On the One Year Bible Blog today there is some discussion about music, Christian and secular.
It seems to me that the song matching today's story of the Israelites is Sara Groves' "Painting Pictures Of Egypt".
I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads were closed off to me
While my back was turned
I listen to a mix of contemporary Christian songs and secular stuff. Some favourites are Third Day, Rebecca St James, Delirious!, Jennifer Knapp, Matt Redman. U2 score very high for me. Not sure which side of the Christian/secular line you place them (I suppose such a line does exist?). They seem to be on both sides! Interesting quote from Bono of U2:
"I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It's almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building."
And in another place he said:
"Can a song make a difference? Songs can change the world. They're not like movies where you see them once or twice - songs become part of you. They're more like smells. Freedom has a scent and it's like the top of a new born baby's head."
I recently experience that "songs become part of you" very vividly. The first LP I bought when I was a teenager in the 1960's was Bob Dylan "Highway 61 Revisited". My children recent gave me the CD version for my birthday. Listening to it I re-discovered that those songs are part of me, engraved in my head somewhere, vivid memories come flooding back of hitch-hiking through England on a wet day singing "Like a Rolling Stone" to comfort myself. So, you should be careful what music and lyrics you listen to - they all become part of you. Including a paraphrase of Genesis 22:
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
