"Patience is a fruit of the Spirit much needed by theologians."
- N.T. Wright
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The video's a little amateurish (it's by a fan) but I love this song.
Of course it took some Calvinists (Lecrae and Shai Linne) to finally make some good Christian rap. :-)
I remember where I was when I first heard the "Thriller" album. Still have it on vinyl.
Like millions of others, he turned into a messed-up man.
Pray for his kids.
Peace.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
This is genius.
Seriously, Brant Hansen makes listening to the local CCM station in the morning not only okay, he makes it darn near necessary. :-)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I'm not a huge fan of CCM. I used to be huge into it in my youth. These days I do listen to the local CCM station from time to time, but I couldn't tell you who sings what. A lot of the bands sound the same to me. I don't mean that as a criticism necessarily; just an observation, or how they strike me. In any event, I'm trying to point all that out to say that I have defended both CCM from criticism I don't think is warranted and the Christian retail establishment from same. (Yes, acknowledging that "Jesus junk" is icky.)
In any event, I mean to point out two things with that lengthy introduction:
a) I'm not a drooling CCM fanboy
b) Neither am I some "CCM must die!" roaring lamb
But I think this criticism from a contributor at the CCM forum might have some traction:
I've been doing music for most of my adult life, but I never broke through in any big way. After a while, I had to simply accept the fact that it was not God's will for me to be the "next big thing" in Christian music, so I settled into a life of simply staying busy making music, without the perks that come with fame.
But I got to thinking...why WOULD you want to make it big in Christian music? Because when you consider it....Christian music is the one genre that virtually erases it's older artists from history.
Think about it....when I was in college in the late 80's, the biggest names in Christian music were bands like Petra, DeGarmo & Key, White Heart, Mylon LeFevre, etc. Ask any ten teenagers you care to find today about those bands, and if you're real lucky, one or two of them MIGHT have heard of Petra...and that's about it. Likewise for any of the artists popular back in the day. And as we get further away from the decade of the 90's, most of those artists have likewise fallen into oblivion.
Where is the "classic" Christian music? Why doesn't radio acknowledge these older groups or songs? Our local Christian FM refuses to play anything more than five years old, with the possible exception of "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins. And the closest Gospel Music Channel comes is in the form of short snippets of older performances on the "Best Of The Doves" program. Why don't the record labels re-release some of those titles from the 80's and 90's?
Like I said, why would you want to make it big in this business, when chances are you'll be forgotten in ten years (if that long)?
There is a hint of "Man, the older stuff is so much better than the new stuff" bitterness here. (And I think the older stuff is better than the newer stuff, personally. :-) But I think he has a point.
With a few exceptions, CCM artists have a very short shelf-life.
The only pushback I can think of is that it's not like lots of mainstream 80's and 90's stars are burning up the Top 40 charts either. With exceptions like Madonna, Janet Jackson, and U2, "older" artists aren't likely to end up on MTV or the like these days either. (Remember in the early years of MTV when Tom Petty and George Harrison -- who were old even back then -- might show up in videos between The Bangles and Depeche Mode? Those were the days, eh?)
But in any event, if we're going to have a Christian subculture of the arts, shouldn't it be somewhat different?
The more I think about it, the more I think this is the most glaring sign that CCM culture is just an aping of the values and spirit of the world. Except in this case, maybe we're worse.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
In The New York Times yesterday Bono, in his usually poetic way, recounted his Easter experience and compared it to his inclination toward "economic redemption" (as seen in debt relief to Africa).
Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ...
It’s a transcendent moment for me — a rebirth I always seem to need. Never more so than a few years ago, when my father died. I recall the embarrassment and relief of hot tears as I knelt in a chapel in a village in France and repented my prodigal nature — repented for fighting my father for so many years and wasting so many opportunities to know him better. I remember the feeling of “a peace that passes understanding” as a load lifted. Of all the Christian festivals, it is the Easter parade that demands the most faith — pushing you past reverence for creation, through bewilderment at the idea of a virgin birth, and into the far-fetched and far-reaching idea that death is not the end. The cross as crossroads. Whatever your religious or nonreligious views, the chance to begin again is a compelling idea. . . .
Strangely, as we file out of the small stone church into the cruel sun, I think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose now combined fortune is dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty. Agnostics both, I believe. I think of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his life upholding the rights of others. A spiritual man — no doubt. Religious? I’m told he would not describe himself that way.
Not all soul music comes from the church.
Read the whole thing, if you're so inclined.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thanks to a timely gift by my lovely wife, we now possess tickets to the U2 360 concert in Houston. Yea!
Just once I wish I could walk into something like this.
(HT: My mom)
