A Song for Good Friday

Is this the kingdom or just a hit n' miss?

A misdirection, lost in all this desperation...

It'll be a day like this one

When the sky falls down and the hungry and poor and deserted are found 

Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard?

Have you been throwing down this broken house of cards?

It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in.

Is there nothing left now?
Nothing left to sing
Are there any left who hasn't kiss the enemy?
Is this the New Year or just another desperation?

Does justice never find you? Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?

And nothing is okay
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in

These lyrics are portions of Switchfoot's "The Blues" from their Nothing is Sound album.

While not written with Easter in mind, I find that it pretty accurately reflects the events, the appearance, and the mood of that first Good Friday. It was a day in which apparent darkness belied the light that was coming. A day where apparent defeat was transformed into victory. 

The sky fell down and the hungry and poor and deserted were found. 

Justice did find us, the wicked did lose. 

And nothing was ok until the world caved in.

Music Mondays - Faith In Tension

One of the most valuable things I learned in seminary was that we must hold some seemingly opposite spiritual truths in tension. 
God is a God of love but also justice. 
God is fully sovereign but allows his creatures the freedom of choice.

Our modern, Western minds can't always handle that. But to the Middle Eastern perspective, it is totally normal that two things that do not really fit together can both be true.

This reality combined with some CCM radio listening inspired me to compile a list of Christian songs that reflect this 'faith in tension'.

A couple notes (feel free to skip if you just want to get to the songs):

• I decided to to stick to recent music only. To fish in a pool that considers all of Christian hymnody would be too much of an undertaking for the purposes of this author and his blog.
• I also decided to stick to Christian music.  There are some worthy options from those who don't identify as followers of Christ, but I wanted to keep the focus on Christians who are dealing with the tensions in their/our faith.
• I used my own rating system to rank the songs. I had three categories: Clarity of Tension, Theological Depth, and Overall Song Quality. I rated each song on Clarity of Tension (CT) on a scale of 1-10 based on how well the song communicated the tension or paradox it described. Theological Depth (TD) was also scaled 1-10 based on how significantly it grappled with heavy theological issues. Overall Song Quality (SQ) was only rated between 1-5 because I didn't want my musical preferences to get in the way too much. I also added a Bonus rating (0-2) as a sort of miscellaneous category to help break ties and account for additional aspects of each song.

We'll break down my top ten over the next two weeks. 
Here's #10-#6:

10. "Trust in You" - Lauren Daigle

 (Total Score - 20. CT: 8, TD: 8, SQ: 4, Bonus: 0)

Her voice carries this song, but don't underestimate the lyrics. A commitment to faith even if God doesn't work things out how we desire or hope? That's textbook Faith in Tension.

9. "Even If" - MercyMe

(Total - 20.5. CT: 9, TD: 7, SQ: 3.5, Bonus: 1)

This is a new song that got me thinking about this whole idea. It's like if "Blessed Be Your Name" and "What if I Stumble" - both songs on this list - had a baby song. Honest and real. It would probably have a higher score if it wasn't being overplayed on Christian radio right now. Bonus for a direct allusion to Daniel 3. 

Music Mondays

I can easily be bumped out of my routine. Funerals, conferences, meetings, and other ministry stuff can all conspire to distract me from things I intend to do. 

One of the casualties of this is usually this blog...but here we go again, attempting some semblence of consistency. Consistency - especially in offering my comments on the intersection between faith and music.

Our new series will be working through the book of Ecclesiastes. Of all the books in Holy Scripture, Ecclesiastes offers the gloomiest of perspectives.  It's a book that resonates with all who have been discouraged and disillusioned with life. "Vanity" or "Meaningless" are the key words, depending on your translation. 

The search for purpose and significance is universal, and at face value, this book seems to offer little-to-no hope. Once you understand the book below the surface - at 'soul value' if you'll permit me to make up a term - you'll understand that all of the book's darkness is meant to point us to the only constant light. 

"Fear God and obey his commandments...this is the whole duty of man" chapter twelve concludes. Fulfillment in this life can only be found in an earnest pursuit of God.   

So where does this leave us musically? Should I google "depressing songs about faith"? Should I dust off some old 'Emo' selections #DashboardConfessional?

I'm going to go with a song I once liked, then disliked, and now kind of appreciate. This song's popularity launched Switchfoot into the national music consciousness. And the fact that it was playing everywhere eventually led to the band being uncool within the Christian subcultures where I lived. The message of this song matches the message of Ecclesiastes pretty well however. It, like the OT book, points us to something greater. A purpose beyond the mediocrity that dominates much of life.

So here's "Meant to Live" - 

 

Music Mondays

Have you ever forgotten about a song you really, really liked? Then when you hear it you think to yourself, 'Man, I totally love this song!'

