Have you ever had that moment when you were unsure about something? Perhaps you had made a decision and after you had your final answer, you began to think about all the alternatives. Second-guessing creeps in as you struggle with whether or not your decision was the best. Did you have all of the information you needed? Was emotion kept at bay as you decided? What will the long-term impact be?
If I can provide some encouragement, everyone has those times of doubt, fear, and questioning. Even on the sure things that we can count on.
Welcome to Tuesday and Tuesday's Musical Notes, a blog brought to you by Cross & Kin Productions. (see the latest Cross & Kin YouTube video here: Cross & Kin Presents: Top 10 Terrifying Disney Villains)
In today's blog, we explore the frozen tundra...no it's cold but not THAT cold. In today's blog, we find our intrepid hero...no, it's a blog about music, not Indiana Jones. In today's blog, we seek the answer to the age-old question...nope, we do that some days, but not today. Okay, you're just gonna have to read on as we are beginning to run...Out Of Time...
Hailing from Athens, Georgia is one of the biggest alternative rock bands of the 90s, R.E.M.. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" (R.E.M.)) The band had been around a decade and released 6 albums before 1991 and the release Out Of Time. Before this, R.E.M. was considered one of the more heralded indie rock bands. But when Out Of Time hit the band instantly became international rock and roll favorites. Out of Time served to catapult R.E.M. into icon status and caused them to be the poster boys for everything alternative rock. The album's cardboard longbox even became a part of the Rock My Vote campaign as it could be used as a petition for the movement in support of the Motor Voter Act to spur voter registration. The album spent 109 weeks on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and peaked on two different occasions at the #1 spot. Out of Time sold over 4 million records in the US and over 18 million worldwide and soon became a Grammy darling, claiming 3 Grammy Awards in 1992, 1 for Best Alternative Music Album and 2 for its second track and first single, "Losing My Religion" (Best Short Form Music Video, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal)
"Losing My Religion" was the first of four singles released from Out Of Time. The single became the band's highest-charting song to date peaking at #4 on the Hot 100 (staying on the chart for 21 weeks) and taking the top spot in the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock charts. It is unique in its opening mandolin line. Adding to its uniqueness is the aforementioned Grammy-Award-winning video which is well, something to see. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck (who wrote the opening line and chorus) has said that the opening mandolin riff came from recordings he made while learning how to play the instrument. Combining that with the one-take vocals by Michael Stipe, Mike Mills' John McVie ("Fleetwood Mac" - Tuesdays Musical Notes) inspired bass line, touring guitarist Peter Holsapple's acoustic guitar providing midrange and string arrangement by Mark Bingham you have the making of the sound that so many fans had become accustomed.
The title phrase, "Losing My Religion", has very little to do with religion at all as it comes from the Southern expression of losing your temper or having a meltdown. Must be a Georgia thing, because we just call it having a "fit" around here. It's simple and everyone knows what you're talking about. But I digress...
Then there's the video. It came about as a collaboration between Stipes and Indian director Tarsem Singh. It features the band interspersed throughout a telling of a tale inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings". I think you get the picture...literally. MTV (yup, there was a time before they thought they could be a "reality" television show network) had been around for about a decade when "Losing My Religion" was placed in heavy rotation. The song became a smash as the video was so different it drew audiences worldwide. And draw it did. It won a Grammy (see above) and was nominated in 9 categories, winning 6, at the MTV Music Video Awards.
In 2011 R.E.M. released their final album Collapse Into Now. It debuted at #5, the band's tenth top-ten album. Within a year after its release, the band disbanded having completed their recording contract obligations and establishing themselves as a band that would make a forever impact on the face of popular music with "Losing My Religion" as their signature song.
Making a forever impact on our world seems to be something that even in moments of resistance we want to achieve.
