The Friday Fix

  • ‘Part Of The Light’ – Ray LaMontagne

    Jane writes:

    Sometimes when you hear a track it, sends you off on a path of discovery around an artist. In the case of RLM, it was something on the Saturday ‘Dermot O’Leary Show’,. The old Saturday afternoon one and not in his current slot. It wasn’t “Trouble” either but a cover, although try hard as I might, I cannot now track it down.

    Anyhow. What it made me do was that terribly modern thing of wander through his back catalogue – courtesy of Spotify. “You terrible woman” I hear the music purists cry, and in a way, I agree but I fear if I hadn’t done so I would not have been near this track.

    It’s a simple, little repeated tune – sounding for all the world like it won’t affect anyone or anything in sharp contrast to its lyrical content. All statements and questions

    Why so many people always run around

    Looking for a happiness that can’t be found

    For everyone resplendent in the wealth of kings

    Thousands upon thousands only suffering

    Why so many people only close their hearts

    Turn their eyes as others’ lives are torn apart

    When kindness is the greatest gift that one can share

    Why choose hate to subjugate your fellow man

    And the constant refrain… I don’t know, I don’t know.……

    The world painted is an all too familiar one, and as we look across the global landscape with its many, many stories of tragedy and suffering, and downright greed or self-centredness, then we too may have a repeated refrain of ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’….. around what to do.

    As people of faith though, I believe we do know what is right and what to do.

    Oddly the answer is the same as the one RLM comes up with

    Be part of the light

    Try to be part of the solution. In any big or small way that you can lay your hands on.

    God requires both nothing and everything from us. Most clearly we are called to love God with all our hearts, our souls, our strength and our mind AND our neighbour as ourselves. Our next-door neighbours and our global neighbours. So let’s rail against injustice. Let’s not close our eyes but open them wide, and notice in a way that makes it impossible to be passive. Let’s not become resplendent in a stack of stuff we don’t need. Let’s be as kind as we possibly can, whenever we can.

    I want to be a part of the light

    Please let me be a part of the light

    I want to be a part of the light

    I choose to be a part of the light

    So take up this challenge, and choose somehow today and every day, to be part of making a world full of light.

    You can find out more about Ray here. Do have a listen it’s mighty fine… https://www.raylamontagne.com/

  • ‘You Will Be Found’ from the musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’

    Claire writes:

    I recently watched the musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’ It really brought home to me how we don’t know what people are going through in their lives, or how their mental health can cause such feelings of despair and have so little self-worth.

    ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ tells the story of a young man with social anxiety disorder who longs to make a connection with those in his classes and to fit in. He fabricates a relationship with a deceased student to become closer to the boy’s family after their son takes his own life. Shy Evan Hansen finds himself at the centre of the tragedy and turmoil. Evan tries to comfort the family by pretending to be friends with the deceased. Evan pretends that he was good friends with their son.

    We have all learned from the last couple of years that we need – we crave – human contact and unfortunately this has resulted in more young people (and across the generations) having feelings of loneliness and who are struggling with mental illness and don’t know where to turn or how to get help.

    ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is not only about what happens when someone takes their own life but how someone with a social anxiety disorder, and how their need to be accepted, drives them to feel it is necessary to invent a friendship with the deceased.

    The opening words to this song send shivers down my spine.

    “Have you ever felt like nobody was there?

    Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?

    Have you ever felt like you could disappear?

    Like you could fall, and no one would hear?”

    How many times do we walk down the road, or in the playground, or at work and someone asks if you are ok and we answer, “I’m fine thanks”. I could be having the worst day ever, feeling lost and feeling like “nobody was there”. Or when do we stop and take the time to speak to the person who says to us “I’m fine thanks”. How often do we show our friends, acquaintances and work colleagues – those we love – how much we appreciate the little things that they do and how much we love them? Even if it is just a smile from someone you see every day whilst taking your dog for a walk.

    How many of the people we meet daily are out there craving for someone to speak to them, to be shown the love and care that they so desperately want but don’t know how to ask for it.

