There are plenty of wonderful hymns and it’s great to be part of a congregation that sings with gusto. It helps if the hymn is well-chosen. I was once part of a parish where nearly every Mass finished with ‘The City of God’, which begins ‘awake from your slumber, arise from your sleep’. I felt sorry for the poor priest, who must have felt like he was being accused of making everyone nod off.
A hymn is an expression of faith, usually of praise or gratitude to God. There is another type of song which is not a hymn but which is still about God. Often it is about searching for the sacred, or coping with life, or wondering about the meaning of it all. Here are seven that are worth hearing.
‘GOD’S HOTEL’ BY PAUL KELLY: Paul Kelly may well be the best-known songwriter in Australia. He sometimes sneaks God into his lyrics. His famous Christmas song ‘How to make gravy’ includes the words ‘praise the baby Jesus’. He has also sung the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem ‘God’s grandeur’. One that stands out is ‘God’s Hotel’. It looks at some of the gritty side of life and simply reminds us ‘everybody got a room in God’s Hotel’. There’s never a sign saying ‘no vacancies anymore’.
‘DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY’ BY ALISON KRAUSS: ‘Down to the River’ is an old southern Gospel song, dating from at least the 19th century. But Alison Krauss recorded a fresh setting for the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou that has given it a new lease on life. It is a beautiful prayer. Like many prayers, it uses the same words over and over, allowing them to sink deeper:
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol’ way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way
‘GOD’S PLAN’ BY DRAKE: Drake is a rap artist and hip-hop performer from Canada. His 2018 release ‘God’s Plan’ was an unexpected chart-topper in many countries. The song deals with untrustworthy people who want the singer to fail as well as the times when he lets himself down. It expresses a belief that getting on the right track in life is God’s plan:
God’s plan, God’s plan
I hold back, sometimes I won’t, yeah.
‘JESUS ALONE’ BY NICK CAVE: Nick Cave’s songs often deal with faith in God but they can be challenging. ‘Jesus Alone’ is one that he composed after the tragic death of his son Arthur. It includes images of people coping with difficult situations and muses ‘You believe in God but you get no dispensation for this belief now’. In other words, faith doesn’t protect us from tough things; it helps us journey through them. The song suggests those in anguish feel like ‘a distant memory in the mind of your creator’. Yet throughout it all, a pleading voice uses a mantra: ‘With my voice I am calling you’. Nick Cave also lost another son, Jethro. He works hard at his theology.
‘I SAW GOD STANDING IN THE SUPERMARKET’ BY TONI CHILDS: We can all take heart from these great lyrics: ‘God is in the small things I hear’.
‘GOD IS A DJ’ BY PINK: Songs that imagine coming across God in everyday places remind us that God uses every part of our lives to reach out to us:
If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor
Love is the rhythm, you are the music
If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor
You get what you’re given. It’s all how you use it
‘IF GOD WERE ONE OF US’ BY JOAN OSBORNE: Imagine we meet God as a stranger on a bus and were able to ask God just one question. What would it be?
Michael McGirr is the Mission facilitator at Caritas Australia. He is the author of many books, including Ideas to Save Your Life and Books that Saved My Life (both Text), and Finding God’s Traces (Jesuit Communications). Michael’s Australian Catholics ‘Letters to’ series won Best Editorial, Column or Blog at the 2023 Australasian Catholic Press Association awards in September.