Author: inertus

Gill writes:

1991. The Lamb and Packet pub in Preston, Lancashire. A Sunday night in the summer. My best friend Andrea’s last summer living in the UK before she emigrated to the States. A group of around 6 young women full of the joys of life, chattering away and suddenly the voice of Don McLean interjects with ‘A long, long time ago‘ and everything changes.

The chattering stops. We all look at each other. Someone punches the air with a ‘yes’ and we’re off- joining in with ‘I can still remember how that music used to make me smile‘. And that is it for the next 8 and a half minutes. Fingers dancing, faces contorted in a variety of expressions and the beats being drummed by hands banging on the table.

Halfway through, the male contingent of the friendship group enter the pub, know exactly where we are (thanks to our dulcet tones) and join us immediately in the song. Because it’s ‘our song’. The song that connected us. Newcomers to the group gained greater respect when they joined in with singing ‘American Pie’. We weren’t an unwelcoming bunch at all but once you joined in with our song, you were definitely in!

Singing together is really good for you. But I’m sure you know this already. A particular piece of research from the University of Oxford in 2015 (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150221) affirmed that singing in groups helps to ‘break the ice’ really quickly which in turn means that social bonding happens faster. Singing together is really effective in helping large, diverse groups to bond but as I said at the beginning – you know this already.

So did John and Charles Wesley. It’s often said that Methodists were ‘born in song’ and singing enthusiastically, with gusto, is a reputation that continues. It’s thought that the Wesley brothers saw how singing can be a powerful, galvanising force when they experienced a fierce storm in the Atlantic on their way to Georgia in 1736. A group of German Moravian Christians who were travelling with them sang and prayed together which gave them the strength to see the situation through in a calmer way than the other passengers.

Singing together – whether as a choir, a congregation, a crowd at a concert or a bunch of friends at a party or down the pub – is good for us as an individual and for us as a society. It’s brilliant for our health – physiologically and mentally. It’s how we express ourselves. It’s how we connect with others. It can build bridges and break down barriers.

For Christians, singing together helps to explore the Word deeper, to express beliefs and understanding and builds each other up. Ephesian 5:19 says ‘addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart^‘.

Back to Andrea. It’s a hot summer evening in 2015. Floating on my back in a pool in a garden in San Diego, California. The local radio station is playing in the background. The song changes. The voice of Don McLean breaks into the air with ‘A long, long time ago‘ and I join in with ‘I can still remember how that music used to make me smile‘ with a little ‘yay’ and a grin at Andrea, who is at the other end of the pool – and we’re off, singing at the tops of our voices relentlessly for the next 8 or so minutes.

If you want to see what Don McLean is up to these days, visit https://donmclean.com/

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?

Clive writes:

Bernie Leadon left The Eagles in 1975, allegedly perturbed at the direction the band was taking – musically and ethically. Musically, he seems to have been broader in his interests and tastes than he’s been given credit for. But what he’d brought to the band during his time with them was a Gospel and bluegrass element. ‘I Wish You Peace’ was co-written with Patti Davis, and accepted by other band members with some reluctance as the final track on the truly magnificent 1975 album One of These Nights. It’s almost a prayer. It’s heading in the direction of a blessing. It’s not specifically Christian or even explicitly theistic. But that’s what makes it flexible and able to be appreciated and owned by people ‘of many faiths and none’. Musically, it’s gently upholding and calmly uplifting. As the music does its stuff, peace, hope, strength and love are encouraged. In the face of storms, low points, cold, loneliness and feverish or hard times, kind words can prove effective and embraces can supply warmth. Love can flow, and does this through practical actions. 

How The Eagles might have developed in the late 70s and beyond had Bernie Leadon not left is one of those great ‘What ifs’. But he did leave, even if he reappeared as a band-member on some of their more recent reunion performances and tours. He has not produced a huge amount of solo or other music in his own right afterwards (though check out his 1977 album Natural Progressions with Michael Georgiades, and the 1985 bluegrass initiative Ever Call Ready, a one-off Gospel album).  

My own encounter with the original was as a result of my brother’s vinyl collection. Hours spent nipping into his room (with his permission) and mining the riches of what he’d assembled meant discovering hidden gems like this beyond the ‘greatest hits’. It’s a kind of spiritual discipline: not putting up just with what the critics, or the sales results, throw in your direction, but engaging with the range of what’s out there, and with all of an artist’s/band’s recorded work. It also means looking for, and potentially responding positively to, not just what’s identifiably Christian or religious. God does stuff in and through all sorts of music…as regular readers of The Friday Fix know full well! 

Bernie Leadon doesn’t have his own website so you’ll have to make more effort to find out about him!

The Eagles have a website at https://eagles.com/.

Gill writes:

The story goes that one day Groucho Marx was getting off an elevator and he happened to meet a clergyman. The clergyman came up to him, put out his hand and said, ‘I want to thank you for all the joy you’ve put into the world.’ Groucho shook hands and replied, ‘Thank you, Reverend. I want to thank you for all the joy you’ve taken out of it.