    I have often said that church can be a very lonely place. On more than one occasion, I have walked into a church and out again without speaking to anyone. Surrounded by people but feeling so overwhelmingly alone. From my own experience, I know the difference it can make to be welcomed into the church and to feel part of the church family.

    A few weeks ago, a young mum with five children took her own life. The outpouring of love for this young woman was amazing. Her Facebook page was filled with positive messages about how she had helped and supported others in many ways throughout her life. How she was an amazing single parent and loved her children. That most of all she was loved by so many. But did she know that whilst she was here in her earthly body? She is now at rest for eternity and my hope for her is that she has found peace, with the loving Jesus that she welcomed and knew in her life.

    We all can be loved, feel love, and love. Jesus told us to love one another and to share that love with each other. John 15 v17 ‘I am giving you these commands so that you love one another.’

    These beautiful lyrics from the song express that it’s okay and that ‘you will be found.’ Of course in all good musicals, there is a happy ending. Even though Evan did a terrible thing, he gets everyone talking about anxiety and depression, and many other mental illnesses.

    “Well, let that lonely feeling wash away

    Maybe there’s a reason to believe you’ll be okay

    ‘Cause when you don’t feel strong enough to stand

    You can reach, reach out your hand

    And oh, someone will coming running

    And I know, they’ll take you home

    Even when the dark comes crashing through

    When you need a friend to carry you

    And when you’re broken on the ground

    You will be found

    So let the sun come streaming in

    ‘Cause you’ll reach up and you’ll rise again

    Lift your head and look around

    You will be found”

    Let yourself be found. Being a Christian gives us hope that even in the darkest of days, Jesus puts loving arms around us and places us amongst others that love us and care for us. For some, it is hard to talk about how they feel for fear of being judged but talking really does help. All we can do is to love and to listen.

    Most of all, share your love. Tell those around you that you care – that you love them and that Jesus loves them. Share your faith journey with those you meet. You never know how it might change someone’s life.

    “The morning is breaking

    And all is new, all is new

    It’s filling up the empty

    And suddenly I see that

    All is new, all is new

    You are not alone”

    SAMARITANS call for free 116 123

  • ‘Walk the Road’ – Kate Rusby and Beth Nielsen Chapman

    Fidge writes:

    I’m always disappointed by the lack of musical diversity when a Jubilee concert lineup is announced – we never (at least not that I can remember!) seem to have any of our country’s amazing folk singers included, and they do, after all, sing the songs of our land that have been passed down from generation to generation.

    But the good news for all you folk fans out there is that Kate Rusby has a new CD out celebrating her 30 years in the music business. She has partnered with some of her favourite musicians from around the world who have inspired her during her career: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, KT Tunstall, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia to name a few.

    I’ve been listening to one of the tracks – Walk the Road – which Kate sings with Beth Nielsen Chapman. It brought back memories of pilgrimage walks that myself and members of the Darlington District have been on. The chorus lyrics might have inspired us to keep going as we battled through some serious wind and rain on one of the days.

    All the way through wind and rain

    I”ll never deceive my heart again

    Hand in hand, across the land

    We”ll walk the road together

    This week the Learning Network gathered at Cliff along with our colleagues from the Evangelism and Growth Team and District Missioners. It’s the first time we have met on site for over two years and of course, we have all been walking the road together through our varied experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Sometimes though, the road is not an easy path for people to walk together – we live in quite a polarised world with not much space for conversation to explore the in-between. We live with war, conflict, disagreements, and arguments and long for a more peaceful and just world.

    Think not of failing. Carry on.

    And the road goes on forever

    Let all the tears and strife be gone

    And we”ll walk the road together

    The Methodist Church seeks to be a justice-seeking and inclusive church, and this Friday sees the start of our Methodist Campaign #MyJusticeJourney. From Friday May 27th to Friday 3rd June, Methodist people will be sharing their stories and artefacts of personal “justice journeys” on social media – you can join the journey throughout the week by following the hashtag #MyJusticeJourney.

