Liturgy Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band

Rich Mullins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reunion
• ASIN: B0000004SD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,132 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars and with the rocks i cry out..., June 29, 2003

By 

D. COLLIER "Top Guhzillion Reviewer" (Brownwood, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Liturgy Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band (Audio CD)

Be praised for all Your tenderness
by these works of Your hands.
Suns that rise and rains that fall to
bless and bring to life Your land.
Look down upon this winter wheat
and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color
green that fills Your fields
with praise

It would have to have been something extraordinary and (for me) quite unimaginable to come up with the lyrics that form the song "The Color Green". It reminds me that the Hands that formed more majestic sights of the earth than Ansel Adams ever had the chance to behold through a lense, still receives my prayers and praise with tenderness.

Be praised for all Your tenderness.

I don't think Rich Mullins wrote the song "Hold Me Jesus" just because he thought it would be cute and Christiany. The lyrics,

and I wake up in the night and feel
the dark
it's so hot inside my soul I swear
there must be blisters on my heart,

reveal the fact that Rich was going through some extremely stressful pressure of some sort. But he also leaves the listener with some lyrics of hope when he says

and Your grace rings out so deep
it makes my resistance seem so thin

Whether you refer to it as violent (as Michael Card does), or sufficient (as St. Paul did), or simply amazing (as the writer of "Amazing Grace" did), one thing is for certain: God's grace will always dwarf our resistance to it. Fascinating, isn't it, that instead of writing an elaborate, theological song about prayer or intercession, he simply cries out the one thing that would come most naturally to a child of the Father:

Hold Me Jesus!

There's not a lot I understand about the song "Peace". I'm not sure who he is addressing, and I really don't know if "this feast" represents Christian fellowship or a feast we'll partake of in heaven or what. In the chorus, he sings of "these souls this drought has dried". I wonder what the drought was. Was it a "falling out" he may have had with another believer with whom he still longs to have fellowship with? Or perhaps it was simply the typical complacency and ordinariness that often befalls even the closest of friendships. Whatever his intentions behind the messages of the song, I can't help but feel compelled to make the chorus my prayer.

May peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky

If it was easy to be like Jesus, would I still want to be like Him? Probably not. (Don't be too shocked. It's easy to be complacent when the task is too easy.) I would get too complacent...even more complacent than I already am! I admit I don't stack up too well against Peter and Paul and the apostles. In fact, I don't even stack up too well against the average good midwestern boy.

Indeed it is hard to be like Jesus.

All the rest of the songs on this CD, no less than the ones I just mentioned, are full of the kind of Spirit-anointed messages that may bring a smile to the face, tears to the eyes, or perhaps a shiver down the spine.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Houston, I need more than 5 stars here., July 1, 2000

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liturgy Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band (Audio CD)

"Though we're strangers, still I love you. I love you more than your mask; and you know you have to trust this to be true. And I know that's much to ask-but lay down your fears, come and join this feast. He has called us here, you and me"

These words from the song "Peace" embody everything that is excellent in this recording as well as the very soul of Rich Mullins' message-we are all torn, tattered ragamuffins that are invited to the feast by the King.

"Peace" is probably my favorite song of all time. It not only serves as the communion blessing on the "liturgy" part of this recording, it also illustrates clearly (at least for me) the unconditional, unfailing love of Jesus.

The disc contains a lot of other great songs too: "You gotta get up" catches the wonder of Christmas as seen through the excited eyes of a child. "Creed" is an awesome piece of music. If I have a second favorite song of all time, it must be "Hold Me Jesus".

The whole disc is filled with wisdom, beauty and grace. I urge you-don't take my word. Buy it for yourself. You'll never regret it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece..., April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Liturgy Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band (Audio CD)

Rich Mullin's "A liturgy, a legacy, and a ragamuffin band" is an incredible piece of work. Many diverse musical styles and themes run through the album, always challenging the listener. The first song, "Here in America", is carried by a lovely melody and lyrics that remind us that "the holy King of Isreal loves me here in America". The album's centerpiece and, in my opinion, the best song Rich has ever done, is called "The Color Green". The song is beautiful. It takes you off to another place while listening to it. It's like standing in the middle of a vast field, looking every which way and seeing the magnificent hand of God on all his creation. I've never heard a song like it. Rich also does a Mark Heard cover ("How to Grow up Big and Strong"), a prime example of a gifted songwriter honouring another. Every track on this album is indispensible. It has depth, humanity, vulnerability, and emotion, and deserves to be ranked among the best albums ever made. It is without a doubt a masterpiece.