The Cross and the Jukebox: Me and Jesus
— Friday, January 28th, 2011 —
I used to feel guilty about enjoying Tom T. Hall’s “Me and Jesus.” It represented to me the individualistic, non-churchly, “do what I want to do” kind of pseudo-Christianity I’ve spent my whole life opposing. Still, I couldn’t help listening to it, and smiling when I did, but with kind of a guilty conscience.
I’ve changed my mind about “Me and Jesus.” On this episode of “The Cross and the Jukebox,” we listen to the song, and I tell you what turned me around. We’ll also talk about why this song resonates, with whom, and what the church can learn.
Good message, particularly in how we can sometimes read the messages of songs the wrong way, and I appreciate your sharing how your perception of the message behind the song changed over time. I’ve honestly never heard this before, but it’s a pretty catchy tune.
I am a little perplexed, though, that you actually once sang along with “Tone Loc” and “Wild thing”? I’m hoping you were just being silly about that, right? Right?
Dr. Moore, I love your explanation of the implications of this song. I too have complained about this song for years since I first heard it. I had more recently forgotten about the song completely and really never even “heard” any part of it except the phrase, “We got our own thing goin’ on.” For all the reasons you mentioned, this is an offense to my theology and ecclesiology.
However, if your suspicions about the song’s true implications are correct, the song becomes a celebration of simple faith between a man and his Savior, a man and his Lord, a man and his Friend. In reality, this is a relationship between a “failure” and his Redeemer, not between the button-downed, manicured “success” and his Partner, as many of us in the church seem to now assume.
Your comments here have helped me realize that the song being sung in many if not most churches today is not, “Me and Jesus,” because that would be offensive to our sensibilities and ecclesiology. But, in it’s place, the churches we attend seem to have no problem singing, “WE and Jesus, WE got our own thing goin’. WE don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about.”
Same thing, different verse.
I just had to drop a note and say how much I am enjoying these podcasts. I love listening to your perspective on those old country songs I grew up listening to in rural South Alabama. I keep thinking about those early mornings when I had to get up to catch the school bus and Momma would have Gene Reagen and the farm report on the radio and Gene would play those good old country songs from Hank and Johnny and Tammy and Loretta…kinda makes me homesick :)
Thank you for your theological insight into the human condition and how these songs reflect our soul sickness so well and the gospel truly is the only answer.
Keep ‘em coming, please!