Rock Goes the Gospel 9 - Rolling Stones "Get Off Of My Cloud"

"Get Off of My Cloud" was written as a follow-up single to the successful "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". The song topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom in the weeks following its release in November 1965. The song was also a major worldwide hit, notably topping the charts in Germany, and reaching No 2 in Australia and Ireland.

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song was recorded in early September 1965. The song is noted for its drum intro by Charlie Watts and twin guitars by Brian Jones and Keith Richards.The lyrics are defiant and rebellious, which was common practice for the Rolling Stones around that time; they were beginning to cultivate their infamous "bad boy" image. The Stones have said that the song is written as a reaction to their sudden popularity after the success of "Satisfaction". The song deals with their aversion to people's expectations of them.

“ I was sick and tired, fed up with this and decided to take a drive downtown; 

It was so very quiet and peaceful, there was nobody, not a soul around; 

I laid myself out, I was so tired and I started to dream; 

In the morning the parking tickets were just like flags stuck on my windscreen.

In the gospels we find Jesus from time to time taking himself off from the crowds to be on his own. Jesus does not say ‘Hey! You! Get off of my cloud. Don’t hang around because two’s a crowd.’ but we can be under no illusions that this is what we meant. For his own sanity, for his own survival he needed time alone.

"And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there" ( Mark 1:35)

"And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray." (Mark 6:45-46) 

"And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying." ( Mark 14:32-34) 

"And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them." ( Luke 4:42) 

"But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray" ( Luke 5:16) 

"And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God" ( Luke 6:12) 

Jesus simply needed space. We all need a bit of space. The main character in the Stone's song wants serenity and to hit pause on the chaotic outside world. Disconcertingly, people continue to present new tasks and hassles to interfere with his life. After two such episodes, the main character travels farther into a desolate part of town, hoping to find peace, yet he wakes up to find that someone gave him a parking ticket. He accepts that there is no longer such a thing as privacy. Jesus wants the same in the gospel passages, space will replenish Jesus and equip him for further ministry. Unlike the song Jesus admits that everyone needs privacy and that you need to take the opportunity to make sure you get it.

‘Hey! You! Get off of my cloud. Don’t hang around because two’s a crowd.’

Although good relationships with friends and family are critical, the ability to get alone time is fundamental. Choosing to have alone time frees us from other people’s opinions and our need to entertain. Aloneness allows us to meditate and separate from our needs and issues that relate to others. This could be what Jesus is doing in the Gospel passages. It's this principle that Jesus offer to us too.

People have their own clouds, which is conducive to a mindset of tranquility. On each person’s cloud, the individual can perch up and appreciate the surrounding divine aspects of life. If only we could schedule time like Jesus to break away from our phones and TVs and take nights off to stay at home by ourselves and read. Like Jesus in the passage we need to take time by ourselves to find our inner peace, because sometimes we shouldn’t have people on our cloud we should be there on our own. Sometimes for our own sanity we just need to get away.

Rock Goes the Gospel 8 - Cream - "Sunshine Of Your Love"

"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream, written by Jack Bruce, Pete Brown and Eric Clapton. It was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967 and was later released as a single in January 1968. It features a distinctive electric/bass guitar riff and a guitar solo from Clapton.

Most of the lyrics to "Sunshine of Your Love" were written during an all-night creative session between Bruce and Brown, a poet who worked with the band: "I picked up my double bass and played the riff. Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'" Clapton later wrote the song's refrain which also yielded the song's title.

It's gettin' near dawn,
When lights close their tired eyes.
I'll soon be with you my love,
To give you my dawn surprise.
I'll be with you darling soon,
I'll be with you when the stars start falling.

I've been waiting so long
To be where I'm going
In the sunshine of your love.

I'm with you my love,
The light's shinin' through on you.
Yes, I'm with you my love,
It's the morning and just we two.
I'll stay with you darling now,
I'll stay with you till my seeds are all dried up.

I've been waiting so long
To be where I'm going
In the sunshine of your love.

The chorus of "Sunshine of your love" is metaphoric. Another way of understanding the theme behind this would be to "Enveloped in love" or "Wrapped in love" or indeed to have a "Full revelation of love". A "transfiguration of love" if you like. The words in the second verse "The light's shinin' through on you"  speak about fullness of light and of course in the song this light is seen as love. Fulness of light and love. This is reminiscent of the Transfiguration of Jesus.

