top of page

Blog Post

Songs that Strike a Chord…“Somewhere over the Rainbow”

Writer's picture: Rev. Dr. Thomas EvansRev. Dr. Thomas Evans
Genesis 9: 8-17

Popular songs throughout the decades have had an incredible ability to capture the mood of America: our fears, our dreams, our loves, and our failings. Over the next several weeks, we will explore a few of these iconic songs, such as Lennon’s Imagine, Aretha’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone.


These songs powerfully captured the times from which they came but also express an ageless depth that transcends time and place. Like biblical literature, they address themes that will forever be a part of the human experience, but unlike the Bible, their solutions are ultimately unsatisfying.


Lennon wants us to imagine there’s no heaven above or hell below. It challenges us to conceive a world that is void of doctrines or beliefs that split humanity into the haves and the have-nots. Aretha’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T was an anthem of women, specifically Black women, commanding respect and expressing the essence of that movement in a way legislation could not. Dylan asked us, “How does it feel?... To be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?” It was the buildup of his own frustration with the expectations placed upon him that didn’t match his own sense of self, as well as his increasing sense of displacement in a world whose values didn’t align with his own.


Each one of these songs powerfully expresses our deepest yearnings: a world in which our cultures don’t divide us, a world in which everybody is given respect, a world in which we can be fully ourselves—not having to conform to the artificial expectations that make us feel like aliens in our own skin.


Today, we will examine what was voted as the most influential song of the 20th century: a song filled with sweet innocence, lofty dreams, and a simple but powerful notion that a better world can be found—but only in dreams—Somewhere Over the Rainbow.


Dorothy’s frustrations mount early in The Wizard of Oz. Finding herself in a dry, dusty, featureless landscape, the town spinster Miss Gulch threatens her dog, Toto, striking fear into this simple girl’s heart. Frustrated, Aunt Em suggests, “Find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble.” Despite her young age, Dorothy already realizes this isn’t possible. She walks off by herself saying,


"Someplace where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain."


And then begins the immortal classic, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.


Thousands upon thousands of years ago, the people of God had a similar dream for a better world, and they too looked to the rainbow. Back then, it was a hope that floods would no longer destroy the Earth. Even today, despite our incredible technology, water’s power to level towns and even civilizations is a growing threat. Just imagine what it must’ve been like for people so long ago.


In fact, they could only imagine that such incredible destructive forces were born of the power of God’s wrath. But in many ways, the story of the flood—while it begins with familiar interpretations of the times in which it was written (that the destructive forces of nature were a result of the wrath of the gods)—ends offering an entirely different understanding. One that is not fully understood until the person of Jesus.


At the end of the story, God places a rainbow in the sky. It is a sign of promise—in fact, an everlasting covenant from God—that never again will the Earth be destroyed by the waters of the flood.


But there is much more to this covenant than initially meets the eye. For the rainbow is shaped like that instrument of war: a “bow.” In fact, that’s the word the Bible uses—not “rainbow” but “bow.” Essentially, God is putting away weapons of war.


This is the hidden promise in the story that the Israelites first conceived. All too often in ancient times (in fact, Plato was one of the first people to observe this), people’s conceptions of the gods were often actually all the worst traits found in humans: greed, lust, jealousy, violence, rage, betrayal, and indifference. In this story, the Israelites share a radical new understanding:


God’s ways are not our ways.


And then finally, in the person of Jesus, we see just how far God will go to avoid using violence as a means.


Eventually, the Israelites’ hope expanded beyond that of floods to imagine an age when swords would be so unnecessary that they would be beaten into plowshares. They dreamed about a time when crops would be plentiful and there would be perfect justice.


People are filled with dreams today; it’s why they come to New York City. Dorothy sang about her lofty dreams, and children today still dream of a better world—but some of these dreams are more heartbreaking than others.


A teacher in New York asks her class on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to write about their dreams. These are the 1995 "dreams":


  1. Michael dreams that the leukemia will go away.

  2. Brandon dreams that someday he will have a dad, "for real."

  3. Amber dreams that someday she and her mom can be "safe."

  4. Marcia dreams that she can stay in this house and the judge won't make her go back to "the one where you are always scared."

  5. Cheri dreams of food—"a lot" and "a lot of it."

  6. Monica dreams that Daddy really wasn’t killed so Mom can buy something that isn’t food.

  7. Jane dreams that "no one kills me before 16 so I can drive away."

  8. Chris dreams that he gets a new heart before this one stops.

  9. Tim dreams that someday he can be an artist and not have to fight.

  10. Perry dreams that people will stop selling drugs so the cops will stay away.

  11. Ashley and Ralph "don't have time to dream 'cause living's hard work."


By the way, these are 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds. (New York Times)


As we reflect on Judy Garland’s life, we see that, in many ways, her life, like these children’s, was lived on this side of the rainbow. It was a song that both blessed her and haunted her. “It’s like being a grandmother in pigtails,” she once said. And of course, her tragic early death might tempt us to dismiss fanciful, optimistic dreaming. But in this song, there is more than just fanciful dreams.


There's a land that I heard of

Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow

Skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream

Really do come true


This is why we are here in church: because we believe dreams like Dorothy’s are not simply naïve, overly optimistic wishes, but that they really do come true.


Over the Rainbow is filled with optimism. As outrageous and naïve as our hopes can be, we should never stop singing about them or writing about them; we should never stop working toward them. We need to dream because these dreams help us to see the world God meant for us. Dreaming is the world’s way of expressing hope.


At Brick Church, we have embraced a challenge: to be a beacon of hope.


But to be a beacon of hope, first, we have to have hope. And hope is different from a dream or a wish. A dream is born of a fantasy that, somehow magically, the world will simply be better because we wished upon a star. But hope is born of faith—faith in God. The same God that loved us enough to come down and sacrifice Himself for us is the God that has promised us a mending of the world.


All those lofty dreams of our most popular songs ultimately find their fulfillment through God in Jesus Christ. But Christian hope does not mean sitting on our hands, waiting for God to do all the hard work. Christian hope is a call to action. For Brick, that call means listening to the lofty dreams of every child and every person in the city—for a life filled with peace, not violence; for a life filled with plenty, not want; for a life of fulfillment and meaning, not drudgery and distress.


And it is our job to bring the other side of the rainbow to this side of reality and make these dreams come true, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

10 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

コメント


BrickChurch_Process_White.png

212-289-4400

info@brickchurch.org

62 East 92nd Street

New York, NY 10128

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Vimeo
  • Youtube

Download the Brick Church App

©2024 by The Brick Presbyterian Church

Write Us

Thank you for submitting!

Submit your prayer requests here and care requests here.

bottom of page