I attended the excavate chapel at my school tonight and the message ended up reminding me and my reflections on the song Felix Culpa (Lyrics) performed by the upcoming band Kings Kaleidoscope (I'll post a video of the song for convenience). My dad, the speaker at excavate for the fall semester, spoke on the parable of the prodigal son. In it he reflected on the love and grace the father had for both of his sons.
This then reminded me of the song because the main theme of it is the idea of God's grace. The end of each verse repeats the phrase "the sweetness of the saviors grace" reflecting back on each of the sins and struggles and times of brokenness that the subject has gone through. The chorus then repeats this idea of the sweetness of grace with the line "a fortunate fall, my sins are stories of grace to recall." The words coupled with the musical stylings present the beauty and joy of this grace through the story. Each verse begins with quick beats and darker tones, leading up to the chorus where the full band joins in, bringing in an open, upbeat tempo that just reminds me of a joyous, happy feeling. The last section of this song concludes this story of grace so beautifully. Before the lyrics begin in this section, you can here the music tone down a bit, focusing ears to the lyrics. As the lyrics tell the very personal story, the voice steadily grows with the tension of intensity, revealing the passion as the music builds to an open conclusion that allows for the reflection of the words "grace upon grace upon grace upon grace," once again leading to the upbeat fun tempo, showing the joy that grace can bring.
One of the points that my dad had brought up, and I found extremely challenging, is how we abuse that grace. Each of the sons held their father in a view of simple capital, a way of inheritance rather than the personal loving father that had raised them. With that, it is then hinted at the way we abuse the grace of God. God's grace is continuous and everlasting even before we sin, but that doesn't mean that we should continue to do so. We are saved from the very things that bring harm to our spiritual selves, yet we continuously go toward these things because of our human nature: "I'm a wicked wretched man, I do everything I hate... In the end I just want blood, and with His blood my hands are stained." Without this grace, there would be no hope for us.
Thank you God for your loving grace.
