The Catalyst

The Catalyst


     This album has been 5 years in production, with disaster and disappointment dogging nearly every step in the process, ranging from lost hard drives & vocal surgery to interpersonal conflicts and even babies. So much opposition and faltering vision assailed our merry band that several times along the journey we stopped altogether and prayed weather or not this recording was even the LORD'S will for us at this time. Although perhaps lacking in a cohesive underlying stylistic theme, and marred by our own artistic and technical inadequacies (a man who produces himself has a fool for a client) we feel at peace about the first aural offering from Canopy in ten years, and it is our heartfelt hope that somewhere in this jumbled fumbling you will be ministered to somehow and share with us this peace that surpasses understanding. That the First Cause in the Universe would make Himself known to you more deeply and be a Catalyst for change in your life as He has in ours. Merry Christmas!
you can listen to the songs in streaming format if you want a quick taste; however you can invest a little more time and download the MP3 versions to your computer for a richer (and recommended) listening experience. As a matter of fact, feel free to right click and select "save as" and download these songs and burn them to cd for a FREE copy of the album, be our guest.

The Catalyst may also be purchased for any donation
The Catalyst - Canopy

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The Catalyst


"Doxology" lyrics stream download mp3
"Ascribe to the Lord " lyrics stream download mp3
"Tangle of Green " lyrics stream download mp3
"The Catalyst " lyrics stream download mp3
"Holdin' On " lyrics stream download mp3
"Your Love Has Carried Me " lyrics stream download mp3
"His Ways/By the Meek" lyrics stream download mp3
"Scandal" lyrics stream download mp3
"Nothing Can Separate Us " lyrics stream download mp3
"Lead Me " lyrics stream download mp3
Troubadour" lyrics stream download mp3
"Where Your Treasure Is " lyrics stream download mp3
"Author and Finisher" lyrics stream download mp3
"The Catalyst reprise " lyrics stream download mp3




+Doxology


©2010
Music by: Alicia Motter-Vlahakos
Words based on Romans 11:33-36



Oh, the depth of the riches
Of the wisdom and knowledge of God
How unsearchable His judgments
And His paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or has been His counselor?
Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To God be the glory forever! Amen.

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+Ascribe to the Lord


©2005
Words and Music by: Kevin Butler, based on Psalm 29

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name
Worship the LORD in the splendor of His Holiness

The voice of the LORD is over the waters
The God of glory thunders
The voice of the LORD rips apart the cedars
With majesty and power

The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire
It shakes the barren desert
The LORD is enthroned over the flood waters
He reigns as King forever

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+Tangle Of Green


©2010
Words by: Alicia Motter-Vlahakos
Music by: Edward and Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

Today we walked in a tangle of green,
Maybe one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
There reigned a cloud of the lacy leaves thick,
Only touched by privileged specks of light.

Every little blade of grass,
They flaunted their own gleaming droplet,
Charming regal rain drops
Had so lovingly bestowed to their admirers,
Wholly inspired.

We paused to gleam in the Eden-like scene
And praise our regal reigning King.

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+The Catalyst


©2005
Words by: Cynthia Butler
Music by: Kevin and Cynthia Butler

Heavenly lantern who is hung among
A bear and a bull and a scorpion;
Rising with morning in fiery grace;
Sinking with evening veiling your face:

Someone must have called your name
Out of the darkness.
Someone set your orb aflame
Like a ruby embedded in amethyst.
Someone was the Catalyst.

Gentle giant who drifts among
A wave and a reef with an echoing song;
Rising and breaking through rippling glass;
Diving through shadows and shimmering shafts:

Someone must have called your name
Out of the ocean depths.
Someone must have built your frame
Like a vessel that rides on the water crests.
Someone was the Catalyst.
Someone was . . .

The Catalyst who spoke the word
And caused all heaven and earth to emerge;
The Catalyst who, by will alone,
Brought into being all things that are known.
For order cannot come out of chaos on its own.

Someone must have called my name
Out of unconsciousness.
Someone must have pre-ordained
That spirit should harbor itself in flesh
Someone was the Catalyst
Someone was . . .

