Saint Janis

I love Janis Joplin. Her voice, her spirit, her passion and her hippy (albeit stoned) wisdom. At the Canadian Festival Express at Calgary, July 4, 1970, she said, "Everybody in the world wants the same "@#!" thing. They need the same thing....I don't understand why half the world is still crying while the other half is still crying too, man. I can't get it together. If you've got to care for one day, man....maybe you want to care for 365 days...you can't....You got it for ONE day and that day better be your life. Because you could cry about the other 364 days but you're gonna lose that ONE day. That's all you've got. You've got to call that love, man....when you hold somebody, you've got to hold them like it's the last minute of your life." In an interview about her singing style she once said, "If I hold back, I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes than holding back all the time." ......AMEN.

Every so often I like to listen to her CDs and imagine that she's leading worship. I close my eyes and try to envision a cool church service with her throwing down her version of "Revelation Song" or "Jesus, Holy and Anointed One". I believe God had a calling on her life for just that purpose. I believe that her talent was God's gift that was tragically stolen by the culture of her day and lost on a church that was asleep at the wheel.

Whether she knew or not, she was desparate for the God Who gifted her. Whether we knew or not, we were desparate for the gift of God that was in her. I totally identify with her when she said, "When I hold back, I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes than holding back all the time." I preach based on that ideal. When I hold back, I'm no good. It isn't easy, but it is truth, and truth was never supposed to be easy.

I often wonder how many gifts from God, like Janis, are thrown away by the church because we are too self-righteous, too self-satisfied and too judgemental to see their potential gifting. Someone I heard recently said, "Christians are saints AWARE of Grace. Sinners are Saints UNAWARE of Grace." The Apostle Paul said that he was chosen for his calling from his mother's womb. That being the case, he sure did some destructive and nasty things before he was changed by the power of God. And I know the church of his day sure looked at him sideways for a while......but aren't you glad they finally got over their fear and received the man of God and his gift?

Ironically, God's goodness changed my life in the late 60's. I played a rough but mean guitar with no other idea of music except rock, the blues and alittle (cough, choke, spit) country. When I came to Christ and His Church, I was naive enough to think that my guitar could come with me. So, me and my Gretsch guitar came to the orchestra rehearsal. I started wondering if the song we were practicing was called, "Turn it Down" because 14 people around me kept chanting that phrase. One night, right after rehearsal, after everyone was gone and the sanctuary was empty, I turned "it" back up to just enjoy myself. I was immediately startled by a shouting deacon at the back of the sanctuary who wanted me to know, "This isn't a honky-tonk....turn that down!"

From that time forward, my Gretsch spent too much time in a closet, but in spite of that and many other unfortunate experiences, I remained naive and continued to love God. I just can't help but wonder how many others took their guitars, voices and gifts from God back into the "honky-tonk" (what a lovely term) and possibly died premature deaths, just like Janis. So, I take her wisdom; "You got to care about ONE DAY, man. That day better be your life.....you could cry about the other 364 days, but you're gonna lose that ONE day."

I'll be preaching tonight and I promise you this one thing; I won't hold back. Oh, and I'll be playing my new Gretsch guitar tonight too. Heh, heh, heh....I just dare any deacon within 20 miles to tell me to turn it down....