Last week I was at work, as usual. I had a lot of things on my mind, as usual. Suddenly the movie “Godspell” popped into my mind. It’s a musical based on the Gospel of Matthew that was made into a movie in 1972. The cast was a bunch of hippies, one of them named Victor Garber. You’ve seen him in many films, most notably as the designer of the Titanic in the James Cameron movie. Godspell also had some good music. Stephen Schwartz wrote all of it, and one song went to number #13 on the Billboard charts. Can you guess it's name?
I was 10 when the movie came out, and I barely remembered it, so I decided to see if it was available for purchase. A quick search on Amazon garnered pay-dirt, and this afternoon it showed up in the mail. Kathy and I settled in on the couch tonight and put it on, and I really enjoyed it. The movie is about the teachings of Jesus and how he was betrayed. They took a few liberties, but nothing bad.
It was filmed in New York, and one scene sent my heart into my throat as the cast was singing and dancing to a song with the back-drop of Manhattan in the background. They were up high. Really high. So high the amazingly large city looked very small, and I knew even before the camera started to pan back where they were standing… on the roof of the North Tower. It wasn’t even finished; you could see they were still working on the last few floors. It was quite a site seeing the tower in its infancy, knowing it would be gone 29 years later. Tomorrow.
Anyway, it was fun watching the movie. And the hit single was “Day by Day.” I love the song because it has a great chord progression, and only one verse sung over and over:
Day by day
Day by day
Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day
What other verse do you need?
If you had the misfortune of being born after the 70’s and never heard the song, here’s a clip of “Day by Day” from the movie. Enjoy!
“Jesus, it is truly my wish to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly.”
1 comment:
Great thoughts.
Do you often wonder why and how God engineers circumstance? Why did you think about Godspell and then watch it during the anniversary of 9/11, only to discover the North tower scene?
It makes me pause and contemplate, "God, what did I miss here? What do you have for me in this circumstance?"
For me it is real encouraging for God to reveal himself in the circumstance.
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