Friday, June 29, 2007

Meet Eric and Polly Rapp: 'Hey, Preacher Man!'


Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
It brings salvation to those who believe!
Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
Tell me I'm a sinner and Christ died for me!

I don't want to know what you did last week on your summer vacation,
What you saw and where you went or how much it cost!
Instead won't you tell me all the words that give me salvation,
How He lived and how He died for me on the cross!

Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
Give me the good news of God's only Son!
Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
Give me His body and give me His blood!

I don't want to hear about new ideas you learned while in seminary,
Higher critics and Marcus Borg or John Shelby Spong!
Please don't invite those learned men to preach in our sanctuary,
They're wise to men but fools to God, and such fools are wrong!

Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
Not human wisdom, just tell it to me straight!
Hey, preach man, give me the Gospel,
Let me know I'm foolish and lead me to the gate!

I don't want to hear an opinion piece on the news of political parties
Democrat or Republican, to Him it's all the same!
Please don't tell me how I have to vote to earn the Father's favor,
There's nothing I can do for that, 'cause Christ did everything!

Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
Tell me of the God-Man who bore all the blame!
Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel,
When you preach the Gospel, you shouldn't be ashamed!

~Eric Rapp

Meet Eric and Polly Rapp!

I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that I would be hearing beautiful music like this--a song--you know, you ask the average Christian artist, "Oh, can you write a song about the scripture's doctrine of vocation?" and they'd laugh in your face. You've managed to do it ... and beautifully so!... I will say without qualification ... you express [the Gospel] as clearly and ... more eloquently and succinctly than I manage to do on the air most times.... I cannot say "thank you" in grand enough terms for you guys' taking what you guys have heard on this program and putting it so beautifully to music. Thank you to both of you!" ~Pastor Todd Wilken, Issues, Etc., May 25, 2007

"You guys are GREAT! Keep up the music!!!!" ~Pastor William Weedon, May 22, 2007


4 comments:

Rob Olson said...

Spong I know, but 'Martin Spohr' was my best shot. I was listening to my CD since I don't have the lyrics. Any mistakes, Eric?

By the way, my daughters love your CD's. My eldest, who really likes James Taylor, plays it quite often, and sometimes your voices (you and JT) sound alike coming from her bedroom!

What a joy it is to have her listen to good Lutheran theology, not that I have anything against Sweet Baby James or Fire and Rain...

Blessings.

E. Rapp said...

Thanks for the kind words!

The name of the other liberal theologian is Marcus Borg.

Rob Olson said...

Borg?

Heh, heh.

P. Rapp said...

Incidentally, all the words to the songs we've written are available on our web site. :) Just click on the song title from this page: http://www.ericandpollyrapp.com/music.html