Song Stories -Take Me Deep

Duma adinc, adinc

Mai adinc in tine…..

It was the early 1980’s. Romania was still under the despotic dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Folks from Medias Baptist Church had been reading my colleague Don’s books and listening to my music and, through their links with Gary Cox of Christian Charity TEN** (then Eurovangelism), had asked if we would visit and spend some time of ministry with them.

We lasted for just three days, before we were summoned to the local government building, where it was made clear to us in no uncertain terms that we were not welcome and were to be expelled from the country. On taking the next available flight home, I was detained at the airport and questioned extensively about my trip, although thankfully was not put in a position where I would “incriminate” any local nationals 🙂

Prior to these escapades though, we had had such a good time with the church and their leaders. The song story comes in at the point where, with the help of Ben, one of the leaders, we had translated the song into Romanian.  The previous couple of days I had sung some of my songs in English after explaining the content through an interpreter.  On this occasion though, after singing Take Me Deep in English, I went straight into the Romanian version, not having said beforehand that I was going to do this.  I think it’s fair to say that there was hardly a dry eye in the place!

Now it should be explained that, although the leaders were looking to explore new things, this had been quite a traditional Romanian church, (ladies sat on one side of the aisle, men to the other, etc.). They had a custom of singing a particular song as their benediction at the end of each service: on this occasion the organist began playing Take Me Deep at the close of the service and people began spontaneously to sing along.  This was the day before we were “asked” to leave and the last time we would see folks; (we were blacklisted by the authorities and unable to obtain visas for some years afterwards).

However, the song was to remain in their hearts and I was to learn later that they had now adopted Take Me Deep as their regular benediction song. And so it was that a song I’d written earlier in the year for a festival called “Deeper Life Camp”, would for me become forever associated with my time in Medias.

**TEN – Transform Europe Network – www.ten-uk.org,  an excellent charity with whom I am privileged to be associated to this day.

Listen to and/or download Take Me Deep at … http://www.robnewey.bandcamp.com/track/take-me-deep

Song Stories – Peace in our Time

A few of my songs have stories that relate to them. It occurred to me that those stories may be of interest to readers, so here’s the first of a handful that I plan to add here over coming weeks/months…

It was mid 90s in the former Yugoslavia. Various regions, predominately Croatia and Bosnia, were seeking independence. The “nation” was at war.

I had made previous trips to the area, but this time was different. To the comparative safety of Backi Petrovac and Novi Sad, refugees were pouring in from war zones such as Sarajevo. Local churches were working hard to respond to the crisis.

It was my privilege to be working alongside the charity Transform Europe Now, who were resourcing the churches and enabling them to provide refugees with essential items such as food and clothing. In the circumstances, I felt I was doing very little, as I was invited to minister in song through concerts to groups of refugees, but the statement of one lady after a concert was powerful – “Thank you – it’s not just our stomachs that are hungry”

In the basement of someone else’s home, the father of a refugee family had come to faith through their contact with the church. Referring to the loss of his possessions, home and family members, he said “I lost everything, but through it all found faith in Jesus – it was worth it!”

Swetlana, living in difficult circumstances while her parents remained in the war zone, when asked by my colleague, “What is life like for you now?”, responded, “It’s wonderful!” Her new found faith had given her peace inside when all around it seemed there was none.

A few years later, as Serbia went to war with Kosova, I watched the TV screen at home, as NATO planes dropped bombs on the neighbourhoods where I knew some of my friends to be living. The emotions were strong as I recalled other war torn situations and I began to put pen to paper. This song was to be very different from anything I’d previously written and in a comparatively short while, Peace In Our Time was completed.

Along with a retelling of Swetlana’s story, I subsequently performed the song in school assemblies, churches and concert halls, and the song continued to be pertinent with the onset of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

A more recent visit to Serbia found me once again performing Peace In Our Time. “That’s my story”, responded concert goers. The song had come home.

