Tag Archives: Music

•

Dear Friends, Beloved Reader,

Here we are again. How you holding up?

I've reached the 'somehow ended up watching far too many episodes of Escape to Chateau DIY and am now convinced I need to buy a rundown chateau in the south of France and spend my life fixing it' stage of the pandemic.

chateauIt's gonna be great. You can come stay and we shall sit in the orchard, under the French sun, drinking wine and eating bread and cheese.orchardorcharrd wineSo yeh, Lockdown 2 is mostly creating a Chateau moodboard. This is kinda saving my life right now.

Many years ago now, a wise old priest invited me to come speak at his church .

“What do you want me to talk about?” I asked.

"Come tell us what is saving your life right now,” he answered.

It was as if he had swept his arm across a dusty table and brushed all the formal china to the ground.

I did not have to try to say correct things that were true for everyone. I did not have to use theological language that conformed to the historical teachings of the church. All I had to do was figure out what my life depended on. All I had to do was figure out how I stayed as close to that reality as I could.” From An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor

It is the year of our Lord 2020, consider the formal china swept to the floor. What is saving your life right now?

Alongside dreaming of Chateau Life, saving mine is:

  • Lunch time walks. Still. After becoming a giant dust bowl over the summer, the common is now a massive mud pit. The ground either springs back underfoot or tries to steal your shoes. Turns out, the world is not a cold dead place.
  • Sunday morning walks – life, questions, uncertainty, hope. We walk and talk it out. Conclusions – we know far less than we thought we did. Life is way more uncertain and far more unpredictable than we like to admit. Hope is still a thing, somehow.
  • After work walks - shout out to everyone marching through the dark just to hang out with friends.
  • Less sitting, more dancing. And walking - obvs.
  • Mixed Up podcast. “Going to the hairdressers is just as stressful as some people find the dentist. You just never know if they’ll be able to handle your hair and how they’ll interpret what you ask for.” NEVER BEEN MORE SEEN IN ALL MY LIFE. Going to the hairdressers is terrifying. This is fact.
  • The calendar of good things is back (its mostly food - and walks):

Teach us to remember, God; make our minds a storehouse for past promises kept, all the good things and hope fulfilled - so that we can be a prophet to our own present, a watchman on the walls of our own still night.” Strahan Coleman

  • Spiritual direction. I offload all my messy theological questions, I get some good questions thrown back at me – somehow this is helping me find my way through.
  • This.

When it feels like the dark
Lingers longer than the night
When the shadows feel like giants
Are You chasing me down?
Tell me where could I run
From Your light, where could I hide?
Hemmed within Your precious thoughts
There's no hiding from Your love
Highs and lows
Lord, You're with me either way it goes
Should I rise or should I fall
Even so
Lord, Your mercy is an even flow
You're too good to let me go
Should I dance on the heights
Or make my bed among the depths
Your mercy waits at every end
Like You planned it from the start
Should the dawn come with wings
Or find me far-side of the sea
There Your hand still fastens me
Ever closer to Your heart
Highs and lows
Lord, You're with me either way it goes
Should I rise or should I fall
You are faithful through it all
Highs and lows
You surround me either way it goes
Should I rise or should I fall
Lord, You're with me through it all
Highs and lows
In the rhythms of Your grace, I know
You're too good to let me go

May you find a quiet place within you – deep and untouchable to the violent, raging voices of the moment – to hear God remind you ‘I am with you till the end of the age.’ Strahan

•

RIP Me. This song has SLAYED me. Currently listening to it on repeat repeat repeat.

I usually avoid anything with an inspirational/worship type background. I also don't listen to much Christian music. So thank God for Youtube autoplay.

Every day at dusk I chase the sunset, sunset
Looking for a glimpse of Heaven’s skies
I’ve been given a taste for something
That nothing in this world can satisfy
But I know that a time is coming
When I will be in glorious delight
I know I will run through Heaven’s brilliant streets of gold
Shouting "Hallelujah, Christ alone!"
I know I will dance and sing and bow before the throne
Yeah, this, I know.
Every day at dawn I chase the sunrise, sunrise
Looking for a hint of Heaven’s light
I’ve been given a taste for something
That nothing in this world can satisfy
But I know that a time is coming
When I will be in glorious delight
I know I will run through Heaven’s brilliant streets of gold
Shouting "Hallelujah, Christ alone!"
I know I will dance and sing and bow before the throne
Yeah, this, I know.
I know I will run through Heaven’s brilliant streets of gold
Shouting "Hallelujah, Christ alone!"
I know I will dance and sing and bow before the throne
Yeah, this, I know.
This I know.

•

Dear people at the ball park music gig,

I had a great time. Ball Park Music were great.

