The Eagles Farewell Tour is a perfect example of making an “old” message relevant for today. Flipping channels I discovered the broadcast of a concert they relatively recently performed in Australia. I was amazed that this band, who seemed to have captured the “spirit” of their time, and yet today are a group of near-geriatric, semi-has-been rockers who are still packing out stadiums. They may have changed their outfits and made their stage full of fancy lights and video displays, but their message has not changed, it seems, in too drastic a fashion since their early days.
A quick scan of the crowd finds though, not just other gray-hairs, but even some who could not have been born when the Eagles’ music was released on tapes for the first time. It is amazing to see this daily demolition of the PoMo (Postmodern) argument that language is limited to certain communities, for I am sure that there are vast differences between the oldest and youngest members of that audience, yet that evening, they all spoke the same “language”, no matter what vastly separated “communities” they were part of.
It served as a reminder to the universality of some themes, like love, freedom, having a good time, and yet also reminded me that as Christians, our themes also have that same sort of universal impact. The sinful state of mankind, the need for a relationship with God, and the provision of that relationship through Jesus, are all what this world desperately needs to hear. While the Eagles may not always sing about the best things, or be the best role-models for us, we can surely find motivation in their example. If they can stay true to their message, even after all these years, who among us can claim that our message is outdated or irrelevant to people today when the issues we speak to are of such greater magnitude than those of the Eagles?
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