Sometimes, when I pray, I can’t find the words to express what is on my heart.
Sometimes, when that happens, I’ll put on some music and pray through a song.
A lot of times, for me, a song can touch on my thoughts or desires or concerns in ways that words can’t.
Lately, that song has been PVC IV by Blue Man Group.
Get on iTunes and download the “Live at the Venetian” recording so you can appreciate the rest of this post.
I listen to Blue Man Group the same way Christine reads C.S. Lewis. Yeah, it’s like that.
The song starts slow, quiet and simple. It’s very repetitive. It’s not fancy. The first “verse” has very limited variation on the theme.
Often, life feels like it isn’t going anywhere. It’s just the same thing, all the time.
Feeling stuck.
The second verse crescendos.
It’s now evident that nothing is “stuck,” but building.
Slowly leading up to something.
What it’s leading up to is not yet obvious.
It’s about this time that, while the theme is still present, the notes begin to vary.
Something is coming.
The percussion intensifies.
The potential energy is reminiscent of a water balloon sling shot stretched so far you can’t be sure if it’s about to launch, or snap.
This is about where I’ll usually turn the song off.
I feel like that’s where I’m at in life right now.
Something is coming.
I don’t know what.
Sometimes I feel like I’m being stretched so far I could snap.
If you listen to the rest of the song (which is so powerful, I can’t ever listen to it without either jumping or crying), it gets really loud, but continues to build.
Just when you feel like you’ve just witnessed the climax, the familiar chorus kicks in.
The first part of the song was building up to this moment the whole time.
Nothing was ever stuck. Just intensifying very slowly.
The beauty is in the contrast. Without the pianisimo at the beginning, there could be no crescendo.
I’m listening to the last chorus as I write this.
Like I said, words can’t express how I feel I can relate to this song.
That’s kind of the point, I guess.
My prayer is to live that last chorus.