I'm a Soul Man

This is about that time.

Motown comes back through my speakers right around now and I'm always reminded about my obsession because of Christmas music.

Why?

Because you're ignorant of the early 1960s African-American music scene, I will tell you this: the greatest music was all written, composed, produced, and performed by one individual and one band: Phil Spector and The Funk Brothers. No, that's not one entity, but rather quite separate. Spector created the teen love song and essentially defined what pop music was and is today. This was all predominately the white community. While he worked with black artists like Same Cooke, Spector's main arena was the white teen community. What no one knew then was that his songs are now accepted and loved by anyone and everyone. Black or white, rich or poor, old or young.

The Funk Brothers were Motown. They stood in the shadows of every Motown hit and are present on more number one hits than the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and Elvis...combined. You need to know about them because they crafted that Motown sound. If you appreciate music, watch their documentary. I can't be sure right now, but I'm pretty sure it changed my life. There was a reason their studio was nicknamed, "The Hit Factory." (No not the club in New York...posers).

I can't tell you while I like Motown. Some of the early guys talk about the signature beat. But there's such a deep soul found in that era of music. It's in drums and bass and guitar and most definitely in the keys. It's like gospel music. Because of what was happening in America during that time and where technology was, this era will stand as simply the greatest era of American music.

But I have to get back on track. It's connection to Christmas music. When I say "Christmas Music," I'm not talking about Jingle Bells or those old hymns like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I'm talking about American pop Christmas Music. Like "What Christmas Means to Me" and "All I Want for Christmas is You." These songs were mostly written by the Funk Brothers and performed by artists they backed. The sound is that Mowtown sound because it's written, composed, produced, and played by those guitarists and bassits and drummers.

I suck at explaining these things. I just know that when "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" comes on I don't think about anything but the music coming out of the speakers. Do you think we'll ever get anything like that ever again?

I don't know if I want anything else.

Do you have music like that? I mean, we've all got the stuff that makes us think and feel. But what about that music that doesn't recall many thoughts or emotions but just makes you enjoy the music for what it is? When I hear Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, or the Temptations, I just think, "this is exactly what music should sound like."

In no way do I think or wish everyone to think this about Motown. But I hope you have that music that does that to you.

It's Not Funny! [Part 2]

Why Jesus? (Holy frick I just said "Jesus"...stick with me). Above everyone and all those ideas about finding fulfillment in "God"? Why Christ? Well, that's a long answer. I've answered that one a lot. Here's the short version: Because he's the only one who claimed to be God, and suffered just like you and just like me. Oh, and then he rose from the dead.

Caesar claimed to be God, and so did Alexander the Great. Those guys claimed things even Muhammad and Joseph Smith were too afraid to claim. But all those guys are dead. They're buried somewhere. Dead. Rotting. And Caesar had a damn good life. So did Alexander. I see no evidence in the life of Christ that said he had anything good. It was bad for thirty years for that guy. From birth into poverty to the death of a criminal. But his mind and his eyes were on something else. Caesar looked to the mirror, Alexander looked to the land he conquered. Jesus looked at you. He looked at me. And in being completely God and completely man, he saw that you and I are broken because he was broken. We're dirty. Mean. Nasty. Since he was God, and he created you and me, he wanted to save this wrecked creation. Not that he messed it up - it's pretty obvious you and I screwed with it huh?

So he came. He taught good principles for life. And he lived in a way that modeled those things. Perfectly. So we could look to him when we were stumbling. But then he died. God died? Jesus died. But the story doesn't end there. He's the only man in the history of the universe to do this: he beat death. Death had him for three days. He fought it, and rose - physically - from the dead.

