CD Explores Human Longing
and God’s Constant Presence

by Janet Hilley

It all started with a really bad headache, one that lasted for eighteen months. Wendy Farley had a migraine and could no longer read. This was a hazard for a scholar, one whose life is built around study. But she could listen to music and resonated with the longing she found in the Appalachian music sent to her by her childhood friend Liz McGeahy. Liz is a folk singer who, along with her husband, makes up the duo Liz and Tim.

The 2002 release of Weaving Heaven and Earth by Liz and Tim is a collection of folk songs which inspired Wendy’s book, The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth. The words and melodies on this CD capture the essence of human longing. This is the common thread woven through this music: desire for love, nostalgia for home, a plea for the end of suffering, a yearning for the divine. There is no right or wrong to this longing, it is simply a part of our human condition. While Wendy struggled with debilitating and chronic pain, this was the music that soothed her and pointed her toward God’s compassion for suffering, Christ’s tenderness and power. Here she found melodies that convey depths of longing no words can capture. But she also found words that, while revealing earthly yearning and desire, also direct the heart toward God. She found longing for home, deep human love, grief at loss and perseverance in hardship. And she found lilting melodies, warm harmonies and the joy found in traditional instruments such as the mandolin and banjo.

The theme of longing is constant but not without a sense of hope. In the song Power in the Blood, the listener is reminded of the “wonder working power” found in God. While the lyrics call the listener to an openness to this power, the melody works to sooth the anxious heart. In Walk Around my Bedside one senses the hope of God’s constant presence, even in times of uncertainty or fear, as in illness and death.

The final track on the recording is Yarrington Town. A lightness in the melody conveys hope while the lyrics tell a tale of a journey. The sense of life’s journey, with longing, love, and sense of home guide us to a vision of the open arms that are constantly waiting for us. Wendy Farley found comfort in this vision of God’s presence, even while living with pain. Her suffering brings us the gift of this song collection, delivered skillfully by Liz and Tim. A collection to accompany us on our own journeys, which will, undoubtedly, be filled with both longing and the comfort of Christ’s love.

To find out more about Liz McGeahy and Tim Marema or to order the CD, log onto their website at www.lizandtim.com.

  

Posted: 10-Jun-2006 10:32 PM