A Slice of Pie

“There’s a land that is fairer than day,

And by faith we can see it afar,

For the Father waits over the way

To prepare us a dwelling place there.

In the sweet by and by

We shall meet on that beautiful shore;

In the sweet by and by,

We shall meet on that beautiful shore.”

The hymn “The Sweet By-and-By” was published in 1868 and quickly became a Gospel favorite. Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn have all recorded versions of it; Charles Ives used it in sections of several orchestral works; and several movies have featured it, including, most recently, Django Unchained. But why has it become so popular? Is it the words, the tune, or the combination of the two?

It’s probably the latter, but I suspect its popularity arises primarily from the Christian optimism it expresses, that a future home exists to which believers shall one day retire, a place in which the voices of the redeemed will mingle in praise of the One Who has secured and prepared that eternal rest, a place where “We shall sing on that beautiful shore the melodious songs of the blest, And our spirits shall sorrow no more Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.”

The hymn has not always been well received. Any song played over and over grows odious, and this one was no exception. As its strains filled the parlors and churches of America, Mark Twain paid it a dubious homage by including this spurious account of its origin in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court:

In a gallery a band with cymbals, horns, harps, and other horrors, opened the proceedings with what seemed to be the crude first-draft or original agony of the wail known to later centuries as "In the Sweet Bye and Bye." It was new, and ought to have been rehearsed a little more. For some reason or other the queen had the composer hanged, after dinner.

On the basis of that narrative, we can guess that Twain’s objection was to the melody, as only the composer was hanged, not the lyricist. Other critics have not been so charitable.

One of those critics was Joe Hill, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, the anarchist-syndicalist labor organization (a group known as the “Wobblies”). In 1911, he wrote a parody the hymn in which he lambasted the Salvation Army for offering salvation to the homeless, but not enough food. It went like this:

Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

This parody gave rise to the expression “pie in the sky in the great bye and bye.”

The first time I heard that expression. I was sitting in a U.S. history class. The class took place after lunch in an overheated room without windows, the teacher was a bit of a droner, and his lecture series was entitled something like “Pre-Civil War Circumstances in the Southern States,” so I was having trouble staying awake. But I did catch an offhand comment he made about the slaves. He said they found, in Christianity, a panacea that enabled them to endure the hopelessness of their bondage. He said Christianity gave them “pie in the sky in the great bye and bye,” and I think he added “opiate of the people” under his breath. It was not a flattering description.

So, wow, two very different understandings of Christianity. But which is it? Panacea or promise?

The answer to that question is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ really occurred, then His claims were substantiated and He really was the Savior of the world. If He is risen, then Christianity proclaims the Promise, the Hope, of humanity. But if the resurrection did not really occur, then Christianity is a man-made religion and offers no hope beyond the grave. If Jesus died as all other men die, then Christianity is nothing more than a lie and a panacea.

Thus, to determine if Christianity is panacea or promise, one must answer this question: Is Jesus risen from the dead?

Fortunately, that question can be answered beyond a reasonable doubt. The answer is, “Yes, He is Risen.” The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact demonstrable through the accounts of eyewitnesses, written records (both Christian and non-Christian), external evidences, and its historical impact. Don’t believe me? Study the evidences for yourself. Need to know where to find them? Just give me a call or jot me a note, and I’ll point you in the right directions.

I am not a Christian because it serves me well; I am a Christian because Christianity is true. Yes, it serves me well, but it serves me well because it is true.

Why are you a Christian?

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ,

we are of all men the most pitiable.

But now Christ is risen from the dead,

and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

1 Corinthians 15:19-20