Sometimes we can be a bit too serious about stuff. Including music and lyrics. No surprise that we get so caught up when music and lyrics move us so much. We cry; we lament; we rage; we ponder. We’re moved to act by music we listen to and lyrics that we hear.

But sometimes, we just need to have a bit of joy. Something to amuse us. Beats that help us to tap our feet. Words that you can’t help but giggle and shake your head at. That’s where Barenaked Ladies (also known as BNL) come in for me. Even their name raises eyebrows for some, I suppose.

Some of their songs are actually incredibly poignant and deep with a melody that moves you like ‘The Old Apartment’. Others raise a smile and wonder at verbal agility like ‘One Week’. The song that I have chosen to share is a BNL ‘absolute classic’ that always brings their concerts to a close. You never know quite what you will get at each concert because the banter between verses is always different but it always hangs together with established lyrics in the verses like:

If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you a fur coat (but not a real fur coat that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
Well I’d buy you an exotic pet (yep, like a llama or an emu)

Perhaps the loveliest aspect of this song at their concerts is that the crowd joins in (as you will see in the video) and that feeling of oneness that you get with singing and laughing together is just the perfect end to a concert.

Sometimes we need to lighten up and enjoy ‘stuff’. As a music lover and popular ‘culture vulture’, I need to hear this. As a Christian, I need to hear this. Sometimes I need to see the human side of Christ. The Jesus who laughed and giggled.

The American Quaker Elton Trueblood wrote a book called ‘The Humor of Christ’ where he lists 30 passages from the Gospels that show how Jesus used humour.  It’s maybe because we have heard and read the stories time after time that we are unable to see that Jesus said some things with his tongue in his cheek.  Or maybe because so much time has passed since the Gospel’s were written that we fail to understand the context or irony of the time.

But I think I am with Trueblood on this – Jesus must have injected his teachings with humour otherwise so many people would not have been drawn to him.  The best public speakers are the ones who tell the truth but say it with humour.  And I think Jesus would have been very adept at this.  He knew that there is many a true word spoken in jest.

Humour is what pulls people in.  It breaks down barriers and puts us in a happy place.  Because we feel at peace momentarily, we are open to ideas and thoughts and are even open to being challenged.  It shows that we are human and that are eyes are open.  Sometimes we need to laugh together to reach a place of common ground and the beginnings of reconciliation.

BNL are touring Britain in 2020 if you fancy popping along to see them! Find out more by visiting https://www.barenakedladies.com/.

Jane writes:

It never ceases to amaze me when I listen to new music how much spirituality lies within it and how many time God is mentioned.  I love new music and the thought of hearing something fresh is high on my list of happy places.  Please don’t mis-hear me when I say that, cos I love a bit of nostalgia too, but “new” seems extra thought provoking somehow. 

Kiwanuka is an album filled with fabulous music, arranged and produced to perfection. It has a sweeping retro feel and is one of those albums to listen to in its entirety with the ebb and flow of the music taking you on a journey.  I loved it from the start. 

That said this track seemed to speak to me. There are undoubtedly times in life when we find ourselves in places that are uneasy or uncomfortable.  Places of self-doubt and places where we’re dazed (and confused frankly). The writer here seems to be in such a place and maybe trying to find the best way to carry on.  It looks as if for him the following is part of what’s needed 

The Lord said to me –   
Time is a healer  
Love is the answer – I’m on my way  

It’s quite a set of statements and a bold thing to hold onto.  Sometimes it almost seems impossible but as we journey to a New Year, with a fresh government and a mix of lots of potentially difficult and great times ahead we might do well to notice what the Lord says to us, both as individuals and Church. 

It could be that we need to know that ‘Time is a healer and Love is the answer ‘to help us on our way. 

It could be something entirely different but unless we’re listening out, even when we’re a bit dazed, for God’s word to us then we might miss out entirely on what is right for us right now. 

You can find out much more about Michael here   https://www.michaelkiwanuka.com/ 

Fidge writes:

I’m a huge pink fan! Now, this might come as a bit of a surprise for those of you who know me well – but I’m not talking about the colour pink, I’m a huge fan of Pink the singer.  

The first time I heard her song, ‘What about us?’ it resonated with me on so many levels. It seemed to me to be the song of our time – a desperate cry for so many of us in the world at the moment. On this election result morning there may be many who cry, “what about us?”   

Here are the lyrics:  

We are searchlights, we can see in the dark  
We are rockets, pointed up at the stars  
We are billions of beautiful hearts  
And you sold us down the river too far  

What about us?  

 What about all the times you said you had the answers?  
What about us?  
What about all the broken happy ever afters?  
What about us?  
What about all the plans that ended in disaster?  
What about love? What about trust?  
What about us?  

We are problems that want to be solved  
We are children that need to be loved  
We were willin’, we came when you called  
But, man, you fooled us, enough is enough, oh  

What about us?  

 What about all the times you said you had the answers?  
What about us?  
What about all the broken happy ever afters?  
Oh, what about us?  

What about all the plans that ended in disaster?  
What about love? What about trust?  
What about us?  
  

