Word of Life Church Podcast

<p>On the first Sunday in Lent the lectionary takes us to the wilderness temptation of Christ. As Jesus prayed and fasted forty days in preparation to launch his ministry—a ministry that would announce and enact the arrival of the kingdom of God— he was beset with three satanic temptations. The first two temptations involved misuse of miraculous powers. But it was the final temptation that was the most insidious of all: the temptation to receive political dominion over the kingdoms of the world in exchange for bowing down to the devil. The third temptation deserves special attention, not only because it was the most sinister, but because it is the temptation that has beguiled and beleaguered the church for seventeen centuries.</p>

<p>Jesus knows that all forms of spirituality built on legalistic, rule-based religion focused on behavior modification is a dead-end road. It cannot produce life. Inward transformation, a change of the heart and the formation of character, becomes the foundation for real life in the kingdom of God. Jesus warns us of the judgment that is to come if we allow anger to become angry words that seek to hurt and destroy. It is ok to get angry, but there is a massive difference between being a person who feels angry and being an angry person. One is Christlike and one is not. If we are to be made new, renewed in the likeness of God, we have to deal with our anger issues. To do so we need to answer at least three questions: How do I respond to the anger I feel? How do I resolve the anger that seems to linger? What about righteous anger?</p>

<p>When Isaiah penned his “Rivers In the Desert” poem, Judah was in a bad way—internally Judah was corrupt and externally it was under threat of foreign invasion. But the poet of audacious hope does not despair; instead he proclaims that God will come, and in that day it will be said, “Here is your God!”</p>

<p>Paul says that Christ has abolished death and brought immortality to light, and he says this is the gospel. And it is! But it’s not the gospel we’re accustomed to hearing. Over time the gospel has been reduced to be almost exclusively about forgiveness. Of course forgiveness is a beautiful component of the gospel, but that’s not all there is. The gospel in its fullest and most grand presentation is about the abolition of death.</p>

<p>Where there is no war, is in heaven above, where Christ reigns supreme. In the world above, the world to come, the war is already won. The devil has been cast down and no longer has any place in heaven above. Heaven is the place where there is no war, so keep your head in heaven above.</p>

<p>This sermon is an exploration of the fundamental truth that many of us know, but most of us find hard to believe. 1 John 4 lays out the extraordinary claim that God is love. The implications for our lives and the world we live in are profound and unlimited in the light of this reality - if only we can come to know and believe that it is true. May we let go of our false self and let our true self be known and loved by the God who is love.</p>

<p>After the ancient people of God crossed the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land, they stacked 12 stones to serve as a memorial that God indeed had remained faithful to God’s people. The resurrection of Jesus is our memorial stone as the renewed people of God. Jesus’ resurrection was not a collection of stones stacked by human beings, but a single stone that God rolled away when life triumphed over death. Resurrection as a memorial stone is a way of seeing. Our painful past is often recorded in our memories in black and white, but resurrection colors everything with hope and life. The resurrection as a memorial stone changes how we look at our suffering personally and collectively because the resurrection of Jesus is a signpost pointing us to a future resurrection of our own.</p>

<p>The Gospel of John decidedly and deliberately differs from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John the Evangelist wants to give us a theological Gospel containing the highest possible Christology. In his opening sentence John tells us that this one who is the Word of God is fully divine. While the other Gospels give genealogies and tell us that Jesus comes from Bethlehem and Nazareth, John is not interested in those particular biographical details. For John the only genealogy of Jesus that really matters is that he is the Son of God, who was in the beginning with God, and that he is the truth of God who comes from heaven, that is from above.</p>

<p>Sanctuary<br>Hiss Golden Messenger<br><br>Feeling bad<br>Feeling blue<br>Can't get out of my own mind<br>I know how to sing about it<br><br>Ring of bone<br>A little lonely<br>I better hit the road, child<br>We can cry into the phone a while<br><br>Jubilee<br>Find me<br>Steady with your hope now<br>That little light's gotta last a while<br><br>Like an arrow to the marrow<br>I know it feels like hell now<br>'Til we make it to the other side<br><br>You want good news<br>You want sanctuary<br>When you try to get real<br>Oh, they break you on the wheel<br>You wanna move<br>You want sanctuary<br>That's all that I can offer to you<br>From the bottom to the bone<br>To the bone<br><br>Get used to the bad news<br>It's all part of the show, child<br>Handsome Johnny had to go, child<br><br>Did you feel the bad news?<br>Oh, there's something you should know now<br>Little things that'll cut you down<br><br>Ragged people<br>Hard times<br>And the lightning strikes the poorhouse<br>The rich man cries like a crocodile<br><br>Salvation<br>Despair<br>But the game that they taught me<br>Sometimes it feels like it just ain't fair<br><br>You want good news<br>You want sanctuary<br>When you try to get real<br>Oh, they break you on the wheel<br>You wanna move<br>You want sanctuary<br>That's all that I can offer to you<br>From the bottom to the bone<br>To the bone<br><br>Yeah, to the bone<br>Ah, to the bone<br>Yeah, to the bone<br>Ah, to the bone<br>Yeah, to the bone<br>Ah, to the bone<br><br>Feeling bad<br>Feeling blue<br>Can't get out of my own mind<br>But I know how to sing about it</p>

<p>Quiet Town<br>The Killers<br><br>A couple of kids got hit by a Union Pacific train<br>Carrying sheet metal and household appliances<br>Through the pouring rain<br>They were planning on getting married after graduation<br>Had a little baby girl, trouble came and shut it down<br>Things like that ain't supposed to happen<br><br>In this quiet town<br>Families are tight<br>Good people,<br>They still don't deadbolt their doors at night<br>In this quiet town<br><br>When we first heard opioid stories<br>They were always in whispering tones<br>Now banners of sorrow mark the front steps of childhood homes<br>Parents wept through daddy's girl eulogies<br>And merit badge milestones with their daughters and sons<br>Laying there lifeless in their suits and gowns<br>Somebody's been keeping secrets<br><br>In this quiet town<br>They know how to live<br>Good people who lean on Jesus<br>They're quick to forgive<br>In this quiet town<br><br>Now whenever I'm near the town<br>I'll find some reason to give<br>And I will walk with the dead and the living where I used to live<br>And every time I see my parents in the prime of their lives<br>Offering their son the kind of love he could never put down<br>Part of me is still that stainless kid, lucky<br><br>In this quiet town<br>Salt of the land<br>Hard-working people, if you're in trouble<br>They'll lend you a hand<br>Here in this quiet town<br><br>The first crop of hay is up<br>School let out and the sun beats down<br>Smoke billows from a Sunday train<br>That cries away from a quiet town</p>

<p>Unconditional (Lookout Kid)<br><br>Unconditional (Lookout Kid)<br>Arcade Fire<br><br>Lookout kid, trust your heart<br>You don't have to play the part <br>They wrote for you<br>Just be true<br>There are things that you could do<br>That no one else on earth could ever do<br>But I can't teach you, I can't teach it to you<br><br>Lookout kid, trust your mind<br>But you can't trust it everytime<br>You know it plays tricks on you<br>And it don't give a damn if you are happy or you're sad<br>But if you've lost it, don't feel bad<br>'Cause it's alright to be sad<br><br>Lookout kid, trust your body<br>You can dance, and you can shake<br>Things will break, you make mistakes<br>You lose your friends, again and again<br>'Cause nothing is ever perfect<br>No one's perfect<br>Let me say it again, no one's perfect<br>Right<br><br>A lifetime of skinned knees<br>And heartbreak comes so easy<br>But a life without pain would be boring<br><br>And if you feel it, it's fine<br>I give you everything that's mine<br>I give you my heart and my precious time<br><br>Lookout kid, trust your soul<br>It ain't hard to rock n' roll<br>You know how to move your hips<br>And you know God is cool with it<br>But some people want the rock without the roll<br>But we all know, there's no God without soul<br>Right<br><br>A lifetime of skinned knees<br>And heartbreak comes so easily<br>But a life without you<br>Would be boring for someone like me<br><br>And if you feel it, it's fine<br>I give you everything that's mine<br>I give you my heart and my precious time<br>(Precious time)<br>(Give you everything)<br>I give you my heart and my precious time<br><br>Unconditional<br>Unconditional<br>No matter what you do<br>It's unconditional <br>Unconditional <br>No matter what you do<br>It's unconditional</p>