The Catalyst who spoke the word
And caused all heaven and earth to emerge;
The Catalyst who, by will alone,
Brought into being all things that are known.
For order cannot come out of chaos on its own.
Someone was the Catalyst.
Someone was the Catalyst.

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+Holdin' On


©2005
Words & Music by: Cynthia Butler

Holdin' on, holdin' on for Heaven
Lord, help me, 'cause I feel the fire.
Holdin' on, holdin' on for Heaven
Lord, may You be my one desire.
Until the day that all temptation is gone,
I'm holdin' on, holdin' on, holdin' on,
Holdin' on for Heaven.

Satan lays a table of temptation.
He brings a menu, says the food is free.
Harmless pleasure or deadly poison;
I can choose to see what I want to see.
I could feast until my conscience was numb,
But I know there's something sweeter to come,
So I'm holdin' on…

Satan says, 'There's no use fighting.
You've got no power to resist the urge.'
But I've got a weapon, and I have armor,
'Cause I've got the Spirit and the Holy Word.
I'm not a victim or a slave or a pawn.
My Jesus bought my freedom. So I'm holdin' on…

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+Your Love Has Carried Me


©2000
Words and music by: Kevin Butler

Your love has carried me
Through the darkest night
Your love is leading me
To the morning light
I want to give You praise
I want to lift my voice
I'm gonna sing it to You
Let my soul rejoice

You called me to worship You
Bow down before You
Well, here I am
For all that You've done
I bring praise and thanksgiving
To You, Oh Lord
To You, Oh Lord

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+His Ways


©2006
Words and music by:
Cynthia Butler and Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But in the end it leads to death.
For salvation cannot be earned with works
It is the gift of God by grace through faith.
No question about it,
Some will live their lives, straining their minds,
Piling up their benevolence,
Hoping that when God comes
To judge the world, He will honor their accomplishments.

But His ways are not like our ways.
His ways are not like our ways.
He's the foundation for sinners who repent
And the stumbling block for righteous men who can't accept
That His ways are not like our ways.

Every dynasty, every kingdom of this world,
Every government passes away.
It is the destiny of anything built by man
But the word of God, it will remain.
And there's an empire
Where the last are first, the first are last,
The King became a servant.
And the LORD declares that this one will rise above
Every powerful establishment.

Praise be to the God whose foolishness has shamed
The wisdom of this whole earth.
Praise be to the God whose weakness at the cross
Was the conception of our new birth.
Oh, thank God that His ways are not like our ways.
Oh, thank God that His ways are not like our ways.

(Prov. 14:12; Eph. 2:8; Isa. 55:9; 1 Cor. 1:23; Luke 20:17-18; Matt. 20:16; 1 Cor. 1:25)

+By the Meek


©2006
Words and music by: Cynthia Butler and Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

See His weapon, the wooden cross.
Made Himself the victim, but the war wasn't lost.
See His body, broken as He planned.
Led to the slaughter like a Passover lamb.
And the war rages on,
Although the victory was won
Before the war began.
And life conquered death
Before it ever stole the breath
From the lungs of a man.
And the One who won the war
Has been breaking every sword,
Bringing the soldiers to their knees.
To show the war can't be won
By the ruthless or the strong
But by the meek.

See the Savior rising from the earth
And the fire of His Spirit descending on the Church.
See the martyr laying down his life,
Following the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

See the heavens opening
And Stephen crying out in victory:
"I see Jesus standing by the throne!"
And God took his spirit as they threw their stones.

(Matt. 5:5; Acts 7:56-60)

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+Scandal


©2006
Words and music by:
Alicia Motter-Vlahakos and Cynthia Butler

She was young, just newly a woman.
She must have trembled when she told him
She was to have a son.
He was kind, but he must have been hurting.
The one he loved had been unfaithful.
He was to leave her silently,
But suddenly, in the night,
While he was sleeping,
He heard an angel tell him, truly
This was the son of God.

So they were wed
But couldn't silence the whispers
About what kind of child this was,
And whose he was not.

He was born into scandal
And grew to be despised
Except by those who dared to accept
This perfect man's scandalous life.

