Tonight after a more stressful day at work than usual I decided to stop for a beer at a new place near the office that advertises a great beer selection. As I read, ate and drank I was half listening to the music in the background. It must not be easy to select music for a bar these days. You don't want to chase anyone away, but you don't want to bore folks too much, either. This place made what I suppose is the safest choice--classic rock, played at an audible but unobtrusive volume level.
One song caught my attention. You've probably heard it at some point--Get Together, from the 1967 debut album by Jesse Colin Young's band The Youngbloods. The chorus goes like this:
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
I got to thinking about those lyrics. When they were new in 1967 I believed them fervently. Then I came to think they failed to take into account the power of evil that had to be opposed, resisted, fought whenever and wherever it appeared. Later I thought they were just naive and futile because evil would continue if not prevail. Finally I thought they were merely sentimentality and kitsch. Some of those phases may have overlapped, too.
Tonight, maybe in light of recent events in Tucson, I got to thinking about them again for the first time in a long time. If you abstract their intention from their sexist language, aren't they true? Not to minimize the complexity and persistence of the world's problems, or to deny the value of addressing them directly, but in the final analysis doesn't the answer have to be love?
Love on an interpersonal level, sure, but also love in our public discourse and love in institutional structure and behavior. We certainly have a long way to go, but the only way to make progress is to find ways to move forward.
I think anyone willing to hear it may believe this way, but for Christians it should certainly be compelling.
What happened to make me stop believing in love? Can I get over it and get back to that belief? How? And how will I express it?
