What I really love about the CSC is taking in a Tokens Show. Tokens, as I've written about many times, is really one of the best things out there. And for the William Stringfellow fans the name "Tokens" comes from this Stringfellow quote:
Discerning signs has to do with comprehending the remarkable in common happenings, with perceiving the saga of salvation within the era of the Fall. It has to do with the ability to interpret ordinary events in both apocalyptic and eschatological connotations, to see portents of death where others find progress or success but, simultaneously, to behold tokens of the reality of the Resurrection or hope where others are consigned to confusion or despair.Tokens was also out at the Pepperdine Lectures last month. During that show Lee Camp, the host of Tokens, sang the Tom Waits song "Down There By The Train." That song has haunted me ever since. Some of the lyrics:
There's a place I know"Down By The Train" is profound song about the scandal of grace. And I love the image of catching the train down where it goes slow.
where the train goes slow
where the sinners can be washed
in the blood of the lamb
there's a river by the trestle
down by Sinner's Grove
down where the Willow and the Dogwood grows
down there by the train
down there by the train
down there where the train
goes slow
you can hear the whistle
you can hear the bell
from the halls of heaven
to the gates of hell
there's room for the forsaken
if you're there on time
you'll be washed of all your sins
and all of your crimes
down there by the train
down there by the train
down there where the train
goes slow
there's a golden moon
that shines up through the mist
I know that your name
will be on that list
There's no eye for an eye
there's no tooth for a tooth
I saw Judas Iscariot carrying John Wilkes Booth
down there by the train
down there by the train
down there where the train
goes slow
if you've lost all your hope
if you've lost all your faith
I know you will be cared for
I know you will be safe
all the shameful and all of the whores
even the soldier who pierced the heart of the lord
is down there by the train
down there by the train
down there where the train
goes slow
well I've never asked forgiveness and
I've never said a prayer
I've never given of myself
I've never truly cared
I've hurt the ones who loved me
I'm still raising Cain
I've taken the low road and
if you've done the same
meet me down there by the train
down there by the train
down there where the train
goes slow
Boarding and getting on the "train to heaven" is a staple image in gospel music. And in this song Tom Waits takes that metaphor in a new direction. The place where the "train goes slow" in a town is the place where the hobos, vagabonds, and drifters would hop on the train for a ride. Thus, the heaven-bound train fills up with all sorts of unsavory folks catching a ride down.
Grace is that place where sinners hop a ride down where the train goes slow.
