Dan and Jen’s Blog

At the risk of getting made fun of, there’s something I have to tell you. I love bluegrass music. It’s fun to listen to; the music and lyrics engage the ear in way most music fails to. I blame you Dad, for infecting me with an appreciation for this wonderful music. Recently, when I was listening to bluegrass and fighting the urge to sing out loud while I was at work, I was struck by the many songs that emphasize the wonders of heaven and the hope of resurrection. All too often, I have to confess, lately I have had more hopeful expectation about the end of the week, the end of the semester, or the arrival of a book recently ordered from Amazon than I have had in the resurrection. It’s not due to a lack of faith, it just doesn’t fill my thoughts or shape my outlook in the way that it should. But as I was listening to these songs the other day, I was inspired by songs about the resurrection that were written and sung from the heart. Just check out some of the lines from the song Heaven’s Bright Shore by Allison Krauss:

Out on the hills of glory land
So happy and free at God’s right hand
They tell of a place of marvelous grace
On heaven’s bright shore
Pilgrims on earth someday will go
To live in that home forever more
Trusting in Him who died for sin,
And rose from the grave

When I must cross that rolling tide,
There’ll be someone on the other side
Welcoming me to that fair land, made perfect by love
When I walk up the milky white way,
I’ll see that home coming in a ray
How great it must be for angels to see
A pilgrim reach home

On heaven’s bright shore (on heaven’s bright shore),
There’s gonna be no more dyin’ (over there)
Not one little grave (not one little grave),
In all that fair land (that wonderful land)
Not even a tear will dim the eye,
And no one up there will say goodbye
Just singing His praise through endless days
On Heaven’s bright shore

So many bluegrass songs express hope in the resurrection that it is difficult to pick one to illustrate it with just one song. Yet the lyrics of this song especially inspired in me a tangible anticipation of that wonderful day when I’ll “cross that rolling tide” and “live in that home forever more.”