Music Mondays

This week's Music Monday is unlike any other I've featured. Last night my wife and I had the opportunity to attend a live concert featuring Big Daddy Weave, Plumb, and We are Messengers. 

It was a fun concert that also spoke to my soul. Each artist transparently dates about their lives and struggles and pointed us to the grace of Christ that can transform all people.

 

Here's a short snippet from the concert (bear with me while I figure out how to format it).

*Update - it doesn't look like I can properly rotate it...oh well I tried.

"Of when justice was served and where mercy wins. Of the kindness of Jesus that draws me in." That's my story and I hope it is yours too.

Music Mondays

I typically share modern/current favorite song selections on this blog. That's just what my tastes are. 
Our latest passage in Ecclesiastes has led me to highlight a classic song penned long before I was born.

In Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3, the injustices of life are pondered and ultimately decried. As is common throughout the book, there aren't a whole lot of solutions offered. There are some, to be sure, but the overall style of Ecclesiastes is to offer more questions and answers. This is an especially effective approach when the subject of injustice and unfairness come up. Sometimes we just need to lament and sympathize with those who suffer.

Bob Dylan took a similar approach in his song "Blowin' in the Wind". It's known as a Civil-Right's-era protest song. While it certainly protests, it also just ambiguously presents the problems and the uncertainty of their solutions. 

Here's what Dylan said about it himself:

"There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain't in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group. Man, it's in the wind — and it’s blowing in the wind. Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won't believe that. I still say it's in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some ... But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know ... and then it flies away. I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it's wrong. I'm only 21 years old and I know that there's been too many ... You people over 21, you're older and smarter."

 Gray (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. p. 64.

"Blowin' in the Wind" sure seems parallel to "striving after the wind" (Ecc. 2:17, 26; 3:16) and both express frustration at the fact that life is unfair. Again, we can find answers (see the latter part of my sermon for three) - but lamenting injustice has it's place too.

Music Mondays

When a band plays a concert, they typically save their most popular song for last or for the encore. 

Twenty-One Pilots buck that trend, which is fitting because they are the sort of band that rejects labels and lanes.

When they put on a concert, they play "Trees":

This is a song that fits the Ecclesiastes passages we looked at yesterday. "Trees" is a song that is aware of our mortality ("I can feel my death"). Yet it is a song that yearns for an encounter with the Divine ("Why won't you speak where I happen to be?, "I want to know You, I want to see, I want to say 'Hello!'").  I could be 'over-theologizing' and over-interpreting here, but knowing as much about the band as I do, I don't think I am.

Ecclesiastes 2-3 laments how death is like a dark cloud hanging over our life's activities but points us to the 'eternity' that God has placed in our souls. This song highlights the same and celebrates it in fact. And for a final statement to be made to your adoring fans, I admire the approach T.O.P. have taken.

Music Mondays

"Could be she got lost or maybe she just watched a little too much TV..."

So begins this week's featured song "Angels" by All-Star United, written almost 20 years ago.

All-Star United was one of my favorite bands as their songs were filled with sarcasm and criticism of Western self-indulgence.  "Angels" is spot on as it describes the the wandering "drifting satellite" nature of post-modern youth. In fact, it really fits much of our culture at large, regardless of age.

Sure, the Lord is faithfully watching out for his own (which is what the 'Angels' are doing in this song), but how many are just adrift, chasing after one thing or another. Whatever makes us feel good, whatever seems fun, we'll try it out and jump in headfirst.

The author of Ecclesiastes tried it all too. Chapter 2:1-11 detail how he chased after pleasure it all it's various forms to find meaning:

"And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found...and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

The pleasures of life have their place, but they are gifts not goals. Christ has blessed us with entertainment, food and drink, creativity, and wealth. But those things are not the 'be all, end all'. 

Hopefully, we can wake up to the meaninglessness of these worldly pursuits and recognize God's guiding hand on us that is prompting us to a better way. Hopefully, we can listen to the "angels holding our hands as we walk through the dark".

 

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

Yesterday we studied the highest and most honored name for God - "Yahweh". It is so special that the people of Israel stopped saying it out of fear they'd misuse it (Ex. 20:7). 

It means simply, "I AM" or "I am that I am". It is a statement of eternality, of independence, consistency, and know-ability. It is also the name God used when fulfilling his covenants with his people (Ex. 3,6).

While I cannot criticize the tradition that has refused to even speak the name, I do feel it goes a little to far. A couple songs capture it's uniqueness, and we'll share one this week and one next.

Music Mondays

Last week, we took a look at "El" and "Elohim" as major names for God. While general and common designations, they speak to the Lord's might and power.

While the Bible helps fill in the gaps as to how mighty God is and what kind of powerful Deity we worship, it goes even further by using "El" as compound description for God (i.e. "God of Israel", "God who sees", "God Most High"). 

Next Sunday we'll be looking at close to a half-dozen of them, but the most famous is undoubtedly "El Shaddai" (which means 'God Almighty'). 

It became well-known in the early 80's when Amy Grant sang it on her breakout Age to Age album. Originally written by Michael Card, it does a masterful job of succinctly telling the redemptive story of God from Abraham to Jesus.

Here's Card's version with helpful lyrics that translate the Hebrew he incorporated into the song: