Tag / God’s Nature

by Greg

[Song For The Day] You Love Me

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

You Love Me
Today’s song probably doesn’t get played very often. It’s not a “radio length” song. (It’s around six minutes long.) It’s near the end of the album, and we don’t do it that often when we perform live. But in our recent listen to the album, we really enjoyed it on many levels. First, it’s another great reminder that no matter how ugly we get, even at our worst moment, God loves and accepts us completely. He’s not afraid of our ugly. And that super amazing love draws us to him, and truly changes our hearts. Amazing.

Musically, the song starts with a little bass groove (from Todd “Bassshaker” Earnst!) and has a little of everything in it. A guitar-driven song, there are multiple layers of guitar: acoustic, crunchy electric, a little “wah wah” 70s-sounding guitar… you name it! The funny story behind the song is that when we first got Ian a tiny 1/4 size guitar, I was having fun playing with it, and ended up writing this song while I did!


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

[Song For The Day] What I’m Askin’ For

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

What I’m Askin’ For

Today’s song is one of my favorites both because of what it says and how it musically says it. The song is very sad sounding in parts, lamenting. But in the angst of that lament, the truth of God’s unchanging love for me becomes the one thing I can hold on to. We can get so confused by the stuff that happens around us, wondering, “God, do you still love me? Then why is my life falling apart?” No one has an answer for all the bad-to-horrible stuff that happens in life, but we do know and trust God’s love (for us!) is the anchor we can hold on to through any of life’s storms.

What I’m Askin’ For is a piano song, and as I said before features pretty cool dynamics. Starts and ends very quietly, but builds up in the middle… have a listen, you’ll see. And don’t miss the lyric, because it’s true. “I have known your love before – and I know it doesn’t change – I know that what I’m askin’ for – has really always been the same.” This song reminds me of the message of one of our favorite books, “He Loves Me“. Also worth checking out!


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

[Song For The Day] Hide

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

Hide
Today’s song is one of the most rockin’ tunes we’ve ever recorded. (Though some on our Christmas album do rival Hide’s rockin-ness…) The idea behind the song comes from several places in scripture, but one that sticks out in my head is Hebrews 4, where it says since Jesus was tempted in every way like we are, we know we can come to him when we need him most. Lots of things compete for our attention, for our hearts… not all of them are good for us. Sometimes we just need to “Hide”.

Hide features Mike Muscarella on the electric guitar (several layers of them!) and Joe Manuel on harmonica. We had fun recording this one, and hope you’ll have fun listening to it. 🙂


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

[Song For The Day] My Visible, See-Through Friend

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

My Visible, See-Through Friend
Today’s song is about how we know God. We don’t see/touch/smell/hear him the same way we do our other relationships, and yet… we know he is there. We know Him. I wrote this song – just kinda poured out of me – during a time when I felt like other relationships had failed me badly, and I was really beat down in life. Piano is the main instrument in the song, and the vocals and vocal harmonies stand out. The lyric reminds us that not even though we don’t see God with our eyes, we know he is there by using a different set of eyes, and seeing all he has done and is doing for and around us.


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

by Greg

[Song For The Day] You Listen To Me

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

You Listen To Me
Today’s song is a song about who we are to God. It’s a fun guitar-driven song, with a great d’jembe track and other fun percussion. The lyric reminds us that not only does God hear us when we ask him for stuff, but he listens and often changes things. A fun song musically, and a fun reminder of just how much God loves you and me.


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

by Greg

[Song For The Day] God Knows

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I mentioned that we Campbells decided to move that album into our Currently Playing playlist on our iPod. It was fun to hear some of those songs again. Not only were the recordings better than I remembered (you always tend to remember the parts you wish you had done better…) it was fun to talk about what the songs said about who God is, too. Before each song I’d say to the kids, “OK kids, listen to the words and then at the end you can tell us what you learned about God from the song.” It was really cute (and awesome) to hear their answers!

I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the songs we liked best from our recent listen. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

Enjoy the first installment (which is also the first song I ever wrote!) … God Knows.


