City of God?

 

‘Lost in the city.

Lost in their eyes as you hurry by…

…I feel lost in the city’

(from ‘Heart of the Sunrise’ by Yes, from the album ‘Fragile’, 1971)

 

 

In just a few days’ time we will be going to a concert by Jon Anderson, former singer and front man of the progressive rock band, Yes. His current tour apparently includes mainly songs from his many decades with Yes. They are a band I first saw as a 14 year old in 1970, and have seen countless times since then.

‘Heart of the Sunrise’ (quoted above) is one of my favourite Yes tracks, and I vividly recall the first time I ever heard it, when they played it live at a concert in Glasgow in October 1971, just before the release of the LP ‘Fragile’ on which it was featured. I was struck by its power and force then, and I still highly rate it 55 years on.

Jon Anderson is now coming up for 82 years old, so I am not sure if he will be able to sing it with anything like the same force as was the case five and a half decades ago. We’ll see!

But I do know that his own interpretation of the lyrics (and, given that he penned them, he should know!) was about being lost, disoriented, and disturbed by the city. I gather that when they were recording a later album, he insisted that bales of hay and life-size models of farm animals be moved into the studio so that he could feel they were recording on the country!

Anyone who knows me (or indeed, readers of my blog) will be well aware that I do not share Anderson’s distaste for the city! I love cities.

Of course, I also appreciate the countryside and the seaside; I have spent may a happy day on the mountains or by a loch. But it is the city that energises me. A day in the city (most any city) is a day well spent and will give me a smile and a sense of renewal.

So, I am obviously biased!

However, I have long wondered why it is that in contemporary Christianity, landscapes and seascapes usually provide the background for images with inspirational verses, or PowerPoint hymn lyrics. And in much devotional writing, much is made of the perception of the renewing presence of God, by the waterside and among the hills; but not so much the city.

There are, of course, exceptions to this. The writer of modern prayers in a Celtic vein, the late Rev David Adams, former Vicar of Lindisfarne, wrote many prayers drawing on observations on nature. This is much as you would expect, I suppose.

Then he published ‘Power Lines: Celtic Prayers About Work’ in 1992, with the cover illustration depicting a refinery or petro-chemical plant. I hardly think that would go down too well now! However, the book shook me a bit at the time – in a positive way. It made me think about how we express our spirituality, where we discern God, and what inspires us.

And here’s the thing; I find that I find that the buzz of a city speaks to me of the , I see Jesus in the faces of the crowds, I hear God speak as I wander the streets, or browse in a bookshop, or wander through an art gallery.

It is not that I don’t find spiritual connections on more rural settings or as I listen to the waves breaking on the shore; I do. But perhaps not as much as other folks do.

And, I have often thought about how Scripture sees things, and I have frequently been struck  y the fact that the vision of John in Revelation was of a New Jerusalem.

It’s going to be a city folks!

Indeed, there is also going to be no sea! Let these two facts sink in for a moment…

And, today, I was reading Psalm 107, and I was again stuck by how positively towns and cities are viewed.

 

Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to an inhabited town;

hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress;

he led them by a straight way,

until they reached an inhabited town.

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

                                                             Psalm 107: 4-8

Now, to be fair, the same Psalm extols the joys of pools of water, the wonders of the sea, fields of cattle, and vineyard. But it remains the case that not everything about the sea or the hills etc is regarded as positive in Scripture (in fact, far from it) and not everything about cities is depicted as distasteful or undesirable (again, far from it).

So, perhaps next time I have to prepare the background for a PowerPoint slide I should choose a streetscape and not some supposed rural idyll.

And, with these inconclusive musings, I am off to meet a with a friend… in the city of course!