The Orphans of God

THE ORPHANS OF GOD
by Mark Heard

I will rise from my bed with a question again

As I work to inherit the restless wind

The view from my window is cold and obscene

I want to touch what my eyes have not seen

But they have packaged our virtue in cellulose dreams

And sold us the remnants 'til our pockets are clean

Til our hopes fall 'round our feet

Like the dust and dead leaves

And we end up looking like what we believe

We are soot-covered urchins running wild and unshod

We will always be remembered as the orphans of God

They will dig up these ruins and make flutes of our bones

And blow a hymn to the memory of the orphans of God

Like bees in a bottle we are flying at fate

Beating our wings against the walls of this place

Unaware that the struggle is the blood of the proof

In choosing to believe the unbelievable truth

But they have captured our siblings and rendered them mute

They've disputed our lineage and poisoned our roots

We have bought from the brokers who have broken their oaths

And we're out on the streets with a lump in our throats

We are soot-covered urchins running wild and unshod

We will always be remembered as the orphans of God

They will dig up these ruins And make flutes of our bones

And blow a hymn to the memory of the orphans of God

From Satellite Sky

With thanks to the Mark Heard Lyric Project

You can listen to the song here. It is song #4.

You can get his High Noon CD (a compilation of his best songs from his last three CDs) from Amazon.com.



This is an example of the kind of musical poetry that has had such a profound effect on me. Although it probably was never meant to have a political application, I thought of this song when I heard about David Kuo's new book about how the Bush administration secretly laughed at conservative Christians who gave them all of their political support. I have boldened the passages that can be interpreted to apply to the current political situation.

I had my disillusionment with political conservatism just before I entered law school and the Republican party in general in 2002. My disillusionment with Christian fundamentalism happened around 1990 (I entered law school in 1992). That is partially why I did not discover Mark Heard's later works (such as this one) until a few years after law school. And it was only recently that I could find his music on CD.

Mark Heard was one of my favorite artists in my early formative years as a teenager and young adult. Even his early music on Stop the Dominoes, Victims of the Age and the "unplugged" Eye of the Storm still seems way ahead of its time lyrically; although his later albums are definitely more refined both musically and lyrically.

Anyway, back to David Kuo's comments that I saw: many of his complaints are about lack of funding for government programs to assist the poor through the churches. His focus is too narrow. He, like many of the conservative Christian movement, think that any help for the poor must come through the churches so that the help they provide can be used to further their ministry. However, there is nothing that I read in the Gospels or the New Testament that says that helping the less fortunate or disenfranchised must come through the church. I see nothing unchristian about helping the less fortunate in their worldly needs by lobbying our elected officials to fund programs to feed, shelter and clothe the needy and provide them with medical attention when they need it. For that matter, as I have pointed out several times before, I think that everyone should have access to medical care -- because it is the humanitarian thing to do. Medical care, at its core, is based the humanitarian concept of alleviating unnecessary suffering and promoting the welfare of mankind.

There was a time when the Christian movement was one that promoted humanism. Martin Luther and Erasmus during the Renaissance promoted Religious Humanism. An excerpt from Answers.com:

Religious humanism

Religious humanism is the branch of humanism that considers itself religious (based on a functional definition of religion), or embraces some form of theism, deism, or supernaturalism, without necessarily being allied with organized religion, as such. It is often associated with artists, liberal Christians, and scholars in the liberal arts. Other types of people that may be considered religious humanists are those who, despite believing in a religion, don't consider it necessary to derive all their moral values from it. Some feel that, because their religious beliefs are moral, and therefore humane, they are humanists. In particular, it is not uncommon for religious humanitarians to be referred to as humanists, although the accuracy of this usage is disputed.

A number of religious humanists feel that secular humanism is too coldly logical and rejects the full emotional experience that makes us human. From this comes the notion that secular humanism is inadequate in meeting the human need for a socially fulfilling philosophy of life. Disagreements over things of this nature have resulted in friction between secular and religious humanists, despite their commonalities.

I have always used the term "Theistic Humanist" to describe my philosophy. It is similar to Religious Humanism as described above, but I accept the power of reason to solve many -- if not most -- of life's problems.

So, from my perspective, David Kuo is trying to bring Christianity's humanism to an administration that, in reality, believes in an Ayn Randian objectivism. The two are not really compatible ideas. The objectivists are untimately going to see any government spending to help the less fortunate as a movement toward socialism -- which they oppose feverishly. If Mr. Kuo -- or any other Christian -- wants to push for more government funding to alleviate social problems related to poverty, they will need to support a political group or party that is not opposed to government spending to relieve those problems. Pretty much by definition that historically means supporting the Democratic party (at least as it has existed in the last 50+ years).

Mark Heard High Noon Review

I recently posted a review of Mark Heard's High Noon CD on Ebay. I am reprinting the review here:

High Noon is basically a "best of" Mark's last CDs: Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand, Satellite Sky and another one that was produced after his death. From Strong Hand of Love (probably his best song ever) to Treasure of a Broken Land, Mark Heard wrote and performed music that was both personally touching and real.

