There’s something about a good groove, you know? When a song comes on that has a sweet vibe, a good kick, and a nice bass line — it doesn’t even matter what genre of music because you find yourself nodding your head, swaying, doing the shoulder shimmy… or whatever it is you do when you are enjoying a good tune. The bass sets the mood. It drives the song. Seriously, when you hear the bass line in the song Money by Pink Floyd…. oh yeah! I have had many a good drive grooving to that song.
It’s those bass notes — the deeper rhythms of life, the bigger questions, the more significant things that drive us. Rob Bell references this concept frequently in his talks.
He said, “We are craving bass notes right now. The treble is the squeakier, higher frequency note … and something about modern culture … the internet … — the way in which blips and squeaks are coming at us faster than ever, the way news is sensationalized, the headlines that demean actual news and journalism and reporting, this TMZing of our world — it’s sped everything up so that everything is happening right here in this moment. It can easily disconnect us from things that are older than five minutes. Life can become all treble, no bass.”
In 1 Corinthians 13, St. Paul speaks of the sound of crashing cymbals. Sometimes in a band, a drummer can get a little bit too heavy on the cymbals, and it’s just that constant tsh tsh tsh tsh tsh tsh tsh tsh sound. Essentially, Paul was saying that this repetitive high frequency annoying sound is what it is like when you speak without love. Maybe that’s what the majority of social media posts or news broadcasts sound like these days. High frequency crashes. Treble. Treble. Treble. It’s a constant stream, day after day, and I find myself holding my head and longing for some deep notes. Here it is, September, and we are still in the midst of the pandemic, the protests, the politics — and find ourselves more divided now than we were 8 months ago. Assailed on all sides by the tyranny of the urgent, the barrage of opinions, the rants and raves of both experts and keyboard warriors alike — these treble notes have captured our attention and have disconnected us from those deep rhythms of life. Most of it is without love. Some of it might even be “truth,” but without love… it’s just noise. Annoying noise.
In the midst of all this, I have to choose to be intentional and look at the bigger questions, to seek out those moments where I can experience the significant questions, the conversations that cause me to breathe a yes, to pull my hands from my temples and smile because the bass line is just so good and it feels like I’m back in sync with the way things should be. Yeah. Those are the moments I long for and seek out. Sometimes I find them hiking on a cliff along the edge of Lake Michigan, other times I find them in a conversation with friends as we wrangle through the questions behind the questions.
At the end of it all, as I was finishing this post, Sueanna closed the set tonight with this prayer:
In the midst of all this… there You are.
There You are, God.
You are always waiting.
Always listening.
Always ready to answer.
There You are.
Our answer.
Our help.
Patient.
Waiting.
Always.
Never tired.
Willing to answer.
Thank You God.
Thank You for being there when my cry came.
When there was no one else, You were there.
When everyone else passed me by, You stopped and picked me up.
Rightly do we love You.
Rightly do we look to You.
Rightly do we depend on You.
Rightly do we cling to You.
Rightly do we follow You.
Rightly do we obey You.
Rightly do we love You.
Our faith — my faith — is the bass notes; the deeper and significant rhythm that drives me.
Rob Bell “What is the Double Down.” The Robcast. May 14, 2017. https://robbell.podbean.com/e/what-is-the-double-down/
Love this Joshua, great thoughts. I also enjoy the picture you chose, it is very fitting!
I think something to discuss when addressing the conflict we have, is admitting when we our wrong. Looking at our bias, generalizations, or sterotypes… whatever they might be. Whatever news channel we listen to doesn’t have our best intentions in mind. And they certainly don’t help us stay unified.
So when we talk to people, the love of Christ should drive us to be humble. I am the worst at this. Quite literally. It is difficult to desire to understand another person’s point of view, and to actually consider it.
And I think so much of the annoying noise you mentioned is coming from this culture of not listening and not being watchful of ourselves. It’s dangerous. At the end of the day we might not agree on things. But we can agree to care about the fact that a change needs to happen. In ALL of us.
Another mistake we make is thinking the problem is “in the world” or the “kids these days,” whatever it may be. But really, each and every one of us could choose to change our own hearts everyday. Talking about how bad the world is wont change it, nor will pointing fingers when we have a big plank in our eye.
Jesus taught His followers to be charitable, to put the interests of others before our own.
Lastly, I think it’s amazing how much you get outside. What a great way to clear the mind. Anyone can find appreciation and beauty in the great outdoors. I think it’s a huge part of being human to get out there and connect to the world. We’re always to busy with noise…distracting noise. And even if just for a moment we break away, it is refreshing to body and soul.
Thanks Zach for the comment! Good thoughts!