    As we reflect on our own life journey, sometimes the road seems straight and the view ahead clear, but at other times our paths twist and turn with uncertainty. We walk the road by ourselves or with others. We say goodbye to some who journey in a different direction and maybe, as we follow God’s call, the road takes us in an unexpected direction.

    Whatever path you find yourself on today and whoever is walking with you, the invitation to walk a spiritual path, is simply to keep going and to put one foot in front of the other.

    Think not of stopping in the strife

    When the road goes on forever

    Let joy and happiness be rife

    And we”ll walk the road together

    Further details about Kate Rusby’s 30 CD can be found here https://katerusby.com/album/30-happy-returns/

  • ‘The Logical Song’ – Supertramp

    Michael writes:

    For centuries in the West, artists of all mediums have explored the darker side of socialisation. Be it William Blake and the romanticists, Oscar Wilde and the aesthetics, Stewart Lee and the so-called ‘liberal-elites’, Banksy and his fellow punk-satirists or – in this case – Supertramp and the hippy culture from which they emerged, there are countless artists and movements who have trodden the path towards status-quo rejection. Often, on their way, they set up dichotomies between apparently competing notions: freedom vs conformity, childlike wonder vs adult cynicism, creativity vs progress, magic vs rationalism, individuality vs imperialism.

    ‘The Logical Song’ follows a similar road. It laments the desolation of the singer’s wide-eyed childhood by establishment education. Their sense of wonder and beauty has been all but stamped out. Where once there was an openness to the magical and miraculous, now there is only clinical – even cynical – intellectualism. The song’s conclusion is that, in its pursuit of progress and the maintenance of the status quo, society has raised up individuals who have lost all sense of self. Their identities have been so diluted in the name of sensibility, responsibility and dependability that they’ve become vegetables who have no idea who they really are. Their education, ironically, has led to them learning nothing.

    It is a well-worn trope. And one I have identified with and expressed myself at various times too. But I’m not convinced it is necessarily helpful to take such an un-nuanced axe to the tree of socialisation. I’d like to raise two quick points of reflective pushback on this song and one point of praise:

    1) We have been created for collectivism.

    Within this song, and works of art like it, there is an inherent individualism at play; an ideology that is suspicious of collectives and considers them a threat to personal liberty. In contrast, the history of Judeo-Christian thought has placed great value on the collective. After all – it is not good for us to be alone. It is in the bonds of relationship that we have our best hope of founding a just and caring society. There is, therefore, a place for responsibility, practicality, dependability. In fact, not just a place, a great need for this. These are amongst the greatest resources of humanity. Our lives and prospects are significantly improved when we can draw upon them. As such, we shouldn’t resent the call from others to develop these in ourselves too. Developing the knowledge, skills necessary to exist well within and – where possible – contribute towards the collective requires no level of education. This might feel uncomfortable. It might even feel like losing something of our childlike simplicity. But is that childlike simplicity a virtue requiring eternal preservation? Surely, there is a need for us to no longer think and reason like children, but to grow and mature. Is socialisation really the enemy? Or is our true enemy the rejection of reality in pursuit of romanticised naivety?

    2) The use of personal freedom in the service of others is what fullness of life is all about.

    If we believe that Jesus was the ultimate example of human being – the firstborn of creation, the design pattern for all of life – then we are at our most human when we’re prepared to utilise our individualism in service to others. That doesn’t mean we have to set aside or lose ourselves when we take up the call to become learned, responsible, practical, dependable, etc. Rather, we gain the opportunity to express our individualism in a self-sacrificial way. Neither leads us into a vegetative or cynical state. Instead, paradoxically, I think it helps us recover a sense of the beauty and wonder of life; as we lay down our lives, we discover and experience a new vision of what ‘fullness of life’ means. And it is truly precious, magical – even miraculous!

    3) The collective is there for the thriving of the individual.

    What this song does get right is its critique of the abuse of individuals in the name of preserving the status quo of the collective. As I’ve outlined, I believe that individuals are made for community, but the community is reciprocally there for the benefit of its individuals. Societies are never perfect and should never be static. History, culture and lived experiences are constantly evolving. So therefore, should communities and their practices be.

