I am going to focus on one of the songs the musical, Seasons of Love. This is one of my favorite songs from this musical because it is challenging the audience to think about how they measure a year. They offer suggestions of daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee, inches, miles, laughter or strife then they suggest, “How about love? Measure Your Life in Love.” They call us to measure in love, “Let's Celebrate, Remember a year in the life of friends; Oh you got to you got to remember the love, you know that love is a gift from up above, share love, give love, spread love; Measure, measure your life in love.” I think this song is crying out for the Kingdom. Calling us all to measure a year in our life not by the things we accomplished that year but by love. We need to remember the love; did we share love with those who need it, did we give love to those who needed it, did we spread love through our actions, did we even stop to remember that love is a gift from God. God’s first two commandments are about love; love the Lord your God with all your heart, body, and mind; and second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Seasons of Love is a simple song with only a piano, drums, guitar and an organ but I think is has a very powerful message to think about a year in terms of love not what the empire to tell you measure in.
Yes, I agree. "Seasons of Love" is a very good song. It is probably so popular because it is really catchy. It's a popular song just to break out with your friends who love the movie or love to sing. Its a mix between pop and gospel I think.
ReplyDeleteThey used to play the whole song as the commercial for the movie "Rent". That's what got me to watch the movie because the song was so good.
Unfortunately I don't think the rest of the movie is all that good; especially some of the messages it conveys.
I agree with this post. I think that the song does have a kingdom message in it about love. The people singing the song are going through a great many trials. They are battling sickness, drug addiction, loss, heartbreak, etc. Through it all they are crying out for love. They are experiencing some of the toughest things in life and some of them are nearing the end of their lives. In the end they realize that riches and prestige does not matter. Love matters.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Beatles sang "All you need is love," they quickly discovered that love is hard work and then gave up on the idea. It seems that we're often sold a sappy, sentimental version of love that isn't actually strong enough to withstand difficult experiences.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this is the case for this song or if it even could be (as the lyrical content is fairly concise), but we should be aware that we're often being sold an anemic version of love.