Motown Messages

Did you know that yesterday was “Motown Monday?”  Well, here in Austin, Texas at a particular night-spot called “The Highball” it was Motown Monday, and my son Ryan, the singer-songwriter musician, was singing lead with a band called “The Matchmaker Band.”  They were bringing the house down with their amazing repertoire of Motown favorites – “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “I’ll Be There,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Rescue Me,” “You Are the Best Thing,” and tons more. 

 

Those amazing Motown songs, the driving beat, the easy sing-ability, the blend of tight vocal harmonies backed with the brassy strength of saxophone and trumpet – you just can’t stay sitting still!  Even the shy, the faint of heart, the ones (like me) whose husbands didn’t come because they had to get up early for work the next morning and it’s a Monday, for goodness sake – were up on the spacious dance floor dancing, laughing, harkening back to the 60’s and 70’s when the Motown label was at its zenith and literally guiding our whole culture.  It’s not a bad aerobics workout, either, if you let yourself cut loose!  As I looked around, many on the dance floor had not even been born yet during that era and yet they were totally involved as well, mouths moving to every word.

And yet, those words…. So many of those Motown songs have words that as I focused on their meaning I realized – there was a virtual sermon going on!  Oh my gosh, the more I paid attention, the more I heard it – we humans are forever calling out to God!  We sing about Him, write about Him, and even disguise our theology in so-called “secular” Billboard Chart hit songs when there are really deeply spiritual truths just brimming under the surface. 

Seriously, if you “unpack” the words to some of these Motown favorites and sift through them with a spiritual mindset, they almost could be classified as Biblical!  Just listen to this classic by Marvin Gaye – and as you read through I bet you can sing the tune in your mind –

Ain’t no mountain high enough

Ain’t no valley low enough

Ain’t no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you, babe.

Ain’t no mountain high

Ain’t no valley low

Ain’t no river wide enough, baby.

If you need me, call me

No matter where you are

No matter how far.

Just call my name,

I’ll be there in a hurry

There’s no need to worry.

Now THIS time – go back and picture that God our Father is singing this personally to you!  Really – try it!  Have you ever been in a valley of despair or stress and looked up to see only mountains of troubles looming overhead all around you?  How incredibly comforting it is to know that nothing can keep our God from hearing us and coming to us when we call for help. 

Here is actual Scripture that says the same thing –

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there; if I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.

                                                                        ~  Psalm 139:7-10

Or this Biblical treasure –

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from Christ Jesus our Lord.                       ~  Romans 8:35, 37-39

Here is another MOTOWN MESSAGE, thanks to Miss Aretha Franklin:

Come on baby and rescue me
Come on baby and rescue me
'Cause I need you, by my side
Can't you see that I'm lonely
Rescue me!

Come on and take my heart
Take your love and conquer every part
'Cause I'm lonely and I'm blue
I need you and your love too…..

Would you like to see what her predecessor King David had to say to the LORD when he was in a similar mood?

Turn to me and be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted.  The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me! Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in You.                                        ~  Psalm 25:16-21

Man, we could truly do this all day!  See what I mean?  The Motown songs are coming from the soul of all of us!  

Here is one more Motown Message to close us for now – and this time, as you sing these words in your head to the familiar tune, again by Marvin Gaye, sing them to your Father, your Rescuer, your Best Friend –

I needed the shelter of someone’s arms

And there you were.

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs

And there you were.

With sweet love and devotion

Deeply touching my emotions.

I want to stop, and thank you, baby

I just want to stop, and thank you, baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you, yes it is

How sweet it is to be loved by you.

I close my eyes at night

And wonder what would I be without you in my life.

Everything was just a bore

All the things I did, seems like I’d done them before

But you brighten up all my days

With a love so sweet in so many ways…

I want to stop, and thank you, baby

I just want to stop, and thank you, baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you, yes it is

How sweet it is to be loved by you.

Thanks, Motown.  Thanks, Matchmaker Band.  Thank you, Lord.

And just in case you want a Motown refresher….

www.TheHighball.com

www.MatchmakerBand.com