Rev. Brent L. White

For some reason, the following post from three years ago generated over 400 hits yesterday. The people have spoken, I guess? Enjoy!

Billboards such as this one graced the busy Atlanta streets a couple of years ago.

After rejecting the Christianity of his staid Anglican upbringing in the late-’50s and flirting with a form of Hinduism embraced wholeheartedly by George Harrison in the late-’60s, wasn’t John Lennon finally done with religion and spirituality during the last decade of his life? Didn’t he become a hard-nosed philosophical materialist?

No—although we might be forgiven for thinking otherwise: After all, according to his 1970 song “God,” Jesus and Buddha were two of many persons or things he no longer believed in. And in the song that has become an anthem to atheism, “Imagine,” Lennon challenges us to imagine no religion or heaven—that the world would be a better place without faith in God.

But his expressed atheism of 1970 and ’71 told only part of the story. Throughout the ’70s, Lennon regularly consulted psychics and dabbled in Tarot cards, séances, astrology, numerology, and other occult practices. Upon reading (and recently re-reading) Steve Turner’s Gospel According to the Beatles, however, what surprises me most was Lennon’s renewed interest in, and tantalizingly brief embrace of, that thing to which he seemed most adamantly opposed: Christianity.

This change of heart didn’t come from reading, say, Chesterton or Lewis, as we might have liked. It came by way of televangelists such as Oral Roberts and Pat Robertson. Turner describes it as follows:

Next came one of the most extraordinary turnabouts in John’s life. A television addict for many years…, he enjoyed watching some of America’s best-known evangelists—Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, and Oral Roberts. In 1972 he had written a desperate letter to Roberts confessing his dependence on drugs and his fear of facing up to “the problems of life.” He expressed regret that he had said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and enclosed a gift for the Oral Roberts University… “Explain to me what Christianity can do for me. Is it phony? Can He love me? I want out of hell.”^[1]

Lennon and Roberts exchanged a series of friendly, heartfelt letters, which can be found at the library of Oral Roberts University.

The correspondence and his exposure to TV evangelism didn’t appear to have any effect until he suddenly announced to close friends in the spring of 1977 that he’d become a born-again Christian… Over the following months he baffled those close to him by constantly praising “the Lord,” writing Christian songs with titles like “Talking with Jesus” and “Amen” (the Lord’s Prayer set to music), and trying to convert nonbelievers. He also called the prayer line of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson’s program.^[2]

Yoko Ono, who always discouraged Lennon from following “gurus,” opposed his newfound faith, although he took Ono and his son Sean to church at least once.

Those close to the couple sensed that the real reason [Ono] was concerned was that it threatened her control over John’s life. If he became a follower of Jesus he would no longer depend on her an the occultists. During long, passionate arguments she attacked the key points of his fledgling faith. They met with a couple of Norwegian missionaries whom Yoko questioned fiercely about the divinity of Christ, knowing that this was the teaching that John had always found the most difficult to accept. Their answers didn’t satisfy her, and John began to waver in his commitment.^[3]

Such is often the case with freelance conversions, I suppose, separated as they are from the wisdom and guidance of mature Christians. It’s hard enough to maintain one’s Christian faith within a healthy community of believers!

When Dylan’s Christian conversion became public in 1979 with the release of Slow Train Coming, Lennon—Dylan’s nearest rival in the pantheon of rock idols—reacted strongly. In response to Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” Lennon wrote a bitter “answer song” called “Serve Yourself,” posthumously released on the John Lennon Anthology.

When asked in 1980 about his response to Dylan’s conversion, John was less than honest. He said he was surprised that “old Bobby boy did go that way,” but “if he needs it, let him do it.” His only objection, he said, was that Dylan was presenting Christ as the only way. He disliked this because “There isn’t one answer to anything.”… In what can now be seen as an allusion to his own born-again period, which hadn’t yet been made public, he said, “But I understand it. I understand him completely, how he got in there, because I’ve been frightened enough myself to want to latch onto something.^[4]

Steve Turner wrote an article about Lennon’s short-lived conversion in Christianity Today back in 2000, which you can read here.

