"I thought that I had a soul
It turned out to be just a hole in my life
Just a piece of paradise
Just a piece of paradise
Wouldn't that be nice
They were taught to work the land
Broken hearts and broken hands in their lives
Some want cool and summer breeze
Some just wait for death's release from their lives
Just a piece of paradise
Just a piece of paradise
Everybody's searching
Wouldn't that be nice"
Piece of Paradise by Peter Mayer, Roger Guth + Jim
Mayer
There are seven words in this song that capture my
imagination, "Just a piece of Paradise--everybody's searching." I
can hear at the same time the hope and promise of paradise while Peter's
realistic commentary cuts to the heart of the matter: "Everybody's
searching." My sense is that Peter is correct in his observation
"Everybody's searching."
All you have to do is look at the topics listed on the
magazine covers at the airport to realize that we are a people who are looking
for ways to increase our happiness, get more money, improve our sex lives and
ward off dementia and other diseases.
Peter accurately diagnoses this issue as a spiritual
problem. Evidently something has happened that has made him realize
that whatever he thought was "his soul...turned out to be just a hole in
my life."
Today the Christian Church takes a look at the story of
Paradise lost in the first few chapters of Genesis. Adam and Eve had the peace
of Paradise and also their own piece of Paradise, but they let it slip away.
Lucas Cranach the Elder painted in 1526 the quintessential
painting of what happened in Paradise on that particular day. During my visits
to London, I always stop in at the Courtauld Institute to see the painting that
is at the top of this devotion. Cranach was a contemporary of Martin Luther's
and assisted him in a great many ways. One day I was at the National Gallery in
London looking at Cranach's "Cupid Complaining to Venus" when I saw
the similarities between Venus and Eve. The Cupid/Venus painting was done in
1525, just a year before Adam and Eve. Compare the neck of the two ladies, the
arm and even the fruit of the tree.
Visit www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery and www.nationalgallery.org for more information.
Whenever we talk about this account of Adam and Eve in
Paradise, people always suggest that the fruit they ate was an apple. I think
the apple gets a bad reputation from this association, but there is a piece of
redemption in all of this as well. If you take an apple and slice it sideways,
you'll find a star at the center. So, it is the comedy of the Gospel that the
fruit which seems to symbolize what is often called "The Fall" and
sinfulness also contains the Star that shown above the Christ Child's manger.
Years ago when Peter and I both lived in St. Louis, he often
would sing the song "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" during his
Advent/Christmas concerts.
Today, I commend "Piece of Paradise," Cranach's
artwork, the first three chapters of Genesis, Matthew 4:1-11 and these verses
of "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree":
peace,
rtg
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