Considered one of the pioneers of Christian rock music, Larry Norman personifies what it means to be a member of a Church on the Edge.
Norman trusted Jesus as his savior at the age of five. The time was 1952. The place, San Francisco, California. And Norman grew up in the flower child, hippy movement of the 1960s.
He was a successful musician, writing most of the songs for the well-known rock band, People. He rubbed shoulders with Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and a host of famous rock stars. In fact, Janis Joplin recorded a song by Larry Norman entitled, “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus.” I can’t help but believe that song had a powerful impact on her life before heroin addiction took her. You can listen to that song with the lyrics here.
Larry Norman endured a lot of criticism for his music. I’m old enough to remember the naysayers who called Christian rock a deception of the devil. But Larry knew better. In his song, “Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music” he answered some of those critics, singing, “There’s nothing wrong with playing blues licks, but if you’ve got a reason tell me to my face. There’s nothing wrong with what I play, Cause Jesus is the rock and he rolled my blues away.” Check out the entire song with lyrics here.
What I love most about Larry Norman’s Christian faith is his refusal to conform to the camp mentality so prevalent in many churches and denominations. He boldly denounced lifestyles promoting drugs and sex, while at the same time confronting heartless policies and politicians on both the Left and the Right wings of American politics. He is an inspiration for many today who are disturbed about Christians cozying up to politicians and sacrificing the birthright of our prophetic voice for the lentil stew of temporary political gains.
We need more Larry Normans in the church today. Men and women whose hearts for people, all people, extend beyond the boundaries of church walls, and customs, ways, and traditions that have become in the words of Jesus, old wineskins, unable to hold what is always the fresh, new wine of the Good News.
The truth is, we don’t have to throw out the old to bring in the new. There is a place for both. “Therefore,” taught Jesus, “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13:52)
This one is for my good friend, Steve, who, when I first began these rock ’n roll devotionals sent me an email about one of his Christian heroes, Larry Norman.
In Christ,
Dan
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Larry Norman sounds like he has done a lot for Christian music (and Christianity generally), which is great.
We have a local Christian radio station here in central west NSW Oz. There is plenty of great and new Christian music coming through - all different genres too. From love ballads through to rock. In fact there would more variety and quality of songs on this station, than the local pop station for sure. Easy station choice for me.👍