We find the transfiguration In the Gospels Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28–36. 

About a week after Jesus plainly told His disciples that He would suffer, be killed, and be raised to life (Luke 9:22), He took Peter, James and John up a mountain to pray. While praying, His personal appearance was changed into a glorified form, and His clothing became dazzling white. A bit like in the song "The light's shinin' through on you". Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus about His death that would soon take place. Peter, not knowing what he was saying and being very fearful, offered to put up three shelters for them. This is undoubtedly a reference to the booths that were used to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Israelites dwelt in booths for 7 days (Lev. 23:34–42). Peter was expressing a wish to stay in that place. When a cloud enveloped them, a voice said, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen, whom I love; listen to Him!” The cloud lifted, Moses and Elijah had disappeared, and Jesus was alone with His disciples who were still very much afraid. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after His resurrection. 

Undoubtedly, the purpose of the transfiguration of Christ into at least a part of His heavenly glory was so that the “inner circle” of His disciples could gain a greater understanding of who Jesus was. This is also true for the song as well, the lyrics in the song sing of someone who comes to fuller appreciation of who he is with. 

Christ underwent a dramatic change in appearance in order that the disciples could behold Him in His glory. "In the Sunshine of your love" The disciples, who had only known Him in His human body, now had a greater realization of the deity of Christ, though they could not fully comprehend it. That gave them the reassurance they needed after hearing the shocking news of His coming death.

Symbolically, the appearance of Moses and Elijah represented the Law and the Prophets. But God’s voice from heaven – “Listen to Him!” - clearly showed that the Law and the Prophets must give way to Jesus. The One who is the new and living way is replacing the old – He is the fulfillment of the Law and the countless prophecies in the Old Testament. Also, in His glorified form they saw a preview of His coming glorification and enthronement as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The disciples never forgot what happened that day on the mountain and no doubt this was intended. John wrote in his gospel, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only” (John 1:14). Peter also wrote of it, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Those who witnessed the transfiguration bore witness to it to the other disciples and to countless millions down through the centuries.

The song "Sunshine of your love" sings of a fuller appreciation of the person who the lover is going to be with. The transfiguration passage tells of the disciples fuller appreciation of Jesus.

Oh that the clouds would lift for all of us. That the curtain or veil would lift and we would see Jesus as he is. That we all could come to a fuller understanding of Jesus and his importance in heaven and on earth. That we also could come to a fuller knowledge of his love for the whole world of which we are a part.  That we might bask "In the sunshine of His Love" and at the same time invite others to do so as well. Perhaps like the disciples Peter and John a revelation of the love of Jesus will change everything, including life it's self.  One can only hope.

Rock Goes the Gospel 7 - U2 - "It's a Beautiful Day"

The song "BEAUTIFUL DAY" is from the U2 Album ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND (October 2000) it got to No 1 in the UK singles chart and got as far as 21 in the US singles chart. This song came out in the back drop to the Jubilee 2000 campaign that Bono was involved with. It was during the making of the "All you can't leave behind" album that Bono, who was in the US and on a crusade, experiencing a surge of optimism sat down with arch conservative Congressman Jesse Helms in Washington. 

"Somehow the result of the important meeting was to hit an emotional nerve with the Congressman. The US got on board to the tune $435 million dollars in cancelled debts. Maybe the world wasn't such a bad place after all. There was hope "It's a beautiful day!" Edge reached for the Explorer - The Gibson guitar he'd used during U2's formative years - and the sound was complete. It was a shimmering triumph in more ways than one." (Niall Stokes - U2 The stories behind every U2 song -2009) 

The song is a cry from the heart to open up your eyes to those who need you, and stop denying that earth has become a broken mess by human greed and get busy doing something about the brokenness.

Evidence of a broken world lies all around us. We are aware of it when we turn on the TV or read the news papers. The media is shot through with it. We are assaulted by it from all directions. Reminded about the broken fragments of human life from dawn till dusk. If we are unlucky it even haunts our dreams. Contemporary life is filled with brokenness. In many neighbourhoods people don't have to to go to far to touch the broken fragments of peoples lives. The song "Beautiful Day" reminds us of hope in the middle of the shards of broken lives. The song can be heard as a haunting prophetic voice that reminds us all of the person and the purpose of Jesus. "to seek and save the lost" The song provokes those who hear it towards hope. We are reminded of the hopeful message of Jesus to those who live life in the dirt or on the margins and at the same time the song rings out the challenging and disturbing message of Jesus to those in power.

