What Christians Need To Sing Amidst Our Crazy Times with Matt Maher
Good Faith
Good Faith
4.8 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How Does the Church Sings Through Suffering and Why Do the Songs Matter?
Grammy Award nominee and Dove Award winner Matt Maher joins the Good Faith podcast for a conversation about the power of songs and church music to tell the truth about suffering. Reflecting on protest, justice, prophetic art, ecumenism, and even Rich Mullins, Maher explores how the church can hold lament and praise together while still pointing people to the hope and holiness of God. Drawing on Psalm 22 and Jesus' cry of abandonment on the cross, he argues that the church, like Jesus, must sing honestly about pain and abandonment without losing sight of the worship and honor God deserves.
*This episode was recorded live at the Illuminate Arts + Faith Conference
00:00:00 - Tease: The Duality of Abandonment and Praise
00:01:00 - Introduction from Curtis Chang
05:31 - Conversion and the Impact of Catholic Liturgy on His Faith
08:13 - Theology in Songwriting and Collaboration
09:57- Can Ecumenism Expand Your Perspective?
13:06 - John 17 and Praying for Church Unity
14:35 - Prophetic Calling Comforts the Afflicted and Challenges the Comfortable
16:38 - Protest Themes and the Burden of Truth
20:30 - Holding Space for Both Praise and Lament
21:55 - Christian Justice Movements and Prophetic Action
24:02 - The After Party Album and Amos's Call to Justice
24:11 - That He Will Overcome (musical insert)
26:29 - The Toppling of Empire Lyrics as Inspired by Dr. Mika Edmonson
29:04 - The Neurological and Physical Impact of Music on Memory and Community
34:03 - Personal Storytelling and Lament To Work Out Hard Things
40:00 - Rich Mullins' Influence and Legacy
41:24 - What Is The Song the Church Needs Now, In These Crazy Times?
43:48 - A Warning From Nazi Germany Against Ignoring Suffering
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Mentioned In This Episode:
- The Nicene Creed and the History of the Council of Nicaea
- Matt Maher's Echoes album (Spotify)
- Matt Maher's Your Grace Is Enough
- Matt Maher's The Stories I Tell Myself
- Matt Maher's The Stories I Tell Myself (Acoustic video)
- Matt Maher, DOE, Dee Wilson, & The Porter's Gate's That We Might Overcome
- Listen to the album The Kingdom of Jesus: Songs For The After Party
- Rich Mullins' Canticle of The Plains (full album on Youtube)
- Rich Mullins' The Joy of Jesus (feat. Matt Maher, Mac Powell, & Ellie Holcomb)
- More about Francis Chan
Scriptures Referenced:
More from Matt Maher:
- See Matt on tour
- Matt Maher's website
- Subscribe to Matt's email list
- Listen to Matt Maher on Spotify
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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Psalm 22, literally the two verses that are back to back next to each other, that Jesus as a good rabbi in Jewish culture, whenever you would reference a Psalm, you would say one part, everyone knows you're quoting the whole thing. |
| 0:22.8 | So Jesus says, |
| 0:29.7 | God, why have you abandoned me? Yet you are holy, oh, you who are unthrowned upon the praises of Israel. I think the song that the church needs to sing right now is the song that |
| 0:34.9 | identifies the abandonment that people feel, |
| 0:41.8 | but also a song that helps people remember that God's enthroned on the praises of his people. |
| 0:44.9 | We don't have to abandon one for the other. |
| 1:03.3 | Music Welcome to the Good Faith podcast. |
| 1:08.0 | We're friends who follow Jesus, help each other make sense of the world. |
| 1:10.1 | I'm your host, Curtis Chang. |
| 1:13.4 | This podcast is produced by nonpartisan 501c3 organization. I am recording this intro on the week of April 13th, 2026. In the past few days, |
| 1:22.6 | our president has acted in more and more disturbing ways, as if this were possible. |
| 1:28.3 | From his erratic actions on Iran to posting an image of himself literally as Jesus, |
| 1:35.5 | and more, his dangerous and blasphemous actions, well, they leave me practically speechless. |
| 1:42.5 | At an emotional level, this moment reminds me of a situation many of our good faith listeners |
| 1:48.6 | have described for themselves. |
| 1:50.8 | It is, say, Thanksgiving, and the extended family has gathered around the dinner table. |
| 1:57.5 | Then, in the middle of dinner, your crazy uncle, who is rarely seen by anyone, starts |
| 2:03.5 | launching into an incomprehensible and offensive diatriad. |
| 2:09.5 | Everyone is speechless and there's no one who can stop him midway. |
| 2:14.6 | Finally, someone gently changes the subject to something more fruitful for everyone. |
| 2:21.3 | That is how I feel right now. We feel speechless at the craziness and none of us listening can stop it. |
| 2:29.9 | We at good faith will, of course, in the future, bring up and discuss the topic of the |
... |
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