"When Love Comes to Town" is the 12th song on U2's 1988 album, Rattle and Hum, where it was recorded at the historic Sun Studio in Memphis as a duet between U2 and B.B. King. It was released as the album's third single in 1989 and reached number 1 in the Irish Singles Chart, number 6 in the UK singles chart, number 10 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 2 in the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that plane
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town
When I woke up I was sleeping on the street
I felt the world was dancing, and I was dirt beneath their feet
When I woke up I saw the Devil looking down
But my Lord He played guitar the day love came to town
Wrapped up in these lyrics is a theme that you find in the old book. The theme of "Incarnated love" One of Jesus' mates wrote about what this looks like when "Love" personified, or incarnated comes to live next door. John the Apostle, nicknamed the "Apostle of Love" creates a masterpiece of a compendium of stories about when love comes to town. In his gospel there are 9 signs and 9 pictures, lots of sayings about this kind of pure "Love" that is so special that it lives life in the dirt with us all.
John makes this observation in John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" Eugene H. Peterson in "The Message Bible" uses the same verse like this "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood"
John sees Jesus as the "Word" in this context. The Gospel of John is about the pure "Love" of God (Jesus) moving into the world (Neighbourhood) living in the squalor, the dirt, the darkness, among the lost, the least, the last, the lonely. As the Gospel of John unfolds we see how "Love" transforms towns, villages, people, power, and turns darkness into light and desperation into hope. "When love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train" People did just that! People came to hear Jesus (Love in the flesh) and did not go away disappointed.
Love can re-build where there is brokenness. Love can reconcile where there is division. Love can alter the course of a persons life. Love can begin again. Love can see beauty in the rough. Love creates and does not destroy. Love changes hearts. Love pierces the darkness and brings light. In the words of another of God heroes "Love Never Fails"
There are many in this world that are starved of love. There are many who could echo Bono's words "I felt the world was dancing, and I was dirt beneath their feet" In our streets people live with this experience on a daily basis, this is their daily darkness, "Unloved"
If you sit in a darkened room and light a small candle it gives much light. A small flame gives a big light. If you open the windows in that room and darkness exists outside then you can see the illuminated window for miles. Try it sometime.
So it is with "Love", Personified "Love", Incarnated "Love",
Love can and will change the world and the people in it.
Love can and will change the world and the people in it.
BE THE LOVE THAT COMES TO TOWN
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