‘Ghosts’ by Lau

Jane writes:

I remember the first time I heard this song and it made me catch my breath.

It is the kind of song that stops you in your tracks. It has a beautiful simple melody, backed my careful sensitive musicianship that favours its subject matter but it is without doubt for me the lyrical content that made an impact on my soul. (I’ve popped the words down below if you need a look)

It’s the kind of song that raises all sorts of feelings and emotions that mean you might get a bit worked up.

It saddens me greatly that our society is one where we think it’s ok to treat people as “other” because they are simply not like us. In a way that makes them less worthy of care or protection or a way that seeks to prove we’re better. It almost seems in the current Post-Brexit climate that to reclaim our own identity as British or English we have to diminish the value of others who are simply not what we consider “standard white” or those who “simply don’t try hard enough”. I use the word ‘we’ not because I think like that but because we are all entangled in a thoughtstream that lumps us together unless we are willing to say NO! I use the word ‘we’ because sometimes we don’t even pay enough attention to notice we’re doing it.

This song so poignantly tells the story of some cockle pickers on Morecombe Bay – you may remember it – and reflects on why they were killed, why they were treated so badly with unsafe working conditions and what happened to their families in the aftermath. It’s a story reflected often in our current news with people paid less, kept in conditions of modern day slavery, treated as less because they need sanctuary or refuge, charged to be rescued, dismissed or vilified for being different, regarded with suspicion.

It’s a song of lament and provocation. People are treated this way – why?

I believe in a God that loves everyone. A God that says WE must too. Not just to be kind. Not just as a matter of common decency or respect. Not because it’s for show. Not because we need to be seen to be doing the right thing BUT because we are made in God’s image. Each one of us, different and unique. Each one adding to the rich tapestry that is God’s Kingdom. Each one valued as an individual – not just as “them”

If people come to us seeking protection, away from the strife, away from the struggles and hardships of life and we have no response, what does that make us as Christians? What does that make us as society?

Oh, and for good measure I fear it is not just society that might be getting it all horribly wrong. The church does too as we continue to discriminate in our church communities because of gender, race, sexuality, age, politics …. I could go on.

I wonder what God is thinking even now having taken the time to show us through scripture and the life of Jesus what his Kingdom is really all about.

It sometimes takes a song written by genuine thoughtful artists to force us to face up to who we are and who we should be.

You can find out much more about Lau here https://www.lau-music.co.uk/

We say we’re not like them

A generation ago

We came on the same ships we were hidden below

Away from the strife

Away from the struggles and the hardships of life

I’m not an incomer

My parents were ghosts

Sir I was born here

So where would I go?

There’s ghosts on the motorway

The world is on fire

There’s ghosts on the sandflats as the water gets higher and higher

There’s ghosts in the brothels

Behind thick stony walls

There’s ghosts and their children in prison food halls

I’m not an incomer

My parents were ghosts

Sir I was born here

So where would I go?