Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The first of what will most likely be several posts on music (!!!!)

Everyone likes music. It's one of those universal (pun on the meaning of "Catholic" INTENDED. SHAMELESSLY. :) ) things that everyone appreciates. Music has a way of talking beyond words - the notes somehow take on feeling beyond the feeling inherent in the words themselves. All this said, music can be pretty powerful. God is powerful, and glorious, gentle and compassionate, so much so that He sent His only Son to us as a man, so that we could see His love for us. For this reason and many more, I am convinced that music is one of the most powerful signs we have today of God's presence - it's certainly a LOT more common than a burning bush, that's for sure!! :P

I am amazed at the way in which there are some songs that seem to reflect powerful concepts so well, all without intending to. Our unspoken, deepest desires are manifest via other methods, but everything, EVERYTHING, in the deepest part of our soul reaches, crawling and beaten, toward our God, even though we as sinners may not be aware of it at all times, or even at all. Music is the same way – it is, universally, speaking about our relationship to Satan, Mary, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God.

All music reflects the good and evil of our earthly lives analogously. Love songs? About Jesus and Mary. Scorned lover songs? About Satan. Songs about feeling unworthy of another? Take a guess. :) It ALL relates back (and I mean ALL of it!).

**FLASHBACK WARNING**

I remember in middle school when I went on my first youth group retreat (ahhh, the memories!), and we did this meditation in the chapel. At first, we listened to a tape of “Footprints” – the common modern meditation where you imagine yourself walking alongside Jesus on a beach, and ask Him where He was during your times of trial, when you only saw one set of footprints in the sand, and He replies that He was CARRYING you – but, after that, we listened to Christina Aguilera’s “I Turn to You.” I have been a huge fan of hers since I was a wee little burgeoning singer-ette, so needless to say, I was beyond happy just to hear her lovely voice in a chapel. But, this was a CHURCH retreat, so before we listened to the song, our two female group leaders explained that we were to think about the song as a song to God – and WHOAH did that change my world! I had always seen the song as a love song to another person, but to think of it as praise of God!! WHOAH! But the lyrics, I soon came to find out, made complete and total sense.

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HpbhFkplvI&feature=related
The lyrics are not only beautiful, but the best description of God’s love that I could ever hope to listen to. “When I’m lost in the rain, in your eyes I know I’ll find the light to light my way…” Off to a good start. “I can do anything, ‘cause your love is SO amazing, ‘cause your love inspires me.” YES! “For a shield from the storm, for a friend, for a love to keep me safe and warm – I turn to you. For the strength to be strong, for THE WILL TO CARRY ON, for everything you do, for everything that’s true, I turn to you.” BEAUTIFUL. I cannot think of a better expression to lift up to God.

**END FLASHBACK**

So, okay, there exist certain songs in addition to specifically religious music (I’m talkin’ Christian, Church hymns, etc.) that reflects God’s love – but really, to claim that almost ALL music reflects God is a little presumptuous, don’t you think? Ye of little faith!!! :) “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” – and it exists ALL around us, small but mighty!

As I started writing this post, I heard this one song, “Cop Stop” by Gavin DeGraw. It sounded a little funky to me – what was up with this song? BUT, the lyrics reminded me SO much of Mary – and it was totally her method of appearing, too – quiet, unexpected, surprisingly beautiful and humbly present.

Here ‘tis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7JtIGBVNCE

The song starts out: “When your feathers are soaked and your eyes are too bloody to see.” I immediately perked up like, “ooooh, what’s this?!?! NOT what I was expecting!” The chorus was incredible: “Wishing wells were made to echo a dime, The consequences are you keep on relying - you become a run and hide refugee – Baby, I’m a cop stop, put up your hand and surrender to me.” WOW. My immediate impression is that Mary IS the perfect creation of God – her purpose was to “echo a dime,” so to speak. She relied fully and perfectly on God. This line also transitions nicely to us, though – we keep relying on Mary once we figure out how beautiful she is and find her more and more as we study Jesus. We are definitely the run-and-hide refugees – we are constantly running away from what’s best for us!!! So, Mary becomes the cop-stop: she wants you to surrender to her, so she can help! As the song later goes, “You’ve been roughed up enough to deserve some relief from your trouble, so I’m coming in.” AMAZING!

But really, ALMOST EVERY SONG?!?!” YES!! AFFIRMATIVE!! SI!! FO SHO!!! Because of the world we live in, God can be mixed into things so that He’s quite hidden, but He’s STILL THERE. VERY MUCH. You just have to keep an eye out! :P

Take a hip hop song. The music of drank, swagga, and spittin’ game. Is this the music of God?!?!? YES.

“Live Your Life” featuring Rihanna and T.I. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEanxQqdYWg

Let’s try this one. It is REAL, first off, and by REAL, I mean it counters the stereotypical role of the hip-hop star. The pride reflected in the lyrics speaks to me of how unworthy we all are of Jesus. Crazy as it sounds, minus the human pride element of it, I can picture Jesus talking to us through T.I. Ridic? Maybe. Let me help you try to see it.

“Never mind what haters say, ignore ‘em ‘til they fade away, amazin’ they ungrateful after all the game I gave away.” Yeah. We are SO ungrateful, really. “Consider them my protégé, homage I think they should pay, instead of being gracious they violate in a major way.” Again. “I never been a hater, still I love ‘em in a crazy way.” Uhmmm, YES. We are still well-loved even though we be violatin’ yo.

What most surprised me is the presence of the words “immaculately,” “prayed,” and “gracious.” But there’s MORE. “Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics... I got love for the game, but ‘ey, I’m not in love with all of it, could do without the fame the rappers nowadays are comedy.” YES. Think of this as an analogy – Jesus was the TRUTH, the real deal – no false witness there. See??!?!? God in a T.I. song.

All this and more in the next blog post!

~Christina :)

1 comment:

  1. The lyrics also mentioned being unsatisfied with riches because of being bankrupt morally. I thought that was one of the most powerful statements it made.
    Also, Christina, you're going to love this blog: http://twistedmystics.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete