Crying, Waiting, Hoping Part 2

Cuthbert, a Celtic Christian, who was on Holy Island, England, after Aidan, practiced his discipline or discipleship through night vigils, often going to extreme remedies to keep alert (like standing for hours up to his chest in the sea!) Often he sang psalms and no doubt watched the sunrise as he prayed.

Hundreds of years later the Beatles also stayed up half the night playing the clubs in Hamburg. Unlike Cuthbert, they didn’t have the cold North Sea to keep them awake and resorted to ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ to regulate their body clock.

I often wonder if the Beatles in the early 60s would have found greater solace in the Psalms than they did with their faith in chemical and alcoholic alternatives. What if they had taken to heart the advice from Psalm 37 alongside their rejection from Decca?

‘Don’t be impatient for God to act! Keep travelling along his pathway and in due season he will honour you with every blessing’

Perhaps they would have remembered Psalm 37, before they stepped off the plane in America in 1964, giving thanks for their patience and hope in God, as the world lay at their musically talented feet?

I Love The Psalms as they don't hold back on real feelings and emotions. We can all get impatient for things to happen, especially all the Old Testament Prophets!

John Lennon himself is considered by many, including myself, to be a profound prophet for peace. John and Yoko sang as one: “All we are saying is give peace a chance”. Unlike the Beatles’ emergence onto the pop scene, John never got to see his plea for world peace become a reality in his lifetime.

An Old Testament Bible prophet called Habakkuk who lived in Judah around 600BC, shared John Lennon’s sentiments about conflict and war, or absence of peace. The following quote is headed up ‘Habakkuk’s complaint’, although today it reads like a rant to me!

‘How long O Lord, must I call for help, 

but you do not listen.

Or cry out to you, “Violence” but you do not save?

Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me,

There is strife and conflict abounds.’

When Habakkuk finally stops to draw breath; God replies:

Your vision is for an appointed time..though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and it will not delay.’

Perhaps when we are in our situation of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” the issue is that we are too keen to rush God’s timing? Perhaps we should be like the Beatles, preparing the way with disciplined practice and faith, waiting in hope for our God inspired vision or dream to come to fruition?

I feel that the actual timing is irrelevant. It may be sooner, as with the Beatles record contract with Parlophone, EMI. Or it could be sowing seeds for later generations to reap a fruitful crop, as with John and Yokos’ vision of world peace.

John’s fingers bled as he learnt his guitar and his heart bled as he and Yoko spoke up for peace….What God inspired dream is your heart yearning for today? ….And do you have the courage of John, Yoko and Habakkuk to let your feet follow your heart and express your soul’s deepest longings? 

As you read this article you may be calling me a dreamer, but as John Lennon articulately put it:

‘You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one’ 

I feel sure that the prophet Habakkuk would, along with the Celtic Saints, concur with John’s vision in these lyrics and bless it with an ‘Amen’

‘Amen’ actually means ‘So be it’ or ‘Let it be’ (Which John Lennon would no doubt approve of!)

Crying, Waiting, Hoping

Writer: Buddy Holly; lead vocal: George Harrison

Crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back
I just can't seem to get you off my mind
Crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back
You're the one I love, I think about you all the time
Crying, do do do do, tears keep a falling all night long
Waiting, do do do do, it seems so useless I know it's wrong
Keep a crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back
Maybe someday soon it'll change and you'll be mine
Crying, do do do do, tears keep a falling all night long
Waiting, do do do do, it seems so useless I know it's wrong
Keep a crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back
Maybe someday soon it'll change and you'll be mine
Crying, waiting, hoping