We wanted to write a song that doesn’t hesitate to cry out from exactly where we are and for exactly what we need: mercy.
The Vigil Project, a seven-part video series created to help us enter deeper into this Lenten season, has just released its second video: “Lord Have Mercy,” written by and featuring Greg&Lizzy.
The following is from Greg Boudreaux of Greg&Lizzy, explaining the deeper inspiration behind the song:
One of the great mysteries, beauties and ironies of our Christian faith is that the thing we need the most is also the thing we do not deserve, the thing we could never earn. It is mercy. As Lizzy and I began praying about this project and what the Lord was asking us to write about, this theme of his love and his mercy kept coming to our hearts.We know we need it, but if I’m being honest with you, this is one of the hardest things for us to ask for. Asking for mercy means admitting my own weakness, my own failure, my own inability to “fix it myself” … it means being humbled. It also means I need something I don’t already have; it requires me to go outside myself; it requires me to ask for a gift that I cannot and will not ever be able to repay. It means being a beggar before God. Perhaps at times in our lives it’s easy to fall into a perspective of self-righteousness in which we can see the way that those around need God’s mercy and healing, but we can’t see our own. The tragedy of this is that we forget our own need, and we become starved for mercy simply because we’ve forgotten how to cry out for it.“Lord Have Mercy” is a song we wrote to be this cry. It’s the same cry of David in Psalm 51; it’s the cry of our own hearts. We wanted to write a song that doesn’t hesitate to cry out from exactly where we are and for exactly what we need: mercy. As we were writing, we were struck by the humility of St. Dismas, crucified next to Jesus, asking for what he needed most: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He knew his fault, he knew his sin and he knew that his punishment was just, but he asks for mercy. Our prayer for you and for this song is that we might all have the humility and the courage to cry out to God for the mercy that we need. Lord, have mercy on us!
For more on the Vigil Project, head over to their website,where you can meet the team, watch the videos and pre-orderall seven songs in the series.
And follow Cecilia on Facebookto watch and pray with the Vigil Project throughout the Lenten and Easter season.
—Libby Reichert
