World is poorer, but heaven's now Rich-er
"There's people been talking
They say they're worried about my soul
Well, I'm here to tell you I'll keep rocking
'Til I'm sure it's my time to roll …"
"Elijah," Rich Mullins
By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
for The (Maryville, TN) Daily Times,
Sept. 26, 1997
It is a normal, hectic Sunday morning:
- Both kids are up, showered, fed. Check. (Thanks
to the wife ...)
- The script for the contemporary worship service
is printed out. Check.
- Video and postlude music is in the briefcase.
Check.
"Better make one final e-mail run to make
sure the team hasn’t changed anything in the service," I told myself. Planning
worship services by e-mail has its benefits but also dangers, one of which is the feeling
that you turn things around on a dime.
The first Oogerling (Mark Heard newsgroup)
e-mail startled me:
"My sister-in-law in Dallas says that a
local station, KLTY, has been reporting all day that Rich Mullins has died in a car
accident."
Being a newspaper editor, my first thought was,
"This is a hoax."
But the next posting brought tears to my eyes.
In short, the writer said news of the death was the terrible truth and gave what details
they knew.
Those e-mails were the first in what became a
day of sadly consistent confirmations, each carrying their own measure of disbelief.
Surprisingly, there was no mention of Rich’s death in area media over the weekend.
The truth hit me square in the face that Sunday
evening when I arrived to put out the Monday morning edition of the five-day paper where I
work. There, waiting silently on the wire, was a much-too-brief Associated Press story.
Just shy of 42 years old, Rich died as a result
of an auto accident Friday, Sept. 19, in north central Illinois. The singer-songwriter,
with more than 50 hit records in his career, including the popular church anthem
"Awesome God," was on his way to a benefit concert in Wichita, Kan., when the
accident occurred.
Unable to accept that Rich deserved only 4
inches of copy, I made a call to The Tennessean in Nashville and netted about 3 inches
more for our readers.
Still, the overall lack of attention to his
death is only fitting, his manager and friend said.
"In the industry, he was considered by many
to be the greatest writer of our time," said Jim Dunning Jr. "I believe that.
"But if Rich had his preference, I think
he’d prefer not to be remembered. Rich would prefer that the God he believed in be
remembered. We need to honor him best by remembering his writing and by loving the God
that he spoke about."
Music a part of the walk
Just as with my pre-Christian life, music has
been a big part of my Christian walk. The difference being that contrary to the music I
used to listen to, my ears are tuned today to songs written with a spiritual slant.
Ironically, my earliest exposure to Contemporary
Christian music was the singer/songwriter Keith Green, who died in a 1982 plane crash
– three years before I accepted Christ. It’s strange, but even though unfamiliar
with his music at the time, I can still remember reading the wire story. As I recall, his
death also netted about 4 inches of copy. (Nothing ever changes; everything remains the
same.)
Green’s music was intense,
thought-provoking and controversial. Songs such as "Asleep in the Light" and
"To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice" strike at the heart of discipleship,
sometimes causing listeners a great deal of discomfort.
Coming upon Green’s music as a baby
Christian and a working journalist, there was in me an appreciation for his honesty and
in-your-face discipleship. The notion of "no compromise" was both comforting and
discomforting in its challenge.
Where mercy leads …
But where Green’s music continues to
instruct me in discipleship, Rich brings me to the mercy found at the throne of God’s
grace through songs such as "If I Stand":
"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 …"
His finely crafted lyrics also explore the
beauty of God’s creation, such as in this opening from a somewhat esoteric "The
Color Green":
"And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop
And every house must have its builder
And I awoke in the house of God …"
In the days following his death, someone noted
on the Internet that Rich was "one of the few CCM artists with ongoing artistic
substance while managing some great praise songs …"
That could be explain why Rich’s concerts
easily evolved into a worship experience. He might break into a monologue extolling the
virtues of classical hymns, start a song, then stop singing himself – only to bask in
a chorus of voices as the audience continued to sing.
Once, at a Knoxville concert a few years ago,
this style of worship carried on until he ended the evening by walking off stage as the
audience sang the final chorus – like an artist walking into the sunset after
painting a beautiful mural.
A man of Compassion
At the time of his death, Rich lived on a Navajo
reservation near Window Rock, Ariz., teaching music to children there.
Alyssa Loukota, U.S.A. ministry marketing and
communications director for Compassion International, worked closely with Rich during the
past nine years. "It was Rich Mullins’ vision, in his words, to bring Christ to
the Native American reservation," she said.
"His desire was to teach music to the
students on the reservation. Due to a lack of funds, many schools on the reservation did
not have a music program. That’s what Rich hoped to offer to them," Loukota
said. "Rich wanted the children to be blessed from God with music. He wanted to bring
Christ to a dry and thirsty land."
Jordan no longer waiting
In the midst of a dry and thirsty land without
spiritual water, Rich has often dipped his bucket into a well full of God’s grace, as
if to say, "Yes, my brothers and sisters, I have been there, and there is a way out.
Let me tell you how to take it step by step."
Even before Rich’s death, many friends and
relatives heard me proclaim that when I cross the Jordan, there is to be no "how sad
that he’s dead" funeral. In fact, among the songs to be played at my Celebration
of Life is Rich’s "Elijah," which opens with "The Jordan is waiting
for me to cross through …":
"But when I leave I want to go out like
Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won't break my heart to say goodbye …"
As one fan of Rich’s noted on the Internet
Monday, "The Jordan is no longer waiting for Rich, for he has crossed over."
And while it didn’t break Rich’s heart
to say goodbye to this world, he certainly left many longing for the day when we will once
again hear new music from him – but in a more glorious place.
Frank "Buzz" Trexler is
managing editor at The Daily Times and a member of Middlebrook
Pike United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is a Contemporary
Worship Service leader.
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