Tag: past

Categories
Life

Background Noise

Featured song: Room Noise, by the 2nd Chapter Of Acts, from their 1983 album, Singer Sower.

TV snowIf you have been reading this blog for very long, it has probably become apparent to you that I am a person who is nostalgic, who enjoys looking back at his past. I treasure my memories, and believe that being aware of where I have been gives me an grounding to help steer me to where I am going. One of the things that I enjoy looking back on is the music that I grew up hearing — not only pop music of the 1960s and 1970s, but also the music on the records in my parent’s collection, music that was the background of my earlier years. In my goal of adding things to my digital library, I am also digitizing some old record albums that I fondly remember hearing so long ago. The music was the background of that part of my life, and hearing the music can take me back to those days. 

As a part of this immersion in music that I grew up with, I also have this mental connection with music that causes me to have lyrics of songs pop up when I hear things said in conversation around me. Someone says, “I’m leaving,” and my mental music machine may switch on to Peter, Paul & Mary, and I hear, “I’m leavin’ on a jet plane / I don’t know when I’ll be back again” will start playing in my head. 

The other thing that my inner iPod would do to me when I was in high school was to have a stuck replay button for the last song off the radio that I heard before I left home that morning. I had to try to make sure that the last thing I heard as I walked out the door was a song that I liked; if not, I might have infinite plays of a song that was definitely not on my top ten list.

So, background music for me can be enjoyable or agonizing, depending on what I have playing currently. Even now, nearly 40 years later, I find that a song that starts in my head will likely be here for quite a while, until I purposely “change tracks”, and get another song going. And, as in high school, this may be good or bad.

When Jesus music first started, the people who played and sang these songs took the music of their lives, and put words to that music that spoke of their new love for the Lord, or about His Word, the Bible, or about many other topics of the Christian life. They did it out of an earnest desire to make Him known, and to do so to as many people as possible. But as time passed, and some of their listeners changed their musical focus from secular music to this Jesus music, the intensity of the original impact sometimes faded. Instead of listening to and being influenced by the words of those songs, letting themselves be brought closer to their Lord, the music became just another style of background music for their lives. 

I know that this was (and is) a danger that I face today in the music to which I listen. There is really nothing bad about having God-focused music flowing into my ears, even when I’m not actively listening to what is being said; it still can have an effect on me. But when I just live my life the way I want to, and I do not try to daily change into His image, the music itself may become a kind of an idol that I worship, rather than being something that functions to bring me closer to Jesus. 

The song on which I am focusing today, Room Noise by the 2nd Chapter Of Acts, points out this danger. It’s not that I have to put all of my mind and soul into each song I listen to. But I have to make sure that the music is more than just another form of entertainment, just another song I like, running through my head during my day. I am sure that in many cases, these songs were written out of a desire by the performer to get a message across, to help bring me closer to Jesus, encourage me to grow, and pray, and reach out to others. The music of my life should not just be there to “make me happy”, but to serve as a springboard to the person God is urging me to become. No more “room noise”! Listen to what it says!

No more conversation
No more idle words
Pitter, pitter, patter
Words fall from your ladder
Pseudo gospel music
Music everywhere
But not a single drop
to drink anywhere

I don’t want to be room noise,
generically speaking,
I don’t want to be room noise,
no one will stop and hear me,
Hear me… hear me, hear me!

Down on bended knees,
doing what you please,
as you say…

Gospel, gospel music’s
an alternative,
Then you never have to
change the way you live…
Idle idol lyrics
floating through the air
Invisible netting
Emotional snare…

I don’t want to be room noise
generically speaking
I don’t want to be room noise
no one will stop and hear me
Hear me… hear me, hear me!

Down on bended knees,
doing what you please:
Pharisee!

I don’t want to be room noise,
I don’t want to be room noise, Elevator music
I don’t want to be room noise, Elevator music
I don’t want to be room noise, Elevator music

Singer Sower, 1983, 2nd Chapter Of Acts
Categories
Jesus Life

Nothing Lasts

Yesterday I saw “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button“, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. I went, thinking it would be an interesting film to see how someone is born looking very old, and ages backwards as he grows older.

Unexpectedly, I sat riveted to the screen for the entire film, not wanting to miss anything.

The film is worth a watch, but sadly there are few moments in the film that align themselves to a Christian world view. One of the strongest sub-characters in the film is Queenie, a black woman who works in a old-style nursing home in 1918 New Orleans. Unlike Benjamin Button’s father, who is so horrified at the appearance of his elderly-looking newborn son that he nearly throws him in the ocean, Queenie takes the child in and cares for him. Despite a doctor’s opinion that this baby will likely not live long, she is willing to take on the task of caring for “one of the least of these”. As he grows older (and younger), she helps him to see that appearance and abilities are not important; what you are inside is what matters.

Benjamin grows up in this nursing home, seeing people come in, grow more disabled as they live out their final years, and then seeing them die and leave, to be replaced by another person. Exposed to death from a young age, he develops a mantra that he lives by, namely “nothing lasts”. He applies this to his relationships, including that with his childhood friend, Daisy. None of the people he knows last long in his life, either because he outlives them, or because he separates himself from them.

The story was absorbing because it dealt with the life themes that affect me emotionally: Death, birth, and marriage (or lack thereof) and love. Also, the film was made cinematically attractive, with memorable historical scenes from the twentieth century. But what was saddening was the nihilism; despite love, there is no hope, and love ultimately will not fulfill because it won’t be there. True, Benjamin took care of his lover and his child in a financial sense, but he made himself physicaly absent through his decision that he would himself be a burden to these that he loved. “Nothing lasts” was indeed the theme of the film.

