82. Rock Goes The Gospel - Lynyrd Skynyrd "Freebird"

"Freebird" is one of the great rock songs of all time in my opinion. Freeboard was first released on Skynyrd's debut album in 1973. It as released as a single in 1974.  "Freebird" also achieved no 3 spot on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. The lyrics are about a man explaining to a girl why he can't settle down and make a commitment.

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see.

But if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change, oh, oh, oh, oh.
And this bird you can not change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows I can't change.

Bye, bye, baby, it's been a sweet love, yeah,
Though this feeling I can't change.
But please don't take it so badly,
'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame.

But if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change, oh, oh, oh, oh.
And this bird you cannot change.
And this bird you cannot change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord, help me, I can't change.

Lord, I can't change.
Won't you fly high, free bird, yeah?

"Freebird" is a song about someone who does not want total commitment of a relationship. That's easy to see from the song. There is also a remembrance aspect as well. "If I leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me" A touch of remembering amidst the sadness of parting. There are themes that play out in this song. Let me spell them out . Departing is a theme. Journey is a theme, Remembrance is a theme. In this morning's devotion I would like to explore these themes.

At the end of Jesus' earthy ministry he is with his disciples in the upper room sharing the passover meal. This was a meal of remembering the deliverance that God had proved for his people from the slavery of Egypt. This meal would signal a time of deep remembering and rejoicing for God's people.

Luke 22:19 "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

This time Jesus asks them not to think of the historic deliverance but to think of deliverance in a new way. that Jesus will provide deliverance and salvation for God's people. That his body would be given in place of the lamb in the OT. What a medical thing for Jesus to claim!

This moment was an historic and significant moment. If you take all the gospel accounts of these events you can build a fuller story.  It would read like this Jesus is leaving the disciples and going on into heaven,. He will endure the trial, the cross and the tomb. He will rise again and go into heaven. He will pray for his disciples anoint their feet, explain the scriptures to them, this reads in scripture like a journey. It also reads of Jesus' departure and of his instance of using the passover meal to be a meal of remembering more that the Egyptian liberation. But a more fuller remembrance of Jesus and his liberation. The song "Freebird" takes to these three themes in it's content too. This has a eucharistic flavour to it. Through bread and wine we remember not on a Jesus of the past but through these elements we recognise that he is present with us in our lives today.

It is my hope that you find ways this day to remember Jesus in your own lives and that each moment of remberance either at the communion table or altar, or at the meal of ordinary folk you will experience Jesus with us by His Holy Spirit.