'Pale Blue Dot' - Mr. J. Medeiros

I really have not grasped everything that Mr. J. Medeiros' latest track 'Pale Blue Dot' has to say, but what I do know is that I love the song musically. As with all of Mr. J.'s output, the tracks need repeated listening in order to fully understand the ideas behind his profound poetry. Maybe I'll have to wait until he breaks the lyrics down on his blog, but it seems to me that he is mourning the corrupt state of the world we live in, particulary the state of those who claim falsely to be a force for good.

In Matthew 23 Jesus warns of hypocrisy. In those days Jesus was speaking about the Pharisees as a group of people, but now Christians are always in danger of being pharisaical. Jesus talks about how the pharisees do what looks right and seems good (v5-7) on the outside yet in reality, they do not actually "practice what they preach" (v3).

It's easy to point the finger in this world, to say who you believe to be a 'pharisee'. It's easy to identify those who are being hypocritical with their religion and beliefs. What's difficult is to identify those traits within oneself. Jesus says "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." Which parts of your life (and indeed, I must ask myself this same question), look beautiful on the outside when in fact on the inside, there is the stench of death and decay.

As Christians, we must truly be a force for good; we musn't just assume that we are and we musn't merely try to make it look like we are. We must practice what we preach. O.K. so we don't intend to become suicide bombers, corrupt politicians or crooked bankers but Mr. J. Medeiros' musings should remind us that our actions as Christians, no matter how small, should line up clearly with the teachings of Jesus.