Today: just the song. Awake me by River Deep
intoxicated with my sleep
dreaming of my world on heat
release me please
burning out from spinning in circles
blinded by my apathy
release me please
heaven calls my name
I feel alive
I’m rising like the sun
awaking from my sleep
awake me
awake me
my selfish man is comfortably happy
fighting for passivity
release me please
awoken from the stench of corpses
my inner man arose to scream
release me please
heaven calls my name
eyes wide open, no more dreaming in the clouds
praying for a glimpse of you
Showing posts with label River Deep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label River Deep. Show all posts
Friday, October 13, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Wounded Angel
More on the angelic theme today.Tampere’s Tuomiokirkko is an excellent building, and contains a number of excellent paintings, full of deep symbolism.
There's the altar painting: The Resurrection of the Dead. Exactly a visual depiction of Bring me to life and Awake me.
There's the 12 boys carrying the wreath-chain of roses. Initially the 12 disciples, but it goes deeper than that, given the significance of 12 in the Scriptures. And what is it they are bearing?
And then there's the wounded angel (see left). Angels get hurt. But if they are carrying out the Master's business they are honourably wounded. The wounded angel is being carried by a couple of grim-looking boys. Spirituality is grounded in the hum-drum of everyday existence. Even a couple of factory chimneys in the background. This is no idealised fantasy world where the physical and the spiritual never meet. Here in the physical we are called to follow a spiritual existence – and it’s tough. Another River Deep song begins,
Here in the physical longing for a spiritual encounter with you, my God.
Can't separate the two. I am a physical and a spiritual being. Angels get hurt. And I will get hurt. Physically. Spiritually. But how many angels are there in this picture? Angels are messengers of God, and God will send his angels to take care of you. There are angels who take on human form, and there are humans who take on an angelic role. (And the Angel of Helsinki could have been one or the other. What is clear is that he was God's gift in that situation.)
In the painting the servants, the helpers, the carriers of the stretcher - the humans fulfilling an angelic ministry - are not robed clergy or important figures. They are the despised, the lowly – a couple of scruffy, dirty kids, and they don’t even look as though they enjoy their task. Unless you become like such as these you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Michael
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The Eagle
Freedom can never be based on a lie. If I think I’m free because I’m living a lie or it’s based on a lie I’m deluding myself.
I can't be free in my own strength. I long to soar like the eagle. I dream of it, total freedom, no inhibitions, no restraints, soaring, diving, frolicking… “I was at his side each day, his darling and delight, playing in his presence continually, playing over his whole world, while my delight was in mankind," says Wisdom in Proverbs. What is the relationship between Wisdom and Freedom? Are they inseparable?
If I am going to be free I need to make wise choices. To choose to follow the Pioneer and Perfecter wherever he may lead – because I know he is the true, the only, Pioneer and Perfecter.
To choose to leave certain things behind. Things that can be represented by the cosy cage in which the Sea Eagle lives – the caged eagle; it has the potential but is choosing slavery and bondage because it is lazy and can’t be bothered to leave the security of bondage: “intoxicated with my sleep / dreaming of my world on heat / release me please / burning out from spinning in circles / blinded by my apathy / release me please / heaven calls my name” Heaven is calling me, calling me to freedom, to service, to effectiveness, to go do what makes me come alive, to obedience, to glory, to glorious fulfilment, to apprenticeship, to be a protégé of the Son of Man, to get out of my cage and into the wild – more dangers, more excitement, real life, less certainty.
There’s a stirring within me – but will I just slip back into dreaming of my world on heat? I like the metaphors, the Eagle soaring free. The free eagle has no certainly as to where the next meal will come from (unlike his counterpart in the zoo) – but has not Jesus promised, “Look at the birds in the sky: they do not sow and reap and store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”? So it’s OK for the Eagle. No worries!
But here am I still standing on the edge of the precipice, I know all the theory, all the theology; I’m even “living by faith” but I don’t think I really am: the saints provide regularly, and there’s no sense of getting down on my knees before my heavenly Father because I don’t know where the next meal is coming from… Anyway, here I am on the edge of the precipice. I know that if I jump the wings of God will take over and I will soar and glide and dive and cavort and frolic and dance and be truly free, gambolling in the air… But I will not be in control. I won’t know what’s coming next. And can I really believe that if I jump God will kick in, and I will rise on wings like eagle’s?
Yet I still pray, “Release me!”
And yet I still hold back, fearing that release.
Michael
I can't be free in my own strength. I long to soar like the eagle. I dream of it, total freedom, no inhibitions, no restraints, soaring, diving, frolicking… “I was at his side each day, his darling and delight, playing in his presence continually, playing over his whole world, while my delight was in mankind," says Wisdom in Proverbs. What is the relationship between Wisdom and Freedom? Are they inseparable?
If I am going to be free I need to make wise choices. To choose to follow the Pioneer and Perfecter wherever he may lead – because I know he is the true, the only, Pioneer and Perfecter.
