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He Is Alive (Life In Song #56)

by Mark Shepard

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About "He Is Alive
(Life In Song # 56 | written February 1982 | Recorded January 2021)
I wrote this song when I was struggling to decide whether or not to become a Presbyterian minister... I THOUGHT the music was enough... But after all these years perhaps the call to ministry just wasn't "ripe."
A quote that comes to mind that my mom had stuck on the refrigerator for years was, "God's delays are not God's denials..." Not sure who gets credit for that but looking back it seems that the doubts and questions I had were never about my faith in a divine power, they were about the 2000 years of abuse, corruption and bureaucratic ecclesiastical malevolence that had very little to do with the actual teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

So what seems to be "up" for me in 2021 is acknowledging that these stacks of songs that have demanded that I write since 1976 are predominantly songs of faith, songs of Spirit, songs of theological searching and questioning and expression. SOMETHING put us here in the vastness of time and space. There is something SACRED about the miracle of being alive that causes me to want to sing.

I hope someday you'll join me...

Peace!

- Mark

lyrics

He Is Alive
Song #56. | February-March 1982 | recorded January-February 2021
Out under a streetlight
A kerosene dream of constant glory
My God on a chain link fence
Somehow I know he's waiting for me

Caught densely imperfect
I try to hunker down inside my shadows
But he sees right into me
I can't escape the fact that he sees me truly

Refrain:
And he is alive
Yes he's very alive
Oh he is alive
Yes he's very alive

The street people know him
The poor and the hungry and the miserable
And in nearby suburbia
Where the hairline fractures are visible
Self consciously righteous men (and women)
Walk by without seeing him
And as for the rest of us
We still struggle merely to believe in him

Refrain:

I step out of the shadows
He says "FOLLOW!"
So I go where he goes
The way is not easy
From time to time he turns back
And carries me

Refrain:

Copyright 1982-2021 by Mark Shepard. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission

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released February 14, 2021

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Mark Shepard Albany, New York

Welcome to my “Life In Song” project.

Since 1976, I’ve been obsessively and compulsively writing songs. Some of them are inspired by my own life, my attempts to understand love, life, spirituality, peace and justice.

While I recently have started to get a little recognition, you’ve probably never heard my songs ANYWHERE.

But now you can hear them... here... Download. Share. Thanks! ... more

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