A Sermon Snippet about a Music Monday

 Ok, it's not Monday. But this blog started with two themes. I originally wrote either about stuff I found interesting in my sermon prep or about music.

Today, I dust off the mothballs of both of those subjects in a special combo post.

This coming Sunday I'll be preaching on Luke 14:1-24 which includes Jesus' parable about a banquet. The story he tells describes a man inviting his friends to a celebration. But the story takes a turn:

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.

The host then sends his emissaries out to gather up anyone and everyone to his banquet. Jesus then gives away some of the symbolism by concluding that "not one of those who were invited will be invited will get a taste of my banquet."

The story conveys God's fervent desire to bring in people to his future Kingdom banquet of blessing. But it also highlights the "good" excuses many employ to avoid committing to Christ and His Kingdom.

At face value, you wouldn't think this is a natural passage for a song. 

But you would be wrong. Thanks to my second and third grade education at Warsaw Christian School, I have this earworm permanently lodged in my brain:

It's catchy, memorable, and upbeat - even if the content isn't exactly truly happy-happy-joy-joy.

The cartoon animation artwork was not part of the presentation in the late 80's/early 90's but it's perfectly fitting to my memory. 

I have no deeper thoughts or comments, other than what I'll share in my message. But this is really 10/10, no notes. Cheers to the creative mind that took the challenge of putting this parable to music and authoring this little ditty. 

Music Mondays

I took a break for a week, but just a reminder - Music Mondays has been highlighting some songs I find really easy to get stuck in my head. Specifically, songs that I have even found playing on repeat in my head as I wake up in the morning.

This week's feature song isn't so much a radio hit as a radio commercial jingle. I have listened to 670 The Score sports radio out of Chicago for maybe close to a decade now. One of their longtime sponsors his Kars For Kids. 

It's a charity that takes your used vehicles and resells/disposes of them and puts the money towards youth educational programs. I actually donated my lemon-of-a-car VW Cabrio a couple years ago. It was a pretty simple and straightforward process. 

All of that is just besides the point. Listen to this little ditty and tell me it doesn't get seared into your brain upon the first listen.

It is such a unique jingle that my 2.5 year old son recognizes it when it's on the radio. Tbh, that's probably a sign that I listen to the station too much.

Music Mondays: Father and Child Edition #2

Children's songs on YouTube are apparently infinite. I've discovered this only now because of our two year old. 

Since they're infinite, what's it going to hurt to feature and comment on three more as a follow up to my last post?

Here are three more remarkable* kids songs that are in the rotation right now:

"Do you know the Muffin Man?

There are other, more palatable versions of this song featuring puppets and creative graphics. This version happens to feature youths overacting like nobodies business. It's no fault of their own. They've been directed to do so, no doubt. And I'm sure it clicks with little kid brains. But boy do I have to resist the urge to go all "Mystery Science Theater 3000" when this comes on.

"Johny, Johny Yes Papa"

Ok, there is no getting around it. This song encourages kids to both sneak food they're not supposed to have and lie to their parents. And this version even has a toddler skateboarding - so make it three things I don't want my little guy to do. On the other hand, it has taught our oldest to go "ha ha ha" whenever we sing the part of the jingle "open your mouth...". It's adorable enough to make up for the corrupting lessons of the song itself.
Let me also note that this is the most logical version of the song I've seen. There are others with all kinds of characters and objects they're eating which make even less sense.

"Down by the Bay"

After coming across this one this morning, I'm convinced is the new generation's version of "The Song that Never Ends". It seems to go on and on and on, limited only the rhyming ability of the song's author ("a snail who gets mail" "a bee drinking tea" etc). The fact that this Super Simple cartoon features various versions with the same little monster (?) singing it underscores it's potential for eternality.  Side note, does this singer have mommy issues? Why doesn't he want to go home? Just because of her incessant questions? 

I think I have a different idea for next time, but thank you for sharing a little of my parental world today.



* I say "remarkable" in that they easily get stuck in my head, provide consistent entertainment to my child, and eventually force me to make the over-thought observations you see above.

Music Mondays: Father and Child Edition

Parenthood is filled with many joys and new experiences. 

What I'm about to share has certainly been new but not always joyous. As my wife said this morning, "You know at first, I thought all those children's songs were dumb. But now I kind of like them."

That pretty much sums it up for me too.  We've entertained our 2 year old with YouTube videos for a while now. We try not to overdo it and there's certainly a point where you start questioning reality after the 14th version of "The Muffin Man" plays.

I don't have the creative energy to rank the best or rate the worst that are in the rotation right now. But for this Music Monday I'm going to pick three different songs from three different "channels". 

If they get stuck in your head, like they do ours, I'm sorry not sorry. I'll offer my own little commentary free of charge.

Here's a good one to start off with. Cute ducks, simple tune, teaching some basic counting skills. I have watched it enough to wonder if this takes the listener on a subtle emotional roller coaster that my toddler is not totally mature enough for. :) Props to "Super Simple Songs" for having a very distinct intro diddy.

Sesame Street has adopted a very clear strategy to incorporate pop culture figures into their videos. This one is a little more obscure as Feist had more of a pop culture moment over a decade ago with her "1,2,3,4" (shoutout to SS for capitalizing on this made-for-their-show connection).  I was legitimately impressed by the choreography of the video and it turns out, this one isn't just popular in our house, it has turned into a phenomenon of it's very own. 

No feature on kid's songs would be complete without some version of "Baby Shark". This one comes from a group called Bounce Patrol. They have a ton of videos and this one has over 1 BILLION views. I'm not even going to look it up but I think it is safe to say that they are from Austrailia. Their visual creativity is probably a big part of their draw with kids. As an adult, I just imagine you have to really love childhood education/entertainment to do all the over-the-top stuff these folks do. Kudos to them I guess.

Music Mondays

A random idea for a featured song came into my head today. 

It was a song that was very influential in my life as a kid.
It is a song that still affects me today.
However, it is a song that was never on the radio.
And it's a song I can't find on YouTube. (Seriously!)

It is a song I highly recommend that everyone learn though.

What is it? 

The Books of the Bible song I learned in Kid's Action Club (think Awana without the badges). 
We learned all 66 books of the Bible by singing them in order. 

Now there are a ton of songs out there that rap or sing the books of the Bible in order. But none of them that I found did it in the memorable pace or tune that Mr. Paul (Refior) our fearless leader taught us.

This is the closest:

Here is my personal Music Mondays debut singing the original version that we learned, admittedly completely off-key:

 
Really the point of all of this is not song itself, nor my lack of singing gifts. The idea itself is what matters. Being so familiar with God's Word that you are adept at navigating it's diverse landscape is crucial because we are called to explore it our whole lives (see Psalm 119).

As a pastor, I still recite this song in my head from time to time to find specific books. The value of this smacked me right in the face this past spring when I taught a freshman Bible Study Methods class at my Alma Mater. There was a significant portion of the 22 students who were resigned to starting in the index of the Bible to find a passage I was asking them to look up. Others bravely, but slowly combed through their holy texts hoping they'd stumble upon the intended destination. 

Memorization is a helpful life-skill. It becomes spiritual cheat code when applied to Scriptural concepts, making biblical studies so much easier. 

If this song doesn't motivate you to memorize the books of the Bible, find one that does - it is worth it and there are plenty out there.