A sell-out Australian stadium tour by an American superstar. Frenzied media coverage. Legions of devoted attendees. Joyous singing of the crowd as choir. Newly won converts. The event you think I’m describing here will probably depend on your age. A previous generation could imagine I am describing the Billy Graham evangelistic crusades of 1959 and 1968; but most readers today will be thinking of Taylor Swift’s recent Eras tour. A lot has changed in sixty years.
But this isn’t an article about how we seek to satisfy our persistent desire for transcendence through live music experiences. This isn’t an article lamenting the frenzied attention this tour has garnered. I want to go in a different direction. Yes, our world has been dis-‘Enchanted’. Maybe you sometimes feel an emptiness caused by the blank space where God used to be? I believe that the best way to satisfy our longings is the timeless story of Jesus, the lover of our souls. This is a tale which truly hits differently; the stuff of your wildest dreams.
And I’d like to tell that you that story, especially for all the Swifties out there, through your favourite medium. Because you don’t need Billy Graham to hear this beautiful story; all you need is your Taylor Swift playlist to start glitching…[1]
A Gospel Summary Using Only Taylor Swift Lyrics
So far above me in every sense,
I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked.
I should not be left to my own devices
They come with prices and vices.
And realized by the distance in your eyes that I would be the one to fall,
Like you’d run from the law (And we run, and we run, and we run),
I thought, “Heaven can’t help me now.”
Nothing lasts forever
But this is gonna take me down.
Untouchable, burning brighter than the sun,
And when you’re close, I feel like coming undone.
Glory faded before me,
Now I’m feeling hopeless,
Now we got problems
And I don’t think we can solve them.
I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace
And I can go anywhere I want,
Anywhere I want,
Just not home.
I lived, and I learned,
Had you, got burned;
Held out, and held on,
God knows, too long.
And wasted time, lost tears,
Swore that I’d get out of here,
But no amount of freedom gets you clean.
You’re not my homeland anymore,
Now I’m in exile.
It’s not unbroken anymore,
How do I get it back the way it was before?
I had a feeling so peculiar
That this pain would be for
Evermore.
*
Oh, they sit around talkin’ about the meaning of life
And the book that just saved ’em that I hadn’t heard of.
What about your promises, promises?
And I got tired of waiting,
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading,
I forgot that you existed.
It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference.
God rest my soul,
I miss who I used to be.
The battle’s in your hands now,
But I would lay my armor down,
Will you forgive my soul?
*
Miracle,
Unbelievable,
Instead of just invisible.
Magic, madness, heaven, sin.
Saw you there, and I thought,
“Oh my God.”
These desperate prayers of a cursed man,
Spilling out to you for free.
Oh, ’cause it’s not his price to pay,
It’s not his price to pay.
And the sky turned black like a perfect storm,
God rest my soul,
I miss who I used to be.
The tomb won’t close,
What died didn’t stay dead.
You’re alive, so alive:
Something holy, not superficial.
So here’s to the birthday boy who saved our lives.
*
I did you wrong,
Made mistakes
And put you through all of this.
It turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missin’ you.
It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
Said, “I’m fine,” but it wasn’t true.
They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to.
I’m so sick of running as fast as I can,
So, this is me swallowing my pride,
Standin’ in front of you sayin’ I’m sorry.
Make confessions and we’re begging for forgiveness:
I’m sorry that I hurt you,
That I was guilty as sin.
The worst thing that I ever did
Was what I did to you.
Guilty, guilty reaching out across the sea
That you put between you and me.
Ain’t doing it right, Lord, save me;
I want you, bless my soul.
And I ain’t gotta tell him, I think he knows.
*
I know I tend to make it about me.
You ran after me and called my name.
I had a feeling so peculiar
This pain wouldn’t be for
Evermore.
You showed me something that I couldn’t see,
You opened my eyes and you made me believe,
Help me hold on to you.
I never saw you coming
And I’ll never be the same,
This is a state of grace.
Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven;
the green light of forgiveness.
You haven’t met the new me yet.
I just wanna know you better,
Know you better, know you better now.
All I know is you held the door,
You’ll be mine and I’ll be yours.
All I know since yesterday
Is everything has changed.
And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends,
I’ll follow you, follow you home.
*
And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for:
King of my heart, body, and soul, ooh whoa.
Is this the end of all the endings?
My broken bones are mending.
And darling it was good,
Never looking down.
And right there where we stood
Was holy ground.
So it’s gonna be forever.
You said, “Forever and always,” yeah,
You and me forevermore.
Can we always be this close forever and ever?
And ah, take me out and take me home (Forever and ever),
Forevermore.
The lights are so bright
But they never blind me.
When you come back down,
the time will come
For us to finally win.
And we’ll sing hallelujah, we’ll sing hallelujah.
We all know now,
We all got crowns.
In our history, across our great divide
There is a glorious sunrise.
Take me home.
Just take me home, yeah.
They said the end is coming,
Everyone’s up to something,
I find myself running home.
[1] Lyrics samples taken from: ‘A Perfectly Good Heart’, ‘Afterglow’, ‘Anti-Hero’, ‘Babe’, ‘Back to December,’ ‘Bad Blood’, ‘betty’, ‘Blank Space’, ‘Carolina, Change’, ‘Christmas Must Be Something More’, ‘Clean’, ‘closure’, ‘coney island’, ‘Cornelia Street’, ‘Crazier’, ‘Cruel Summer’, ‘Daylight’, ‘Dear Reader’, ‘Don’t Blame Me’, ‘evermore’, ‘Everything Has Changed’, ‘exile’, ‘False God’, ‘Forever & Always’, ‘happiness’, ‘Holy Ground’, ‘I Forgot That You Existed’, ‘I Think He Knows’, ‘Invisible’, ‘invisible string’, ‘King of My Heart’, ‘Love Story’, ‘Lover’, ‘marjorie’, ‘ME!’, ‘Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince’, ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’, ‘my tears ricochet’, ‘New Year’s Day’, ‘Run’, ‘State Of Grace’, ‘Style’, ‘Superman’, ‘Sweet Nothing’, ‘That’s When’, ‘The Archer’, ‘The Man’, ‘The Story of Us’, ‘Tied Together with a Smile’, ‘Treacherous’, ‘Untouchable’, ‘Welcome to New York’, ‘Wildest Dreams’, ‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’, ‘You All Over Me’, ‘You Need to Calm Down’.
