A few post back I mentioned how much I like to read, (C.S. who?). But also I love to listen to music. I listen to it whenever I am reading, working, cooking, just chilaxing. At my day job, I have to listen to music in order to concentrate on some of the more intricate functions of that job. When I accepted Christ as my savior I had to re-think my music choices. There were some things I listened to that were not good for a baby Christian to listen to. Fortunately I was able to find some music that appealed to me, (Thank you Randy Shepard). Since that time, my musical taste of not really changed all that much, I still dislike the majority of “Christian” music and the only praise music I own is stuff given to me by other people. Now I am in no way telling you out there to not listen to praise music or enjoy Christian music. I am just stating my own preferences and tastes.
I know that is a bad thing, right, but I am being honest and that is important. Recently I started listening to a band called Brand New and they have a song called Jesus Christ. I do not automatically gravitate to a song because it mentions God or Jesus or the wind that blows through my soul. Usually the song is sacrilegious and reprehensible. But, listening to this song I was struck by two things. The first, the writer of this song, which is the singer and attended a Christian high school, is looking, seeking, asking for an answer to some deep questions. The second thing is that a whole lot of people would thing that this song is soooooo wrong. Below are the lyrics, I hope I don’t get in trouble for this. I am giving them credit for the song.
“Jesus Christ, that's a pretty face, The kind you'd find on someone that could save, If they don't put me away, It’ll be a miracle. Do you believe you're missing out? That everything good is happening somewhere else, But with nobody in your bed, The night is hard to get through. And I will die all alone, And when I arrive I won’t know anyone. Well, Jesus Christ, I’m alone again, So what did you do those three days you were dead?, Because this problem's gonna last, More than the weekend. Well, Jesus Christ I’m not scared to die, I’m a little bit scared of what comes after, Do I get the gold chariot, Do I float through the ceiling. Do I divide and fall apart, Cause my bright is too slight to hold back all my dark, This ship went down in sight of land, And at the gates does Thomas ask to see my hands? I know you'll come in the night like a thief, But I’ve had some time alone to hone my lying technique, I know you think that I’m someone you can trust, But I’m scared I’ll get scared and I swear I’ll try to nail you back up (everyone now), So do you think that we could work out a psalm, So I’ll know it's you and that it's over so I won't even try, I know you'll come for the people like me, But we all got wood and nails, And talk dirt at hating factories, But, we all got wood and nails, And talk dirt at hating factories, Yeah, we all got wood and nails, And we sleep inside of this machine”
Now, to me this is a person that is asking if he can be helped. Is Jesus big enough to take care of his problem. He is questioning about how this help will come. He is asking questions about death and heaven and hell and he is being honest and saying that he is scared of letting Jesus take control of his life.
Now I know there are people that will say that he shouldn’t ask question like this or at least this way. But is God/Jesus/Holy Spirit offended or diminished if questions are asked or doubt is expressed. And if someone is not a believer but they are honestly seeking and asking, does it matter how they phrase the question? Does it matter if they say things that seem rude on the outside? Like a young child approaching a world leader or a personal hero of their parents and saying something about the gap in their front teeth. It is curiosity and personally as long as curiosity is displayed about God I have an extremely hard time shouting that down.
I don’t have a question for you this time, but I would love to hear your thoughts and I know at least one of my readers out there knows this song and I really want to hear what she thinks.
1 comment:
Gosh, I don't know why I waited so long to comment on this post.
Anyway, I wanted to say you hit the nail on the head with this one. This is the first song I heard off this particular album, and it's still one of my favorites.
I listen to this song pretty often, actually, and I think that what attracted me to it in the first place is the fact that I had a lot of the same questions myself. "What did you do those three days you were dead? 'Cause this problem's gonna last more than the weekend." That line struck me at the time. I wanted to know then (and these days too) that the problems in my life aren't too big for Jesus. Toward the end of the song, when he's saying "I'm scared I'll get scared and I swear I'll try to nail you back up" I think that is one of the most eloquent ways to express the fear of betraying your Christianity. Like, all right, I'll be a Christian at church, but out in the real world, am I going to be able to keep that up? And it does feel like a betrayal when I can't.
It frustrates me when people refuse to listen to artists simply because they are secular. There's obviously a reason people outside of the church gravitate toward songs like these (and this is one of Brand New's more popular songs). They have questions, and music expresses those questions, makes them feel not so alone. If we're aren't aware of that, how are we supposed to reach out to the people that are really searching? I'm not saying everyone who likes this song is seeking some deep spiritual revelation, but I can definitely say that I was. So it's unfair to dismiss secular music entirely. Not only because we can see the amount of people really searching, but also because we can identify with it too. There are so many talented artists, and secular music does not necessarily equal bad or evil music. We talked about that at church last night, in fact, which I really appreciated because it's something that's been on my mind for quite a while.
Anyway, I really appreciated this post. I posted the lyrics not so long ago myself. Jesse Lacey is an incredibly talented lyricist. Anyone reading this comment should know that Brand New has my highest recommendations. ;)
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