Image: Change by Lynne Taetzsch

I Know I've Been Changed-Traditional Spiritual
Woah I, know I've been changed
Oh I, know I've been changed
Woah I, know I've been changed
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name

Well I know I been converted,
Lord knows I've been redeemed
Well you can wake me up in the midnight hour,
I'm gonna tell ya just what I feel

Woah I know I've been changed
I know I've been changed
I know I've been changed
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name.


Two things that we know about our life:
1. Change is difficult
2. Change is inevitable

All of us feel at home in familiar surroundings – the dog greeting us when we get home, the kids at home, waking up next to someone we love. It is difficult for to see things change around us. Think about changing the arrangement of furniture in the living room. You put the sofa on the other side of the room and for awhile you just simply lose you bearings, moving to sit on the coffee table. Everything is off when you enter the room. That’s difficult, not just at home, but in all of life. We all know this. As children leave home, as parents and partners pass from our lives, as illness strikes, we don’t like the change. It shakes us up, because as things inevitably change, we need to change – our attitudes, our lifestyles, our expectations. No-one likes it, but change is inevitable. Guaranteed. I have heard some say that for us to live a successful life we need always be flexible, ready for change. The paradox for us is that for us to develop this welcoming attitude, we must change. And that is hard.

How can we feel comfortable with change? Life brings change, our spiritual lives give us what is sure. There is a chant that I am familiar with which is often used in small groups designed to foster the spiritual life. It goes:

Changeless and calm,
Deep mystery
Ever for deeply, rooted in thee.

This chant, based on a prayer by Elizabeth of the Trinity (19th Century Carmelite mystic), points us to the depth of life, the spiritual realities upon which all this change rests. In Revelation, Christ identifies himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. In the gospel of John, we have John’s wonderful prologue where Christ is identified as present in beginning time, at creation itself. It is from the Word, from Christ, that all proceeds. Names that we have for this deep mystery of God’s presence are: Christ, eternity, the Kingdom or Realm of God, the solid rock, newness of life. The point is that there is something, someone, a deep mystery upon which we can root and rest our lives. The Solid Rock upon which we rest is sure. In a life filled with change that is the Good News.
So, folks have passed on this spiritual, “I know I’ve been changed, Angels in heaven gonna sign my name.” The change being spoken about is an Advent change, it is first an affirmation and then a welcoming of the depth of life. “Ocean depths of happy rest:” that is how the hymn, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, puts it. Advent is a time for entry into the dark mystery, for slipping from the foreground of a constantly changing world, into the background of the Changeless and Calm One who holds our whole lives in joy, love, peace and hope. We move from the not so sure, into the surety of faith. Here we notice that the dark is not so dark after all, that indeed this darkness holds, nay, is the light of the world. Jesus was born in the dead of night, as shepherds watched their flocks and as the world slept in their beds. Our hope is in the deep mystery of God’s presence, made clear to us as a small light lit in a manger bed, the hope of the world, Jesus Christ.

Well I know I been converted,
Lord knows I've been redeemed
Well you can wake me up in the midnight hour,
I'm gonna tell ya just what I feel

Love,
David