This Punk classic was inspired by some dialogue ("Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have") in the film Guys & Dolls. The band's songwriter Pete Shelley described how he came to write this song in the Guardian newspaper February 24, 2006: "The song dates back to November 1977. We were on a roll. It was only 6 months since we'd finished the first album. Up in Manchester this was what we used to dream of... a whirlwind of tours, interviews, TV. We were living the life. One night in Edinburgh we were in a guest house TV lounge watching the musical Guys and Dolls. This line leaped out - "Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have?" The next day the van stopped outside a post office and I wrote the lyrics there. I did have a certain person in mind, but I'll save that for my kiss'n'tell. The music just seemed to follow, fully formed." In 1987 when Fine Young Cannibals covered this, their more laid back, soulful version peaked at #9 in the UK. They recorded the song after being asked by the director Jonathan Demme to provide him with a song for his upcoming film Something Wild. It is featured on the film's soundtrack released as "Ever Fallen in Love." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England, for all above) In an interview with Uncut magazine, Shelley recalled: "The opening line was originally 'You piss on my natural emotions,' but because 'Orgasm Addict' hadn't been getting radio play because of it's title, I needed something a bit subtler. So I came up with 'spurn.' It had the same sort of disregard, but wasn't so likely to offend!" In the same Uncut interview the song's producer Martin Rushent recalled: "Pete played me 'Ever Fallen In Love…' for the first time and my jaw hit the floor. I felt it was the strongest song that they had written-clever, witty lyrics, great hooklines. I suggested backing vocals-to highlight the chorus and make it even more powerful. No one could hit the high part-so I did it. I'd sung in bands in my youth and I also worked as a backing singer."
you make me feel like dirt, and it hurts.
And if I start a commotion,
I run the risk of losing you and that's worse.
Ever fallen in love with somoene
Ever fallen in love, in love with someone
Ever fallen in love
In love with someone you shouldn't've fallen in love with?
I can't see much of a future
Unless we find out what's to blame, what a shame.
And we won't be together much longer
Unless we realize that we are the same.
Ever fallen in love with somoene
Ever fallen in love, in love with someone
Ever fallen in love
In love with someone you shouldn't've fallen in love with?
You discern my natural emotions
you make me feel like dirt, and it hurts.
And if I start a commotion,
I'll only end up losin' you and that's worse.
Ever fallen in love with somoene
Ever fallen in love, in love with someone
Ever fallen in love
In love with someone you shouldn't've fallen in love with?
This Buzzcocks song is essentially about inequality. The song speaks of non reciprocal love that there is not much of a future in. There is a line in the song "you make me feel like dirt, and it hurts" this is unequal. this is a relationship going nowhere. The scripture reading this morning is about the opposite of what we find in the song. Galatians 3:23-20 is about the residual value in a people groups. the passage is about everyone who is part of the family of God. None are superior and none inferior to each other. There is balance everyone is equal. This passage is the focus for us this morning,
Despite any thoughts to the contrary, I’m a rule lover. I like rules. When done right rules make sense and they keep order. If something is dropped it will fall to the ground. We call this law gravity. It is what holds us here on earth. This is a black and white sign that tell us what to do and if we don’t follow those rules or laws we get in trouble. The one on M62 says 70 on it. The one right in front of the church says 20 on it. Some of these signs are followed others think they are merely suggestions. Rules are set up to keep order. Without them things would slip into chaos. Yet something in our human nature speaks to us and we desire to break these rules too. I mean who really goes 70 on the M62. We would rather decide for ourselves. You can tell people don’t follow this rule because at the sight of a police car everyone steps on the brakes. Even if you are going the speed limit everyone steps on the brakes. That is because for a split second you remember this is a rule you usually don’t follow and to be rather safe than sorry you step on the brakes. Law enforcement knows this and that is why we see those random unmarked police cars out. Just the idea of getting caught not following the rules makes us slow down.
We as humans also make up rules to protect ourselves. God told Adam "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Then God created Eve and when Eve was asked by the serpent about this rule she tells it, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Did you hear the difference? At some point between Adam telling Eve the rule and Eve telling the serpent the rule, something was added. The first humans added the part about not even touching the fruit. God didn’t say they couldn’t touch it, just that you couldn’t eat it. But to make things safer Adam and Eve decided that not touching it would be the best way live with this rule. We don’t do that in the modern world do we?
