Simple Journey

I want to know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life... --Mike Donehey, 10th Ave. N.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Play That Song!

I recently had a problem with the radio/cd player I use in the kitchen. I’ve enjoyed having this device, as it makes work seem like play at times. When I am in the worst mood for cleaning, but it must needs be done, I simply plop in one of my favorite cd’s and voila! No more mood and a clean kitchen.

But the other day as I listened to one of my favorite cd’s my daughter had created for Mother’s Day last year, I encountered a slight problem: the machine skipped all through one of my favorite songs. As usual I went over and pressed the “Forward” key ever so slightly, hoping to jar it to its senses as I’ve done so often before. No response. Then I simply skipped to the next song, but nothing happened. All sound stopped, and when I looked to see where the cd was stuck, the message in the window was merely a cryptic, “Er”. This told me it was hopeless. Still, though, I proceeded to attempt a resuscitation, pressing “Forward” over and over, turning the machine off and on, even trying another cd. Eventually I attempted to “re-boot” the contraption, as I’d done once before with good results: I unplugged it, waited a few seconds, then plugged it back in and turned it on. No go. The little blue relative of Robin Williams’ electronic girl-friend in Flubber refused to acknowledge my Herculean efforts. All I could ever get out of it after that was a silent “Er”.

Unless I use the radio. The radio works fine. I have it on at this moment, to the classical station, 89.9 FM. That’s great. Beautiful guitar music playing right now, lovely and meditative, perfect for writing. I do have problems, though, when trying to tune in certain other stations: 95.9, 107.9. They simply don’t show up. I get them fine in the car, but never in the house. Don’t know why car radios are so wonderful while stationary ones in the house are for the birds. Oh well. I bought a new model for the kitchen, but it still doesn’t get those stations. Rather annoying. At least now I can see if I’m in the right place on the dial, though, as it’s digital. The old one creaks and groans as I attempt to find the stations I love and know are out there, just beyond my window but refusing to play in the house. So I use this radio only up here, doing specific tasks that I do once a day, if that. I simply can’t count on that little device anymore, since it’s connections have gotten rather undone, gone haywire, been tuned into the wrong source, or something.

I mused this morning that what we do does not matter an iota in heaven, but whom we let ourselves be guided by does. God wants us to be so connected to Him that His song will keep playing in our lives, even when we hit a snag and He has to push “Forward” for a split second to get us unstuck. As long as we don’t get sucked into the mindset where all we can see is the snag, and so His pushing “Forward” gets Him nothing but “Er” on our screen, and a silence from us that is nothing like the pleasing song He created us to play.

Thank God though, we are not simply mechanical, electronic machines! My old CD player will never know the joy of playing God’s songs again, and so I have relegated it to a place upstairs, where I will only use it for the radio when I’m paying the bills or writing on the computer. I have bought a new one to replace it, a better one, supposedly.

Does God replace us? Does He relegate us to a corner and bring out a new model? Does He reduce His expectations of us to far less than they were before because we don’t measure up? Does He stop delighting in us when we stop listening to Him well enough to sing His song? Does He leave us in a closet somewhere, or a corner of the house He uses only occasionally, so He won’t be as disappointed in us as often?

Does He keep on pushing the “On” switch, though, sending the “juice” of His power through us, giving us life daily so we can sing whatever song comes out of the radio? Yes, He does. Even when the songs we tune to are not His; even when we choose to tune our dial to the songs of the Hopenots1, and even of Satan himself. The Lord our God, the King of Heaven, still gives us breath to sing, even those songs. He does not unplug us. He gives and gives and gives us life.

But He goes downstairs and plugs in a new radio/cd player in the kitchen – where He spends most of His time, where the family of God congregates, and His song is sung most beautifully by many voices, led by the one who is more tuned in to Him.

Fascinating, this parallel I’m drawing. Keep reading, if you will. Please.

