Seth & Nirva's new song cries out for 'mercy' for America: We've ‘crossed into the danger zone’
Acclaimed husband/wife duo Seth & Nirva released the new single “Mercy” off of their long-awaited album. As well as being a personal prayer, the song is a cry of repentance on behalf of America.
The duo’s anticipated album, One Voice, will be released on March 13 and features 13 tracks of both music and spoken-word vignettes. Seth & Nirva, who have tackled real-life topics head-on in the past as a biracial couple and ministers of the Gospel, continue to provide content that is vulnerable and personal.
Their new single, “Mercy,” models the book of Psalms from the Bible as the psalmist cries out for God to show up and have mercy on the land. The couple said God continues to remain merciful although we as a people deserve wrath.
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The following is The Christian Post's premiere of their video, “Mercy,” and an edited transcript of CP's interview with Seth & Nirva, who discuss the concept and reason behind the new single.
Christian Post: “Mercy” is a message so many need to hear right now. We live in a time where there is not much self-reflection and blessings is what people pray for instead of God's mercy. Can you talk about that?
Seth & Nirva: Yeah, you said it. There’s definitely a tendency toward entitlement, and we have also largely lost the concept of the holiness of God. Many are not even aware how far we have fallen short of the glory of God collectively and individually. So one aspect of this song does have to do with repentance. There’s an old prayer called the “Jesus prayer” that many have used through the ages that basically says, “Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This informs the song as well as some of the Psalms where the writer is crying out for God’s mercy for everything from forgiveness, to healing, financial help, perseverance, and justice.
There are a variety of reasons to seek God for His mercy and that’s what we tried to capture in this song and video.
CP: America’s in need of God's mercy as it’s now actively promoting things the Bible calls evil as good, such as redefining identity, killing the innocent, political corruption, social injustice. What inspired you to pen this song?
Seth & Nirva: For sure, we have definitely crossed into the danger zone that the prophet Isaiah warned us about long ago of calling “evil good, and good evil.” When you think of the 60 million plus innocent human beings we have legally killed in the womb since Roe vs. Wade, and how we are indoctrinating elementary school kids with the sexual anarchy propagated by radical LGBTQ activists, it’s a wonder God hasn’t blown us off the map.
When we wrote this song, we did get the sense that although the lyric literally refers to an individual person praying, at a deeper level it represents the land itself crying out for mercy. In this sense, we aren’t just asking for forgiveness, but we are asking God to come and bring correction and justice — to draw the leaders responsible for this evil to repentance, or to remove them and bring judgment upon them if they refuse.
CP: The song is God-breathed and is an emotional listening experience. Can you share your personal experience with it?
Seth & Nirva: This song definitely feels like the centerpiece of the album for us, and the one we resonate most with. It felt like God’s grace was on it from beginning to end. Every now and then as an artist, you connect deeply with a song and inspiration seems to keep coming right up until you finalize the master. This happened on this song. Months after we recorded it and thought we were finished we added the whole “fall like rain” part that ended up becoming a reprise on the album and that we used at the end of the video. We often find ourselves singing the song as a devotional prayer, and we hope it inspires others to pray for mercy for themselves and for their land.
CP: The video features a number of people. What was the message and story behind that?
Seth & Nirva: We wanted to capture people from all different walks of life, as we know that tragedy hits us all no matter our race, gender, or economic status. We all need the mercy of God! As we were filming that day, we actually got to sit down with many of them and hear their stories. Quite a few of them had been through some incredibly difficult circumstances.
The first lady highlighted in the video, for instance, lost her legs to a debilitating disease that she continues to fight. Yet she had so much joy in the Lord as she recounted how He had been with her and seen her through it all. Another guy had almost lost his life in a motorcycle accident, but God miraculously restored his health and mobility. It ended up being something of a testimony service that day that was really encouraging.
CP: Tell us about the new album and what else is to come from Seth & Nirva?
Seth & Nirva: Our album One Voice is set to release March 13. It is a mix of songs and spoken word vignettes (sermons, prayers, and monologues) on the topic of unity. In our culture, we often hear calls to “unity,” “love” and “inclusion.” Unfortunately, these words are typically understood or defined in unbiblical and incoherent ways. We wanted to make sure these songs weren’t interpreted through these lenses, so we put in the spoken-word vignettes to act as sort of an interpretive key.
We hope this album will encourage the Body of Christ to rise up as one and stand for the ways of God in a culture increasingly set against biblical Christianity.
We also have a podcast called “Freemind” where we address cultural issues from a biblical perspective with an emphasis on apologetics. We started the podcast last year and have had the privilege of interviewing leading Christian thinkers such as John Stonestreet, Nancy Pearcey, Sean Mcdowell, and JP Moreland on topics ranging from LGBTQ activism, critical theory, abortion, and many other hot-button issues. We are up to 58 episodes, and we plan on putting out one per week this year.
We also plan to continue traveling and speaking and singing. We recently accepted positions on staff at New Life Church in the San Francisco Bay area and are in the process of moving out there from our current home in Lakeland, Florida. So quite a full plate at the moment, but we are excited about this next season.