Commentators have described this election campaign as the most important of our time, others have described it as particularly nasty – full of lies and empty promises.  We know we are living in a divided UK, if not a divided world – everything is either black or white, for or against. It’s easy to resonate with Pink as she asks what about trust, what about love, what about us?  

In and amongst these cries for help, we see glimpses of the fact that humanity is, and actually has the potential to be ‘billions of beautiful hearts’. Recently the Turner Prize nominees formed themselves into a collective and urged the judging panel to grant the prize jointly to the four of them in the name of cohesion and solidarity. Barbara Glasson talks of the hope of Christians in Bethlehem in her recent trip to the West Bank. We probably know our own stories of hope in troubled times..  

On this election result morning, perhaps we need to be reminded of Desmond Tutu’s words that love is stronger than hate, or to recall Isaiah’s words of comfort to the oppressed. For those who cry, ‘what about us’ we might want to pray that we will listen, reflect, be present and in this Holy Season of Advent, be guided by the way of peace, hope, justice and love. 

Find out more about Pink at https://pinkspage.com/home/

Nel writes:

I love Christmas! It is absolutely my most favourite time of year. I also love the Winter; the darkening afternoons, the frost & snow, and the bleak beauty of cold wuthering days.

Almost thirty years ago we were married at Christmastime. The date chosen simply because it’s my favourite time of year! And almost twenty-seven years ago our eldest son was born on December 22nd. I spent a wonderful few days, recovering from a difficult birth, in the Derbyshire Royal where we were visited by carollers and Father Christmas, who left gifts for babes and Mums, before we nervously and excitedly brought our eldest son home, along snow covered lanes, on the afternoon of Christmas Day. One of his middle names is Noel.

But over and above all these delights I love Christmas most because of the miracle. God is with is. The birth of Jesus is the greatest, most incredible event in our human story. As Ann Voskamp writes, ‘the Infinite becomes an infant’ ~ a breathtaking reality. And every year I am bowled over afresh by the immensity of the Incarnation; the joy, the hope, the peace, the promise, the holy love. The miracle. It is such an immense season I take the full forty days of Celtic Advent to absorb myself in the wonder and dwell in the glory until Candlemas!

I love almost all Christmas songs and a large number of Christmas movies; each one somehow capturing a little of the joy, hope, peace, promise, love and miracle of Christmas. I don’t however like mince pies, Christmas pudding, or almost all of the Christmas adverts!

But by far and away my favourite Christmas music is carols. In Sheffield we have a whole range of our own local carols which are simply wonderful, even though some of the tunes are a bit tricksy! Each year people gather in crowded pubs to sing these locally known carols with great gusto and enthusiasm. And I almost picked one as my song choice. (by Kate Rusby, of course)

Instead though I have chosen a classic carol with a beautiful added refrain: Silent Night by Lady Antebellum. I think ‘the dawn of redeeming grace’ is one of the most stunning lines in a carol. And this version of Silent Night is particularly special because it weaves proclamation and prayer so beautifully together with, in my mind, the traditional words sung with eyes lifted up in adoration and the refrain (in brackets) offered prayerfully on bended knees with open hands.

‘Silent night (Oh, what a night) holy night (Praising Your birth)
Son of God (Light of my heart) love’s pure light (Shine down Your grace)
Radiant beams from Thy holy face (To save the world)
With the dawn of redeeming grace (To You we praise)’

We worship Emmanuel, our God with us, with exultation and praise but we also pray, in these days and in this moment, that His redeeming grace will still shine upon us and save the world. God with us then and God with us now.

You can find out more about Lady Antebellum by visiting https://www.ladyantebellum.com/

This week sees the start of a small collection of Christmas-related songs and the first one comes from our ‘Faith in Christmas’ collection of Christmas music that our team did in 2017. ‘Faith in Christmas’ was all about favourite carols and Christmas music that inspired people across East Central region. Seeing that one of the songs was more of a ‘secular’ song, we thought we would share it.

The group, Deacon Blue, are perhaps not the first music makers who jump to mind when contemplating songs associated with Advent and Christmas. I’m not sure how many people would have this song on their Christmas Playlist with it’s fast-paced tempo which seriously lacks any Christmassy jingling bells but since hearing this song in 2015 (it comes from the group’s seventh studio album ‘A New House’), the track has kicked off my annually updated Christmas Playlist.

The words just burst with hopefulness and the excitement and possibility that new birth brings. There is no mention of God or Jesus in the words but the message of Christmas rings clear throughout the song. Of hope. Of change. Of being reborn.

Ricky Ross, the lead singer, explains that he took inspiration from a line in a WB Yeats poem called ‘The Second Coming’. He says ‘there’s a line in the poem about ‘slouching towards Bethlehem’ and the idea that you have to go back to open up new possibilities. Bethlehem is such an evocative word’.

The song captures the despair and fatigue of our human lives. The second verse introduces the notion that only a miracle will save us. A miracle that has already happened. A miracle that transcends time and space. A miracle that lifts our hearts and souls. All we need to do is to go back to Bethlehem – ‘to begin again’.

You can find out more about Deacon Blue, their new album in Spring 2020 and their upcoming tour in 2020 too at https://deaconblue.com/