WLSU: Compared to What - Throwback Episode

This was not my first Bob Dylan concert. I have seen him a few times. My first show was in April of 1996. I remember the show well. His voice was lower and more gravelly than it had once been. He seemed old for a rock star, and he didn’t play many of his greatest hits. A lot of people left the show scratching their heads. He just wasn’t like he used to be.

Back in 1979 Dylan had a very public conversion to Christianity. He released a couple religious albums and embarked on a tour where he exclusively played these new songs. His voice sounded different than it had before, and he most certainly wasn’t like he used to be. In 1965 Bob Dylan - who you may recall became famous as a folk musician playing topical songs with his acoustic guitar and harmonica – went electric, wrote a bunch of rock songs, and toured with a loud, raucous backing band. Several documentaries have been made about this time, all of which show crowd reactions: His voice sounds different. He’s not doing his greatest hits. He just isn’t like he used to be.

For his part, Dylan seems very aware of this dynamic – which has followed him most of his career. In one interview, the interviewer begins to compare a new Dylan album to his older music, and Dylan responds, “no one should be…comparing this album to any of my other albums. Compare this album to the other albums that are out there. Compare this album to other artists who make albums. You know, comparing me to myself…”

I want to stop and apologize if this is all too nerdy for you. But it’s this idea that resonates with me. This is what I can’t shake: For his entire career, Bob Dylan has sought to present himself as he currently is. And that simple reality frustrates people. Because they compare him to himself. They compare him to what he used to be. They compare him to their own memory of him. And they leave scratching their heads.

And how guilty are we of this? Not with Bob Dylan – but with life! Comparing our life now to what it used to be and then being disappointed that it has changed, even though changed is all it has ever been. Growth, aging, transformation, weathering, breaking down, building back up, being affected by your own life, showing your wrinkles. Your voice changes, your heart and your mind and your beliefs and your ideals and your faith all shift. But then you compare you now to you a few years ago. You scratch your head and say why. You just aren’t like you used to be.

Life keeps happening. And, to be honest, that’s what scares us. We want that singer to sound like he sounded 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 50 years ago – like he sounded in our memories. We find some strange solace in that kind of comparison. How much ink has been spilled comparing our country now to what we once were?

The church is far from immune to this comparison. Here is how I remember church: why can’t it be like that?

But the church is alive! Which means it is in motion, it is changing, and it will never be what it was two or ten or a hundred years ago. And the church does not need to be compared to itself.

I am fascinated by Dylan’s retort that we should compare his new music not to his old music, but to the other music that’s out right now. He is saying allow what I am doing to exist today in the current context. Stop forcing me into the dead past. If you’re going to pay attention to me at all, pay attention to what I am not what I was.

As a professional Christian, this is my hope for the church: Let’s not compare us to us. Let’s not spend more time than is necessary bemoaning that our voices have changed, that we aren’t playing the same tunes, that we aren’t what we used to be. Let’s look at ourselves in the world right now because right now we are re-learning how to live lives of love and mercy. Right now we are seeking to know Jesus and grow in love. Right now we are singing a song we’ve never sung before.

Of course, when you compare the music Dylan is making right now to the music others are making right now, you may end up not liking what he’s doing. That’s real too. He’s not for everyone. And we need to be honest that neither are we. But we can be ourselves. We can seek to follow Jesus and embrace the world he’s given us. I keep coming back to this idea that you and I were not put in the world by accident. And what’s more, I believe we were put here in this time and place for a reason too. The church - as we are right now - can love and serve this world in a unique and powerful way. We can be a blessing. You – as you are right now – help make this true. Whoever you used to be, however you used to sound, whatever you used to believe – you are a blessing right here and right now.