"How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"
That's the perpetual question I have in my calling to be part of the church, to be faithful to Jesus, and reclaim the title "Christian" from all the negative connotations it brings up in peoples' minds!

When I look around and see the walls keep tumbling down of the movement that I love, grey clouds rolling over the hills, bringing darkness from above and it all looks a little bit hopeless, what am I going to do!?

But when Pompeii by Bastille came on in the car today, it was a different line that really jumped out at me:​

POV:  You're Nicodemus, or another Pharisee or Scribe who is trying to reconcile who you present to the world and how you feel challenged by how Jesus is.

Here's your confession:

POV:  Jesus has just cleared the Temple, and you realise it doesn't have to be the way it was before.

Here's the rallying cry:

I don't listen to the radio in the car at the moment. It's normally audio books. Sometimes I get in the car and the radio is on though. I have no idea how my car radio picks stations, but somehow it's been "Capital" recently.

Anyway, I jumped in the car and this version of this song was playing:

As I listened to it I imagined it was blending the story of Jesus with someone absorbed in a "night out" culture.

​When I got home I decided to look up the lyrics and see if there was an acoustic version I might appreciate more musically. Here's what I found:

I found this one whilst planning an Act of Worship for a Secondary School... On "Resilience" believe it or not...

Resilience isn’t mentioned in the bible. I tried to find a greek word as to what it means so that I could check in the geeky apps and things I use to make sure.

The word that came back was this one… ελαστικότητα (Elastikótita)
However you pronounce it, that first bit is where we get our word “Elastic” (I could tell that without looking it up)
So what have I learned? Let's think about Elastic vs Plastic…

I sang this song live and acoustic for a lunch time recital last week. I won't subject you to a version of me singing it.

Having spent hours listening to it, trying to find a key where I could sing the whole range, and practising it endlessly, I think I still like it.

But what's it about!?

It seems it's a fairly mixed, messed up and damaging journey, including trying and failing, but ultimately somehow still singing, albeit with eyes open.

​I wonder if we get to the point where we're wrecked we can still sing?

Young people get a bad time of it.

I won't defend all the stuff that small groups get up to, but I will defend the fact that they are left trying to find their way in a world they are inheriting that is, for want of a stronger phrase, not the ideal.

Nothing But Thieves sum up quite a lot of that.

Of course the real trouble makers, the real disturbance in the force, are those whose eyes are being opened, and are starting fires designed to bring about change...

... They're the sort I'll never apologise for. Let's help them burn down the things that are making the rest of us live like animals.

Every song I've had in this series so far I think I actually like.
This one I don't. I've tried, but it just isn't doing anything for me.
It'll work as a Eurovision entry, but It's not going to be one I'll listen to on repeat personally.

I do like the idea of taking the negative and channeling it into something creative rather than destructive though.
Think there is something to be said for still calling out the things that are wrong but doing so in a way that isn't just cussing people out outside the house, trashing things, etc, nor is it sitting in silence wallowing and pretending it didn't happen.

What do we need to call out, and how can we do it productively?
How do we rise above and challenge things without stooping to their level?

You get the idea... I've listened to it and reflected so you don't have to. But it might be your thing, so listen if you want to.