Yesterday during worship we were singing "You Are My King (Amazing Love)." At the end, we just repeat over and over, "Jesus, You are my King." I was wondering if any of us (other than me at that moment) really think of that as a real political statement..
As Americans, living in a democracy, thinking of a King can be a bit of an esoteric experience. We don't have any "Kings" over us so its only an exercise in imagination for us to say we have one. To anyone living prior to 1776, terminology like 'king' and 'lord' would have held real political meaning. Making a statement that someone other than your appointed monarch was your king would have been considered treasonous or possibly even blasphemous. All in all, it is a very radical statement.
I was wondering if we should change the lyrics to say something like, "Jesus, You are my president!" Maybe its not quite as poetic, but it does make a much stronger statement about who's really in charge.
Moving to a Community
1 year ago
12 comments:
I still say that calling Jesus "president" is a weak political statement because the president really has so little direct influence on my everyday life, whereas Jesus should have tremendous impact on the decisions I make.
Agreed, but anything is "weak" compared to how freaking awesome Jesus really is.. Its just closer to our culture to say he's our president.
king rhymes much better
agreed... what rhymes with president thats worth singing?
hesitant? resident? dissident???
I've been hesitant about making You my President, but now I know I'm resident of Your Kingdom!
Since Jesus is my President and of His country I'm a resident I will not be hesitant to announce my status as a dissident under any other decadent leader of evil intent and that truth will be evident long after I'm using Polident!
No fair, Kathie! You are the poet laureate of VCF!!
"Jesus is my duly elected chief executive."
Something wrong with that statement...
We need to include the phrase "freaking awesome" in a worship song.
Susan, I'm sure I'm not, but thanks anyway! My ability to rhyme is probably more an occupational hazard than anything else! (Plus, I don't know of any truly good poems that use the word "Polident"...of course, that could just be considered product placement!) ;-)
those are some serious phonics there, Kathie, you go ahead with those children books, and then maybe when you're done you can switch to adults.
Jesus is my everything. That's about the extent of my poetic ability.
Woody Guthrie wrote a great song called Christ for President. Read the lyrics here.
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/w/woody-guthrie/christ/
And listen to it on iTunes, as recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco, here.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=153269&id=153283&s=143441
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