Inspiring new album if you're wondering where God might be right now

I’m in love with One True Vine, a new gospel album by Mavis Staples, the youngest of the R and B gospel and pop group the Staples Singers.  Here’s what she says about this album, released just this year:  “All of these songs are me, but in a different way, with a different sound,” says Mavis Staples. “The phrasing, the tempos, the arrangements are different, but the messages are the same things I’ve been saying down through the years. They’re about the world today—poverty, jobs, welfare, all of that—and making it feel better through these songs.”

 Here’s a sample of a song that has helped me shift prayer from self-assessment and fear of judgment (“Am I praying the right way?  Doing the right thing?  Not making mistakes?”) to centering myself in God’s merciful love.  Whether we pay attention to God or not, grace is present.  Whether we want God to know us or not, the God “to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid” (a wonderful and fearful quotation from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer) meets and sustains us.

 Every step of the way

I found grace

If I lead or follow change my pace

I get tired lonely lose my way

My lord he knows me every step of the way

My lord [she] knows me every step of the way . . .

 The album tells a story, chapter by chapter, of hope, connection, and transformation along the journey of life.  It offers a good variety of tempos, magnificent harmonies, and inspiring lyrics old and new. Find excerpts on YouTube, or buy the album through iTunes or Amazon.  The full album is streamed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVqPOHnWTTg.  Enjoy!