My Sweet Lord

What’s a song that changed your life?

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No song changed my life. But maybe I could choose one that had a significant effect on me.

I got into pop music when I was 11 in 1973. I remember his single; Give Me Love, Give Me Peace on Earth from that year. Then, when I was 12, I got into the Beatles. I was intrigued with all of them. I had two things in common with George Harrison. Both of us were from Roman Catholic backgrounds, and both of us were in the Beatles. Well, actually, I was into the Beatles – I wasn’t actually in the Beatles 😀.

What surprised me was to hear a pop star singing about his sweet Lord. In George Harrison’s case, it was Krishna, though the song was influenced by Oh Happy Day, a Christian song. As a young teen, I do remember chatting to Hare Krishna folk in Cork, Ireland. It all seems more exotic than my own cultural religion (Roman Catholicism). As a teenager, I wondered which religion to follow. I could have just gone along with the cultural religion – but how would I be sure that what people around me believed was true? What if I’d been born somewhere else or in another era? I could been born into any religion – or a communist or a Nazi. Surely we should ask questions 😀.

I finally settled on focusing on Jesus himself. And I made my home in evangelical churches because I liked to be among people who showed enthusiasm for Jesus and the Bible. And I felt that their outlook was largely based on the New Testament rather than old traditions or modern reinventions of Christianity.

I liked how George Harrison was so explicit about his faith at a time when it was very uncool to be religious. You get plenty of country stars that sing about Jesus, but it’s rare to find pop or rock songs about Jesus. Cliff Richard recorded Christian songs and he is explicit about his faith. But because he was in the Eurovision song contest and seemed to favour the establishment, I didn’t see him as a model to follow when I was a teenager 😀. I was into the Beatles, Pink Floyd and punk and new wave groups. Bob Dylan did become a Christian in 1979 and released several Christian albums. And they had a big impact on me near the end of my period of searching. But I associate the beginning of my searching with George Harrison.

I heard My Sweet Lord on the radio while walking home from the beach at Graball Bay in Crosshaven, Cork, in the summer of 1975. I did recognize it. I had probably heard in back in 1971 before I got into pop music. I remember listening to his album, “Living in the Material World” in 1977. That had several spiritual songs on it too. And they had an impact on me.

In recent times, I’ve read that George became an evangelical Christian towards the end of his life. Here is an article about all that “George Harrison: My Sweet Lord” But some dispute that story. Just because he was positive about Jesus doesn’t mean that he adopted an evangelical outlook. And I don’t imagine that the Hare Krishna folk would have been very impressed with his lifestyle. People often criticize pop, country, or soul singers who sing about Jesus but are into things like drugs and promiscuity. I might not approve of their lifestyles, but I like people to show enthusiasm about God. Even King David, who wrote many Psalms had his failings. As an evangellical Christian, I like to base my doctrine on the Bible rather than my hopes and speculations. If I were acting as judge on judgement day, I would be keen on allowing anyone who tried to love God and others and acknowledge their sin and dependance on God’s mercy into heaven, even if they were confused about Jesus. The dying thief might have had little knowledge of Jesus when he asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. And Jesus replied “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

Yet, Jesus calls us to spread his gospel around the world, and several verses appear to indicate that Jesus is the only way. So I adopt an orthodox evangelical position even if I quietly hope that a lot more people will end up in heaven than we realise.

Matthew 28:18-20
¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Acts 4:20
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Many liberal and modernist Christians are happy to accept that you can be some kind of “anonymous Christian” even if you’re of a different faith. But it just doesn’t seem right to reinvent Christianity to suit our own hopes. What I do like about the modern era is that people tend to be much more friendly and tolerant. But we can do that while maintaining our distinctive beliefs. We don’t need to modify our beliefs to make them more acceptable to modern thinking.

I sometimes use the following illustration. Let’s suppose my daughter wants to see the “last ever U2 concert in Dublin”, and she asks me to go online and buy the ticket. Would I do it or would I tell her “maybe it won’t be their last ever concert”. Or maybe U2 will play some extra concerts if there’s a high demand for tickets. Isn’t it better to be pessimistic and assume that there’s no other way that she’ll see the last concert. I’ll need to swiftly buy the ticket 😀.

That’s just an illustration. But wouldn’t it be kinder to buy the ticket than not to bother?

Another illustration I use is this. Let’s suppose a lady approaches myself and two friends at the beach and tells us that she’s worried because she can’t see her child who went in swimming. One of my friends says “Don’t worry – he’s probably gone to buy an ice cream”. My other friend dashes down to the sea and searches for the child. Should I do the same or should I tell her not to worry? Even if we dash down to search for him, we can still entertain the hope that he’s gone to buy an ice cream. But sometimes it’s kinder to assume the worst.

And when the early Christians spread the faith around the empire and ultimately around the world, they were following the command of Jesus. What if they hadn’t bothered and assumed everyone would be OK with their own religion? If I get to heaven and discover people from other religions, I’ll be happy to see them. But in the meantime, my purpose is to spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ – just as the Apostle Paul did:

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Spreading the faith isn’t about trying to take over the world and destroy other cultures. It’s about giving people the opportunity to learn about Jesus. Even if individuals or communities come to Christ, they’ll apply it in their own way. They won’t need to mimic our culture. Even here in Ireland, I see plenty of different approaches in churches – even in evangelical churches. I’d probably find some a bit annoying, and I’d feel perfectly at home in others 😀 – but I try to get on with everyone.

Here are a few hymns about spreading the gospel.

And here are a couple of other songs by George – however people might criticize him, surely there was something in him headed in the right direction. And I do hope that I’ll meet him in heaven: