Music
Can someone tell me what purpose music serves with regards to our evolutionary development? Is music critical for the fittest to survive? But there it is, in every human culture that ever existed – like food, shelter and clothing. Not so much a 'nice to have' but more a 'must have'. And yet it provides no physical benefit, like food, water or air. It reminds me of a thought that came to me once – what purpose does the acknowledgement of beauty serve other than to prepare us for paradise?
During a recent YouTube journey I came across the classic recording of the Beatles, All You Need is Love. The recording was originally part of a worldwide live broadcast called Our World which took place on June 25, 1967. (Remember? 🙂 It’s only been 50 years!) As I watched and listened I got to think, ‘Boy, that must have been a really bad day for satan’. Here we were, humankind, coming to the age old realization that love is the answer. How freaked out was satan when the record immediately shot up to number one and became the anthem for the Summer of Love. What went through his head? ‘Uh-oh, I wonder if this time it will stick?’
I mean this wasn’t the first time that we, as a race, had heard this message. The Old Testament speaks about loving your neighbor as yourself. And certainly Jesus’s entire earthly ministry was built upon His new commandment, “that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:33-34) And, who has not attended a wedding and heard St. Paul’s amazing dissertation on love (1Cor 13:1-13),…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Truth is truth, and truth scares the heck out of the devil. But you know what scares the devil the most – us believing the truth, us living it. So imagine his chagrin, when the most popular foursome of all time is live, singing around the world, ‘all you need is love’. I mean even Mick Jagger (Mr. Sympathy for the Devil himself) is on the video joining in. He must have thought his days were truly numbered. (I guess getting tossed out of Heaven was probably a down day, but that day wasn’t all bad for old beelzelbub since he did sort of get what he was looking for when he wound up here on earth, bustin’ our chops.)
But how bad a day would it be if we all actually ‘got it’…actually made love our goal, all day, and then every day? What if we actually took the Lennon and McCarthy hymn to heart and looked at each of our problems, our sufferings, and those of others and figured out a way to love our way through them? Well, I’m thinking that would remind our evil antagonist that indeed we do have a plan b, the best one around, and that we just might be able to turn some of those evil grins upside down. What do you say? Are you into doing a little chop-busting of our own? Give the devil a bad day. All you need is love.
Feel it…g’head…Feel it!
What makes a great song? Great beat, great lyrics, great instrumentals, great performance and great video. This song has all that and more. The song by Toby Mac is from his Grammy award winning album, This Is Not A Test. The album won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. (I’m sure you didn’t see that category selection made on TV.) The song is called Feel It. And what makes it greater than just your standard great song is that it surprises you. If you really don’t listen to contemporary Christian music much you might start if this is the stuff that is coming out these days. I mean if you were listening to a set of contemporary hip hop tunes and this came on you wouldn’t flinch. I could see Justin Timberlake singing this song real easy…The tune and rhythm is amazing. I love that Toby can deliver this message of blind faith in such a fresh and truly contemporary way. I’m thinking this could easily play on a lot of contemporary Spotify and Pandora stations. So enough of me…Click the link and listen for yourself and see if you agree – Click Here. The lyrics are below and I have added it to the Video of the Moment because it is so cool.
When I sit back and imagine
Life without You, I can’t fathom
How I ever thought I’d make it on my own
And there’s at least a million reasons
I’m still standing here believin’
You’re my comfort, You’re my healin’
This I know (this I know)
Well, you can’t see the wind, but it moves the leaves
From the bottom to the top of the tallest trees
You are everything I will ever need
And they can’t take that from me
Oh, I feel it in my heart
I feel it in my soul
That’s how I know
You take our brokenness and make us beautiful
Yeah, that’s how I know
Everybody talkin’ like they need some proof
But what more do I need than to feel You
When I sit back and imagine
Life without You, I can’t fathom
How I ever thought I’d make it on my own
And there’s at least a million reasons
I’m still standing here believin’
You’re my comfort, You’re my healin’
This I know (this I know)
Well, you can’t see the wind, but it moves the leaves
From the bottom to the top of the tallest trees
You are everything I will ever need
And they can’t take that from me
Oh, I feel it in my heart
I feel it in my soul
That’s how I know
You take our brokenness and make us beautiful
Yeah, that’s how I know
(Can’t take that from me)
Love came crashin’ in
Never gonna be the same again
Yeah, You came crashing in
You wrecked me, You wrecked me
Love came crashin’ in
Never gonna be the same again
Yeah, You came crashing in
You wrecked me
That’s how I know
Oh, I feel it in my heart
I feel it in my soul
That’s how I know
You take our brokenness and make us beautiful
Yeah, that’s how I know
Oh, I feel it in my heart
I feel it in my soul
That’s how I know
You take our brokenness and make us beautiful
Yeah, that’s how I know
That’s how I know
Everybody talkin’ like they need some proof
But what more do I need than to feel You
Everybody talkin’ like they need some proof
But what more do I need than to feel You
Submitted by Eizzle:
Before we left it was a pretty typical morning. I had brushed my teeth and shaved, and Yodee was patiently waiting for me to finish so we could go on our walk. We left the apartment about 4:00am. It was dark out, of course, as usual, probably around 50 degrees, and very quiet. There is a peaceful stillness that early in the morning, which allows your senses even more clarity and attunement than usual. It’s probably one of the reasons why I love experiencing the world at that hour.
