I was thinking this morning about doing a sermon series on Finding God in the Top 40, but I soon came to the realization that it might not really resonate with my current congregation [they are a decidedly older group], but I still like the idea, so I think that I am going to be doing several blogs in the coming weeks/months that focus on popular music or movies and where I see God speaking through them. Now, at the start for a small part of my reading public [and you know who you are if you're reading this] I would like to lay aside any fears that I am on my way to becoming the third prophet of the apocalypse, I feel the second one does just fine in his insanity, plus you can add in the fact that I don't believe in the apocalypse, at least not in popular definitions of such a thing.
Now, onto what I do want to say...
The Unknown God
There's a place in Acts [chapter 17] where Paul encounters a group of people in Athens and talks to them about an altar they have that is to an 'unknown god,' and Paul proceeds to tell them about this unknown god, you see, Paul believed that God was everywhere, sometimes revealing himself in surprising ways, just waiting for someone to come along and make sense of it all. While I don't think that I am that person to make sense of it all, I do agree with the base belief that God is all around. It's kinda like the beginning monologue in the movie Love Actually
'Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.'
I am a firm believer that God is love, so that if love actually is all around, which I feel it is, than in the same way God is all around as well. If that is true than the question is, 'where do I see God today?'
Where I see (hear) God today
As I said I first started this line of thinking when thinking about the topic 'Finding God in the Top 40,' so for me, it most recently all started with a song on the radio. The song was by a dance music group Swedish House Mafia. The first thing I should probably say is that I am usually not a 'dance' type of guy, I don't have much rhythm, in fact Mary usually laughs at me when I "dance," to be completely honest is usually only involves some arm shakes and a slight sway from side to side. [go ahead and laugh, get it out of your system, so we can move on] N-E-Way, so Swedish House Mafia, seems to mainly be a remix and random singer over dance beat group, but the song on the radio caught my ear. The song is titled 'Don't You Worry Child,' and the chorus goes a little something like
Up on the hill across the blue lake,
that's where I had my first heart break
I still remember how it all changed
my father said
Don't you worry, don't you worry child
See heaven's got a plan for you
Don't you worry, don't you worry now
Yeah!
Right away, I am sure you can tell where I am going with this song, I am not the guy that looks for hidden meaning in things, I am the guy who watches the t.v. show or movie and rides along while the characters find the answers, only when it is painfully obvious do I allow myself to figure out the answer before Castle and Beckett or Shawn and Gus or Sherlock and Watson do for themselves. So, where do I find God in this song, 'don't you worry child, see heaven's got a plan for you.' My feeling is that the Swedish House Mafia does not plan on making grand theological statements in their songs, but they did none-the-less.
As a pastor I find one the most difficult things to convince people of [and to live myself if I'm honest] is that we do not need to worry so much about life. The truth of the matter is that we allow ourselves to become cuffed by our worry, to be imprisoned in our doubts, to be beaten down by our fears. Jesus tells us that we do not need to be people of worry, because God clothes the flowers and feeds the birds of the air, and God loves us so much more, but we still find it so hard to actually follow through on that suggestion/command.
I think that part of the issue is that we don't trust God as much as we think we do, in part because I think we often doubt that in fact heaven does have a plan for us. Now, when I speak of a plan, I am not talking about a step by step laid out road map for our lives. What I am talking about is a general plan that leads to a fuller life of gratefulness, confession, honesty, and love. God is not looking to put us in the corner, nor make us jump through the right amount of hoops in order to have peace and joy. God is looking for a people who will put their trust in God and who will look around and see other people who God also longs to personally love.
As I said, I am as much in need of releasing my worry as the next person, more on some days. I worry about paying bills, about making sure we do right by Henry, about next weeks sermon, about having enough gas, and food, and clothes, and music, and movies, I worry about important things and to a larger extent occasionally to unimportant things. I need to let go of the worry, to let go of the doubts to let go of the fears, and I am pretty sure that you do as well. For us all I [the Swedish House Mafia] say, 'don't you worry, don't you worry child, see heaven's got a plan for you.'
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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