The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There's no room
No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination

You're lovin' this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
Was a beautiful day

Hope, "Don't let it get away" Just think what it would look like to live in a world of hope rather than a world of despair. " EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE" Get busy and do something about the brokenness.

Faith in the Face of Empire - Reading The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes - MITRI RAHEB

Started reading this today. I'm not out of the first chapter yet but it is interesting reading. Learning to read the bible in context is something that I believe in. More then that preaching and teaching the bible in context is really important to me as well. If we ever hope to preach and teach right things we must learn to hear the cultural contexts. This is what Mitri Raheb attempts to do. I'm looking forward to being challenged while I read it.

Jesus was a Middle Easterner. If he were to travel through Western countries today he would be 'randomly' pulled aside and scrutinised. For Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian living under Israeli occupation, the Middle Eastern context of the biblical story is crucial to its understanding and its relevance to his people today. A Palestinian reading of the Bible begins with an awareness of the role of empirea constant feature of Palestine for thousands of years, from the Babylonians and Egyptians, to the Romans, Ottomans, the British, and the state of Israel. Each empire, up to the present, imposed its own system of control, undergirded by an imperial theology. For the people of the land, those who endure from one empire to the next, the question, Where is God? carries practical and theological urgency. For Raheb, faith in God is the hope that there is something greater than empire. Jesus embodied that hope, and so Raheb spells out Jesus political program in relation to the Roman Empire of his time, its relevance for his community, and the biblical values relevant for the Middle East, past and present. He ends, hopefully, by representing a future vision for the Middle East.

Rock Goes the Gospel 6 - U2 - "When Love Comes To Town"

"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

This song originally featured an extra verse:

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.

BE THE LOVE THAT COMES TO TOWN

"Life on the Road" The Gospel Basis for a Messianic Lifestyle - Athol Gill

RECOMMENDED READING

I first came across this book a few years ago and I read it at the time and was amazed that it still felt very contemporary. UNOH have just reprinted it and here it is in all it's glory. Im Just getting my way through this book again and I feel the need to recommend it. If you want to be challenged and encouraged at the same time. If you want a contextual way of looking at the gospels afresh. If you want to refresh you ideas of mission then this is the book for you. If you don't then leave this book well alone,  IT'S NOT FOR YOU.

Click HERE to go to the publishers website
Click HERE to purchase an older edition

Here it is…the original Aussie handbook for following Jesus; a seriously good guide to the Gospels – repackaged for disciples in the 21st Century.

Originally written in the 1980’s by one of Australia’s leading Bible teachers and Christian activists, Life on the Road remains a ground breaking book on Christian discipleship. The author, Athol Gill, was a pioneering pastor and Biblical scholar who founded a Christian Community called The House of the Gentle Bunyip in inner-city Melbourne which served the poor and disadvantaged. He inspired and equipped a generation of people, many of whom continue in Christian ministry and service throughout the world. Now the book is re-presented for the emerging generation of Jesus followers. It is a book even more relevant to today’s world than it was when first written. It is prophetic, provocative and practical. A must read for those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

“Athol…did not hesitate to speak truth to power…not as a rebel, but as a disciple of the Gospel.”

Dr David Batstone, Not for Sale Campaign

“This profound manifesto for discipleship comes from one of Australian Christianity’s most prophetic voices and activists. The late Athol Gill was a man before his time, sacrificing and enduring much to enable these explorations of a deeper Gospel-living to be accessible for us.”

Ash Barker, Director of UNOH and author of Making Poverty Personal

Rock Goes the Gospel 5 - The Beatles "Eleanor Rigby"

During an interview with POP CHRONICLES Paul McCartney says that he came up with the melody of "Eleanor Rigby" as he experimented with his piano. However, the original name of the protagonist that he chose was not Eleanor Rigby but Miss Daisy Hawkins. The song Eleanor Rigby is often described as a lament for lonely people or a commentary on post-war life in Britain An actual Eleanor Rigby was born in 1895 and lived in Liverpool, possibly in the suburb of Woolton, where she married a man named Thomas Woods. She died on 10 October 1939 at age 44. The real Eleanor Rigby lived a lonely life similar to that of the person in the song.

