The Kingdom

After much delay, I have finally decided to begin the Kingdom of Fife blog. While I enjoy my family blog, I figure that this will provide me a forum for addressing issues of interest to me personally. So, instead of discussing my toddler's potty training, I may discuss baseball, Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize, LeBron's aspirations to become the global icon, or mechanic's liens. Okay, probably not mechanic's liens unless worst comes to worst.

For example, tonight I think that I will discuss a group called The Parrots. The Parrots are a Japanese tribute band dedicated to the Beatles. They are the house band at a club called Abbey Road Live House in Tokoyo. They speak very little English, but when I listened to them covering Beatles's tracks I could have sworn they were from Liverpool. NPR ran a story on them this week.


What caught my attention most when I was listening to the NPR story was a quote from the individual that imitates John Lennon. The story talked about how this individual had gone to England to visit all of the old Beatles sites. He then was quoted as saying the following:

"I know I'm so far from John, and my personality is completely different from his. John is always above everything," Yoshii says. "I want to become closer to him. I'll always love him, but I can never reach him."

I couldn't help but draw the religious parallels from the statement. It sounded as if he was speaking of Jesus Christ (which is ironic given certain Lennon claims concerning the Beatles vis a vis Christ). Of course, that got me thinking about the Parrots and what they have accomplished. They have gone out of their way to mirror the Beatles--to sound, to dress, and to perform like the Beatles. And they have basically accomplished this while being from a culture and while speaking a language that arguably have nothing in common with those of the actual Beatles.

So, if they can do it, why not us with Jesus? If they can focus themselves on the Beatles and study the Beatles and take the kind of steps that they have taken to become like the Beatles, then why can't we do the same thing with Jesus? In the end, we can attempt to shape our lives in the image of Christ's, but only if we are willing to adore him and study him the way the Parrots do with the Beatles. The analogy isn't perfect, but it struck me at the time.