Some of my favorite misheard lyrics include Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" "The kid is not my son". I've always heard it as The chair is not my son. Then there is Creedence Clearwater's "There's a bad moon on the rise" There's a bathroom on the right.
A few others come close to authentic misspeaks such as Alanis Morisette's "You oughta know" which goes "of the cross I'd bear that you gave to me" and sounds like of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me.
Where am I going with this? Actually it all came to me on February 22, the Feast of The Chair of Peter, which has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church since the 4th Century. It is only recent centuries that have cast doubt on whether The Chair in fact represents the successor of Jesus or not.
So is the Chair My Son? I remember listening to a prelate of the church expounding on the historical significance of this feast in the Roman Catholic tradition. The history was excellent, but the topic bored me at the time.
This year the scriptural reading of February 22's prayer of the Church struck home in a new way:
"God selected me to be the one from whose lips the Gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe. God, who reads the hearts of men, showed his approval by granting the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us. He made no distinction between them and us, but purified their hearts by means of faith also" (Acts 15:7-9).
Suddenly I saw our Christian denominations in terms of them and us. For centuries the claim of the Chair of St Peter was a divisive element in Christianity. The truth about the succession of St Peter was dividing our churches when we should be concentrating, at least recognizing, the Holy Spirit working in us all.
What a wonderful blessing! God, who reads the hearts of men, showing us his approval by granting the Holy Spirit to all! Without distinction between them and us.
If our hearts are not open to how God chooses to work, then I fear another misheard lyric comes to mind: from Toto's "Africa" I left my brains down in Africa.
Like St Peter, the first bishop and apostle, we don't start out as Saints. But God doesn't give up on us either. These are challenging times to work for church unity.
The Holy Spirit loosed in our Christian churches makes no distinction but draws us towards that love and unity that will one day make us one in the Kingdom of God. We have Jesus' promise this will happen.
