Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Shine" (Collective Soul)

Welcome to Tuesday, February 24th!  It's the last Tuesday of February and at least in Arkansas the snow covers the ground!  Unlike many of our western sister states, we get usually less than 5 inches of snow per year.  This makes for snowfall being a really big deal in our part of the country.  Some folks like it, others not so much.  It becomes a headache for school administrators who have to make a decision on whether to take a "snow day" or not.  They really do deserve our thanks even if we disagree with some of their calls.  Snow forecasts tend to make for a run on the grocery stores for staples that folks feel they have to have in case they are in for a while. One wonders what you can do with milk and bread... I think there is a boy scout motto about being prepared at all times in the lesson here somewhere...maybe for another time.  Anyway, it's Tuesday and time for a snowy, shiny (yep that's a Firefly reference) Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  Thanks for stopping by!!!

"Shine" from 1994's Hints, Allegations And Things Left Unsaid by Collective Soul

Many of the musical acts featured at Tuesday's Musical Notes, have taken years to find the right song that becomes a hit single.  This time is spent honing their craft, drafting and redrafting lyrics, and putting together "the sound" that will set them apart from the world of other artists attempting to make it in music.  Rare is the debut album to make it as high as #15 on Billboard's Hot 100 much less have its debut single go as high as #11.  Such is the case, however, with Atlanta based Collective Soul.  The iconic album cover featured artwork from Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Broadway Musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Hints, Allegations, And Things Left Unsaid would be the beginning of over 20 years of touring and making music.  Riding the wave of the 90's grunge scene, Collective Soul's music would become known as "pop" grunge.  This inferred that Collective soul had the sound of the times, without the cynicism and angst. Ed Roland, lead singer, and his brother Dean, lead guitar, are considered the driving force behind the "positive"ness of Collective Soul. They are heavily influenced by Christian themes as their father was a Southern Baptist minister.  These themes will be seen again in 2015, as the band plans to release their 9th studio album, See What You Started By Continuing, which will inevitably continue their success.  

This success can be directly attributed to the success of "Shine", Collective Soul's debut single.  The entire album was a basement produced promotional demo.  After offering the single to local radio, the song began roaring up the charts.  The group were soon signed to Atlantic Records.  Atlantic wanted to produce the entire album as it was, however the band wanted to rerecord somewhere other than a basement.  The label felt the record would lose momentum if they took the time to "produce" Hints, Allegations, And Things Left Unsaid, so Collective Soul agreed to produce that album as it was...the result was a gold selling record.  I guess the moral of the story is, if you're in a garage or basement band,  never record over your tapes, or delete your digitally recorded files.  You never can tell where in the shadows a gold record my be hiding when heaven lets its light shine down....yeah!

Light, and its piercing of the darkness, is an overarching theme that permeates the Bible.  While many cultures have ancient texts that they study, memorize, follow the precepts of, and worship to some extent, only the Bible features the ideology of Light defeating darkness every time they have an encounter.  

We see Light in the very first words of the Bible as in Genesis we read:  

God spoke: “Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven’s sky!  Separate Day from Night.  Mark seasons and days and years,  Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”  And there it was."  Genesis 1:14-15 The Message. 

We also see Light utilized in the Poetry of the Bible:  Psalms 119:129-136 The Message/New International Version Parallel 

Jesus later proclaims of Himself: 

John 8:12 King James Version (KJV) ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 9:5 The Message (MSG)

^3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”


Finally, heaven is described as a place that is full of Light: 

 

Revelation 21:23-24New International Version (NIV)

²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Revelation 22:5New International Version (NIV)
⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

While we wait that approaching day, we affirm the phrase in "Shine", "Oh... Heaven let your light shine down".  We also must understand that we are conduits for that light.  As we daily put on the mind of Christ, and allow Him to pierce and eradicate our dark areas with His Light, we must allow that Light to be seen in our dark world.  Believe it or not, we determine how much of  that Light is shone and consciously make the decision to allow its radiance to be seen in our circle of influence.  We choose whether it shines brightly, dimly, or not at all.  However, if we can borrow a cliche', with great Light should come great brightness!!!  A brightness that will shine throughout the generation to which we have been given responsibility to share the Good News.  We have been given a Spirit of boldness to go about doing that just that, so in the words of another song with the same title,  "Shine... make 'em wonder what ya got..."

"Shine" from 1994's Going Public by Newsboys

'Til Tuesday

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy