The Heart is Where the World Changes
The band was ready. We had some great songs to play, we’d rehearsed, sound check was done, we were ready to go - for a regular Sunday, at least. But August 13 was not a regular Sunday. Just an hour up the road in Charlottesville, glass still lay in the gutters, broken batons and torn banners were being swept up and the Nazis (Nazis!) were still returning to wherever it is they come from. I was sitting there as the church filled and realized that none of our songs even came close to responding to the violence of the day before. Worst of all, right before the sermon, I was singing a duet: “Garden” by Matt Maher. “You stay with me, you never leave” it says, “you’re making my heart a garden.” I was singing about peaceful walks with God, and hearts turning into gardens while Charlottesville was still reeling from the dark heart of hatred that had left its red mark on the streets and sidewalks. It all sounded so empty, so laughably feeble in the face of truncheons and tear gas and Nazi slog
