Here’s the premise of the conversation.
Previously in the conversation: When I was a boy growing up at home with my siblings and our parents, for a few years I was prone to cry relatively easily. It got to the point that it was a little concern to my Mum who encouraged me to save some for her passing. There were a few years in the latter teenage part where I quit the crying thing. Very rarely did I cry. Then in my twenties, as I got into a deeper relationship with God, the tears came back again and I learnt to live with it. Tears are among the range of expressions I have either in joy or sorrow. That prelude is given because when I read Hesediah’s breakdown of man’s inhumanity to man, it brought tears to my eyes. I believe my brother to have a tremendous ability to express truth so poignantly and with such precision and without any unnecessary garnish. Applying that to this issue and recognising the state of humanity as a whole, was a very tearful occasion for me. Very tearful. It is definitely something that should be read and pondered carefully and afterwards a prayer should go to the Creator asking for mercy and forgiveness for the state we’re in. As if that wasn’t enough as a great response, he then went and outlined further how the human experience isn’t so much about things getting worse as just more of a historical pattern of people being mugs to those who exercise dominance over others. A masterful piece of writing. Oh and just to prove he’s got it in him, he goes on to talk about two songs that he’s enjoyed recently. The way he talks about it will get you checking those tunes as well as reflecting on the effect music has on you. All of it makes for engrossing reading that won’t just tickle your intellect but will challenge you at the core of your being. Go on – read it. You’ll be glad you did.
Yeah. It was that good and even better. Now all I have to do is see what I can do with him slapping the gauntlet across my face with tour de force. Will I be able to rise to the challenge with his questions? Here goes:
Q – What is your relationship with music? Do you love it? Like it? What does it do to or for you? How has that relationship developed over the years?
This is one of my favourite questions – not because I get asked it, just because of what the question evokes. Let’s take a journey through the life of Christopher Dryden.
I don’t have a memory of a time where music wasn’t present and important. I won’t paint a picture as though I was born into a musical family. I mean, our parents enjoyed music to listen to and church life required you to engage in the singing stuff. But the church of which I was a part was a small one and the role that music played might well have been present, but it wasn’t essential.
Having said that, Mum had music in the house from time to time. She was a decent singer too and I felt she encouraged us in the music. I remember being less than nine years old and being over at a friend of Mum’s with Mum and the friend had music playing on a record player. It was the norm. Mum enjoyed music and had the cassette player and stuff. Dad wasn’t that heavily into it in my recollection, but he was responsible for giving guitars to his sons. He had a guitar himself, but it’s fair to say that Dad to guitar playing was similar to government and good living – somewhat trying hard but not compatible. That was big though because as well as playing the music there was the fun of creating music and although I did bits and bobs, it was my great privilege to be your brother as you just effortlessly produced song after song after song.
All three of the children of my parents got into music at school – playing instruments for orchestras and bands as well as being part of choirs. We got into singing in church at the local and regional and national levels as well with numerous choirs. The school time got me interested in stuff like classical music, big band and swing music. I remember a great teacher Mrs McBride influenced me to consider the works of Ella Fitzgerald.
The parental influence with their friends – by parental I probably mean maternal – was gospel music. It was through that where I got to admire the work of Andrae Crouch. Interestingly, though, in as much as Mum was into that gospel music, she also got me into people in what is supposedly Contemporary Christian Music, especially a huge influence – Keith Green.
I remember our sister – as she was older and remarkably has retained that position – getting music through tape mixes. I was fascinated with those. There’s also the issue that one of the programmes that I was genuinely interested in for a few years in those impressionable times was Top of the Pops and that introduced me to what was known as the popular music of the time, some of which I enjoyed. Our sister was good at introducing different types of gospel than what Mum heard. Thanks to our sister, though, I really got to enjoy the likes of the Hawkins, Winans, Commissioned, Fred Hammond with RFC and solo stuff, John P Kee, Hezekiah Walker and others.
But it’s quite something to launch into tastes of my own.
Big shout out to my school friend back in my teens, Jason Radosavljevic. I’d come across a couple of Beatles tunes because we had to sing them at school – Lady Madonna and Penny Lane in particular. But it was Jason who opened the doors to more music by the Beatles that led to enjoying particularly the solo work of Paul McCartney. I liked a lot of the solo work of each Beatle, but McCartney intrigued me most. His melodies and constructs got me fascinated with what a song can do to the emotions on the musical level as well as the intertwining of the lyrical content.
