In Defense of “I’ll Fly Away”
This past weekend, on February 20, I was honored to participate in the memorial service of a godly woman in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
Rose Marie Paden–the beloved mother of the Paden boys and girls, and the second mother of the Hicks boys and girl–passed from this life on February 12, 2016. In 1953, Rose Marie and her husband Lowell Paden, along with their three boys at the time (L. V., Mike, and Dan), joined the Hicks family in Colonial Heights, Virginia, to assist in the nurture of a new church plant. The Padens and Hicks were extended families for each other as both were so far from their West Texas roots, and we shared many occasions but especially every Thanksgiving where we would play games, sing songs, and eat together. Rose Marie was a pillar for the church in Colonial Heights for over sixty years! Her works will follow her (Revelation 14:13).
The most moving moment in the memorial service was singing some of her favorite hymns as a congregation, led by three of her grandsons. Those hymns opened our hearts and minds to her faith, and we wept and were comforted.
One of the songs was, “I’ll Fly Away.”
Some glad morning when this life is o’er,
I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
Chorus
I’ll fly away, fly away, Oh Glory
I’ll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
When the shadows of this life have gone,
I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)
Oh. How glad and happy when we meet
I’ll fly away
No more cold iron shackles on my feet
I’ll fly away
Just a few more weary days and then,
I’ll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)
I have been known, at times, to chuckle about this song and sometimes to oppose it. There are several reasons the song makes me a bit uncomfortable.
For example, I believe our final resting place is the new heavens and new earth, when heaven and earth become one. Then God will dwell with the redeemed on a renewed earth, fitted for eternal habitation. I don’t believe our final state is some celestial home outside of the present cosmos beyond the lenses of the Hubble telescope.
Another reason for discomfort is the implied assumption that “flying away” is the final journey or goal. This tends to say something like, “When I die, I go to heaven, and that is all I desire.” This leaves out the resurrection from the dead, which is the hope of the Christian faith, and it lends itself to a dualistic understanding of the human being as the physical (material) is laid aside to inherit a wholly “spiritual” (immaterial) realm.
But in this moment I want to offer a defense of the song.
It expresses a deep faith in God’s victory over death. In other words, death does not win, though it may appear to do so. Human identity does not cease. We are carried away into the bosom of Abraham. Rose Marie flew away into the arms of God. It is her home…for now.
It expresses a deep sense of the chaos in this present world. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “everything is hebel” (or absurd, enigma, a breath, vanity). This present cosmos is enslaved and shackled, and the creation itself longs for redemption and renewal, according to Romans 8. The song expresses joy of release from this present bondage to a place where Rose Marie awaits the full redemption of the cosmos, including her own resurrection.
It also expresses a truth about the state of the dead, which is dear to my heart. While death destroys the unity of the human person–separating body and spirit–human identity remains (“I’ll fly away”), and human persons, despite death, escape to a place of joy without end in the presence of God. It goes to the question, “Where are the Dead?” (A question I addressed in a series of blogs, which you can find in my serial index; here is the link to the first one.) In particular, I regard Revelation 7 a fairly clear statement about those who were once upon the earth but have now crossed over into the throne room of God where every tear is wiped away (see my blog on this text). I believe when we die, though we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. In some sense we are at home, sheltered by God and the Lamb. And there we wait with the whole creation for the redemption of both the cosmos and our bodies. While we wait, however, we enjoy God’s presence and join the chorus around God’s throne.
I don’t imagine that most people think about all this when they sing the song. Most likely many (if not most) simply think about going home to heaven and never returning to the earth or they don’t think about the resurrection of the dead.
But on February 20th, I sang “I’ll Fly Away” with gusto because it expressed what I knew was true about Rose Marie Paden.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”
Amen, and Amen. Rest in peace, Rose Marie. Say “Hello” to Lowell for me.
February 24th, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Good article.
When singing this song I mostly think about the dear friends I’ve sung it with through the years and who particularly cherished it.
February 24th, 2016 at 1:49 pm
Thank you, John Mark. This helps me to better interpret and more readily sing other songs like this that my church family likes to sing, like Mansions Over the Hilltop (our young people like this song!?)
February 24th, 2016 at 7:34 pm
I am chagrined
February 25th, 2016 at 1:10 pm
🙂
February 24th, 2016 at 7:41 pm
Great thoughts, John Mark. Maybe we can also add that Psalm 90:10 says, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
February 24th, 2016 at 8:09 pm
Thanks for your thoughts about I’ll Fly Away and the memory of Rose Marie. Your family and the Padens impacted so many through the years, including me and my family.
February 25th, 2016 at 11:52 am
Thanks, John Mark
February 26th, 2016 at 8:14 am
We sang this at my uncle’s funeral. He is my mother’s brother and they grew up in Louisiana. He served in the Korean War as an Air Force pilot and later was a test pilot. For his funeral this song seemed especially appropriate and meaningful.
March 17th, 2016 at 8:32 pm
On my great great aunt’s grave it says “resting ’til the ressurection morn’. I believe she thought (as it was taught back then) that she would be in the stillness of death, temporarily, until the Lord’s return and our mortal bodies are clothes with immortal. I, like her, don’t buy the disembodied spirit concept since Paul says we will have a body sown in weakness but raised in power.
February 20th, 2022 at 8:02 pm
It has been almost 6 years as I read this blog and I appreciate the care you took to honor my mom. Not only having been family through the years, but you have always taken the efforts to be kind and loving in many ways, including how you handled the song. Thank you for being a friend and brother.
February 27th, 2022 at 2:01 pm
Thank you, my brother. You are dear to me.