Saturday, July 16, 2005
Tommy Who
Tommy, in white for the entire production,...tell me I'm as off as the weatherman, but there was a beautiful message of Redemption in the rock opera by The Who! Read my lips...(or fingers?) I have no idea what The Who intended...their's could be a total humanist view, but as a baby Christian, I could see why I was drawn to the words many, oh so many years ago!
When Tommy is released from his limbo existence, "the people follow him..." When he turns to them and says, "No, don't follow me...I wanted to be like you!", the crowd rejects his words, with the exception of his mother. Tommy breaks into song, "See Me..."
Jesus' message was "follow me" ...and we are obliged to try...and try...and try. What is it in us that when Jesus turns around and says, "No, it's You I want to Be"...Jesus the Servant, we tremble and we run away as they did from Tommy. Have we rejected the very idea of Christians representing God on earth? Does this teaching take a backseat to "follow Me" in the twentieth/twenty-first century Church?
The final chorus gathers the cast to sing,
When Tommy is released from his limbo existence, "the people follow him..." When he turns to them and says, "No, don't follow me...I wanted to be like you!", the crowd rejects his words, with the exception of his mother. Tommy breaks into song, "See Me..."
Jesus' message was "follow me" ...and we are obliged to try...and try...and try. What is it in us that when Jesus turns around and says, "No, it's You I want to Be"...Jesus the Servant, we tremble and we run away as they did from Tommy. Have we rejected the very idea of Christians representing God on earth? Does this teaching take a backseat to "follow Me" in the twentieth/twenty-first century Church?
The final chorus gathers the cast to sing,
Listening to you, I get 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.
Yes, we follow our Lord and we get excitement at His feet...and the feeling is mutual! Our Lord and Servant, dwelling in us, ..."gets opinions, gets the Story...sees the Glory! When His Church lets Him Live in the Body, He sees the millions behind us...it's the Salvation Story! Praise His Holy Name. Amen.
