Rock Goes the Gospel 4 - Peter Frampton "Show me the way"

"Show me the way" is Frampton's biggest hit. It took off when he included the song on his 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive, which in the US was the best-selling album of 1976. The studio version was released as a single in 1975, but went nowhere. The live version is the hit.

Frampton's lyrics could be interpreted as a kind "Lament of Lostness" from a break up in a relationship. This breakup has caused the person Frampton is singing about to be broken with feelings of being on their own.

I wonder how you're feeling
There's ringing in my ears
And no one to relate to 'cept the sea
Who can I believe in?
I'm kneeling on the floor
There has to be a force
Who do I phone?
The stars are out and shining
But all I really want to know

Oh won't you show me the way, every day
I want you to show me the way, yeah

Jesus in Lukes gospel tells a series of stories about "Lostness" In Luke 15 we find the three stories of the "Lost Sheep", "The Lost Coin" and the "Lost Son" (Or Sons) The last of the stories is about a father who has two sons, who are both lost. One is lost in his bad actions, the other is lost in his good works. Both have a broken relationship with their father, both are lost. One tried to fill his sense of lostness by becoming a rebel and engaging in dark things. the other fills his sense of lostness with doing good things (Perhaps in order to gain approval) Never the less both are lost. In the story the younger son goes off to sow his wild oats by taking foreign travel, the older son stays at home and works his way up to a place of responsibility.

In the story it is the younger son who identifies that he is "Lost" The passage in Luke 15 says that the younger son "Comes to his senses" a bit like in Frampton's song. The younger son has a a moment of "Lament" where he reflects on life and tries to come to terms with himself and the broken relationship that exists between himself and his father. The passage does not say but I wonder if the younger son turns his thoughts and bows his head in humble prayer, asking God to "show him the way"

The younger son returns home to a welcome and a party that is thrown on his return. This was a scandal in  the days of Jesus, the younger son wished his father dead and took his share of the estate and squandered it. He should have received nothing on his return.

Jesus spends his life with people who for various reasons are lost, broken, destitute, outcasts. Some have arrived at lostness through their own fault, some through the fault of others. Jesus in the gospels presents himself as the "WAY" He is the constant companion to the people who he meets.

All of us from time to time feel those feelings of "Lostness" "Who can I believe in, I'm kneeling on the floor" All of us need a road to travel, a way of being that takes us into the welcoming arms of another.  To acknowledge the brokeness is the starting point. It is my hope that being lost gets replaced by being found.