<p>Waiting On A War<br>Foo Fighters<br><br>I've been waiting on a war since I was young<br>Since I was a little boy with a toy gun<br>Never really wanted to be number one<br>Just wanted to love everyone<br><br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this<br>More to this, more to this than<br><br>Just waiting on a war?<br>Just waiting on a war?<br><br>Every day waiting for the sky to fall<br>Big crash on a world that's so small<br>Just a boy with nowhere left to go<br>Fell in love with a voice on the radio<br><br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this than that?<br>Is there more to this<br>More to this, more to this than<br><br>Just waiting on a war?<br>Just waiting on a war?<br><br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br><br>I've been waiting on a war since I was young<br>Since I was a little boy with a toy gun<br><br>Is there more to this<br>More to this, more to this than<br><br>Just waiting on a war?<br>Just waiting on a war?<br><br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br>Just waiting on a war for this and that<br>There's got to be more to this than that<br><br>'Cause I need more<br>Yeah, I need more<br>Just waiting on a war<br>Just waiting on a war<br>Yeah, I need more (for this and that)<br>(There's got to be more to this than that)<br>Yeah, I need more (just waiting on a war, for this and that)<br>(There's got to be more to this than that)<br>Just waiting on a war</p>

<p>Sunday, July 31, 2022<br>Life ain’t always empty…<br><br>Don’t get stuck in the past<br>Say your favorite things at mass<br>Tell your mother that you love her<br>And go out of your way for others<br>Sit beneath a light that suits you<br>And look forward to a brighter future<br><br>Life ain’t always empty…<br><br>Sink as far down as you can be pulled up<br>Happiness really ain’t all about luck<br>Let your demeanor be your deep down self<br>And don’t sacrifice your life for your health<br>When you speak, speak sincere<br>And believe me friend, everyone will hear<br><br>Life ain’t always empty…<br><br>Bring your own two cents<br>Never borrow them from someone else<br>Buy yourself a flower every hundredth hour<br>Throw your hair down from your lonely tower<br>And if, and if<br>You find yourself in the family way<br>Give the kid more than what you got in your day<br><br>Life ain’t always empty…<br><br>Never let a clock tell you what you got time for<br>It only goes around, goes around, goes around<br>Take your family name for your own great sins<br>'Cause each day is where it all begins<br>And don’t give up too quick<br>You only get one line, you better make it stick<br>If we give ourselves to every breath<br>Then we’re all in the running for a hero's death<br><br>Life ain’t always empty…</p>

<p>Mary and Martha do not represent two kinds of people—the contemplative person and the practical person. Mary and Martha represent two choices—two choices we all have to make. Jesus said that Mary made the better choice. Mary chose to be an everyday mystic.</p>

<p>The life of the age to come for those who are seeking first the kingdom of God is a “go and do” kind of life. Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter" (Matthew 7:21). This may be one of the most sobering things Jesus has to say. Calling Jesus Lord is not the same thing as doing what the Lord Jesus says.<br><br>Our life in pursuit of Jesus is not primarily about theology (what we believe), liturgy (the shape of our worship), or piety (our heart’s devotion), but a way of living shaped by the Holy Spirit around the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, what we believe about God is important. Yes, worship and prayer are important. Yes, devotion and passion for God are important. But each of these find <br>their significance when they prompt us to go and do.</p>

<p>Wherever people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and begin to love God with all their hearts, love their neighbor as themselves, embrace the way of peace and reject war, refuse to be an agent of accusation, choosing advocacy instead, there Satan falls like lightning.</p>

<p>The "Sons of Thunder," James and John, wanted to call fire down from heaven on a Samaritan village who refused to welcome Jesus. In their petition they were able to cite Scripture because Elijah had done this. But Jesus rebuked them, saying, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of." The question isn't can we find it in the Bible, but can we find it in Jesus. If we weaponize the Bible to hurt other people, we do not have the Spirit of the Lord.</p>

<p>Don't surrender your faith in Jesus to an ideological ism. Nationalism, Socialism, Capitalism, Marxism, Conservatism, Progressivism, Fundamentalism, Liberalism, etc. Isms can easily become possessed, turn into a herd, and rush off a cliff. Sit with Jesus instead. Jesus will put you in your right mind. Following Jesus may sometimes look conservative or sometimes look progressive. But it’s Jesus we are following, not an ideological ism.</p>

