New: Please Forgive (For The Times)... Sometimes we learn from you!

Please Forgive (For The Times) by Drew Lane, featuring students from Good Shepherd, Kelmscott, WA (Reconciliation, forgiveness, examination of conscience)

We're often watching for patterns in the Butterfly House. Sometimes we notice that a song is "on the rise" because teachers have remembered an uppcoming event before we have.

Drew was looking at his royalty statement and noticed that Please Forgive, was being used a lot, and that without the support of a clip. So we decided to make one.

In late September, I just happened to have a spare morning in Perth and rang my favourite school and favourite WA APRE, Diana Newman, to see if we could shoot a video. This is the result. Drew also recorded a more acoustic version of the song and we invited three great singers to help us out with the choruses:

Manka Prior, Sacred Heart, Petone, NZ

Livie Jurd, St Mary's, Mackay, QLD

Dean Pilinis, St Luke's, Lalor, VIC

And here's Drew's notes on the song:

Saying “sorry” is not easy. Even when we know we’ve done the wrong thing, there’s a part of us that wants to stand our ground out of pride, fear or guilt. Nobody likes to admit when they’re wrong. Some see it as a sign of weakness or vulnerability. Sometimes we think that we can’t undo what we’ve done wrong. Some believe that they aren’t good enough to deserve forgiveness.

Yet, some of the most powerful words in any relationship are “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.” Why are they so powerful? Because it’s the point where we become open to one another and we show how much we value the other person.

I had been talking to my Year 5 class about this while exploring the sacrament of Reconciliation. I had said that forgiveness “restores the common ground between two people”. It was something that came out of my mouth that struck the students on a deep level, but also stayed with me. So much so that I began to write Please Forgive (For The Times).

Many of the lyrics in the song came from a brainstorming session that I held with the class to highlight reasons we may need to ask forgiveness: being angry, fighting, stealing, being rude, lying, hurting others, lack of loyalty, not helping, and taking people for granted. There were more, but these were the ones that really stood out to the class.

I like to think that Please Forgive (For The Times) is a slightly different musical way to approach the topic of forgiveness and reconciliation. Rather than being a ballad, it’s more up-tempo and has a certain energy and strength and propels the song forward. Perhaps that’s how we should be in the way we ask for forgiveness too; with determination to set things right and bring balance back to our relationships with others.