... Paul Weller, a kind of hero of mine... well, I've always had a thing for the Mod subculture... the music (Jazz, Blues, Soul, R&B, British bands like the Small Faces, Acid Jazz etc), the Scooters, the style etc... has a track on 22 Dreams, his very diverse and creative number one Album, called "God" which I've mentioned before... He was interviewed back in May by the New Statesman, about the time Boris Johnson was getting elected Mayor of London. Davie Cameron; Tory Boy extraordinaire, current leader and ex-etonian (like Johnson) said he loved the Jam track "Eton Rifles" as he used to listen to it whilst at Eton! Talk about irony! Weller's response to the comment was simply ""Which part of it didn't he get?"
... anyway in the interview Weller talks about how God was more of an influence on his song writing now than Politics, the interviewer seems surprised...
While the younger Weller bemoaned the 1970s Tory resurgence in song ("The braying sheep on my TV screen/Make this boys shout, make this boy scream!"), the middle-aged version draws inspiration from his five children and from God. "Yes, I'm a believer," he says, "not in a structured Christian sense, but you can either be open to all possibilities beyond physical existence, or you can shut it out. And how on earth can denial be a positive way to advance or enhance your life? So, yes, I sort of pray. I have a quiet word now and then." 22 Dreams is underpinned by this tentative spirituality.
I find it unsettling that the words "Christian" and "Structure" seem to go hand in hand for Weller (and others), that someone like him would feel that he has to make a distinction between a searching spirituality, a sense of a God who inspires and surpasses human living and the religious structure... it's almost as if Christianity has become something which for some sums up everything which is the antithesis of a spiritual openness! A 15 year old once said to me that, "The Church has denied me the right to seek God"! I think sometimes we assume people want certainty, they want a simple solution... I'm sure some do... but some want to explore, to delve into the mysteries... I wonder how we can accompany them... I was going to say include/make space for them... but as I typed it I thought, no that doesn't feel right, perhaps I'd rather we step away from the idol we have made of "certainty" even Christianity and actually attempt to make our own spirituality a questing/pilgrim one? but maybe that's the Medicine man in me talking ;)
FYI below are the lyrics of Weller's "God"
And I looked up
And I spoke to God
And God said
Look at you, don't look at me
You only call on me when you need me
And when you don't, you hardly think of me at all
I don't enter your head for weeks at a time
And the times I do
They're in your despair
That you created, not I
And still, you look up to me
In such pleading terms
Thats how I know you
But don't look at me, look at you
Don't look at me, look at you
And every night I pray to God
Please save the lives of those I love
Take me instead
If you really need someone
To keep you company
On a golden chair in the air
Bring your Gods to the table
And recite your prayer
Lose all your hatred
If you are to pray in there
The temple you're seeking
Is in front of your nose
Because the message you're giving
Is doing nothing for those
(Seek, you shall find - repeat)
The oldest is the young
The youngest the oldest (repeat)
Technorati Tags: Art: Culture: Emerging Church: Music: Spirituality: theology
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