No one denied that his mother tried
To raise her son in such a way
To make him a good upright, Jewish boy.
But some had said that they caught him with sinners-
The kind of men that wine ensnares
And the women that they employ.

He walked the road, naked and bleeding,
Burdened by a heavy cross, and surrounded by screams and scoffing.

Oh, Jesus bore our scandal and never felt ashamed
To call His own, those of us who call upon His name.
Oh, Jesus bore our scandal and never felt ashamed
To call His own, those of us who call upon His name.

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+Nothing Can Separate Us


©2006
Words and music by:
Alicia Motter-Vlahakos and Cynthia Butler
Nothing can separate us from God's love
Which is in Christ Jesus.
Nothing can separate us from God's love
Which is in Christ Jesus.
Shall trouble, hardship, persecution, hatred?
No, nothing can separate us.
Shall famine, danger, poverty or hunger?
No, nothing, nothing, nothing, no nothing

Here in a foreign land,
Tempted by our fears,
Pressed against our doubt,
Losing the will to fight,
But those that follow Christ will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.

Here in the calm of home,
Blinded by desire,
Drunk on earthly wealth,
Slowly becoming numb,
But those that God foreknew will be conformed to the likeness of His perfect son.

I will not lay aside the grace of God.
I must rely on His promises.

(Rom. 8:35-37; John 8:12; Rom. 8:29)
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+Lead Me


©2006
Words and music by:
Cynthia Butler and Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

Lead me beside still waters.
Let me know Your peace.
When You shepherd me, gentle Father
Nothing can harm me.
I live in serenity.

What are the chances
That I could rely on my circumstances
To make me satisfied?
There are no guarantees
That I could stand alone and fate would favor me,
But Your faithfulness has shown that You will lead me…

Self-serving missions
Never seem to remedy the heart's condition.
They bring us to our need but never let us find
The thing that we've been looking for to ease our mind.
It only comes from You, oh LORD, so lead me…

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+Troubadour


©2010
Words by: Cynthia Butler with contributions by Kevin Butler
Music by: Cynthia Butler and Alicia and Buddy Motter-Vlahakos

The other day I was just thinkin' that there's another way to live
Besides being the average American family
with two and a half kids,
Livin' in a little house on the corner right next to the Joneses,
Savin' up for retirement and hopin' that the government
keeps their promises.
I could stay in the comforts of predictability,
But I'm longin' to take the open road wherever it may lead.

I wanna be travelin' like a troubadour,
Like a missionary minstrel,
With a song and a suitcase, singin' the gospel.
I wanna be walkin' with Jesus from town to town
With hope for the lost and poor;
Travelin' like a troubadour.

Perfect little job, perfect little life in a perfect little town;
It seemed to me to be the right thing to do
To buy a house and settle down.
So I assimilated, became domesticated,
While my dreams sat on a shelf
'Til the doors of opportunity opened right before me when my bridges burned themselves.
Lookin' back I have no regrets; no I'm really quite at peace.
To tell you the truth, I think that I have been
Waiting for this release.

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+Where Your Treasure Is


©2006
Words & Music by: Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

Watch out!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Your life does not consist of what you have.
Learn well:
Jesus Christ is all that you need.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will live.
For where your treasure is,
There your heart, there your heart will live.

Let go of these worldly things
Before they drag you down.
Why set out to find yourself
When you're already found?

It's a proven fact you know:
You can't serve God and greed.
You'll love one and hate the other;
There's nothing in between.

Watch out!

(Luke 12:15; Luke 12:34; Luke 16:13) back to the top


+Author & Finisher


©2006
Words & Music by: Alicia Motter-Vlahakos

You have blessed me so wonderfully
All my life is lived abundantly
Sweet Jesus, just like You promised

And so now though I am in distress
I won't disregard your promises
Sweet Jesus, You'll never leave us

Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of faith
I am not afraid to trust in You
If You were willing to exchange Your body for my soul
Can I not believe that You will answer my call?

I would be a fool to turn away
Everywhere I turn, I see my faith confirmed
My path is sure

And so now though I am in the dark
I won't doubt what I have seen in light
Your truth is unstained by lies

(Heb. 12:2)

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