Rock and roll, etc

So as the internet will attest, I listen to a whole lot of music. I broadly (and at times ironically) refer to most of this music as "rock and roll," in an apparent effort to make that term meaningless. Maybe some other time I'll explain what I mean by it, but for now I just want to point out a line in a song that caught my ear today. The song is When My Time Comes by the young California band Dawes (you can download the song free at that site for subscribing to their mailing list, it turns out). The line in question is "...and if heaven is all that was promised to me why don't I pray for death?"

I think this is a good question. I have no indication this band is "Christian" (a uniquely loaded term in popular music, and that's maybe not what I mean) though a number of their song titles and lyrics on their album North Hills do seem to point to frameworks Christians use when addressing life's big questions. Such a question might fit well in the voice of one who is questioning or rejecting faith in Jesus, making the assumption or expressing their experience that heaven is the sole focus of Christian faith and life. I often find that I can learn a great deal about  following Jesus by listening to those who question faith, and this is one of those questions.

In brief response to the question, I would say that heaven is far from the "all that is promised to me," and if anything I at times eschew talk of heaven altogether in favor of talking about the full, rich, vibrant, engaged, passionate life to which I feel called right here and now. This is the only Earth God has given us, and our time here is fleeting, and whatever heaven turns out to be, God sent Jesus to this world to be with us. This smelly, cranky, selfish world is the one God created and called good, and is the one God sent Jesus to redeem - not to replace, not to reject, but to redeem. And various New Testament texts are clear that Jesus will return to this earth - not to replace it, but to bring God's love to bear on this creation in a way that makes this world the best it can be. This despite the common misunderstanding of these same biblical texts applied by some who see this world as merely fleeting and disposable, like fast-food wrappers that the careless throw out their windows on the highway.

I need to wrap this up - I have a sermon to finish, and I seriously doubt that this will fit into it - but I guess the point I want to make is that God is working in the world, speaking through the lyrics of so-called "secular" rock songs, through random magazine articles, through the words of strangers in grocery stores. So many of us show up on Sunday mornings seeking Jesus, and while that's important (maybe even vital or necessary), it's not the whole story. We gather for worship and liturgy not because Jesus lives in this building with this mortgage we're paying, but so that we can in this community of faith learn to recognize God's voice, God's hand, God's face outside that building, in the rest of the wide world we are given. If we are followers of Jesus, then God is calling us into the world, the real world, the young-rock-and-roll-band-from-California world, the people-sure-do-drive-like-selfish-maniacs-on-the-highway world, the that-little-girl-at-Meijer-looks-like-she-could-use-a-hug world.

So keep your ears open.Unexpected and mysterious, indeed.