The Violet Burning: "As I Am'/"This is the Sea"

The Violet Burning sometimes  offer a wonderful Spiritaneous segue from their classic "As I Am" into a rocking version of the Waterboys' "This is The Sea."   It's like the Delirious "drop-down" box/U2 prophetic snippet phenomenon (If there were justice, the Violets would be as famous as U2/Delirious).

It's a  brilliant combo for several reasons (the songs fuse so well musically and thematically in an unobviously obvious way; incorporating a :"secular" song into a  "worship" song, etc.), and here below at the Langley Vineyard , you can watch the shift happen at 4:26ff ..noting that it can be a worthy challenge to communicate with a new/occasional guitar player when he is not positive where the band is headed in that Spiritaneous moment.

Sometimes it just depends on your preference and culture,
as the classic KRDU "crack video" here illustrates..



..but it is hard for me to imagine anyone NOT feeling like "God is in the house" when  they are literally in the church/concert house when The Violets move in these moments; due to frontman Michael's passion and worship, and due to the fact that the band just brings the Rock! (:

It doesn't cheapen these moments to hear from the band,and others that move like this, comments like "the hardest part is making it look spontaneous" (Bono).  It takes planning to be spontaneous.
Of course this theory has its heretical extremes, and as a pastor I am sensitive to the trap of all prep (sermon, music set or otherwise) and not allowing room/space for rhematic divine interruptions in the moment.  Remember  evangelist who wrote "cry here" in his sermon notes?  That's not much different than assuming God only shows up when the spooky music appears out of nowhere during the prayer. (see this and this for a laugh/cry)

Finally..and I sure don't want to be heard as saying it was Michael's intent at all, but that art/prophecy has an interpretive life beyond authorial intent.. but it could be true that the "that was the river/but this is the sea" could be a prophetic word to the Vineyard movement ,
or any movement which might be tempted to trust the "glory days" of the past.  This concert is at a Vineyard church; and Vineyard is one of those streams that had its "days" (early Anaheim/Wimber/ .Toronto Blessing  that some long to return to. "River" is often used as a buzzword for the experiential/manifestation stream.   But the prophetic word of the song could be "Don't worship the past (river).  I am doing a new thing "(sea)...

and you're tryin' to remember
how fine your life used to be
runnin' around banging your drum
like it's 1973
well that was the river
this is the sea

Just update the  1973 reference to  1994 (the very year the "River is Here":song came out.

Anyway, enjoy the Violets below...unless you're on crack(:


 Fantastic job guys!

AS I AM:
Mary, she knows
In a world that's dark
Torn apart at the seams
She lifts up her eyes
Up to the skies
And sings

"I am my beloved's
And he loves me as I am"

Sometimes it's hard
Though patiently
You wait for the time to see

Whose are you?
(Tell me)
Whose are you?

I am my beloved's
And he loves me as I am

Light of the world
Please, come shine on me

Sometimes I cry
In a world that's dark
Torn apart at the seams
Sometimes I cry
For I am weak

Light of the world
Please, come shine on me

"THIS IS THE SEA":
(Mike Scott)
these things you keep
you better throw the away
turn your back
on your soulless days
once you were tethered
now you are free
once you were tethered
now you are free
that was the river
this is the sea
if you're feelin' weary
or you been alone too long
or maybe you been sufferin' from
a few too many
plans that have gone wrong
and you're tryin' to remember
how fine your life used to be
runnin' around banging your drum
like it's 1973
well that was the river
this is the sea
now you say you got trouble
you say you got pain
you say you got nothin' left to believe in
nothin' to hold on to
nothin' but chains
you been scourin' your conscience
and rakin' through your memories
you been scourin' your conscience
and rakin' through your memories
but that was the river
this is the sea
Now I can see you wavering
as you try to decide
you got a war in your head
and it's tearin' you up inside
you're tryin' to make sense
of something that you just don't see
you're tryin' to make sense now
and you know that you once held the key
but that was the river...
this is the sea
Now I hear there's a train
it's comin' down the line
it's yours if you hurry
you got still enough time
you don't need no ticket
and you don't pay no fee
you don't need no ticket
and you don't pay no fee
that was the river
this is the sea
behold the sea