Song(s) of the Week

Kyle's Pick-Lantern by Josh Ritter

I've probably heard this song dozens of times, usually in the background. It's got a catchy melody & hook, but I never gave a thought to pay attention to any of the lyrics that aren't "be the light of my lantern, be my light". After the first couple of listens this week, I had a preconceived notion of what I thought the song was about. I need a light in the dark world. It's a theme Josh Ritter's visited before, in one of my favorite turns of phrase from him, he says "save all of your light for those who can't sleep at night". I think the song is about the symbiotic need humans have for each other. They need what others give them, but maybe more importantly, they need to give something up to the other person to survive. Where we cock it up is when we care more about what we're getting than what we're giving, & the song gives lots of examples in nature when that happens.

"tell me what's the point of light that you have to strike a match to find?"

I think the point of that line, is that the light's no good when you create it for yourself, it's better to get it from someone else, "hold it high for you, I'll hold it high for me".

Andrew's Pick-Keep Eye on Other's Gain by Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Some songwriters have a distinct voice when it comes to their songs. I'm not talking about their physical voice, I'm talking about their persona as a songwriter. Great songwriters can take on their own voice as well as sing as another character. I think "Keep Eye on Other's Gain" takes on a character he doesn't like, or at least one he doesn't agree with. At first listen, it sounds like the words are coming from someone who may have a compassionate perspective on wealth & possessions.

"others don't have a bed like mine, they sleep out in the rain. others hearts are guarded from the blows of random pain."

Letting this one soak in a bit, though, it becomes clear that the singer sees that as being by design. The song is seen as advice, most likely to a son or daughter. The person who sleeps out in the rain didn't have the same advice that he's giving his child. The advice, ultimately, is to "stay ahead" of everyone else, especially the guy who sleeps out in the rain. He's not cruel enough to say, "tough luck" to the guy, but he's not going to help him either. The writer of the song ignores that symbiotic need for humans to help each other as explained in the first song. It's a cynical view of the song, I know, but in many ways I think Oldham is a cynical songwriter. The song ignores what I was always taught as a kid to not worry about what other people have, it says the opposite, to keep eye on what everybody else has. Otherwise, they might have something you don't.

That's it for this week, I like how if you look closely enough, you can find correlations between the two songs.





(sorry I couldn't find the original)

This week's song of the week: The Fairest of the Seasons by Nico. Enjoy.



now that its time
now that the hour hand has landed at the end
now that its real
now that the dreams have given all they had to lend
i want to know
do i stay or do i go
and maybe try another time
and do i really have a hand in my forgetting?

now that i've tried
now that i've finally found that this is not the way
now that i've turned
now that i feel its time to spend the night away
i want to know
do i stay or do i go
and maybe finally split the rhyme
and do i really understand the undernetting?

yes, and the morning has me
looking in your eyes
and seeing mine warning me
to read the signs carefully

now that it's light
now that candle's falling smaller in my mind
now that its here
now that i'm almost not so very far behind
i want to know
do i stay or do i go
and maybe follow another sign
and do i really have a song that i can ride on?

now that i can
now that its easy, ever easy all around
now that i'm here
now that i'm falling to the sunlights and a song
i want to know
do i stay or do i go
and do i have to do just one
and can i choose again if i should lose the reason?

yes, and the morning has me
looking in your eyes
and seeing mine warning me
to read the signs more carefully

now that i smile
now that i'm laughing even deeper inside
now that i see
now that i finally found the one thing i denied
its now i know
do i stay or do i go
and it is finally i decide
that i'll be leaving
in the fairest of the seasons

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Big Kick, Plain Scrap-Nick Lowe, Labour of Lust

Tryin' to Get to Heaven-Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind

Five Hearts Breaking-Alejandro Escovedo

Drifter's Escape-Bob Dylan



Fairest of the Seasons-Nico

Happy Friday, friends...

andrew

Song(s) of the Week

My ol' pal & I decided to swap songs of the week, songs that mean a lot to us that we want to share with each other. We may or may not have heard the song the other chose to give us. At the end of the week, we tell each other what we feel about each others' songs. This is the first go at it, we'll see if it sticks.