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice 

in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, 

wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

In June this year the TELEGRAPH reported that "Britain is the loneliness capital of Europe with its inhabitants less likely overall to know their neighbours or have strong friendships than people anywhere else in the EU. Britain is ranked 26th out of the 28 European Union countries by the proportion of the population who say they have someone on whom they feel they could rely if they have a serious problem. The report goes on to say that almost five million people in Britain have no close friends.

In Genesis 2:18 we find the writer of Genesis declaring what God says at the beginning about loneliness. "Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” John Milton comments on this passage and said, “Loneliness was the first thing God’s eye named "NOT GOOD" In a similar way Mother Theresa who devoted all of her life to working with the last, least and lost in Calcutta, India, once said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference toward one’s neighbour.” 

Combating loneliness was one of the issues that confronted the church community in the book of Acts. In Acts 6 we see the social enterprise of the church at work, the social experiment in the embryonic church in the book of Acts, where the church (The people) took care of the widows, in this context those who were overlooked. Their response was to enlist a "waiter's guild" so to speak. "Those who could wait on tables" This helped solve the crisis.

Being overlooked is a real issue in the early church community, especially if you were of a different creed, class, race, etc... The same is true for the church community and the world we live in today. The church is called to engage at the level of a "waiter's guild" to serve the lonely, least, last, lost. Jesus was famous for it. "Look at all the lonely people" says the Beatles song. Jesus lives life right in there among people in communities, towns, villages and cities, so did the early church, and so must we, because it is God who first said "It is not good for man to live alone"

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.  

Rock Goes The Gospel 3 - The Who - "Who are you"

According to the 1985 Pete Townshend "My Generation" radio special, the song came out different than intended when Roger Daltrey sang it. Townshend said the song became a prayer from a destitute man. The man is on the street, looking up to the sky and asking God, "Who are you?"

I know there's a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still recieve your kiss
How can I measure up
to anyone now
After such a love as this?

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)'
Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

A prayer from a destitute man asking God "Who are you" Such a cry if we are honest comes from all of us from time to time, especially in the dark tortured moments of life. In those dark time a few of the bravest of people can say "I have come to know God" You can understand what is being said but who among us really can lay claim to know God fully. 

This is a deep subdued cry in the human heart to know the creator of the universe and at the same time to truly know who you are as well. To seek for something out side of ourselves that is more powerful, more awesome, more wonderful than we have experienced up till know. It's like an experience of looking in the mirror and discovering who you really are and also discovering that you are coming face to face with a power that is greater than you.

There are some of those God seekers in the old book that come face to face with something greater than themselves and also come face to face with their own dark destitute identity.

Paul in Romans 7:24 comes to the same conclusion. He was a destitute man who was seeing himself and his life in the mirror.
"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"

Isaiah another destitute man comes to a conclusion like Paul in Isaiah chapter
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Both of these destitute men were seeking something outside of themselves and in the process came face to face with who they were.

To know God and to know who you really are is the deepest prayer that can be engaged with. In the lyrics of "Who are you" the line "My heart is like a broken cup, I only feel right on my knees" Brings us to the place of humble recognition. Oh that we could all get to that point.

Rock Goes the Gospel 2 - Rolling Stones - "You can't always get what you want"

You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes well you might find, You get what you need

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was recorded on 16 and 17 November 1968 by The rolling Stones, at London's Olympic Sound Studios and was released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.

This song speaks about the rawness of disappointment and those that seek for something better in life.

There are always going to be people in the journey of life that fit into this category, people that have their hopes dashed, people who wish for things and never get them, people who desire to be different and have different circumstances, to have some thing better.

Jesus, when he was on the road with his mates often encountered people in the gospels who knew only to well the raw edge of disappointment, people who were ill and had no cure, people who were seen as having no value in life, people who were ill treated, people who were on the edge, in the gutter, on the road, the outcasts, the marginalised, the vagabonds, the rebels, the untouchables but who longed and hoped for something different.

Jesus was a friend to such as these, he gave welcome and hospitality, he gave them the time of day, put value back in their lives, listened to there stories, soothed their bruised souls and gave back their dignity and self esteem, patched them up and sent them on their way, or invited them to be on the road with him.

What really matters is this, in the same ways many who are on the fringes, who feel they have been dealt them a bad hand in life’s game of cards. Even some of us who have been hurt, bruised and disappointed. Just because things have not made sense so far does not mean they cant. Maybe we have felt like the wheels have fallen off. One thing to gain from this is the Jesus of the outcast is a relevant today as he ever was.

