Pink Floyd and the Gospel: Comfortably Numb pt. 1

No okay! This is not some apologetic for why the band Pink Floyd is a Christian band and all humanity should see through the smoke and mirrors and see them as they are....committed to Christ. Do they have something to say to those of us who are followers of Christ; absolutely!

Whether you like reading or not, most will admit that they like a good story. This is evidenced in how much we spend on movies each year. Largely, music is the same way. A song or album takes you to a place, because it is typically telling you a story. No one does it better than Pink Floyd. Now, I will concede that some people do it as well as Floyd, but I cannot be convinced that anyone does it any better than them. Whether you like the album The Wall or not, it has some fascinating things to say to the American church.

On disc 2 of the wall, there is a very popular and familiar song called Comfortably Numb. Lets set the context shall we...This entire album is a reflection by Roger Waters about growing up during and after WWII and living with the extreme psychological impact it had on him. He is giving us his story and the realty that fame and fortune don't cure all things, there is something in the human heart that needs a deeper, more lasting solution. In life we have two choices really, we anesthetize ourselves, superficially speaking of course, and build walls, hence the album; or we seek to deal with the issues at a heart level. So, we come to the song comfortably numb, and it is a chilling indictment upon the church today. (yes, I am about to explain how I make this leap)

So, the song begins with a deep, reflective question: "Hello, is there anybody in there, just nod if you can hear me, is there anyone home?" I sometimes hear that line and wonder to myself, what is the difference between deadness and numbness. The question is a desperate search for life and wanting fully to see some semblance of something real. This is the initial check for vitals. It is simply trying to find some remnants of living and being that once existed but seem so far away. If you are in the church, this hits home. We have been numbed by comfort and ease. We have been lolled to sleep on the American dream and now we are finding that the trivial pursuits have left us cold, numb, and lifeless. We wonder where the spiritual feast is, where is the wine of joy and gladness? We abandoned them long ago in search of something finite and dying and now our existence is primarily a numb walk through life searching for something else. (don't worry, I am not that hopeless, I will be getting to the good news)

We continue: "Come on now, I hear you're feeling down, I can ease your pain, get you on your feet again." Ah yes, the age old surface approach right. All of life is about killing pain so that even if we can't feel pleasure we don't have to feel pain. This one line accurately sums up the church in a nutshell. We have catered to the idea that Christianity is about experiencing pain less and being happy. You must understand that Waters is writing from a secular worldview, and even he understands that this is not the final remedy. This is where the church sells out primarily, ease the pain right? We have forgotten how to pray, "give me grace to walk through the pain."

Continuing: "Relax, I need some information first, just the basic facts, now can you show me where it hurts?" Are we really able to assess ourselves? To a degree yes, but there is something bigger going on here. I hope you are seeing it, the diagnosis is that if we handle surface issues, we need not go any further. Do you know where this leads? Straight to death! Because underneath it all, a heart is dying.

So comes the chorus, and it is penetrating: " There is no pain you are receding A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying. When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloons. Now I've got that feeling once again I can't explain you would not understand This is not how I am. I have become comfortably numb." Do you see the pervading sense of helplessness that is displayed here? He says that you are only coming through in waves, i.e. there is no consistency, no security, only stagnated attempts at help. Then comes the stake through the heart, your lips move but I can't hear what you say. Why does this describe the church? I will tell you why, because we hear the voice of culture on the surface, and are missing the Word of God in the heart. The Scriptures speak very clearly to us, but it is like we are trapped now behind the wall we created. He says that this numbness is not how he is, in other words, it is not the essence of who he is. Neither is numbness the essence of the church, but we have embraced it. If we have numbed our self to God, why in the world to we expect people of culture trying to become unnumb to be attracted to us? So, we come to it, the climax of the song.

Perhaps I am making a stretch. But as I consider a man making a search of his life and finding that he has grown comfortable in the numbness of his existence, I see that as almost prophetic to where the American church is today. We are for the most part, cold to one another, condemning of one another, and critical of one another. We have very little community and we are losing relevance by the day. We have grown to love the comfort of numbness, but the gospel will not let us stay there. We need confession, we need community, and ultimately we need Christ . We need to the church to be the church and not be an extension of some exclusive club that we think makes us better than other people. God, give us grace to walk through the pain and to seek numbness no longer.