<p>This sermon is about the long, gradual, Spirit-guided journey into the dazzling light of all truth.<br><br>Tell all the truth but tell it slant —<br>Success in Circuit lies<br>Too bright for our infirm Delight<br>The Truth’s superb surprise<br>As Lightning to the Children eased<br>With explanation kind<br>The Truth must dazzle gradually<br>Or every man be blind —<br>–Emily Dickinson</p>

<p>The Holy Spirit is the experience of God. Thinking about God is theology. And theology matters. Theology is the Queen of the Sciences. It’s important that we think as accurately as possible about the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—just like it’s important that we think as accurately as possible about physics, chemistry, and mathematics. But relatively few people are called to do the actual hard work of creating and writing theology. Not everyone is called to be a theologian. But the message of Pentecost is that everyone can experience God!</p>

<p>On the seventh Sunday of Eastertide we look at the culmination of great story of redemption. At the end of the Bible we discover that the gospel story does not end with the lucky elect whisked off to heaven—it ends with heaven coming to earth. And the story does not end with the demise of the nations—it ends with the healing of the nations.</p>

<p>"I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny. In this hour I do not believe that any darkness will endure!”<br><br>–The Return of the King, The Steward and the King</p>

<p>Sermon by Jonathan Martin.<br><br>In this sermon, Jonathan Martin reimagines Luke's story of two<br>disillusioned disciples walking the Emmas road away from the holy city, where they had watched their hope die a gruesome death right before their eyes. With compassion born from his own experience, Martin reveals that the resurrected Christ is profoundly present with us-even as we walk away. This is a sermon to help you feel seen in your spiritual journey and all its complexities ... and to find home where you least expect it.</p>

<p>With the resurrection of Jesus Christ the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining. But how do we know if we are shining in the light or drifting into the darkness?</p>

<p>The greatest revelations of divine love come from showings of the risen Christ. But these showings are not just for first century disciples or medieval mystics; Jesus wants to show himself to all of us, and in ways that are unique to our experience.</p>

<p>"What inclines even me to believe in Christ’s resurrection? It is though I play with the thought of it – If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like any other man. He Is Dead and Decomposed. In that case he is a teacher like any other and can no longer HELP; and once more we are orphaned and alone. So we have to content ourselves with wisdom and speculation. But if I am to be REALLY saved – what I need is…faith. And faith is faith in what is really needed by my heart, my soul, and not my speculative intelligence. For it is my soul with its passions, as it were with its flesh and blood, that has to be saved, and not my abstract mind. Perhaps we can say: Only LOVE can believe the Resurrection." -Ludwig Wittgenstein</p>

<p>Jesus preaches his own Easter sermon, when in the book of Revelation he says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Pantocrator). Fear not! I am the First and the Last. I am he that lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Death and Hades." Because it is Jesus Christ, the Almighty Pantocrator, who has the keys of Death and Hades, we can fear not!</p>

<p>The cross is the true center of history—everything leads up to it and everything flows from it. The death of God upon a tree is not just some event within history, it is the event that defines and explains, reveals and redeems all of history. However we understand the origin of sin within the human story, its trajectory moves inevitably toward Good Friday. This is the moment when the Spirit of Love that flows between the Father and Son erupted to engulf and forgive the sin of the world.</p>

<p>During his final days in Jerusalem, Jesus prophesied the end of the old temple and the emergence of a new temple -- a new temple known as the Body of Christ. This new temple is not made of limestone, but of living stones. One of the chief characteristics of this new temple is its radical inclusivity -- it is to be a temple for all people.</p>

<p>The thing that was initially the most obvious about Jesus was that he was a healer. Everyone knew that Jesus was a healer, even his enemies, who sought to use this against him. In the story of Jesus healing the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the sabbath, we look at Jesus—who is the perfect revelation of God—and ask this theological question: Is the character of God revealed in the power to harm or heal?</p>

<p>What happens when the carriers of hope and healing become the cause of harm and hurt? The wounds cut deeper, the pain becomes unbearable, and the harassed and helpless feel like sheep without a shepherd. Despite the failure of the church at times, there remains a good shepherd who walks with us through every valley. Jesus is the healer of every disease and every affliction including the afflictions suffered because of his church.</p>