Rock Goes the Gospel 1 - U2 - "Yahweh, Yahweh"

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist no
Take this mouth
So quick to critisize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is bornYahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
His love is like a drop in the ocean
His love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it pray.

One of the main themes in this song is "OFFERING" to the Lord who we are, what we have and where we live. This is the foundation of true prayer as the last two lines in the song says "Take this heart and make it pray" Offering is standing before God with nothing but reliance on God's mercy and compassion. In offering we recognise his "GREATNESS", we recognise our "LITTLENESS" We see that we do not have the where with all to change or transform anything, but that the Lord ultimately has every resource in abundance.

Offering is essential in discipleship, it's the core of worship, it's the destroyer of the flesh, it's the seeker of better things. It's the ability to see beyond ourselves and to see the answer in the divine.

Lik

Dark Hope - Reflections from the City

Clothes, 

skin, 

eyes, 

liquids, 

textiles, 

buildings, 

hair, 

nail, 

litter, 

glass, 

sky, 

trees, 

plants, 

flowers 

moods, 

seasons, 

music, 

posters, 

adverts, 

t-shirts, 

a celebration of life in the city, 

a rich tapestry of hopes and dreams, 

a expressive mix of humanity,

It's difficult to think that God does not walk among us.

Tales of the City - Part Four - GLASGOW - Father, Son and a visit to Starbucks

It was a wonderful start to Sunday morning. I was "full" after having a cooked breakfast and toast washed down with a large amount of fresh orange juice. I mused and wondered what to do with my free time. I was not needed again till 3.00 pm and It was just a little after 9.00 in the morning. I was gently asking myself the question "Do I attend a place of worship this morning?" I decided that sitting listening to a 45 minute monologue was not going to be my preference.

So, I took book in hand, (A copy of "Pagan Christianity") and headed to the only place that I wanted to go in this blessed of all Scottish cities. STAR-BUCKS! I arrived and duly picked a seat that was set away from everyone else, tucked just around a corner, so that the people queuing could not see me but I could see them. I soon settled into a rhythm of turning pages and slurping coffee. (A Vente Latte) MMMMMmmmmmmmmm....

After a short while a very tall man and his young son joined the queue. The man would have been in his lat 40's and the son about 2 or 3 years old. They could not see me either, but I could see them. The son was all of the time looking up intently at his dad with big saucer shaped eyes, taking in all that he was doing and saying. Then It came the turn of the tall man to order his drinks, he was very well spoken and articulated all of his words with great hand gestures, point to the board and ordering 2 latte's 2 fresh cranberry juices and some sticky buns. All of the time the little boy was looking up to his dad and taking it all in. Still, they could not see me. When the man looked away to pay, the little boy began to mimic all the big hand gestures that his dad had done, (And he did it in style) even his lips were moving, as he too ordered from an imaginary counter assistant.

As I sat there looking at this scene and contemplating it, my mind filled with the words of Jesus from the new testament "I am doing only what I have seen my father doing". There....... right there..... was the sermon for that Sunday morning.......in Starbucks no less.

Prayer:
Lord help your people to follow your lead, to take your example, to mimic your actions, language, custom, gestures and by so doing usher in the kingdom of God, in power, hospitality and welcome. Amen

Tales of the City - Part Three - GLASGOW - Black and Blue

She hovered on the threshold of the hotel doorway. Red thick plush carpet and brass runners and rods, it just oozed "welcome". As I looked closer, I could see a woman, by the light of the spot lamps on the side of the hotel building combined with the light from the dying sun, and that she was clothed in a leather jacket and wore blue denim jeans, long hair, red painted nails. She caught me looking at her and smiled. I looked away embarrassed that I had looked for so long. I was in a nearby coffee house deliberating over a Vente Latte, just opposite the hotel.

When I looked again it was due to the screech of a Glasgow corporation bus coming to halt, she turned to look, and as she did, I could see on her face the unmistakable signs of a beating; black and blue, with a touch of feint yellow. She saw that I was watching again and quickly stepped away and was gone from sight among the last minute shoppers catching buses.

I wondered who she was?
Why she was there?
Who had done this to her?
What she had done to deserve such treatment?
Was it a cat fight?
The blows of a man's fist or worse.
Was there other signs of last weeks beating, carefully hidden beneath clothes, bruises already on their way to healing.
What did she feel? NUMBNESS!
Was she trapped?
Unable to make a break?

