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Blogity-blah-blah-blog: Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Earthen Vessels

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Earthen Vessels


I'm going to talk a little bit about a band called Earthen Vessels...uh, I mean, Jars of Clay. Although if they would have taken 2 Corinthians 4:7 from the King James Version they might have been called Earthen Vessels. They must have taken it from the New International Version or the English Standard Version, but let's take a moment to look at some other possibilities of what Jars of Clay could have been called:

Vessels of Earth (Amplified)
Fragile Clay Jars (New Living Translation)
Brittle Vessels (Wycliffe New Testament)
Pots Made of Earth and Clay (Worldwide English New Testament)
Unadorned Clay Pots (The Message)
Cracked Pots Made of Earth (The Voice)
Vasija de Barro (Biblia en Lenguaje Sencillo)
Vases D'argile (La Bible du Sameur)

Okay, that's enough of that. I had talked briefly about Jars of Clay on Monday and what they are doing with blood:water mission. They are one of the few bands in the so-called Christian music genre that I still listen to because they simply make good music and the lyrics of some of their songs are very inspiring. Most people know them from their hit single "Flood" way back in the mid 90's and they are still going strong today. Even though "Flood" was the #1 single on their debut album, I personally think "Worlds Apart" is the strongest song on that album.

I also enjoyed their 2nd album, titled Much Afraid. I thought the song "Overjoyed" had a very Beatlesque sound to it. The title track "Much Afraid" is an honest song about how we're not perfect and we end up in some dark places sometimes, and how much we need Jesus in those times. I admit that I wasn't really into their 3rd and 4th albums, "If I Left the Zoo" and "The Eleventh Hour". I don't know, they just didn't have the same impact on me as the first two. But then "Who We Are Instead" came out and I thought it was a great album. The song "Faith Enough" is probably my favorite on that one. It's kind of a backwards thinking kind of song, but that's how God's kingdom works, it's backwards from the way we think it should be.The music and lyrics for that song will be at the end of this post.

I haven't picked up any albums since then even though they've released a few of them. But I was listening to the Relevant podcast one day and they had a live studio recording of some songs from their new album and it was great. They played a song called "Headphones". It was about how people have become so disconnected with each other. The first verse starts off like this:

I don't have to hear it if I don't want to
I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you

It's a heavy world, it's too much for me to care
If I close my eyes it's not there


If you get a chance, download the Relevant podcast on iTunes for free and listen to the one from 4.20.09, it has the Jars of Clay live studio recording on it.



The ice is thin enough for walkin'
The rope is worn enough to climb
Throat is dry enough for talkin'
The world is crumblin', but I know why
The world is crumblin', but I know why

Storm is wild enough for sailing
Bridge is weak enough to cross
This body frail enough for fighting
I'm home enough to know I'm lost
Home enough to know I'm lost

It's just enough to be strong
In the broken places, in the broken places
It's just enough to be strong
Should the world rely on faith tonight

Land unfit enough for planting
Barren enough to conceive
Poor enough to gain the treasure
Enough a cynic to believe
Enough a cynic to believe

Confused enough to know direction
Sun eclipsed enough to shine
Still enough to finally tremble
I See enough to know I'm blind
I See enough to know I'm blind

Should the world rely on faith tonight


Visit the official Jars of Clay website here.

1 comment:

  1. Haha! That Jars of Clay thing is so funny.

    ReplyDelete