My wife and I saw Sting and Annie Lennox at the Hollywood Bowl last night. It was a birthday present. I have been a musical admirer of Sting for many years. On that level the evening was amazing. Sting's voice was in first rate form. The band was astounding (notably featuring a young drummer named Keith Carlock WOW!). Even the set list was enjoyable as it included one of my favorite, less popular Sting songs 'Seven Days'. Also on the bill was Annie Lennox. We enjoyed her set as well, although we wish she would have done 'Into The West' (from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack). All in all the concert was really well done.
On the flip side it was also an evening of sadness for me. There was a lot of thoughts conveyed via the music that night (Sting is a thoughtful composer, that's part of his appeal) but all of it pointed towards this current sort of trendy humanistic relativism. Which of course makes sense because this is exactly where Sting is coming from. In a casual interview he mentioned that when it comes to 'spiritual truth' he is not comfortable with the notion of 'certainty'. He then gently stated how important it was to remember that "there is no certainty". The person asking the questions had the presence of mind to light-heartedly ask, "Are you certain about that?". Which got a chuckle from Sting. I thought that was the key question really and would have been interested to hear his response. So last night while Sting sang in 'Send Your Love'...
There's no religion but sex and music
There's no religion but sound and dancing
There's no religion but line and color
There's no religion but sacred trance
There's no religion but the endless ocean
There's no religion but the moon and stars
There's no religion but time and motion
There's no religion, just tribal scars
I'm thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful to write a musical rebuttal of sorts? Something like...
You'll never find it in sex and music
You'll never find it in sound and dancing
You'll never find it in line and color
You'll never find it in sacred trance
You'll never find it in the endless ocean
You'll never find it in the moon and stars
You'll never find it in time and motion
You'll never find it just tribal scars
Then somehow transition to something that capsulizes:
John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
I don't know, just an idea... maybe someday God will bring a song like that to the public forefront? What do you think would be the result of believers making more intense efforts at apologetics through the arts and media? I know that many Christians are involved in and use the arts and media. I'm not so sure they are specifically using them with a focused and agressive apologetical purpose towards the unsaved. It seems most of it is focused towards fellow Christians.
On a side note, please know that I am not in any way suprised by any of this, I'm just saddened for Sting and pray for him.
As I continued thinking (yes, I know, not always a good or profitable effort for me :) ), I thought of the contrast between the ideas conveyed last night and those communicated at our church's yearly Family Camp this past August. During that time our guest speaker Bruce Ware gave some amazing messages on Isaiah's Vision of God. If you really want to put some great stuff on your iPod, I would highly recommend the following mp3s:
Knowing the God of Merciful Holiness - Isaiah 6:1-8
Knowing the God of Self-Sufficient Fullness - Isaiah 40:12-17
Knowing the God of Sovereign Supremacy - Isaiah 45:1-7
Knowing the God of Everlasting Joy - Isaiah 55:1-3
Comments
Wow ...
sounds like a great concert.
Here's my two cents on christian influence in th music buz.
1. Christian music today lacks excellence. It is often a springboard for sub-par talent to break into the "real" industry. Not a universal truth, but a prevelant trend.
2. Christian musicians, like most believers, lack the courage to evangelize. They write feel good, praise songs that are ... great? ... but lack a clarity of message. But who can blame them; only christians are buying their albums, and what believer wants 10 tracts of preaching to the choir?
3. We are going about infiltrating in the wrong way. I don't think the proper tactic is to go in with christian guns blazing, rather to have some artists succeed who happen to be believers as well. People run when we come swinging a Bible, but when we show them who we are as people, and what our values are they can relate before they react.
As an example, there is a young woman, Mindy Smith, who is getting VH1 play with a song "Come to Jesus." It's beautiful, folky and pretty sound.
I also highly recommend your chosen MP3's.
Annie Lennox and Sting
Both some of my favorite secular artists.
When I was growing up, I never listened to "Christian" music. Why? In part because my parents rarely bought it but also because I shared the same opinion with them that the Nose pointed out: it is sub-par. I still hold to that opinion and I rarely buy a CD without having heard some of the songs first. I would have to say that PFR (pray for rain) got me back into taking "Christian" music seriously. They had a sound message and it sounded good too.
I know I lack the courage to evangelize by going up to a stranger and giving them the gospel. There is more comfort in a private conversation with someone I know about the gospel than not. I know that the story I am slowly putting together is based on Christianity, but is not overt preaching. It is meant to be akin to C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia from a Science Fiction perspective as it treats Christian Themes. Not overt evangelism, but reasoning that leads one to ask themselves why they don't believe Christ "is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one comes to the Father apart from Him".
Oh, and Chris, thanks for the links to the MP3s, I have been wanting to hear those.
Your writing a story?
Did I read that correctly? Your writing a SF Story? Cool.
jamesj- JID: hystrix@jabber.g4g.org