of music and poetry

At the beginning of this year, Shane implemented a family study in music, poetry, and theology using the songs of writers and musicians that he enjoys and has named "The Song of the Week". It often happens on a Saturday night.

He hands out a printout for all of us with the song lyrics along with several discussion questions he has written and begins the time by having us listen to the song of the week. The songs are often already familiar to some of us, but not always, so the follow-up discussion may start off with familiarizing ourselves with the song writer and the message of the song. 

Here are a sample of the questions he used in the song Dare You to Move by Swtichfoot which you can find both the full lyrics and video concerts by scrolling to the end of this post. It is one of their earliest songs as a band.

1. What are we welcomed into when we are born?

2. What is the tension and what can it lead to?

3. How does the author challenge us to deal with this tension in the chorus?

4. How does the author encourage us in the bridge?

Shane loves music, but he likes good song writing perhaps even better.

One of his favorite singer/song writers is Jon Foreman from the above mentioned band Switchfoot. Here is what Jon Foreman said about the meaning of the band's name as quoted on Wikipedia taken from an interview. The name "Switchfoot" comes from a surfing term."We all love to surf and been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It's about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music."
The idea of switchfoot echoes the idea of repentance. A change in the way you do life.

Jon Foreman has also done some solo work which has some of my favorite songs because the poetry captures the imagination and the music makes the heart soar. While not everyone may enjoy the rock-and-roll style of music, the content and the intent is for everyone.
I have included the lyrics and Youtube vidoes for three of their songs, which we recently saw performed in concert. The first video of every song is the official video released by the band. The second videos are the ones I took at the concert last month. If you don't want to listen to the music, you can at least read through the lyrics and understand the message.

Where I Belong

Feeling like a refugee
Like it don't belong to me
The colors flash across the sky

This air feels strange to me
Feeling like a tragedy
Take a deep breath and close my eyes
One last time

Storms on the wasteland
Ark clouds on the plain again
We were born into this fight

But I'm not sentimental
This skin and bones is a rental
And no one makes it out alive

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Feels like we're just waiting, waiting
While are hearts are just breaking, breaking
Feels like we're fighting against the tide

I wanna see the earth shaking
I wanna see a generation
Finally waking up inside

Until I die I'll sing these songs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

This body's not my own
This world is not my own
But I can hear the sound
Of my heart beating out
So let's go boys, play it loud

On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell You that I tried
To live it like a song

And when I reach the other side
I want to look You in the eye
And know that I've arrived
In a world where I belong

Where I belong

I still believe we can live forever
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now
Forever
I still believe in s together
You and I we're here together now
Together now
Together now
Forever now
Forever now

Forever

Love Alone is Worth the Fight

I'm trying to find where my place is
I'm looking for my own oasis
So close I can taste this
The fear that love alone erases

So I'm back to the basics
I figure it's time I face this
Time to take my own advice

Love alone is worth the fight
Love alone is worth the fight

And I never thought it'd come to this
But it seems like I'm finally feeling numb to this
The funny thing about a name is
You forget what the reason you were playing the game is

And it's all an illusion
A 21st century institution
So I'm headed down the open road unknown

And we find what we're made of
Through the open door
Is it fear you're afraid of?
What are you waiting for?

Love alone is worth the fight, woah
Love alone is worth the fight, woah

We're only here for a season
I'm looking for the rhyme and reason
Why you're born, why you're leaving
What you fear and what you believe in

Why you're living and breathing
Why you're fighting it and getting it even
Let's go headed down the open road unknown

And we find what we're made of
Through the open door
Is it fear you're afraid of?
What are you waiting for?

Love alone is worth the fight, woah
Love alone is worth the fight, woah

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, oh

Here we are, here we go
Where the road is our own
Hear it calling you home
Here we are, here we go!

Love alone is worth the fight
Love alone is worth the fight
Love alone is worth the fight
Love alone is worth the fight
Love alone is worth the fight

Dare You to Move

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence

Everyone's here
Everyone's here

Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift
Yourself up off by the floor

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here

Between who you are
And who you could be
Between how it is
And how it should be yeah

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift
Yourself up off by the floor

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself
To lift yourself up off by the floor

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before