People doubted, of course. I mean, even people who saw it doubted. They couldn't believe it. But that didn't seem to phase Jesus. He said that he would be with us until the end of the age, and when we need him, we can call out to him. This goes way beyond Caesar. I wouldn't believe Jesus if he just died. God's don't die. But I believe Jesus because he said he would die, and said he would rise. And he did both, and in so doing, gives me reason to look up, gives me reason to live, and gives me reason to think that whatever I accomplish is nowhere near anything he ever did, is doing, or will do. That's why I live, work, laugh, breathe, rest, wake, and strive for him. Not because anything I can do, but what he did, is doing, and will do.

That's why I just can't write about theology right now, or scripture, or doctrine. I guess I just had to write about Jesus. He's better than all that, and writing about this helps me laugh at the fact that I'm in pain, and things aren't necessarily going my way. But the ultimate realization that things are going His way. Always. That makes me feel good. I am not in control. I am not in control. We are not in control.

Things are going His way. And anyways, who the flip cares if things are going my way...except for me?

Oh that's right.

No one.

It's Not Funny! [Part 1]

I just cannot write about theology right now. I can write and write and write and write, but just not about theology. Nothing about God or his attributes, or how the human can experience the divine, or how the scriptures prove this and disprove that. I just cannot.

This doesn't mean I don't believe in all of that anymore. It just means what it means. I can't write about it. And I like the fact that I cannot always write about it, because if I never got sick of writing these thesis papers, it would mean that I would be taking it way too seriously.

There are moments, especially as of lately, where I believe I am a person of great value. Like the world would screw up without me. But I'm in a constant state of realization that that is simply false. I can get lost in this doctrine, or that passage, or this type of ministry, but in the end I don't want any of that. I want what you want.

I want joy.

Joy doesn't come from books (although it often seems like it), and joy doesn't come from the television, or magazines, or movies, or...bible college (definitely not Bible college). I believe happiness is found in these things, but I don't see joy coming from those things.

Honestly and truthfully, my belief is that God, in making all things, made joy, and I believe that life in Christ is ultimate lasting joy (Ok, I realize I just said "Christ" and half, if not three fourths of you, just decided to stop reading...just hang with me!). And I usually find this when I'm not taking my job, or my ministry, or my life seriously. Because that's not what it's about.

The record of the apostles in the Bible is totally this way. The author of Hebrews says that some of them were risking their property in order to help other people out, and that they "gladly" gave their stuff to be burned in order to help their friends who were in jail. The early Christian writer Paul is always talking about the future joy he'll find in Christ, and how his present suffering or issues were not a big deal compared to the end game.

There's this colloquial saying amongst us evangelicals that goes something like this: "A heavenly mind makes a crummy earthly life." (Just read that again with grandma's voice). This phrase infers that if you think too much about heaven, you'll never be satisfied with what you have or are doing, and in turn, rot somewhere in Florida. I think there's a good amount of truth to that, but I would say that a heavenly mind often makes a more joyful earthly life. Because you're not taking the earthly part as serious as the heavenly part. Because it was those people in high school who thought their life meant everything and three bags of Fritos that were either failures or douchebags. Sometimes they got lucky and were both.

I see it boiling down to this: seeking "fulfillment" or "enlightenment" or "joy" or whatever we all want in common is not found here. Haven't we figured that out yet? I mean, hasn't your life sucked enough? Aren't there more wackjobs and freaks than heroes and saints? The common denominator is not that life right now rocks. For some people, it's awesome right now. But not everyone on earth will experience those good times. Some people live their whole lives without the good. But no one on this earth lives their whole life in bliss and total joy. And so the answer has to be found in suffering, and in pain. And, to me, the right answer would say, "This isn't it. If fact, it's the worst you'll ever have, because what's ahead is amazing. So stop sitting in your pain, stop wallowing in your sorrow, and pick up your head. Look the frick up! See? Every mountain, every blade of grass, every tree, and flower, and natural growth GOES UP! So why don't you?"

Look up.

Because the up is blue.

The up is limitless.

The down is the ground.

The down has limits.

The down is your own feet.

And your feet smell.

Saturday Night

I'll be receiving fifty American dollars for chaperoning a Bar Mitzvah downtown. I just thought you should know.