by Rev. Paul Clark, President of Lutherans For Life of Michigan
“I ain’t gonna bump no more with no big fat woman.”
That most likely got your attention!
Poor grammar, a triple negative, and insensitive “fat-shaming”—sorry!—but that’s an actual line from a song from the top-thirty charts, back in 1977, sung by a guy named Joe Tex. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Some of you weren’t around in 1977. If you were, you may remember the movie Saturday Night Fever, the disco craze, and a dance called “The Bump,” which is what Joe Tex is referring to in his crazy song.
I’m slightly nauseated when I think back to that year, when I wore open neck bright colored disco shirts and weird flared-out pants, had rather long (and dark) hair, and a rather gruesome-looking mustache—and yes, I may have actually (hard-swallow here!) done “The Bump”!
Oh, my. I need to shut down those memories. Personally, I’d rather recall 1977 as the year that the original Star Wars came out, when I sought to be a Jedi Knight like my father.
Sometimes it is very strange to contemplate the past.
Wendell Berry has a line in one of his poems that strikes me: “I eat my history, day by day.”
We do, don’t we? Whether good or bad, whether things we are proud of or things that we are ashamed of—we eat our history, day by day. We cannot escape it. In one way or another, it is always there. And those memories crop up—even at times when we least expect them (or welcome them).
But we are far more than a collection of memories. We are not manufactured droid-like products of the past. By God’s grace, we are those destined for a bright future.
And so, we remember whose we are. We belong to Christ, who redeemed us by His blood to be His people. The past is still there, but those parts we would sooner forget can no longer harm us. Our sins, however many, and of whatever nature, are forgiven in the calling of our Lord in Holy Baptism, in His grace and mercy shown to us by His death for our sin on the cross, and in His life-giving, sacred Meal Divine, as we receive His body and blood and thus feast upon His salvation at the Table of our Lord.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden. I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The past is still there. You eat it day by day. But it does not rule you. It cannot condemn you. No matter what you have done. No matter how many sorrows you have endured. In Jesus, your sins are forgiven. In Jesus, you have peace. In Jesus, you are made sparkling new. And in Jesus, you have a future, one that is bright with hope and promise.
Oh, one more thing. I will tell you this about my future: I will never again do “The Bump.”