But something was different. I noticed it within the first 10 seconds of us being outside. It wasn’t completely quiet. I could hear a bird chirping in the distance. Sound carries farther in the morning and I sensed it was coming from the park across the way. Just a single bird. I probably would have thought nothing of it, although it was unusual. I can’t recall hearing any birds chirping or singing that early in the morning. What made this even more unique was that after Yodee and I had walked about five minutes, I realized the bird had been singing the entire time. Chirping, tweeting, whistling. It was quite melodic. Yodee and I got closer to the park and the bird continued. We were on the other side of the street and I could tell the bird wasn’t far away. How special, I thought. The bird didn’t sound in distress. There seemed to be joy in the bird’s music. Was it expressing happiness? Was it calling out to a loved one? Or was it just taking it upon itself to express what made it special. Creating something just to add its contribution of beauty to this morning. And it didn’t matter to it who was listening. Or whether anybody thought it was good or bad. It was its own symphony, its own testament of self, of being. (Hear what Eizzle heard by playing the clip below.)
Such deep thoughts while I’m walking the dog, right? Yodee and I headed back to the apartment and I could still hear that bird continuing on with his song. What a wonderful way to start the day, I thought. I fed Yodee, gave him a hug, and then left the apartment for my morning walk. It was about 4:30am now. I closed the door behind me. It was still very dark. And still very quiet…except for that bird. He was still singing. Still sounding poetic and purposeful. I did one of those motionless headshakes that happens in our brain sometimes. Wow, I thought. But then I also thought, I have to go find this bird. So instead of my usual walking path, I headed to the park. I crossed the street. There was nobody outside of course, and hardly any cars on the road. The bird was somewhere in the dog run, a fenced-in area. I found the tree where the bird was singing from and looked up at it from behind the fence. I couldn’t see the bird in the darkness but it had been singing the entire time I went to find it. Who knows how long it’d been singing before Yodee and I first left some 40 minutes ago. I didn’t want to disturb it so I stood quietly there and just listened. One minute. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Whether he knew it or not, the bird was putting on a concert just for me. It was so absolutely lovely. I quietly took out my phone and made several recordings of its songs. I wanted to capture this moment. God gave me this gift and I wanted to honor and appreciate it for the rest of my life. (Hear more of what Eizzle heard by playing the clip below.)
I then continued on with my walk and a short time later the bird’s music faded because I had gone too far away. I kept thinking about that special moment and all the things that it brought with it. The thought that each of us can create and add beauty to this world. That we almost have an obligation to share whatever the gifts are that God gave us. Whether we’re a bird, a person, a flower, a sunrise. And that we also have the opportunity to be recipients, to appreciate those gifts from others and other things, those wonders. If we stay aware of them. If we keep our eyes open for them. If we listen for them. If we look for the beauty, for the joy, and the good. God may have even been telling me it was not only an opportunity for me to experience and appreciate these little things all around me, but a responsibility.
About a half hour later as I walked it remained dark and very still and I came back to the park and to that dog run and to that fence and to that tree. The bird was still singing. It was now almost 5:30am. I thanked the bird out loud. I stood there again just listening. A couple of minutes went by, and the bird stopped singing. Amazing I thought. Bravo, little bird! I smiled and headed back to the apartment to get ready for work.
About a minute later in the distance behind me as I walked away…the bird started singing again. (It doesn’t get old.)
Things aren’t as bad as they seem
If you are around my age (55+) you probably remember a movie musical from the sixties called ‘Bye, Bye, Birdie’. A satire about the rise of rock n’ roll in the US and the super popularity of its stars like Elvis. There is a song in it, titled, ‘What’s the matter with kids today?’ where Paul Lynde bemoans the trials of parenting “…noisy, crazy sloppy, lazy loafers.” And I guess it is easy to think of our younger generation as less than we were at their age. Time has a way of clouding the bad and brightening the good we may have done. But I have to tell you that if you spend some quality time with young people today you will find that they are not much different and in many ways, even more mature and committed than we may have been. I have three examples of recent experiences that have encouraged me to feel good about our future:
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a retreat for EDGE middle-schoolers as one of the team leaders. (Leader is not my term, but what our church labels the adults and teens that help to facilitate the program.) As usual I volunteered with the presumption that I might have some knowledge or experience that might help one of these kids to get a grip on a confusing subject – for kids and adults – God, religion and their own beliefs. And as usual, I soon discovered that I was the one that needed the learning. My association with this program and these kids has been an instrumental part in developing where I am today in my own spiritual life. Once you actually are able to engage them in a discussion about God, their lives, their families and their friends it becomes pretty obvious that these kids understand much more than I did at that age. And although many of them are from fairly well off families, they get that they are blessed.
This week I attended a Christian concert that had about 10 popular Christian bands and a couple of preachers, it was cool, and again inspiring if you can imagine a huge church service 4-hours long with video screens, a light show, fog machines and huge speakers. It was a great show but maybe a bit odd in how it was managed. No advance ticket purchases, cash only purchase of $10 (yes $10!) at the door and over 15,000 people waiting on two lines. Once the doors opened, the lines did get redirected and somehow everyone paid their $10 to the guys holding buckets at the door. Now, coming from NYC the thought of collecting cash in buckets at such a large concert seems a bit whacky. That’s about $150,000 in cash out on the concourse. But it all went off without incident. Thousands of people waiting patiently on lines that literally wrapped around the coliseum and into the parking lot. Not one fight, not one obnoxious (more…)
Read, pray, sing, forgive…..repeat**It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real
It takes everything you have just to say the word…
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying ‘Set It Free’
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it’s power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Read, pray, sing, forgive…..repeat
Be a Good Do-bee
I was cruising through some playlists last week and came across a newer version of the Doobies doing Jesus is Just Alright. Great song all around – really showcases the individual talents of the band members…When I watched the older version which was contemporary with the song’s release back in the 70’s with a newer version from this century, it was fun…see if you can recognize each of the guys, whom by the way still get it…Click Here and Enjoy. (Hit ‘Play All’)
A Divine Playlist
When my brother passed away a few years back, we played some Steely Dan music at his wake. He was a big fan and I think it helped the friends and family that knew this about him. It got me to thinking at the time about what kind of music I would I would want to be associated with when that day comes. You live long enough you’ll hear all sorts of music that sticks with you. As a child of the 70’s the real classics like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Doors are some of my favorites. And although I would never admit it at the time, Disco, Michael Jackson and E,W, & F make me wish I would have spent more time figuring out how to dance. In retrospect I find many types of music very enjoyable, from Pearl Jam to Reggae, each represent a different part of my life, and all bring me back to a particular place or time. I know that most people (more…)
I started writing this post in order to tell you about a song I heard the other day that reminded me again that real truth is all around us. It shows itself in everyday common sense, in cliches, old wives tales, rules of thumb, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. There is just something about truth that strikes a chord. Since we were originally created in truth, we have a natural ability to detect it and know it as truth. Sort of the same way we seek warmth, or water, food or love. Unfortunately, we live in a world where there are great efforts made to manipulate, spin and sometimes even fabricate the truth to fit a particular agenda. Now since God only creates truth, this characteristic has its source in Satan and is traced to the day that he introduced mankind to sin in the form of disobedience to God. And from there we have forever been subject to peeling away layers of deception in order to dwell in what we were made to dwell – absolute truth. A result of all this demonic chicanery, and, evidence of our desire to know the truth, is that there are literally millions of police, investigators, historians, researchers, fact-checkers, congressional committees, and news-people around the world whose sole job is to uncover truth. We are preoccupied with it, whereas it was never God’s intention to have this search for truth take up any of our time; we were intended to live truth by simply obeying God’s Word.
So what is my point? Well, back to this song. One of the ways I have found that (more…)