SOUL SURMISE

Lyric For The Day 30.11.10 from Miriam by Pierce Pettis

 

“I don't know if you ascended
I don't care what's been amended
There was one sure miracle
The faith of a little girl named Miriam

Oh you are blessed indeed
Blessed is the fruit of your tree
Yeshua kings of kings
And son of Miriam

No banners were unfurled
When God stepped into the world
Held in the arms of a little girl
Named Miriam.”

          From Miriam by Pierce Pettis

A beautiful song by my friend Pierce Pettis about Jesus’ mother. Last night I chaired an event at Queens University, Belfast where the almost unanimously Protestant Christian Union invited the full time Chaplains of the four main denominations in Ireland to answer questions about faith. Without doubt my good friend and former colleague Father Gary Toman took the brunt of the evening. It was a very good thing that at last at least a small group of a vast Christian Union stayed behind after their main meeting to hear what a Catholic believes from a Catholic, rather than finding their information from Protestants telling them what they think Catholics believed.

Inevitably Mary came up in the questions. Karen (Presbyterian), John (Methodist) and Barry (Anglican) all spoke of the need within Protestantism to re-evaluate Mary who has been shunned if not even sometimes abused by Protestants in an anti-Catholic reaction. Father Gary assured the Protestants that Catholics don’t worship Mary but would have had a different view from his Chaplaincy colleagues in that Catholics believe Mary didn’t sin.

Why I thought of Pierce’s song Miriam as a great Lyric For The Day, the day after, is that Pettis expresses so powerfully and tenderly the miracle of Mary’s mothering of God incarnate and then then almost says, "no matter what your theology around this event is, it doesn't take away from that the fact that it is still 'one sure miracle.'” Can I repeat my encouragement of last night on this posting today – let us, who might have marginalized Mary from the story, allow her Magnificat and utter obedience to God be in the forefront of our Advent meditation.

Lyric For The Day 30.11.10 from Miriam by Pierce Pettis

 

“I don't know if you ascended
I don't care what's been amended
There was one sure miracle
The faith of a little girl named Miriam

Oh you are blessed indeed
Blessed is the fruit of your tree
Yeshua kings of kings
And son of Miriam

No banners were unfurled
When God stepped into the world
Held in the arms of a little girl
Named Miriam.”

          From Miriam by Pierce Pettis

A beautiful song by my friend Pierce Pettis about Jesus’ mother. Last night I chaired an event at Queens University, Belfast where the almost unanimously Protestant Christian Union invited the full time Chaplains of the four main denominations in Ireland to answer questions about faith. Without doubt my good friend and former colleague Father Gary Toman took the brunt of the evening. It was a very good thing that at last at least a small group of a vast Christian Union stayed behind after their main meeting to hear what a Catholic believes from a Catholic, rather than finding their information from Protestants telling them what they think Catholics believed.

Inevitably Mary came up in the questions. Karen (Presbyterian), John (Methodist) and Barry (Anglican) all spoke of the need within Protestantism to re-evaluate Mary who has been shunned if not even sometimes abused by Protestants in an anti-Catholic reaction. Father Gary assured the Protestants that Catholics don’t worship Mary but would have had a different view from his Chaplaincy colleagues in that Catholics believe Mary didn’t sin.

Why I thought of Pierce’s song Miriam as a great Lyric For The Day, the day after, is that Pettis expresses so powerfully and tenderly the miracle of Mary’s mothering of God incarnate and then then almost says, "no matter what your theology around this event is, it doesn't take away from that the fact that it is still 'one sure miracle.'” Can I repeat my encouragement of last night on this posting today – let us, who might have marginalized Mary from the story, allow her Magnificat and utter obedience to God be in the forefront of our Advent meditation.

Arcade Fire and Church Communities

 

"I had a somewhat religious upbringing," he says. "Not strict, but it was there and I’m kind of thankful for that. If you grow up just watching MTV, that’s its own form of religion and it’s not even based on happiness or communal responsibility. I mean, try to construct a worldview out of that."

 It sounds, I say, both from his conversation and his recent songs, like he still misses that faith-based sense of community. "Yes. I guess I do," he says, after some thought. "I’m not practising, I don’t go to church, but what I got from it was a sense of belonging to something bigger. What I really miss is being forced to be in a community with people that aren’t the same as you. Then, you really have to work through the ways that you’re different. I think that’s important and it’s missing in youth culture. I guess some of the songs are a reaction against the tyranny of youth culture, where you only hang around with people who dress like you, think like you and listen to the same music as you. Even though we are seen as the quintessential indie band, I feel very far from that culture a lot of the time."

The above quotes are from Sean O’Hagan’s fascinating piece with Arcade Fire in this weekend’s Observer. What is it about the Mormonism that has brought faith back onto the artistic palette of good recent rock records; I am thinking of The Killers as well as Arcade Fire? Whatever, you don’t expect journalists to have a conversation with a British band and have them speak about Church communities!

