I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, that the Easter Bunny was good to all those little ones and your bellies are full from too much food, regardless of what you celebrated.

Today’s Musical Monday selection came about from a few things; it was one of the holiest weekends of the year. I am Roman Catholic, and while I don’t go to church nearly as often as I should, I still hold true in my beliefs. And I love to hear my Little Mouse retell the story of Jesus’s life, as she’s learning in school. They had a Passion play at school, and she told the story pretty accurately, for not fully understanding why He was crucified.

The second thing that played a factor in the song I chose was the depressing fact that every time I watch the news; it’s about a shooting or some other tragic story of death. This weekend was no exception. I watched as hundreds of people were locked down in the various parking lots at Yorkdale on Saturday night, because somebody decided to shoot a guy outside of Sears! Last night, the lead story was about a guy who killed his parents. It’s four to five stories a night about shootings, stabbings, etc. and it’s depressing. It’s scary too! What kind of world do we live in?

Finally, the reason I chose this song, was because while doing a few other things last night, I put on The Voice. I don’t normally watch singing competition shows anymore, but there wasn’t anything on, and I needed something light. I enjoy watching the auditions, seeing who gets picked to move forward and the funny banter between the judges.

The last girl of the night, Sarah Simmons sang Joan Osborne’s “One of Us”, and it made me cry. I’ve always found that song nice, but her voice was out of this world. “One of Us” came out in 1995 and created quite a stir, mainly because it spoke about God and probably because it put Him on a bus. I never understood the big deal, and think it just made the song more popular because of the controversy. Regardless of what Joan Osborne meant to say, or was trying to say, perhaps we should all be thinking about that. Maybe we should act as though He was one of us, like the line in the song says; “if seeing meant that you would have to believe”, maybe that would change the world a bit.

I’m not trying to preach my beliefs by any means, I promise. I’m just saying that with the amount of violence on the streets of our cities today, perhaps just taking consideration of the person sitting next to you on the Subway, or behind you in line at the grocery store would lead to a change in our behavior just a bit. I don’t know how else to end the madness, except perhaps we have to take a page out of His book, and literally turn the other cheek. It wouldn’t hurt to try, right?!

One of Us by Joan Osborne

If God had a name, what would it be
And would you call it to His face
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question

Yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home

If God had a face, what would it look like
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like Heaven and in Jesus and the Saints
And all the Prophets and…

Yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home

Tryin’ to make His way home
Back up to Heaven all alone
Nobody callin’ on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

Yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home

Just tryin’ to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to Heaven all alone
Just tryin’ to make his way home
Nobody callin’ on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome