Ocean of Emotion

I returned home today after 11 days on the road.

           Mostly it was The Tangle Tour in Kentucky. After that, Jan and I drove to Nashville for the second annual (?) “You’ve Got Gold” celebration of the life and work of the late, great John Prine (1947-2020). We attended the birthday bash in the Ryman Auditorium with about 2,000 other people. Todd and Amanada Heifner of Birmingham were with us for dinner and the show, and we had a grand time.
Prine time is always a grand time for me, especially in the Ryman and especially when the stars of the Nashville stage sing the songs of the Kentucky boy from Chicago.  “I’ve always considered myself a Kentucky boy,” he said midway through his career, even though he was born and raised in Chicago.

           It was an emotional two hours for me, listing to familiar songs (“In Spite of Ourselves,” “Spanish Pipedream,” and of course, “Paradise”) and songs less so (“Lake Marie,” “Long Monday,”) and. “Saddle in the Rain”).  I’m already thinking of sponsoring another John Prine Sing-along in Hendersonville NC (and actually showing up for it!).

           I can’t say that I knew the governor personally, but he was the very first person to come to The Meetinghouse for a conversation about religion and American life.  That was 1998, seven years after his governorship and one year into my eleven years as dean of the chapel of Georgetown College.

           That interview, about religion and public schools, launched the radio version of my nonprofit, which later morphed into a print version (this very newsletter and website), a video version eventually recorded in studios in South Carolina, and now a road version, what I call The Tangle Tour of ‘23.  I intend to continue the road version with a succession of Tangles in the new year, with the ambition of broadcasting them through the PBS platform.

           Along the way of this current Tangle Tour, I attended the funeral service for my esteemed and influential teacher, Dr. Joe Lewis.  He taught scripture and religion, first, at Georgetown College, and then, at Samford University, and also served in important administrative capacities.

           I can say without equivocation that Dr. Lewis was the most consequential teacher I ever had, at least past the early elementary grades.  He opened up to me the Hebrew Bible, teaching me classical Hebrew language and the life and thought of the great prophets (Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Joel). He was he who etched into my soul the compelling summary of true religion, “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).  A year ago, my son helped me affix to the back wall of the sanctuary where I preach every Sunday that very statement. His influence, and that of the prophet Micah, lingers long and strong.

           These eleven days have stirred up a lot of emotion.  “I’ll have to work it out in a song,” John Prine sang in “You Got Gold.” But I’m a preacher, and my version of those lyrics is simply, “I’ll have to work it out in a sermon.” Which I will do this Sunday, using the title of another John Prine song, less familiar to me but sung in the Ryman this week, “Crooked Piece of Time.”