The Song-July 2023

The Song-July 2023 When You See the Southern Cross for the First Time, You Understand now why you came this way. ‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small.  But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a comin’ day.

Sometimes a song gets inside me in a way that defies logic.  For one summer, I couldn’t get enough of Southern Cross by Stephen Stills.  The soulful rendering of the boat trip he took after his divorce was my anthem that summer, and I listened to it non-stop.   At some point, the song lost its zing.  Part of it was due to having overplayed it.  But at a certain point, the connection dropped and a bond was broken.  A new tune came and took its place, which is how it typically goes with me.  A song is THE song until suddenly it isn’t and it’s hard to know why that is.

This happens in my faith life as well.  Something catches my attention and a new part of God is revealed.  Suddenly, I can think of nothing else.  I remember being wowed by worship at Willow Creek, the first seeker church in the country.  Or when I was captured with the joy the generosity movement through Generous Giving.  It happened again when I joined an African American church in Colorado Springs that gave me a new perspective about the depth of the gospel message.  All these things revealed new aspects of God that my heart had been yearning for. And then, like Southern Cross, the focus shifted elsewhere.  Those things were no longer THE thing between me and the Lord.  I will always love Southern Cross, but it will never be for me what it was for me that summer.

I notice this most often when I’m in groups that are discussing an aspect of faith that feels like an old song to me. This can feel disconnecting because I have trouble mustering up enthusiasm for something that is no longer pressing in my spirit or foremost in my heart. Then, when I’m starting to feel lonely, I hear someone humming the melody that God has been singing to me.  Someone is describing this new thing that has captured me and I want to hear more.  Others’ perspectives help me unpack what I believe God is trying to teach me.  At the time, it is the only song I want to listen to or sing.

Can you imagine what was going on for the people in Galilee when Jesus came along, making a completely new sound?  It was a noise that only certain hearts had been readied for.  That preparation is the only way to make sense for why fishermen would up and leave their nets to follow Jesus.  They were wondering about this melody that God had placed in their hearts and suddenly a man came along singing it.  It must have been exhilarating.  This also explains why others reacted so negatively to his message.  The song Jesus was singing was foreign to their hearts, and subversive to their minds.  Of course they would oppose it.

There are plenty of strange and confusing sounds coming from our world these days.  It’s hard for me to know why people choose to sing them but I have been learning not to judge the songs nor the singers.  Instead, I am spending my energy listening for the song God is uniquely singing to me. I want to follow that song wherever it takes me and to delight in what it reveals to me about the living God.

I suspect if we focus on the unique rhythms God has given each of us, we will end up where He intended for us to be. Joined by others who are listening to the same song.  Taking us all in a direction whose destination is yet unknown.   “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.”  Ps. 40:3