Kyle's Pick-We Will All Be Changed by Seryn

We Will All Be Changed by Seryn is a big, ambitious, "conquer the world" type songs. I like songs like these, especially when the craft of the song lives up to the scope of it. A big song has a big sound to it, & has a subject matter that is open to different interpretations to it, at least for the listener if not for the writer of the song. It can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. I can only speculate on the writer's motivation or inspiration for this song, I can only tell you what it might mean for me as I listen to it. It doesn't stop there, though, I can hear it couple months from now & it might mean something completely different.

Our Pastor always says that when you read & study the bible, it changes you. This is the first thing I thought of when I heard this song. I hope this is happening, but I'm not always so sure. If I am, I don't feel like I'm changing too much. I feel like I'm always falling into the same old habits & the same old paralyzing mindsets. One of those paralyzing mindsets I have is the thought that people don't really change. My father in law, in his infinite wisdom, always gives the analogy that women marry men because they like the shell of the man, but they hope to shape him into something more. Men marry women hoping that they'll always stay the same. I wonder who comes out on top in that transaction, I'm not sure anybody does.

I think when we're at our best we make the best of what doesn't change or what we can't change, & I think that's the point of the song. There's a lot of that prayer that they say at the aa meetings about changing what can be changed & accepting what we can't change. The song's ultimate message is changing myself first. Maybe if I change myself first, others around me will change accordingly. Maybe they won't change, but maybe at least in my mind they will be the best of themselves that I see before all the bad things that I choose not to see.



Verse 1
Bb
Somehow we've gone and lost our way
Eb
This is where we are
Bb
Oh you lift your rusty brow
Eb
Little thoughts have weighed your vision down
Bb Eb
We move slowly, sewn in time

(We can only hope for this)

Chorus
Bb
We can shape but can't control

These possibilities to grow
Eb
Weeds amongst the push and pull

Waiting on the wind to take us
Bb
We can write with ink and pen

But we will sew with seeds instead
Eb
Starting with words we've said
Bb
And we will all be changed

Instrumental
Bb Eb
Oh, oh, oh--- Oh, oh, oh---

Verse 2
Bb
Speak now don't tarry on like it's
Eb
Always gonna be
Bb
Hold child this expectation
Eb
But don't forget to love

Chorus 2
Bb
We can shape but can't control

These possibilities to grow
Eb
Weeds amongst the push and pull

Waiting on the wind to take us
Bb
We can write with ink and pen

But we will sew with seeds instead
Eb
Starting with words we've said

And we will all be changed

Bridge 1
Bb Eb Bb
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh (Break)

Banjo/guitar solo with Bass

Bass
Eb Bb G Bb

Bridge 2 2x
Eb Bb
We look for home
G F Bb
But we'll never know
Eb Bb
Distance will grow
G F Bb
But I'll always know

Bridge 3 (just bass drum)
Eb Bb
We look for home
G F Bb (A capella)
But we'll never know
Eb Bb
Distance will grow
G F Bb
But I'll always know

Andrew's Pick-Hello In There, By John Prine

John Prine's music, to me, has always had the sound of a Saturday afternoon. You know how everyday has it's own kind of feel to it, some stronger than others. Saturday afternoon & Sunday morning have a strong feel to them, maybe it's because they are different from every other day. John Prine captures the feeling of Saturday afternoon, it's slow & poignant & usually lonely. It holds your attention very well. When I say Saturday afternoon, I'm not talking about football games or barbecues or anything like that, I'm talking about after the thrill of not working is gone & wondering how your going to fill the hours. Hello in There feels just like Saturday afternoon, some lazy kind of a.m. radio station that might put something interesting on because they know nobody's listening that could give a shit, but they might reach one person.

Hello in There's about getting old, obviously. It's a small song. There's no ambiguity about what it's about. When sung by a young person, it might sound condescending. "Hello in there!" sounds like "anybody home?". That old person might not know what's going on, they're wits are gone, they might be crazy, talking about some person that nobody knew to begin with. When sung by the cancer ravaged voice of John Prine, it touches upon a spark that burns deep & is not easily felt. The refrain could go either way, too.

you know that old trees just grow stronger?
and old rivers just grow wilder everyday?

The song has a "what about me?" feel to it. Am I like the old tree & the river, or am I some relic left on the shelf to be forgotten?

The song always reminds me of my grandpa. He was always on top of his game mentally, if not always physically. As he grew older, he'd sit in a chair just close enough to everybody to be seen, but too far away to be heard or to hear anybody. He always had some kind of wisdom to impart, the key was whether or not you chose to get close enough to him to pay any kind of attention. I know I didn't always listen to him as I should. As I'm writing this, I remember that Gramps died five years ago this month, & I sure wish I'd had a couple more conversations with him. I'm not sure if it's better to be there mentally while your body is failing you or vice versa. It must be hard to have, to quote a song, "a head full of ideas driving me insane", or to be not all there for a while before you go. I guess everybody's worth listening to & paying attention to. I know Gramps sure was.

Happy Monday, friends.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Buckets of Rain-Bob Dylan

Cruel to be Kind-Nick Lowe

Last Leaf on the Tree-Tom Waits

Baseball-Breathe Owl Breathe

Mutineer-Warren Zevon

andrew


andrew

You do what you must do & you do it well...

I've been thinking a lot lately about work. I happen to be in a men's bible study called Winning at Work & At Home & I'm reading Working by Studs Terkel. Subconsciously, I suppose doing both of these at the same time isn't really a coincidence, but Working has been sitting on my shelf for a long time & I didn't think to read it when we we started the section on work a few weeks ago. I just happened to pick it up the other night while I was playing with Lillian. Both ask the question, one implicitly, the other explicitly, why people do what they do.

Mostly what got me to thinking about work, though, are the pictures of my Grandfather that my sister posted on the computer. I always knew that my Grandpa worked in paint, I often boast about how he was one of the scientists that worked on the first exterior latex paint. Then it got me thinking about Opa, & how he gave me my first paying job (other than the money to go to Bud's party store my ol' man gave me for mowing the lawn) painting the cow palace. It probably took me a month to do a job that should've taken me four days, but luckily for Opa, I got paid by the job & not by the hour, not counting the life lesson & the lunch that Oma made for me everyday.

I can't say as though I'm extremely proud of my profession as a paint salesman. It pays fairly well, it's a relatively safe job, & for the most part, I think I'm pretty good at it. I usually enjoy it, although I'm not crazy about working for a big corporation & all the silly things that go along with that. Two of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to work are when people try to make their job out to be more important than it really is, or, on the other hand, when people just show up to collect a paycheck & don't give it their all. The most important thing for any man at his job, in my opinion, is if he has anything to show for himself the end of the day, & I usually can say I got something accomplished when I go home. I think I'm a pretty hard worker most of the time. I hate leaving work with unfinished business. My two favorite things about my job are shooting the breeze with my customers & putting paint away & cleaning & organizing the store. You get to know people pretty well doing my job, or at least as well as you want to know them. Getting to know them is good for business, but I'd like to say I'd get to know them even if it wasn't. Who knows? As far as putting paint away, there's something to be said about manual labor. Just about every man I know, or at least the ones I respect get an odd satisfaction out of manual labor.

Take my old man, for instance. He's a pastor, & a good one at that. I don't think he'd be half as good at what he does if he didn't grow up on a farm. He still works at the farm a lot. I think he gets his energy for being a pastor from working the land. Some people get their energy from talking to & being around other people, not my dad, he gets his energy from work. I never asked my dad how he came to the decision to be a pastor. The idea of pastors being "called" always intrigued me. I know in some way he was "called" by God to be a pastor, but I never knew how that actually happened, maybe it's a series of events, maybe it's God's voice actually entering his ears. Maybe he doesn't even know, but I do know that the world wouldn't be the same without him as a pastor. The reason I know he was "called" to be a pastor, is because, if given a choice, if it were up to him, I'm quite certain my old man would've chosen to be a builder or a farmer, or something where he works with his hands.

