The Heart of Man

When I woke up on the morning of the 29th of January, 2009 I wasn't expecting to have the worst day of my career. I was actually looking forward to seeing my 6 year old boy off at his first day at school. Little did I know that it would be the horrific premature end for another's child who was also meant to be heading to school that day. Have a read about that here to get some perspective.
So as I was at the top of the bridge and looking down and the word came through that the body laying at the bottom was actually a child, that odd process of attempting to comprehend the incomprehensible began. I Don't ever expect to make complete sense of it.

What I just wanted to mention here is that this incident should be a clear beacon. A sharp sobering indicator about the heart that is inside of every one of us and the depths that it can sink to. Not in order to look at this from afar and judge the man. There has already been an abundance of that. But to reflect and look within and perhaps recall the depths we have sunk to at times in our own lives. To be wary of and acknowledge our own internal impulses and weaknesses.

Some of the most striking parts of this story come from hearing that this man was not a monster nor was he psychotic. He was described as a loving father. He was 35, Caucasian, worked in IT and lived in upper middle suburbia. Yet a specific set of circumstances were put before him and this horrific outcome was the result.
Surely at some point should we not ask ourselves: what are my 'set of circumstances'? What would lead me to such a dark place?
I believe it's these types of questions to ourselves and this analysis of ourselves that leads us not to judge others and assists in the process of forgiveness towards those we thought we could never forgive.

This kind of forgiveness is what I think of when I contemplate the words 'take up your cross and follow me'. Those piercing words told by the one who walks the walk. The one who looks us square in the eye when we try and cop out and say "but I can't" and says "I already did!"

New Worship?

Anyone who knows me will know I love this band. I have loved them even more over the past couple of years.
Over a number of posts I would like to put forward an idea that may not sit well with some. I would like to review a number of songs, by this band and others, and see how they blend, (in my mind anyway) with the drive, the groan, the desire for things like justice, siding with the oppressed, resisting the oppressor, uplifting the downtrodden, peace and hope that I believe Jesus intended in the story his life told.
Along with this I would like to place these songs into the arena as worship songs. Songs that may not immediately or comfortably fit the conventional idea of worship songs as seen in church today but fit other criteria that were present in Jesus' life. Criteria that I believe have been sorely overlooked throughout the history of what we have come to know as Christianity.
As a precursor I would point to some of the attributes of Jesus' life that tend to be ignored or played down in order to keep the 'Western' image of conservative Christianity.

1. He was born a fugitive on the run. A king with an army behind him wanted His blood in the earliest days of His childhood.

2. During his most formative years, those spent teaching and expressing the Kingdom of God, he spent homeless.

3. He was hated by those in authority because his ideas threatened the very fabric of that authority. Some of His ideas taken literally would turn all forms of governance and domination on their head.

4. His teachings of the Kingdom of God and their ramifications are some of the most dangerous and subversive ideas put to print.

5. In some of his teachings he purposely placed himself in the shoes of the downtrodden, the lowly, the poor and those in prison to expressly have his followers treat them with love and respect.

6. His one act of violence was against his own people in a literal overturning of those with money and power.

7. His death was symbolic of the removal of power structures and ideas expressed on earth and their replacement by the subversive ideas of the Kingdom of God. A dangerous story told and retold by the ritual of communion.

With these ideas in mind I would like to portray these songs as anthems that provoke. Songs that force us to think and struggle with the world around us. Songs that move us out of apathy to engage injustice, poverty, violence and remind us of the downtrodden.

So let our first song in this series rip!

The song is called "Wake Up" by the band Rage Against The Machine.
Some may fondly remember it as the parting anthem of the movie The Matrix (a movie that deserves a post of it's own).
Just a few words about the music: It's hard edged guitar is a really driving and groaning sound. Good for getting that @rse of a pew! This song also has a wailing guitar at the beginning and end. It's kind of like a siren alerting one out of a stupor, an affect Rage use in a number of their songs.

Here's some selected lyrics:

C'mon!
Standing with the fury that they had in 66

Fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy,

Movements, come and movements go

the puppets, the police, the judges, the feds

20 20 visions and murals with metaphors

They gave the power to the have nots
and then came the shot

Whado I Whado I have to do to wake up
to break the culture up, to break the structure up

I think I heard a shot!
Wake Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How long not long
'cause what you reap is what you sow!

Of course this song is using US politics in the 60's as a driver pointing out names like King and Malcolm X and implicating the US Government and FBI but on a deeper level I believe it speaks against any authority using oppression. Telling those that sit idly by in a silent majority that just sitting there is an act of acceptance. In our world that often means blindly consuming or hopelessly believing that injustice cannot be faced or addressed due to an overwhelming status quo.
I believe this song is a driver to get us motivated and out of that pessimistic mentality.
Let's listen and WAKE UP!