Brothers and sisters,
Have y’all ever had a musical crush? Now, let me be clear, have y’all ever had a crush on a musical artist cause they themselves are attractive? I mean, have you ever listened to a new artist’s song and thought, “Oh! I need to hear more of their stuff!”? You get a hold of their record, start listening, and realize that there’s just something about their music that makes you want to do nothing but keep listening. They can do no wrong; their music hits you in just the right way. Have y’all ever had that?
Well, of late, I’ve had a musical crush on Olivia Dean. If you’ve listened to any radio station that plays Top 40 songs, you’ve probably heard either her song, “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” or “Man I Need”. Dean sings this wonderful kind of pop-jazz-soul music that is easy to listen to, but I appreciate her lyricism as well. The two songs I just mentioned are fun and flirty, with one of the lines in “So Easy” being, “There’s Heaven in my heart, and we could find you some space.” But there’s one song later in her record, The Art of Loving, with a line that has haunted me (in a good way) since I heard it.
The song is called, “A Couple Minutes,” and it’s this slow, nostalgic song about an encounter the singer has with an ex of hers. She’s surprised by some of his changes at first (“Since when are you smoking now?”), but eventually she and her ex connect over some of their shared memories, the feelings they had for each other, and it becomes clear that while the ex has moved on, the singer has not. She’s trying to, but there is a part of her that he knows and she wishes they could linger in their memories and their shared knowledge (“Back on your sofa/Of course, I still care…And although it’s over/I’ll always be there/Only have a couple minutes, then we’re going back to real life”). But the line that gets me, that prompted this article is buried in the middle of the chorus, “Love’s never wasted/When it’s shared”. The singer, despite the pain the breakup caused, is still able to look at the love the two of them had and see it as a good thing.
As a pastor, I think about that line not in the sense of a breakup, but in the sense of why the church does what it does. Why do we reach out to people and help them, knowing they can never repay us? Cause God calls us to love our neighbors and help those in need as a reflection of God’s love for us. Why do we host events and pursue mission projects even if we don’t achieve “success” as church consultants might define it? Cause God calls us to be joyful people who love others the way God loves us. And so, we reach out. We draw people in. We meet needs. We offer joy. Because God has loved us and has called us to share that love. And love is never wasted when it’s shared. It is always a good thing to love others. I think that’s an idea we could all stand to keep in mind in the days and weeks ahead. Loving our neighbors is never a waste. Loving those who are struggling is never a waste. Loving our enemies is never a waste. Cause God loves us and has never seen it as a waste. Thanks be to God!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben