Dear Andrew Peterson,
I dreamed about you last night. It was so vivid in my mind when I woke up that for once I decided to write it down and share. Forgive me if I add too many dreamland details that can only make sense to the dreamer.
In my dream I had finally (finally!) gotten the chance to see you sing. It was some kind of open air performance where you were almost a part of the audience – very relaxed and fun. At the end of the concert, you had your twin brother (with freaky dark eyes – who looked nothing like you) come up and play the last song with you.
You were both playing electric guitars with no other accompaniment. It was a Jewish melody – you called it “The Ten Commandments” – and I’m sorry to say that the two of you played quite badly. You would start and then stop, and then start again. And then stop again. He kept saying, “Andrew, would you just play it the old way that we both know?! Stop trying new things with this!” Eventually, you lost your audience’s attention and most of the people wandered off.
Which gave me the opportunity to sit down beside you and have a conversation with you. I started out by saying, “I’ve been listening to your CD Redemption Songs a lot lately.” And then I said in my sleep what I might tell you in person if I had the chance and was able to think straight in the face of fame.
Because of your song, it’s been firmly imbedded in my mind that the word Hosanna means ‘save us.’ All of my life, if I’ve ever taken the time to think about it at all, I’ve assumed that it means ‘Praise God.’ But when I heard you sandwich the word Hosanna in between the lines, “I am hunted by the hounds of addiction” and “I have lied to everyone who trusts me,” it was time for my praise-God definition to be questioned.
That’s kind of what I said in my dream, although I think I went on and on very wordily with no interruptions from you. Then we followed everyone else on a hike where our conversation was totally interrupted by little girls who were picking poisonous berries that looked like blueberries and raspberries.
So I’ve been thinking about the word Hosanna lately – isn’t it interesting that a word meaning “Save!” could turn into an expression of praise…. And when did that happen? Before the people shouted Hosanna to the son of David? Or was the meaning changed after…?
Sincerely,
a devoted fan who sometimes thinks about actually writing to you in person to let you know how encouraging and inspiring your words are…
ps – I enjoy getting a mental image of a person’s situation as they were writing the words in front of me. Maybe someone else does too. ….. During the entire writing of this entry in the very middle of the night, an overactive mouse was running around my study, obnoxiously avoiding the very blatant mousetraps that my husband set; one of which (I believe) is his destiny. I did not scream – I tucked my legs up on my comfy piano bench and kept typing as I waited for the snap.
pps – I’m still waiting.
