MercyMe

The contemporary Christian pop group MercyMe recorded a great song called "So Long Self" with a fun little video. In it, the band is watching a television announcer saying, "You're watching a live sound-check by MercyMe, who are getting ready for their show tonight."

The singer Bart says, "Hey, that's not us!" to which one of the band members replies, "How can you be sure?"

He answers, "Because we're here, and they're.... we gotta stop those guys!"

They run out of their tour bus and spend the rest of the video tricking the fake band out of performing. Now what I love about the song is the serious message underneath the playful message. Although Christianity is hardly the only religion to embrace the idea of freeing oneself by cutting loose ego and selfishness, the Christian analogy for it is a really effective one: "dying to self."

http://music.yahoo.com/ar-280688-videos--MercyMe

In the last week, I've had a few eye opening opportunities to die to self. There is a large special choir being formed for a onetime event at church. I wasn't going to participate in it, as I often feel our group is under-represented in these things - the soloists that sing with the piano player tend to get the best songs and are showcased more frequently. But I came to realize that none of these things matter to God, and they won't matter to the person this is being done for. The only thing that will make him happy is seeing a large group of people come together to sing for him. "It isn't about me," I reminded myself.

Last week, a song sort of came to me riding my bike. It was perfect for the series of events that the choir is also for. I recorded it promptly at the urging of one of the people who work at the church. She took it to the organizing committee. Last night one of them phoned me, and more or less brushed off my efforts (but in a very friendly and polite way, of course.)

So what do I do with this song? I don't know. I have to start to realize these things are not up to me. They are up to God. It is really for him to decide how things turn out. I have to realize that I don't have to give up all ambition, because unmotivated people are no fun. But it is time that I set aside expectations. That is what dying to self really means. It isn't about what I get out of it. It is about what the moment means, and what you can learn from it.