Divine Milieu...Bruce Springsteen - One Step Up...

Bird on a wire outside my motel room
But he ain't singin'
Girl in white outside a church in June
But the church bells they ain't ringing
I'm sittin' here in this bar tonight
But all I'm thinkin' is
I'm the same old story same old act
One step up and two steps back

Hmmm…I almost posted this video for Bruce Springsteen’s song “One Step Up” last week and then I didn’t - maybe because it is too real, too authentic, and too painful?

Then this morning while having coffee with a good friend he told me story that was very similar to this song and the loneliness and desperation that sometimes comes from being human. The story I was told had a very interesting twist which I may tell another time but for now I want to linger in the truth of these lyrics.

It is no wonder that Brennan Manning wrote this about the Springsteen album that this song came off of:

“Most people understand imagery and symbol better than doctrine and dogma. Images touch hearts and awaken imaginations. One theologian suggested that Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love album, in which he symbolically sings of sin, death, despair, and redemption, is more important for Catholics than the Pope’s last visit when he spoke of morality only in doctrinal propositions. Troubadours have always been more important and influential than theologians and bishops.”