<p>Ultimate Healing<br>The healing of Lazarus brought the dead back to life. Much like the other events of healing in the ministry of Jesus, this miracle demonstrated God’s glory, majesty, and magnificence. People saw Jesus' authority as he raised the dead and many believed in him. This miracle was a sign for those present at the tomb of Lazarus and a sign for us. The raising of Lazarus is a sign that our ultimate healing will take place in the resurrection at the end of the age.</p>

<p>Jesus carried our sins in his own body on the cross so that he might take away our sins, our brokenness, our sickness. This is the good news buried in the sorrow of Lent. He was wounded so that we could be healed, both body and soul, healed both on the outside and the inside, and so we bring sick people to Jesus with our prayers whether their brokenness is in their bodies, minds, or emotions.</p>

<p>We tend to make a hard theological distinction between sin and sickness, between iniquity and illness, between guilt and death; but Jesus doesn’t seem to make that kind of hard distinction. In his great compassion Jesus looks upon all of us as soul-sick sinners broken by a terrible fall, and he comes to help us, to heal us, to forgive us, and to restore us. The salvation we find in Jesus Christ is holistic.</p>

<p>You have heard it said, God helps those who help themselves. But I say unto you, God helps the helpless and leaves the rest to help themselves. We are saved when we call upon the name of the Lord—and we call upon the Lord when we know we can't save ourselves. When we go into the ashes and wait in the place of loss, we admit that we need God.</p>

<p>Scripture references are NRSV.<br><br>Transfiguration Sunday, February 27, 2022<br>Mystics on the Mountains<br><br>One of the most remarkable aspects of the Transfiguration is the appearance of Moses and Elijah—Moses who lived twelve centuries before Christ and Elijah who lived nine centuries before Christ. Moses and Elijah were mystics who had had their own encounters with God on a holy mountain. They were Mystics on the Mountains.</p>

<p>During the season of Epiphany leading up to Lent, the Gospel readings in the lectionary are focused on the early ministry of Jesus—that is, from his baptism to his transfiguration. What we find in the first half of the Gospels is the healing and teaching ministry of Jesus as he travels throughout Galilee. This sermon will look at the core of Jesus’ kingdom message—The Politics of Heaven.</p>

<p>When Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee around the age of thirty, the thing that drew the crowds and spread his fame was that he was a healer. John the Baptist was famous as a preacher and baptizer, but Jesus was first of all famous as a healer and miracle worker. From curing Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever in Capernaum at the beginning of his ministry to resorting Malchus’ severed ear in the Garden of Gethsemane at the end of his ministry, Jesus was a healer. When we look at the ministry of Jesus we can say…Hence Comes the Healer.</p>

<p>"Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him. And to be unknown by God is altogether too much privacy. My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion. … The secret of my [true] identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God."<br>—Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation</p>

<p>Jesus was rejected in his hometown. What are we to think of the people of Nazareth? Were they just more dull-witted or hard-hearted than the people of Capernaum? No. They had simply stumbled at the offence of familiarity. And today in Western society, we're all from Jesus hometown.</p>

<p>My life has become so intertwined with the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana that it has become the primary way that I tell my born again again story. Every time I read about how Jesus turned the water to wine, I feel a deep personal connection with the story. It’s become my story—or at least some of my story. And when the Gospel stories become our stories, this is when Scripture is doing its most profound work in our lives. I love the whole Bible, but I have a particular love for the story of Jesus’ first miracle. My love for this story is such that whenever I just hear the word Cana, it makes me happy. When I hear the baffled steward say, “But you have kept the best wine until now!”, I think, “That’s my story too!” The story of how in midlife Jesus turned the water to wine and I discovered the vintage I’d been looking for all my life.</p>

<p>The spiritual genius of the lectionary is on display when the water and flame poem of Isaiah 43 in the Old Testament is connected with Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament. By making this connection, we are shown that God’s promise to be with us as we pass through rivers and waters, through fire and flame, is fulfilled, as all the promises of God are, in Jesus. For Christ Jesus is the one who joins us in the waters of baptism and the one who purifies us in the baptism of fire.</p>

