Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
On Thanksgiving Monday I went for a run in the beautiful Parkland area of Central Alberta. The sky was large and clear as I ran down a gravel road past rolling hills and ponds that teemed with life. A small non-descript water-bird caught my eye as I ran and I thought of this passage in the Gospel of Matthew: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” All around me there was evidence of men and women reaping the grain that had been sown in the spring. Combines hummed in the distance; grain was being loaded into bins as farmers raced to beat the winter weather. There was a sense of urgency in the air. Yet, the small duck swam placidly in the slough and only briefly noticed my form running past. She was content in this puddle; and had all she needed.
For a moment I was jealous of this bird; for her life seemed so peaceful and easy. She practically lived in her own salad-bowl with abundant plant and insect life available in the pond. Then I thought of the rest of the passage: “Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew reminds us that God has a special plan for humans on this earth. We are more important to Him than the birds of the air. He cares so much about us that He has given us the task of sowing and reaping. We know the adage: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” God doesn’t simply provide us with fish, He is teaching us to fish.
God knows that we would rather be given an abundance of food and the pleasures of life; but He has a better plan for us. He is building our souls and preparing us for a grateful life in a new heaven and a new earth where one day He will reign and we will rejoice in His will for our lives.
On the Tuesday following my run, the stock-market took a dive in North America and commentators were asked for explanations and advice. Another form of urgency was in the air. Experts asked each other about their “worry-meter,” seeking to land on an appropriate level of concern for the markets. God’s word goes on to say, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” The obvious answer is “no!” In fact, evidence suggests that worry is much more likely to shorten your life! God tells us, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.” The needle of our “worry-meter” is to be buried at zero. How? By trusting that we are valuable in God’s sight. By trusting in His plan for the world. By trusting in His training for a new earth beyond this one. God loves little ducks but He does not train their souls. He is training our souls for a greater life.
Give Thanks – He is Worthy
I am glad to know the God who deserves our thanks. He is the one who has given us the gifts we have in this life. It is to Him that we respond.
Rev. 4:11 ‘You are worthy, O Lord our God,to receive glory and honor and power.For you created everything,and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.’
There is a common misconception about copyright law. It is often said that one song-writer can sample three bars or less and not infringe the other song-writer’s copyright; but this is not the case. As Alan Korn, an expert in copyright litigation says,
“in determining whether one song infringes on another, it is common for courts to look to whether the ‘heart’ of the song was taken. The heart of a song may be a memorable melody, or an identifiable 2-chord guitar riff or just a few words taken from the chorus. As a result, there is NO truth to the rumor that sampling less than 4 bars is OK.”1
The courts may also rule that infringement has occurred without proving that the infringing writer had access to the original song.
“One of the more famous U.S. music infringement cases involved ex-Beatle George Harrison, who was found by a jury to have ‘unconsciously’ copied the . . . composition ‘He’s So Fine’ in his 1971 hit ‘My Sweet Lord.'”2
Take a listen to the two songs involved in this famous lawsuit. “My Sweet Lord” was deemed to be “strikingly similar” to “He’s So Fine.” What do you think? How similar are the two songs? All of this has become suddenly very interesting to a little known band named “Key of Zed” as we consider how similar our song is to “Angel in Blue Jeans?”
Home
(Lyrics and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields – SOCAN 2013)
Written March 16, 2013
Published on Thirst Website (http://hungerandthirst4.blogspot.ca/2013/04/home.html) on April 13, 2013.
Published on ReverbNation, Key of Zed (http://www.reverbnation.com/keyofzed) on April 13, 2013.
Performed at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster on June 3, 2013.
Performed at the Rusty Gull in North Vancouver on June 20, 2013.
Angel in Blue Jeans
(Lyrics and Music © 2014 Sunken Forest (ASCAP)/EMI April Music Inc. (ASCAP) Stellar Songs Ltd. and EMI Publishing UK Ltd. (PRS). Written by Pat Monahan, Espen Lind, and Amund Bjorkland.)
1 http://www.alankorn.com/articles/copyright_infringe.html
2 http://www.alankorn.com/articles/copyright_infringe.html
My friend and fellow song-writer, Mike Charko, was in a store the other day when a song came over the system. He heard the melody of the hook and thought to himself, “That sounds a lot like one of our songs!” He didn’t hear the name of the band and so after a bit of searching he realized that it was the new single from the band Train: “Angel in Blue Jeans.” The hook of their song matches eight bars/ten notes in the heart of our song: “Home.”
On the one hand, it is kind of flattering that we (Key of Zed) came up with a melody in 2013 that the authors of “Angel in Blue Jeans” came up with in 2014 and now it is playing on the radio. On the other hand, it kind of feels like copyright infringement. I will post links to both songs and let you be the judge. How similar are these two melodies? Do we have a case for conscious or unconscious copyright infringement? Should we contact the band? Should we just have fun knowing that our song is a lot like their big hit?
Home
(Lyrics and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields – SOCAN 2013)
Written March 16, 2013
Published on Thirst Website (https://www.keithshields.ca/2013/04/home.html) on April 13, 2013.
Published on ReverbNation, Key of Zed (http://www.reverbnation.com/keyofzed) on April 13, 2013.
Performed at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster on June 3, 2013.
Performed at the Rusty Gull in North Vancouver on June 20, 2013.
Home
Home
Home
Home
Follow this lane to the clothes on the line
The garden, the trees, and the hills that we’d walk
The buzzing of summer, the ponds, and the hay
Blossom of thistle, and sweet evening stalks
Home
Home
Home
Home
This lonely shore she is calling me
Home
Home
Home
Home
Turn up this way ’til I see your sweet face
Gardening gloves and your hair out of place
A smile, a kiss, I’m lost in your arms
Right here with you I have built this space.
Home
Home
Home
Home
(Click on thumbnail image for a larger picture.)
Two views on availabilty:
“Why on God’s green Earth would you be on Twitter? Because first of all, the worst thing you can do is make yourself more available, right?”1 —George Clooney speaking to Esquire
“Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need.”2 Gillian Anderson
These opinions of George Clooney and Gillian Anderson are not necessarily in conflict with each other; but perhaps they show a difference in their personality types.
1 http://www.esquire.com/features/george-clooney-interview-1213-3
2 http://www.gilliananderson.ws/charities/
Words and Music by Sandra McCracken; from the album “In Feast or Fallow”
(Listen while you read)
I confess the things I am afraid of: thorns and danger just around the bend
I pray for tongues of fire and bands of angels to come and circle ’round me like a fence
I lift my eyes to the hills, where comes my help?
I lift my hands–empty hands–I can’t help myself
I can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself
My enemies surround me like an army–within, without, the battle’s raging on
I pray the Spirit will be strong and mighty for courage through the night until the dawn
I lift my eyes to the hills, where comes my help?
I lift my hands–empty hands–I can’t help myself
I can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Ooooh, oh oh Oh, Oh Oh
Oh trust the Lord–my soul and all that is in me–oh trust the light to show your darkest parts
With wounds of truth and love, a friend who has known me; a fool would keep his secrets in his heart
I lift my eyes to the hills; here comes my help
I lift my hands–empty hands–I can’t help myself
I can’t help myself, can’t help myself
Can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself; I can’t help myself
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh
Oh, oh oh Oh, Oh, Oh Oh
To my ear, this song seems to be Sandra McCracken’s targum on Psalm 121:1, 2.
Psalm 121:1-2
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
A targum (see the definition here) continued.
Psalm 121:2.
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
The Lord, who has the resources
The Lord, who is just
The Lord, who has the power
The Lord, who has the plan
The Lord, who has shown His love
The Lord, who knows me better than I know myself
The Lord, who will walk with me
The Maker of heaven and earth
The Maker of angels and humans
The Maker of spirits and bodies
The Maker of super novas and volcanic moons
The Maker of hurricanes and earthquakes
The Maker of jungles and tundra
The Maker of wombs and heartbeats
The Maker of me.
In the first century AD Jewish Rabbis would give spoken explanations and expansions of the Jewish scriptures known as targumim (singular: “targum“).1 A targum was given in the common language of the day because the Hebrew language was in decline and the people needed an explanation of material that they could no longer understand. There are many today who have lost the ability to understand spiritual texts and biblical language. Perhaps it is time to revisit the targum. I offer here a targum on Psalm 121:1.
Psalm 121: 1,2 New International Version (NIV)
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
I lift my eyes up
I lift my eyes up from my iPad
I lift my eyes up from my collusion with consumerism
I lift my eyes up from the sand where I have buried my head
I lift my eyes up from my Canadian perspective on the world
I lift my eyes up from my rational view of the universe that leaves no room for the spiritual
I lift my eyes up from my isolation from those around me
I lift my eyes up from myself
I lift my eyes up to the mountains
I lift my eyes up to the sunrise
I lift my eyes up to planets that keep their place in the solar system
I lift my eyes up to galaxies that speed through space
I lift my eyes up to galaxy clusters and black holes
I lift my eyes up to gravity and tides
I lift my eyes up to atoms and quarks and Higgs Boson particles
I lift my eyes up to creation
Where does my help come from?
Does my help come from the economy?
Does my help come from the government?
Does my help come from the military?
Does my help come from my fists?
Does my help come from my guns?
Does my help come from my intelligence?
Does my help come from my retirement plan?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targum
Regardless of today’s outcome, I am very proud to have Scottish and English ancestors when I see how non-violent the campaign for independence has been. As Nahlah Ayed, a reporter for CBC says,
. . . this isn’t Braveheart. “There hasn’t been so much as a bloody nose in the modern fight,” says Luke Skipper, a polite though savvy backroom adviser — from Canada, no less — who works for the pro-independence Scottish National Party. Some of its supporters compare their movement to a “peaceful revolution.” “I think there’s something, not necessarily cold-blooded about the Scottish mentality, but it’s very ‘sit back, weigh it up, keep it close to your chest’,” says Skipper.1
The Scottish and English people could be a model for other countries like Ukraine, Syria, and even Canada and Quebec as they each debate independence issues. Independence does not need to be bought with blood; nor does the language of debate need to be malicious. We can say “Yes Please” and “No Thanks.” So I say to all living in Scotland and the UK: “Slainte mhor agus a h-uile beannachd duibh; Good health and every good blessing to you!”2
1 http://www.cbc.ca/news/love-bombing-the-scots-the-world-s-politest-independence-fight-1.2746526
2 http://www.faithandworship.com/Celtic_Blessings_and_Prayers.htm#ixzz3DfNjWAev
Part of what attracts me to the writing of C.S. Lewis is the transparency with which he writes. He was a person of immense intellect, but also, immense emotion. He shared these emotions in his writings and prompted his readers to experience similar sentiments. His awe inspiring book, Til We Have Faces, was published in 1956. Towards the end of the book we read these words.
“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.”
Lewis is expressing his own emotions through the longings of a character he has created for the story. He willingly shares his journey of discovery and the longing that is there in his soul. Perhaps this is what separates the poet from the ordinary person: a willingness to be vulnerable and express emotions, longings, joys, and embarrassments in their own words. In these particular words, Lewis shares that all of his life has been a quest for home and that he will never be truly home until he has left the place that has substituted for home.
I can relate that I have sensed such emotions as well. I have longed for something more than the experiences of this earth. I have recognized that there must be more. I suspect that this might be true for many others even if the sensation has not yet risen to the surface. We long for another place; a better place; a far away country. See if Lewis’ emotions stir similar emotions in you. Perhaps today is the day to set your eyes upon the far away country, to set your eyes upon hope.