Though we're strangers, still I love you
I love you more than your mask
And you know you have to trust this to be true
And I know that's much to ask
But lay down your fears
Come and join this feast
He has called us here
You and me
Chorus:
And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls this drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you
And though I love you, still we're strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still His light shines in the dark
And His outstretched arms
Are still strong enough to reach
Behind these prison bars
To set us free
-Rich Mullins
2 comments:
So, I'm still thinking about knowing...and being known...and loneliness...and friendship...and communion...and Christ as the mediator of our relationships. Can we know each other? Do we just stand at the entrance of the cave, and strike a match, or do we crawl in and get muddy? CAN we crawl in? Bonhoeffer says "there is no way from one person to another" - we can only know each other through Christ. And Rich seems to be saying much the same in these lyrics - though more poetically. "Though I love you, still we're strangers, prisoners in these lonely hearts." I suppose only Christ can truly know us. In fact, I'm not altogether sure I know myself, let alone anyone else. In fact, I'm sure I don't know myself. But surely the self-knowledge I have, as well as the other-knowledge, is informed by the HS and revelation. So I guess that is one way Jesus mediates our relationships. And He gives me the grace to see people as they are - beloved sinners - rather than making idols out of them. So that's another way he mediates my relationships. Hmmm...any others come to mind?
Oh, I just noticed: "His outstretched arms are still strong enough to reach behind these prison bars to set us free." How interesting - I began this topic with the Don Chaffer lyric that sets freedom and being known in opposition ("Kelly I don't think I've ever wanted as much to be free as I've longed to be known"). Rich says that we're prisoners in lonely hearts, but that Christ sets us free. Free, presumably, to know and to love and to celebrate communion.
Wow, touch questions. Yeah, you're right, the only time I think I really know a person is when the Holy Spirit enables me to see through their eyes. When I view them through my own I usually end up being judgmental.
I love how the answer to this seems to be communion. Because not only do we need to KNOW each other as Christians, we need to BE each other, we need to be one in Christ. And that is absolutely ridiculous on the one hand, but on the other...maybe it's happening constantly without our even knowing it?
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