Soundtrack of an Awakening

The gospel message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner...In Christ the love of God came to the sinner. Through him men could be sinners and only so could they be helped. All sham was ended in the presence of Christ...It was in this truth that his Church was to live.
-Bonhoeffer, Life Together

In recent days I've been being reminded of my awakening to God's grace in college. The days where all of a sudden, it seemed, I was hearing the truth for the very first time: that all sham was ended, that God wanted me as the sinner that I was, and that he wanted to be gracious to me. It was liberation indeed.

Last week I put in Unwed Sailor's Marionette and the Music Box, and I couldn't believe the vivid, poignant feelings it evoked, like I could remember the first time I listened to it in 2003. Was it just good music? Was it the fact that it was often playing while I fell asleep? Was it the 3-hour road trip we took to see them play in a small art gallery in Louisville where they played some beautiful renditions of these songs?

Finally, as the music box played the melody of Amazing Grace on track 14, I remembered this album is a story of being lost and found. This was the soundtrack of my awakening, playing an important role in affirming a profound truth in ways doctrinal statements could not at the time.