It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to the place of silence … - Psalm 115:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 21, 2019): Psalm 115

In 1973, Johnny Stevenson and Alan O’Day wrote “Rock and Roll Heaven.” The song was first recorded by the rock band Climax, but it failed to chart. The next year, the Righteous Brothers recorded the song, and it topped out at number 3 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100. (Personally, I like the “Climax” version of the song better.) The song talks about some of the artists that we had lost from the early days of Rock and Roll. Artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, and Bobby Darin all found their place in the original song. Since then, the lyrics of the song have been adjusted to reflect other artists that have died over the years, like John Lennon. But it is the chorus that we all remember.

If you believe in forever
Then life is just a one-night stand
If there's a rock and roll heaven
Well you know they've got a hell of a band, band, band

It is a play on the idea of the heavenly choir. One day we will all go and sing with that choir, and maybe even those of us who struggle to carry a tune will be able to find our place to sing in that chorus. But there is a problem with that choir, and with the band in our Rock and Roll Heaven. We can’t hear them. They may be playing right now; the choir in heaven might be busy singing a Fanny Crosby hymn, but the music doesn’t reach our ears.  We can’t hear them.

The Psalmist calls this a place of silence. Maybe it is not that they are silent, but just that their words can never intrude into our reality. After they leave our plane, we will never hear their testimony again until we go to the place where they are. If we want our words to carry in this world, they have to be spoken in this world.

Rock and Roll heaven concludes with the words;

There's a spotlight waiting
No matter who you are
Cause everybody's got a song to sing
Everyone's a star

But, if it is a song worthy of singing, it is a song that needs to be sung here, so the rest of us can hear the message of your voice.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 116 & 117