Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" (Pete Seeger)

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Good Tuesday to ya friend and Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I hope this week finds you among friends and family enjoying a faith tradition handed down by the Pilgrims and Indians on that first Thanksgiving.  This is a time when people from totally differing cultures joined together to share a time of food and peace.  Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  

One of the things that I am the most thankful for this season is life.  I have had the extreme privilege to be present at the birth of all 3 of my daughters.  Now 23, 21, and 17, their lives have brought a myriad of emotions and learning experiences for me.  For that I am thankful.  I also have had the extreme privilege of being married to their mother for 27 years.  Again, a myriad of emotions and learning experiences for me.  For this I am also thankful.  For 45 years my mother and father were incredible examples of what a life together means.  I am truly blessed and grateful for their patience, discipline and unconditional love.    I could continue this list with the blessings of a brother who is a man of integrity and strength, an extended family who daily provide examples of what faithful living looks like, and a body of friends that are incomparable.  In short, this Thanksgiving season I am grateful for life...and music!

One of the reasons that music is written is to reflect a movement.  These movements can be political, social, or be the sort that sparks revival for our nation.  The Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame has recognized several of these songs by including them as inductees.  There is an irony with one of those songs that is the subject of today's notes....

 

It has been recorded in 22 different languages and has been sung as a protest to war since its inception.  Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson are credited with writing this song that was inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.  It is a circular song in that it ends right back where it began, with the flowers. Many artists, primarily those associated with Folk Music, have recorded or performed the song.  The highest charting recording of the song is by The Kingston Trio.  It hit #21 on Billboard in 1962.  It is a song that protests war of all kinds, but specifically the United States interaction in the Viet Nam war.  This war spawned many protest songs that came out of the 60's.  Some of this music was embraced and still has a life today, while others faded into obscurity shortly after they were released.
 
The decade from 1960 - 1970 is known as one of incredible change in our country.    Young people all over the country were at the forefront of that change.  It is hard to imagine that the 18 year old of 1965 turned 66 in 2013.  This decade is credited with the peace movement, the civil rights movement, and the sexual revolution.  While some of these changes were good for our country, some of them allowed the incubation of some very evil social and political developments to creep into our society.   The chiefest among them is abortion.  "When will they ever learn?"

Decisions that we make every day have consequences.  When decisions are made selfishly the consequences usually do not turn out as intended.  The 60's convinced a generation of people, and undoubtedly changed the landscape of normality for the rest of time, that the physical aspects of procreation were not limited to the confines of a good marriage.  This "free love" mentality would eventually have the effect of pregnancies that were not planned.  In steps, the enemy enacted a perfect plan to destroy not only the life of the newly formed baby, but the life of its parents as well.  Since 1973, when the landmark Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal in the United States, over 56 million lives have been lost through the process of abortion.  The numbers even get worse when you look at world wide abortions with over 1 billion being performed. 
 (source:  http://www.numberofabortions.com/)  The same generation that brought us "have love, not war" brought us the issue of a woman's right to choose.  A little ironic....don't ya think?   The total number of casualties for the Viet Nam war (over 500,000 civilian and combatant deaths) pale in comparison to the statistics for abortions.  "When will they ever learn?"

Many have studied and debated the ramifications of abortion.  One thing that I don't think is considered enough is the consequences to our country's economy.  Think about the 56+ million workers who were never allowed to contribute to Social Security and the country's tax base.  Could one of these 56+ million been the one to cure cancer?  Questions like this have been and will continue to be debated until Christ followers understand and embrace the Biblical model of the sanctity of human life.  Aside from the 6th commandment, the Bible is replete with instructions on how we are to treat our fellow human being's lives.  In the poetic book of Job it is written:  “The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life." (Job 33:4 NASB)  This was written as Job was going through some of the worst criticism from "friends" for the tragedies that had occurred in his life.  Yet, Job recognized where life came from and when it began.  Out of this knowledge was birthed a worship that was able to overcome the worst of the calamaties that he had faced.  


