Ancient Anglican

What Jesus requires of us, is to see the dignity of everyone, not simply as the cog in the means of production, and to walk in solidarity with them. The problems that face working men and women today of which Cash sings are still with us today.

We are called to be neighbors to those in need in a personal, concrete, and intimate way. Our prayer should be that Christ will open our eyes to see those opportunities to be a neighbor like the traveler in the song.

God is always found on the side of the oppressed, not because they are inherently better than the oppressor, but rather simply because they are oppressed. The challenge for us is to see the world as God sees the world. To see the world through the eyes of the Israelite slave…

Cash plays the role of the prophet. He sings about the dehumanization, brutality, and ultimate ineffectiveness of San Quentin Prison. His hatred for the institution pervades the entire song. Cash knows that he is singing for those who have no voice for the injustices that they face.

The song uses the physical presence of Greystone Chapel as a metaphor for the vibrant spirituality that can be found within prison. It is a song about how a person’s mind who is aligned with Jesus can transcend his physical circumstances. In this way, the song echoes Paul’s observation that “where…

In the parable, Jesus is not the do-gooding sheep who goes out to the disenfranchised, rather Jesus IS the disenfranchised. In the live version of the song, Cash introduces us to Jesus in the voices of the prisoners that we hear.

“The Man in Black” not only identifies Cash with the outcast but it calls us to do so as well. Solidarity requires that we be found among the forgotten, because that is where we find Jesus. Solidarity implies that we be involved just as he was.

The Good News of Jesus Christ, however, is that our salvation lies not in our walking-the-line for God, but in God, through Christ, walking-the-line for us.

The bank of the Jordan, on this side of the Resurrection, is full of life’s storms – heartbreak, regret, failure, and death – but we can see the other side. We can see that fair and happy land where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life ever lasting….

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1506433766/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=ancientanglic-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1506433766&linkId=a2fac401ec02ac57c7e6a7bba80effc4 For our (virtual) Epiphany study this year, we will be reading through the book Trains, Jesus, and Murder – The Gospel According to Johnny Cash. The author, Richard Beck, is a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University. (His blog is Experimental Theology.) The book grew out of a bible study he…

At Christmas, we we too are born of God on this day.

At Christmas, the Maker of the world becomes the son of whom He created.