Humble Stumble: Hymns for Imperfect Saints: "Holy Wars and Politicians"

Jan Krist

I have a started a new project in conjunction with my "The Humble Stumble: Lessons on Simplicity, Stillness, Fashion and Faith from a Bad Quaker" book. It's on Spotify -- "Humble Stumble: Hymns for Imperfect Saints."

I'll add a "hymn" a day.

These are not "hymns" in the traditional sense. Rather they're songs that have spoken to my soul in a spiritual sense -- even if they are not "spiritual songs" per se. Though my bias is that that our hearts hunger for beauty and meaning and when artists create something that sings deep in our souls, well, they've created a "hymn," even if it was unintentional.

Suggestions of songs that have spoken deeply to you are welcome!

I'll also post lyrics and video (when available) here.

Up today is  Jan Krist – Holy Wars And Politicians

"Holy Wars And Politicians"

We try to sort through the unthinkable

not get caught up in the undertow

if and when to compromise 

We say we know what the truth is here 

We say we know the other guy 

only uses the word truth to dress a pack of lies. 

 Chorus 

And God’s name gets dragged into the rhetoric 

and claims get made on heaven’s will 

and a thousand sacrificial lambs get killed 

O God may your will be truly done 

on earth as in heaven 

and save us all from Holy wars and politicians. 

Can you hear my heart is beating 

like a screen door in the wind 

There’s a fear that this whole thing 

might somehow come unhinged 

Tsunami to the left of us 

falling sky off to the right 

they say “you gotta put the fear of God in ‘em 

to set the balance right” 

So can you tell me where the truth resides 

with so much spin and so many lies 

And which argument would Jesus buy 

if Jesus wore my shoes? 

I pray for peace, I pray for mercy 

I pray forgiveness for us all 

for it’s the innocent among us 

who are set to take the fall.

Jan Krist's website is located at http://www.jankrist.net/