To choose to leave certain things behind. Things that can be represented by the cosy cage in which the Sea Eagle lives – the caged eagle; it has the potential but is choosing slavery and bondage because it is lazy and can’t be bothered to leave the security of bondage: “intoxicated with my sleep / dreaming of my world on heat / release me please / burning out from spinning in circles / blinded by my apathy / release me please / heaven calls my name” Heaven is calling me, calling me to freedom, to service, to effectiveness, to go do what makes me come alive, to obedience, to glory, to glorious fulfilment, to apprenticeship, to be a protégé of the Son of Man, to get out of my cage and into the wild – more dangers, more excitement, real life, less certainty.
There’s a stirring within me – but will I just slip back into dreaming of my world on heat? I like the metaphors, the Eagle soaring free. The free eagle has no certainly as to where the next meal will come from (unlike his counterpart in the zoo) – but has not Jesus promised, “Look at the birds in the sky: they do not sow and reap and store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”? So it’s OK for the Eagle. No worries!
But here am I still standing on the edge of the precipice, I know all the theory, all the theology; I’m even “living by faith” but I don’t think I really am: the saints provide regularly, and there’s no sense of getting down on my knees before my heavenly Father because I don’t know where the next meal is coming from… Anyway, here I am on the edge of the precipice. I know that if I jump the wings of God will take over and I will soar and glide and dive and cavort and frolic and dance and be truly free, gambolling in the air… But I will not be in control. I won’t know what’s coming next. And can I really believe that if I jump God will kick in, and I will rise on wings like eagle’s?
Yet I still pray, “Release me!”
And yet I still hold back, fearing that release.
Michael
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
I had a dream
Hello. Welcome. Awake Me. This blog is dedicated to helping you, helping me, to live the life God intended us to lead. Why these two particular quotes that I've put at the top of your screen? The first, Eyes wide open... comes from the song, Awake Me by the British band River Deep. The song is a prayer that God will set me free, wake me up, a vibrant, passionate prayer. Am I comfortably happy, fighting for passivity? Am I losing my focus of who God intends me to be? Heaven calls my name!
I had a dream, call it a vision if you like. I'm in a big Christian meeting, feeling self-conscious, not quite knowing what to do next. The worship leader is very close to me, and then as they begin the next song it isn’t a song of words and music but rhythmic clapping. My friends and I are a little unsure as to how to respond, but it feels right to join in the clapping. Then the Spirit of God releases us and we are set free, and my friend and I clasp each other in wild embrace and fall to the floor, rejoicing, free in the Spirit. I know clearly what to do next. Just as I received the Spirit of God from the worship leader, so I am to pass it on. And I go out amongst the congregation. They appear to be asleep. I go to one particular man, the one I am prompted to go to, and taking him by the hand say, “Arise, shine, wake up o sleeper, the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!” Whatever his needs were, they are met. He seems a little surprised, and very glad that he has been chosen, and filled with and transformed by the Spirit of God he gets up and joins the dance. After this I feel incredibly thirsty and need to find some water...
"Don't ask what the world needs..." Do I do my work out of duty or passion? OK, there's times when I must simply follow duty. But if that's all there is to my life I'm missing out on what God intends for me. He gave me my skills, my gifts, my passions. The world doesn't need a whole bunch of do-gooders; it needs people who have come alive, who are passionate about what they are doing. Who love what they are doing. Who believe in what they are doing. Who believe in what they are. As Evanescence pray, "Bring me to life!"
I had a dream, call it a vision if you like. I'm in a big Christian meeting, feeling self-conscious, not quite knowing what to do next. The worship leader is very close to me, and then as they begin the next song it isn’t a song of words and music but rhythmic clapping. My friends and I are a little unsure as to how to respond, but it feels right to join in the clapping. Then the Spirit of God releases us and we are set free, and my friend and I clasp each other in wild embrace and fall to the floor, rejoicing, free in the Spirit. I know clearly what to do next. Just as I received the Spirit of God from the worship leader, so I am to pass it on. And I go out amongst the congregation. They appear to be asleep. I go to one particular man, the one I am prompted to go to, and taking him by the hand say, “Arise, shine, wake up o sleeper, the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!” Whatever his needs were, they are met. He seems a little surprised, and very glad that he has been chosen, and filled with and transformed by the Spirit of God he gets up and joins the dance. After this I feel incredibly thirsty and need to find some water...
"Don't ask what the world needs..." Do I do my work out of duty or passion? OK, there's times when I must simply follow duty. But if that's all there is to my life I'm missing out on what God intends for me. He gave me my skills, my gifts, my passions. The world doesn't need a whole bunch of do-gooders; it needs people who have come alive, who are passionate about what they are doing. Who love what they are doing. Who believe in what they are doing. Who believe in what they are. As Evanescence pray, "Bring me to life!"
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