Advent: ‘living off of Johnny Cash, cold coffee and grace’
‘We’re living off of Johnny Cash, cold coffee and grace’ (Old Highway, Hillbilly Thomists)
When we think of ‘Advent music,’ we are more likely to think of ‘Es ist ein Ros entsprungen’ or ‘Adam lay y’bounden’ sung hauntingly by an Oxbridge College Choir than we are to think of the music of Johnny Cash. And yet the themes of this Advent Season are often given a voice in the bluegrass, folk and gospel music of the American South.
Some of my favourite expressions of this come from Johnny Cash, and from the Hillbilly Thomists – a group of Dominican friars who sing bluegrass. Their name comes from the writer Flannery O’Connor, and like her, they explore the work of grace in the lives of ordinary people and in unexpected places. (But that may be a blog post for another time!) The Hillbilly Thomists have three albums on YouTube, and aren’t very well-known outside slightly niche circles, so I hope you will enjoy them.
Whilst we might not think of it as traditional Advent music, the music I’m reflecting on here is fundamentally a music of hope and expectation – and there can be no better encouragement in our journey through this Advent season.
Some of this music can be stark and apocalyptic – reflecting the Church’s traditional emphasis in Advent on the Second Coming of Christ, the idea that Advent is a preparation for Christmas as well as for the end of time. Perhaps most strikingly, there is Johnny Cash’s The man comes around:
Hear the trumpets hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin'
Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettledrum
Voices callin', voices cryin'
Some are born and some are dyin'
It's alpha and omega's kingdom come
Till armageddon no shalom, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiMXK9eDrMY
We might find this song with its apocalyptic language – the language of the Book of Revelation - unsettling or disturbing, but at its heart is the hope of heaven – and this is something we find in this music again and again. This music gives expression to a profound faith that the Lord will come again and gather up his faithful people:
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more
And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair
When the saved diverse shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAb44ljG3ck&list=PL48A75E0D78D77065&index=4
For the writers of these songs, the life of faith has its eternal reward and this promise is a source of hope. Above all, this is a music of expectation, and this is one of the great themes of our Advent season. These songs hold before us the vision of heaven, and they show a profound trust that this is our destiny.
When our work here is done
And the life's crown is won
And our troubles and trials are o'er
All our sorrow will end
And our voices will blend
With the loved ones who've gone on before
Where we'll never grow old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Q6uo5hOhc&list=PL48A75E0D78D77065&index=5
To Canaan's land, I'm on my way
Where the soul of man never dies
My darkest night will turn to day
Where the soul of man never dies
No sad farewells (Dear friends there'll be no sad farewells)
No tear dimmed eyes (There'll be no tear dimmed eyes.)
Where all is love (Where all is peace and joy and love)
And the soul never dies (And the soul of man never dies)
Where the soul of man never dies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsE0fDf0egA
It is also significant that these songs echo the language of Scripture. In an example from The Hillbilly Thomists, Keep your lamps trimmed – we see a rich blending of Scriptural verses and allusion:
Keep those lamps trimmed now
Keep those lamps trimmed
Midnight's coming in
Won't you keep those lamps trimmed
You do not know the day
And you do not know the hour
Keep watch, stay awake
You do not know the day
My soul waits for more than sentinels
The Lord, for He comes with mercy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Q13Le_46U
And as is clear in this song, there is much in this music about another important Advent theme – being ready.
Oh, if today God should call you away
What would you give in exchange for your soul? …
Mercy is calling you, won't you give heed?
Must the Dear Saviour still tenderly plead?
Risk not your soul, it is precious indeed
What would you give in exchange for your soul?
What would you give in exchange for your soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmQmnFL-JIY
Many of our Advent readings have this theme at their heart. On Advent Sunday this year, we heard the words of St Paul in Romans 13 – ‘Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day…’
And this call to be ready for the coming of the Son of Man requires an inner transformation. In a beautiful Hillbilly Thomist’s song based on 1 Corinthians 13, we have the words:
Love is patient, love is kind
It does not boast, it does not rely upon itself
Make me patient, make me kind
Take my love, may it not run dry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajxd5CoBsAM
Advent is a time for us to open our hearts to God’s grace, to grow in love and faith.
The last significant theme in this music I want to write about here is pilgrimage. The vision of heaven and our hope of heaven is often expressed in the language of pilgrimage, or perhaps more specifically a journey home –
I am a pilgrim and a stranger
Travelling through this wearisome land
I've got a home in that yonder City (good Lord)
And it's not made by hand
I am a pilgrim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00_c1SwPUjk
The Hillbilly Thomist’s song, Heaven or Tennessee, articulates this longing for home – the idea that, as Christians, we are not completely at home in the world and that our true home is in heaven:
In Nashville they ask for you to sing
In Memphis they talk about the King
In Knoxville they glorify the Lord
In Dixon Grandma just gets bored
In Kingsport everybody stays for free
In Gatlinburg you pay the fee
In Johnston City everybody just thinks
In Chattanooga everybody just drinks
I wanna go home and see my Savior
I wanna go far and see my family
I wanna hear angels sing in the midnight sunlight
I wanna go to Heaven or to Tennessee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo6TJjW4Xf0&list=RDY_Q13Le_46U&index=7
As we make our own pilgrimages through this Advent Season – and through our lives – I hope that this music will be an encouragement to us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on the hope of the glory promised to us, as we await our true homecoming when Christ returns.