The struggle of writing on the go: forgetting to post.
You know what happens when you go to three musical in five
days while taking a couple worship classes? You start paying more attention to
lyrics.
Granted, the first musical performance of the week was the
opera… Hansel and Gretel sang in German, to be exact. Listening to music in a
foreign language that you haven’t studied in five years forces you to pay more
attention. There was a little screen in front of each person with a gist of
what the actors were singing, but judging from the random pockets of laughter
that burst out from a handful of people, you were missing something by not
knowing the language. I was able to enjoy some of those moments with my college
German knowledge, but the 12-year-old who went with me was lost. I didn’t
really think much of it at that time, but it was the first block for the week.
Three days later, it became #throwbacktuesday. Two bands I
listened to from middle school through my early college years put out new
albums and went on the “Looking For America Tour” together. I was pretty
excited to see Relient K again and Switchfoot for the first time, despite the
fact that my friends got seats in the balcony and I was heading to the cramped
and sweaty general admission floor on my own. (I did run into a friend in the
line who was also going to be alone on the floor, so it worked out.)
Not going to lie, I was more excited for Relient K than
Switchfoot. I like Switchfoot’s new single, “Live It Well” but I was never
super into their music before. On the other hand, I listened to Relient K all
the time in high school. I saw them once on Warped Tour almost a decade ago and
it’s still something I remember vividly.
But this time was different. Why? Because I’m different.
They only did a handful of songs from the olden days, but I
wasn’t bouncing around like the tightly-wound spring aimed straight for the
front edge of the pit that I generally turn into once I set foot on a concert
floor. Instead, I was l hanging in the back thinking about the words. The goofy
songs weren’t doing it this time. Instead it was lines like, “Now I’m sunny
with a high of 75 since You took my heavy heart and made it light,” and, ”This
one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption/ because I know
to live you must give your life away.” Just think on that for a second.
In between sets, I slipped into a crowd snaking their way to
the front and ended up in a pretty good spot. I’m not sure what I was
expecting, since I knew next to nothing of the new cd and they have 10 albums
so it’s not like the chances were great that they were going to play the random
assortment of songs I liked. But going into it pretty blind allowed me to pay
more attention to what they were singing out of that roboticness that comes out
of familiar music. Don’t even lie, you know the lyrics lose their meaning as
you hear a song over and over until you can belt them out without so much as a
thought about them.
John Foreman also spent some time talking about how their
bus broke down and they almost didn’t make it to the show. He called being on
that stage one of the most beautiful moments of his life because a miracle
happened to get them there on time. They performed an acoustic song not on
their set list because it described the moment. It’s called “Hey Hurricane” and
says “Hello hurricane/ You're not enough/ Hello hurricane/ You can't silence my
love/ I've got doors and windows/ Boarded up/ All your dead end fury is/ Not enough/ You can't silence my love, my love.”
That song was such a great reminder of where my strength and hope is, and that
nothing can cut me off from that.
John talked about a sing inspired by evacuating with his
family and only what fit in the car and how that moment triggered the
realization of what matters.
So many lines left a mark on me that night…. “Love alone is
worth the fight.” “Your hope is the anthem of my soul.” “Maybe redemption has
stories to tell/ maybe forgiveness is right where you fell/ Where can you run
to escape from yourself?” and “We sing these broken prayers where the light
shines through/ The wound is where the light shines through.”
I realized, I was hearing the heart behind the lyrics. My
friend, Dean’na, says that all the time when she doesn’t want to misunderstood:
“Hear my heart.” It became more than just words that pour out of your mouth
when you hear the melody. It was someone’s life, experiences, and heart.
That made it a powerful moment that I gushed about in
worship class the next day.
But the next day was also the final leg on my crazy week.
This time, it was Chance the Rapper with a girl I’d only met once before. I
only knew songs from his latest album, “Coloring Book,” which has some really
great God lyrics mixed in with profanity. Again, not sure what I was expecting
from a mainstream rap concert, but it sure wasn’t people smoking weed on the
floor. You could see the lighters glowing in the middle of circles, followed by
puffs of smoke drifting toward the ceiling. I’m insanely grateful that I got
balcony seats instead of going down the general admission.
Because the majority of people were inebriated in some way,
I don’t think they were able to absorb the weight of what Chance was doing.
Early on, he performed a song called “Blessings.” It’s one
of my favorites from him as it is. The screens around the stage featured a
graphic that made it look like there were rock walls. The second verse ends
with Chance rapping, “I'm feeling
shortness of breath, so Nico grab you a horn/ Hit Jericho with a buzzer beater
to end a quarter/ Watch brick and mortar fall like dripping water, ugh!”
At that moment, there was a rumble and the rock wall graphic crumbled and fell.
It was incredible. My jaw dropped all the way through the balcony to the floor.
I looked around and it was like no one had even noticed the spiritual undertone
and meaning. During another song, a puppet choir was singing “How great is our
God” while Chance faced away from the crowd and put his hands in the air. Once
again, no one noticed the moment.
Throughout the show, a Jack in the Box kept telling Chance,
“don’t forget your message, big fella.” Finally, at the end of the show, Chance
said he couldn’t let people leave without letting them know what his message
was. “Did you know, that your blessing, is not on an album? Did you know, that
your blessing, is not at a show? Did you know, that your blessing, is not a
piece of flesh? Are you ready for your blessing?”
It really made me sad to see how many people missed out on
those moments, but at least, maybe, a seed was planted through those lyrics and
the heart behind them. That’s a thought that weighs heavily on my heart as we
write psalms and songs this quarter at World Revival School of Ministry. I
guess we will see what happens.
