I had the joy of seeing Bruce for the third time this past Tuesday night. I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember, dating back to the first time I heard the Wall of Sound come rushing at me through the sonic boom of Born to Run.
And when I first saw the video for Atlantic City 27 years ago I was hooked. The music of Springsteen has always resonated with me, even when I didn’t fully grasp the depth of some of his lyrics.
The gospels have been the same way. I’ve always gravitated to the words and stories of Jesus, even when I didn’t fully grasp what He was trying to get across.
It was only when I saw the “other-ness” of Jesus’ words did it come into full relief for me. Jesus spoke in the midst of oppression on the borders of Empire. The only way the words of Christ fully make sense is to see them in the context of relationship: of how we treat the poor, the outcasts and the marginalized.
For years I saw the words of Jesus as a laundry list of things to do. I didn’t fully realize that His words pointed toward people to love for a long time. When I made the connection, finally, it made all the difference.

Listening to Springsteen Tuesday night I was struck by how much of his lyrics attest to that truth of the gospels. I was again amazed at how he seems to lend credence to a good news that is often missing in the church. There is no further proof of that then in a sampling of the songs he performed in Tulsa:

Badlands
Lyric: Badlands, you gotta live it everyday/Let the broken hearts stand/As the price you’ve gotta pay/We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood/and these badlands start treating us good

Outlaw Pete
Lyric: Father Jesus I’m an outlaw, killer and a thief/And I slow down only to sow my grief/I’m Outlaw Pete, I’m Outlaw Pete, can you hear me?

Night
Lyric: And the world is busting at its seams/And you’re just a prisoner of your dreams/Holding on for your life/’cause you work all day/To blow ‘em away in the night

Working on A Dream
Lyric: I’m working on a dream/Though sometimes it feels so far away/I’m working on a dream/And how it will be mine someday/Rain pourin’ down I swing my hammer/My hands are rough from working on a dream/I’m working on a dream

Johnny 99
Lyric: Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay/The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they was takin’ my house away

The Promised Land
Lyric: Gonna be a twister to blow everything down/That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground/Blow away the dreams that tear you apart/Blow away the dreams that break your heart/Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

The Wrestler
Lyric: Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free/If you’ve ever seen a one trick pony then you’ve seen me/Have you ever seen a one legged dog makin’ his way down the street/If you’ve ever seen a one legged dog then you’ve seen me/(Then you’ve seen me) I come and stand at every door/(Then you’ve seen me) I always leave with less than I had before

The Rising
Lyric: Spirits above and behind me/Faces gone, black eyes burnin’ bright/May their precious blood forever bind me/Lord as I stand before your fiery light

Born To Run
Lyric: The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive/Everybody’s out on the run tonight/but there’s no place left to hide/Together Wendy we’ll live with the sadness/I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul/Someday girl I don’t know when/we’re gonna get to that place/Where we really want to go/and we’ll walk in the sun/But till then tramps like us/baby we were born to run

Hard Times
Lyric: Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears/While we all sup sorrow with the poor/There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears/Oh Hard times come again no more/Tis the song, the sigh of the weary/Hard Times, hard times, come again no more

Land Of Hope And Dreams
Lyric: This train Carries saints and sinners/This train Carries losers and winners/This Train Carries whores and gamblers/This Train Carries lost souls/This Train Dreams will not be thwarted/This Train Faith will be rewarded/This Train Hear the steel wheels singin’/This Train Bells of freedom ringin’/This Train Carries broken-hearted/This Train Thieves and sweet souls departed/This Train Carries fools and kings/This Train All aboard

The characters in Springsteen are borne straight out of the gospels. They are the beat-up and the burned-out. They are the tramps and the thieves. The ones who have been forgotten and the ones who won’t forget their dreams. They are the ones who have lost and one. The whores and the gambles.

They are the ones that forever search for grace and hope against hope that one day that train will come to lead them to the Promised Land. Out of the Badlands. Into the Land of Hope and Dreams.

I often reside at the nexus of faith and doubt. From the lyrics of Springsteen it is obvious that he is intimately acquainted with that place as well. And it was in the midst of that show Tuesday night that I saw Jesus clearly. The champion of the one legged pony. The one who showed tramps like us how to live.