But I have a few things to say to some of you:

To the wall of 8 foot tall guys blocking out the sun stage, thanks for moving so that we lesser mortals could see something other than the ceiling.

To the people who kept trying to push their way to the front when there was no space. There was no space. No space. And people start to get upset when you crush them.

To the Angry Girl. Chill out love. It’s a gig. You have no personal space, it's just like the tube. People will bump into you. Deal with it and maybe go to some anger management classes.

To the Crazy Dancing Lady, there was no space for your acrobatic single ladies-esque routine. No space. The people standing around you did not enjoy being hit in the face by your hair, elbowed in the ribs or dodging your pint that you were so liberally decorating our clothes with. Angry girl particularly did not enjoy having you spill your drink on her.

Thanks for the jokes though.

The Year of Live Music lives on.

 

•
There are few things in this world that can make me Hulk angry in a matter of seconds  (excluding the misuse of your/you’re, there/their and LOL. But every now and again I am confronted by something that makes me so angry I turn green and go from zero to sixty in three point five shut up and drive on the Anger Scale. Last week I met with such a thing. And even now, just thinking about it, the red mist of anger clouds my vision and my skin is tinged with green...

But have you seen the Blurred Lines music video?  Sweet bass line, catchy tune and jaunty lighting that makes it look o so Instagram. Youtube hits at this moment stand at 58,015,056 million.

But have you seen this music video? Have you seen the women prancing around in plastic and flesh toned underwear? Have you seen the way the women are passed on from guy to guy? Have you seen the woman on her hands and knees with a car balanced on her back? Have you seen the way the women are objectified into glossy hair, red lipstick, pretty faces and ‘great bodies’? Have you seen how it’s all a bit of fun because look how the guys are just joking around? #lad

But have you seen this music video yet?

It makes me angry. And believe me, you won’t like me when I’m angry (or whatever it is the hulk says – I was never much of a Hulk fan).

I’m angry that it tells our sisters, nieces, daughters, granddaughters, cousins and friends that being objectified to a pretty face, boobs, legs and bum instead of an actual human being dearly beloved of God and of infinite value is OK.

I’m angry that it tells our brothers, nephews, sons, grandsons, cousins and friends that the objectification of women, from human being dearly beloved of God and of infinite value to a pretty face, boobs, legs and bum is OK.

I’m angry that so many people will think I’m over reacting. Because it’s just a music video, right? #banter

I’m angry because the objectification of women is such an everyday thing that sometimes I barely notice it. And the less we notice it, the more acceptable it becomes. And the more acceptable it becomes the fewer inappropriate behaviours we question and stand up to. This is not OK.

I’m angry because I don’t know how we can change this.




•


One day it will all make sense, right?


Farther Along - Josh Garrells

Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
So, cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We'll understand this, all by and by

Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man died, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves 'em both
We're all cast-aways in need of rope
Hangin' on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I've seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin' that line back home

So much more to life than we've been told
It's full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
Wash away all the things you've done
Forgiveness alright

Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
So, cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We'll understand this, all by and by

Still I get hard pressed on every side
Between the rock and a compromise
Like the truth and pack of lies fightin' for my soul
And I've got no place left go
'Cause I got changed by what I've been shown
More glory than the world has known
Keeps me ramblin' on

Skipping like a calf loosed from its stall
I'm free to love once and for all
And even when I fall I'll get back up
For the joy that overflows my cup
Heaven filled me with more than enough
Broke down my levees and my bluffs
Let the flood wash me

And one day when the sky rolls back on us
Some rejoice and the others fuss
'Cause every knee must bow and tongue confess
That the Son of God is forever blessed
His is the kingdom, we're the guests
So put your voice up to the test
Sing Lord, come soon 

Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
So, cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We'll understand this, all by and by


Now we see things imperfectly, as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now. 1 Corinthians 13v12

•
Every now and again I find an album that just makes we want to weep tears of musical joy. And every time I listen to it I want to go and lie in traffic because I know that nothing in my life will ever be as well crafted as that lyric, melody or arrangement.
Every time I find such an album I listen to nothing else for maybe the next two weeks and I mean literally nothing else.
This week I discovered such an album that makes me want to lie in the middle of Bethnal Green Road and take my chances with the traffic.
Endless Years by Will Reagan and the United Pursuit Band.
I have listened to nothing else for the past week. You need to listen to it.
The title track, Endless Years, is by far my favourite:

I will hold you child
When all is done
When the world is gone
And many songs have been sung
You will be with me
Through endless years
We will dance and sing
When your heart is fulfilled
So don’t close your eyes
Don’t lose your way
Don’t miss all the gifts
That are unforeseen
I’m your anchor and shield
I’m the wind in your sails
I’m the song in your heart
I’m the God who saves.