Sometimes He comes to the corner, because He has to pay His bills and he likes to dream new things.2 But He dreams better in the living room, where He has a full stereo complete with nice, hefty speakers and a very nice, 3-CD changer and radio, and all His CD’s – AND: a piano, 2 keyboards, drum, saxophone, guitar, clarinet, 2 violins, 3 song flutes, a recorder, ocarina, 3 harmonicas, and one huge amplifier. (Did I miss anything , kids?) He sits in the Holy recliner and gazes out at His creation, and dreams up new ones. He writes new songs and imagines new quilts that bring new people together in new ways to tell a new story to yet more new people. This is His favorite CD player. It never stops singing His song. Even when faulty CD’s are placed in it, it remains connected to Him so well that He changes the CD and it goes right on playing. Not like that one that was just relegated to the remote corner of the house, unable to pick up even all four of His stations available here.

He climbs the stairs, though, everyday, to spend time with that old, decrepit radio/cd player. He never gives up on it entirely. He still does find it useful for at least one song or two, while He wrestles with bills and knotty word problems. He does not cast it entirely away.

“A bruised reed He will not break,
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not be disheartened or crushed,
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

Thus says God the Lord,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and its offspring,
Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk in it,
“I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,
And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon,
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
I am the Lord, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I declare them to you.” Is. 42:3-9

Wow. Let’s look at that again. God finds us faulty and does what? Wait, I’m not sure I heard that right. Instead of simply relegating us to the corner, where He visits us once a day if that, He says He’s going to make us “a covenant to the people” and “a light to the nations…”. Really? But I have NO qualifications for this kind of work, really. I mean, Lord, You just saw how I messed up that last song. Really, I make all the wrong choices daily, You know that! How can You think I’d be any good at Your work?

But His Word through His radio/cd player called Isaiah continues: “…to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”

Really? Me??

Yes, that’s what He seems to be saying to us, His bruised reeds. We might be so bruised we can’t stand up. We might be so dim we can’t even find our way out our own door. But He says He has work for us, a Song He wants us to play loud and clear. We might find it unbelievable, knowing ourselves so well as we think we do. We might be condemning ourselves for our mistakes, even more than He does. We might do the same for fellow travelers in this world, co-workers or underlings. “You messed up, buddy, so out you go! You’re replaceable!” Not so our DJ in the divine radio station. He sends us a Song and He says “Play it for Me!” He asks only that and nothing less than that. AND He makes us able. Yes He does!

“I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another….” He chooses us bruised, dim ones because it is so obvious that we are not broadcasting our own songs on our own power. There is no way, if His Song reaches those it’s intended to reach, they can see it as coming from me! All who know me know how MY powers have waned, know how MY dial is tuned wrong, know MY songs are weak, know how I am unable to live up to the calling He gave me. If anyone hears His Song now, it’s not because of me, praise His name!

He sees me here, defeated, worn out, spent on things He never called me to do, and He says, “Tune in: I have a job for you. You’re done with all that other stuff, now try something new.”

“Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I declare them to you.”

I have no idea of the things He is planning. I do have an inkling as to what number He wants me to dial to on His radio, but what He will accomplish through me I have no idea. I like it that way. When I try to plan out each move, each step on the way, I stumble and fall into the creek. I find the wrong station, end up broadcasting the wrong songs. So I’m going to let Him send the Songs, and when I hear them I’ll just sing along until I learn the tune by heart, to sing over to myself when I feel lost in the night’s darkness.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it.
You islands and those who dwell on them.
Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The settlements where Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord,
And declare His praise in the coastlands. Is. 42:10-12

The Lord is sending good news through us. His great desire is for all people to know He loves them and is on His way with justice and mercy. He is coming to rescue the bruised reeds and dim wicks like me! He is coming to make the blind see, to free the prisoners from whatever dark prisons they’ve found themselves in by whatever means they got there! He gives a new Song, and He bids us play it out loud.

And we don’t have to worry that we can’t do it, because we’re not strong or bright, we’re “neither wise, nor strong, nor good, we’ll do the best we can”.3 We don’t have to stand on our own!! Contrary to the teachings of our capitalistic American society, we don’t have to go it alone!

“I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,
And I will appoint you…”

That’s Good News, folks. That’s something to turn up your volume for!

Simply playing His Song,

Patty

1. See Max Lucado’s The Song of the King
2. Bear with me here: Since we are created in the image of God, I love to imagine God doing what I do, in a God kind of way.
3. A line in “Make Our Garden Grow” from the opera Candide by Bernstein