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Mid-Week Devotional

A Complete Unknown



By Rev. Kim Skattum

Pastor to Pastors


"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty". 

Revelation 1:8


Bob Dylan has been part of my music landscape all of my life. Even as young as 11, when listening to rock music was ‘sinful’ in my home, I remember hearing “Blowin’ in the Wind” on my buddy’s transistor radio. That was in 1967.


“A Complete Unknown,” the biopic of Bob Dylan’s life released on Christmas Day, 2024, once again captured my imagination about this elusive and enigmatic musical genius.


The title of the movie is perfect for Dylan. He rose to fame as a complete unknown, and to this day, even with all of his celebrity, he’s still a complete unknown. That’s what makes him intriguing. A musical wizard who changed folk music forever and remains private and obscure at 83.


In 1978, when Dylan ‘met’ Jesus, I was working in Christian radio. His first ‘Christian’ album, “Slow Train Coming” (1979) was a testimonial about his conversion to Christianity (or perhaps better put his mashing up of Judaism and Christianity; Dylan was raised Jewish). The song “Gotta Serve Somebody” was in regular rotation on my drive-time radio show.


It’s ironic to me that a self-made musician who values obscurity and disdains genre-restricting identifiers would meet Jesus, who was kind of the same way.


I left watching “A Complete Unknown,” wanting to know more about Bob Dylan. The movie left me with questions and a desire to discover more of his life. Same with Jesus and Scripture. I always want to know more and I have a plethora of questions for Him and about Him and about His word.


People argue about Dylan’s faith. He’s still a little vague about it and the movie didn’t even attempt to explore it. But he was very clear in a concert after his conversion when he said, “I’m telling you now Jesus is coming back, and He is! And there is no other way of salvation…Jesus is coming back to set up His kingdom…”. I assume he still believes that.


I believe it. Even though as I get older, as Dylan gets older, as we all get older, I still have questions. Many of them.


A friend asked me yesterday at lunch, “has your faith in heaven been shaken since all the recent deaths in your family?” “No”, I answered, “my faith in heaven is still secure, I just have a lot more questions. Confusion even.”


So, what’s my point? I think it’s this: most everyone I know longs for certainty and clarity in life. Ambiguity is not usually comfortable. Especially when it comes to matters of life and death. And yet ambiguity surrounds us. That’s where faith comes in. Faith in things unknown. Things unseen but evidence of which is all around us.


I am regularly grateful for the amount of clarity we get about Jesus and the record of His life in Scripture, even with so many questions that surface every time I read the Bible. I can believe He is the Alpha and Omega, who is and was and is to come.


I concur with Dylan,


“I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter,

I believe in you even though we be apart

I believe in you even on the morning after

Oh, when the dawn is nearing

Oh, when the night is disappearing

Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart

Don't let me drift too far,

Keep me where you are

Where I will always be renewed

And that which you've given me today

Is worth more than I could pay

And no matter what they say

I believe in you”

 

I Believe In You

Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming, 1979


Prayer

God, increase my faith. Amen. 


By Rev. Kim Skattum

Pastor to Pastors

American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains