A nursing home I often visit is located across from the State Fairgrounds. One of the fair's outdoor concert venues is actually directly across the street from the nursing home. Sunday night, as I left the nursing home, I heard this:
If God had a name, what would it be
And would you call it to his face
If you were faced with him in all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question
And yeah yeah God is great yeah yeah God is good
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
If God had a face what would it look like
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in jesus and the saints and all the prophets
And yeah yeah god is great yeah yeah god is good
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
He's trying to make his way home
Back up to heaven all alone
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in rome
And yeah yeah God is great yeah yeah God is good
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
What if god was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in rome
I froze. It was Joan Osborne singing One of Us, the Eric Bazilian song that is perhaps the most meaningful pop song ever written.
When I first heard this song in 1995, it felt as if every hair on my body was standing up. Drop the Catholic references and make God His Shekhina and you have a profound lament about galut (exile), as poignant to our times as Jeremiah was in his.
The Rob Chertoff-produced 1995 Joan Osborne version is simply stunning. For those of you who are makil (lenient) with kol isha, iTunes has it available for download. Get the 1995 version from her debut album Relish. Or click on the album for an Amazon link.