<p>The star of Bethlehem is not to be found in a re-creation of ancient astronomy. The star of Bethlehem is the "more sure word of prophecy" that rises in our hearts in response to the proclamation of the gospel.</p>

<p>Christ is not just born in the beautiful places of our lives, as if we live in the idyllic bubble of a snow globe. Christ is also born in the war-torn places of our lives, littered with rubber bullets and teargas canisters. Jesus was not born into a fairytale but into the world as it is.</p>

<p>Our secular age doesn’t make much room for a world filled with blessings. Our age is one that wants to reduce everything down to cold sterile mechanisms, where everything is predictable, provable, and explainable. We are given the choice to live in a world of blessings or curses. What kind of world do you want to live in? God who blesses all humanity has made a way for us to live in a world full of blessings because Jesus rescued us from the curse. If we want to live in a world full of blessings then we have to do our part and impart blessings to others including those who curse us. When we bless those who curse us, we neutralize cursing. When we curse those who curse us, we normalize cursing. Choose to bless.</p>

<p>I have climbed highest mountains<br>I have run through the fields<br>Only to be with you<br>Only to be with you<br>I have run<br>I have crawled<br>I have scaled these city walls<br>These city walls<br>Only to be with you<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>I have kissed honey lips<br>Felt the healing in her fingertips<br>It burned like fire<br>This burning desire<br>I have spoke with the tongue of angels<br>I have held the hand of a devil<br>It was warm in the night<br>I was cold as a stone<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>I believe in the kingdom come<br>Then all the colors will bleed into one<br>Bleed into one<br>But yes I'm still running<br>You broke the bonds<br>And you loosed the chains<br>Carried the cross<br>Of my shame<br>Oh my shame<br>You know I believe it<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for<br>But I still haven't found what I'm looking for</p>

<p>Think about it, there must be higher love<br>Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above<br>Without it, life is wasted time<br>Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine<br><br>Things look so bad everywhere<br>In this whole world, what is fair?<br>We walk blind and we try to see<br>Falling behind in what could be<br><br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love<br>Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?<br><br>Worlds are turning and we're just hanging on<br>Facing our fear and standing out there alone<br>A yearning, and it's real to me<br>There must be someone who's feeling for me<br><br>Things look so bad everywhere<br>In this whole world, what is fair?<br>We walk blind and we try to see<br>Falling behind in what could be<br><br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love <br>Bring me a higher love<br>Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?<br><br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love <br>Bring be a higher love<br>I could rise above on a higher love<br><br>I will wait for it<br>I'm not too late for it<br>Until then, I'll sing my song<br>To cheer the night along (bring it)<br><br>I could light the night up with my soul on fire<br>I could make the sun shine from pure desire<br>Let me feel that love come over me<br>Let me feel how strong it could be<br><br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love<br>Bring me a higher love<br>Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?</p>

<p>Welcome to your life<br>There's no turning back<br>Even while we sleep<br>We will find you<br>Acting on your best behavior<br>Turn your back on mother nature<br>Everybody wants to rule the world<br>It's my own design<br>It's my own remorse<br>Help me to decide<br>Help me make the<br>Most of freedom and of pleasure<br>Nothing ever lasts forever<br>Everybody wants to rule the world<br>There's a room where the light won't find you<br>Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down<br>When they do, I'll be right behind you<br>So glad we've almost made it<br>So sad they had to fade it<br>Everybody wants to rule the world<br>I can't stand this indecision<br>Married with a lack of vision<br>Everybody wants to rule the world<br>Say that you'll never, never, never, never need it<br>One headline, why believe it?<br>Everybody wants to rule the world<br>All for freedom and for pleasure<br>Nothing ever lasts forever<br>Everybody wants to rule the world</p>

<p>The sixth century BC was a very difficult time for the Jewish people. Their holy city and their holy temple had been destroyed, and most of the survivors had been deported into forced exile in Babylon. The difficult challenge they faced was how to survive as exiles in Babylon and maintain their monotheistic faithfulness to Yahweh. How do you integrate into Babylonian society so that you can have a life but at the same time retain your Jewish identity? How do you live in a pagan world without becoming a pagan yourself? This is what the book of Daniel is about.</p>