Wind Up

When my daughter was born, I knew I would want to teach her about God, Jesus and Church. So I knew it was time for me to start going to church again. Like many, I stopped going when my parents stopped making me go. I had always carried my belief in God with me but I did it without an organized religion. To teach my daughter, I knew I had to lead by example. So I wanted to go to church and have her see me be involved.

You see, as a kid, my sister and I were forced to go to church (and church school) every Sunday while my parents stayed home. I thought this was wrong but I couldn't put into words why I thought it was wrong. Then one day in 7th grade I found the words. And they came from an unlikely source: Jethro Tull.

Jethro Tull - Aqualung. You know, that loud, aweful music that is such a bad influence on kids? As I listened to the last song on the album, called Wind Up, I came across some words that have followed me for the rest of my life:

So I asked this God a question

and by way of firm reply, He said:

"I'm not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays".

Yeah, that was the problem! We never talked about God during the week but come Sunday, I had to go to church. I felt like we were winding Him up once a week - like a clock, then forgetting about Him until the next Sunday. This idea gave me a lot to think about; like how was God with me during the week?

Many years later, when I became involed with St. Margaret's Church, I realized I wanted to share this story with the people at church so I went looking for the exact lyrics of that song. I found a wonderful Web site that is dedicated to Jethro Tull. It's called Cup of Wonder. It has a thorough analysis of Jethro Tull's ablums and lyrics, including Aqualung and Wind Up, by Jan Voorbij (IJsselstein, The Netherlands). The time I spent on this Web site was well worth it. It may be for you as well.