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

by Greg

Come As You Are: Seven Years Later!!

basic: Come As You AreCome As You Are
13 Tracks
Released Aug 29, 2002
Retail: $15.98

Available at:
basicmm.com | iTunes | Amazon (CD or MP3) | CDBaby.com | Village Bookmarket (Palmyra, NY)

(Also available in various other locations… have fun searching!)

Really hard to believe that it’s been seven years since the original run of Come As You Are CDs and tapes was “printed”. (And in other ways, seems like another life time!) In honor of the release date today we have been listening to the album in the Campbell home with the kiddos. First time several of them have really gotten to listen to the songs! It’s been fun!

And I thought maybe you might want to again, too.

If you already have the CD (or MP3s) please pop it in today and have a listen. It’s a pretty great collection of songs that remind us of how much God really loves us. Really. No matter how ugly or unloveable we may feel – even in our worst moments. The CD is appropriately named, to be sure.

Musically there are some really great moments I forgot about. Some great harmonies, fun dynamics, cool extra instruments like cello, mandolin, d’jembe… even harmonica! Slower songs, upbeat songs, songs with a cool groove. Acoustic songs, super-rockin’ “electrified” songs… and even one with just two voices and a piano.

If you haven’t ever gotten it, I really think you’ll like it. They are $10 from our website, $9.99 at iTunes … AND, if you want to get a few more CDs, you can get it for $5 at CDBaby.com (it’s part of a deal where you can get certain CDs for $5 if you buy just 3 CDs! *HINT* … we have four other CDs on their site….) 🙂

So, seven years later the songs still can be and are being enjoyed by many people around the world… and you could be one of them! Give it a listen today!

by Greg

Distorted View of God

Now, hear me out. I have a feeling my words here could be misunderstood. But I also think I may be seeing something from a slightly new angle (for me) that may also be helpful to you.

As I’ve been reading Genesis again, I’ve been watching for how God is interacting with us (people) in the stories. What seems to be his heart. Where is the person we see in Jesus in the gospels. I’ve commented here already on how much I can see that God is with us, and wants to be. Even though we have been a mess pretty much from the start. That’s amazingly cool.

Another line stood out to me.

When Seth [son of Adam and Eve, after Cain killed Abel] grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the Lord.
Genesis 4:26

Wait. Say that again?

It was during his [Enosh, grandson of Adam] lifetime that people first began to worship the Lord.

Really? What about Adam? And Eve? And Cain and Abel… what about the offerings that they brought, the ones that were acceptable and unacceptable. Didn’t God establish some kind of worship rules and schedule for them to follow? He didn’t?

Huh.

Strangely, in this brief, overviewish jaunt through Genesis so far, one thing I have noticed is that God did not require worship. At least, I haven’t seen it. What I have noticed is a slow progression in the way we (people) feel towards him and interact with him.

In Genesis 2, Adam and Eve spent time literally in God’s presence. And he with them. When they had to fess up to eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God was walking around in the garden. He was right there.

There is a line in this account that I remember just chuckling at as a kid. Remember it? “Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.” Tee hee! They were naked! Isn’t that funny!?

Until this day, I don’t think I really understood the significance of that. The fact that there is no shame was revealing much more than the basis for a life of nudism.

Consider the role shame seems to play not only in the next chapter, but the next ten chapters of Genesis, as sin completely overwhelms the human race, and Genesis says, “all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.” The first effect of shame was that they felt they had to cover up their bodies. God found them hiding from him, the account says, because they realized they were naked. But could it also have been that they realized they had chosen what God had told them not to?

Following that, notice that Cain and Abel both start bringing offerings to God. Already, they are separating God from themselves. Adam did not do that. Adam and Eve did not. But one generation later, that is what is happening. And God continued to be with them.

Then Seth was born, and as I wrote above, it was during his son Enosh’s lifetime that people first began worshipping the Lord. Another step towards removing ourselves from God, distancing ourselves from him.

