{"id":2187,"date":"2007-03-05T10:26:08","date_gmt":"2007-03-05T16:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2007-03-05T10:27:03","modified_gmt":"2007-03-05T16:27:03","slug":"an-old-city-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/an-old-city-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"An Old City Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday Brian<\/strong> filled the church<\/a> in on our future direction. I hope to have a podcast up by this evening but I was running into some problems yesterday with my software. And for some reason I have a Christmas song stuck in my head today (at least that’s better than the Father Abraham I had stuck in my head yesterday — thanks to Scott<\/b>).
\nIt’s not a traditional song by any means. It’s from the Trans Siberian Orchestra. But as I read over the lyrics again I thought it was very fitting for the direction I believe our church is heading…<\/p>\n

“Old City Bar”<\/p>\n

In an old city bar
\nThat is never too far
\nFrom the places that gather
\nThe dreams that have been <\/p>\n

In the safety of night
\nWith its old neon light
\nIt beckons to strangers
\nAnd they always come in <\/p>\n

And the snow it was falling
\nThe neon was calling
\nThe music was low
\nAnd the night
\nChristmas Eve <\/p>\n

And here was the danger
\nThat even with strangers
\nInside of this night
\nIt’s easier to believe <\/p>\n

Then the door opened wide
\nAnd a child came inside
\nThat no one in the bar
\nHad seen there before <\/p>\n

And he asked did we know
\nThat outside in the snow
\nThat someone was lost
\nStanding outside our door <\/p>\n

Then the bartender gazed
\nThrough the smoke and the haze
\nThrough the window and ice
\nTo a corner streetlight <\/p>\n

Where standing alone
\nBy a broken pay phone
\nWas a girl the child said
\nCould no longer get home <\/p>\n

And the snow it was falling
\nThe neon was calling
\nThe bartender turned
\nAnd said, not that I care
\nBut how would you know this?
\nThe child said I’ve noticed
\nIf one could be home
\nThey’d be all ready there <\/p>\n

Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
\nAnd in all of his life he was never that far
\nAnd he did something else that he thought no one saw
\nWhen he took all the cash from the register draw <\/p>\n

Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
\nAnd we watched from the bar as they started to speak
\nThen he called for a cab and he said J.F.K.
\nPut the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
\nAnd we saw in his hand
\nThat the cash was all gone
\nFrom the light that she had wished upon <\/p>\n

If you want to arrange it
\nThis world you can change it
\nIf we could somehow make this
\nChristmas thing last <\/p>\n

By helping a neighbor
\nOr even a stranger
\nAnd to know who needs help
\nYou need only just ask <\/p>\n

Then he looked for the child
\nBut the child wasn’t there
\nJust the wind and the snow
\nWaltzing dreams through the air <\/p>\n

So he walked back inside
\nSomehow different I think
\nFor the rest of the night
\nNo one paid for a drink <\/p>\n

And the cynics will say
\nThat some neighborhood kid
\nWandered in on some bums
\nIn the world where they hid <\/p>\n

But they weren’t there
\nSo they couldn’t see
\nBy an old neon star
\nOn that night, Christmas Eve <\/p>\n

When the snow it was falling
\nThe neon was calling
\nAnd in case you should wonder
\nIn case you should care <\/p>\n

Why we’re on our own
\nNever went home
\nOn that night of all nights
\nWe were already there <\/p>\n

THEN ALL AT ONCE INSIDE THAT NIGHT
\nHE SAW IT ALL SO CLEAR
\nTHE ANSWER THAT HE SOUGHT SO LONG
\nHAD ALWAYS BEEN SO NEAR <\/p>\n

IT’S EVERY GIFT THAT SOMEONE GIVES
\nEXPECTING NOTHING BACK
\nIT’S EVERY KINDNESS THAT WE DO
\nEACH SIMPLE LITTLE ACT<\/p>\n

—
\nI looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one. – Ezekiel 22:30<\/em><\/p>\n

What are you doing to change the world around you? Or are you simply waiting for the world to change?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday Brian filled the church in on our future direction. I hope to have a podcast up by this evening but I was running into some problems yesterday with my software. And for some reason I have a Christmas song stuck in my head today (at least that’s better than the Father Abraham I had … Continue reading An Old City Bar<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,13,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-music","category-reflections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-zh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}