Sunday Morning Coming Down
Have you ever been struck by a song that left you wondering...well, just wondering. This last Sunday I turned on the radio on my way to church to hear this:
Sunday Morning Coming Down is probably one of the most angst-ridden songs ever written. It's a deep song and is worthy of analysis. These lyrics aren't words just casually written; these are the examinations of a man's soul. The song expresses this guys feelings of loss and estrangement: The smell of frying chicken reminds him of something he has lost, the distant bells fading brings back broken and failed dreams of yesterday, and the whole Sunday morning experience weighs on him with crushing loneliness.
Some might look at this song as an example of 'backsliding' or how sinful living can drive us from Church and separate us from God. After all, the guy had been puffing on heaters and playing music the night before, and the headache he was suffering was probably from over consumption of adult beverages. All symptoms of sinful living, heh?
Anyway, as the song played, I felt challenged by God: "What would you say to this man?"
The temptation for the classic American Church goer is to say something like, "He needs to repent!" or, "He needs to get his backside back into Church!" Some would say that that he needs to quit smoking, quit drinking, do his laundry, stay out of bars, give up the ungodly music he was undoubtedly playing, and then drag his carcass before God and man and beg for forgiveness. Some would avoid him like he was a leper.
Some would give him the old, "Jesus loves you" and then leave it at that.
At various times in my Christian walk, I would have answered with any of the above.
But these are the easy things to say. These are stock items that put the entire change process squarely in the guy's own hands. If he could change, don't you think he would? Do you think he likes feeling lonely, lost, and hopeless? Having been there, I can assure you he doesn't. And really, if we could do it ourselves, then Jesus died for nothing.
But even more importantly, these stock phrases insulate us from really getting involved with this guy.
After a couple days of thinking about what I would say, I would hope that if I were to meet this guy, that I would say something like, "Do you want to join me for lunch?"
The thing is, we all know people like the guy in the song. I admit that in the past, I have gone through great lengths to insulate myself from people who didn't hold the same values I hold. But as I dive deeper into service and commitment to Christ, I can't avoid people anymore. I have to make Christ known. I need to engage.
See, I'm being challenged by the way I do church. Not the Sunday morning practice, but how I live my faith, how I walk the walk. I want to really live what I read in the Bible. I can't do that if I don't really enter into peoples lives and in turn, allow them to enter into mine.
I have long believed that anything God does in my life and in the lives of other believers is to effect/touch the life of a unbeliever. Even when I am built up or blessed in some way, an unbeliever is some how touched and pointed towards Jesus.
Kind of reminds me of another song:
This little light of mine
I'm going to let it shine
Oh, this little light of mine
I'm going to let it shine...
I pray my light can shine brightly.
Sunday Morning Coming Down is probably one of the most angst-ridden songs ever written. It's a deep song and is worthy of analysis. These lyrics aren't words just casually written; these are the examinations of a man's soul. The song expresses this guys feelings of loss and estrangement: The smell of frying chicken reminds him of something he has lost, the distant bells fading brings back broken and failed dreams of yesterday, and the whole Sunday morning experience weighs on him with crushing loneliness.
Some might look at this song as an example of 'backsliding' or how sinful living can drive us from Church and separate us from God. After all, the guy had been puffing on heaters and playing music the night before, and the headache he was suffering was probably from over consumption of adult beverages. All symptoms of sinful living, heh?
Anyway, as the song played, I felt challenged by God: "What would you say to this man?"
The temptation for the classic American Church goer is to say something like, "He needs to repent!" or, "He needs to get his backside back into Church!" Some would say that that he needs to quit smoking, quit drinking, do his laundry, stay out of bars, give up the ungodly music he was undoubtedly playing, and then drag his carcass before God and man and beg for forgiveness. Some would avoid him like he was a leper.
Some would give him the old, "Jesus loves you" and then leave it at that.
At various times in my Christian walk, I would have answered with any of the above.
But these are the easy things to say. These are stock items that put the entire change process squarely in the guy's own hands. If he could change, don't you think he would? Do you think he likes feeling lonely, lost, and hopeless? Having been there, I can assure you he doesn't. And really, if we could do it ourselves, then Jesus died for nothing.
But even more importantly, these stock phrases insulate us from really getting involved with this guy.
After a couple days of thinking about what I would say, I would hope that if I were to meet this guy, that I would say something like, "Do you want to join me for lunch?"
The thing is, we all know people like the guy in the song. I admit that in the past, I have gone through great lengths to insulate myself from people who didn't hold the same values I hold. But as I dive deeper into service and commitment to Christ, I can't avoid people anymore. I have to make Christ known. I need to engage.
See, I'm being challenged by the way I do church. Not the Sunday morning practice, but how I live my faith, how I walk the walk. I want to really live what I read in the Bible. I can't do that if I don't really enter into peoples lives and in turn, allow them to enter into mine.
I have long believed that anything God does in my life and in the lives of other believers is to effect/touch the life of a unbeliever. Even when I am built up or blessed in some way, an unbeliever is some how touched and pointed towards Jesus.
Kind of reminds me of another song:
I'm going to let it shine
Oh, this little light of mine
I'm going to let it shine...
I pray my light can shine brightly.
Posted by Surly Dave on
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Thanks--
Steve Marden
Those lyrics very clearly illustrate the human condition as a result of the Garden of Eden. I think we all could right that song; maybe each of us would have different sins (laziness, gluttony, anger toward someone, wishing we were home in bed, noticing someone's bad outfit or haircut, etc), but we are all the same. All sin is the same in God's eyes, so scripture tells us.
The purpose of the law is for the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins and those lyrics clearly indicate that the singer knows his guilt. The person singing those songs hopefully heard the Gospel sung by those little children in Sunday School; unfortunately, many Sunday School programs (and churches) focus on law songs and not gospel songs. Both are necessary to tell the full story. We will never shine our little lights well enough, those we should keep trying. We can't ever be good enough Christians for God; our only redemption is that Jesus already died for all our sins and freed us from hell.
The best any of us can do is proclaim the good news to our neighbors and live the rest of our time at the cross in gratefulness that Jesus paid the price for our Sunday morning sins (and all the rest).
Cool song. Thanks for sharing!