By the time Noah and his family got on the ark, God told them to make provisions for sacrifices which they offered after the flood was over and they were all alone on the planet.

Now, did God command them to offer sacrifices? Didn’t he by saying bring enough animals for a sacrifice demand to be worshipped? I don’t think so. Jesus said that God allows for divorce because the people had hardened their hearts. God knew that even “righteous” Noah and his family felt the need to offer sacrifices – which seems to be another step further down the road of separating ourselves from God than Cain and Abel’s offerings. (Says nothing of a “sacrifice” in that instance.)

Do you see how important it was that we had no shame?

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

We’re almost to Easter. Easter is often a time when we implore people to feel shame. Remember that it was our fault that Jesus went to the cross! He grudgingly took our guilt upon him, all the way to the cross, scorning its shame. Wait, what? It doesn’t say “grudgingly”? Oh? Right! It says this:

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1:5

Great pleasure. From the beginning of time, all God has wanted is to have a relationship with us. Him… with us. He pursues us. I submit that we, out of understandable shame, are the ones who separate ourselves from him. Not that he is not deserving of reverence and awe and worship. He is. But I believe he made us to be his kids… not his subservient subjugated subjects.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

Jesus defeated sin, death, and shame on the cross that day. “For the joy set before him.” We’ve read before that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It’s so hard to see it, because we live with shame. We move God off to a distance because we know our shortcomings. He is holy, different, other. And he is. But I think what he wanted us to see in Jesus – the perfect representation of who he is – is that he’s not afraid to get a little dirty.

I think it’s great to sing to and worship God and even remind ourselves just how amazing and awesome he really is. But in the end, what he seems to want most of all, is for us to just be with him. To know him.

Jesus, and the cross, gives us the freedom to do that. The freedom to be ourselves – naked – with him.

That’s something worth celebrating.

by Greg

The Icing on the Cake

Last night I was discussing Sunday morning worship services with some friends who lead such an event and said something in a way I am not sure I had prior to that. I think the general thinking had been there, but the thoughts came out more coherently than I expected.

We were talking about the desire for people to really worship – which is a rather nebulous concept, I suppose – at least, in some visible, tangible way for each person there to connect with God in a meaningful way. Be it an experience, a thought, perhaps even an emotion… some authentic expression of their hearts to God, and/or something received from him.

As we discussed possible changes to the setting which might allow people the freedom, or a better opportunity for that to happen, I just realized… we’ve been here before.

Lots of churches in lots of places have tried changing the configuration of the stage, of the chairs (even going from pews to chairs), the lighting on stage, the lighting in the room – all with the goal of facilitating more participatory worship. But mostly, to no avail.

The problem is the mindset. We come expecting to be served something. We come for the good teaching, perhaps the good music. Whatever it is we’re coming for, the general mindset (even if it’s not intended) is that something will be given to you at that place, during that hour. The goal these guys had in mind was that everyone would come together and bring something. To engage. Participate. But until that is the mindset going in, it’s probably not going to happen.

I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago now who also leads such events. He was feeling the same thing. When he is leading people in singing songs of worship to God, he does not see the engagement of their hearts through their faces. That’s not always the best gauge, but he’s probably right. There’s not always the full heart connection that he’s looking for in that setting. We talked about all the reasons it could be, but I thought (and told him) probably the main one is that he’s looking for something in that one hour that is not necessarily true the the rest of the week – the other 167 hours.

If we want engaged, participatory, worship/celebration – we need to assemble worshippers.

We know what worship is. It’s not the music. It’s not the service we attend. It’s not any number of positions, incantations, genuflections, or meditations. All of those can be worship, but Romans 12 says to, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” A life lived everyday with God, in close relationship with him (see my previous post below) is the main goal, and from whence worship originates.

For so many years we’ve tried to get people to live everyday life with God through the one hour service at the end of the week, when really, that should be the culmination of a week lived with God – then that hour would be great. We’ve been doing it backwards.

I’m not sure exactly how we get to the point that the large group gathering is filled with believers who are living in, learning from, and just enjoying close relationship with Father every day of their lives. The only way is, I suppose, to, “make disciples of all nations,” as Jesus told his first group of followers to do.

Right now we “feed” people. We prepare tasty meals of truth applied nicely to life-lesson sandwiches. We sprinkle in some good music, maybe some other relevant media to spice it up a bit. And then, we send them home, until the next service. When they come back for more. Perhaps instead of feeding, what might work better would be to focus on helping people learn to be disciples. To learn to “feed” directly on the Source – the Bread of Life, the Living Water. He is who we follow, not anyone who might teach us about him, or help us “worship” him. It’s all about him.

I still don’t think there is any structure we can create, and programs we can organize that will accomplish this. I still believe we are made to relate. And in relating – as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, rather than any spiritual hierarchy – we can pass along what we have learned (and are learning) as we consistently follow God’s will, and live in close relationship with him.

I believe that as we do that, as we help people become disciples of Jesus – for real – then the church will thrive, and any large gatherings of the church will be joyous celebrations of the Life that is in us. Every day. Not just among us one hour of the week. That is just the icing on the cake!

The good news is, God is with us. Everywhere, every day.

by Greg

God With Us

You have probably seen the words, “God With Us,” around Christmas time. Perhaps along with the word, “Emmanuel.” In my mind, it conjures up images of the baby Jesus, lying in a feed box. They are Chrismas words. In fact, it’s the theme and title (sort of) of our Christmas album.

As I’ve been reading through Genesis, I’ve noticed that from the very beginning, those words have always been true.

It’s apparently not just a New Testament idea. God did not suddenly change his mind about us, deciding it would be OK to hang out with us, once he fixed everything on the cross. Certainly that moment in history was important in restoring our relationship with God (see Romans 5), but as I’ve seen again from even the very moment we chose to separate from God, he was with us.

In Genesis 2, the account of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and the serpent and the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil… yeah, that story… God was with us. He walked with them in the garden. Even when they were hiding in shame, he was there – and made them coverings.

Even when he posted angels with flaming swords at the entrance of the garden (where the Tree of Life was) God did not remain there, he was present with Adam and Eve and their kids. The next chapters are the unfolding story of how people began to multiply. There were many more people, and God was with them. We see even the story of Cain and Abel, sons of Adam & Eve… God was there to receive their offerings, it seems like he was there in person. The relationship continued, even though it was now different. There was no record of Adam or Eve bringing “offerings” to God before that.

(Interestingly, there’s no record of God asking for those yet, either…)

God even talks to Cain after he killed Abel. He gives him a mark, so that others won’t kill him. As the story unfolds, God is there – right there – throughout. Even though it’s getting worse and worse. Shouldn’t the sin scare him away?

As the story continues, it doesn’t scare him… but it does “break his heart.” It gets so bad that he resolved to get rid of everything. Start over. He chooses to save one person, because his is “righteous”. The qualifications for “righteous” were interesting to me.

He [Noah] consistently followed God’s will, and enjoyed a close relationship with him.
Genesis 6:9

We talk about having a “relationship” with Jesus today, but I don’t remember seeing that as the major qualification of “righteousness” in the Old Testament. Wasn’t it about sacrifices and offerings and repentance and all that? (Actually, Hebrews says that all of those who were “righteous” from the OT were made righteous by their faith…. hmm…)

So God found someone who “had a close relationship” with him, and proclaimed him as the only righteous person on earth. I like, also, that he “consistently” rather than “always” followed God’s will. It was about a relationship, rather than 100% obedience to a code of laws.

The biggest thing I get from the first 10 chapters of Genesis is that God is with us. From the beginning when all was perfect, through the time that we separated ourselves from him, to after that, through the cleansing of the giant Flood, and afterward… God is there. He’s not afraid to be near “sinful” people. The whole story of human history I think is one of God wanting to be in a close relationship – like with Noah – with us. That’s the point. Everything he does, everything he did from the beginning points to that.

More to come…