A massive deal for me was when I went to university – left to my own devices. That’s when I became a huge lover of the music of Stevie Wonder – all by myself no external nudge in that direction. As well as that I got involved in the student radio station because of the first friend I made at university – massive props to the man Lloyd Clarke. Introduced to that opened me up to a different and more eclectic world of music tastes where I could hear garage one minute and then grunge the next and then indie another minute followed by heavy metal and occasionally some acid jazz or hip hop. Dude, that experience was fascinating. but it lasted only for my university days. Oh and let’s be clear on this issue, bro, just because I was exposed to those types of music, it does not mean that I enjoyed all those genres at all.
When I left the role music played in my life was more … incidental. I quit singing in choirs roughly twenty years ago with one minor exception. I think my tastes were more or less locked to what I had and only had the infrequent addition of other artists. I enjoy working whilst the music plays – that’s become habitual for me. Either music or some constructive/fascinating spoken content in my ears as I do whatever it is I need to do.
I love listening to things and sharing them with people I care about and getting their views on them. I didn’t pursue being a competent musician like my siblings. In fact, I leave it to others to do that kinda thing. But it was hugely impressive to have two siblings who were talented and applied themselves to multiple instruments. I think that may have also influenced my Firstborn who is a very creative young woman both lyrically/vocally as well as on instruments. That delights me a lot because of the role music plays in my life.
I cannot say that I just ‘like’ music. A sound word put to music challenges me in a way that just spoken it may not resonate as much. Music can affect my emotions when I meditate on it – those minor chords, that particular arrangement, that specific vocal. It’s also made me a bit of a snob because if I hear music that’s rubbish I’m not always one to have the patience to smile and nod my head and applaud encouragingly. I’m one of those who will at least say in my head that I’m done with this and zone out. A bit like my approach to food, if the music isn’t done well it can ruin my appetite and sour my mood.
Music can be very inspirational to me in getting me into a good space to work and operate. I don’t use it as a crutch in that sense, though and I’m keen not to rely on it too often in that sense. I’m also aware that music as a force is used to manipulate. The same way truths can be embedded with the assistance is the same way that people can make it almost expected to ‘feel’ a certain way because of the music. That’s unhelpful at best and idolatrous in its real expression.
Music. What a powerful force it has been in my life. I’ve enjoyed hearing it, picking it apart, analysing how it’s put together and then developing my own tastes. I love music, bro. Love it. Love it for how it accompanies, assists and aids me throughout the day as and when I use it.
Q – What is your relationship with God like? And how has that developed over the years? What descriptions of him play a greater role in your mind? His beyondness? His closeness? His mercy? His justice? The Judge? The Father? The Jealous? I’m sure there are many more.
This question reminds me of a song that was about loving the Lord.
My relationship with God is one where I need Him and am growing in dependence on Him. I do love God, but I appreciate that any love I have for Him has come from Him. I realise that it works a lot better for me if I have that awareness that He is the Creator, the Sustainer and the Judge. Everything good comes from Him and the capacity to do good is down to Him. I want to do good and that’s why I look to grow dependently on Him – understanding His way for me and what it is for Him to live in me by His Spirit. I have and continue to do what I can to craft an existence that has God at the centre of everything I do. My marriage would be non-existent without God. My relationship with my daughters would be dreadful without God. I seek God to direct me in the vocation I pursue and how that generates what’s necessary to support all those He’s put in my stewardship. I love how God is wise as well as good. I love the fact that there’s His kind of wisdom that He’s very generous in giving if I’m in need of it – and it’s better for me to be in need of it more often than not.
How has it developed over the years? What a great question. Such a great one. Again for what it evokes, so let’s take another trip.
We were brought up in a home where both of our parents were devout and devoted believers of God. No doubt about that. They feared God and endeavoured to keep His commandments as they understood it to be. Both parents played significant roles in shaping my approach to God. Mum in terms of a connection with the heart as well as devoted service and committed use of gifts and talents for the glory of God. Dad in terms of action, duty, will, commitment, dedication and emotionally as well. Dad did not express himself emotionally until he was relating to God in those settings. Seeing him cry … man, I have little to no recollection of my Dad being emotional that way other than when it came to his relationship with God. There is also his application to learning the word for himself. That left a mark. Both parents left a great impression on me.
For all that, though, again it was about my own journey with learning about God. That was especially clear when I left home to go to university. Homelife was a cocoon in so many ways and the church life was also a bubble unto itself and it conditioned me to know how to perform in church settings. The university years exposed a number of flaws with that model of upbringing when it came to my character. Being away at university challenged a lot of the practices that I’d swallowed for years. Sure I asked questions at home, but being away from home was the opportunity to be exposed to so much in terms of how I didn’t know God and how I was living off the faith of others rather than my own. Those university days, however, did not lead me to doubt God. If anything it led me to doubt myself a lot. That was the beginning of a journey of recognising just how little I knew about God and how much I needed to know if I was going to do this living thing correctly.
God put good men in my life to guide me into getting to know Him more. As well as Dad there was Brother Francick who was a brilliant man for not going for everything that was being said in church and challenging things to get us to think about whether it was scripturally sound. I love that man’s influence – he never said much and he wasn’t one to rant and rave. But he was good for me in questions.
During my university years, God gave me a great mentor who remains my mentor to this day in Ritson Shields. I love that guy a lot because of his influence of seeing how central Jesus was to everything and how not getting that understanding right at best distorted and corrupted everything. And in the light of Jesus how that should lead to having a heart for others to hear the good news about him and how in the light of Jesus our lives and characters should be shaped by His example. Ritson has been and is still hugely important in my appreciation of who God is and the difference that makes to all aspects of life.
There have been a host of other men who are now or have in the past been tremendous companions, mentors, teachers and collaborators in the journey of knowing God and how that makes a difference to life. What that has done for me is teach me to take my relationship with God very seriously indeed and see how it should pervade and permeate every pore of life. There should be no portion of my life that God is not essential and central to. That is to say that if my enjoyment of football or Dr Who or superheroes or cherry Bakewell tarts or sex or the humour of my friends or the company of my daughters is done without Him then it’s worthless.
There have been seasons in my life where I took God for granted. Where the things about him occupied my time, but He wasn’t. Where being busy for Him was more important than spending time knowing Him and growing in Him all the more. These seasons led to some serious issues in my life – very serious. In His faithfulness and righteousness, in His kindness and grace, He disciplined me, He chastised me, He showed me to me and then He showed who He was and invited me to return to Him. Those returns are valuable experiences to me. Those times of restoration are precious to me. The lessons about who He is and how that governs, shapes, influences, nurtures, nourishes, blesses, crafts, shapes, defines and propels my life are priceless.
I’m not reluctant to say that my relationship with God is in a good place at the moment. That’s defined by my desire to be aware of Him and to do His will as I understand it at this time. That’s informed by the role He plays in the activities of my day to day life. That’s reflected in my goals and dreams.
At present, the aspect of God that I particularly find fascinating is Him being a God of justice and righteousness. A theme that I’ve been pursuing for a few years and I’m not of the mind to stop is about the rule of God – His Kingdom. That theme has recently brought into light the element of God as doing what’s right in His sight and being right in what He says and does and reasonably expecting to see that quality in those who are supposed to bear His image. I love the picture of shalom so much and love it when people explain it further to me and to know that this flows from God who is righteous and just is amazing to me and propels me to want to know of His character in that aspect. How that character should determine how I do things and then how things should be done in different levels of life. It’s all the more apparent in a world that has clearly chosen to do its own thing and not consider God when it comes to justice and righteousness. I see that and I weep. I get the impression, though, that it’s not just about the weeping. It’s not about pointing out the iniquities, wickedness and foolishness. It’s a lot more about pursuing what God indicates – what He wants. Also trusting and believing that what He wants can be experienced today in snippets and glimpses as a precursor to the main event of eternity where all unrighteousness is eliminated and righteousness rules in justice perpetually.
Q – The financial system (interpret that as you wish). Does it have you? Are we trapped by it? Explain your answer. If you agree with me that it’s a system of a form of captivity, then do you see a way to be free (as much as possible) from it? Please share your thoughts.
Intriguing questions. The first step is to establish my understanding of the financial system. I’ll refer to my personal context and it is my perception of that context, so others are free to critique it but this is how I see it at the moment. Finances are about how goods and services can be acquired or managed. Finances most immediately refer to currency. So many aspects of the system are in view from how currency is made and circulated to the prevalence of debt and credit, how the banking system works, who controls these things like interest rates and inflation and all of that. At the basic level, there is the question of how I get money, what happens to the money I get and how I can purchase goods and services as the prices for them vary at fascinating paces. (I worked hard not to write “rates of interest” – applaud me for resisting the pun – applaud me now!) So my thinking about the financial system involves those elements.
By the way, I am in full agreement with you that it is a form of captivity. It is hugely oppressive and cripples people in ways so subtle and so overt and so smart and so wicked that it makes what Pharaoh did to the children of Israel look like a happy day out at a fun theme park where you get to go on all the rides for free and the food and drink is free as well.
Now notice with me if you will different elements to the follow-up questions – does it have me? Are we trapped by it? Where I’m concerned, to a large degree it does have me. I am heavily intertwined in the system by the choices I’ve made. By that I mean, I am not “financially independent” or in a position where I am not reliant on any aspect of the system to sustain me. I could go into elements of how I have allowed myself to be ensnared in the system. I could mention certain relational alliances I made that also gripped me in the system. I could – but it’s not necessary. The reality is that this is the state I currently find myself with an eye eager to find a way out.
However, the next part of the question looked at if we are trapped by it and my honest belief at this time is that we’re not trapped by it. It is not inevitable. The key to it starts with a recognition of just how deep-rooted the system is and how pervasive it is to the point that even loved ones can be fully seduced by it to the point of them thinking that this is the way things are, should be and will forever be. You can’t always do something about your loved ones, but you can do something about yourself. And that is to allow your eyes to be opened and informed as to the serious nature of the captivity. I can honestly share with you that I’ve been depressed about it at times. I don’t mean felt low, I don’t mean had a little bit of a funk about it, I mean depressed. I was depressed because I acknowledged the pervasive nature of the system and also a significant part of me that was actually hooked on it. I thought it was the way that I had to endure and survive.
Thankfully, God sent good people at different stages to show me that not only was the system that bad, but that there was a way out, but it would not be easy. Not easy at all. First, there’s the recognition as I mentioned. Then there’s the need for reconditioning. This required different approaches to my relationship with the system involving my attitude to money and possessions as well as my attitude to my ability to work and generate whatever would be necessary. When I think of necessity, I look at what I need to fulfil my responsibilities as a child of God, husband of a wife, father of children, brother to loving siblings, friend of great friends and an active participant in the life of the spheres of influence in which I operate. That process is ongoing for sure both because of the nature of the system, my old habits as well as the challenges of relationships that depend on my effective engagement with these realities. Just because I was a slave, doesn’t mean I’ll always be a slave. Just because I was oppressed, doesn’t mean that’s the end of the story. There is the crucial role that hope plays in this as well as faith in God who exposes the realities of this system and its underpinning values. As God opened my eyes to these realities, I trust Him to lead me to a place of liberty from this slavery. It’s a hope and desire – that calls for work on my part, cooperation and love for the one who wants to liberate me.
Let’s be clear. As I view it – the system is wicked. So, so wicked and it’s part of bigger machinery that operates in a way that exploits and dehumanises in different ways. That starts from early on and is embedded in everyday life that it’s actually difficult to share with people just how corrosive it is. The situation, however, does not have to be the reality for us. It does not have to be the reality for our offspring. There are steps towards liberty that we can take if we’re cooperative and willing to embrace a better mindset to things that we might have previously held dear. There is hope! We can leave the darkness and embrace the light – and that light doesn’t have to be an oncoming truck.
A major reason for enjoying this blog conversation is the quality questions you ask. Thanks for another great set, bro. These were three beauties for sure.
Here are some questions for you:
Q – There is a system at work in the world as seen in statutory bodies and concepts such as the mortgage, credit and insurance that are designed to keep an individual locked in. It’s important for people to look for alternatives to this way of living. Do you agree with this sentiment? Give reasons for your answer and if you do agree what advice would you give to people who sought to look for alternatives?
Q – What is the purpose of music? How have you reached your answer to this question? Is this an area that people should consider carefully? Give reasons for your answer
Q – Describe your relationship with Dad and who would you refer people to as a good role model to follow in how to live?
It is my privilege and honour to enjoy your conversational acquaintance, Hesediah. Thanks for your time.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 
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