Playlist for this time.

What songs are helping you get through our current crisis?  Music has been very helpful in keeping me steady and sane.  I have been working on a playlist and would love to hear what other people have found to be sustaining in this difficult time.

First, I have found that there is no getting through this anxiety, stress, and close quarters without a sense of humor.  The Statler Brothers, Flowers on the Wall always makes me laugh.  The song also pretty accurately describes some of that stir crazy feelings of quarantine: 

 Countin' flowers on the wall/ That don't bother me at all/ Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one/ Smoking cigarettes and watching' Captain Kangaroo?  Now don't tell me I've nothing to do.

Another songwriter that makes laugh is John Prine. Today, I add him to my list because he has been on a ventilator suffering from cover-19.  Johanna said to me yesterday, "Mom, your favorite music is music that sounds like it is about God even when it is not."  Prine's Boundless love is a perfect addition to that category with these stirring lines:  

 If  by chance I should find myself at risk/ A-falling from this jagged cliff/ I look below, and I look above/I'm surrounded by your boundless love/Surround me with your boundless love/Confound me with your boundless love/ I was drowning in the sea, lost as I could be/When you found me with your boundless love/You dumbfound me with your boundless love/ You surround me with your boundless love.

I have been finding that music has been helping me to pray even when I am personally find prayer difficult.  Several songs that I have had on repeat really function as prayers.  In January 2010 both my parents were in the hospital  at the same time that the world was reeling from televised scenes from the earthquake in Haiti.  It was during a concert to raise money for Haiti that I first remember hearing Stephen Foster's standard Hard Times.  I especially like this version by Emmylou Harris, Hard Times.  I think this is an extraordinary and simple payer:  "hard times come again no more."  

A prayer of lament and honest struggle with the silence of God: Rich Mullins, Hard to Get. 

Did You ever know loneliness/Did You ever know need/Do You remember just how long a night can get?/When You were barely holding on/And Your friends fall asleep/And don't see the blood that's running in Your sweat/Will those who mourn be left uncomforted/While You're up there just playing hard to get?

A prayer of confidence in God: Audrey Assad,  Lead Kindly Light.

Lead, kindly Light, amid the grey and gloom/The night is long and I am far from home/Here in the dark, I do not ask to see/The path ahead-one step enough for me/ Lead on, lead on kindly Light.

A plea for healing and restoration:  Leonard Cohen, Come Healing

A prayer for all those who are dying alone:  Brian Eno, The Big Ship

Finally, I have been finding affirmation for things that I love and find important.  In this current state all the nonessentials are being burnt away like dross.  I have always found this fiercely sung version of "I've Got No" to be a powerful affirmation of life:  Nina Simone,  Ain't Got No--I Got Life.

Another favorite in a similar vein is Danny Schmidt's,  Stained Glass.  A large elm tree has destroyed the stained glass in a church: Can it be fixed by Easter?  The song is a fierce reminder that all of human life is being redeemed and transformed in the Incarnation.  It is also been a time to remember the importances of friendship and solidarity.  I would love to send out two songs to everyone that I love Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone and Bryan Moyer Suderman, Wishing you well.  I have added a link for you to buy Bryan's song.  I think it names some of the complex emotions of having to care for our friend and loved ones through touchpads and screens.  

Finally,  I will end with a song urging us all to keep on fighting and doing the best we can: Stan Rogers', The Mary Ellen Carter.  

Here is a link to the full playlist.