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Here as a reminder, and just in case you haven't read it is our first entry into the world of blogging, taken from May 31, 2012, as a way of saying thanks for the past 6 years and telling folks about your favorite blog...
Tuesday's Musical Notes began as a worship arts submission to our church's newsletter. That inspiration served as the springboard to begin sending emails to like-minded, creative, music lovers who enjoyed our special brand of wit, sense of humor, and illumination. Basically set up as a blog that brought together favorite music with The Greatest Story Ever Told. With encouragement from one of those email friends (thanks Heath!!!), we launched the blog that thousands have discovered. We've learned much about music and The Master in our time together and I hope that you've found yourself transformed for having been here. A few subtle things are different, but we really haven't changed the format to The Notes since its inception. Thanks again!!!
Since January 2015, we have made an effort to reprint most of the emails that never made it to the blog. Today's edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes is another example of those emails. We hope you enjoy it!!!
Hi there!!!....... It's Tuesday and time for the Notes!!!!! (do you hear applause?)
So.....you spend 25 years in one of Britain's most popular Rock-N-Roll acts, you go solo and after 4 albums you get a #1 single that knocks off your former band's #1, and your #1 hit turns into the most played video ever on MTV (do they even still play videos?).....if you were Peter Gabriel, you might say at this point in your life, you've hit the "Big Time".
Peter Gabriel was a founding member of one of my favorite bands.....Genesis. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Follow You, Follow Me", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Misunderstanding", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "No Reply at All") Many people think Phil Collins was the lead singer and while most of Genesis' hits came with his vocals, it was Peter Gabriel who established the band with his trademark stage presence and powerful musical savvy.
Gabriel had been involved in music as a child due to his mother's insistence that he learn the clarinet. He furthered his education in the music industry by starting a band. In 1967, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford (Mike and the Mechanics (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "All I Need is a Miracle")), Anthony Phillips, Chris Stewart, and Peter Gabriel started at the beginning.....Genesis. The band was known for the costuming of Gabriel who would use flamboyant attire as a means of distracting the crowd while the rest of the band were tuning and making sound equipment adjustments during the breaks between songs. For the first several years, the band was critically and commercially successful, but only in the UK.
Peter Gabriel left Genesis after touring in support of 1974's The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway His success as a solo artist, as so many successes of the late 1970s and early 1980s would come at the hand of the exposure provided by, and creativity of, an invention called the music video. For Gabriel, MTV helped him become so much larger than life...
Cue the claymation, Mr. VJ...
"Big Time" by Peter Gabriel from the 1986 album So
"Big Time" by Peter Gabriel from the 1986 album So
"Big Time" was the #8 follow-up to 1986's #1 hit, "Sledgehammer". Singer, Peter Gabriel was huge in the 80's. His first four albums were all called Peter Gabriel and had some modicum of success (they are recognized by fans by the album covers artwork (Car (1977), Scratch (1978), Melt (1980), and Security (1982)). It was His 1986 album, So, that brought Gabriel into the Big Time as it soared up the charts and has since gone 5 times platinum.
Over his career, Peter Gabriel has won 6 Grammys. In the 90's he received 3 Grammy awards for his continued pioneering in the music video categories, however, his musical popularity waned during this time period as he became more involved in worldwide causes and activism. He has continued to stay musically busy by experimenting with a variety of world music genres. His last reported tour was the Rock Paper Scissors Tour with Sting in 2016. His last album was 2011's New Blood a collection of his previous work put together with a full orchestra. In this instance, I guess his band was getting bigger...
The Old Testament is filled with examples of men and some women who thought they had hit the "Big Time". The history of the nation of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament is a roller coaster ride of restoration with God and then after time, a rejection of God. It is easy to be critical of the Israelites when we read their story in the Bible. We ponder the question, "How could they turn their backs on God when He had blessed them so much?" Israel's problem may have had less to do with ungrateful hearts than it did with prideful spirits. They began to believe the lie from the enemy that THEY were the ones who were responsible for their blessings. When they had finally reached the "Big Time", they weren't humble. Jesus says in Matthew 23:12 - "For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." God followed through on this promise in the lives of the Israelite nation and continues to do so in the lives of Christians today.
Our blessings are all from God. He says it best through Zechariah's writings: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6b NIV) God was in the process of re-educating Zerubbabel to His ways. He was reminding Zerubbabel that there were no armies or powers in the world that would stop the Word of the Lord. He was reassuring Zerubabbel that the temple foundation that he had built would continue to be built upon and the temple would be completed.
Our blessings are all from God. He says it best through Zechariah's writings: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6b NIV) God was in the process of re-educating Zerubbabel to His ways. He was reminding Zerubbabel that there were no armies or powers in the world that would stop the Word of the Lord. He was reassuring Zerubabbel that the temple foundation that he had built would continue to be built upon and the temple would be completed.
Does today's church need this reminder as well? What is our reaction as Christian fellowships and individuals, when God exalts us for being humble? Do we stay humble as we love others in the following ways?
Are we building relationships with pre-Christians?
Are we making disciples of Jesus out of each other and aiding in the maturation process of Christians around us?
Are we maturing as Christians into the likeness of Christ?
Are we building on the foundation that was laid by our predecessors to ensure this generation of souls is told the Gospel?
God has blessed us so we can be humble servants. His blessings will continue to flow as we serve others. The Bible says that God promises He won't put on us more than we can bear. Perhaps this applies to blessings as well.
I guess the main question is.......How do we react if we reach the "Big Time"?
"I'm on my way I'm making it...."
'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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