Finding Jesus in Radiohead

The blend of working with The Sandlot today and listening to Radiohead tonight inspired my post. Here are the lyrics that got me to thinking...

"No Surprises" Radiohead

Aheart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you
Bruises that won't heal
You look so tired and unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us
I'll take a quiet life
A handshake of carbon monoxide

No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises

Silent, silent
This is my final fit, my final bellyache with

No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please

Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden

No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)
No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)
No alarms and no surprises please (let me out of here)

If you changed the word government with "establishment" or "church" this song might sum up the modern American church experience. This is not ok.


Where has our passion gone? Where is the desire to make change and not just be a reflection of our culture rather than setting the pace for our culture?

Why are we full up like a landfill? We have all the stuff to fill up our time and desires, and yet we're devoid of meaning and fulfillment, and merely full of trash. We care so much for the things that other people respect, but we don't respect ourselves.

Is it more important to be a person who cares about things, or to just appear to others to be a person who cares about whatever is trendy to care about at the time?

Are we content to wear a tee shirt that charges us to love our neighbors while denying them when they are in need?

Why are we so content with our comfy, quiet homes that aren't easily upset or challenged? Why does it unnerve us to think about the charge of Christ to sell all we have and follow Him?

Such a pretty house and such a pretty garden.

So much of our desires are about having these things that make us feel comfortable, but we aren't ready for God to shake up our lives in a way that completely throws off our "five year plan".

Personal revival, a renewing of our commitment to Christ and rejection of the things of the world is painful. It requires more of us than a simple, quiet life that is undisturbed by things like allowing the "wrong element" into our churches and keeping the pews clean.

As Christians, we absolutely must train ourselves to love the unlovable, the ones who are so off that they make us uncomfortable. We must train ourselves to stop thinking of ourselves as citizens of the U.S. and start thinking like citizens of The Kingdom of God.

It's a place where politics take a backseat to Truth, and Mercy trumps punishment or people getting what they deserve, whether it's what they worked hard for or what they've earned with bad behavior. That is the opposite of Christ's message in many ways. If we got what we deserved, we'd all burn in hell forever. We're all sinners. No one is better than anyone else where Grace is concerned. Thankfully, Jesus has taken care of this for all of us.

We have got to move beyond thinking of each other as competition or people whose standards we must live up to and start thinking of each other as brothers and sisters.

We absolutely must stop buying things we don't need to impress people we don't like and start living within our means so that we can help meet the needs of those we can help. We have got to divorce our things and our comfort and buy into, wholeheartedly being the Bride of Christ, ready for Him, waiting for Him.

We have to learn that the things our pastors tell us should affect us more emotionally than what we see on television. We've got to start trusting the Word of God more than we trust Americacentric Christian Self Help books.

God wants to bless us with Alarms and Surprises. That's how He operates.

Can we handle it?