The Friday Fix

  • ‘Running to Stand Still’ by U2

    Jane writes:

    Sometimes in life you’re thrown a curveball that stops you in your tracks. They happen periodically and without warning and often in a way that’s oblivious to others around you. You’re coping but goodness knows how (maybe you’re not) and it’s just a case of keeping the show on the road.

    I imagine that such moments feel different for different people but for me they are often times when I feel overwhelmed and don’t really know what to do. I am busy ensuring stuff happens but essentially I am only just “running to stand still”.

    This global curve ball brings a whole new level of stopping in our tracks. It was for a while a temporary issue but now it seems like it may have to be a whole new way of trying to keep the show on the road and maybe, just maybe, we need to stop doing that thing that we do to keep on keeping on.

    To recognise it can never be the same. To notice that some stuff just needs to stop for ever. To be ready for it to be other than our usual experience. To simply try another way of being. It has to be okay too to have the freedom to say we’re not alright.

    In this song much of what’s written is connected to isolation and addiction. The girl within it …..

    She runs through the streets

    With eyes painted red

    Under a black belly of cloud in the rain

    In through a doorway she brings me

    White gold and pearls stolen from the sea

    She is raging

    She is raging

    And the storm blows up in her eyes

    She will suffer the needle chill

    She’s running to stand

    I know that we are not called by God to live life in this frantic way. To live like an addict in isolation or with an obsession for perpetuating the current pattern of our lives. To get our next “fix”.

    I felt from the start that this might be something we needed to face but as we come to Advent, we may just need to think about it a bit harder. Why do we do what we do at this time of year? Where do our values and faith sit within the busyness? How do we recognise who is important to us and make them, not stuff, the priority – even if the joy of giving and the hubbub of connectivity are all part of the fun of the season.

    I am not the sort of person who wants to cry “Bah Humbug!!” but I wonder if this year instead of rushing to repeat the pattern of years past we just take an extra breath and try something new. Break the “addictions” or “obsessions” whatever they may be and recognise that this truly is the season of God with us.

    God offers life. Life in all its fullness. Life that is challenging. Life that’s full of joy. That’s a complicated thing but its the offer we must grasp now. No more running to stand still. More of a walk towards God’s preferred future.

    U2 and everything about them can be found here https://www.u2.com/index/home

  • A plea for Friday Fixes…

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    To be honest, we’re really needing some Friday Fixes for the next few weeks so please don’t be shy and send them in!

    But in particular, we’d like to tie in our Advent posts with the Methodist Church’s Advent Campaign so songs that speak to you of God being with us would be cracking!

    Please, please, please – we absolutely love receiving Friday Fix contributions and are more than happy to help with editing and finding the video clips and links. All we need are your thoughts.

    So have a good think – and then put it into writing and send your thoughts to Gill at thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.

  • ‘Where Is The Love?’ – The Black-Eyed Peas

    Gill writes:

    I was listening to Bruce Springsteen being interviewed by Dermot O’Leary the other day and honestly, he could have been talking about the Friday Fix!

    He was explaining that songs to him, particularly as a teenager, became quiet or meditative prayers. Certain songs, he said, took him to a place that gave him a sense of life and spirituality. Well I couldn’t have put it better myself.

    There are songs of adoration such as ‘What a Wonderful World’ (Louis Armstrong); songs of confession like ‘Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word’ (Elton John); songs giving thanks – ‘Thank You for the Music’ (Abba) being an obvious one and songs of supplication like ‘Call and Answer’ (Barenaked Ladies). Like Bruce, I often use songs as prayers. They’re usually more passionate and eloquent than I could ever be.

    I’ve been finding it hard lately – to be a human living in ‘unprecedented times’. I feel frustrated with restrictions and angry with decision-makers; I feel worried about where votes might go in the US this coming week and I feel unsettled with what January might bring when Brexit really begins to affect trading. In other words, I feel completely powerless. And that’s not an easy state to be in because the tendency is to start licking your wounds and dwelling on those unnerving feelings to the point of not living life.

    It goes against my natural inclination to spend time in the darker places. I tend to want to brush it aside and focus on what can be done to change things or lighten the mood.

    ‘Lament’ is a major theme in the Bible, especially in the books of Psalms and Lamentations. To lament, according to the dictionary, is passionate expression of grief or sorrow. The psalms of lament are profound poems or songs expressing human struggles and they make up about one third of the entire book of Psalms. They lay before God the trouble and woe of being human and make a request for His help.

    This song is most definitely a prayer for me at the moment. I feel grief about a number of things that seem insurmountable.

    Father, Father, Father help us
    Send some guidance from above
    ‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
    Where is the love? 

    But then I look back over the last few Friday Fixes and I can start to see the love. Already God begins to answer my prayer as I see love in the tired foster carer; the rainbow chaser; the outcasts and girls; the grieving daughter; the concerned decision-maker and the dweller in the moment.

    Just like Bruce Springsteen says “there’s a certain quiet spirituality as these [songs] became quiet, meditative prayers”. Yes indeed, many songs are my prayers.

    The Black Eyed Peas have recently updated their song with Jennifer Hudson in support of the Biden/Harris campaign. When you visit their website, it will be the first thing that you come across. You may want to watch it. Or you may not – https://www.blackeyedpeas.com/

  • ‘Say Hello To The Sun’ by Baby Sensory

    Nigel writes:

    My wife, Sue, and I have recently started fostering children. Somewhat scarily for us, we are currently looking after a baby that is teething. We are in our 50s, and feel a huge sense of responsibility … and general inadequacy.

    Lots of songs came to mind that might be worthy of being offered for this blog as describing our current state of play and journey: ‘Things can only get Better’; ‘Help’; ‘It’s oh so quiet’ (not); ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it’; and ‘I just don’t know what to do with myself’ all come to mind. However, the song that is currently helping most is a baby song.

    As we prepared for the infant addition to our home, some friends offered us a near money-back guarantee on a baby song that they said would calm the most upset of children: ‘Say Hello to the Sun’

    The words are very simple and the tune a beautiful and gentle melody.

    Say hello to the sun, shining down on me, I love the sun, because the sun warms me

    Say hello to the moon, beaming down on me, I love the moon, because the moon guides me

    Say hello to the corn, growing strong for me, I love the corn, because the corn feeds me

    Say hello to the stars, shining down on me, I love the stars because the stars see me

    Say hello to the rain, falling down on me, I love the rain, because the rain cools me

    Say hello to the flowers, bright colours for me, I love the flowers, because they gladden me

    Say hello to my friends, playing games with me, I love my friends, because my friends love me

    Now here’s the thing … it does calm the baby down – perhaps not in a ‘money-back guarantee’ way, but it does have a positive effect. More importantly it calms me and my wife down; soothing our anxiety, encouraging us to be more selfless and more grateful for the things in our world.

    I don’t say this glibly or lightly as these are currently very tough times we are living in and the sleepless nights and isolation are catching up on us. We live in Nottinghamshire and are in Tier 2 of lockdown. We are very aware of the current challenges. Our Tier 2 status means we have lost quite a bit of our close support from friends and family who were helping us on the fostering journey by popping round, offering hospitality and sharing child-care responsibilities. At times it has felt like the only things and people we have been able to ‘say hello’ to were each other, the children, and the wonders of our natural world described in the song and created by our loving and generous God.

    We’ve got some solace knowing that something is shining on us, beaming down on us, being strong for us and sustaining us. We’ve taken comfort from small moments of peace in a time of chaos. We’ve witnessed innocent joy in the company of toys and books made of bright colours and had playful games amongst the richness of the autumn leaves and pools of rainwater in the street.

    If you are in need of a little calmness, respite and some soothing, then do take a listen to the song. It’s not a rock anthem, country classic, piece of vocal perfection or genius song writing, but it has helped us connect a little of who we are, the wonder of creation, our current context and a God who we still passionately believe wants us – and baby – to thrive and flourish.

    It’s also not a song that I can offer a money-back guarantee on. I can’t promise that if you listen to it all will be well and every problem will disappear, but it might offer a little perspective and bring a momentary joy that can help get you through the tough days we are too often experiencing at this time. Enjoy

  • ‘Chasing Rainbows’ by Shed Seven

    Gill writes:

    I guess that the address given at our wedding service might have taken some people by surprise. It started with the words “Everybody here is thinking of weddings, while I am thinking of funerals”. But then again, the person giving the address was my Dad and we’ve come to expect the unexpected from him over the years!

    The thing that had got him thinking about funerals was that we had chosen a rainbow theme for our invitations, order of service and so on. The rainbow in this context was that weddings are about endings and beginnings – that we were ending our lives as singletons (as Bridget Jones would say) and starting a new life together.

    I’ve always loved rainbows – my teenage bedroom wall had a huge one stretching across it – and just this morning as I sat down to jot these thoughts down, a full rainbow appeared in the sky over Grimsby. God-incidence?

    Rainbows have many meanings but it seems that most of the meanings tend to be reminders about love, hope and new life. Whether it be the rainbow flag of Pride, or the rainbow bridge of Norse Mythology linking earth with the gods, or the Celtic pot of gold waiting for you.

    This song by Shed Seven is full of the melancholy that yearning and hoping can be wrapped up in. We often think of being hopeful as being an optimistic and positive thing but being hopeful can be the hook, the connection, the thread that pulls us through the depths of despair. Hope can exist in our most darkest of places.

    I could deny
    But I’ll never realize
    I’m just chasing rainbows
    All the time

    ‘Chasing rainbows’ means trying to pursue the impossible or unattainable. There are moments, days and significant times in our lives where things may feel unattainable or unachievable. I know that there have been times in 2020 (where we’re living with Covid-19 in some kind of half-life) that have perhaps led some of us to feel that we’re chasing rainbows all the time.

    But rainbows have an element of surprise. We get excited when we see one. We look to see if it’s a full one or a double one. They can be fleeting or they can be there for a while. They raise our hopes and bring us light.

    And for those of us with a Christian faith, they remind us of God’s promise right back in the Book of Genesis – “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Gen 9:16)

    Perhaps ‘chasing rainbows’ is all about chasing hope. Some may think that that’s unrealistic, or a waste of time, or pointless. But for me, there is always the promise of love, of new life, of hope and I really don’t mind if you find me chasing rainbows – all the time!

    Shed Seven are still making music and you can find them at https://www.shedseven.com/

  • ‘Stupid Girls’ – P!nk

    Sharon writes:

    I recently saw an interview with P!nk and was particularly drawn to the lyrics of ‘Stupid Girls’:

    ‘Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?

    Oh where, oh where could they be?

    Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back

    Porno Paparazzi girl, I don’t wanna be a stupid girl

    Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back

    Push up my bra like that, I don’t wanna be a stupid girl

    Disease’s growing, it’s epidemic

    I’m scared that there ain’t a cure

    The world believes it and I’m going crazy

    I cannot take any more

    I’m so glad that I’ll never fit in

    That will never be me

    Outcasts and girls with ambition

    That’s what I wanna see’

    I have a daughter who has just turned 6 and I am already very aware of the influence of the wider world on her, and the messages she receives around who and what she should be.

    I had always understood the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) to be about sitting at the feet of Jesus vs being busy, until I heard Richard Rohr speak about being challenged on this interpretation of the text – when your wider family gathers, is it like mine in that the men gather in the lounge to talk about ’important things’, while the women gather in the kitchen to aid food prep?

    Rohr suggests that maybe Jesus was actually challenging the status quo, saying that women also have the right to an education, to have an opinion, to be able to express that opinion and be heard. Perhaps, it wasn’t about studying vs being busy, but a statement of equality.

    38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

    41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

    Outcasts and girls with ambition, that’s what I wanna see …

    Find out more about P!NK at https://www.pinkspage.com/home/

  • ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Kate Bush

    Anne writes

    Music is incredibly emotive and can transport you back in time in an instant. It has the power to lift your mood, make you nostalgic or make you cry.

    My story takes me back 13 years to a most difficult time in my life. My mother had just died of cancer and I was struggling with life. She was most organised and spared us many of the overwhelming decisions that you have to make following the death of a loved one.

    She had almost written her own funeral service all that was left for us to do was to find pictures of her for a running powerpoint to be seen before the service started. As I sifted through the photos, I listened to lots of melancholy music as it suited my mood.

    I don’t even know how I came to it but I found this song by Kate Bush. Her voice has always been mystical and haunting and the beginning of this song is just beautiful and simple. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. The song is actually about a man who is waiting for his wife to give birth and thinking about life before this enormous change in his life but to me the words took on a different meaning,

    ‘Pray God you can cope…… now starts the craft of the Father’ – for me this was me speaking to her as she left us and we entrusted her to God’s care.

    ‘I know you’ve got a little life in you yet
    I know you’ve got a lot of strength left’     – this was me imploring her not to give up but to stay with us for a bit longer. Selfish I know because she was ready to go.

    ‘I should be crying, but I just can’t let it show
    I should be hoping, but I can’t stop thinking’     – this was me trying to be brave but failing.

    ‘Of all the things I should’ve said
    That I never said
    All the things we should’ve done
    Though we never did
    All the things I should’ve given
    But I didn’t
    Oh, darling, make it go
    Make it go away’      – all my regrets at missed opportunities and things that were said that we didn’t mean or things that weren’t said that we should have said. Please God take away this hurt. It’s too hard.

    ‘Give me these moments back
    Give them back to me
    Give me that little kiss
    Give me your hand’     – I just didn’t want to face what my life would be like without my biggest supporter, my listening ear and my reassurance when I was questioning.

    This song was played on a loop as it gave me permission to cry. It reached deep down and touched parts that nothing else could reach.

    As time passed, I came to need it less and less and I forgot about it until one afternoon at my best friend’s house. We were binge watching ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and it was at the beginning of a particularly harrowing scene where the Handmaids were facing certain death.

    All of sudden the familiar introduction played over the top of this scene and it completely took my breath away. I couldn’t watch the events unfolding alongside this special song so we had to watch on mute. This is particularly surprising because I am notorious for not noticing background music and lyrics to songs but this one still had that power and impact.

    This song has such an effect on me that even writing about it has made me cry and I’m not even listening to it. Thank you Kate Bush. My interpretation of your words and your haunting voice and melody bring back feelings that I thought were gone but it just goes to prove that you don’t recover from the death of someone you love you just get better at living with the loss. I love you Mum and always will.  

    You can find out much more about Kate Bush here   http://www.katebush.com/

  • Advent is Coming

    Okay, okay. We know it’s not even October but we need you to get your thinking caps on and send us some reflections ready for Advent 2020.

    We wondered if you could share popular songs that have reassured you that God is with us.

    When you’ve had a good think – why not put it into writing and send your thoughts to Gill at thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.

  • ‘Something Changed’ – Pulp

    Gill writes:

    Welcome to the song that I always associate with this time of year.

    September. The month that often sees changes that we know are coming but are not quite sure what, and how, those changes will be.

    As a child, it was the month that brought changes – a new teacher, a new class, a new friend.

    As a teenager it often brought a change in relationships, a change of look, a change in your life’s journey – college, university, job.

    As an adult, it’s often brought a sense of renewal too. Maybe it’s because of the tracks laid down in earlier years but there’s still a sense of refreshment and change in the air in September.

    This song perfectly captures the ‘what if’ moments in life. Those split second moments where we make a decision that has implications for ever. As Jarvis sings:

    Oh, I could have stayed at home and gone to bed
    I could have gone to see a film instead
    You might have changed your mind and seen your friends
    Life could have been very different but then
    Something changed

    September is the month when I said to my flatmate “Yes, I don’t mind your friend staying in your room while you’re away so he can look for new university digs” – which consequently led to me and him saying ‘I will’ roughly a year later. What if I’d said ‘No, I’d rather have the place to myself for a week’? – where would I be now?

    Who knows – but I love that this song ventures into areas that theologians continue to debate even today. Are things predetermined or of free will? Are moments like this completely random or a God incident?

    Do you believe that there’s someone up above?
    And does he have a timetable directing acts of love?

    Well before you head off down the rabbit hole of debate with the great minds of Calvin, Luther, Arminius, Kierkegaard, St Augustine and so on, why don’t we just take a moment to marvel at the mystery of life and of love. That we are only human. That we don’t understand it all and as St Augustine once said ‘We are talking about God. What wonder is it that you do not understand? If you do understand, then it is not God.’

    Earlier this year, Jarvis Cocker (lead singer of Pulp) said in Rolling Stone Magazine about this song that it’s “the one Pulp song that seems to crop up. I’ve been stopped by a lot of people who tell me that song was played at their wedding. They walked down the aisle to it!”

    Perhaps the words of the last verse capture a tiny bit of the wonder of life and the journeys we take. And that’s something that we can all relate to.

    When we woke up that morning we had no way of knowing
    That in a matter of hours we’d change the way we were going
    Where would I be now, where would I be now if we’d never met?
    Would I be singing this song to someone else instead?
    I don’t know but like you just said
    Something changed

    Pulp’s website is https://www.pulppeople.com/