Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
The Monsters of Folk self-titled CD has been spinning in repeatedly since it came out in late September. It’s a great record, but I’m starting to mourn the reality that projects like this end up detracting from the others that its members front(ed). For instance, My Morning Jacket, the brainchild of Jim James is done, it seems, due to his departure.
Supergroups, I’ve decided, are kind of like local businesses that go out of business when the multinational conglomeration comes into town. The big business is great and all, but the possibilities that the smaller businesses could have achieved – metaphorically speaking – will be missed.
The record’s first track, entitled “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)”, veers into some rather thoughtful theological territory, unlikely for some of the members of the group.
The first two verses (sung by Jim James and M. Ward, respectively) address the Divine in light of a sort of three-tiered universe as well as numerous passages from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures which refer to a faith that moves mountains (most well known, probably Mark 11.22-25):
Dear God, I’m trying hard to reach you,
dear God, I see your face in all I do.
Sometimes it’s so hard to believe in you,
but God, I know you have your reasons.Dear God, I see you moving mountains,
dear God, I see you moving trees.
Sometimes, it’s nothing to believe in,
no, no, sometimes, it’s everything I see.
And then the chorus, which reminds me of a number of recent posts (including this one) regarding suffering:
But I’ve been thinking about it,
and I’ve been breaking it down without an answer.
I know I’m thinking out loud,
but if your love’s still around, why do we suffer?
Then, Conor Oberst, of Bright Eyes and Mystic Valley Band fame, refers obliquely to 1st Corinthians 13.12 (famous for it’s inclusion in wedding vows – as well as Peter Rollins and, of course, John Caputo books):
Dear God, I wish that I could touch you,
how strange, sometimes I feel I almost do.
And then I’m back behind the glass again,
oh God, what keeps you out, it keeps me in.
By the end, we’re all singing along:
But I’ve been thinking about it,
and I’ve been breaking it down without an answer.
I know I’m thinking out loud,
but if your love’s still around, why do we suffer?
