Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Mission" (Theme from NBC Nightly News) (John Williams)

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Good Tuesday to you friend.  Welcome to a very special edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  This is the second week of our salute to TV theme songs!  Today's feature song represents a group of TV themes.  Sometimes annoying, always getting your attention...it's the Nightly News themes!!!  


The Nightly Network News themes are intended to be serious in nature as well as attention grabbing.  Very little is known about those who compose such themes with one major exception:




While it may not be your outlet for news, NBC chose composer John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, and many, many more) to helm the soundtrack for their newscast.  "The Mission" was the theme at NBC News for over 20 years and is still one of the most recognized openers to a Network newscast.


"The Mission" did not play as the opener however on a Tuesday, September 1, 2001.


This past Sunday saw the passing of 15 years after the Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States of America.  I suspect you can remember all too well where you were and what you were doing when the first images of Tower 1 engulfed in flames were shown.  As the day went on, there were heroic efforts by the network news outlets to provide information to the public.  The shock of a nation was dramatically played out as Britt Hume, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather attempted to make sense of what had happened in Washington D.C., New York City, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  These men, who were seeing history play out before their eyes, were attempting to explain the unexplainable on a day where we were all Americans before we were anything else.


On this Tuesday, 15 years later,  we remember how virtually everyone in the country seemingly knew someone who was directly impacted by those attacks.  But most of all, we pray as we have for the past 15 years, for the family members of the over 3000 Americans who were murdered that day. 



The evening news is nothing new.  It was formulated by the events of another tragedy in our country...Pearl Harbor. 

Since the early 50's folks have gathered around their TVs to be updated on the days events.  Sometimes those events impacted their lives, other times they didn't.  Some evenings featured exclusively "hard" news, while other nights it was easy to see that it was a "slow news" day.  Regardless of impact, the evening news has been a staple of modern television consumption.  


There is another kind of news that has been broadcast since the world was founded.  It is the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus.  Since the moment that God spoke light into existence, Jesus was the plan for redeeming the world.  It is the best news that mankind can hear.  It boggles the mind that when God said "Let there be light", He knew that Jesus would have to die a horrible death, so that the creation He was about to speak into existence would have a redeemer for the rebellion that would soon happen.  Yet, man and woman were still created.  


Since the rebellion perpetrated by man against God, there has been a need of Good News.  Again, that news is Jesus.




The evening news serves the purpose of reporting in a world of horrifying event such as Pearl Harbor and 911.  However, as John 1 attests, there is Good News.  There is redemption.  There is salvation.  We have an opportunity to repent, repent often, and change our culture.  Only by doing that can we become a conduit to broadcast the best evening news the earth has ever had...Jesus.


'Til Tuesday,


Serving Him by serving you,
Randy

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