Carolyn Arends Album: Under the Gaze Track: Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday Lyrics
Carolyn Arends
Any given Sunday Folks are congregating In cathedrals and gymnasiums And everything between There's liturgy that some say And some are rock 'n rollin' But rest assured most everyone Will take an offering There's confusion and confession Interruption, intercession Holiness and imperfection Any given Sunday
Any given Sunday Preachers do their preaching Some with whispers, some with shouts They all go way past noon And you can count on singing There's every kind of music There's hymns and Bach and folk and pop And most of it's in tune Hearts are mending, hearts are breaking There's some giving and some taking Some folks find what some are faking Any given Sunday
And God is in His heaven, but He's also in those pews I bet sometimes He's angry, and that sometimes He's amused But we can know for certain that His heart is always moved By the praises of His children Yeah, He's always glad to hear them And that's why it really matters That two or more are gathered Any given Sunday
Any given Sunday We get to remember In the bread and in the wine Just as we are, we come And in those holy moments Every heart that's tender Joins with those around the world Who love and know the Son 'Cause there's an everlasting song The saints of every time belong And we can come and join the throng On any given Sunday
C 2004 Carolyn Arends Music (SOCAN)
About the Song
Because I am on the road a lot of weekends, I get a chance to worship in many different churches. Believe me, there are a lot of different ways to do church! But it seems to me that every gathering - from the mega-churches to the barely-surviving - is both more flawed and more sacred than we imagine.
In Under the Unpredictable Plant Eugene Peterson talks about the "foolishness of the congregation" (a play on the Apostle Paul's foolishness of preaching). Peterson describes the "haphazard collection of people who somehow get assembled into pews on Sundays, half-heartedly sing a few songs most of them don't like, tune in and out of a sermon according to the state of their digestion and the preacher's decibels, awkward in their commitments and jerky in their prayers." But Peterson goes on to affirm that in the midst of this motley crew are people "who suffer deeply and find God in their suffering." There are "men and women who make love commitments, are faithful to them through trial and temptation, and bear fruits of righteousness, spirit-fruits that bless the people around them." He talks about baptisms and funerals and Eucharist, about "sinners [who] honestly repent and believingly take the body and blood of Jesus and receive new life."
Any Given Sunday, in any given congregation, there are folks just biding time and folks encountering the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in staggering ways. They sit right next to each other. I have been in both categories, sometimes on the same Sunday. But I am beginning to understand that when I go to church, regardless of the state of my heart, I am always a participant in something bigger and holier than I can fathom.
This track features the "Love Sponge Strings" from Nashville. I sang some musical lines over the track and sent them to the Viola player - she sent this wonderful arrangement back. Man, I love my job!
