The Flog – The Fabry Log

I took my sons to a used bookstore. No, a mega-used bookstore that sells musical instruments, movies, puzzles, T-shirts--I think they had a section of used cars I never reached. And everything was in really good shape.

I wandered through the fiction section, then into History and finally wound up in the "Spirituality" division. Lots of books about faith and belief and positive thinking and such. Then I spotted them. Three of my own books.

I pulled them off the shelf and took a picture of them to prove to my wife I actually found my books somewhere, then put them back and kept browsing.

An older woman happened by and stopped right where my books were located. She picked up a copy of "Borders of the Heart" and tucked it under her arm like it was her new best friend.

"You're not going to buy that, are you?" I said.

"Why, yes. He's one of my favorite authors. I just finished June Bug. And I'm this close to finishing...I can't remember the title now."

"Is it Dogwood?"

"No."

"Not in the Heart?"

"No."

"Almost Heaven?"

"Yes, that's the one. And after I get finished with it, I'm going to read it again because there's so much good stuff in there. I hear he lives around here."

I finally had to break the news to her that the person in front of her in sweats, a T-shirt, ratty shoes and an Arizona hat was said author and she smiled. I signed the book for her and she cradled it again and smiled.

I don't get royalties for books sold in used bookstores. But there are some perks worth more than financial gain. It was nice to meet you, Barbara. I hope our paths cross again.

I was in line at Walmart buying a Christmas present. Two people ahead of me and there's something wrong with a $100 bill and the cashiers are studying it.

I turned and saw a younger dad with his son. The boy was pale, blond-haired, a little hollow-eyed. He could have played Boo Radley as a child before all the teasing.

"Can I get an Orange Crush?" he said, looking up at his dad.

"Okay. I guess."

I turned because there were others getting involved in studying Ben Franklin and asked how they were doing. I mentioned something about the Orange Crush and the dad said, "This is a special occasion."

"I have to take medicine that makes me sleepy," the boy said.

"You take it at the same time every night?" I said.

He nodded and the dad talked about the diagnosis. Hippa rules don't apply when you're checking out at Walmart. "His concentration has really improved."

I told him I had a daughter who took a medicine sort of like that and it made her really sleepy during school. She had to take a nap. He was staring at the gum or the magazine rack now and the conflagration over the bill was over. I blipped my way forward and pulled the credit card through the slot.

"Enjoy your Orange Crush," I said as I grabbed the present and left.

The last I saw them his dad was paying for the soda and his son was still focused on the gum.

There’s been a backlash about taking the word “Lord” from a performance on The Voice last week. See more about that HERE.

Perhaps it was a case of needing to the public domain version that caused them to remove “Lord,” but many see this as another instance of deleting references to God/Jesus/Faith. Best case scenario is that the move was made to make the song available free on iTunes. Worst case scenario…well, read on.

Worst case is that this is the new push that’s been going on for a long time. In order to have a manger in the public square we must also have Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty around. We must either extract or water down this exclusive religious speech.

Let’s imagine a world without the word “Lord.” The Eagles and Jackson Browne would need to change the words to “Take It Easy.”

It’s a girl, my Oh, in a flat-bed Ford slowing down to have a look at me.

George Harrison’s words would need to be changed to:

My Sweet Oh.

Wait, that song is pretty syncretistic, so perhaps it can stay. That may be a lower case “L” in that song.

But certainly we’d have to change hymns:

Praise to the Oh, the Almighty, The King of Creation.

And what do you do with a song like, How Great Thou Art?

Oh Oh, my God, when I in awesome wonder….

You’d probably have to take “God” out of there and supplant it with “Word.”

Oh Oh, my Word….

You can how silly this would become. That’s because words mean things. And religious speech is offensive to some. Always has been. But it’s particularly offensive to speak the exclusive religious speech of Christians who believe that God became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, or Yeshua as he was known in his own culture, was not merely a moral teacher who taught us to turn the other cheek, love others and walk the extra mile, he was inextricably intertwined with the truth that he claimed to be one with God. He claimed to be Deity.

The Christmas hymn, Hark the Herald Angels says it well:

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Emmanuel means, “God with us.”

Oh.

It’s easy to pick on The Voice for their faux pas. They were just trying to make things more palatable for everyone (or, perhaps trying to make the song available free). But when you extract the name “Lord” from a beloved tune, you gain the ire of many followers who will object, vilify, protest, tweet and express unbridled outrage.

The harder question for us is not what some producers at NBC decided to do but what I do every day. It’s much easier to boycott, picket, protest, and raise a holy ruckus over what those godless, pagan, insensitive people did by taking a word out of a song I like.

It’s much more difficult to look at my own life closely and see the ways I have marginalized God or taken “Lord” from my lips. Maybe this is why some are incensed. I get upset with other people when I see them doing things I am guilty of. Perhaps our furor over this is partly due to the small ways we have removed God from our lives.

Oh.