Contrast this with the certain knowledge of the existence of God. It allows a person to deal with the losses of life by knowing that if nothing else is reliable, Jesus is faithful and true, and He provides hope during this life and hope beyond the grave.

Keith Green‘s third album, So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt from 1980 had a song that goes beyond Benjamin Button’s phrase. Grace By Which I Stand happens to include the phrase “nothing lasts”, but qualifies it by adding “except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus”.

Lord,
The feelings are not the same,
I guess I’m older,
I guess I’ve changed.

And how I wish it had been explained,
That as you’re growing
You must remember,

That nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I know that I would
Surely fall away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

Lord,
I remember that special way,
I vowed to serve you,
When it was brand new.
But like Peter,
I can’t even watch and pray,
One hour with you,
And I bet,
I could deny you too.

But nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I’m sure that my whole life would waste away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

But nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I know that I would
Surely fall away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt, 1980, Keith Green
Categories
Jesus Life

Tears

On New Year’s Eve, it is customary to look back at the year that just passed, and to make predictions about the year to come. It’s been a tough year for many, with the financial meltdown and recession, possibly the loss of a job, and many other problems that we’ve gone through. We don’t know if the next year will be a better one or not. Regardless of the presence of a new president in the White House, he still has to deal with disasters that currently exist and new ones that may yet occur.

What I can depend upon without any doubt is that God will be with me in the next year, just as he’s been with me all of my life. We are not promised an easy road; we are promised that Jesus will be with us every step of the way. He told his disciples in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

On their 1981 album, Fools For Christ, The Songwriters had this great song, One Less Tear For God To Shed. If you don’t know Jesus personally, in this new year to come take that step of faith and accept the salvation that He has made available to all. Don’t give your Father in heaven any more reasons to shed tears on your behalf.

Tonight there’ll be laughter
And music in heaven
Another wayward boy
Has finally come home

I can hear angels
Praising the Father
And raising their voices in
A hallelujah song

I know I’ve never given God much reason to smile
Just been a tear in His eye
But tonight I’m one less tear for God to shed

Jesus washed me in His blood
And He raised me from the dead
Filled me with the Holy Ghost
And now I’m Spirit-led

Tonight I’m one less tear for God to shed

I’m never alone now
‘Cause He lives inside me
He lifted the heavy load
I carried for so long

Now I can’t help but
Tell everybody
I’m headin’ for paradise
And you can come along!

You know you’ve never given God much reason to smile
You can wipe one tear from His eye
And tonight be one less tear for God to shed

Let Jesus wash you in His blood
And He’ll raise you from the dead
Fill you with the Holy Ghost
And when you’re Spirit-led

Then you’ll be one less tear for God to shed

Tonight I’m one less tear for God to shed
Yes, tonight I’m one less tear for God to shed
Don’t you know
Tonight I’m one less tear for God to shed

[spoken]
If you’ve never asked Jesus into your life
You can do it right now
And be one less tear

For God to shed

Fools For Christ / Guilty Of Love double CD Click here to purchase
the album Fools For Christ
Categories
Life

Regrets and failure

Today, I attended a funeral. It was for one of my wife’s friends, who had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. As I listened to the minister’s message, I was struck by one of things suffered by those who lose someone close to them. A death rarely occurs in an expected fashion, where there is time to plan a final conversation, share a final meal, or make a final expression of friendship or gratitude. What we are left with are the many things unspoken, forgiveness never asked or granted, and regrets that may be intense and may follow us for years. The obvious answer to this dilemma is to “keep short accounts”, not to leave things alone that are in need of resolution. And that is a fine and appropriate way to decide to live my life from this point on.

But what about the things from prior to this moment, the things from all of my life before now? Sure, I can make my own list of all those to whom I’ve done wrong, or who have done wrong to me, and resolve to contact them and try to make everything alright. But what happens if I cannot contact that person, or if they refuse to speak to me, or if, as in the case of today’s funeral, they are no longer living? That failed event of life still exists, and I may still be affected by it. 

God is master of the present, the future, and the past. He can come into that episode of years ago: a bad memory, a destroyed friendship, a failed marriage, or anything you might name, and bring healing and resolution from the pain it still causes. Even if that event has damaged me in some way, His healing can begin to repair the wounds and make me new. 

Bob Bennett wrote a song, Lord Of The Past, that describes this process beautifully. I do not know for certain on which album it first appeared; I do know it is available on a currently available album titled The View From Here, available here. I believe it first was released on Lord Of The Past: A Compilation, released in 1989.
 

Every harsh word spoken
Every promise ever broken to me
Total recall of data in the memory 

Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I’ve ever felt alone

Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That you can heal these wounds of yesterday

So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of the past
Oh, how I want You to
Be the Lord of the past

All the chances I let slip by
All the dreams that I let die in vain
Afraid of failure and afraid of pain

Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I’ve ever felt alone

Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
You can redeem these things so far away

So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of my past
Oh, how I want You to
Be the Lord of the past

Well, I picked up all these pieces
And I built a strong deception
And I locked myself inside of it
For my own protection

And I sit alone inside myself
And curse my company
For this thing that has kept me alive for so long
Is now killing me

And as sure as the sin rose this morning
The man in the moon hides his face tonight
And I lay myself down on my bed
And I pray this prayer inside my head

Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That You can heal these wounds of yesterday

So now I’m asking You
To do what You want to do
Be the Lord of my past
You can do anything
Be the Lord of the past

Be the Lord of the past

Be the Lord of the past

 

Lord Of The Past: A Compilation, 1989