I will never stop being amazed at how God works! I had no idea what to write about this week and it’s got to middle morning on Wednesday – usually by now I’d got it sorted.
I made myself a coffee and went out to feed the birds. As I did so, Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major started to play on Classic FM – one of my favourite go-to pieces when I want some calm.
My curiosity was aroused and I went onto Google to find some more information about the piece. It seems not much is known about the background to the piece. There is some speculation that it was written for a wedding of one of the Bach family and to this day is a popular wedding choice.
In 2012, the UK-based Co-Operative Funeralcare compiled a list of the most popular, classical, contemporary and religious music used in 30,000 funerals. Canon in D was placed second on the Classical chart, behind Edward Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’.
Apparently, it has been the inspiration behind several popular tunes, one being a song written by Jim Capaldi and Phil Trim, recorded by Brook Benton in 1969 called ‘Oh Lord, Why Lord’. I’d not heard of this song before so I looked it up. Much of it is about racial discrimination and violation of human rights – very poignant in the ‘60’s but still so relevant today. Then I came across these lines,” Lord, in this world you made so sacred I only find problems and hatred” and later “Why can’t there be some harmony instead of constant agony?”.
These phrases really struck a chord with me in the light of the current state of the world – attacks and counter attacks, bombs and missiles, fragile ceasefires and the suffering of those living under constant threat and deprivation. Half a century on, nothing has changed. We can go even further back in time, scan history for wars, abuse, neglect and inequality.
This song is a prayerful lament to God, a modern-day Psalm, from a place of despair and sadness. But there is a line that sheds a glimmer of light in the darkness. He sings” I live with hope and just a little faith, Lord.” Faith as small as a mustard seed, Jesus said, could remove mountains. The writer has done the only thing he can do – brought his concerns to God – in tears and anguish. When all around seems dark, when there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do, the problems seem overwhelming, we know our God is powerful and mighty – there is nothing our God cannot do.