From inception to natural death, God is consistent with his commands regarding murder.  In my opinion, many politicians and even professing believers want to muddy the waters of the debate by saying abortion is acceptable in cases of rape, incest, or the survival of the mother.  I can't find God's Word backing that particular stance up anywhere.  While each of these are circumstances that are not desirable, we must have faith in God's plan...not our own. "When will they ever learn?"

Please understand, as we have said so many times, there is hope in a restored relationship with God through Jesus.  Abortion is a sin.  Jesus came to restore the relationship between God and sinners.  That includes me, that includes you, that includes those who perform abortions as well as those who make the decisions to have them.  God want's a relationship with you regardless of what you have done in and with your life.  That relationship can be established through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Be thankful for life....this one and the one to come.

'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (Simple Minds)

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Hey howdy ho!!!  It's Tuesday!!! Here We Go!!!!  Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes, where hopefully the music is what you expect, but the commentary....hopefully is completely unexpected.  At least maybe it is a thing to make you go hmmm.  Let's get started with today's song that makes you go "Hey....Hey....Hey....Hey!".  From 1985, with an assist from the movie The Breakfast Club, here is Simple Minds:

 

4 bands refused to initially record this iconic 80's hit including Simple Minds. After originally refusing to record the song they were persuaded by their record label, A&M, to perform it for the soundtrack of the John Hughes film, The Breakfast Club.  This film featured some of the 80's largest young actors, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson,who would become known as the "Brat Pack".  Each of these actors would see major hits in the 80's and early 90's. 

The practice in the music industry is to typically record a series of songs for inclusion on an album, selecting specific tracks for release as singles and to radio.  Many times the inclusion of a song on a movie soundtrack is icing on the cake for a single.  This would allow the single to have a saturation of 3 formats.  2 full length albums and the single.  "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is the exception to this norm as it went to #1 on the US charts for 3 weeks in 1985.  It never reached the top 5 in the UK but stayed on the charts from 1985-1987, the longest period of time for any single.  It reached its max saturation by not being on any Simple Minds full length album in that time period.  Simple Minds refused to include it on a full length album until 1992's greatest hits complilation, Glittering Prize

Who in your history have you never forgotten about?  What does it take to be memorable to others?  What are the characteristics of those people in your life who you remember fondly and continue to heed advice they may have given you?  Perhaps they always seemed happy.  Without a doubt they were usually kindhearted and thought of others before themselves.  Did they exude a love for others that was evident in the patient way they interacted with folks?  This is the kind of person you would never consider quarrelsome, right?  Hopefully several people have come to your mind.  What was it about them that allowed these characteristics to be so evident in their life? 

In the letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, he referred to a grouping of similar characteristics that he called fruit of the Spirit.  What he means here is that after a person accepts Jesus' leadership over their lives, there are specific attributes about their life that will be evidence of the transformation that is taking place in them.  Galatians 5:22-23 list these traits:


love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.

Think back on the group of people that are memorable to you.  Do these "fruit" describe them?  Do these "fruit" describe you?  I confess that I don't live up to this standard on a consistent basis.  I fall back on the nature of humans to be unkind, out-of-control, and unloving.  But, Galatians 5:22-23 is the benchmark for followers of Jesus.  Before Paul wrote about the fruit, he was given a foundation by Jesus who describes memorable people in this manner:  



 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5:14-16.


Jesus tells us here that when we encounter other people, we should be doing things that cause them to give glory to God.  Notice that the light shines on "all who are in the house".  Everyone around you benefits from you doing good works...."bearing fruit".  Those who are around you that are believers will glorify God and while Jesus doesn't say this, I have to wonder if those who are not believers at the very least wonder "why" we do the things we do.  So friend, I challenge you today as I challenge myself to ponder, "Are the things I do shining a light so others can see and glorify God?".  "Do I bear "fruit" that makes me a memorable person and thereby remind others about the One who is the most memorable?  Just some things to make you go "hmmm" and "Hey....Hey....Hey....Hey".


