I love what Scott Calvin (Tim Allen’s character in The Santa Claus) says as Santa’s bag of toys lifts him into the air and squeezes him down a metal pipe where there would normally be a chimney - “It’s okay, I lived through the 60s!”
The original Woodstock was held in White Plains, New York, in 1969 on August 15, 16, and 17. It was advertised as “Three Days of Peace and Music.” It was - and I believe still is - one of the defining moments in the history of my country.
I say “still is” because although it was over fifty years ago, the radical changes that took began in America in the 1950s and 1960s have only accelerated over the years. Technology in the form of television and radio, airplanes, and motor cars continues to evolve in ways we never imagined, and our world is smaller and more interconnected than it’s ever been.
“Drugs, sex, and rock ’n roll” were rampant at Woodstock. They were the signs of the “lost generation” born after World War II. Born into the nuclear age with tests of the emergency broadcasting system and noon sirens blaring every Wednesday, they inherited a broken, dangerous, and fragile world. Maybe it was because of this that the Woodstock generation chose to swim against the current.
Joni Mitchell wrote Woodstock, the song. You can listen to it with the lyrics here.
What amazes me about this song is its deep connection to many scriptural truths and the promises of Jesus to restore what was lost in The Garden.
I came across a child of God.
While the New Testament clearly teaches that the children of God are those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, Paul, preaching in Athens, agreed with the Stoic philosopher, Aratus, who said, “we are his offspring.” In this general sense, by virtue of creation, we are all children of God. This truth should guide you and me as followers of Jesus in our relationships with all people.
We are stardust, we are golden and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Whether she realized it or not, Joni’s words speak of the inherent worth of human beings created in the image of God. In many ways, this is an extension of the phrase “child of God.”
And the idea of getting ourselves back to the garden is clearly a recognition of how far humanity has fallen. Of course, getting ourselves back to the garden is impossible apart from Christ, but the heart cry of these words is the heart cry of a lost world.
I’m going to try and get my soul free.
Once again, we hear the yearning of a lost soul, and once again, as followers of Jesus, we have experienced this soul-freedom.
I don’t know who I am but ya know life is for learning.
I love this line! In it, we hear the words of someone seeking answers, seeking self-awareness. And self-awareness comes through God-awareness.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” is God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:13. “Seek and you will find” promises Jesus in Matthew 7:7.
And everywhere there was a song and celebration.
In his first sermon in Nazareth, Jesus spoke of the “Year of Jubilee” to describe his ministry. A time of freedom for the captives, good news for the poor, and rejoicing among the people. Our Lord himself was called a drunk and a glutton by the religious establishment of his day. But oh, how the prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners loved his celebratory religion.
Caught in the devil’s bargain.
“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (Genesis 3:4)
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14)
I dreamed I saw the bombers . . . turning into butterflies.
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
It’s easy to miss the contrast between Rome’s empire (the way of the world) and God’s Kingdom found in the Christmas story. A host or army of angels appears in the heavens, promising peace on earth. An army of peace. That’s God’s way, and in these days, as we read and watch daily the death and destruction taking place in Ukraine, we can only echo the closing words of Revelation 22:20, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
These last couple of days, I’ve written about the barriers we must cross to reach our world for Christ. That’s part of the reason why I do these rock ’n roll devotionals, and Woodstock may be the best example: the heart cry of the song, the understanding (consciously or not) of the lostness of humanity and our world, and the yearning for salvation; all these things find their answers in the well-known words of John 3:16 -
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In Christ,
Dan
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