3160) Two Pretty Good Songs

     Last Sunday in church we sang “Come Jesus Come” by Stephen McWhirter (2020).  When I got home I did an internet search for the song and it’s writer/singer.  I found a great performance of the song by Stephen McWhirter with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and, I found McWhirter’s powerful testimony.  Take the time to view, and be inspired, by both.

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     The following video is McWhirter’s three minute testimony.  If you want to hear a longer version, an internet search will bring you to several other videos of his story (and more of his songs).

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     Tom Waits (1949- ) is an American singer, songwriter, and composer.  His music blends blues, jazz, and pop into an unconventional, even eccentric form of rock.  It is perhaps too eccentric for many, because he has never had a top forty hit.  But his music has been critically acclaimed.  It has been performed by several more famous singers and groups, he has won two Grammys, and in 2011 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

      Tom Waits does not have a dramatic conversion story to tell like Stephen McWhirter.  He has not said much about his religious beliefs.  Sometimes his songs sound very anti-religious.  But sometimes his songs evoke all sorts of religious themes, such as redemption, a welcoming community, release from guilt, and a hope for something beyond the troubles of this life.

     His 1999 song “Come on Up to the House” is a song that sends mixed messages.  The line “Come down from the cross we can use the wood” is seen by some as a sacrilegious slam against the Christian faith.  Others see it merely as an invitation to let go of your own guilt.  The rest of the song, however, has several lines that evoke the message of the Gospel.  It starts with the brokenness of life– “the moon is broken and the sky is cracked;” but “this world is not my home, I’m just passing through.”  Passing through to what?  “Come on up to the house.”  What house?  He does not get into the specifics, but what other house is there if this world is not your home?

     The video that follows is Tom Waits singing in his distinctive gravelly voice, but it is certainly not his official video.  The person who made the video interpreted the song from a Christian standpoint, using images from the parable of the Prodigal Son, along with the invitation by Jesus to “come on up to his house.”  I don’t know if Tom Waits had all that in mind, but it sure makes a wonderful music video.

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