Good Grief: Honouring the Passing of Parents

The podcast opens with Carolyn explaining her work with Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation before she and Steve swap stories, insights and songs about their recent loss of beloved parents, and the songs each wrote in the wake of their grief.

*note: to watch the video of this podcast click HERE… 

Carolyn Arends is an internationally awarded singer/songwriter and author whose work has yielded 14 albums,15 top ten radio singles on the Canadian and US Christian charts, and 3 critically acclaimed books.

Carolyn holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She is a regular columnist for Christianity Today and serves as an adjunct professor at ACTS Seminary, Pacific Life Bible College, and Columbia Bible College.

In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn is the current Director of Education for Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation.

Carolyn lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their children Benjamin and Bethany.

 

Websites:
https://www.carolynarends.com/
https://renovare.org/institute/overview

 

Discography and Books:
https://www.carolynarends.com/releases

 

Articles:
Stoicism Isn't Spiritual: What Grief Taught Me About Being Fully Human
by Carolyn Arends

Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold Our Bodies Down (Christianity Today)
by Carolyn Arends

 

Songs:
Videos for the songs included in this podcast can be watched independently on YouTube. Click song titles below to watch:

To Cry for You 
Music and Lyrics by Carolyn Arends
Album: Recognition

There's a lump in my throat
There's a knot in my chest
I am tired to the bone
But I cannot rest
But it's only right
To feel like I do
Cause it is my honour
To cry for you

All the memories come back
Like the tide rolling in
And the current is strong
I go under again
So I hold my breath
What else can I do?
Cause it is my honour
To cry for you

Blessed are the ones who weep
Cause every tear is proof
Of ties that bind so strong and deep
That death cannot undo

So it is my honour
To cry for you

I've got more than a hunch
That you're somehwere so good
It'd be wrong to come back
Even if you could
I will see you again
But until I do
It is my honour
To cry for you

Blessed are the ones who weep
Cause every tear is proof
Of ties that bind so strong and deep
That death cannot undo
So it is my honour
To cry for you

There's a lump in my throat
There's a knot in my chest
But the ache in my soul
Tells me I am blessed
Cause when the sorrow is great
The love is too
And it is my honour
To cry for you

I guess grief is the work
That love must do
So it is my honour
To cry for you

 

In Memoriam 
Music and Lyrics by Steve Bell
Album: Wouldn't You Love to Know
 
Fresh tendernesses burgeoned
with the dying of my dad
I love him all the more for it
He lived his life for others' gain
His death, he gave away the same
And I love him all the more for it
 
This son was fiercely fashioned
By his father's dappled life
The way he loved his children
The way he loved his wife
My dad was hardly perfect
But I hardly give a rip
I loved him all the more for it
 
Not scandalized by brokenness
Not scandalized by pain
But Dad could not abide the curse
And hellishness of shame
He'd absorb another's failures
And return them as a gift
We loved him all the more for it
 
My father was a trumpeter
Those days have long since passed
He passed along his passion to me
Eager as I was
We'd sit for hours and listen
To the Tijuana Brass
I loved him all the more for it
 
I tenderly remember
When a beauty left me rent
I was too young to consider then
That love is never spent
He told me pain would linger
And would likely leave a dent
I loved him all the more for it

My dad was a believer
He believed that God is good
He was certain Jesus lived
To show how everybody could
And that all our earthly sorrows
Couldn't be the final writ
I loved him all the more for it
 
My father was a fortress 
For my two sisters and I
And more-so for our mom
Who suffered so much of her life
He taught us how to live 
And then he taught us how to die
We loved him all the more for it
 
Fresh tendernesses burgeoned 
With the dying of my dad
I love him all the more for it