God Did That - a Leon Russell Parable
Church of the Future
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37 NIV
The spirit moves the hands of men and women and the spirit streams and creates music. You may notice this all the time and dismiss it, or sometimes just think it’s a nice synchronous or coincidence story. As for us, we like the emotional ebb of adding one more sentence to the nice story and the sentence is – “God did that.”
This Sunday, we add “God did that” to Elton John’s speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for Leon Russell in 2011.
Leon Russell was beat down on the side of the road and this is a wrenching thing to know when we’re rocking out to that beautiful man’s music on a daily basis, as we are. My pelvis blushes at Delta Lady like he’s referring directly to my particular soft and fertile delta. He is. Oh Leon.
Elton John was the good Samaritan and the little inkling in his artist open channel music streaming morning mind compelled what he would not have foreseen. Just the next right thing. “I have to call this person up…He meant so much to me.” God did that.
Watch:
“Elton came and found me in a ditch by the side of the highway of life. He took me up to the high stages, with big audiences and he treated me like a king, and the only thing I can say is - bless your heart. Also I want to say thank you very much. I appreciate it and - hallelujah.”
In the Church of the Future, we’ll ugly cry freely to rock and roll hymns, because it’s all holy. Feeling the hot breath on our shoulder, the familiar tune filling our skulls like a smoke cloud, and dropping the proverbial needle down on A Song for You, which is God and every human, loving in a place where there’s no space or time. Russell said of that song, in another interview, “I went in there and wrote it very quickly…that happens sometimes. Sometimes they’re very quick. It’s almost as if one is not writing them, you know? Like they’re coming from another place.”
Everyone is on their own spiritual journey and it can have such a good soundtrack.
Your take on spirituality feels spot on to me!!