Today we begin a nine-day series on the New Covenant using the songs from the New Covenant musical as a track to run on. And there will be a link to a YouTube version of each song to link to at the end of each Catch. Enjoy and learn.

Let It Be Free
Words and Music by John Fischer

This whole crazy world’s on its crutches
Man pollutes everything that he touches
If we ever were needing a healing
We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
We need it now

If there is a way, Lord
Where we can be where you want us
Please don’t leave it to us, Lord
‘Cause we’ll grab it up and rape it from your hands

Such a shame it’s the same sad story
Everyone on this earth wants the glory
If there is a new way to be holy
Oh let it be free Lord
Please let it be free Lord
Don’t leave it to me, Lord
It’s got to be free, Lord

We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
We need it now
We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
We need it now, Lord
Oh let it be free Lord
Please let it be free Lord
Don’t leave it to me, Lord
It’s got to be free, Lord

This song is asking for the new covenant before we even know what it is. It understands something about human nature. It understands that if there is a way to heal the world, and a way to be the kind of person God wants me to be, it better not depend on me, because I am flawed; I am powerless for good; I am struck with the same disease everyone else in the world is stricken with — it’s the disease of sin and selfishness. No matter how hard we try, we are powerless to eradicate ourselves from this entanglement. How can we heal the world when we can’t even heal ourselves?

After years of trying and blaming everything and everyone around us, even as “good Christians,” we have concluded that we are the problem. That is why we are asking for an answer that is free from us. We taint everything we touch. “Let it be free” is a cry that realizes I can’t change myself. I need help.

The problem is that every one of our solutions falls short. We even use the term, “self-help” for attempts at this. We have self-help books, self-help seminars, self-help conferences, self-help therapy, but all of these ultimately fail because they fail to address the real problem: we can’t help ourselves. How can we help ourselves when we are the problem?

True help begins with the admission that we are desperate. We are help-less. We can’t do this without some kind of miracle within that changes who we are. We need to become different people. That’s why we can perhaps make some strides in a good direction, but we cannot make any lasting change as long as we are in the proposition. That’s why Jesus said we must be born again.

It is for this reason that failure is our friend. Failure forces us to come to the truth about ourselves — that we are powerless to change. True change begins with throwing ourselves on the mercy of God.

It is in that sense that we ask in this song for the process toward change to be free — free from ourselves, our efforts, our good intentions, our day-to-day follow through. Free in any way from dependence on us. Free from pride. Free from boasting. Free from anything we claim as coming from us.

If there is a way to be holy, let it be free, Lord; let it be free. Let it rely on nothing from me and everything from you. Let it be free, Lord; let it be free.

Click here for a YouTube version of “Let It Be Free.”