A Second Look

This mornings walk was a wet and rainy one. A mild drizzle turned to a steady down pour. On these days I put my hood up and I kinda get into reflective groove as I walk. It's usually an intense session of deep insight into my own life. But today, it was a little different.
I was listening to a digital copy, recorded off of a record, of Jethro Tull's classic allbum "Aqualung." Now this was a huge hit for JT and for me. This album pegs out at number 67 on the all time best album list...it is a classic. I remember how so many of the songs went right along with my way of thinking about life..and in particular...religion.

You see when I listened to it as a teenager, it reinforced in me everything I hated about the church. It spoke to those things that reinforced my personal bents against the way people were so exclusive and did so much wrong in the name of God. These views of mine, and JT's for that matter, got this album the dubious honor of getting burned by the religious right...I mean literally thrown into a fire. The flames of course only made this album more popular with those of us that wanted to burn down the existing structures and moral values. And then...
A couple years after being an Aqualung junkie, I had a opportunity to actually meet the real Jesus. In my zeal to be more and more focused on my relationship with Him, I put a lot of those albums into the round file. Many of them just seemed to put me in a very critical place. This album was always a catalyst for my mind to look suspiciously at God and frankly His people. So Aqualung was one of those albums that went bye bye in my purge of music (I'll tell you about that at another time).
Then one day I came across a digital copy. I wondered how it would hold up after all these years. So I loaded it into my iPod and set off on my walk.
Now I have to tell you...it sounded GREAT!!! I mean those opening riff's of Aqualung are classic...simple...grunged up...but smokin hot. Thirty six years and the music is still so intense and it buzzes in my soul. But the lyrics took on a whole new meaning to me. In the midst of those words that used to ring so true in my life about all of the negative in the church...I heard the rest of the story. In the midst of the criticism of the church, was a prescription for the church. Don't put God into your little box...he's too big for that. God cannot be confined to our religion. Would you really want to worship a God you can control or easily figure out. These words (though not entirely biblically accurate) express the frustration that many people feel who are outside the church. Those of us who are in the church often are the reason people don't want anything to do with God. That is a crime...a shame...a disgrace.
It is amazing how often when people try to point out our flaws and inconsistencies, we tend to react negatively...we tend to want to destroy anyone or anything that would criticize. Seems to me that was a key reason Jesus was crucified. Now I am not trying to compare Aqualung's write Ian Anderson with Jesus. But sometimes people outside the church can have a perspective that we may not see. I mean come on, God has used a jackass to speak to his people...surely He could use a rock star to reveal a little bit of truth to the church. I think we can handle the truth...I know God can.