Old Song, New Twist

By Phil Wood

Steal away. Steal away. Steal away to Jesus.

Steal away. Steal away home.

I ain't got long to stay here.

                                                                                               

                        American Negro Spiritual

On a recent Sunday during worship I sang a duet with my friend, John. It was that old spiritual called Steal Away. Later, in the sermon, Pastor Bruce rightly suggested that perhaps the song could leave some wrong impressions if we're not careful.

I hadn't thought about it much till that moment. I was thinking it fit loosely with the idea of spiritual formation, inviting us to "steal away" from all the other things that consume us and spend some time with Jesus before it's too late.

As I thought more about it, though, the slaves who sang that song probably had a different meaning in mind. For them, it probably was expressing a deep longing to get away from this world of toil and pain to be with Jesus in the "Sweet By and By." Some people believe this and other songs were actually code-like revelations of real plans to escape (steal away via underground railroad)..."I ain't got long to stay here."

Either way, I can't say as I blame them, given the oppression they were suffering. But one wrong impression we could get from the lyrics today is that it's okay to simply pine away for the better life to come, without trying to do something in this life to make things better. That's not what Jesus had in mind.

Instead, Pastor Bruce talked about working to improve any situation we find ourselves in so as to create signposts of God's kingdom which will be fully realized when Christ returns. He used Chuck Colson's work in prisons as an example of such a signpost.

Another possible wrong impression one might get from Steal Away is the idea that heaven is some distant, ethereal place, far removed from this earth, where disembodied spirits float around in eternal bliss. This is not a biblical perception of heaven.

But rather than throwing away a perfectly good song, I propose we just ascribe to it a new meaning! From now on, I declare that Steal Away shall be a song that means the Kingdom of God is already here for those who have stolen away home to Jesus!

By getting to know Jesus, by following him and letting him teach us how to be like him, we become more and more like our heavenly selves, the selves we were intended to be, the selves we will be in that Sweet By and By. We, ourselves, become signposts.

Some day, Jesus will come again and transform the universe once and for all. He will make the earth like it was intended to be. He will create new heavens and a new earth, but the earth will still be the place we call home. The main difference is that God will call it home, too.

In the meantime, the work has already begun. God is transforming us, so we can exhibit the Kingdom in the here and now. That is, so we can show others what "heaven" will be like. This is true witnessing, true evangelism. A signpost.

The slaves, in their suffering, may not have been aware of it, but I believe many of them were doing that, too – exhibiting the Kingdom of God right here on this earth, right in the midst of all that misery. By living righteous lives, by teaching their children about Jesus, by not treating others as they were treated, by singing soulfully to their savior and putting their hope in him in spite of their troubles, they continue to be an inspiration to the world today. Their songs still touch our souls. Signposts.

May we have the courage to follow their example, and exhibit Kingdom behavior in our era, which has its own troubles. We just need to steal away. Steal away to Jesus. We ain't got long in this life. Let's make the best of it.

Lord, we want to be your witnesses, so others will see the great joy that can be theirs for eternity – starting now.