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Thursday, May 05, 2005
"You've really got to listen to this tape," Keith said, handing over the plastic case that had a photograph of a baby underwater chasing a dollar bill on it.
"Is it some really heavy stuff?" I replied. Keith was into heavy-metal music and I figured that would be the nature of the music he was handing over.
(side note for my younger readers: "cassette tapes" are the vehicle used to listen to music that came between the vinyl album and the digital compact disc)
"Not so much. It's different. It rocks, but it's quiet, too. I've never heard anything like it, so you really have to listen to it...it's hard to explain." Keith took his music very seriously.
Since I've always used the music scene to strike up conversations with teenagers this wasn't an abnormal occurrence, and I told him I'd give a listen...and I put it in the tape deck (side note for my younger readers: "tape deck" is what we called our stereos in our cars) on the way home.
It was different.
It did rock.
It was quiet, too.
I hadn't heard anything like it.
It is hard to explain.
It was the first time I ever heard music that people would later call "grunge."
It had very heavy guitars and pounding drums. There were screaming and sometimes indecipherable lyrics involved. There was enough energy in it that you could understand why people in clubs would pogo to it.
Then it would get hauntingly quiet. There was almost whispering of the lyrics. There was no "bridge" in the song to get you from the verse to the chorus like all pop songs are "supposed" to have. New songs could just be "verse-chorus-verse" instead of "verse-bridge-chorus-repeat verse"...the drop-out kids from the Pacific Northwest invented a new way of writing songs.
I've been intrigued by it ever since I heard it, too. It seems to be just the thing to communicate deep emotions. Grunge could let you be angry. Grunge could let you sing a love song. Grunge could laugh. Grunge covered it all and the new format was perfect.
You could sing about something deeply emotional. Guitars and drums wide-open.
And then you'd stop and pause and reflect on what you just heard.
Don't believe me? Think about the most famous grunge song ever, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. The two strings being plucked so you could hear the words, the screaming anarchistic chorus, and then it goes back to two strings being plucked, echoed and a low-bass line. When it slows back down, you get reflective.
And that's what leads me to Psalm 46.
The last few days we've seen an example of Jesus who felt the need to get away from it all and find a place to think. Then we looked at why nature is such an effective withdrawal place because God reveals Himself through His creation...and today, I want to talk about what to reflect on.
Psalm 46 begins by identifying the writers, the sons of Korah. It is set to Alamoth, which literally means "maidens" but likely refers to those who sing what we call soprano.
And then the song begins:
God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though it's waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
It's a psalm about trust...and this is the first thing we should begin to think about when we get away from it all.
God is our refuge. The place we can go when the storms are all around us.
God is our strength. When we are weak, we can draw on Him.
God is a help in times of trouble. He's right there, even when things aren't going so well for us.
And isn't that why we tried to "get away from it all" to begin with? We should start by focusing on traits that God is there, He is not silent, and He works whether we "feel" like He's there or not.
Even though the earth would fall into total upheaval there is no need to panic or worry. Ultimately God is in charge.
In reality, in historical context, the Israelites had a lot to worry about. The invading armies were camped outside the city of Jerusalem, laying seige. War, and military occupation, were at hand. Their society was about to flip upside-down. Putting this reality in eternal terms would help them deal with this harsh reality.
And then we get another word: Selah. A pause. An interlude.
A time to think about those things and reflect about how God is a refuge. How He is your strength. When the "whatever happens" things in life "happen" it's good to KNOW the He is there in the midst of our trouble.
(and a little side note: you can arrange the words to this Psalm and make them fit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the chorus. Think like this:
God's my refuge
and He's my strength
A present help in
times of trou-ble
whatever happens
is going to happen
God's my refuge
and He's my strength.
Hey--that's where the "selah" goes and then you hear the two string notes...okay--enough silliness)
Anyway, that's the first thing you need to think about when you get away from it all. Focus on the reality that God is your shelter, strength and stability. How have you seen God get you through evaluating that situation through those characteristics?
Brent 4:43 AM
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