Sonny Blues

Today in class, Professor Corrigan had us look in depth into particular passages in, Sonny's Blues, by using a form of reading called, Lectio Divina. In order to perform this style of interpreting text you first listen to a paragraph or two and then reflect on it. As you reflect on the passage, you write down any phrase that stands out to you and you share a minute of silence. Then you re-read the passage and respond to a word or phrase by praying whatever rises up in your heart toward the text. Finally, you read the passage for a final time, simply to rest in the Spirit as you sit silently.

This was an amazing experience because we were able to take a secular story, and find so many spiritual meanings behind the words. One of the passages that first stuck out to me during the first reading was,

"Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would only listen, that he would never be free until we did."

The first of the sentence hit me hard when I heard it read a loud in class, and the truth that came from it rang clearly in me ears. This entire story is about this man's life, named Sonny, told by his brother and all we read about is the screw up that Sonny had become, and the darkness that inevitably will end his life. However, there was one thing that Sonny was living for and that was his music, the chance to learn how to play and perform on the piano. His lifeline depended on it, it was everything he had, was, and could be. At the end of the story, which is where this quote came from it describes his moment of freedom, when he has the chance to play in a bar. Through the music, he was able to reach back to the very beginning of his life and sing it out. Through his music/ life, he was able to help others as the crowd responded with "Amens". But there is just something so fantastic about this quote, because it is basically saying that freedom is lurking for those who will listen. Is this not true in every single situation with God. He longs to give us the freedom we need, but so many times we are quick to reject his help because we are too stubborn in our own ways. Sonny's music was an amazing testimony that was able to reach out to others in the most unlikely of places, a bar. If only we would listen to Christ's story, but truly listen, I believe that we would find so many answers to life's problems, which would provide freedom for many.

I would like to end with the prayer that I wrote in class, it is pretty rough because we did not have a lot of time to write it, but here it is,

Dear Lord, who of us actually listens to your story, I pray that we focus on your light, which will ultimately set us free, so we can get through the hard times that life throws at us. You never said that we would not suffer, in fact, because You suffered we knew that as Christ followers, we too, would suffer. But that is why it is so important to rest in you and meditate on your Word day and night. I ask that You will use us by the music our life orchestrates so that it may be a testimony to others. I thank you that you always provide a plan of escape whenever we place ourselves into a situation we feel we cannot get out of, because nothing is too big for You. Lord, just as Sonny found freedom, I pray that others will be able to persevere and lean on you, until they have victory. I thank You that you fight our battles for us, as long as we give them to You. So I pray that we will remember to listen to your word and let go of our burdens so that we will be able to live a victorious life.