned, there is a divinely-set shelf-life on every human Empire-building project, past present and future. One day the things that seem so sure and permanent today—Wall Street? Silcone Valley? The World Wide Interweb?—as unlikely as it may seem—one day all of these things will be what now Rome is: a nearly-forgotten relic of human greatness. 

And if that's true, then those who’ve really heard this lament in Revelation 18 for what it is, will sit loosely to the allure of Babylon, whenever and however Babylon shows up in our lives, refusing to be taken in by her offer of security and luxury apart from God.

 

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