Perhaps God |
By Ordinary Priestess - adapting John Denver's "Perhaps Love"
Perhaps God is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of God will bring you home
Perhaps God is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don't know what to do
The memory of God will see you through
Oh, God to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say God is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say God is everything
And some say they don't know
Perhaps God is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of God will be of you.
Perhaps Love lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Reservoir One Music, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Perhaps Love is a song written and sung by John Denver, I adapted it and substituted the word "God" for the word "love". I first came up with this adaptation many years ago, maybe around 2005.
I don't agree with everything that is said in this simple adaptation - it doesn't quite work, but it really made me think, and I do like it enough that it's stayed in the back of my mind. God is many things to many people, and partly God does give us solace, direction and belonging, God does call us to come to Him when we are weary and burdened, and promises that "I will give you rest" - Matthew 11:28. Of course, God does not exist to give us comfort - God exists in and of Himself, and while God does give us deep comfort, often He also challenges us and makes us very uncomfortable. I really like the image of God like a window and an open door, beckoning us to come closer to Him and be willing to be shown more. To some people, God is air-fairy, or light and fluffy , and other people use Him as a symbol of the violence in their hearts and then go out into the world with steel in their hands - whether swords, or guns or bombs. To me, I think God should be a way of living, and this website is part of that approach. The adapted line about "God is holding on ... and... letting go" are probably the two lines that makes the least sense to me, for now at least. Definitely there have been times in my life when I have said I just don't know what God is, and what God is to me, and I have wrestled with it, and the process of trying to find God and trying to find a comfortable way to hold God in my heart with integrity has been full of conflict, and I've spent a fair bit of mental energy trying to make the pieces fit, because not everything that I have read and heard rings true or is acceptable. I feel like I am now at peace, and I have a better understanding of who God is to me, but I try to still remain open to stepping through the next door to find out more again. And partly, God is like thunder - splendid, awe-inspiring and untamed. And I do believe that we are called to be God for each other, so that we create moments and memories of God for each other.
***
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ... We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
1 John 4:7-21 - NIV
***
In my adaptation, the last line is "My memories of God will be of you."
This dovetails with my favourite line of my favourite poem: "As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God."
I've set out the whole poem below:
A Song of Living
By Amelia Josephine Burr (1878 -?)
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky.
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast.
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have kissed young Love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end.
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend.
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well.
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I give a share of my soul to the world where my course is run.
I know that another shall finish the task I must leave undone.
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I trod.
As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
***
When this song talks about God seeing us through when we're lost, and God bringing us home in times of trouble, and God beckoning to us and wanting to show us more, it makes me think of three of my favourite church songs:
The Summons by John Bell
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer pray’r
In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the pris’ners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.
***
Our Supper Invitation by Fr Kevin Bates
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.
Let me befriend you now; eat take your fill.
Don’t be afraid to dream; love has its will.
Take up your burden now, walk ’til you find
Just what the journey means; walk while there’s time.
Food for the journey will answer your need.
Don’t be afraid to walk; love, my love will lead.
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Be a sweet nourishment to good friends of mine.
Let me befriend you now; eat, take your fill.
Share with your people, that love has its will.
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.
© Kevin Bates 1985.
***
Come As You Are by Sr Deidre Brown
Come as you are, that’s how I want you
Come as you are, feel quite at home
Close to my heart, loved and forgiven
Come as you are, why stand alone?
No need to fear, love sets no limits
No need to fear, love never ends
Don’t run away, shamed and disheartened
Rest in my love, trust me again
I came to call sinners, not just the virtuous
I came to bring peace, not to condemn
Each time you fail, to live by my promise
Why do you think, I’d love you the less?
Come as you are, that’s how I love you
Come as you are, trust me again
Nothing can change, the love that I bear you
All will be well, just come as you are.
© Deidre Browne
Published by Spectrum Publications.
http://www.spectrumpublications.com.au/
Perhaps God is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of God will bring you home
Perhaps God is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don't know what to do
The memory of God will see you through
Oh, God to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say God is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say God is everything
And some say they don't know
Perhaps God is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of God will be of you.
Perhaps Love lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Reservoir One Music, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Perhaps Love is a song written and sung by John Denver, I adapted it and substituted the word "God" for the word "love". I first came up with this adaptation many years ago, maybe around 2005.
I don't agree with everything that is said in this simple adaptation - it doesn't quite work, but it really made me think, and I do like it enough that it's stayed in the back of my mind. God is many things to many people, and partly God does give us solace, direction and belonging, God does call us to come to Him when we are weary and burdened, and promises that "I will give you rest" - Matthew 11:28. Of course, God does not exist to give us comfort - God exists in and of Himself, and while God does give us deep comfort, often He also challenges us and makes us very uncomfortable. I really like the image of God like a window and an open door, beckoning us to come closer to Him and be willing to be shown more. To some people, God is air-fairy, or light and fluffy , and other people use Him as a symbol of the violence in their hearts and then go out into the world with steel in their hands - whether swords, or guns or bombs. To me, I think God should be a way of living, and this website is part of that approach. The adapted line about "God is holding on ... and... letting go" are probably the two lines that makes the least sense to me, for now at least. Definitely there have been times in my life when I have said I just don't know what God is, and what God is to me, and I have wrestled with it, and the process of trying to find God and trying to find a comfortable way to hold God in my heart with integrity has been full of conflict, and I've spent a fair bit of mental energy trying to make the pieces fit, because not everything that I have read and heard rings true or is acceptable. I feel like I am now at peace, and I have a better understanding of who God is to me, but I try to still remain open to stepping through the next door to find out more again. And partly, God is like thunder - splendid, awe-inspiring and untamed. And I do believe that we are called to be God for each other, so that we create moments and memories of God for each other.
***
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ... We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
1 John 4:7-21 - NIV
***
In my adaptation, the last line is "My memories of God will be of you."
This dovetails with my favourite line of my favourite poem: "As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God."
I've set out the whole poem below:
A Song of Living
By Amelia Josephine Burr (1878 -?)
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky.
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast.
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have kissed young Love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end.
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend.
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well.
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I give a share of my soul to the world where my course is run.
I know that another shall finish the task I must leave undone.
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I trod.
As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
***
When this song talks about God seeing us through when we're lost, and God bringing us home in times of trouble, and God beckoning to us and wanting to show us more, it makes me think of three of my favourite church songs:
The Summons by John Bell
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer pray’r
In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the pris’ners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.
***
Our Supper Invitation by Fr Kevin Bates
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.
Let me befriend you now; eat take your fill.
Don’t be afraid to dream; love has its will.
Take up your burden now, walk ’til you find
Just what the journey means; walk while there’s time.
Food for the journey will answer your need.
Don’t be afraid to walk; love, my love will lead.
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Be a sweet nourishment to good friends of mine.
Let me befriend you now; eat, take your fill.
Share with your people, that love has its will.
Take of my bread and eat, drink my new wine.
Take of my life and live, branch of my vine.
© Kevin Bates 1985.
***
Come As You Are by Sr Deidre Brown
Come as you are, that’s how I want you
Come as you are, feel quite at home
Close to my heart, loved and forgiven
Come as you are, why stand alone?
No need to fear, love sets no limits
No need to fear, love never ends
Don’t run away, shamed and disheartened
Rest in my love, trust me again
I came to call sinners, not just the virtuous
I came to bring peace, not to condemn
Each time you fail, to live by my promise
Why do you think, I’d love you the less?
Come as you are, that’s how I love you
Come as you are, trust me again
Nothing can change, the love that I bear you
All will be well, just come as you are.
© Deidre Browne
Published by Spectrum Publications.
http://www.spectrumpublications.com.au/