There is a reason why performers as diverse as Bruce Cockburn to Olivia Newton-John performed his songs on a benefit CD Orphans of God after his death. Although a relatively unknown Christian performer during his lifetime, his impact went far beyond the small market that was home to his music. In many ways, he was considered the "Christian Bob Dylan" for his incisive lyrics and progressive and widely varied music. Mark's music ranged from the folksy Appalachian Melody (one of his earlier albums) to the Cajun Rise From the Ruins (on Dry Bones Dance) -- with a lot of rock 'n roll in between. His music also ranged from the powerful driving rock 'n roll to thoughtful ballads.

The song Strong Hand of Love does not sound as good on this CD as it does on Dry Bones Dance, but High Noon contains a complete compilation of his best songs from the later years.
If you listen very carefully, you will notice a pattern to the lyrics. Some words appear over and over: bones, satellite, broken. His music was very philosophical. It contained a lot of very deep concepts. His music is not for those who want nothing but jingoistic, happy talk pop. His music was designed to provoke thought and introspection.

The CD starts out with Strong Hand of Love. A beautiful ballad about life and love and how we can go through life never recognizing how a kind of mysterious unseen love affects us all, whether we know it or not.

Another Day in Limbo was classic Heard. He contrasts immutable natural scenes with ever changing modern technology -- and he is the only singer I have ever known to use an unusual word -- Jacaranda -- in a song and make it seem like it belongs there.

On She's Not Afraid, he sings about a woman who longs for a past long since gone and withered. She reminisces about the beauty and vitality of her youth that she, now older, wishes she could get back.

The Dry Bones Dance is a song that sings of an idealized world (think: heaven) that is unattainable in the here and now. For instance: Every now and then I seem to dream these dreams/ Where the mute ones speak and deaf ones sing/ Touching that miraculous circumstance/ Where the blind ones see and the Dry Bones Dance/.

House of Broken Dreams is another lamenting ballad that typifies much of his later works: Lay me down to sleep/ Come and comfort me/ I'll sleep in peace/ In a House of Broken Dreams/. The song speaks about the transitory nature of life and how we suffer many heartbreaks throughout it.

Nod Over Coffee seems to talk about a married couple who go about their daily lives like automatons. He seems to be telling us to look beyond our daily lives and to "seize the day" without telling us directly.

The Orphans of God talks about the vanity of life and how someday in the future, our contemporary struggles will be mostly forgotten by our ancestors.

The final song is a driving rock song that rounds out the CD. It once again contrasts the corporeal here and now with the spiritual afterlife, and how it is important to live life to its fullest.

If you want a "best of" Mark's later works, this is a must buy.

Is It Any Wonder?

This is one of only two music videos made by Mark Heard himself. Again, this is not among his most popular songs. The only place that this video appears, to the best of my knowledge, is on the Strong Hand of Love VHS tape. At the end of the song, a clip of the song Orphans of God is playing from the CD Satellite Sky (from which the name of this blog is derived).

In a few hours, I anticipate having one of Mark Heard's hit songs Treasure of the Broken Land available for your viewing pleasure.

Movie Review: SiCKO

I drove up to Tulsa yesterday because SiCKO is not showing in Oklahoma City until July 6 (and it will only be shown at the AMC 24 theater at Quail Springs Mall according to Michael Moore's website).

Most of the ideas have been shown in clips, but he goes into detail on how much better things are for ordinary working class people in other countries in regards to health care and other benefits that people have in other countries. He even debunks the canard that Canadians want to abolish their Medicare system and the argument that they have to wait weeks to get emergency medical care.

The movie clearly demonstrates the madness that is the American private, for-profit health care and health insurance industry. Americans spend more money and get less care than anyone else in the western world.

I am reminded of a stanza from Mark Heard's song Orphans of God:

But they have packaged our virtue in cellulose dreams
And sold us the remnants 'til our pockets are clean
Til our hopes fall 'round our feet
Like the dust and dead leaves
And we end up looking like what we believe

And the politicians sound like another stanza:

We have bought from the brokers who have broken their oaths
And we're out on the streets with a lump in our throats


Michael Moore is right and I have written about this before: the moneyed interests and the politicians want to keep us scared, sick and broke. They try to keep us in fear so that we will not pay attention to their misdeeds. And they want us to stay heavily in debt so that we will be afraid to lose our jobs (and our health care and pensions). That way, we won't be able to afford to march in the streets to protest our treatment.

Michael Moore points out how having a national health care system empowers the working class. He shows how often the French people march in the streets when they see a failure of their leaders to respond to their needs. Nicholas Kristof makes the same point in another way. Here is a passage from a book review that I have written about before:

Even when middle-class or wealthy families were displaced in, say, New Orleans, they mostly figured out how to get what they needed. For a start, they demanded it. Loudly. Insistently. But the people stuck in the shelters, black and white, were typically not only poorer but also less demanding, less assertive, less skilled in negotiating their way through the system. Poor families in the shelters were neglected precisely because they were suffering so patiently. After that experience, I caught myself thinking that the problem is not that the poor riot, but that they don't riot enough.

It makes you wonder why we don't have national health care. Maybe the reason is because we don't complain enough. Loudly. Insistently. At least Michael Moore's new movie is a good start. Go see it. The movie will make you mad. Maybe even mad enough that you will start complaining and vote for change. To turn a phrase that Jack Nicholson said as the Joker in Batman: this country needs an enema.