Wild God--Cinnamon Horses--Romans 5:8
Day 7
Nick Cave’s next song on his new album Wild God is Cinnamon Horses and it's either weird yet inconsequential or it might just mean something.
Kind of like our everyday lives.
Yesterday, I was sitting in the optometrist’s office getting fitted for prescription glasses when my tooth cracked and I swallowed a little sliver of it.
Weird, inconsequential, and trivial in the grand scheme of things or a portent of my increasingly noticeable mortality?
Same with this song.
It’s got cinnamon horses AND white vampires prancing around castle ruins under a strawberry moon (sort of reminding me of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) and its either just a bunch of gobbledygook or maybe there is something deeper there like the enduring power of love being stalked by the menacing uncertainty of darkness and harm.
I told my friends that life was sweet
I told my friends that life was very sweet
And the cinnamon horses
In the turpentine trees
I told my friends some things were good
That love would endure if it could
And the cinnamon horses
Stroll through the castle ruins
I said we can’t love someone
Without hurting someone
And a dozen white vampires
Under a strawberry moon
You said that
You said that
You said that oooh
You said that
You said that
Under a strawberry moon
Because love asks for nothing
But love costs everything
And the cinnamon horses
Dance beneath a strawberry moon
I said we should not hurt one another
Still we hurt one another
And a dozen white vampires
Sun themselves in the castle ruins
You said that
You said that
You said that oooh
I told my friends that life was sweet
I told my friends that life was very sweet
You said that
You said that
In the castle ruins
I told my friends that life was good
That love would endure if it could
You said that
You said that
You said that ooh
Tucked away in all of the imagery of cinnamon horses, turpentine trees, white vampires, and strawberry moons is a small couplet which might just be the tantalizing creamy middle of this weird little Oreo cookie.
Cave sings:
Because love asks for nothing
But love costs everything
Isn’t this the central tenet of our faith?
In Romans 5, Paul points out that we don’t have to just take God’s word that we are loved in this world where our bodies fall apart daily–we can look at the evidence–while we are gross white vampires creeping around in our sin, Jesus died for those sins on the cross.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Without understanding the deep cost of love, all of my suffering, all of Karen’s, all of yours is just random and meaningless.
One cruelty stacked on top of another punctuated by the newest Netflix show or the hottest new restaurant or the latest political scandal and squabble.
Without understanding Jesus’ sacrifice, I think life becomes something much more difficult.
Dallas Willard writes in Renovation of the Heart:
“His death was a revelation of the nature of basic reality. Without knowledge of it and its meaning, we are desperately ignorant of reality, and therefore all our thinking can only result in monstrous falsehoods.”
Monstrous falsehoods, like white vampires stalking the happiness of our cinnamon horses.
Without the promise of verse 8, all of our grief and travail is a mockery of our existence.
Nick Cave speaks of loss and the feelings of obliteration in Faith, Hope, And Carnage:
“These feelings I am describing, this point of absolute annihilation, is not exceptional. In fact, it is ordinary, in that it happens to all of us at some time or another. We are all, at some point in our lives, obliterated by loss. If you haven’t been by now, you will be in time–that’s for sure. And, of course, if you have been fortunate enough to have been truly loved, in this world, you will also cause extraordinary pain to others when you leave it. That’s the covenant of life and death, and the terrible beauty of grief.”
Yeah, there is always the juxtaposition of something terrible with something beautiful in our lives.
To love is to hurt.
The only way out of hurting is to not love.
And who wants to be THAT person?
God commended HIs love on me, even though I’ve always been a bit above the fray of faith to acknowledge it.
Just took a little annihilation before I started to see the bigger picture of what He has in store for me.
In Is God’s Will My Will?, Oswald Chambers notes his profound humble holiness borne from agony:
“My attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness), a holiness based on agonizing repentance and a sense of unspeakable shame and degradation; and also on the amazing realization that the love of God commended itself to me in that while I cared nothing about Him, He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification.”
Even in our daily travails of heartache, of worry, of anxiety, (of poor eyesight and a cracked tooth), love can persist and we can find solace in the ruins of the past.
God sacrificed His Son for me–even though I haven’t been exactly worthy.
Either our lives mean something to Him and His truth and beauty are everywhere in our lives or we are inconsequential and lead meaningless lives.
And nobody wants to be THAT guy. 🙂
Lord, thank You for the amazing gift of Your grace. We thank You that Your love is not based on our worthiness or our actions but on Your endless mercy.
Lord, let Your sacrificial love inspire us to live selflessly, to forgive, and to extend grace as You have done for me.
Amen.