For as long as I can remember, I have loved and listened to music. I don’t hail from an overly musical family and neither of my parents had an extensive collection of albums. As cliche as this sounds, music speaks to me and when I got serious about being a follower of Jesus, it seemed as though Jesus was and still speaks to me through music.
Over the years there have been many influential bands from all genres of music that have influenced and shaped my soul. In the 80’s and 90’s, five bands gripped my soul; I still listen to them today as some are still making new music… Adam Again, Youth Choir/The Choir, Daniel Amos, Seventy Sevens and Vector.
On the weekend, I picked up the first two albums by Vector on vinyl and was reintroduced to a song that seems to speak even today, into our troubled, racist and wayward, me-first culture.
I rarely see or experience anyone practicing servant-leadership these days!
Thank goodness, Jesus taught us how. This one everyone knows…
The Golden Rule
“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
The apostle Paul taught us this…
"Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone." (Romans 12:14-18)
Which leads me back to this song from the band Vector about “empathy” and the value of “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”. May we relearn this before it is too late! Before we become undone… “Be Undone” by Vector (Jimmy Abegg, Steve Griffith)
It just exploded in their face one day, now 47 men are carried away.
Just doing their job, doing what their told. just routine like so many times before. But a coal mine mother stares at a picture frame, and wonders why her baby boy won't be coming home again.
When will what's been done to you feel like it's been done to me?
When will what's been done, be undone?
When a “homelands” not a place you can live, when man is asked to give more than a man should give. Thrown in jail, brutally murdered, all for the color of his skin. And we sit at home and wonder, "What has that got to do with me? And where in hell is South Africa anyway?”
When will what's been done to you feel like it's been done to me?
When will what's been done, be undone?
I'm no different than you- I ask myself these questions; If my baby was taken from me, and the woman I love she was gone… I would know how to scream; I would know how to cry, I would know how to feel...
One left to remember... the look on her fathers face, as he took the knife and took away his sister's life. Left broken, left bleeding... her father left her for dead.
And the story is told all across America, but when the channels change we'll forget everything we saw. But forever that memory will live in the heart of that little girl.
When will what's been done to you feel like it's been done to me?
When will what's been done, be undone?