The Problem of Evil in 3 Minutes
When I was pressure-washing last spring, I blew some mortar loose from the stonework at our house. I took a photo to remind me to ask my guy if he could fix it, and when I saw this picture on my phone today, it got me thinking about mortar—which holds things together by filling in the gaps left over by irregular shapes. We need mortar in our own lives because we are all irregular-shaped people with a need for something or someone to hold us together in community. That thought reminded me of a song lyric I heard decades ago (#gettingolder), “It is love who mixed the mortar...” which promptly propelled me into a time machine.
I woke up in a bar called McDibb’s in Black Mountain, NC. It was around 1990. I’d heard about a singer/songwriter named David Wilcox. He was touted as “a thinking man’s James Taylor.” Now, that’s too deep for me to understand, but I love JT, so I went to see DW with a bunch of good friends.
The place was packed the first time I went to see David. I was mesmerized by his innovative guitar work, his artistic personality, and his gift for lyrics. (The first time I went there, I also heard a friend of his, Bill Melanson, play a song called, I think, “The Power of Love,” and I would be indebted to anyone who can dig up a recording of that song. I can’t find it anywhere.)
I went to see David perform there several times after that, and we learned to get there early and get good seats. At one point during a performance in 1991 or 1992 (just before McDibb’s closed), David stood at the mic, re-tuned his guitar, and said, “Here’s is the problem of evil in three minutes.” Then he played a song that, to this day, blows my mind every single time I hear it. It’s called “Show the Way” and you need to either read the lyrics below, watch the video on YouTube, buy the song on iTunes or do all three.
I’ll comment more on music and mortar tomorrow. For now, just read and/or listen:
SHOW THE WAY by David Wilcox
You say you see no hope,
You say you see no reason we should dream
that the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an army or a knife
To wake you from your daydream, put the fear back in your life...
Look, if someone wrote a play
just to glorify what's stronger than hate,
Would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the evil side will win,
So on the edge of every seat,
From the moment that the whole thing begins.
It is. . .
Chorus:
Love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way
So now the stage is set.
You feel you own heart beating in your chest.
This life's not over yet.
So we get up on our feet and do our best.
We play against the fear.
We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes
For it’s love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way