So maybe we are all "called" to do what it is we do. My mom & my sister are on this kick where they go on ancestry.com & figure out where are relatives come from. It's fascinating to me to reflect on my own life & all the tiny little decisions I've made that have greater consequences. For example, if I didn't know my friend Mike, & had we never went to Grand Valley State University, I never would've worked in the paint business. Had I never worked in the paint business, I never would've met my friends Dan & Kelly & they wouldn't have introduced me to my wife Christie. Had they never introduced me to Christie, Lillian wouldn't be here. So maybe our "calling" has nothing to do with what we want, maybe we're just God's vessels. Think of all the small, seemingly inconsequential decisions all of my ancestors made that led to me sitting here right now. Maybe the fact that Gramps was a paint man, & Opa hired me to paint was just the writing on the wall.

This may sound corny, but my biggest aspiration in life right now doesn't have much to do with a career, but rather to be Lillian's Dad & Christie's husband. Maybe Lillian will do something great, but that reminds me of a song, where a guy talks about his son, & he wonders how can he expect more out of his son than he did for himself. Have you ever seen that Cosby Show clip, where Theo gets bawled out for having bad grades? He tells his dad that he doesn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer like his parents, he just wants to be a regular person who drives truck. He tells his dad he hope he would love him anyway. His dad tells him that's the dumbest thing he's ever heard. The older I get, the more that scene bothers me, I know they were trying to say you should strive to be the best you can in life, but it implies that truck drivers & janitors don't strive to be their best. I like the poem where the guy tells his friend's newborn daughter that he hopes she turns out to be normal, if that what it takes for her to be happy. I hope I never give Lillian a big speech about how she needs to do something big & important with her life, & I don't want to be one of those parents who lives vicariously through their kids. That's just sad. I just hope whatever she's called to do, she does it the best she can. I think the world needs teachers & nurses or even janitors just as much, if not more, as they need CEO's or doctors or senators.

I'm not sure what I would do if I could do whatever I felt like. I've always dreamed about owning a record store or a book store, but in 20 years, there probably won't be anymore of those, besides, Grand Rapids already has a great record store. I've always dreamed about being an English Teacher, but those aren't exactly in high demand, either. Besides, I'm not sure I have the time or the patience to go back to school for that long. I always thought it might be something to be a congressman, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the personality for it. Besides, Ottawa or Kent Counties never elect Democrats, & I don't plan on moving. So, for now, I'll just keep on selling paint, after all, it's what I was called to do.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

I Was Meant for the Stage-The Decemberists



Angel From Montgomery-John Prine



Rivers & Roads-The Head & the Heart



America!-Bill Callahan



Moody's Mood For Love-King Pleasure




Have a good week, friends...

Every time I pass that way, I always hear my name...

Great Dylan albums tend to end in a way that signals towards the direction of the next album. It Ain't Me, Babe ends Another Side of Bob Dylan & warns that he was not merely a protest singer leading any kind of movement, & by the time Bringing It All Back Home came out, all those protest songs the folkies loved were gone. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue puts the final nail in the coffin of Bob Dylan's solo acoustic career & by the time Highway 61 Revisited came out, the solo acoustic songs were gone. Desolation Row, the last song from Highway 61 Revisited hints at the surrealism that could be found on Blonde on Blonde. Blonde on Blonde ends with the marathon Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, an ode to his new wife & a life off the road that would characterize his next eight years living the simple life & raising a family. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight closes out John Wesley Harding but sounds like it could be on the country album that follows it, Nashville Skyline.

Street Legal ends with a searching song, Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat). The song on the surface sounds like he's searching for a woman, but the song suggests the search for the woman is only a cover up for what the singer's (I say the singer, because we fall into the trap of assuming that a songwriter is always writing in first person) really searching for. With lines like "if you don't believe there's a price for this sweet paradise, just remind me to show you the scars" it sounds like the gospel is on his mind. He spent his next three albums singing the gospel.

