The Ragamuffin Bard

Welcome back to a brand new season of Speaking with Joy! This episode sings the praises of Rich Mullins, an artist steeped in scripture, with a heart like an open wound, and eyes that saw glory in creation. Listen below!

“Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise
”

— Rich Mullins, "The Color Green"

FUN FACT: Rich Mullins and his friends wrote a Rock Opera based on a Wild West retelling of the life of Saint Francis. You can read the lyrics from the sight below…
Canticle of the Plains (Life of Saint Frank)

“We are frail
We are fearfully
And wonderfully made
Forged in the fires
Of human passion
Choking on the fumes
Of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are”

— Rich Mullins, "Not As Strong As We Think We Are"
















Rich Mullins: A Devotional Biography: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

By James Bryan Smith





















The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

By Brennan Manning