The Burr in the Burgh

If you enjoy the popular music of the last fifty years, you will love this feature from an issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The editors selected fifty legendary musical artists of the rock era and asked current stars to write brief reflections about them. It is a fun and fascinating read.

My favorite is the one on Elvis Presley written by Bono of U2. First of all, Bono is a genius with words. He has a very refreshing way of putting things. Read any of the scores of interviews he's done in the last twenty years and most of them will be full of rich expression, even when about the most mundane things.

Particularly, I was struck by Bono's observation that for Elvis, grace was not amazing enough. He says that in the context of describing the tortured interior life this megastar endured. Friends say that when Elvis was especially upset, nothing soothed him as much as going to be alone and singing old spirituals and hymns with his piano. And yet this was the drug addicted superstar who read the bible, loved his mother and shot the television in his living room.

Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It is a profound Christian reality but only if grace is understood for what it is. Grace is not a power that God gives us to become better people. If that were the case, then clearly his grace is insufficient. The evidence for most of us is that we do not become measurably better as time goes on. In some ways, yes. But remember C.S. Lewis who said that whenever I remove the big stones from my field, I just see the thousands of smaller ones that were there all along. And these pebbles are much harder to clear away, thus more pernicious.

God's grace is fundamentally His own mindset toward us. It is the favor He shows sinners on account of Christ. And this epiphany does indeed powerfully change us, but not ultimately until our own resurrection on the Last Day.

I feel bad for Elvis sometimes. I remember exactly where I was in 1977 when I heard about his death. He was certainly a talented man who loved his family, was a patriot, was moved by music and exhibited an abiding Christian faith. God's grace is amazing enough. How painful it is when even believers are taxed with despair.