It takes the power of song and turns it on its ear by providing a positive contrast to the negativity that abounds in the internetosphere. It takes you to a place where thoughts are thought about and your mind is stretched to at least consider the premises that are enthusiastically proffered. Welcome to that blog.
This is Tuesday's Musical Notes.
"Roll up, roll up for the Mystery Tour!" begins today's featured song. "Magical Mystery Tour" was written predominantly by Paul McCartney (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Spies Like Us" (Paul McCartney), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wonderful Christmastime" (Paul McCartney), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reggae" (Paul McCartney)). The song is credited to Lennon/McCartney but in interviews, John diminishes his contribution to the song. It serves as the title track and to the television movie soundtrack which was released in the UK as a double EP album, and as a single full-length record in the US, taking the songs from the soundtrack and adding previously released singles.
"Magical Mystery Tour" serves as an introduction to what is about to happen in the film. McCartney has confessed that the song features references to drugs. His explanation is that the times were psychedelic and the song is reflective of that.
The soundtrack to the film is considered commercially and critically successful as it went on to sell over 6 million copies in the US as of 2013 and received positive reviews by critics of the time.
The film however was a critical and commercial failure. The song portions were the highlights of the "tour" as The Beatles sequestered a nonprofessional cast and crew and had very little in the way of scripts for the 52-minute movie making it disjointed and not easily understood. Magical Mystery Tour winds up being a series of poorly acted scripts with musical interludes by the hottest band on the planet in 1967. Its premise is that of a bus trip across England that gets taken on an array of side trips by a group of magicians played by The Beatles.
Since 1983, a tour bus company in Liverpool offers Magical Mystery Tour aboard a replica bus. It takes guests to popular sites in Beatles history, without any extra sensory enhancements or magicians.
The Fab Four are not the first to go on an unscripted, Magical Mystery Tour with magicians who were wanting to take you away...
Last week we took the opportunity to introduce Saul as a missionary. Today, we look at the beginnings of that tour and see a very interesting story. But let's not go ahead of ourselves with the script and context.
We find Saul with a group of brothers in the faith which included Barnabas, Saul's companion and encourager for some time. In the early portion of our Scripture, you see the group of men engaged in worship through fasting and service. As they were in the midst of that time, Holy Spirit begins to move and speak to them. Their instructions from God, the Spirit, were to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work that they had been called to do. We see the specifics of that work played out over their 1st missionary journey.
With John Mark in tow, they were sent by the church in Antioch to go about the Spirit's appointed tasks. This took them to Salamis, a city on the island of Cyprus. They began interacting with the Jews in the synagogue and began to trek across the island. This brought them to the region of Paphos where they encountered the magician Bar-Jesus, who we find out soon is also named Elymas. This man, also described as a Jewish, false prophet, served the proconsul Sergius Paulus whom the Bible intimates as a man of intelligence.
As an ardent student of the Torah, Saul would have known quite well what the instructions were regarding those who practice magic. Leviticus 19:31 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV, Leviticus 20:27 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV, Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV Because of his devotion to the Torah, Saul's interactions with Elymas were destined to be strained to say the least.
Sergius Paulus wanted to hear what Saul and Barnabas had to say, but the Magical Mystery Tour ramps up and Elymas was wanting to take the regional governor away from any introduction to the faith.
In verse 9, for the first time, Saul is provided with an AKA. From this point forward he is referred to in Scripture as Paul. Paul accepts the invitation of the magician by looking him in the eye and saying "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time." (NASB) Instantly the lights went out on Elymas and he attempted to find someone to lead him around. Attention ladies and gentlemen, this part of the tour is over. There is nothing to see here...
Elymas' intended thwarting of the Gospel was instantly turned on him as Sergius Paulus believed the teachings of Barnabas and Paul. His curiosity turned to belief and was bolstered when he saw the destruction of the evil that was around him through Elymas' blindness and how God's emissaries had shown the power of the Lord. Sergius Paulus soon discovered that the teachings of Barnabas and Paul provided everything he needed for restoration and faith. His satisfaction was guaranteed as he took his first steps toward a new life with Jesus.
Today's Magical Mystery Tour may be one in which you have some familiarity. You want to seek out the invitation of God, through His Son Jesus, yet there are magicians disguised as friends or advisors who are attempting to take you away. Or maybe you are a believer but find yourself surrounded by folks and circumstances that do not encourage your walk of faith. In either scenario, you must remember that Holy Spirit is there either waiting to fill you with His love for the first time, or as a believer, show His power in your life, making the distractions of life incapable of functioning.
Each of us has been set apart for a task, just like Barnabas and Paul. Through worship, we can discover what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do. Through obedience, we can boldly go about doing what the Holy Spirit has told us to do. No matter what kind of Magical Mystery Tour may be wanting to take us away...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment