Gimme Shelter: The Rolling Stones and the Safety of God
Yesterday, on the first Sunday of August, the church I serve kicked off our second year of the Songs and Scripture Sermon Series, where each week, we will look at an iconic song alongside a biblical text and explore the intersections. The hope with this series, is to not only make church a little more fun and enjoyable (each week we invite a phenomenal musician to perform the song), but to continue to train ourselves to spot the sacred in the secular more often - because it’s right there so much of the time. We kicked off the series by looking at one of the all-time greatest songs by one of the all-time greatest rock bands on the planet – “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones.
The world feels so tense right now. Amen? As I scanned the headlines this morning, I could almost feel my shoulders tightening and my blood pressure rise a few points. We sit on the brink of a massive war in the Middle East. Russia continues its brutal assault on Ukraine. Election politics here in the U.S. are growing increasingly bitter. Wildfires are burning in the west. Food is expensive. Coffee is really expensive. The CDC is pleading with farm workers to get their flu vaccine for fear that the human flu and bird flu will combine to form a supervirus that will kick off a new pandemic. There’s just so much to worry about and to fear. My only respite has been watching the Olympics – specifically, Simone Biles and her superhuman flying through the air and Snoop Dog’s new role as the U.S. Olympics ambassador.
Some have compared the political division in the United States today to an earlier time – specifically to the latter half of the 1960s. During that time, much like today, politics left people feeling very far apart from each other, and drove wedges between family members. Much like today, there was passionate opposition to war, and our involvement in it, and there was great division, tension and violence over inequalities for Americans along lines of race, gender and other important identities. I can see why folks make comparisons between these two eras.
One afternoon in 1969, Keith Richards, legendary guitarist and songwriter for the British band The Rolling Stones was sitting in a flat in England, staring out the window as a violent thunderstorm rolled in. As he watched the people outside frantically run for cover, their umbrellas being blown inside out from the winds, an idea was born. After reuniting with Mick Jagger, this iconic songwriting duo took the imagery of frantically seeking cover in a heavy storm and applied it to the tension and turmoil that marked the late 60s. The song “Gimme Shelter” was born.
The song runs at four minutes and 37 seconds and leans into the wailings of Mick Jagger accompanied by unique elements of the maracas and harmonica, and of course, the incredible vocals of the one and only, Merry Clayton. The song itself was never released as a single, which means that it never had the opportunity to chart as one. It was, however, the opening track for the Stones’ record Let It Bleed, which charted as the number one album in the U.K. and number three in the U.S. And In 2021, “Gimme Shelter” ranked at number 13 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The opening guitar riff is catchy, but then is soon joined by an almost haunting voice…in a note progression that is almost ghostly and anxiety producing in itself. Oooooooo……. The sound is expectant…and ominous. Matching the lyrics that Jagger comes in with:
Ooh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
The lyrics of this song create a sense of discomfort. They paint a picture that we are all just on the edge of chaos – that violence and suffering and tragedy are so very close, and may break through at any moment. It’s tense. It’s frightening. And for many, it’s not an unfamiliar feeling.
Living with this kind of tension and fear, with the chronic worry that the bottom could drop out, or the other shoe can drop, and all of the things that make us feel safe and secure and can be wiped out in an instant, is an awful way to live, and too many individuals around the world live with this reality. And this kind of experience of living on the edge, changes us as human beings.
People who are frequently exposed to violence or live with threats of violence may experience psychological, emotional, and physical effects. Whether the threat of violence is the result of living in a dangerous neighborhood or being involved in an abusive relationship, common reactions include fear, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These stress reactions are normal for those who live with these realities and threats, but they can seriously interfere with everyday life and the ability to function at home, work, or school. With these realities in mind, if you really enter into the story that “Gimme Shelter” is trying to tell us, it’s not just a catchy tune by a great band, it’s actually quite terrifying.
So now that we are all more anxious, let’s look at our text today from the Gospel of John. If you thought you were having an episode of déjà vu this morning when I read it, you weren’t. It’s the second half of the same text that I read last week. Jesus has just performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 (with leftovers to spare, as we noted last week), and has retreated away from the crowd. And then, as disciples do so often, they do something that doesn’t totally make sense. As evening comes, the disciples get in a boat, and leave Jesus behind, and head on to Capernaum. Now, scholars have tried to offer possible reasons why the disciples would ditch the man they have been following, the man who just performed another miracle in front of them. Maybe they thought Jesus had gone ahead of them? Maybe the crowd suddenly posed some kind of threat? We don’t know, but they leave Jesus behind and head to their next stop. Suddenly, the sea becomes rough and the wind is blowing, and much like our lyric in “Gimme Shelter,” Ooo, the storm is raging.
Then Jesus appears, walking on the water, and the disciples, who were already probably afraid are now terrified. Even though they have already seen Jesus perform miracles, walking on the water in a storm freaks them out. And I get it – even though I know Simone Biles can fly through the air in a manner that looks impossible for someone who is 4’8, I’m still dumbfounded each time I see her defy gravity. Jesus tells them not to be afraid. And then the text says, “Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.”
I’ve heard many brilliant and fascinating interpretations of this passage over the years, but one of the most basic understandings is, I think, one of the most powerful and beautiful. When the disciples get in the boat and leave Jesus behind, they meet a storm, with strong wind and high waves. How often have we experienced this truth, that when we ditch God and try to go it alone, life becomes more rough and turbulent? It was only in the act of inviting Jesus into the boat that the disciples immediately found themselves safe at their destination. It’s powerful, right? And simple. We face dangers and uncertainties when we think we can go it alone, without God. And only in inviting God back in do we find safety and peace.
I don’t know what kind of faith or spirituality the Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have. The most I can find about Richards is that he is spiritual, not religious, and questions most things that his Christian wife believes. Jagger is on record as being ambivalent about religion. He says, “Like most English people, I’m not a great believer.” And yet… There is something about the way that “Gimme Shelter” ends that offers a hopeful turn, and suggests to me that they believe in something, something that you and I may call “God.”
After Merry Clayton, has been phenomenally singing, even breaking into screams on a couple of notes, “Rape, Murder, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away,” then something shifts. Something changes. As the song comes to a conclusion, the lyrics shift. They go:
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
I tell you love, sister, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away
And then the song fades out. Richards and Jagger made a choice to end this iconic song on a note of hope and possibility. After singing about the looming presence of rape, murder and war, they turn to the one thing that can overcome these horrific realities. Love. Love that looms just as close as the nightmarish realities of war, rape and murder. It’s just a kiss away. So close. The closing of the song suggests an existence on a tightrope. A narrow place where off to one side, we have the awfulness of the world. And to the other, we have love.
In the Gospel of John, the disciples learn that the simple act of inviting God back in to the boat, brings them the safety and peace they are longing for. In Gimme Shelter, the sing invites us to the simple act of choosing Love over war. They are both about choice.
It was true in the time of Jesus. It was true in the turbulent 1960s. It is true today. We have a choice. A choice to go it alone in a world so prone to violence and injustice. And many other kinds of threatening storms. Or to choose God. To choose Love.
What will your choice be? Will you find ways to invite God into our life? Into our shared lives? Or face the storms ahead without the shelter and protection of the One who is Love and Peace.
What will the choice be?
War, children. It’s just a shot away. But Love, sister, it’s just a kiss away.
Amen.
