242. Rock Goes The Gospel - Kings of Leon "Rock City"

Mechanical Bull is the sixth studio album by Kings of Leon, released in Ireland, Germany, Sweden and Australia on September 20, 2013, in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2013, and in North America on September 24, 2013 by RCA Records. In late 2013 the album received a nomination at the 56th Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. Rock City is from this album and  finds Caleb Followill letting rip as he sings about desperately searching for something. The vocalist is possibly alluding to his burnout after years of constant recording and gigging, which climaxed with him walking offstage halfway through a Dallas show in 2011 and Kings of Leon subsequently having to cancel the rest of the tour. Caleb croons:

"I've been several miles and plenty more
And I found myself face first on the floor
Searching for something, and never finding something
And I don't know where I belong
I'm just trying to get myself back home."

"You could tell he was pouring his heart out," drummer Nathan Followill told The Daily Telegraph. "It was almost like he didn't feel comfortable enough telling us face to face how he felt but he would put it in the lyrics and get up and sing it all day long. We're as close as close can get, we're family. We know everything about each other, but this was a glimpse into his private world."

I was running through the desert
I was looking for drugs,
And I was searching for a woman
Who was willing to love,
So I could take her like a woman.
Yeah take her like a woman.

I was looking for a bad girl
Looking for a bad boy,
Someone who could take all the night away.
Oh baby I could shake it like a woman.
Yeah shake it like a woman.

I got the eyes on me of a jealous man,
And if you're looking to run
Well then you've already ran.
I break down like a woman.
I break down like a woman.

I go back to Rock City,
That's where she saw me,
Everybody's seen her,
Everyone believes me.

I've been several miles and plenty more,
And I found myself face-first on the floor,
Searching for something.
But never finding something.

And I don't know where I belong,
I'm just trying to get myself back home
And get a little work,
Yeah find my little woman.

I go back to Rock City,
That's where she saw me,
Everybody's seen her,
Everyone believes me.

Oh my my, oh my my, oh my my.
I need to find something.
I'm searching for something.

I go back to Rock City,
That's where she saw me,
Everybody's seen her,
Everyone believes me.

I go back to Rock City,
That's where she saw me,
Everybody's seen her,
Everyone believes me.

We find in the lyrics of "Rock City" Someone searching for belonging, for meaning, for identity, for work, for love which is all caught up in a coming again to the city. "And I don't know where I belong,, I'm just trying to get myself back home, And get a little work,, Yeah find my little woman. I go back to Rock City"  The search for identity and meaning in life is in built in each of us. The desire for value, for regular meaningful employment, for identity and for love are the hope and dreams of millions of people on the face of the globe. This sounds a lot like "Rock City" in the lyrics of this Kings of Leon song. This "Rock City" is being viewed as a place of sanctuary, a place where hopes can be nurtured, where new life can begin, where identity can be given, where love can be found and where meaningful employment can be gained. In the Old Testament there are cities like "Rock City" a city of sanctuary, a city in which to begin a new life.

The Bible talks about cities of hope and promise where people seeking sanctuary could realise the prospect of a completely new beginning, of the beginning a new life, of discovering new hope, of putting down roots and gaining meaningful employment and finding love. As London, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham among other cities have been to the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers that came to the United Kingdom in search of a better life, so were these cities to those wanting to start life over again. These biblical cities of refuge provide tremendous insight in to the way in which we are to view city dwellers in our own time as people who are looking for meaning, looking for occupation, looking love and for belonging and identity. Just like the song "Rock City" 

When God divided the Promised Land between the tribes of Israel, He apportioned to each tribe vast tracts of real estate. It was in this land that God's people would dwell, and it was from this land that they would derive their livelihood. A notable exception, however, was the tribe of Levi. The Levites were the priests for the 12 tribes, so rather than giving them a single territory, God instructed that they should disburse their holy influence among the possessions of the other 11 tribes. God also gave the tribe of Levi 48 cities in which to dwell, evenly spread throughout the Promised Land. They were not to simply earn their living from working the land because God had called them to ministry, to hold the office of the priesthood, and to conduct the services of the sanctuary. Out of these 48 cities, God instructed the Levites to set apart six cities that would be distinctly different from the other cities and would serve a unique function.

Three cities were strategically located on each side of the Jordan River. In the east were Bezer in the territory of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan in the area of Bashan. On the west side of the Jordan were Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem in Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba or Hebron in the hill country of Judah. In Joshua's day, it was the accepted practice that, if a family member should be killed, revenge should be gained by taking the life of the one responsible for the family member's death. For example, a man's brother is in the woods chopping down trees with a friend. The friend's axe head slips off his axe and fatally strikes the other man. The dead man's next of kin, even without an intimate knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, would then be expected to take the life of the "slayer" in retribution. It was God's plan to improve this primitive system of justice. What if the death had been nothing but an accident? What could be done to protect those who were completely innocent of any premeditated misdeed? God had Joshua designate these six cities so they were never more than a day's journey from anywhere in Israel and ensuring they would be easy accessibility to all. When anyone, Israelite or alien among them, accidentally caused the death of another, that person was to immediately flee to the nearest city of refuge for sanctuary so that his or her life might be spared.

The city has always has been a place where people come who are too weak to live other places. In the earliest days, cities provided refuge from wild animals and marauding tribes and criminals. When Israel moved into the promised land, the first cities in the land as we have already said were built by God’s direction as “cities of refuge”, where the accused person could flee for safety and civil justice. And by its nature, the city is a place where minorities in any society can cluster together for support in the search to belong and find new identity.

Thus today, people like the poor, or ethnic minorities in general, or new immigrants, or people with “deviant” lifestyles must live in the city. Even single adults, who are often disdained in the broader culture, need to cluster together in the city where they are not seen as “freaks”. Minorities cannot survive in the suburbs and small ,towns until they gain cultural power (which they often can do through the dynamics of the city--then they are free to go anywhere in the country). So the city is always a more merciful place, a shelter, for minorities of all kinds. The dominant majorities often dislike cities, but the weak and powerless need them. Thus too cities are places of diversity, unlike the suburbs or even most small towns. They reflect the Future City where there will be people of “every tongue, tribe, people, and nation”.

Many people hate cities because of the diversity of cultures, people “not like us”, but we see that God enjoys and wills the diversity of cultures as bringing forth the richness of his creation. In one city that sought to be homogeneous, God forcibly imposed diversity! Followers of Jesus should rejoice and enjoy diversity of cultures, recognising that they contain people who are searching for belonging, meaning and identity. The place of welcoming the stranger, there are many like the person sung about in the Kings of Leon "Rock City" the person in the song just wants to belong, just wants to work, just wants to know love and settle somewhere. This is the desire in many who come to our cities from difficult areas of the world. They come looking for sanctuary, a place to being a new life, many of these seekers of sanctuary are all around us and are seeking a place to belong. We are well disposed to provide a stable place for the building of a new life. This has it's challenges and pit falls but is worth the sacrifice of welcome and provision.