Monday, April 21, 2008

I Heard That

It’s really hard to have a favorite band isn’t it? When someone asks me that question my brain locks up and it’s almost impossible for me to pick one. I find it pretty common to be able to name your top 5 favorite bands, but rarely can someone come up with their consensus number one.
How about a favorite song? That’s a hard one to pick too. It usually changes. I do have a favorite song though. It is Coldplay’s “Fix You.” I haven’t listened to it for a long time because I’m honestly kind of tired of it, but it’s still my favorite. I like it because of what it does to me. I’m the farthest thing from an expert when it comes to all the technical things about music, I’ll leave that to all of you tight jean wearing guys who seem to speak in another language when it comes to the music you listen to. But “Fix You” has this way of changing me. I can’t tell you how, or why, but it just does. Every song that I know has a “my favorite part.” My favorite part of “Fix You” is probably everyone’s favorite part of that song. You know, when the guitar comes racing in and then the drums drop in and suddenly life just seems really big. That song is so…epic. For some reason it gives me hope.
Music is an interesting…thing. I’ve heard it said that music builds a bridge between heaven and earth. I can understand that. Humans, all of us, respond to music in very powerful ways. It’s everywhere. Music isn’t only found in one culture or people group, but it’s everywhere. How did that happen? How did every group of people, in every part of the world, separated from each other, develop their own type of music? I have an idea.
My biggest question is why do we respond to music the way that we do? Seriously. I went to this show a few weeks ago at a little coffee shop by where I live. There was a band playing called Sleeping at Last, they are incredible by the way. A bunch of my friends were going to be there so I decided to stop by. I saw something incredible there. Now before this show I really didn’t know much about Sleeping at Last, but the people there did. I don’t know if you’re like me, but before a show I usually listen to the artist’s CD a lot, just to somehow get me even more excited about seeing them live. What’s funny is that whenever the band started playing a song that the crowd recognized everyone got really excited like they hadn’t heard the song in years, but I’m thinking to myself, “you probably just listened to this song on the way over here.” During one of their songs I decided to look around at the people, just to see what was going on. It was incredible. People had their eyes closed, singing the words with real passion. Almost all of them. They were feeling something, experiencing something. I turned back around to listen to the music with a smile on my face as long as the east coast. I wondered how someone could experience something like that and question the existence of God.
My question is why. Why do we respond to music the way we do? Particularly at a live concert. I have a few ideas I thought I would share.

1. I think it has a lot to do with the connection you feel between people at a concert. You are united with a group of people, singing the same music, experiencing the same moment. It really is a powerful thing. Whether it’s a worship band, or Jimmy Eat World, when I’m singing the same song with a group of people I’m somewhat overwhelmed.
2. As human beings we are created in the image of a Creator God. I think that this has a lot to do with it. People respond to created things. Whether it’s art, music, literature, nature, or origami we have this way of appreciating something that has been created. We appreciate beauty. All of us are creative in some way or another. Some people are gifted musically; some girls are really good with their make-up. Creativity is something that we all share. I think the response we have to music has a lot to do with the image we were created in.

Just some stuff to think about. Here’s a really beautiful Psalm that helps me to somewhat understand this.

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
Awake my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.”
-Psalm 57:7-8

Sunday, April 06, 2008

John Mayer and Deuteronomy

So, I was driving the other day and listening to John Mayer dominate all that is the guitar, and life was good. There’s this song on his CD, Continuum, called “The Heart of Life”; it’s a very endearing song and the chorus goes likes this, “Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won’t all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good.” This threw my mind into a tailspin, in a good way of course.
There seems to be this understanding amongst the human race, at least the part of the human race that I’m familiar with, that the way things are aren’t the way things are supposed to be. People, no matter what they believe about God or don’t’ believe about God, can take an honest look at the state of the world and how people behave and interact with one another, and say to some extent that it’s not exactly right. For instance, people are becoming more and more interested in social justice. You can buy clothes and etc. that go towards a beautiful cause, you can watch television shows about fixing up a house for a family who desperately needs it, or you can wear a rubber bracelet around your wrist letting everyone know what you stand for. Those bracelets rip the hair off my arms. All that to be said it seems that people can recognize that the state of the world is not the state that it should be, or the state that it could be. You can’t watch the news, or read the paper and not hear about some horrible thing happening to some undeserving person and have something well up inside of you and scream, “That’s not right!” Again, this understanding is not limited to Bible believing Christians. I was at a music festival last December, it was not a Christian music festival, I promise. I remember this one band who after talking about some incredible vulgar things described with an impressive assortment of cuss words say, “This song is for all you out there who recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be and who want to see it different.” I remember thinking, “hey, that’s me too.”
So, if we can recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be, then does that mean that somewhere deep down inside of us we know in some way that there is a way it’s…supposed to be? It seems that is what John is getting at in his song. I don’t think he would mind if I called him John. Maybe he’s saying, “This world is painful, but behind it all there is good that can be discovered.” See, by recognizing that the state of the world isn’t the state that it was intended to be means that there is something we have to be comparing it to. Perhaps, the way it…was intended to be?
This all makes me wonder if John was reading Deuteronomy while writing this song. I doubt it, but check this out. Concerning the law that was given to the people, the Ten Commandments, God says, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” The way we were supposed to live isn’t something that is out of reach or beyond our understanding; it’s there inside of us.
See God’s law wasn’t intended to be something that enslaved us, or kept us from life. No, it was meant to show us how life was truly meant to be. Later in chapter 32, Deuteronomy says, “They are not just idle words for you-they are your life.”
There is no doubt in my mind that this world is not the way it was meant to be. It is a dark place and horrible things do happen. But just imagine. Imagine what it would be like if we did live the way it was intended to be. That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to forgive, but not only to forgive, but to also enable us to live the life that God intended his people to live and to escape the slavery of sin. Check out 2nd Peter chapter 1:3-4. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them YOU MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE AND ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.” The divine nature. That sounds something like the way life should be. That sounds like something I would like to be a part of.
Do you see what could happen? What this world could be like? What life could be like? Jesus came to redeem us, forgive us, and then enable us to live life the way it was meant to be. This world is dark, but I don’t think it has to be. Here are some words of hope found later in 2nd Peter chapter one. Peter is speaking of God’s word, and of the truth given to us in it. It’s beautiful for people who understand that the world is not the way it should be, but who also believe and have hope that God has not only forgiven us, but has also enabled us to live the way we were intended to live. Enjoy. “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, AS TO A LIGHT SHINNING IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.”