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Listening: Where were you (when the world stopped turning) by Alan Jackson

image credit: Amazon

I used to listen to music all the time but lately not as much. This particular song popped up recently, and it resonated with me. The melody was beautiful, but it was the lyrics that stuck with me. Part of the lyrics are as follows.

"I’m just a singer of simple songs, I’m not a real political man …

but I know Jesus and I talk to God and I remember this from when I was young …

faith, hope, love ...

did you dust off that Bible at home …

thank God you had somebody to love …"

The world stopped turning for many of us on 9/11 and then again during the lockdown in the pandemic. Except, during the pandemic, we were told that church was non-essential. If our faith in God is non-essential, what else is left. Sacraments were denied. So many people died alone. I still think back on this period of time, and it's traumatic. It's been three years since the lockdown, and nothing is quite back to normal. I've seen different commentaries here and there about it, but nothing substantial to offer any real closure for what has happened.

Then the lyrics talked about "faith, hope, and love". In the Bible, it is faith, hope, and charity. Charity is caritas, Christian love. Many people love, but they lack charity. Showing charity to one another is taking action and not simply feelings.


The following verse about dusting off the Bible at home; yeah, I did dust off that Bible, and I’ve been on that journey ever since. I’m continuing to discover insights every time I read the Bible. My zeal and fervor for God waned over the years, but it has slowly come back.


Of course there's this part in the lyrics, "I remember this from when I was young". There’s been so many discussion regarding proper catechesis. I can’t tell you if I received proper catechesis or not because everything seems like a blur sometimes, but something touched my soul. I've attended many churches over the years, in search of the church that I remembered when I was young. I never quite found it, not yet at least, but I could tell you which ones were not what I was looking for because decades later, I told my family that what they’re preaching down there at that stage doesn’t seem right. I came home and started reading. I read the bible, read the early church fathers, and am still reading …


Finally, the part of the lyrics, talking about going back to watching "I Love Lucy" reruns. We are doing that too. I don't think I ever fully appreciated the comedy of "I Love Lucy" until now, but after all that has happened, it was comforting for some reason and still funny after all these years.




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