Rene's Ramblings: Sweet Home Lord Jesus

For Holy Week, I plan to blog each day little snippets from my Christian experience.

A few weeks back, while at youth group, the band was playing a familiar tune.

At first, I couldn't quite figure it out because a lot of times music has a context. In a symphony hall, you are used to certain music. In a baseball stadium, there are particular songs. And indeed, in church, there are tunes you expect.

So it took me quite awhile before I realized the band was playing, Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama!"

We sang only the chorus with the following words (only slightly modifying the original):

Sweet Home Lord Jesus
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Lord Jesus
Lord, I'm coming home to you

I loved it! Makes me think of this Bible passage:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." -- John 14:1-3

The irony of the music of course goes beyond its musical genre. The original lyrics apparently have been debated as to whether they are defending or making a satire of the racial segregation of the South.

The irony is complete: Jesus who used a Samaritan (a despised ethnic group of that era) as an example of love in Luke 10:25-37, the story of the Good Samaritan, would be praised by a song that had its roots in racial tensions of our times.