Uncomfortable Truths
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. ”
I spent my high school years in Hibbing, Minn. I won a talent show on the same stage Bobby Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan, was booed off of. That just shows how little they knew about real talent. What made Bob Dylan so special wasn’t his sparkling personality, or his silky-smooth voice. What made Bob Dylan an icon was how he was able to share what other people felt but had no way to articulate. Joan Baez said it this way, “Bobby Dylan says what a lot of people my age feel, but cannot say.”
Bob Dylan’s music made a generation face uncomfortable truths. According to the book, “Songs of America,” by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw, “In Greenwich Village and on the folk circuit, Dylan broke out, and his canon includes ‘The Death of Emmett Till,’ about the 1955 lynching of a black teenager in Money, Mississippi; ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ ; ‘With God on Our Side’; and many others.” “The Death of Emmett Till” would not have been popular among the 1950’s America white audiences, but younger people understood that it needed to be said, and those in authority be damned, which in itself made Dylan popular with adolescents and young adults, trying to find a more authentic life.
Jesus, too, helped people face uncomfortable truths. He refused to let the people live shallow spirituality like the Pharisees were peddling. He put people above rules, he put Divine relationship above attempts at perfection. In the process, like Dylan, Jesus faced backlash. Jesus was unwilling to back down and water down the Gospel, making it cheap and easy. It is important that we, too, face the challenges that lay before us, sharing uncomfortable truths in our lives, so we can make positive, lasting change.
Today, pray for the world around you. What are the sacred cows that no one wants to admit or accept? What uncomfortable truths does Jesus want changed, that society continues to hold on to like an unholy idol? What is so hurtful that we must move beyond our comfort zone and speak up, in Jesus’ name? Prayerfully answer these questions. You may not have the poetic power of Bob Dylan, but you can have the assistance and blessing of the Holy Spirit. The hanging of Emmitt Till needed to be addressed, so transformation could take place. Addressing our contemporary ills can make all the difference in the world, in Jesus’ name.
