There is a yearning in all of creation for resurrection.  We feel it at funerals and birthing rooms, at wedding chapels and divorce court, at job interviews and the unemployment office, when the leaves fall and the trees bloom.  The year 2020 has felt like walking through an endless winter, and the whole world is yearning for the season to change.  So many are dealing with physical and financial hardships… and add to that the mental anguish of worry, instability, fear… and also add in the emotional pains of loneliness, isolation, and grief.  Never has a “year” seemed to be in desperate need of resurrection.

This year, my favorite song for the Easter holiday is one that was released just over a week ago.  New Dallas-area singer-songwriter Graham Jones released the single “Resurrection Song” as a single on 3/27/20.  His full album The Story’s Still Alive debuted on 4/3/20.

This week, I asked Graham to what was the heartbeat behind “Resurrection Song.”  He said, “The setting for the song is from John 11 when Jesus says ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ This happens in the story where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.  One thing that really struck me was how intensely personal that story is. What I saw in the beauty of this resurrection is that it comes out of awful, sorrowful death, and yet even in the midst of that – maybe especially in the midst of that – God is working to transform that death into a joyous life for us.”

“Resurrection Song”
Written & performed by Graham Jones
Album: The Story’s Still Alive  [Spotify Link]

LYRICS:

Jesus, we told you Lazarus was sick
We don’t know why you didn’t come
‘Cause we believe you are the one whom God has sent
But we don’t know why our brother’s gone
If you’d have been here, he would be alive
If you are God, why did you let him die?

Mary, let me cry right here with you
But don’t forget who I am
For whoever believes in me, though he should die,
I will let him live again
‘Cause sometimes troubles come so you might see
How God is glorified when you believe in me

Let the darkness fall, know I am stronger still
Though his heartbeat stopped, see how I will, I will
Take him who dies under the dirt and let him walk out in the sun
I am the life and the resurrection

I can feel the weight of sin across my shoulders
I know my time has finally come
I am kneeling in this garden alone and bleeding
Trying to let your will be done
I can feel my hope is fading fast
Oh, Father, I am begging, let this pass, but even still

Let the darkness fall, I know you’re stronger still
Though my heartbeat stops, I know you will, you will
Redeem this broken body for broken bodies yet to come

So let the darkness fall, my God is stronger still
Though your heartbeat stops, see how he will, he will
Take him who dies under the dirt, and let him walk out in the sun
He is the life and the resurrection
He is the life and the resurrection