Remembering Rich Mullins: pstrmike
Rich Mullins passed away in an automobile accident 27 years ago today.
His legacy extends beyond his music and other writings.
His determined commitment to follow Jesus was manifest in a lifestyle contrary to the expectations of the church and Christian music industry.
He was an early advocate of justice in treating all people with love and respect.
Like all of us, he battled with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Yet, he possessed a depth of understanding of the struggle of our human condition coupled with the incredible grace of God that seems to come so few and far between these days.
“And though I love you, still we’re strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still His light shines in the dark”
And His outstretched arms
Are still strong enough to reach
Behind these prison bars
To set us free”
From Peace (A Communion Blessing from Saint Joseph’s Square, A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band (1993) Rich Mullins
“Peace” is one of my all-time favorite Mullins songs.
Mine as well, Dan. I felt that Rich captured the essence of my soul when I am taking communion in that song.
Rich is one of the staples in my library. I have a number of “favourite” Rich songs…
i got saved in the 90s in college and Rich was very instrumental. I love his authenticity, and I see it now in Andrew Peterson, Andy Gullahorn, and others who carry the legacy. While some of his music is certainly dated, some of it is timeless
Always be one of my favorite songs…
” Jesus heard the whole world cry
For the healin’ that would flow from His own scars
The world was singin’
My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by
My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by
He will never break His promise
He has written it upon the sky
My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by
My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by
My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by
I will never doubt His promise
Though I doubt my heart, I doubt my eyes”
“So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You”
Rich Mullins was a much needed gift to American evangelical culture. I wish I knew why God chose to take him so early.
Kevin H…me too.
pstrmike…”Peace” is such a great melding of the human experience and the divine coming together at the table. A truly anointed song.
An absolute favorite!
“I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant’s wings
And there’s fury in a pheasant’s wings
And it tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I’ve seen love make heaven ring
Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name”
~ Calling Out Your Name
An old fave of mine from the first album of his I had…
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
I cannot find in my own.
And it keeps His fire burning,
to melt this heart of stone.
Keeps me aching with the yearning,
Keeps me glad to have been caught
in the reckless, raging fury
that they call the Love of God.”
I’m a flute player. This melody works so well on that instrument.
I tried learning “If I Stand” on piano, didn’t quite make it through it.
And thanks, BlueSky, for reminding me of “My Deliverer”, gotta pull that one out again.
Another one that I’ll never get tired of is “The Howling”.
Uncle Buck and others,
Rich had a way of bringing a context of living in America as sense of calling, destiny, and God’s choice for us who live here. He did so without resorting to a nationalist/promise land context. That sense of conviction was evident in songs like “Calling Out Your Name,” “Land of My Sojourn,” and “Here in America.”
There is a group of musicians, some of Rich’s friends, who have recorded some of his music. Most of it is acoustic and very Americana in flavor.
https://richmullins25.com
Thanks pstrmike, for this link. I’ll be getting further into this.
The one thing I can say that his music always did for me – always turned my attention upwards, and my heart along with it.
Question for all on this thread – there’s a song I came across , a joint piece that Bebo Norman did with Rich Mullins, released in 2006, a version of “Sometimes by Step”. In this release, Bebo and Rich are doing the song as a duet.
Since this version with Bebo was released several years after Rich died, my thought is that Rich’s vocals were dubbed in from Rich’s recordings of the song. Rich’s recording of that song was released about 6 years before his death. But I am impressed with the harmonies that came through.
Anyone have any other knowledge of this work?
1st let me thank those who responded when I complained about CCM worship music a few weeks ago. I enjoyed and appreciated the thoughts. I hadn’t been a fan of Rich Mullins back when he was alive, but a few years ago during a very difficult time, I started playing much of his music and was greatly encouraged.
Idahoan,
Rich’s music got me through a number of trying times through my past, I hear you there. The reality in his music, and the way he expressed it. Glad to hear you it blessed you as well.
Andrew Peterson (Anglican) and Rich Mullins (almost-catholic – literally died the weekend he was supposed to join the RCC) are some of my favorite song-writers. While CCM, like anything, has a few pros (maybe very few in some eyes), I find that high-church folk, particularly the high-church folk that are genuinely wrestling with the scriptures and their application write phenomenal music. And with Rich’s songs, there’s this incredible journey of a heart on a journey after the Lord. I find myself attracted to these artists alongside just my hymnbook. Going to the gold of old, the songs of yesteryear.
The depth and greatness of high-church music is now fading in my humble estimation. And the artists that do exist never go mainstream. It doesn’t sell.
I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but I hope there’s a resurgence of good, lyrical deep worship to be resounded from more churches.
Tom,
I saw you on the Rings of Power recently.
I came to Christ a year after Rich Mullins died. I think all I knew about his music was the song Awesome God for the first year I was saved. One day I happened upon the Jesus Record. I was struck by the simplicity of just Rich, a guitar, and a tape recorder for most of the album. I just revisited “Hard to Get.” Looking back on my own song writing I would have to say that song profoundly influenced it along with my theology of God. Thanks pastor Mike for sparking the memory.
I found this video of Rich playing Hard to Get at a small open mic night. I hope you find it to be a blessing.
https://youtu.be/SQcdVQL7nAE?si=3xzKkEBmCM2eDr0Y
I was wondering if I should say something about this, because the dude is pretty revered. I met him, and he was a strange guy. We played guitar together some. I had no idea it was him at the time. He showed up at the church looking for a warm place to sleep and some food. I gave him a guitar I had that I didn’t play. He said some pretty strange stuff. Talked about being on the road a lot, places he had been, people he met over the years. Never once let on that he was anything other than a drifter. Then he left. A night later he walked out on a stage, and it was him. We went to see him in concert, and I had never seen him before.
Really strange.
Reuben, I never had any encounter with Rich Mullins, but from what I have heard and read from others who did know him or met him was that that he was, indeed, a pretty strange guy.
I don’t think he was revered for his likeableness or charisma, but rather for reasons like he didn’t put up a facade of holiness, didn’t capitulate to and even called out the hypocrisy of CCM and the evangelical culture, and many times wrote songs with much deeper and richer meaning and reflection than the typical CCM fare. Maybe his weirdness and seeming lack of concern with conforming to cultural norms allowed him to be a prophet of sorts. I have even heard some who knew him speculate that he may have been autistic to some degree, but was just never diagnosed.
Thanks Reuben. That’s an interesting story and it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve read that Mullins was not only very human but had a strange side to him. After I wrote the article I wondered if I had met Rich, would we have gotten along? The few people I know who are big fans of Rich are also people (one you know rather well) that I don’t get along with. One thing I have learned from reading the Desert Fathers and Mothers,and other mystics is that ascetics are wired very differently and a life of asceticism and extreme counter-culture behavior takes a toll.
Reuben , I remembered you alluding to this story many years ago. Then you called him Mitch Rullins or something, but it always stuck with me. 😂 as soon as this was posted, I bought of your story.
I too have heard stuff about Rich being kinda different, off the beaten path, unorthodox, etc. For me that makes him really likeable as a disciple. He wasn’t cookie-cutter. I don’t know all the hearts of all the CCM artists, but on the radio listening to their music and interviews, many of them come off as bland, clones, and inoffensive. At the show I saw hit at in April 1997, he said a few things during the shows that ruffled a few feathers in the audience…he went after “big oil” and other corporations during a brief talk/tirade. Good for him.