Bring Your Own God

What ultimately defined Woody Guthrie’s life was an intense spiritual bond he felt not only with his fellow human beings, but with all of Being Itself. When he wrote, then, “All of my songs flow out of Christ” he was actually referring, I believe, to this greater, Universal Connection he felt with All of Life. Because Christianity was the particular religion with which he was most familiar, he writes, in this passage anyway, of his Universal Connection using Christian language. At the same time, however, in the songs and writings that are reflective of his spirituality Woody hardly confined himself to Christian language and thought. Recalling Guy Logsdon’s observations, Guthrie was a true Universalist when it came to expressing his religious and spiritual inclinations. Much of what he wrote in this genre has only come to light in more recent years, long after his death, and has been set to music and recorded by other artists. Songs like Holy Ground, This Morning I Am Born Again, God’s Promise, and Heaven—to name but a few—never even became songs for Woody. They were among the hundreds of verses he wrote as inspiration led him. As just noted, they’ve been set to music and recorded by others like Ellis Paul, or Slaid Cleaves, or The Klezmatics. But the lyrics themselves point to the passion that ultimately drove Woody Guthrie’s life and work. Much of what has been touched on here will be revisited in greater detail in the chapters ahead. Woody was not raised with a structured and deliberate kind of religious education, in the manner, say, of Jack Kerouac’s Catholicism. His sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, points out: “If you read his book Bound for Glory, I believe from his writings (one can see) it would have been impossible for (Woody to have had) any kind of a structured, supervised routine for any kind of religion.” But then, writing of herself and her siblings as they were all being raised, she continues, “It was in our hearts to do good. The Ten Commandments were our guidelines. We were taught love and kindness for each other, honesty always, honor for our parents, faith, good morals. We were ruled by Jesus and said the Lord’s Prayer regularly. These rules were set forth by our father, Charley, and were imbedded in us forever.” 7) In the pages ahead it is my hope to offer a deeper look into what it was that was “embedded” in Woody Guthrie forever. In the end there’s really no need for a Church of Woody Guthrie. The “congregation” of those persons around the world—past, present, and future—who have been touched and blessed by his life and work are “church” enough. But that small structure sitting there next to the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts—a locale Woody himself never even laid eyes on—is as good a tribute to his life as one will find out there. One God—Many Forms One River—Many Streams One People—Many Faces One Mother—Many Children. Surely, Woody Guthrie could say “Amen!” to that.