1. Steve Turner, The Gospel According to the Beatles (Louisville: WJK, 2006), 187-8.

2. Ibid., 188.

3. Ibid., 189.

4. Ibid., 191.

I wrote the following email blast today.

Hello, Hampton.

Our hearts are heavy this week as we reflect on last Sunday’s massacre in Orlando, the worst act of terror in America since 9/11 and the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. I’m inviting you to join me this Sunday, June 19, for a brief service of remembrance and prayer for the victims and their loved ones. We will gather on the front steps at 9:55 and will conclude by 10:05. Sunday school will follow.

In the meantime, join me in praying this prayer:

Most merciful God, whose precious Son defeated Satan and the forces of evil on the cross: Deal graciously with those affected by the tragic events of Orlando. May your Holy Spirit comfort them in their grief and give them your peace, which surpasses all understanding. Surround them with your love, that they may not be overwhelmed by their loss, but have confidence in your goodness, and strength to meet the days to come. Guide us as a nation as we combat evil in our world. Enable us, through your wisdom and power, to prevent further loss of innocent lives. Through your Son Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Love,

Pastor Brent

The most remarkable verse in today’s scripture is verse 28: God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, saying that he had “striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Jacob “prevailed” over God? He defeated God? What does that mean? And how do we see the gospel of Jesus Christ in Jacob’s victory?

Sermon Text: Genesis 32:22-32

[To listen on the go, right-click here to download an MP3.]

When we last saw Jacob—in last week’s scripture, in Genesis chapter 28—you may recall that he was running away. He was running away from his older brother, Esau, who vowed to murder him because Jacob had schemed, swindled, manipulated, lied, and cheated Esau in order to receive both the birthright and blessing to which Esau, as the older son, was entitled. So Esau vows revenge. He vows to murder Jacob, just as soon as their father Isaac dies and the period of mourning passes.

So with his mother’s help, Jacob runs away. He leaves the Promised Land. He goes back to his mother’s people in a faraway country, where he’ll be safe. And he stays there for 20 years. And while he’s away from home, working for his Uncle Laban, marrying his uncle’s two daughters, and tending his uncle’s livestock—and basically matching wits with his Uncle Laban, who is every bit his equal when it comes to scheming, swindling, manipulating, lying, and cheating—Jacob becomes fabulously wealthy. Read the rest of this entry »

I preached this sermon last Sunday evening, June 5, 2016, at a Prayer and Healing Service. The first half of the homily came from the manuscript that follows. The second half was an extemporaneous reflection on prayer. 

Sermon Text: James 4:1-8a

My wife, Lisa, and I first met while we were in college, because Lisa’s mom was working as the children’s minister at the church I attended during college. When we first started dating, Lisa asked if I wanted to go to Six Flags on a particular Saturday afternoon. In addition to riding the rides, she said, there was a singer that was performing in the park that afternoon, so we could see him first and then enjoy the park. However… I actually didn’t like this singer—at all. But… I really liked Lisa. So of course I said, “Yes, I’d love to do that!” So, I showed up at Lisa’s house on that particular Saturday to pick her up. But Lisa wasn’t there. Her parents explained that she was running an errand, which was taking longer than she expected. But she’d be home soon. So I waited twenty minutes or so. And then when she got home, I had to wait a little while longer for her to get ready.

Lisa’s lateness was not a problem for me, of course, because the later we were to the concert, the better, as far as I was concerned. So as we were on our way to Six Flags, I was looking at the time, and I said, “Oh, I think we’re going to be late for the concert!” And Lisa said, “You know what? We don’t want to go in late. Why don’t we just skip the concert and ride the rides?”

And I’m like, “Oh, O.K., if you insist, I guess that would be best.”

But here’s what I found out later: My friend Keith was at the church a few days before our Six Flags date, chatting with Lisa’s mom. Keith said, “Well, Brent must really like Lisa.” And Lisa’s mom said, “Why is that?” “Because he would never tell Lisa this, but he can’t stand this particular singer, but look… he’s still willing to go to the concert.” And it turns out that Lisa’s mom told Lisa that, and so Lisa arranged things so that she would be late and we’d miss the show! Read the rest of this entry »