Where are you tonight "Black and Blue"?
In whose arms do you rest?
I hope it is with someone who will cherish and treat you right.
I hope that you will never become again a "Black and Blue" leather punchbag.

(Written in Glasgow - February 2009)

Tales of the City Part Two - GLASGOW - Painted Ladies

Some, say "It's not art",
Some, say " It's common"
Some, say "You've got to be out of your mind to have it done"

Other's, say "It's part of my culture"
Other's, say "It's part of my tradition"
Other's say "It's part of being me"

It's Maori, Native Indian, Aboriginal,
It's belonging, It's identity, It's a statement,
It's resistance,
It's a declaration of independence.

I saw lots of it today, and for me, it's an art form, more profound the Garivagio, more stylish that Van Gough.

I saw it on the skin of those painted ladies, in a Glasgow tattoo parlour.

It said in pictures, that which others crave, it said "I'm free", "I belong" it was in the eyes and on the skin of those Glasgow painted ladies.

I visited a glasgow tattoo shop in February 2009 and on the front desk were three women who were painted from head to foot in tattoos, they were amazing, friendly, welcoming and kind.

Tales of the City Part One - GLASGOW -The Guitar Man of Sauchiehall Street

The Guitar Man of Sauchiehall Street

“A bottle of Jack Daniels...sh, please..sh..son” he said, as he swayed there at the front of the queue.He reached into his torn pockets for the exact money that he had busked for that day, and had counted before coming into the shop.

The Guitar man.......

It was strapped to his back, an old Gibson, well battered and abused over the years, stained and chipped on the corners...but still it was a quality guitar. He had a twinkle in his eye as he waited for the bottle of Jack to be placed in bag for him.

He seemed oblivious to all that surrounded him.

The Guitar man... ...

He had the excitement in his body language of a little boy wating for the counter assistant to bag up a quarter of BON, BON's. He was waiting for the comfort of having the bottle in his arms. No doubt this was a repeat of what he had done in the past... he had been here many times before.

The Guitar man.. ...

He had long greasy hair, he was wearing dirty cheap trainers that had seen better days, a pair of burgundy red jogging pants with stains, held up by a length of white electric cable with the coloured and copper ends fraying out, for his top half he had a long army type trench coat, with a dirty jumper underneath.

The Guitar man..

As he received his purchase he smiled and staggered away, oblivious to the taunts and whispers of the people in the queue around me. I felt ashamed, and guilty. Ashamed, that somehow just by standing in this queue, I was implicated in declaring what was exceptable and what was not. Guilty, because my own judgement was clouded by their taunts and whispers.

The Guitar man..

I watched the “Guitar man” adjust himself at the doorway and stagger off down the street into the night. Perhaps to spend another night among many, inhabiting a shop doorway, drowning his sorrows, reflecting on his losses and dreaming of what used to be.

The Guitar man..

A tribute to the Guitar Man of Sauchiehall Street

Machine Gun Preacher -

THE HEART.

Two kinds of lostness. Two way to get the fathers stuff,

Introduction:

There is a famous story in the book of Luke. For century’s it has been know as the parable of the prodigal son. It’s a story about a son who takes the fathers inheritance and wastes it all and who returns to a forgiving father. It is a great mistake to think that this is just a story about one son. It’s actually a tale of two sons. they story about a younger brother and an elder brother. We are meant to compare and contrast them. If we don’t compare and contrast them we miss the radical message that Jesus is leading us to. this parable undermines the existing paradigms, the existing categories for understanding our relationship with God

Two Sons, One Good, One Bad, Both Lost

1. Irreligious Heart: - My Rebellion is the way to Salvation” 

Two Sons "ONE BAD” LOST BECAUSE HE WAS BAD

The heart condition here is clear. Living as you want without God & disregarding God’s laws.

"The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.” ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. Luke 15:12-23

This Amounts to wishing your father dead. (Dividing 1/3 and 2/3) only happened wham the father died. 

Irreligion is: “I don’t have to obey anyone but myself.” A person living this way feels that they are in control of their own destiny.

The Younger son wants the father’s things, but he does not want the father. He wants the fathers wealth and the estate. He wants the comfort and the prestige and the independence that goes with those things. But he does not want the father.