Paul has escaped 2 different uproars because of his preaching and caused by the "wicked" men of Thessalonica. He is hanging out in Athens (the one in Greece, not the R.E.M. one in Georgia) waiting for the remainder of his traveling companions on his 2nd missionary journey. While there, Paul continues his practice of engaging the folks in the local synagogue as well as the surrounding area. Athens is one of the biggest cultural and intellectual regions of the ancient world at this time and Paul finds himself inserted into the world of the miraculous deeds and worship of an immense number of idols, most of which have been cataloged in
Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. It is one of the most complete collections of Norse, Greek, and Romany mythology and is an anthology of the ancient tales of gods and goddesses and how they interacted with man and each other. It makes for fascinating reading and can provide some perspective for what Paul was facing in the above passage of Scripture.
Paul had received his education in religion as well as other pursuits at the feet of the Jewish teacher of the Mosaic Law, Gamaliel. Acts 5:12-42 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Jailhouse Rock" (Elvis Presley), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (U2)) This instruction provided Paul with a taste of some of the things he was now experiencing as he traversed the streets of the pagan city with its temples and statues in tribute to the gods and goddesses of the Romans. This immersion into Roman culture "provoked" Paul's spirit enough that he began to engage the populace and tell them the story of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
The ridicule began instantly with folks in the area looking down their philosophical noses at the Hebrew Paul calling him a "babbler". Others were much more engaged and took Paul to the Aeropagus, a rock outcropping northwest of the Acropolis.
(The plaque has Paul's message in its entirety.)
The Aeropagus, loosely translated as the "hill of Ares", the Greek god of war, was sometimes known as Mars Hill (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "I Write The Songs" (Barry Manilow)) I find it just a bit ironic that Paul was about to do spiritual warfare in a place that was named after the god of war. It was a meeting place for the city and was known for its continual exchange of ideas, philosophies, and knowledge. Paul's teaching about Jesus was certainly something new that the Athenians had not heard and their curiosity was especially piqued when Paul began to explain Jesus' resurrection.
Paul lets loose with one of his most powerful messages to date. He proves his education and that he is not a "babbler" as he quotes from their own Greek poet Aratus's poem “Phainomena” which is well-known to the listeners. Paul unpacks the message of Jesus and even evokes the shrine the Greeks had to the "unknown God" as a symbol of their interest in the one true God. Paul doesn't win any popularity contests when he suggests the educated listener's "ignorance" as they celebrate with this monument, the God whom Paul proclaims. Paul further details the fact that the God who made everything has no need to be served as He is the Creator of everything that provides life and breath to humans. Paul repeats his "ignorant" moniker as he preaches to them that God's divine nature cannot be captured in items made of gold, silver, stone, or anything made by human hands and God will overlook this "ignorance" if the people will repent of their sins and follow Him. Paul further details how God has a day when He will provide a judge to every person for the life they have lived. As proof of this Paul affirms the very much alive Jesus whom he has encountered.
"...That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religionTrying to keep up with you..."
It seems that human nature doesn't change much just because you change towns. Once again there were those who scoffed at the teaching of Paul. They went back to their idols and temples made of the very silver, gold, and stone of which Paul had just spoken. There were also others however who wanted to hear more. Paul leaves the Aeropagus and those folks follow him to hear more about losing their religions. Included in their number was Dionysius, who was described as an Aeropagite (a judge or council member) as well as a woman named Damarius (her only reference in Scripture) and others who aren't named.
It seems that human nature doesn't change much just because you change millennia either. Today, folks continue to desire intellect, knowledge, philosophy, and ideology. They become biased against those who don't embrace their deeply held convictions, even when those convictions make them look ignorant. Perhaps today's idols of money and fame have supplanted the temples and shrines to Ares and Athena, but they are nonetheless as potent as they were in the time of the mythological characters worshiped by those of the Athens of Paul's day.
What also hasn't changed is the message of Jesus. God is telling us that there will be a day soon when Jesus will return as judge over those who have embraced the idols of this world. These folks will be met with a rejection that they perhaps never expected. They will quickly find themselves losing their religion. Jesus will also judge those who have repented of their sins and embraced Him. These folks will be a part of a new Eden, a new Jerusalem, a new heaven and earth where the only God that exists is the One who loves us so much that He came as a man to be a suffering servant and eventual payment for our wrongdoings. That my friend is more than a religion, it is a relationship that will never change, regardless of our doubts and fears, even our second-guessing. It is a relationship not based on anything we can do, but all that He has done and it can never be lost.
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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