Tommy the Rock Opera

I am finally reviving my blog and I want anyone reading to know that the absence of posts for a while now has not occurred because I ran out of things to say! I have had some significant opportunities to "say" things to some live groups recently and have spent alot of time with other forms of communication beyond blogging! But, it is nice to get back to the "coracle" that is this blog--where I just spill out my inner world into the vast cyber-ocean and wonder whose shoreline I will hit...the chaos of it all is intoxicating.

We were just in Lincoln, England at the Grapevine Celebration/Conference specifically in the large tent they call "Glory." As always, I passionately fired out my inspiration about the redemptive potential in the world around us and sought to bring--not just bring, but display, animate and set free, my Kingdom message. I am intoxicated with the call to present true Christianity to this generation and I happen to hear that call not just from heaven, but from the voices of postmodern poets and thinkers themselves!!! (They don't know that it is to Jesus they are calling, because they don't yet have an accurate image of Him! That is where you and I come in!)

What I LOVE about my own journey is that God never lets it get boring! Just when I think I know the boundaries of what I have to say, God seems to step right past them and ask me (metaphorically speaking) "can you see me now?"! This time it was Tommy the Rock Opera by the Who. I had, a couple of months ago, become interested in re-discovering the "See me, touch me, feel me..." song from Tommy, but since Tommy was one of the few classic albums I did not myself own, I didn't know which song title to download to my iPod. After a few tries, I found "We're Not Gonna Take It" at the conclusion of the album. When I first was able to listen to it, I was on the treadmill at the gym. Halfway through, Roger Daltrey began the raspy see me, feel me, touch me, heal me... and then...oh then....the music shifted and there came the rapturous moment I was looking for:

Listening to you, I hear the music; Gazing at you, I get the heat
Following you, I climb the mountain; I get excitement at your feet
Right behind you, I see the millions; On you, I see the glory
From you, I get opinions; from you, I get the story....

And, as you know, it repeats again and again in what may be the only rock approximation of the number of times we charismatics repeat a worship chorus.

As I was brought back into contact with these words after so many years, I was broken. Here in the lyrics of an album written by a guitar smashing rebel--an album which was banned in both the U.S. and the U.K. for its explicit contents--was what to me the most poignant cry for a real Messiah imaginable! It is as if Pete Townshend shifted accidentally from writing about his pinball wizard hero to tapping the universal longing for a Savior that is buried in all mankind!! I thought as I heard it: "That's Jesus--the real Jesus! That is a perfect description of what Jesus is to me...." I wiped tears from my eyes as I still tried to navigate treading the mill...

It was one thing to feel that at the gym, but quite another to present it in public, however. I take time constraints seriously and the morning talks in the Glory venue were to be an hour--I have so much to say that it was too large a risk to launch out into what might be a private epiphany rabbit trail that would not necessarily bless all the Grapevine attendees! And yet, I couldn't get away from it and I felt God smiling inside me at the prospect. On the second morning of the event, I heard myself, as I talked about Paul at Athens, say, "Let me give you an example of today's poets..." and I read out the lyrics above.

I've been thinking about it ever since--and treasuring the original LP of Tommy that one of my friends presented to me the next day (my youngest child asked to hold the vinyl disc in his hand, never having seen anything but a CD). The more I think about it, the more I am amazed at this altar to the unknown (by The Who at least) God! The last two lines, especially, are the things I want to shout from the rooftops.

"From you, I get opinions..." My greatest fear of Christianity was the false notion that it would rob me of my color, life and spice and somehow turn me into a chapter and verse quoting clone who processed life through an emotionless grid. Nothing could be farther from the truth: Rather than depriving me of a personality, God through Christ in my life has caused a personality to blossom that amazes even me, its owner! I am honestly always surprising myself as I discover the swirls and splotches in my inner world! From HIM, I got, not a deprival of individuality, but the right to have "opinions" and "passions" and, for the milder among us "interests".

Though it's a chick flick and a lightweight one at that, Runaway Bride has a scene that moves me. Richard Gere challenges Julia Roberts to quit codependently adapting to every guy she dates. He notices that, out of her need to be accepted, she adapts to every like or disklike her current fiance has, right down to how they like their eggs cooked. His point blank question to her is "How do YOU like your eggs?" After she runs (yet again) and finds herself alone, she finally decides to face her inner demons. The camera shows her cooking every form of eggs imaginable from baked to Benedict and then sampling them one by one carefully until from within her finally a preference of her own emerges. She dared to have AN OPINION, rather than just losing herself into the safe territory of other people's strong prescriptions! THAT'S what Jesus did for me--he made me know that I am a unique individual who bears the brushstrokes of the Creator! If I am a Pollock or a Kandinsky, it's no use trying to look like a Rembrandt! From YOU I get OPINIONS...From YOU, Jesus, I find my own distinctive as well as the grace to add that to the community in which you have placed me! I don't have to fight for my opinions because IT'S YOU who gave them to me! I can rest in who I am....

But, even bigger than that, Townshend wrote, "From you, I get the story." What a great word for a postmodern world that has already realized that everyone has a story. Sometimes the story of our own lives is not one that we enjoy or want to tell. But, if that is the case, we simply have yet to see THE story! God has an over-arching story that always ends in glory for those who keep their eyes on Him. I can refuse earthly interpretations of my life and circumstances and wait for the story that comes from heaven to my heart. I can refuse judgments and prejudices towards other people--even when they hurt me--and tune in closer to God to get the story from Him. I only want HIS story--the redemptive one--the one that ends in resurrection even when the night of death has been so dark! From YOU I get THE story...and once I get it, everything makes sense. (It's worth waiting at his feet for as long as it takes...)

Back home in Azle, I shared these Tommy words with my youth group this week (and showed them the oddity of a 33 1/3 LP). I don't know if they were nearly as passionate as my British friends, but my own passion remained unflagged. (It's my opinion and has become my story...) I looked at their faces and thought about how the world is trying to mold them into people without authentic opinion and the enemy is trying to sell them a counterfeit story...and then I waxed exceedingly passionate about how we have a Savior that answers the cry of true rock and roll. Maybe they aren't music historians, and maybe the true cry of rock and roll is just far too "out there" to mention in Bible belt church (but watch me). Still, the song remains the same through all walks of life. Whatever mountain man is attempting to climb--whatever the quest of heart--Jesus is standing at the top offering the only real fulfillment. THAT is what a Savior does. No one can imagine a hero that Jesus doesn't meet and, by light years, exceed. Go ahead,: hear the music, feel the heat, climb the mountain, see the glroy... and then let the camera pan back from your Savior and you, too, will the millions waiting for what you have found. Your worship will be your sending and your life will be full.