Wednesday, September 14, 2011

No God but God

The first line of this song is the first part of the Muslim Confession of faith, the shahada, though obviously I move in a very different direction after that.  Nonetheless, it is probably because of my work with the names of God in Islam that this formulation sprang to mind.

It's a ditty or perhaps a chorus of a song I have yet to write. Still, I share it here because it is a quintessential example of what I mean when I talk about Windmill Songs.  It is precisely because these words get balled up into a song and that keeps running over and over in my mind and heart that it does something in my life.  It becomes not just my confession of Christianity, but of my acknowledgement and proclamation that I will not let other lesser things -- my fears, my appetites, my sluggishness -- become my gods.  Maybe that will become verses, maybe not.

There is No God but God

There is no god but God
There is no god but God
No God but the Father, no God but the Son
No God but the Spirit, forever three in one
There is no god, no god but God.