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From: wws@siemens.UUCP (William W Smith)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: O My God: The Police
Message-ID: <243@siemens.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Jul-84 11:29:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: siemens.243
Posted: Fri Jul 27 11:29:02 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jul-84 10:29:51 EDT
Organization: Siemens RTL Princeton, NJ
Lines: 62

From the Police album Synchronicity:

	Everyone I know is lonely
	And God's so far away,
	And my heart belongs to no one
	So now sometimes I pray
	Please take the space between us
	And fill it up some way
	Take the space between us and fill it up some way

	O my God you take the biscuit
	Treating me this way
	Expecting me to treat you well
	No matter what you say
	How can I turn the other cheek
	It's black and bruised and torn
	I've been waiting since the day that I was born

	Take the space between us and fill it up some way
	Take the space between us and fill it up some way

	The fat man in his garden
	The thin man at his gate
	My god you must be sleeping
	Wake up it's much too late
	
	Take the space between us and fill it up some way
	Take the space between us and fill it up some way

	Do I have to tell the story of a thousand rainy days
	Since we first met,
	It's a big enough umbrella
	But it's always me that ends up getting wet.........
	____________________________________________________

This is a song about the suffering of a person who has also become separated 
from God.  Perhaps he or she has suffered great pain due to the cruelty of fate
or disease.  The person knows he is distant from God and asks that the distance
be closed.

The pain of suffering causes the singer to tell God, "you take the biscuit
treating me this way."  When the pain of one's experiences is still
fresh and an open wound, it is difficult to accept God's healing love and
not to feel like saying "Damn God!" for causing the pain that has disrupted
the singer's pleasant expectations of life.  "How can I turn the other 
cheek" is a sign of bitterness and anger.

Pain is a difficult theological and philosophical problem.  Why should a God
who loves all mankind cause anyone to suffer?  While the singer is suffering
from his sores, platitudes that pain will make you stronger seem empty and
hollow.  Reconciliation with the pain through healing and distance might
allow the singer to accept that the bad times are over.  He or she survived
the ordeal with intact dignity and the knowledge that it is possible to
survive lesser pains.

With reconciliation with the pain, reconciliation with God is possible.
God's love wants growth in all parts of a person's life.  Intellectual,
physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well being are but parts of the
wholeness that God means every person to have.

Bill Smith
ihnp4!mhuxi!princeton!siemens!wws