Slow Train Coming, Saved & Shot of Love continue to amaze & confuse me ten years or so after hearing them for the first time. It's a strange intersection between the Christian faith I've grown up with my whole life & my favorite songwriter/performer who was always been a figure of rebellion. The move angered many of his fans in the same way he did when he plugged in an electric guitar 14 years prior. The concerts around this time had hostile audiences expecting to hear old songs that didn't have anything to do with Jesus & Dylan didn't give them what they wanted. Often he would respond to heckling with mini-sermons in between songs.

The first of these albums, Slow Train Coming, has some wonderful songs, but Dylan falls into the trap of being wronged by someone. I hear the same angry dismissive attitude of Positively Fourth Street, where the singer rejects others as being on the wrong side. It hardly meshes with the joy of being born again. There are also some odd & some might say racist lines about sheiks wearing nose rings. Even the song with the nicest sentiment, "I Believe in You", has an us vs. them quality to it, chastising family & friends for not understanding why the singer believes in his Savior.

The next album, Saved, however, seems to let go of the anger. The greatest example of this is "What Can I Do For You" where the singer admits he owes everything to his creator & finally gives his creator the best harmonica solo he possibly can. Saved was panned by critics & fans alike, but it's my favorite of the three gospel albums, both in the sound & in the lyrics. The live versions of these songs from that time are even better. There is a surrender in these songs, described best in the song "Saving Grace".

The wicked know no peace and you just can’t fake it
There’s only one road and it leads to Calvary
It gets discouraging at times, but I know I’ll make it
By the saving grace that’s over me

Shot of Love is an incredibly uneven album, both in content & in quality. Some of the songs speak of faith, others like Lenny Bruce go back to secular concerns. Around this time, Dylan began to add his old songs into his r'epertoire, with his old songs benefiting from a gospel sound.

This brings us back to transitions. Shot of Love ends with the beautiful Every Grain of Sand, a song that perhaps signals a new sound & a new direction for Bob Dylan's music. The song acknowledges that despite the fire & spirit of some of his earlier songs, there is some doubt that goes along with his newfound faith & perhaps hints at him moving away from it, depending on the last line, but I'll get to that later.

"When the pool of tears beneath my feet floods every newborn seed." This sounds like every newborn seed of faith washed away by one's own sorrow or doubt. I like the honesty in this song. We Christians have a way of only showing others our best side, especially if we can make ourselves look better before others. There's a line from the song Precious Angel off the Slow Train Coming album where he says "you either got faith or you got unbelief & there ain't no neutral ground". That sounds more confident than he sounds here in Every Grain of Sand. To admit doubt is to admit your own humanity, even if it makes you look weak in your faith. You have to appreciate the sincerity.

The song hints at Matthew 10:29-31. "29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

It also hints at that Footprints poem where someone is asking God about a dream they had walking along the beach. There are two footprints symbolizing the author walking with God, & during the hard times there are only one set of footprints. The author assumes that God left him during the hard times, but God tells him that he was being carried by God.

"I hear the ancient footprints like a motion of the sea. Sometimes I look & there's someone there, sometimes I look & someone's there, other times it's only me."

Back to the end the song, that could possibly effect the entire meaning of the song. Here we have the most significant lyric change of Bob Dylan's career. The album version ends cynically with "I'm hanging in the balance of the reality of man". "The reality of man" sounds to me like we are all stuck here with a puddle of tears searching for something that may or may not be there. Every live version of the song I've ever heard (which is quite a few), however, he ends the song more hopefully, "I'm hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan". Never before has a song's meaning changed so much with one lyric change. It hints that maybe those footprints were God's after all. This just goes to show you Dylan's power as a songwriter, but part of me wonders if this change is just another trick in his bag.

After Every Grain of Sand, after Shot of Love, Bob Dylan's music transitioned to a different direction, & never again did he write songs explicitly about his faith. He would continue to sing many of his gospel songs in concert, even to this day, none being performed consistently as good as Every Grain of Sand, always sung with the "perfect finished plan" ending. I've seen this song performed a couple different times in person, & it's always the highlight of the show, & I know it wouldn't be if it were sung in it's original form. Never before have I taken a song so personally. There's a question in there that every Christian must answer for themselves, or better yet, to allow God to reveal to them. For me, I choose to hear that we're hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan.

In the time of my confession,
in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet
flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me
reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in
the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to
look back on any mistake,
Like Cain,
I now behold this chain of events
that I must break.
In the fury of the moment
I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles,
in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence
and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals,
they have choked the breath
of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps
of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness
and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of
temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way
I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey
I come to understand
That every hair is numbered
like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches
in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream,
in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness
fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence
on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like
the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there,
other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance
of a perfect finished plan
Like every sparrow falling,
like every grain of sand.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Gettin' By-Jackie Greene

Beyond Here Lies Nothing-Bob Dylan, Together Through Life

James River Blues-Old Crow Medicine Show

Every Grain of Sand-Bob Dylan, Grand Rapids 2001

Early Morning Raid-Ian & Sylvia


Happy Wednesday, friends...

andrew

There's a Song My Mama Sang

It always amazes me when I come home from work every day, when Christie's been taking care of Lillian all day long, she is still smiling at her & laughing with her the same way as if she hadn't seen her in days. The amount of love Lillian receives from her mother is over abundant. Lillian is easy to love, most of the time, but even when she isn't Christie is patient & her love doesn't cease. I know she gets this from her mother & her grandmothers. My sister's got the same example from my mother & from Grandma & Oma. I've been blessed with some wonderful mothers. Let's all say a prayer for those girls who haven't been shown the same example, because some day they'll be mothers too.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Sing Me Back Home-Merle Haggard

This Land is Your Land-Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Troublesome Houses-Bonnie "Prince" Billy & the Cairo Gang

I'll Be Your Mirror-The Velvet Underground

Granny-Vic Chesnutt

Happy Sunday, friends...

andrew

Help of the Helpless

What keeps me coming back to the record store is the idea that inside each neatly wrapped disc or piece of vinyl might be some little secret that you'd never heard before. That secret might say any kind of truth, any kind of blurring of the truth, a flat out lie or any tall tale that might illuminate the world you live in. It might tell you something about a world somebody else lives in or a world that is to come. You either connect with a song or you don't, & even if you don't connect with it, it can still have a good beat with some nice harmonies. When you do connect with a song, it becomes a part of you, changes the way you see things. It reveals something new to you almost every time you hear it.

A good song is like a well pitched baseball game, you have to be paying close attention to the subtleties & nuances of the game, or it will be boring to you. It's also like a marriage, a performer can be giving it his or her all but if the listener isn't giving it their all the two of them might as well quit each other. A good song has many layers, it might mean something to one listener & something completely different to another. The way a lyrical phrase is turned can affect the meaning, making it completely different from the meaning on the page. Sometimes the meaning of a song is subtle, the performer wants you to draw your own conclusions, other times a performer can be beating you over the head with the meaning.

One song that's been finding me since I was a little kid is the hymn "Abide with Me". I have several recordings of this song (check out Ella Fitzgerald's version) although none quite sound like they did during evening church services sitting next to my mother when I was a kid. A version I've been listening to a lot lately is by Matthew Perryman Jones.



A simple definition of the word "abide" would be to stay with someone or something, but it means a whole lot more than that. To stay with someone can be rather passive, someone can stay with someone else for a lack of a better place to go. To abide, though, requires a persistence to remain with someone or something, even though the conventional wisdom is to leave. To abide with someone is not a pleasant experience. Think of two people holding on to each other while falling from an airplane. It's easier to let go than it is to hold on. What a perfect metaphor, God holding on to somebody that most people would say isn't worth holding on to when it would be easier for Him to let go.

