Faith Without Deeds is Dead

Now that I have seen I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. – Brook Fraser

I love this song (Albertine). At the suggestion of a friend, I downloaded Brook Fraser's song Shadowfeet about a year ago. I didn't really listen to it much, but then I started hearing it on the radio and fell in love with it and with Brook's voice and the way she sculpts with words. After that, I downloaded the whole album. And this song called Albertine really stuck a chord for me. I totally identified with it, although relating the experience to a different part of the world. But the words are universal: "Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead." I couldn't get these words out of my head. For the past few months, I have routinely been falling asleep to this album. It was actually largely due to songs on this album that I had such difficulty being willing to settle for just any job. I desperately missed being in Eastern Europe, and I thought if I am supposed to be here in Seattle, at least God must have a better purpose for me to be here than working at Starbucks or something. Clearly He did, because I have been working at World Vision for 2 weeks now. Imagine my surprise this morning at devotions when they played a video of an interview Brook Fraser did, talking about the child she sponsors in Rwanda - the one about whom she wrote the song Albertine! The main take-away from devotions this morning was "Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead." Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence. I have had many opportunities in my 26 years to see and learn about the poverty, destruction, fear, hatred, and hopelessness that affect so many lives around the world. What good is all this knowledge and experience if I don't share it and use it to try to make a difference? What good does it do a starving child if I just feel bad that she is starving? What good does it do people in Eastern Europe or southern Africa if I just feel bad that communities and lives were destroyed in a past "ethnic war"? Being responsible means not accepting the status quo. God calls us to be good stewards of the resources he gives us - even if those resources are experiences and knowledge. Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. I pray that God will help my faith be reflected by my actions.


Albertine - Brook Fraser

I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
Her mother's voice over me
And the bullet's in the wall where it fell silent
I'm on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine
There in her eyes what I don't see with my own
Rwanda

Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms,
I cannot let go till you are

I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
And the dust on, the dust on, the dust on
the dust on, the dust on my feet
Rwanda

Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms,
I cannot let go till you are

I will tell the world, I will tell them where I've been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine
Rwanda

Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms,
I cannot let go till you are

I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine