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Everybody Hurts

R.E.M.

everybody hurts sometimes
So, hold on, hold on

Sometimes a song speaks with new relevance and its message comes to life. That’s what happened with this song today as it popped up in my playlist. The words resonate during the present national pandemic

If you’re on your own in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you’ve had too much of this life
To hang on…
Everybody hurts sometimes; Everybody cries…

I have become aware of many people who have been totally on their own, going for days without seeing another person. Each person has their own particular story with their own aspects of pain; one person’s mountain may be another person’s molehill. What may seem small to one may cause great anguish to someone else. But I am mindful of what my nurse friend often says, “The pain is what the patient says it is”. Pain is pain…

I’m also aware that to tell someone in pain that “everybody hurts” is not the most sensitive response. It doesn’t acknowledge their own particular pain that they are experiencing and actually seems to belittle it.

This led me to think about the age-old question often posed in times of great pain or searching…”Where is God when it hurts?” or sometimes phrased as “If God is a God of love why is there suffering in the world?” Huge questions to ponder, to research, to meditate on, not run away from or be simplistic about.

And so I reflect…. God is close to the broken hearted… Psalm 34:18

Anthem

Leonard Cohen

Ring the bells that still can ring

For a fairly introspective 17 year old the music of Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) drew me with a fascination bordering on obsession; I can still remember sitting alone in my bedroom listening to ‘Bird on a Wire’ on repeat. The phase soon passed, and I only recently came to appreciate the depths of this song ‘Anthem’, from Cohen’s 1992 album ‘The Future’.

‘The Future’ contains references to traumatic historical events, including Hiroshima and the Second World War. The massacre of students in Tiananmen Square and the fall of the Berlin wall both happened in 1989; it was a time of massive upheaval and uncertainty in the world.

Listening again in late 2019 you have to ask, has much has changed? Just thinking about our own country (quite apart from the rest of the world!) Britain is facing a bewildering parliamentary election, Brexit is unresolved, the country has more Foodbanks than McDonalds….. there surely still is ‘a crack, a crack, in everything’, but Cohen leaves us with a note of hope, ‘that’s how the light gets in’. We need the light, in our national and our personal lives, as never before.

Currently it is Advent, traditionally the time for preparing for the coming of Christ. For me this song provides a kind of transcendence, bringing hope into the apparent hopelessness of our world. The parallels are obvious I hope.

The true light that shines on everyone was coming into the world. The Word was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word.
John 1.9-10

Take It Easy

Eagles

I don’t know about you, but this just makes me want to grow my hair long again and get some flares. There are a few versions of the Eagles playing this song on YouTube, but I picked this one because it is a live performance and seemed to capture the spirit of the times as well as the sentiment in the song. What a contrast with Britain, as The Sex Pistols were singing Anarchy In The UK in the same year.

As usual, we can’t be too analytical about the lyrics, but the message of the chorus seems to speak to me on two levels. One is simply about relaxing, living in the moment, enjoying life while we can and taking opportunities that come along.

Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place make your stand
Take it easy

Of course this is not a comprehensive treatise on how to live a good life! But on a second level as a Christian, I find definite pointers towards the encouragement in the words of Jesus: “If you are tired, come to me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11.28-30).