I need a builder

So I was listening to the latest CD of one of my favorite bands the other day, Caedmon’s Call “Raising the dead”. The song “I need a builder” has really captivated me the last couple of days. I can’t find a link to it on YouTube but here’s the lyrics.

You can find it on itunes here… http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/raising-up-the-dead/id402316574

“down to the wire of words that aren’t said
and i’m building the pieces together in my head
to make a place i sleep soundly
a place i think clearly
oh, where do we go
where do we go from here

there’s a sign in the yard and a lump in my throat
a new plot of land and fresh lumber is in tow
two kids in their car seats and hope for our history
and letting it go
letting it go from here

ch
i need a builder, a better design
a house with more windows and more ways inside

vs2
we’re leaving behind all that our parents wrote
we’re replacing the past and all our fathers’ hopes
with a new street address and a new bag of tools
to make room as we grow
room as we grow from here

ch
we need a builder, a better design
a house with more windows and more ways inside”

It’s a great song, you’ve got to hear the music to appreciate it I think. I think it’s a sad song, but at the same time a hopeful optimistic song. A song that looks back with fondness, gratitude and appreciation for the lessons learned, love and support offered A song that makes you realize it’s time to let go and move on…because the house, the home, the space is not what the individual or family needs any longer. There’s not the space to grow. Not the openness, the freedom needed to invite friends or strangers over to have an enjoyable time.

So they’re moving on…looking for not another house, but a builder with a better design.

While mulling over this song I also stumbled across an interesting passage in the scripture ( 1 chron. 16 & 17). It’s the story of David bringing back the Ark of the Covenant to Israel and completely disregarding the law and tradition of his time. Instead of taking the Ark to the Tabernacle of Moses he places it in the center of a wide open tent in Jerusalem. Instead of offering daily sacrifices of blood at the hands of sanctified priest he offers songs of praise and worship from the hearts and lips of sanctified people.

And David survived. And it’s safe to say that David pleased God by what he did. For Later in the scriptures we are told…

“On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old (Amos 9:11)

When God makes things right, It isn’t the tabernacle of Moses or the magnificent temple of Solomon that will be rebuilt. It is the simple, spacious, open and inviting tent of David surrounded by those seeking the favor and presence of a holy God.

What did David know about God, worship, and community that we so easily overlook or disregard?

I can’t let go of the thought. “we need a builder, a better design. A house with more windows and more ways inside.”. The religious forms, traditions and institutions of our making are not enough. They are not complete. They never will be. Ironically even David was unsatisfied with his tent. He planned to build God a grand temple, but God said he had never wanted a “house of cedar”. God told David he would build his own house, with a son from his line and that his throne and kingdom would last forever.

I’m unsatisfied as well. I’m often troubled and saddened by the houses we have, the houses I’ve grown up in and even the house i live in now. But I do not lose heart, I do not forfeit hope. I’m putting my faith in the builder, the carpenter from Nazareth and trust he has designs for a better house, with more windows and ways inside. It’s my hope that he’s in the process of building it now.

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