Christian Music for those who enjoy it.

Billy Joel "The River of Dreams"

Quote by viewer: I remember waking up to this song one morning in the early 90's. I woke up just a few moments before 6am when the radio alarm clicked on and started playing this song. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like God had created that morning just for me. I'll don't think I'll ever forget that morning.

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross
Even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every
evening and I stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find out what I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To a river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night
I'm not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That runs to the promised land
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
Songwriter: Billy Joel
 
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Lara said:
Billy Joel "The River of Dreams"

Quote by viewer: I remember waking up to this song one morning in the early 90's. I woke up just a few moments before 6am when the radio alarm clicked on and started playing this song. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like God had created that morning just for me. I'll don't think I'll ever forget that morning.

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross
Even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find out what I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To a river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night
I'm not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That runs to the promised land
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
Songwriter: Billy Joel
Click to expand...
I miss you, a lot! ❤️
 

Lara said:
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
Click to expand...
I like this song as well. Although Billy Joel captures the spirit of Gospel, his words could even be understood as a criticism of people attempting to define spirituality's ephemeral nature. The thread is called Christian music, but music can reach the soul in a way that nothing else can and bring us into the multilayered presence of what some of us call God and others have other names for. Music causes emotional reactions as diverse as the music, moving us in ways that words seldom do.

Most of the songs given here reflect that sensitive human beings feel lost in a vortex of experiences. We are grateful when we feel pulled out or at least have a place to hold on. There are a multitude of opportunities, and of course, we think the hand we are holding is "the one"! I find it sad that we humans tend to deny the experience of other cultures, and Christianity would gain so much if they understood the Gospel narrative as a story. Perhaps "the" story, but a story nonetheless.

Humanity has been telling stories to capture the mystery of spiritual experience since it learned to express itself in that way. Still, before that, we enacted or sang our experience, and it is no wonder that music captures something as fleeting as the spirit better in some ways. Lovely songs here.
 
Thank you Stoppelmann for your thoughts on the lyrics from "River of Dreams"...well penned and interesting review.

You said, "The thread is called 'Christian music for those who enjoy it...but 'you find it sad that we humans tend to deny the experience of other cultures...and Christians would gain so much if they just understood the Gospel narrative as a story". That would be like telling a Chef who has written a Dessert Cookbook, that he would gain so much more if he stirred in Chinese food, Mexican food, and Fast food :giggle:

Don't the other cultures choose to enjoy their own music at times? I understand what you are saying, but cheer up because the title of this thread is telling us to all just listen and enjoy one type of music at a time....here it's Christian music.

Elsewhere in SF, other cultures are free to start another thread with music they enjoy.
And we also have many threads with a full mix of music for all.
 
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Lara said:
You said, "The thread is called 'Christian music for those who enjoy it...but 'you find it sad that we humans tend to deny the experience of other cultures...and Christians would gain so much if they just understood the Gospel narrative as a story". That would be like telling a Chef who has written a Dessert Cookbook, that he would gain so much more if he stirred in Chinese food, Mexican food, and Fast food :giggle:
Click to expand...
I didn't understand the analogy as what I was saying. Perhaps that is my fault, but I find the incredible diversity of religion a boon, giving various approaches to the principle of origins, and the songs here speak of deeper feelings than can be restricted to one religion. Many Christian songs are essentially love songs, which sing of yearning, longing, or loss, but so do many devotional songs of Hinduism, Taoism, etc.

In fact, I have two books (written in German) which collected lyrics from around the world that show that religious practice is so similar, that in some cases, a blind person wouldn't notice the difference. The book concludes that we should perhaps accept the directions of other religions as alternate paths to the same goal. Some Christian friends, on hearing that I had bought the books, told me that they would burn them.

That is what I find sad.
 
🌳🐑🌳 Parable of The Lost Sheep

If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.
Matthew 18:12-14

 
My daughter added this song to my playlist. She returned home to hurricane ridden Asheville NC because she was told the water is safe now but when she got there she was alerted that it wasn't. She sent me this song of faith and peace in adversity...so beautiful, so touching 🙏

 

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