(For info on other songs, visit my website – http://www.robneweymusic.com  –  another retelling of this story with other stories from the area can be found in the book “Tenacious” available from http://www.transformeuropenow.org)

The Lives of Others

Last night I watched the film The Lives of Others, (in German with English subs), set in 1980s East Germany and centred around writer Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), his girlfriend Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck) and Stasi officer Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) who is assigned to listen in on conversations held in Dreyman’s bugged apartment.

I found the ending of the film surprisingly moving on the back of the tension and element of trauma created earlier. But also, I think, for other reasons.

Firstly, it took me back to the days when my vocation as a singer working with churches in Eastern Europe necessitated careful conversations, an awareness that hotel rooms could be bugged, and highlighted the extreme pressures that my friends there had to face day by day. On a trip to Romania in the early 80s, my colleagues and I were expelled from the country, I was interrogated intensely prior to departure at the airport, and we were “blacklisted” for several years.

Curiously, the seeds of my interest in the “persecuted church” in Communist Europe were arguably sown when I was taken as a youngster to see another film, Question 7, also set in Eastern Germany (pre Berlin Wall).

I think perhaps I was also stirred by the questions raised about human nature; how we may behave in given situations; how peer pressure, fear, etc. can drive or divide, permeate a whole society. It got me thinking, with longing, that the true deep love that is the message of Christ is yet, it seems, still to permeate our world.  And yet in the opening sentences of his account of the gospel story, John says “We have beheld his glory”.  Is he referring to his following comment that Jesus was “…full of grace and truth”?  Or maybe it was Christ’s suffering that ironically, but truly, revealed his glory?

More than anything I think my wandering thoughts reminded me of what still burns within me – this desire to use my creativity to encourage faith – to express to others what lies deep within – to reach out to the potentially unreached, whether in a school assembly, my local pub, or spending time with a host family who are not currently believers.

Maybe I feel this more deeply because, due to illness, (my doctor has speculated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), I am currently feeling so restricted in what I can achieve. Amongst other things, having to cancel a week’s worth of schools presentations does not sit well with all the above.  Still, I’m aware that I must learn to allow this time to be one where I CAN rethink… refresh… reappraise… recharge.  Maybe the outworking of my creativity may need to change a little – who knows?  My heart tells me that I still have much to offer and I pray that I use this period of time wisely to discover what that small contribution may look like.

Phew!

   Was about to practice for tomorrow’s gig this afternoon, when I realised that I’d left my guitar in the car boot.

Now you may think that this was a simple matter of going out to the car in my driveway and retrieving said item from it.  However, things weren’t quite that simple: you see the car currently in my driveway is the garage courtesy car 🙂 and my own vehicle was at the Saab dealer’s (on the other side of town) along with my guitar, songbook, tomorrow’s set list and notes, and various other items.  I’d actually booked the car in yesterday for a quick mid-summer check and air-con service, expecting to collect it again a few hours later, but had received a call advising me that it had a much more serious (and expensive!) issue which required the car being kept in for a few days.

So…. what to do?  I call the garage – no reply, so I come to the conclusion that it’s not open on a Saturday afternoon.  Thoughts now racing around in my head about borrowing guitar, capo, (will someone have the right plectrums that I use?!), and settling down to re-prepare set list, notes, print off some of the lyrics/chord charts that I’ve not committed to memory……

Then… a brainwave (or was it inspiration on the back of my lovely wife’s faith filled praying?).   No reply from the garage, but what if I could track down one of the personnel from an old invoice?  Sure enough, the old invoices carry the names of the people who prepared them.  I pick one out, punch the name into 192.com, select one of the names and associated telephone numbers.  “Excuse me, but is this the right number for ****?”  “Yes; who is calling?” “Well this is a bit of a long shot , but…”

Guitar and odds ‘n ends safely retrieved, my rehearsal was sweeter than ever and now I’m as ready as I can be for the gig.

Oh, and by the way, despite the unexpected expense, I’m so grateful that I decided to book my car in for this “little” check, only for this rather major problem to be discovered, thereby  possibly avoiding being stranded in the South of France in a few weeks time with a car that needs a new engine!