Some people are like the younger brother, they want the things that God provides, but they don’t want God. they want their independence, they want to live there lives the way they want to live them and they believe it will bring them happiness. Some of them like the younger son one day, decide to go home.

Because the father in the parable being told, is being likened to God we are being told - “No matter who you are , no matter how awful the stuff you have done, if you come home God will accept you and he will love you and it’s all by sheer grace. 

Almost always when people think of this story it’s always about the younger son coming home and the father’s acceptance. As a result almost everyone thinks of this story in sentimental terms. We imagine the original listeners, with tears streaming down their faces in wonder. this not what would have happened, those who were hearing this story would have been thunderstruck, they would have been offended. Jesus purpose in telling this parable was not to give us a sentimental message, that somehow God will accept us no matter what we do. Jesus tells this parable because he wants to say this - “That everything you have ever heard, and everything you have ever thought about how to approach God is wrong.

2. Religious Heart - My Righteousness is the way to Salvation” (Prodigal Son 2) 

Two Sons “ONE GOOD” LOST BECAUSE HE WAS GOOD

The heart condition here is clear it is about bargaining with God, Working hard to be good and obeying God’s moral laws

The elder brother is furious and by not going into the feast he is saying “I don’t want to be part of this family if he (Younger son) is in it. the elder brother is abrasive to the father. He is upset about the cost of the feast. The fattened calf. The entire village would have been there. this would have been the greatest day in the fathers life and he is showing this. This does not matter to the older brother. All he sees is the father, is using his inheritance in a way he does not approve of. He cares about the fathers things but not the father’s heart. He is furious. The father resounds tenderly with grace and mercy.

 “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” Luke 15:29-30

Religion is: “I obey, therefore I am accepted by God.” A person living this way feels that God “owes” you salvation”

The older brother cares for the father’s things but he does not care about the father’s heart.

The same thing is now true for the older brother as it is true for the younger brother. Both are lost, both are alienated, both want the fathers things but not the father. They want what the father has got but not a relationship with the father. In the story of the younger brother we have a very traditional definition of sin. In the story of the second bother we see Jesus turning the tables on what is sin. Both brothers are guilty of the same Sin, they both want the fathers things, they have both been using the father to get from him the things they really, really love which is the wealth and the status. One of them is doing this by being very, very bad and the other by being very, very good. It tells you in the story of the older brother “I have never disobeyed you” the thing that keeps him from having a good relationship with the father is not his sin but his goodness. It’s his righteousness that is keeping him away. The younger brother was trying to get hold of the fathers things by breaking all the rules but the older brother was trying to get control of the fathers things by obeying all the rules. Both were lost. They are both without a relationship with the father.They are both alienated from the father.

So there are two kinds of lostness, that’s why jesus put the older brother in the parable. You can escape God as much through a morality and a religion as you can escape God through immorality and irreligion. Elder brothers obey to get things from God. 

Which kind are you? 

The listeners of Jesus must have been astounded for the lover of prostitutes is saved and the man of moral character is lost. We like to think that the good are saved and the bad are lost, but Jesus shows that both are lost and although they may look different on the surface underneath they are both the same. We think that the way to be saved is to repent of you sins and Jesus shows us that you also have to repent of even the very reason that you did anything good at all.

The context has tax collectors and sinners and the pharisees and religious leaders. In the parable we see two ways that people try to make the world right and to relate to God. Self discovery and moral conformity. Jesus says you are both wrong, both lost and both far from home. The gospel of Jesus in not morality or immorality. It’s not religion or irreligion Whether you are a younger brother or an older brother you need to come home. there is only one way home.

1. The Love of God - Father goes to both sons.

2. Repent for something more than just our sin, not repent just of sin, but repent for sins and righteousness. Repent for the reason we did our good things.

3. We need to be melted and moved to what it cost Jesus (The true elder brother) to bring us home.

3. Related Heart - “My Relationship is the way to Salvation” 

Another Son - ANOTHER WAY

A relationship with God for your salvation. We see this in the way that the father reacts to the return of the son.

The heart condition here is clear , this heart does not depend on righteousness of their own, but simply on God and his grace.

‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him. The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” ‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:20-24 

In the story the older brother does not go out at his own expense and bring the younger brother home. The younger brother cannot come home except at the expense of the older brother.This is why the older brother is mad, The younger son in this story does not have a good elder brother but we do. What Jesus the elder brother has done at his own expense has brought us home. Jesus is our true elder brother. It was at his expense, the expense of his life, the expense of the cross, the expense of his death. this is what it cost to bring you home. He brings you home, cry out to Jesus.