For more on being remembered here is the choir of Prestonwood Baptist Church:


"We Will Remember" - Prestonwood Baptist Church Choir


'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "United We Stand" (Brotherhood Of Man)

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Good Tuesday to ya friend!!!  Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  It is the 46th Tuesday of the year!  Hopefully you've spent part of each one here!  It seems like yesterday we were ringing in the New Year with Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Turn The Page" and now we find ourselves counting the shopping days left until the most wonderful time of the year!!  The air is turning colder and hearts are warming to the story of a Savior born in Bethlehem.  But we will save those notes for next month.  For now, on with the show!!!

"C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now" - The Youngbloods

"Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." - Jesus


"United we stand, divided we fall" - Brotherhood of Man

"Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." - Apostle Paul

"We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately." - Benjamin Franklin


"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!" - King David

Most evangelical denominations conduct annual meetings where topics of discussion range from church growth to social issues concerning our country.  While some of the social issues discussed do border the political realm, thankfully, it is  a rare occasion where you will see a denomination get overtly involved in a discussion regarding the policy statements of our government.  However, the policy statements of that particular denomination can be quite the topic of discussion at said meetings.  Time and again, the highest attended annual meetings are those where controversial subject matter will be at the forefront of consideration.  Media coverage of these meetings tend to focus on those controversies rather than the world wide impact that denomination has had over the course of the previous year.  

"Bad press" of the modern day church is sometimes well deserved.  The question "Why can't we just get along?" has been asked in the church since Peter and Paul where the leaders.  (Sorry, Mary wouldn't come along until the 60's...different Peter and Paul).  Time and again believers live up to that bad press by behaving in an opposite manner to what Jesus commanded and it appears to a world that is waiting for the Gospel, that the church is divided....perhaps we should pick up the mantra of a 1970's singing group that is still active in touring today.  With 16 studio albums and record sales topping 15 million, here's Brotherhood of Man with "United We Stand":



Brotherhood of Man is not the most well known 70's band.  As with many pop groups, the lineup of the band has changed since its original incarnation.  They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest (The precursor to "X-Factor/Idol/Someone's Got Talent" show) with the song "Save Your Kisses For Me".  This win would be set up by the recording in early 1970 of "United We Stand", a song that would go as high as #13 on the United States charts and as high as #9 on the charts in the UK. "United We Stand" would go on to be recorded by over 100 different artists and can be heard in television shows and commercials from the 70's.  It would be re-embraced by Americans after 9/11 as an anthem of patriotism and hope.

If you look at the history of the church, you find times that are fraught with debate and criticism.  Even the early church fathers had difficulties.  That is the very nature of our humanity.  This, however, does not justify criticisms between denominations.  Jesus did not call us to be Southern Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans, or any one of the hosts of other denominations.  He called us to be His disciples.  dictionary.com has religious implications for its first 3 definitions of the word disciple.  The 4th definition is "a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another".  The "another" in this instance would be Jesus.  Not Wesley, Luther, or whoever may be the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention.  

You see, once we place our focus on any person other than Jesus, we no longer become His disciple.  We become the disciple of the one in which we look to for direction.  Our eyes begin to look inward.  This is the seed of selfishness and where we get discussions about the carpet color that wind up splitting churches.  

In the opening quotes of today's blog, we listed the scripture where Jesus is speaking about the harvest.  Notice He says the workers are few.  Perhaps there has even been a time where you heard a sermon delivered with this passage as the focus point.  It is usually given in the context of evangelizing preChristians.  In short, we need more bodies to bring in the harvest.  Without being sacrilegious, I would contend that we have the bodies....just not the workers.  You have probably heard or experienced the old cliche' "10% of people doing 90% of the work".  This applies in most organizations in which I have been a part.  Just imagine, if the bodies of those claiming belief would join hands and unite to bring in the harvest, how quickly it would be gathered.  Then when trouble times come, if those claiming belief would again join hands, or better yet, never release their grip on one another, the trouble would have to flee.  The world would see the picture of the church for which Jesus died.  They would see the light that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:16 - "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."  If our hands are tightly bound together it is much more difficult for our hearts to be hard and selfish.  It is much more difficult for our mouths to be mean and hateful. (Even when we are "just joking") It is much more difficult for the enemy to build strongholds inside the church.  And it becomes much easier for us to see a world that is ripe for harvest and have the intense desire to work.  Author Francis Chan puts it this way: Francis Chan - "Rethinking The Church"

Will you join hands with disciples of Jesus.....beginning with those in your own church......and then begin singing....."United we stand, divided we fall and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we'll be together....together you and I....." then be prepared to work....for the harvest is plentiful

'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "I Ran (So Far Away)" (Flock Of Seagulls)

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Welcome to Tuesday and The Notes!!!  This is the place where the temp and the tunes get cooler with the season.  Hopefully you made the jump through the "Daylight Savings Time" hoop and landed squarely between loving the light at 6am and hating the dark at 5pm.  In our current 24 hour news and everything else cycle, is this still a necessity....but I digress.  Since we are falling back in time, let's go ahead and do it right by falling back to 1982.  Que flashback music....


1982 was a huge year for the combination of music and recorded images.  In August of the previous year, a TV network unlike any other was launched to the applause of fans who were looking for the best place to combine the musical sounds they loved with accompanying visual stimuli.  By 1982, fans could hardly wait for the next video debut.  For the band, A Flock Of Seagulls, this would mean being amongst a handful of videos available to a market that was demanding more.  In fact, at the height of popularity of their #9 hit, "I Ran (So Far Away)", A Flock Of Seagulls would find their video in the MTV rotation every 10 minutes giving them the record for most video plays by a band on MTV.  The band would receive a Grammy award for a later instrumental song, but it would be "I Ran" that places the band A Flock Of Seagulls at #2 on VH1's Top 100 One-Hit Wonders of the 80's.
 
The most famous example of a Biblical character that ran far away was the story of Jonah.  Yep, he got swallowed by a big fish.....


Many Sunday School stories and children's Bible story books focus on the whale part of the story of Jonah.  It seems this part of the story ignites the imagination just like adding video to a song did for MTV.  But before the great fish, there is a story of great disobedience on the part of Jonah. 

Jonah 1 NASB
 
To really get an idea of just how much Jonah was disobeying the command of the Lord, we must realize that the boundaries of Jonah's world were significantly smaller than our current global perspective.  

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To Jonah, Tarshish represented the other end of the world.  His hope was to get as far away from God as he possibly could because he just didn't want to do what God had commanded.  It is estimated that Nineveh at that time would have encompassed 48 miles.  That is a pretty large city.  The Bible description gives us the idea that there were not any righteous people there at that time.  Jonah's fear is understandable.  He was to go to a large city of unrighteous people and proclaim righteousness through belief in the One True God, of which many Ninevites would have never heard.  Does this task sound familiar to the one Jesus called us to do?  Mark 16:14-15 NASB  One of the reasons the story of Jonah is so popular is that we can find ourselves doing the exact same thing as Jonah.  When God calls we run.  As we are running away, God provides discipline and a second chance.  When we obey, folks get redeemed.  And we pout because God doesn't do it the way in which we expected.  It is so easy to beat up on Jonah.  But the Bible calls him a prophet.  This moniker is not given to every character that we encounter as we read through the Bible.  It is reserved for those who have a calling on their life to be God's spokesman to the people.  Jesus commanded all of His disciples to "Go".   Keith Green put it like this:

 

 Our obedience makes us God's modern day spokesmen to the people.  How are we to be remembered with regard to this command......can we say that we went......or will we say......I just ran, I ran so far away.....

'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy