An Interesting Parallel Was Revealed Before Me While Listening To Worship In My Catholic School. It Certanly

An interesting parallel was revealed before me while listening to worship in my catholic school. It certanly helped me view one of my favourite songs in a different light.

(In advance, I feel it’s important to make clear that I’m not a christian. I once was, I’m not anymore. I’m however pretty confident talking about religious themes, due to my catholic upbringing and school. Hope everybody is fine with that.)

Let’s get into it.

A very well known song among christians is the worship song Oceans. If you never heard of it, or just not sure if we’re thinking of the same thing, here’s a video:

It’s a pretty clean example of a worship song. It references the story of Jesus walking on the water, and calling his disciples to follow his example, because the faith in him will keep them above the water and they won’t sink.

The singer calls out to the christian God, saying that their faith and trust in God will keep them similarly safe, that when fear comes and they need reassurance, the presence of God alone (their Saviour’s) will help them. Even when “oceans rise”, they can look above the waves. Because God is always there, he is always reliable, and knowing this, believing sets you free.

The singer also paint their relationship with God as an intimate one. “I am Yours, and You are mine”. Usually lovers say such things — but if you ask any christian, you will soon find out that the love God feels toward his children, and the love a christian feels to God goes even deeper and is more meaningful than the love between lovers. (Or so I’ve been told)

Why am I talking about all of this? Here comes one of the best songs ever written, Marian by The Sisters of Mercy.

If this isn’t the most beautiful song in existence then there is no real beauty at all

If you look at the lyrics, maybe you realise where this post is heading.

In Marian, the singer is singing to the mysterious Marian. It is a call of distress; the singer is “in a sea of doubt”. The image of the sea is used throughout the whole song. The singer is drowning in a metaphorical sea, their only hope is that Marian saves them. Quite a similars setup to Oceans, if you think about it.

Although the singer isn’t sure if Marian can see him struggling, they still trust them wholly, they believe Marian can save them from the horrors. Just as God can lift his followers when their feet fails. They hear Marian calling out their names, just as God calls out for his disciples (or his followers). There is complete trust in both cases, both God and Marian are presented as (somewhat) omnipotent.

It begs the question: is Marian God?

I don’t know. I don’t think that it matters. The personal beliefs of the members of The Sisters of Mercy are unknown for me, and I also don’t really care. Maybe Marian is God, maybe they’re not. You can interpret it as you want, that’s the beauty of art, it’s subjective. Personally I don’t think of Marian as God, but that’s really me.

What matters is the role Marian takes in this song. At first, one could say Marian is simply a love song. Technically would be right, but I think it’s a little bit of an understatement. The singer isn’t just in love in Marian — they look up to them, they adore them. They worship them. The singer is lost and weak, Marian is perfect and powerful (and very far away). If Marian isn’t God, then they’re still in a position usually reserved for gods.

The reason I talked about the love between christians and God is to illustrate the difference between “simple” romantic love and whatever the singer and Marian has going on. By treating Marian as a godly being, the love the singer feels for them is also elevated to a higher level. It’s more devoted, more complex, and one could say it’s also one-sided — although we never hear Marian’s side of things, they never come close enough for us to judge the nature of their feelings.

(This is a stark difference between the two songs, but it’s mainly due to the different themes. In Oceans, the focus is on God’s grace. In Marian, the focus is on the singers loneliness.)

So, to summarize, Marian was a worship song all along, and it took me attending a mass to realize this. Whether or not Marian is the God or just a personal god is up to preference, the song works either way. The keywords are trust, godly love and devotion.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I apologise for any grammatical/spelling mistakes, english isn’t my first language.

Sorry everyone but this is how i headcanon Huan from now on, idc…

"He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat." (FoTR, book I)

oh that’s actually kinda cute

Dániel éneke

Mégis megemlékeztél rólam, Isten

és azokat, akik téged kerestek,

akik téged szeretnek, megtaláltad.

Ifjú próféták üstökét ragadva

elhoztad babilóni ketrecemhez

a fügét és a datolyát kezökben.

Hirdesd ezért, világosság, sötétség,

az Urat! Hirdesd, pusztaság, folyóvíz

s bölcs cethalak és minden vízben-úszók!

Adjatok nékem szurkot, faggyat és szőrt:

fegyver nélkül megölöm én a sárkányt,

a cifra szörnyet, aki nektek isten.

De az oroszlánt nem bántom, ki engem

nem bánt. Estére visszatérek hozzá

s vad teste bundás melegében alszom.

Hallom majd nagy szivét dobogni; a föld

vele dobog, s az ég is; - én meg alszom

ringatva, mint az Isten csecsemője.

— Babits Mihály

jesus christ could you get any gayer