Mercy Is Falling…
…Like a Sweet Spring Rain
Well, sort of. This last week while I was sick we got bucket loads of rain here in the New River Valley. I’m posting this particular song in honor of last week because the irony of it all makes me grin. The rains we had (and the nearby tornadoes) were not so sweet…but the sun’s back out again now so that makes smiling about it all that much easier—and sweeter.
The band was called Free Stuff (we hoped it would look inciting on concert flyers and draw a crowd); the venue was the small chapel connected to a large church; the event was a weekly, free-flowing worship gathering called Ignite the Light; the college was Berea; the town was of the same name, located smack-dab in the middle of the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky.
The song was Mercy Is Falling, one with which we often started our gatherings. It was sort of a call to worship. A reminder that God is ever-present in the midst of our troubles and triumphs, and that we can come to Him in this very moment—every moment—and receive His gentle cleansing or even a good hard scrubbing if we need it. We’d often go from this mid-tempo, gentle / upbeat song into one of our more rockin’ tunes and from there, to who-knows-where each week, but somehow this tune struck a chord with many of us and resonated as a good way to begin. A way to say, “We are here. Together. And we want to worship God freely with our songs and fully-abandoned expression. We receive Your grace.” Hey-oh!
Ignite the Light was a unique worship experience at the time in Berea, KY during the three years it existed (1997 - 2000). Fully student-initiated and led, we were a group of guys and gals who loved God and wanted more of Him (what that exactly meant we weren’t quite sure sometimes) but we did know we weren’t fully satisfied with what we were experiencing in the traditional worship methods found in the churches we grew up in and that were available to us in the area around the college we were attending. It was in a way, our own little Jesus Movement. Somewhat of a rebellion from the ways of the older folks (our parents, folks over 35, etc.) and also an exploration of what it meant to follow after God on our own when out from under Mommy & Daddy’s wings. It was an exploration. A journey. We came with anticipation (most weeks), eagerly desiring an encounter with God and to come away changed, not quite the same as when we walked in.
This song, to me, represents a glimpse into that era of my life. I’m sure I’ll write more about those times later. I wrote a couple of paragraphs just now but got off into wandering thoughts about the past and the present which made things rather jumbly. I decided I probably need some clearer thinking first to make it a better read so I’m saving that for another time.
The recording was made on cassette tape using my trusty, hand-held tape recorder, found in its usual place most weeks on the front row pew of the chapel. I was really into the British worship band, delirious? at the time and hoped to catch some wonderful live bit from the goings-on and make a record with it like they had. I’ve learned a lot about sound since then and realized that really wasn’t a likely happening. Oh well. Our “sound system” was an amalgam of guitar amps, several of which had two input channels so we’d run a guitar in one and a mic a voice through the other. The sound wasn’t great, but we got it out there the best we could.
For now, I’ll finish off by adding in the band info below and of course, the recording itself, above. As always, thanks for listening and reading!
— Fritz
Free Stuff was:
Shawn Ide - lead & harmony vocals, djembe, various percussion
Fritz Schindler - lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, and occasionally swapping with someone else to play bass or drums
Mike “Chappy” Chappelear - bass, and usually the one who did the speaking / preaching / teaching part each week at ItL
Chris Mapes - electric guitar, and skateboarding
Lance Galloway - drumset
(I didn’t post an ORW last week because I was sick. This is the make-up post from the following Monday.)