Today we are reading someone else’s post. Paul had sent a letter to the Galatians to help with some issues that were arising in that part of the world. The Galatian churches were probably located in Asia Minor, or what we call the country of Turkey today. Paul had preached there and things went well. Then after Paul left some other teachers came up there and start to stir the pot. The Galatians were used to worshiping pagan gods. The teachers were telling them that to make the transition from pagan gods to Jesus Christ they had to become Jewish first. They were telling them that they had to be circumcised and it looks like follow the entire Jewish law. Now if you want to know what the entire Jewish law is, simply read the first five books of the Bible and that will fill you in. There were lots of laws and laws about the laws. Some of them sound very weird to us, but you have to remember these were laws for an ancient nation of people. Many of them were simple survival techniques. Not eating certain types of animals or shellfish gave them the ability to survive as a people. But there are some crazy ones out there like in Leviticus 19:19 which says, “nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.” Does this mean that God is against a nice cotton/poly blend?
During these debates in the Galatian Churches Paul writes to them to ease their minds and correct their theology. Galatians 3:28 is the high point of the letter. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul is informing the Galatians that because of Christ, we are no longer held under the law. Now before you get carried away and speed off in a 30 some at 70 miles an hour yelling, Jesus said I can speed, let’s get some things strait. The Law, God’s Law, the Law found in the Torah or the first five books of the Bible, was there to justify people to God. It was there to teach a nation how to be God’s nation for the world, a beacon of light we could look at as an example and follow. The law told people how to treat one another and how to order our lives. We should worship God, and only God. We should listen to our parents and not lie, murder, steal, cheat or wish we had our neighbor’s stuff. These are great things a nation should do. But Jesus Christ has come and set us free from that. Now we are justified in faith instead of the law.
Let me unpack that a little. To be justified means to be made right. In this case we are talking about being made right before God. When we seek justice we are hoping to get something in return for someone doing something bad for us. God is seeking justice for what we do against him. We call this sin. Because we are sinful creatures we cannot be close to a sinless God without being made right, or justified. The law was set up to help people not sin and the sacrifices they made each year at the temple enabled them to be justified in God’s eyes. But Paul is saying here that it no longer applies to us because of Jesus Christ. Christ came, died our death, and rose again. Because of this our sins are erased and it is only because of Jesus that we can be in the presence of God once again. We are justified now through our faith in Jesus, not a law that we follow. Jesus was the sacrifice that makes up for everything that we do which goes against God’s nature, all of our sins. What these other teachers were trying to do in the Galatian Churches were make the people Jewish before they could become Christian and Paul tells them this is not the case. Instead what they were doing was forcing the law upon them and pushing them away. That what too many laws and rules do, they handcuff people down and restrict instead of free. The Law was initially set up to train Israel to be ready for the Messiah but when the Messiah showed up eh found the law was being used to restrict people’s access to God’s grace. So he yelled at the religious leaders, healed people on the Sabbath and shook the foundation of the what it meant to believe in God.
Today we do the same thing as those who imposed the law during Jesus’ time. We tell people what they are to do and what they cannot do. We limit people’s interaction with God because we think we have some sort of say. Only a generation ago many churches, limited who could be behind the pulpit. It took us hundreds of years to remember Paul says in Christ there is neither male nor female. A generation or two before that, we wrestled, and at some level still do today, with the fact that Paul reminds us there is neither slave nor free. Jesus makes it impossible to follow the law and points this out constantly. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us that if “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” As I am looking around I can tell we all have our eyes, so Jesus must have been kidding right? A rich young ruler comes up and confesses to Jesus that he follows the law but asks what else he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. The man simply walks away from Jesus with his head down. Jesus knows that deep down it is impossible for us to follow the law to the tee. We are humans and we are going to fail. This is the reason he came, so that we won’t be pushed away but welcomed into the fold.
We forget this as churches though. We forget that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” When we look around our world we don’t see everyone clothed in Christ. We don’t see God’s children. What we see are the differences instead. He is black. She doesn’t speak English. He is gay. She is liar. He is too rich etc.........We place labels on people which keeps them at arm’s reach and at a safe distance away from us while all the time people are looking to find "belonging"
Today we are reading someone else’s post. Paul had sent a letter to the Galatians to help with some issues that were arising in that part of the world. The Galatian churches were probably located in Asia Minor, or what we call the country of Turkey today. Paul had preached there and things went well. Then after Paul left some other teachers came up there and start to stir the pot. The Galatians were used to worshiping pagan gods. The teachers were telling them that to make the transition from pagan gods to Jesus Christ they had to become Jewish first. They were telling them that they had to be circumcised and it looks like follow the entire Jewish law. Now if you want to know what the entire Jewish law is, simply read the first five books of the Bible and that will fill you in. There were lots of laws and laws about the laws. Some of them sound very weird to us, but you have to remember these were laws for an ancient nation of people. Many of them were simple survival techniques. Not eating certain types of animals or shellfish gave them the ability to survive as a people. But there are some crazy ones out there like in Leviticus 19:19 which says, “nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.” Does this mean that God is against a nice cotton/poly blend?
