(a Steve Orr scripture reflection)
Have you ever gone to the well and found it empty? The well of thoughts I mean. For some of us, reaching into our thoughts for small-talk at social gatherings produces … exactly nothing. We’ve gone to the well and found it empty. That particular well is not just a haunt for the socially challenged. Poets, public speakers, songwriters—lots of us, from time to time—go to that well and come away empty.
An empty well is one of the reasons I fell in love with the rock/jazz fusion band Chicago. The first time I heard the group, they were performing “25 or 6 to 4.” (You can hear the song by clicking on the link below). I was blown out of the water. Perhaps the most interesting thing about “25 or 6 to 4” is that its lyrics are a product of an empty well.
Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Flashing lights against the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
25 or 6 to 4
Robert Lamm, keyboard player, singer, and founding member of Chicago, wrote “25 or 6 to 4” early one morning while looking down on Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills. He was struggling. No matter what he tried, his well of thoughts gave him nothing useful. Eventually, he decided to write a song about the process of writing the song he was writing. (Did you follow that? No Well … it was the '60s.)
He had been sitting up all night, trying to come up with something, anything. The title reflects the time of day—3:35 or 3:34 a.m. Because more traditional lyrics wouldn’t come, he wrote down what he was experiencing.
Somehow, I think David, the author of this week’s Psalm 29, would understand. He wrote a song encouraging the people to honor their powerful God. But David was not satisfied with simple encouragement. He needed the song to say more. Did David go to that well and come up empty? Maybe. Writing songs can be hard. What I do know is that, like Robert Lamm, David turned to descriptions to complete his lyrics. He included floods, storms, earthquakes, mighty winds, thunder—and lightning.
Like all songwriters, David had the option to simply list those mighty events—or not. The difference for the Psalmist was this: When he focused on the Lord, his “well” was never truly empty. What he saw and heard was the presence of God all about him. David saw God in the storm. He saw God commanding the mighty waters. David wanted those who read and sang his songs to make that transition with him, to move from simply seeing the world to experiencing God in every moment.
The lesson for us: Look beyond what our senses report to us. Remember: David also saw flashing lights against the sky.
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