Win Butler’s comments about the benefits of Church community comes in the light of the fact that the band’s latest album Suburbs is a critique of youth culture. As so many people, even believers, suggest that growing up in Church has been detrimental to their lives, Butler suggests the opposite. His phrase, “What I really miss is being forced to be in a community with people that aren’t the same as you”, is most prophetic. Perhaps the MTV world that has created the homogeneous and spoiled generation he critiques so strongly are so pampered that the give and take of real community is too much for them. Even Churches have become little communities, with great vocal emphasis on community, that are just a group of refugees who couldn’t take the friction and self sacrifice of building real community so they withdrew into an easier option. It is easy to create community with those who all agree with your style of worship, theological opinion and iPod playlists. Easy and pretty much useless to any sense of spiritual growth.

The community that Jesus birthed and that we read about at the end of Acts 2 was a menagerie of quirks and freaks and ages and backgrounds. It was a sign of his transformational power that they could be held together. It was a part of their lifetime discipleship course that they should be forced to shape and hone each other in their differences and disagreements. It is why I love our Sunday evening worship where eighty year olds weigh in with our teenagers. The more mature are benefitting from hearing the story of the prodigal son through the music of Brandon Flowers on video storyboard and the young are being given a real sense of long term security within their souls as people old enough to be their grandparents allow them to release their imaginations and then endorse the results. It is not always easy to keep them in the same room or have them benefit from the same songs. There will be delicate conversations and both sides will have to listen to the other and settle for not having everything their own way. Yet in that room, there will be potential for real love, and for God to work out shalom.

 Church communities where God is not needed seem pointless and indeed perhaps Godless. They are certainly no advert for God, just another club that could be about golf or yachts! Oh for many communities like the one Butler misses...and oh for mine to be like that one.    

The Baby In Straw - A Prayer For Advent

 

(I used this poem prayer this morning to start our first day in Advent service...)

THE BABY IN STRAW

Lord forgive us when we are matter of fact about Your unbelievable birth
Help us to see it as it is
The one who is above us
Becoming lower than all of us
So that none of us would be in awe of approaching a baby in straw
Help us to see that this baby is Your gift to us
The extent of Your love for us
Help us to believe that we are loved...

Lord forgive us when we explain and memorise Your indescribable birth
Help us to see it as it is
The word becoming flesh to live for awhile among us
Your actions being louder than the words of prophets or patriarchs or psalmists
You becoming one of us in order to reach us with Your love
Help us to see this baby as an example for us
That we too would act louder than we speak
And reach out to others with Your love...

Lord forgive us when we reduce Your spectacular birth to the ordinary
Help us to see it as it is
The birth of a whole new world
A birth whose circumstances would be lived out and taught in the rest of Your ministry
A little inkling of Your upside down and radical kingdom
Help us to see this new world order
That we might seek treasure in heaven rather than on earth
That we might long to be poor, meek and peacemakers
So that Your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven...

Lyric For The Day 27.11.10 from In A Little While by Brian Houston (U2)

 

“In a little while
This hurt will hurt no more
I'll be home, love!

When the night takes a deep breath
And the daylight has no air
If I crawl, if I come crawling home
Will you be there

In a little while
I won't be blown by every breeze
Friday night running
To Sunday on my knees”

          From In A Little While by Brian Houston (originally U2)

You can still see the little bits of debris from Bono’s original Gospel intentions for this song, that in the end might seem to be a love song. Some write God songs that could be about love. U2 do the opposite! This was the song Joey Ramone played endlessly when he passing away from cancer. Brian Houston’s new cover on his Raw Sessions album gives it a poignant Gospel lament feel. You can see why Houstton would be drawn to the song. Not only does he share Bono's faith hope but he too is still married to his childhood sweetheart.  In a little while indeed...

Lyric For The Day 26.11.10 from Christmas Time by Larry Norman

 

“Santa Claus is comin' and the kids are gettin' greedy
It's Christmas time
They know what's in the stores 'cause they seen it on the TV
It's Christmas time, it's Christmas time
It used to be the birthday of the Man who saved our necks
It's Christmas time
Now it stands for Santa Claus they spell it with an X
It's Christmas time, it's Christmas time...”

          From Christmas Time by Larry Norman

Let the Christmas Lyrics For The Day begin with a rocky little number from the Grandfather of Jesus rock, Larry Norman. I love the intricate poetry of the Advent Season. It is stocked full of great wisdom and theology. I am convinced that everything Jesus would later say or do can be found in that nativity scene that we sadly throwaway under the drying cloths of children’s plays. As we head towards the manger SoulS urmise is going to do a CSI like investigation of the manger scene through poetry, story and song.

 

Up On Scarlet Street

 

UP ON SCARLET STREET

(written in a rush, this with the same chorus as Soaked In A Dearer Wine, for this Sunday night's Articulate Service at Fitzroy where we are looking at the breadth of God's amazing grace... an update of Hosea and Gomer's story there is a nod to Jacob's story inthere too, if you can spot it!)

A cross dangled from her earrings

Jesus tattooed across her neck

She worked tables in Rosie’s Bordello

Made extra money out the back

Some are dragged there by circumstance

She chose it was a way of life

I found her in the alley one night

And I took her to be my wife

Some may call it blasphemy

But I believe it’s true

God lies there beside you in the gutter

And grace, like a mother holds you.

 

I loved her exactly as she was

Hoped to love her into who she could be

She turned her back and ran away

Left me here holding the baby

So every night I searched street corners

‘Til I found her and her pimp

Asked her to marry me again

Took her home with a permanent limp

Some may call it blasphemy

But I believe it’s true

God lies there beside you in the gutter

And grace, like a mother holds you.

Lyric For The Day 24.11.10 from Soaked In A Dearer Wine by Stevenson and Samuel

 
"Some may think it's blasphemy

But I believe it's true

God lies there beside you in the gutter

And grace like a mother holds you"

     from Soaked In A Dearer Wine by Stevenson and Samuel

How egotistical to choose my own song for Lyric For The Day but we are using this as part of our Sunday night event in Fitzroy. This was inspired by a Mike Riddell talk at Greenbelt where he was saying that God’s grace might redeem us without fixing us perfectly. He spoke of a woman he knew who had a lovely faith but a real drug addiction and she would one day be praying wonderfully at the Prayer meeting and then literally lost in the gutter the next. He said that some might think it blasphemy but he believed God loved her as much in the gutter as at the prayer meeting. That is the Gospel in its purist maddest sense. I couldn’t help nicking it for a poem about a friend of mine in a similar struggle. Sam Hill and Phil Baggaley made it a song for the album I did with Sam – Grace Notes under the name Stevenson and Samuel.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - The Promise

 

Incredible! How could anyone leave these songs unreleased for thirty two years? You have to wonder how any music artist can keep hidden twenty one songs of such quality, and remember as you ponder that four CDs of such outtakes were released twelve years ago. Apart from Bob Dylan no one else in rock has had the artistic nerve and self control to leave in the vaults sometimes better songs than he releases because he feels that they don’t fit the record he wants to release at a particular time. Darkness On The Edge Of Town was such a record.

Due to law suits Springsteen was unable to release anything for three years after his big breakthrough album Born To Run. All that time he’s writing and recording, trying out ideas and feeling his way. When it came to releasing the follow up, punk had not changed Springsteen’s vocational sound but it had given him a sense of the weightiness needed on an album being released in that musical landscape. Darkness... would be brooding, raw and indeed dark.

As a result of the decisions made, one being to keep the album released down to one record, all the songs on this double CD were left behind. No one else could have afforded such decadence. Songs here like Fire, Because The Night, Talk To Me and Rendezvouz would have graced anyone else’s career with hits and indeed some of these did for Patti Smith, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and The Pointer Sisters. Though Fire and Because The Night were regulars in Springsteen’s live set and appeared on the triple CD Live 1975-85 the vast majority here have remained undisturbed.

Which might make you think that they were not worth disturbing. You’d be wrong. There is not a dud in this entire collection. Which might make you think that Bruce got Darkness... wrong. Wrong again. When you hear these songs, it makes sense of Springsteen’s song choice at that part of his career. These are very different colours, shades, textures and moods than the previously released songs. Indeed if there is anything wrong with this collection it is that there is not enough seriousness. A look at The River a few years later and you see Bruce mixing the fun of Sherry Darling with the weightiness of Independence Day. The vast majority of these songs come from the rich pop seam of Sherry Darling. It all makes you evenmore aware of his genius. This is just machine gun fire of sure fire catchy rock music, well crafted and passionately performed.

What might have happened to the Springsteen catalogue had he been able to release records in ‘76 and ‘77. Bruce himself hints in the album notes that his decision making might be the reason we are able to hear these songs today; his longevity might have been threatened had he made other choices. I am not sure there is any evidence to suggest such musings. Why these songs were left off Tracks is a fascinating question? Did he know that he would finally release this? Or could he have left these hidden forever... and what do we make of that...incredible!

Lyric For The Day 20.11.10 from Jesus Was An Only Son by Bruce Springsteen

 

“In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live,
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips

Now there's a loss that can never be replaced,
A destination that can never be reached
A light you'll never find in another's face,
A sea whose distance cannot be breached

Well Jesus kissed his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still your tears,
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared.”

          from Jesus Was An Only Son by Bruce Springsteen

We have been following Bruce Springsteen on a bit of a journey and here we find him at the centre of Christian faith. The Storytellers video has Bruce walking us through the song verse by verse and sometimes line by line. In it he calls Calvary’s Hill “Jesus proving ground.” There is a lot about destiny and vocation in the mix. Springsteen speaks of being intrigued by the mother son relationship as he was dealing with throughout the Devils and Dust record and the human side of Calvary certainly comes though. In the end though we are back in the transcendence of the story where Jesus’ response is almost “trust me Ma, I made the world.”