During these debates in the Galatian Churches Paul writes to them to ease their minds and correct their theology. Galatians 3:28 is the high point of the letter. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul is informing the Galatians that because of Christ, we are no longer held under the law. Now before you get carried away and speed off in a 30 some at 70 miles an hour yelling, Jesus said I can speed, let’s get some things strait. The Law, God’s Law, the Law found in the Torah or the first five books of the Bible, was there to justify people to God. It was there to teach a nation how to be God’s nation for the world, a beacon of light we could look at as an example and follow. The law told people how to treat one another and how to order our lives. We should worship God, and only God. We should listen to our parents and not lie, murder, steal, cheat or wish we had our neighbor’s stuff. These are great things a nation should do. But Jesus Christ has come and set us free from that. Now we are justified in faith instead of the law.
Let me unpack that a little. To be justified means to be made right. In this case we are talking about being made right before God. When we seek justice we are hoping to get something in return for someone doing something bad for us. God is seeking justice for what we do against him. We call this sin. Because we are sinful creatures we cannot be close to a sinless God without being made right, or justified. The law was set up to help people not sin and the sacrifices they made each year at the temple enabled them to be justified in God’s eyes. But Paul is saying here that it no longer applies to us because of Jesus Christ. Christ came, died our death, and rose again. Because of this our sins are erased and it is only because of Jesus that we can be in the presence of God once again. We are justified now through our faith in Jesus, not a law that we follow. Jesus was the sacrifice that makes up for everything that we do which goes against God’s nature, all of our sins. What these other teachers were trying to do in the Galatian Churches were make the people Jewish before they could become Christian and Paul tells them this is not the case. Instead what they were doing was forcing the law upon them and pushing them away. That what too many laws and rules do, they handcuff people down and restrict instead of free. The Law was initially set up to train Israel to be ready for the Messiah but when the Messiah showed up eh found the law was being used to restrict people’s access to God’s grace. So he yelled at the religious leaders, healed people on the Sabbath and shook the foundation of the what it meant to believe in God.
Today we do the same thing as those who imposed the law during Jesus’ time. We tell people what they are to do and what they cannot do. We limit people’s interaction with God because we think we have some sort of say. Only a generation ago many churches, limited who could be behind the pulpit. It took us hundreds of years to remember Paul says in Christ there is neither male nor female. A generation or two before that, we wrestled, and at some level still do today, with the fact that Paul reminds us there is neither slave nor free. Jesus makes it impossible to follow the law and points this out constantly. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us that if “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” As I am looking around I can tell we all have our eyes, so Jesus must have been kidding right? A rich young ruler comes up and confesses to Jesus that he follows the law but asks what else he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. The man simply walks away from Jesus with his head down. Jesus knows that deep down it is impossible for us to follow the law to the tee. We are humans and we are going to fail. This is the reason he came, so that we won’t be pushed away but welcomed into the fold.
We forget this as churches though. We forget that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” When we look around our world we don’t see everyone clothed in Christ. We don’t see God’s children. What we see are the differences instead. He is black. She doesn’t speak English. He is gay. She is liar. He is too rich etc.........We place labels on people which keeps them at arm’s reach and at a safe distance away from us while all the time people are looking to find "belonging"
The word "belonging" has a couple of meanings. We have belongings, which mean that this word means someone’s possessions. Belonging also means acceptance. Belonging means you are welcomed for who you are. As Christians through faith we belong to Christ. We are excepted for who we are, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, black or white, brown or yellow, English speaking or from another nation, European, African, or Middle Eastern. We all belong to God. We need to live in a way that makes this known to the world. We have to live this out by seeing people as clothed in Christ. When we do this race, class, gender and so on all dissolve and all you have left is a Child of God who is valued and accepted. This is surely what the song"Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't've fallen in love with? is about. Equality and Values. This is what the song stretched out for.
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