Ok, ok. One final word on Michael Jackson and then that will be all.
We all know that this past week saw a memorial service held for Michael Jackson. A way in which to honour his life and to remember the music and the difference he made in people’s lives. When Michael died so did a great musician, and a humanitarian who gave millions to different charities around the world. Though God was mentioned, and though there were speeches by different people including Rev Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King Jr III and Lionel Richie sang ‘Jesus is Love’ it was by no means a Christian service. Indeed, his brother Jermaine is a practising Muslim, although claims are that the family was raised as Christians. It was, perhaps, spiritual if anything, and my hope is that the brief glimpses of Christ that were mentioned stirred hearts.
I didn’t watch the service live. It was broadcast at some unearthly hour here in Australia, but replayed again later that night. On and off I saw the final 30 minutes or so, starting with Brooke Shields and finishing with Paris’ emotional cry. As a finale for the service, the artists and contributors to the event sang “We are the World” and on the screen behind them, every known religious symbol was displayed uniting the performers and the people of the world. I agree, we are a mixed bag of races, creeds and religions; and we should love and accept each other regardless. But to me, what become apparent was that people are finding their spirituality in other things beside Christ. We still have a long way to go both in loving people and sharing the Gospel of Christ.
We can pretend that singing the praises of a dead person and his hopeful song will unite us. But it will fail miserably until we understand that the Christ of the Cross is the only person that will fulfill the depraved spiritual condition of each and every human heart.