The Gospel is: “I’m accepted by God at infinite cost to Jesus Christ, therefore I obey and serve.” A person like this knows that "It’s all of God and none of themselves".

We are given a relationship with the father which is free, God accepts me because of his grace, my heart is changed, i am no longer lost and I am no longer far from home.

Resurrection Chaos

The fellowship at Harehills Lane have had a wonderful time this Easter.

“It all began on Maundy Thursday when we had four pallets of non-perishable food delivered to the front doors of the church. This was not planned - it just happened out of the blue. A quick decision was made to distribute some Easter provisions to those who we know in the community who are finding things a little tight.

“The food was donated by food suppliers that had over-runs. If we had not agreed to take the food it would have been incinerated. All the food was in date with long sell-by dates.

“We had to make a temporary shop in our prayer room in the church building. We are calling this a ‘cashless shop’ - it was packed from floor to ceiling with food and had a grand opening after the service on Good Friday,

“Many asylum seekers and people with no money came and took food for themselves and their families. The news was networked by those who had received the food and people continued to arrive with much laughter and relief. This was a wonderful thing and a great resurrection provision.

“The blessing continues.........

“We gathered for worship on Easter morning for a baptismal service for a friend who has been coming to God's Garage in Dewsbury. After his baptism I made an appeal from the baptistry to those who are followers of Jesus but had not been baptised yet. I asked if anyone wanted to come and be baptised to come forward.

“I announced that we had plenty of towels and clothes from our community clothes store downstairs, so they had no need to walk home in the wet.

“Someone came forward when I made the appeal and they were baptised..... after the baptism I renewed the appeal....this happened five times.....after each baptism I made a fresh appeal and they kept coming. Five more came forward and with much laughter and joy were baptised.

“Andy Hobbs (who is part of the fellowship) gave me a hand with the extra baptisms. After the baptisms I sprinkled everyone who was gathered around the baptistry as we also renewed the baptismal promises of all those in the service. It was wonderful resurrection chaos and we could sense God was up to something!

“Also on Easter Sunday morning we heard some more resurrections stories of where the food had gone to on Good Friday.

“One story is that of a young woman who has been part of the church for some time (an asylum seeker) and her son. As they made their way to the Good Friday service the young woman was praying ‘God can you provide for me? I only have a small amount of money for food and I need to buy clothes for my son, so I will have to go without food to provide for my baby.’

“When she arrived at church she was greeted with the ‘cashless shop’ and could not control her joy and wept as she was doing her shopping for free and also wept all the way home. This was one of many resurrection stories that we heard on Sunday about the provision of the ‘cashless shop’.

“These are only a few tales of the adventures we had a Harehills Lane over Easter!”

People of the second chance

During the last few months at Harehills Lane Baptist Church in Leeds and God's Garage Dewsbury UK we have been studying in Luke 15 where we find the parable of the father with two sons. Often we have misquoted this parable as the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus is very clear that this father had "TWO" sons. 

Jesus begins this parable to counter act the accusation that he spends time with Tax collectors and "Sinners" (The social outcasts of his day) He tells a parable in response to this. "A certain man had two sons" The parable is told in order to show what being in a relationship with God is all about. The two groups of people that are gathering around Jesus at the beginning of Luke 15 are tax colectors and sinners and pharisees and religious rulers.

Jesus shows in the parable that both Tax collectors and sinners and the pharisees and religious rulers are in need of a relationship with God. In the parable both sons need a restored relationship with their father. Jesus shows that one son needs to repent of the bad things he has done to get that restored relationship for the other son Jesus shows that he needs to repent of the good things he has done in order to get  that restored relationship. We get the point!! God is holding out a second chance at a real relationship with himself. A second chance to both groups of people.

It seems to me that within the parable we have a offer of the "SECOND CHANCE". A second chance for the wayward son to come home and be part of the life of the family and to have a restored relationship with his father. A second chance for the older son who stays at home to have a restored relationship with the father.

So what is Jesus getting at?....... Simple!!

Whether you are wayward or stuck in religious endevour ......God is giving you a second chance at relationship with himself.

He is God of the second chance.........and we are called to be people of the second chance..