Consider the lyric, "I need Thy presence every passing hour". The way my brain works when I hear this line is I think of a really hard time that I made it through, when I may have prayed for help. This is exactly the opposite of the truth that this song gets to. The inference I make when I think this way is that all the other hours I made it on my own. Every passing hour doesn't mean when I think I need "Thy presence" the most, it means every passing hour, regardless of how easy or hard, jubilant or depressing, exciting or mundane that hour may be.

This leads to the center of the song. A great song for me always has a center, one singular line that the rest of the song hinges upon. The rest of the lyrics are the background & the d'enouement. You have to have a problem if you need a solution, & the problem in this song is the line "thou hast not left me, though I've oft left thee". The reason I say this song has been finding me since I was a little kid, is that I don't think I choose to listen to it because it's got a good beat & some nice harmonies. It's not even up to me when I hear it. I used to think "though I've oft left thee" meant that there were times in my life in the past when I've strayed from God. When I hear it now, I realize that every day I stray from God, & every day he doesn't leave me. Every day He abides, makes a conscious effort to stay by my side, even when I give Him no reason to.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Abide With Me-Matthew Perryman Jones

Helpless-Neil Young with The Band



Go Folks Go-Bonnie "Prince" Billy & the Cairo Gang



Up on a Mountain-The Welcome Wagon



Lord I'm Discouraged-Charley Patton



Happy Sunday, friends...

andrew

The Back is Soft but the Seat is Hard, Why Can't They Get it Right?

I haven't been to our church in a few weeks as a result of Christmas parties & work. What I like about our church is that I always leave with a clear understanding of what it takes to be a Christian.

Last summer on a Saturday I was at a party, & I was talking to some people who I didn't know very well, & everyone was talking about what they were doing the next day. They asked me what I was doing & I told them I was going to church & whatever else I was doing. This lady, most likely in her late thirties with a couple of kids, said something to the effect that if she ever stepped in church the place would probably burn down. I missed a good opportunity to witness to her, mostly because I always feel like some sort of salesman. I don't like it when people try to sell me something, so why would anyone want me to sell them something. That's a subject for another day.

If I were to take a poll of people who claim to be Christians about why they don't go to church, I think the majority of people would fall into two categories, or a combination both.

The most common reason would be apathy. I think most people who don't go to church are in a habit of not going to church, & we humans have a hard time of breaking habits, especially when we don't have a compelling reason to do so. We may not think we can come up with a compelling reason, but the answer to this problem can be found in Isaiah 6:8, or in one of my favorite hymns, "Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me." "If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus, you can say He died for us all."

The second reason is the same reason that most likely kept the lady at the party from going to church. Many people feel they don't belong at church, that church is for the high & mighty, the people who have it all together. This couldn't be farther from the truth. I like to imagine how much different church would look if it were filled with prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks, thieves & murderers. Would these people be embraced during that always awkward time of greeting at the beginning of the service, or would most people stick their nose up at them & look the other way? I know what my first inclination would be. But consider how much more powerful the message of Jesus' forgiveness would be to people who walk into church thinking they don't belong there but are welcomed once they are there.

Us regular church attenders, whether we are willing to admit it or not, think we have it all together because we are there at church every Sunday. Our sins are no less sinful than the prostitute or the murderer in God's eyes. The two biggest blocks to salvation are the thoughts that I don't need Jesus Christ because I'm such a good person or thinking that Jesus Christ can't & won't forgive someone like me. Which thought is easier to get rid of? Either we have to get our hyper-inflated egos out of the way and/or we need to get the weight of our sins off our shoulders. The good news is that Jesus took care of both of them on the cross, all we need to do is accept it.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Late for Church-The Drive By Truckers "All that hollerin' makes me wonder, does a whispered prayer get heard?"



The Wild Hunt-The Tallest Man on Earth



Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me-Mississippi John Hurt

Watch Me Fall-Uncle Tupelo

Wall of Death-Richard Thompson



Happy Sunday, friends, no matter what you're doing...

andrew