I was born in 1970, the popular music that became the soundtrack to my life, mostly comes from the 80s and 90s it seems.  These are the songs that take me back to those days, when life was certainly much more carefree.  Understandably, songs of young love, heartbreak, fast cars, and being cool resonated with me (like those of Prince and U2).  In my 20s, the music of the 60s & 70s captured my imagination, more for the folk and rock sounds than for the lyrics (like Van Morrison or the Grateful Dead).  While I’ve tuned in to a variety of contemporary artists over more recent decades (like Adele and Coldplay), it’s the music from my youth that still draws me in most deeply.

How about for you?  Do your musical tastes also echo back to when you were a teenager and young adult?  Or have your tastes continued to change and evolve?  There is, of course, nothing wrong with either scenario, as these are just preferences that help to define who we are at any given moment in time.  Music is as much about personality as it is about pleasure.

When the Irish band U2 bust onto the world stage in the 80s, their rock anthems truly resonated for me.  The band member’s experiences growing up within the church, the Irish political struggles, and struggling economic forces, all contributed material for many of their songs.  When I was 15, the peak of rebellion was to play their album, “Unforgettable Fire,” over and over again.  Then during my senior year of high school, I had the chance to experience them in concert when they came to the US on tour.  I still remember, the audience packed into Syracuse NY’s Carrier Dome, singing along to a song entitled simply “40.”  Here are the lyrics:

I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He lift me up out of the pits
Out of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

He set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and hear

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
(Sing it!)

How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

“40”, U2 – listen and watch the video here, in all its 1983 stylistic glory.

I was 18 and I wanted to sing my own new song into the world.  How long do I have to wait?  How long will it be heard and will it make a difference?  And, if God is listening, maybe God will have something to do with it.

It wasn’t until a couple years later that I made the connection, these lyrics weren’t original at all.  They’re the words of Psalm 40.  And young people have been singing a new song for as long as we’ve been singing.  And God definitely has something to do with it.

May God’s peace come to you this day. -Pastor Peter

Let us pray…

We are growing impatient, God, help us wait.  We are stuck, lift us up.  Put a new song into our mouths and make us sing.  Amen.