Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Shining Star" (Earth, Wind, And Fire)

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Welcome to the smooth funk of Tuesday!!!! It's time for the Notes baby's and have we got a show for you today!!!  Beats with horns throwin' down your way and all of it for just the price of the time it takes you to read it!  Let's get the groove on with this happenin' little ditty from 1975 and our friends at The Midnight Special....Here is Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Larry Dunn and the rest of Earth, Wind and Fire wishing on a little "Shining Star"...


Their music is genre busting.  If it is popular form of music, Earth, Wind, and Fire have written and performed it to Grammy winning success and fans around the world.  They have received 20 Grammy nominations (winning 6 times as a group). The first came concurrently with their first #1 single on the Pop and R&B charts...."Shining Star".  This song from 1975's #5 album, That's The Way Of The World, would catapult EWF to popular music's mainstream and elevate them to setting the standard for super groups to come.  With the Phenix Horns as the backdrop for rhythm and vocals, Earth, Wind, and Fire continues touring and producing albums that are fan favorites across musical spectra.

God's Word has much to say about light.  God spoke light into existence as He separated it from the darkness and saw that it was good.  In every translation and paraphrase of the Bible, God calls the light "good", but says nothing about the darkness.  As you read the Genesis account of creation, God makes broad comments that envelope everything that He has just created and calls it all "good".  Yet, other than to call the darkness "night", God places no commentary on it.  Since that separation, light has been seen as an analogy of goodness and virtue, conversely, darkness has been seen as an analogy of evil and wickedness.  The illumination of God's Word breaks the darkness of our fallen state.  Jesus even thought that light was a good illustration as He places His example strategically in The Sermon On The Mount:

Matthew 5:14-16

What does this passage mean?  We must read it in the context of Jesus, whose main mission on earth was to glorify God by giving Himself as a ransom to redeem the fallen.  At the point of our redemption, we become as one of the lights that God placed in the heavens.  Their purpose was to separate and obliterate the darkness in their area of influence and thereby bring glory to God.  We are much like the earth at creation.  Until God interacts in our lives we are formless and void.  God then speaks light into our life and it causes a separation from the darkness.    The difference between us and creation is that we get to chose that which surrounds us.  Even as the redeemed we sometimes make poor decisions and find ourselves in the middle of the struggle of the light against the darkness.  We must remember that this place is not our home.  This world of darkness will one day be replaced by a world of eternal light.  Yet, while we are here, if we claim the  moniker of Christ follower, we must be aware that the darkness is watching for its opportunity to take us over.  We must battle against the "good" distractions that keep us from doing the "best" deeds.  Are you talented in some area?  Perhaps you are an eloquent speaker.  You should speak for the light.  Perhaps your talent lies in the area of music.  You should play or sing skillfully for the light.  The list can go on and on.  What we do with our lives after our "Jesus experience" reflects whom we truly serve. At this point, the light of God in our lives implores us to unmistakeably reveal Jesus to everyone we encounter. Do the actions, tasks, work, and service we do reflect and glorify God?  Do they unmistakeably reveal Jesus?  If not, why not?  That's what we're here for....to be a shining star....no matter who you are...shining bright to see...what you can truly be.....what you can truly be.....

'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy

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