A Playlist for Lent

I'm slowly working on making play lists for each season of the church year.

Well, that's not quite true: I've had one for Christmas for a long time, and it grows every time that particular season comes back around. It's just not that hard to find good Christmas music.

But I'm working on making play lists for the rest of the year. I have playlists for cleaning the house, for exercising - I even have a playlist for each book that I've written. Since music is a tool I sometimes use to help order my affections aright (so to speak), it seemed good to make playlists for the seasons of the church year.

Here is my Lenten playlist, in its nascent form, organized by artist:

-Biola King's Men:
   -A Hymn to God the Father* - "Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun/Which is my sin, though it were done before/Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run/And do still run, though still I do deplore . . ."

-Caedmon's Call:
    -Not the Land - "'Cause it's been so long/Since I've felt right . . . You'd think that I'd have learned/This is not the land You promised me . . ."
    -Hope to Carry On - "I can see Jesus hangin' on the cross/He came looking for the lost . . ."
    -Valleys Fill First - "It's like the long Saturday/Between Your death and the rising day/When no one wrote a word/Wondering, is this the end?/But You were down there in the well/Saving those that fell . . ."
    -Love Alone - "The Prince of Despair's been beaten/But the loser still fights/Death's on a long leash stealing/My friends to the night . . ."
    -Prepare Ye the Way - "The Word said, 'Repent . . .'"
-Cindy Morgan
    -In the Garden - "This is my body and this is my blood/Cover you like in the days of the flood/Come walk the road down to Gethsemane/Come with me, come with me to the garden/Pray with me, pray with me in the garden . . ."
-Derek Webb:
   -Lover - "I'll still be your defender/And you'll be my missing son/And I'll send out an army/Just to bring you back to me/Because regardless of your brother's lies/You will be set free . . ."
    -Crooked Deep Down - "There are things you would not believe/That travel into my mind/I swear I try and capture them/But I always set them free/It seems bad things comfort me/Good Lord, I'm crooked deep down . . ."
-Eagles
    -Desperado - "Freedom, oh freedom/That's just some people talkin'/Your prison is walkin' through this world all alone . . ."
-Fernando Ortega:
    -Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy - "Come, ye weary, heavy laden/Lost and ruined by the fall/If you tarry till you’re better/You will never come at all."
-Michael Card:
    -In the Wilderness - "In the wilderness we wander/In the wilderness we weep/In the wasteland of our wanting/Where the darkness seems so deep/We search for the beginning/For an exodus to home/And find that those who follow Him must often walk alone . . ."
   -A Face That Shone - "So Moses finally saw the face that he had hidden from/Then came a voice from heaven: 'This is my beloved son' . . ."
-Mumford and Sons:
    -Little Lion Man** - "Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart/Weep, little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start . . ."
-PFR:
    -Say - "Let me go back and do it all over again/What I know now, I wish I knew then . . ."
-Rich Mullins:
    -Hard to Get - "You who live in Heaven/Hear the prayers of those of us who live on Earth/Who are afraid of being left by those we love/And who get hardened in the hurt . . ."
    -That Where I Am, There You May Also Be - "Remember you did not choose me/No, I have chosen you . . ."
-Wayne Watson:
    -Walk in the Dark - "I would rather walk in the dark with Jesus/Than to walk in the light on my own . . ."

All these songs are about sin, about the "valley of the shadow of death" times, about repentance and/or about grace. It all adds up to a little over an hour of music. Does it work as a playlist for Lent? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

What songs would you put on a playlist for Lent?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

*I couldn't find an mp3 of this for sale, but it is easy to find other recordings of John Donne's rightly famous hymn.
**This song doesn't have profanity, but it does contain one prominent vulgarity, used to indicate the singer's disgust with himself and his actions. There is an edited version available.