“Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.” – Jeremiah 23:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 17, 2017) Jeremiah 23

In November 1970, George Harrison released his first single as a solo artist. The song was “My Sweet Lord.” The song was intended to be a sort of bridge between Christianity, Judaism and the Eastern religions – specifically Hinduism and the Krishna Consciousness. The bridge comes in a chant which combines both the Hare Krishna chant and Vedic prayer with the word Hallelujah used in Christian and Jewish settings. The question inherent in the song is this – aren’t we talking about the same thing?

But what we remember about the song is the copyright struggle over the song after it was released. People started to notice that there were similarities between Harrison’s song and the Chiffon’s song “He’s So Fine.” The lawsuit was messy, and in the end, it was the judgment of the court that Harrison had unconsciously copied the Chiffon’s song. The penalty for this unintended infraction was steep, but maybe the greatest effect of the lawsuit was on Harrison himself. Harrison commented after the court case was finished that he was afraid to write another song for an extended period afterward – afraid that he would unconsciously copy someone else once again.

God declares through Jeremiah that he does not want his prophets to copy other people’s words. His prophets have to be willing to struggle with the ideas of God on their own. It is not that all the words of the prophets were wrong, but when we don’t strive to make the words our own, we copy the mistakes as well as what is right. And if we continue to copy without struggling with the words and making sure that they are from God, it often seems that it is the mistakes that add up.

God created each one of us as originals, and he wants us to be just that – originals. We are not supposed just to adopt the beliefs of those around us. We are designed to puzzle and argue, and to not be afraid of those that might have a different opinion as we seek out the things of God. We may not agree with George Harrison’s attempt to combine the God of the Christians with everything that attracted him about Hinduism, but “My Sweet Lord” stands as evidence that at least Harrison was struggling with the question. And God’s promise to us is that if we take the time necessary for the struggle – then he will be with us for every step of the process.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 24