Tenderness
I promised my selections for God's iPod - an evening event at the New Forms Cafe at Greenbelt, which was kind of twist on desert island discs. Choosing for God's iPod, I thought, was quite a different proposition from choosing MY desert island discs. What songs do I think God might find representative of his thoughts on music, spirituality and life? What songs would I like to recommend to God? WHat might the music of heaven sound like? What might the music of heaven-on-earth sound like?
Paul Simon is outstanding among musicians in his generation; from decade to decade he has developed his writing, his own style being constantly reinvented as he interacted with diffferent kinds of music while always producing his own unmistakeable sound. One of his landmark albums (IMHO) was There Goes Rhymin' Simon. But which track to choose?
Were I in the fantasy situation of supplying advice to God on what to download onto an iPod, I would first recommend that with an album such as this one the whole album should be taken, in order, and played as an album rather than rearranging individual tracks. A really good album (as opposed to a an album that is merely couple of hits padded out with a lot of filler) is an act of composition in itself, and the placing of one song next to another is deliberate and worth preserving. A Greatest Hits is a commercial, not an artistic concern, and to use an iPod merely to collect isolated tracks is like selling out to listening to nothing but Greatest Hits.
That said, one of the songs on Rhymin' Simon might have a particular appeal to God at the moment. The Anglican Church has been tearing herself to shreds over the last few years over women priests, gay bishops and one or two other issues. The debates themselves are debates that need to be had; the issues are not irrelevant or without their complexzities. But the mode of the debates as they have happened has been a matter of distress to the majority of those within the Church.
"By this shall the world know that you are my followers," said Jesus, "that you LOVE one another." Not that you agree with one another. God doesn't call us to agree on everything, and he never forbids a good argument. But love one another? That's not what we've been doing lately, not by a long chalk.
"Right and wrong," sings Paul Simon, "oh, right and wrong, they never helped us get along. You don't have to lie to me, just give me some tenderness beneath your honesty."
There's a Jewish proverb that says "To sing is to pray twice". The impact and poignancy of Simon's words is at least doubled if you hear him sing it.
"To sing is to pray twice." I like that a lot! I think that idea will stick with me. Thanks.
Posted by: Adam | 05/09/2006 at 01:55