Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "No One Is To Blame" (Howard Jones)


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Good Tuesday to ya!!!  It's time for another edition of tantalizing tuneage from times afore! So get your cd player, portable turntable, or boombox ready for a flashback to the 80's through the window of March 29, 2011, the origin date of today's Musical Notes!  We're in replay mode as we revisit an email that inspired The Notes.  Today's feature song is Howard Jones' 1985 and 1986 (the remix featuring Phil Collins on drums) hit "No One Ever Is To Blame".  Que the fog, flash back music, and GREAT hairdos...
 

     It was called New Wave.....a style of music from the 80's that would ultimately spawn the grunge and alternative sounds in the 90's.  It came to inspire new looks in hair and fashion accessories and birthed the music of  "Flock of Seagulls"(Tuesday's Musical Notes - "I Ran"), "The Talking Heads" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Burnin' Down The House"), "The Knack", and solo artists like Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, and Howard Jones.   Jones had 15 top 40 hits between 1983 and 1992. "Life In One Day" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Life In One Day"), "Things Can Only Get Better"and the 1986 hit "No One Is To Blame" being the highest charting of those singles.  The 1986 remix version of "No One Is To Blame" charted as high as #4 in the US and became an anthem that exemplified a generation's frustrations. 

     In some ways this song also speaks to an intense desire to not accept responsibility.  How many times have you heard, "It's not my fault!!!", by someone who has either just been scolded or reprimanded when they made a mistake.  Perhaps it is a phrase you may have even said yourself.  In the 70's, comedian Flip Wilson even had a catch phrase in his act  for his alter ego Geraldine subverting responsibility for her actions... Flip Wilson and Geraldine - "The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress" .  This hesitation to be held accountable is part of our human nature.  Let's face it, Adam did it when God asked him about eating the fruit, and so the process began.

In previous weeks, Tuesday's Musical Notes has made as a focal point the need for God's grace in our lives.  Content of The Notes has weighed heavily on God's forgiveness of sins. This includes the sin in our own lives as well as those things that do not impact us quite as much.  God's grace is something everyone needs but many do not understand.  In fact, Ozzy Osbourne just made a statement about his eternal destination that The Notes finds very interesting:   "Ozzy Osbourne: I'm Going Down To Hell" Winnepeg Free Press May 4, 2015 .  It is indeed a shame for Ozzy to have a knowledge God's laws and never been introduced to God's grace through Jesus.  In this article it seems that Ozzy IS accepting responsibility for his sin.  However, there are millions around the world who have never  come down the spiritual pathway enough to reach the conclusions that the head of clan Osbourne asserts.  Pray for these folks that someone, perhaps even you, will introduce them to the prospect of grace through Jesus.  Believing in the One who provides that grace is the ONLY thing that can save them from the hell for which they are currently bound.

As believers, we rely on grace.  In fact the apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 about a conversation he had with God through a vision regarding the subject of grace and its sufficiency for every situation.  God tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient..." Read the entire chapter in context here:  2 Corinthians 12 New King James Version/The Message paraphrase parallel.  


Christians love to discuss grace from God, yet we don't often talk about God's discipline.  Since none of us have achieved the perfection that only God posesses, we all sin.  (Romans 3:9-25 NKJV/The Message parallel)  Even for followers of Jesus, there are repercutions for our sin.    We must recognize there are consequences for the wrong that we do, and God will use those times to bring us back to Himself through His discipline and training.  Hebrews 12 NKJV/The Message parallel

It is so easy to lay the blame on someone else for our failures.  It is a much more difficult task to accept the responsibility and discipline that it takes to shape us more into Jesus' image.  Ultimately we have to realize that when we blow it...no one ever is to blame... but ourselves.


"Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" by Reliant K from the 2004 album Mmhmm




'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving You,
Randy

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