Rules of Civility #16 - "Do not puff up the cheeks, loll out the tongue with the hand or beard, thrust not out the lips or bite them, or keep the lips too open or too close."
Welcome to the greatest day of the week!!! Back in the day, retailers would see a "bump" in sales on Tuesday due to the New Release music and video of the day. It's called a "hard street date". In this day of downloadable, digital, drival (is that too harsh?) called popular music, it is rare to see a "hard street date" that affects the retailer, the music label, or an artists sales. Sigh...(those 3 dots actually have a name. It is a grammatical device called an "ellipsis". The Notes are your source for educational stimuli.) Back in the day, say 1983, the "hard street date" was huge. If the timing was right and all the stars aligned in the proper order, a one hit wonder could be born on a Tuesday. That's the case for today's Tuesday's Musical Notes! Let's go back to that wonderful year where your hair was teased more than your little sister...1983.
Nena was the name of the band. As some band names go, it was also the stage name of the lead singer, Nena. Her actual name was Gabriele Susanne Kerner. That name would have been much harder to fit on the front of an album cover...(ellipsis, remember this there will be a quiz). Nena, the band, was a Neue Deutsche Welle band. This is German for New Wave meets Punk Rock. Nena also has the high honor of being a 2 hit wonder for the same song. "99 Luftballoons" was the #2 smash from the band in 1983 and #15 overall for that year. It was the highest charting German song in Billboard history.
"99 Luftballoons" - Nena (German Lyrics)
It was so popular that the band released an English language version of the song with slightly different lyrics that charted suprisingly everywhere but the United States.
"99 Red Balloons" - Nena (English Lyrics)
"99 Luftballoons" was originally intended as a "protest" song about the separation of Germany into Eastern and Western countries. The Berlin Wall would fall 6 years later, but probably not because of pressure put on by "99 Luftballoons". That pressure would come from somewhere else...
"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall" - President Ronald Reagan
"99 Luftballoons" remains the highest charting German song in Billboard history and is ranked at #16 in VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s. For a song that most Americans had absolutely no idea what was being said, this is quite amazing.
Equally amazing is a story regarding the appeal of a message that under normal circumstances would not have been understood by its hearers.
In the book of Acts (after The Gospel of John, before Paul's Letter to The Romans in most Bibles) we read about the beginnings of Christianity. Jesus had spent 3 years teaching Hebrew men about who He was and what His sacrifice would mean. While the disciples really didn't grasp the entirety of what Jesus was trying to teach them, they believed He was who He proclaimed to be... God's son. While they didn't fully understand the complexity of Jesus mission, they loved Him as a teacher and mentor. After He was gone, they didn't fully discern how their lives would change, yet they embraced His message and began sharing The Good News of what Jesus had done for them.
At about this time, there was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem by people from all over the world to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. This was a Jewish customary feast and gathering to commemorate the giving of The Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It is still observed today as Shavout by our Jewish friends. As the disciples had gathered to remember, an incredible occurence took place:
Acts 2 KJV/The Message
While the disciples were accused of being drunk by some of the crowd, others were astounded to be hearing their own language by these men. They heard The Gospel from first hand accounts in words they could comprehend with their minds and a message they could understand with their hearts. Peter, who had once denied any knowledge of Jesus, now preached boldly about how salvation had come into the world through Jesus. And the people understood...at least 3000 of them did.
In light of this story, why are Christians today so intimidated at the thought of telling someone about Jesus? Why do we hesitate when the call for a mission trip is made? Why are we skeptical when we hear of thousands being saved at evangelistic events? 3000 souls were saved due to Peter's presenting The Gospel. Why should we expect any less than that today when we present The Gospel? ? If God can transform Peter's message into languages from all over the world, why can't the stories we have about Jesus be transformed into exactly what hearers around us need? Some will say that we are "drunk" in a figurative figurative sense, yet eltheir criticism does not release us from the responsibility to tell the story and then have the faith that God will deliver the message. You never can tell what walls in people's lives can be torn down if you will be true to your calling and speak the "foolishness" of The Gospel. (1Corinthians 1:18) To some it may even seem like you are singing a song about Red Balloons...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving you,
Randy
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