    This process of collective development requires voices of critique. There is a deep need for prophets who challenge and shape and develop society through creativity, lateral thinking. To serve a community this way is an act of great sacrifice, which should not lead to unfair demonization. The use of labels such as ‘liberal’ or ‘radical’ can be an unkind way of silencing those who might be exactly what the community need.

    I sympathise and resonate with the words of this song. But increasingly I feel the need to critique art on the basis of how careful its engagement with a subject matter is. In this instance, I want to suggest that there is more to the story than Supertramp suggest. Despite their conclusions, I’d suggest my desire to be a bit more logical about this particular matter actually propels me into a sense of wonder and beauty about the calling to give myself for the collective. And as I do this I believe I will discover who I truly am.

    —

    *PS: As a child of the 90’s I have a confession to make… despite the fact that Supertramp are a major band in the history of pop-rock I only came to be aware of this remarkable song thanks to Scooter sampling the first 4 lines for a (baffling pro-Siberia) clubbing anthem in 2002. That version of the song is substantially less philosophical but still worthy of a shout-out and a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YxTa1AUqps

  • ‘Heroes’ – Måns Zelmerlöw

    Gill writes:

    Well, it’s that time of the year again. Time for the musical event filled with flamboyance, politics and kitsch. For some, it’s an automatic cue to turn off BBC1 and grumble about a music contest taking over the whole channel for an evening; for others, it’s a celebration of eclectic fashion, diverse music, amazing production, and most of all, diversity and inclusion.

    We embrace it in our home. It’s been a staple for me since Bucks Fizz won in 1981, and my first ever Friday Fix was about ‘Love Shine a Light’ by Katrina and the Waves. Whatever you think about Eurovision, you can’t deny that it has introduced us to some great, timeless songs over the years. Where would we be without Cliff’s ‘Congratulations’, Dana’s ‘All Kinds of Everything’, Lulu’s ‘Boom Bang a Bang’, and Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ for a start…

    Today’s song was the winning entry in 2015. My favourite that year was Estonia’s entry ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’ but who am I to know anything about choosing a Eurovision winner – my favourite rarely ever wins! However, ‘Heroes’ came up as the overall family favourite when all our votes were counted.

    As is often the case with a Eurovision winner, there’s more depth to the song than you initially think. The light show that accompanies the song gives a visual narration. The little character that Måns interacts with on the screen is actually himself as a child. According to Måns, he was bullied at school until a new child joined the class. This child, the ‘hero’ in the song, helped Måns to recognise his own worth and helped to build his confidence.

    He said go dry your eyes
    And live your life like there is no tomorrow

    Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We underestimate what we are capable of, or we place our own obstacles in the way. We look for problems to prevent us from being who we are, instead of solutions that will free us to be who we were made to be. We dance with the demons in our minds.

    We are the heroes of our time
    Heroes

    But we’re dancing with the demons in our minds
    Heroes

    I wonder who your heroes are? Who are the people who have lifted you up and carried you to the place where you can take it from there? Who are the ones who stood alongside and faced adversity with you head-on? Who is the person who helped you appreciate what you were capable of? Who are the ones, or one, that changed your life?

    He said I never left your side
    When you were lost I followed right behind
    Was your foundation

    Has it ever occurred to you that you might be someone’s hero? You may have had a truly privileged moment when you’ve been told ‘I couldn’t have done it without you.’ You may crop up in an old friend’s conversation about how you helped them reach an important decision. Somebody who you haven’t seen since your schooldays may still talk about the time that you stuck up for them in the gym changing rooms. Who knows? They do. Those people that hold you as a hero in their lives. They know.

    If you want to know what Måns Zelmerlöw is doing these days, you can visit his website at https://manszelmerlow.se/mans-zelmerlow/

  • Why Don’t You?

    Showing our age today!

    We’re on the lookout for more Friday Fixes so ‘why don’t you’ have a go at writing one for us?