This is one of those songs for me. It has spoken to me during circumstances that were very difficult. It has provided encouragement even during times where things weren't that bad, but weren't rainbows and lollipops either.

A famous line from the recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight, goes "the night is always darkest before the dawn", which is a similar idea, though not literally true. But I absolutely love the imagery of this song: "the shadows prove the sunshine", because it is literally true. Shadows exist because there is light behind it all. Difficulties and trials exist for a greater purpose in God's grand scheme of history (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 4:12-19). Job's life teaches us this, Joseph had to learn this lesson, as did the OT prophets, and of course Jesus' life is the defining illustration of this principle. Whatever we must endure, we can know without a doubt that the shadows prove the sunshine.

Music Mondays - Songs for the New Year (Part Two)

Due to the crazy weather over the past several days, I've been home-bound and unable to access the rest of my list. But without any further ado, here are songs #5-#1:

5. "Day by Day" - dc Talk

This may be the strangest video on the list, but this remix of a song from the 'Godspell' musical improves the original by about 1000%. It's a perfect song for the new year because it expounds on the daily nature of our walk of faith. In 2014, and every year, we need to depend on God day by day day.

4. "Dare You to Move" - Switchfoot

This has been a favorite song of mine since the first time I heard it. It calls us to become who we were born to be. It calls us out of mediocrity to something greater. It calls us to get back up when we fall. Isn't that the whole reason for New Year's Resolutions' anyway?

3.  "Time Is" - dc Talk

Another song, another dc Talk entry. No official music video for this song, but it's a classic. It speaks for itself, but my favorite part are all the soundbites involving the word 'Time', especially the Star Trek: Next Generation quote from Geordi La Forge.

2. "Beautiful Day" - U2

The only non-explicitly Christian song on my list. But it's too fitting not to include. This song will always be connected to 9/11 in my mind. It was released around that time and I remember it as an inspiring song of hope during that darkest of times.

1. "Alive" - P.O.D.

Another song with 9/11 connections, this single was released shortly before that fateful day and the album itself was set to be released that very day. This song would always pump me up before basketball games. Though in a deeper way it reminds me of the freedom we have in Christ and the power over sin that is ours because of the Cross.

That's it, that's my (belated) New Year's playlist for 2014. What's on yours?

Music Mondays - Best Christian Music Videos of All-Time

Two weeks ago, I compiled a list of "The Worst Christian Music Videos of All-Time". If you really want to subject yourself to that unintentional comedy, click on that link and check out the videos. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Well, last week I decided to compile a list of "The Best Christian Music Videos of All-Time", but it turned out to be a larger project than I anticipated so I had to postpone the release of my list until today. It turns out there were more quality options than I anticipated.

But similar to"The Worst..." list, I graded these videos according to four categories:

Fashion & Design (F & D) - Will this video age well or has it aged well? What is the 'look' they are going for and is it attention-getting?

Song Quality (SQ) - Instead of how 'annoying' the song is, I've rated how catchy and listen-able the song is. This is a subjective rating, but it's my list.

Video Concept (VC) - Similar but distinct from F & D, this category rates the video on the story that's being told visually (and musically). Does it draw you in and execute an interesting presentation of the song?

Artist Relevance (Art. Rel.) - This is the only category not ranked on a scale of 1-10, but rather 1-5. If an artist is relevant (or still relevant) they get bonus points for using their platform to produce a quality video. I'm not convinced this is a great category to have, since a little-known artist could still make a good video. But I'd rather watch a great movie with great, well-known actors than a great movie with great, but little-known actors. That's just me I guess.

So let's get started on our countdown with an honorable mention from waaayyyy back:

Honorable Mention - DeGarmo & Key - 666

This video was the first Christian video to be played on MTV, and also the first to be pulled from regular airplay due to its content. According to their Wikipedia page, it was pulled originally because it was mistakenly believed to be anti-Christian. Also, having a man catch fire was deemed objectionable and D&K had to re-edit the video before it was put back on.

10. Flyleaf - All Around Me

This is a worship song. It's a worship song unlike any most churches sing on Sundays, but it's still a worship song. The video itself is pretty straightforward but the visuals of paint streaming down the walls along with the cut-backs to the all-white room is eye-catching. And the video also catches the energy of the song perfectly, putting you in a front row seat at one of their concerts.

Total Score = 25.25 (F&D - 6, SQ - 9, VC - 6.25, Art. Rel. - 4)

9. dc Talk - Between You and Me

This song was dc Talk's only single to make it on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the video likewise made it into regular rotation on MTV and VH1.  The chase scenes pull you in to the video and by the end, you really want to know what's in that box. Entertaining video and entertaining song.

Total Score = 25.5 (F&D - 6, SQ - 7, VC - 7.5, Art. Rel. - 5)