Strange Bedfellows

I mentioned in an earlier post, Strange Bedfellows is the one track on The Word in the Wind that I think may be the best candidate for use in worship. The chord sequence is borrowed from the closing section of the second movement of a guitar suite entitled Along the Great Western Road (Parts I-III). This suite itself has only been recorded in fits and starts over the years, rarely all in one session, but that's a story for another occasion. 

Here, the imagery of the text (Isaiah 11), which is read on the Second Sunday of Advent (Year A), suggests this common expression for something odd, and in this case, something oddly holy: "strange bedfellows," by virtue of his vision of diverse species – "predator and prey together" – living in such harmony under a future messianic reign that they may all safely take a nap together. By connecting the word "delight" with "fear," specifically, "the fear of the Lord," the prophet fairly insists that we set this fear apart as "like no other fear," as "something else." This qualitative difference that distinguishes "the peaceable kingdom" likewise requires that we think of such things as peace itself in fresh terms that transcend our mundane understanding of such things: "Don't measure peace in safety."

The percussive guitar sequence is not nearly as tricky as it sounds, though it does lend a nice texture, if I may say so myself. It's merely a matter of hammering the open string to get the syncopated effect. Meanwhile, the  electric guitar, though generally the sort of thing that seems to me incompatible with a worship setting, here evokes just that sense in which "something else is here." Certainly it has an awakening effect in an otherwise acoustic track.

Strange Bedfellows

1.  Don’t judge by what you see

Or decide by what you hear.

Don’t measure peace in safety.

But His delight is in the fear of the LORD,

In the fear of the LORD.

2.  Your eyes do not deceive you:

Wolves and lambs live in one accord.

Predators and prey together

Take their delight in the fear of the LORD,

In the fear of the LORD.

 Bridge It’s like no other fear.

   No, something else is here,

    Falling everywhere,

  Filling the pregnant air ...

3.  Consider well these strange bedfellows!

An everlasting peace restored!

Jesse’s issue, a child, shall lead them.

They take their cues in the fear of the LORD,

In the fear of the LORD.

New Kensington, PA;  November 27, 1999;

bridge added December 3, 1999

(Tuning: Standard; capo on 2nd fret)