Graceland Christianity

I recently went walking in Memphis…walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale.

Well, driving through Memphis may be more accurate.  But I was humming Marc Cohn’s epic 1991 ode to the birthplace of the Delta Blues the whole time.

I was with my lovely blonde traveling companion and our goal was to make the pilgrimage to Graceland, the estate of the “King,” Elvis Presley.

Now, lest you think that I’m THAT guy…an Elvisophile…let me be quick to add that we weren’t so much making the journey out of an intense desire to see Elvis’ mansion, revel in its glory and thereby make our lives complete.  We were more the curiosity seekers following the hordes to see what all the commotion was about.

It was as if we knew we were supposed to do it, so we were compelled to do it in order to say we did it.

From elvisforever.tripod.com

So we found ourselves driving south on Elvis Presley Boulevard in anticipation of what we expected would be a significant experience that would alter the rest of our days and influence anyone who heard the recounting of our adventure.  I don’t exactly know what I expected, but I know I expected something good.

So imagine my disappointment when we arrived — more accurately, drove past without realizing it, before eventually correcting our error — at Graceland to find it an overpriced, overrated tourist trap.

It was, to both the good-looking blonde and I, a sad remnant of what might have been something spectacular in its storied past.  Sadly, the surrounding neighborhoods have deteriorated over the years, seemingly not benefitting from the presence of this home of “The King”.

But there were plenty of people flocking to it, most who seemed oblivious to their surroundings in their zeal to get to the Jungle Room, the grave site of Elvis and even the museum/souvenir shop that looked out-of-place and cheap across the street from what was supposed to be a grand venue.

And in that moment, all the ridiculously obvious parallels struck me right between the eyes:  Graceland is a sad metaphor for Christianity today.

Okay…again…wait.  Don’t write off this heretic quite yet.  True Christianity – that individual relationship with Jesus Christ – is as great as it ever was.  That is unchanging.

But this cheap imitation that has turned into just another religion of man is a pathetic trace of what it should be.  We’ve allowed it to be defined by what or who we hate (gays, gays who want to get married, those who abort babies, liberals, gun-control advocates, etc.) and become a weak imitation instead of a life-altering influence in the world around us.  We’ve forgotten the principles of love and mercy and replaced it with ‘certain inalienable rights’.

That’s right, we’ve turned Christianity into conservative Republicanism.  Anybody who isn’t like that is bound for hell — and the sooner they get there, the happier we’ll be.

And all the while, we’ve become oblivious to the decay – both spiritually and physically – of the neighborhoods around us as we hunt for the perfect t-shirt that tells the world who we are and where we’ve been.

Then we marvel when the deteriorating world around us reacts to our callous lack of concern for them with disdain or reproach.  How could they hate us so badly? Don’t they know we’re followers of the King?  Can’t they tell from our t-shirts that we’ve been to Graceland? Shouldn’t they be more impressed with us?

The good-looking blonde and I decided not to be a part of the oblivious masses that day.

Rolling down the highway to anywhere but there, I again thought of Marc Cohn’s musical tribute to Memphis, specifically where he gets caught up in the excitement of a Friday night at the Hollywood Cafe in Robinsonville, Mississippi:

“She said, ‘Tell me, are you a Christian?’ and I said, ‘Ma’am I am tonight.'” 

Powerful word picture painted by those words.  He (the narrator of the song…maybe Cohn, maybe not) is so effective at playing the role, it appears to those around him that he must be a Christian.  But when the euphoria of that moment dies down, what’s left?

That’s how most people who profess Christianity today are.  Check them out on Sunday mornings and they look, walk, talk and act like what they profess to be.  But how does their faith positively impact the world around them?  What about their lives attracts others to Jesus?  How are the broken-down, the hurting, the disenfranchised, the weak and insignificant that they come in contact with every day made better for having been around them?

I don’t want to be a Ma’am-I-am-tonight Christian.  I want the real thing.  Instead of having to wear a t-shirt for people to see where I’ve been, I want them to see my actions and know.

I’ll go walking in Memphis again, I know.  But, Graceland?  I’d rather have people see “grace-land” in me than me in it.