    All you need to do is think about why you’ve been singing that song in the shower each morning this week – or why that track is endlessly on your playlist. Jot down why you like it. Is there a funny or poignant story associated with it? Does it make you want to spring into action? Did it change your life or the way that you think about things?

    Go and switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead by writing a Friday Fix and send it to Gill at thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.

  • ‘Out of Reach’ – Gabrielle

    Gill writes:

    I have a lot to thank Rachel Held Evans (RHE) for. She gave me and thousands of others, the confidence to question, to wander, and to wonder about their faith in God and the church that they belonged to. Her book ‘Searching for Sunday’ follows the story of her searching for her ‘church tribe’ – a community of believers where she could feel both at home and on holy ground.

    It’s three years this week since RHE died, and she still nudges people to deconstruct their faith. For many, it can be an upsetting and disruptive process that can take years as they start to ponder what they truly believe about God, Jesus, faith, and spirituality. For many going through deconstructing their faith, it can feel like they’ve been cast adrift or are being carried along with something that just doesn’t feel completely true anymore. Some might even think that they’ve been ‘stupid for a while.’

    Knew the signs
    Wasn’t right
    I was stupid for a while
    Swept away by you
    And now I feel like a fool
    So confused
    My heart’s bruised
    Was I ever loved by you?

    Some are rejected by their church for questioning and doubting. Some are made to feel like they are doing the rejecting – here are the people who they grew up with, learned together with, shared with and all of a sudden (or perhaps over quite some time), they don’t feel like they quite fit any longer. It begins to feel as though what you knew well and anchored your faith isn’t what you thought it was.

    Out of reach, so far
    I never had your heart
    Out of reach
    Couldn’t see
    We were never
    Meant to be

    For some who come from more fundamental or conservative evangelical circles, it can be incredibly painful to deconstruct faith. They are not only rejected by their church but can find themselves on the receiving end of some aggressive behaviour from those who they thought loved them.

    So much hurt
    So much pain
    Takes a while
    To regain
    What is lost inside
    And I hope that in time
    You’ll be out of my mind
    And I’ll be over you

    But now I’m
    So confused
    My heart’s bruised
    Was I ever loved by you?

    There’s a whole lot of fear around deconstructing your faith. Fear of the unknown. Fear of losing the familiar. Fear of being different and vulnerable.

    Deconstructing your faith is not about destroying it – it’s actually part of deepening it. It’s about letting go of restrictions and cultures of church that are more concerned with doing things in a certain way. It’s about being concerned with doing right, rather than being right. It’s about doubting and questioning because when this happens, you are really grappling with deeper stuff.

    Our churches need to be spaces that allow testing and trying out; of doubting and opting out; of asking questions that make all of us feel uncomfortable – and of loving people all the more when they are doing so. People may move from one fold to another one. That’s okay because they are safe; that’s okay because they feel like they belong where they can flourish and love God all the more.

    If they are loved and cherished and move to pastures new, we can take heart that we cared for them and they are following where God is leading them.

    In my reach, I can see
    There’s a life out there
    For me

    You can find out what Gabrielle is doing at https://gabrielle.co.uk/

  • ‘Iguana Bird’ by Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson

    Marc writes:

    I took the kids to see Sing 2 at the cinema and was reminded that Scarlett Johansson doesn’t just kick ass but also has a fine set of lungs on her… Trading her Black Widow leather cat suit for a porcupine-tailored rocker’s leather jacket, for me she steals the show!

    As a result I jumped on Spotify and looked up what she’s done outside of films, and I stumbled across “Iguana Bird.” Further Google rabbit-hole wanderings confirmed magnificent creature pictured above doesn’t actually exist, and I have absolutely no idea what the title is in reference to. That said, the simplicity of the whole song, tune, rhythm and lyrics drew me in to hearing God’s voice speaking to me.

    It’s clearly a song about what we go through post-heartbreak, that way that you might scroll through their TwInstaBook feed to check out what they’re doing, who they’re with, how happy they are without you, and then wanting to ask those questions:

    Do you like how you’re spending your time?
    Do you like how you’re living your life away from me?

