My first boy/girl party, and we had waited and talked about it all week.
My friend Guy was having some of his classmates over on a Saturday night until
11 pm, a big deal in our town for an eighth grade boy. Or girl for that
matter. I had been eying a girl, Chris, and she was eying me back, and we spent
the whole night talking, while being chided by friends. 13 is still immature,
and we all were. But Guy was a bit more mature, he had an older sister who was
very cool, and that night he invited us over for Sunday afternoon, to spend with
him and his girlfriend. I had gone from geeky kid to Mr. Sophisticated in less
than 24 hours, and so we both got the OK from our parents, and Guy’s basement it
was. Curtains drawn, dark and almost scary, my first time alone with a girl,
and he put on an album. The Beatles, and instead of a 45 with just one song, it
was an album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. And between my new found
social status, a girl who would be my girlfriend, and Sgt. Pepper, I had a life
in a day that afternoon. One song after another while embracing, I was
overwhelmed, where were all emotions coming from? Was it her or the Beatles?
But song after song after song captivated me, I was of the 45 rpm generation,
and had a good supply, but not an entire album, and the few I had were composed
of one hit song with the rest fillers. But this album, every song was
great...and it flowed. It created a mood, or enhanced it, or whatever, but Sgt.
Pepper’s Band may be for the lonely hearts, mine was anything but. When side
one ended, Guy flipped it over, and it continued. I was all hands and glands,
combined with ears and fears, and when the end of A Day in the Life ended with
the 28 second piano note, I was overwhelmed again. No music had ever embraced
me before like this, when I got my newspaper money from my route the next week,
it was off to Korvette’s to buy it. I sang the songs all week in my head, and
as exciting as my first make out session was, I hardly remember the day ending
and her mother picking her up. But don’t tell her...
Everything I knew about music changed that afternoon. Sgt. Pepper would go
on to be one of the top 100 albums of all time, just voted the best album ever,
but somehow the Beatles that year were outsold by the Monkees. It was to be the
Summer of Love that 1967 year, with so many songs to remember, but one album did
it for me. Which when waiting for Theresa the other day, it came on the radio,
an Orange County station that plays albums, complete sides, and suddenly it was
1967 again, and the quality of the music took me back to that afternoon. A
relationship had been born that day, and 50 years later, yeah 50 years later, it
sounded fresh as ever. An intimacy that only music can provide, a tone and mood
it can set, and whoever said that music is the language of love, play on.
Intimacy is a word we talk about but don’t understand. It goes beyond a
physical one to one, and transponds even sight and sound. It is deeper than
emotions, although it can be revealed or influence them. We hear or may know of
someone who has a big heart, who cares and shows compassion for others. Who
somehow gets involved in people’s lives, and does what is needed, despite the
outcome. They care and it shows, the concern is evident, and certain emotional
risks go with it. It involves making yourself vulnerable, a target to others,
but the opposite is a cold heart, with no care or concern. It is something we
cannot do ourselves, although we try, it can only come from God. A heart after
him...
Jesus set the example of this boldness of love. Rather than bask in the
safety of a small heart, he gave of himself, unto death on a cross, so we might
have heaven, and be reunited with our father in heaven. He assumed all the
risks we avoid, we tell others “if you want to avoid trouble, don’t care too
much, don’t let yourself be vulnerable, keep it inside.” Just the opposite of
what scripture requires. For when we truly give ourselves over, we are emptied
of all pride and sin, leaving ourselves vulnerable. You may be giving up a lot,
but your shrinking cold heart will suddenly become anew, a new spirit now lives
within you, a holy one, providing care and wisdom, security and comfort, all
based on the love of Jesus Christ. You will find yourself becoming more like
Jesus, opening yourself open to other’s concerns, and you will care more than
you want. The spirit is at work, but be warned, you will leave yourself open to
sorrows, pain and suffering because of it. A burden that only Jesus can carry.
Things that a hard heart have no insight to, you are becoming more like Jesus,
taking on the man of sorrows part of him, opening the door to compassion. Love
and forgiveness. Just like Sgt. Pepper changed my music that afternoon, you
will never look at life the same, words become verses, verses become songs, and
songs become albums. Affecting the mood, setting it, and taking you places your
heart didn’t know existed. All in one afternoon...or...
You could live like dating Lovely Rita, had a date and tried to win her,
sitting on the sofa with a sister or two, no intimacy in that. Only Jesus makes
it personal.
To experience all Sgt. Pepper had to offer, you need to listen to the whole
album. The songs will stand by themselves, but will not be complete until you
listen to the whole album. And on June 1st, you can celebrate 50 years to the
day it was released. But today you can celebrate an intimacy with God promised
in Jesus Christ. Opening a door to a love you never knew existed, an intimacy
that defies words, for infinity cannot be contained by finite words. Sgt.
Pepper opened the door to an orchestra playing in harmony, Jesus opens the door
to an orchestra based in heaven, played only on a heavenly station. When did
you first hear Sgt. Pepper and how did it effect you? Better yet, when did you
first turn to Jesus and know life would never be the same? The Beatles
experimented with an album, are you still experimenting with life looking for
that thing that is missing? It is a someone, not a something, the someone of
Jesus Christ. If you were to have one song, one afternoon, one event define
your life, would it be Jesus? A day in the life that will last forever. Can it
really be 50 years ago, that would make it 70 years ago that Sgt. Pepper began
to play! Maybe all you truly need is love!
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com