The behind the scenes tour of Atlanta's CNN was fascinating; seeing how the "news" gets made. The highlight was the few minutes we spent on the Headline News set during the LIVE broadcast of "Morning Express with Robin Meade." We sat quietly at a table just out of camera range. All about us, people were active at work stations doing, I supposed, something in support of that broadcast. I spent most of the time looking back and forth between the live actors and the monitors posted in the work stations.
And that's when I saw it.
Scrawled in someone's large script on a white board section of one of the work stations was the name: Todd Rundgren. Do you know him? Todd has been continuously making music since the early 1970's. Probably best known in recent years for his catchy tune, Bang the Drum All Day ("I don't wanna work! I just wanna bang on the drum all day!"), seeing his name on that board immediately brought to mind one of his lesser known (but actually better) tunes, Mighty Love.
In that latter song---a great, thumping, toe-tapping piece of music---Todd and crew contrast lesser love (in this case, what the Greeks referred to as “Eros”; romantic love) with a lasting, mighty love. The song recounts how the lesser love does not last, even though deeply sworn and strongly intended, because, as the song says, “that’s the way love goes.”
But what kind of love IS "a mighty love"?
With events like the Genesis flood firmly planted in the histories of almost all peoples, and the record of the Red Sea drowning Pharaoh’s army, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that later Biblical writers came to use phrases like “mighty waters,” “many waters,” “great waters,” and “deep waters” as a kind of metaphor for serious trouble.We see them using that phrase in the Psalms and the prophecies on a regular basis; even in the Song of Solomon. It always refers to big trouble, overwhelming trouble, the kind of trouble you really can’t get out of by yourself, the kind of trouble that just might be the end of you. Mighty waters.
But there is a countering force to mighty waters.
Now, as some of you are old enough to recall, Todd Rundgren is not known as a “Christian” singer; you won’t find his music listed on any of the “Christian top 40.” But, as with some other “secular” performers ---like The Pretenders on “I’ll Stand By You,” Anne Murray on “You Needed Me,” Josh Grogan on “You Raise Me Up,” and Carole King on “Way Over Yonder”--- he sometimes strays into deeply spiritual territory … if only we have the “ears to hear.” And I think we can put on our spiritual ears and hear that Todd Rundgren’s “mighty love” is actually what the Greeks called “Agape,” an unconditional love, one that always acts in our best interest, one that lasts; or, as one of my professors put it: “love, in spite of.”
God's love.
As the Psalm 29 selection in this week's Lectionary indicates: God is the master of the mighty waters. Since God is love, His mighty love Is greater than any troubles that come our way, even those "floods" that threaten to, and sometimes do, overwhelm us.
Mighty Waters?
Mighty Love.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Trinity Sunday (May 31, 2015)
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (May 31, 2015)
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Psalm 113
Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
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There have been a LOT of "mighty waters" lately. Some of them ACTUAL waters. Don't endanger yourself, but if you can get out, join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We'll gather at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 to 9:00. There will be plenty of food, scripture, laughter, and love. Come.
Enjoy the week!
Steve
photo from imgkid.com
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