    If we’re talking about a break-up then there’s inherent judging in those questions. “Look what you’ve got now… Is it really as good as it was when you were with me? Is that new partner, that new life, are those new friends REALLY as good as what we had?”


    But when that voice was God speaking to me this morning that wasn’t the case. I didn’t get the sense of judgment, of guilting or shaming. Once upon a time, I would have done… Once upon a time, I’d have felt like I was letting God down, that I was an awful person living an awful life and that I needed to change everything.


    That’s not to say I’m perfect now, but it is to say that my perspective has changed.
    God isn’t saying “Your life looks rubbish without me in it.” I get the sense that he’s saying to me as a Christian as much as he is to the rest of the human population regardless of religion or not
    “What do you see when you look at your life? I want you to have life in all its fullness. Is that what you’ve got?”


    The God I know at the moment prefers to invite me into conversation and relationship that way, and to explore more of life. The God I know at the moment wants to remind me of his heart for me and for the world, and calls me into a fuller existence alongside him. With ALL of the “L’s” I hear God saying to me, and you, and all of us:

    L-l-l-l-l-l-love you
    L-l-l-l-l-l-love you
    L-l-l-l-l-l-love you
    Woah, oh oh oh

    But as with any invitation there is an opportunity to RSVP “no”, and that should be OK!
    There should always be that ability to close the door, to say “You know what, I’m doing alright just now, thanks.”


    I think there are genuinely people who would look at what they have and be content with their lot in life, happy enough with how they’re spending their time and living their life without the interruption of a deity, or at least the white western God that we’ve created and could be accused of trying to impose on people.


    I think there are people who once knew that God, rather than the one I know now, and quite rightly shut the door on a relationship perceived to be abusive, and manipulative, and conditional, on a system based on performance and living to a standard, rather than one based on accepting love and living fully as a response from the depth of our hearts.

    He came to see her, never did meet her
    Close the door in his face again
    Time overwhelms you, let it get away
    The life you had imagined just slipped away.

    And yet there’s something about “Life in abundance” that is worth exploring.
    It’s something that we should try not to let slip away.
    I think we should try and find safe spaces for people to re-visit God and re-frame him from the less helpful images we’ve previously had.


    It’s one of those things we shouldn’t put off, or store away with the bottle of whisky that’s only for special occasions, or the best china, or the pants we save for “date night”, that might never end up being used…

    I wonder, do you like how you’re spending your time?
    Whether you’re currently doing life with or without God, do you like how you’re living your life?
    Is there a way it could be fuller?

    Find out more about Pete Yorn’s music at http://www.peteyorn.com/

  • ‘Stars’ from ‘Les Miserables’ (sung By Philip Quast)

    Jane writes:

    Music is a fascinating thing. Why you like it and when you connect with it. Sometimes it’s all about the lyrical content – this blog is testament to that. Other times it is about chord structure and harmony, and all that one note does when it hits you deep down in your core. It can also be about how much of your cold hard cash you’ve invested in it or, and this is more my thing, the sense of time and place it brings up from when it was first on your radar.

    This track though connects with me because of a person. A dear friend and colleague who died in recent weeks. A man interested in others, and who carried an overwhelming sense of justice at the top of the list in the important things of faith. A gentle human who took the time to care and listen. A soul who was great at his job and knew his stuff. A navigator of the complexities of life, sometimes with more success than others. A funny, witty, and occasionally provocative storyteller. A guy with a lilting and rich voice who sang often and especially this song on request.

    I don’t really know what happens when a person dies, but I certainly know what I’d like to think could be in store for a God-filled man like this one. Maybe the answer for me lies in a heavenward look to the stars and a listen to this song. A constant reminder that this gracious soul, full of light, made a dent in our lives, and the world was a better place for having him in it.

    Rest easy friend x

    You can find out more about Les Miserables here https://www.lesmis.com/

    & Philip Quast here https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0702985/bio