Before the Classical Era of music was the Baroque Era. During this era composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi were prominent figures. And guess what, they were all in the Church. By “in the church” I mean that they were very vocal about why they composed music. At the beginning of every composition, Bach would write “God in His grace, please help me” and at the end “Glory to God alone”. Bach in all his wonderful knowledge still realized his gift came from the Lord, and it was Him who would give and take melodies.

So what am I saying? Well, for hundreds of years prior to the Classical Era, Christians were the leading figures in producing music. They did not just produce it for “the sake of it” or because they had to, but because they believed that it was a divine gift that could be used to shape the culture around them. In the Classical Era all of that leadership dissapeared and the Church started to imitate the culture around them, rather than shaping it. All the music sung in church followed after what non-christians were producing. The Western Church has never recovered from that. We still play music amongst believers that imitates the styles we hear in the secular music world. You might say, “but I listen to Chris Tomlin.” Cool, I do too, but Chris Tomlin listens to U2 and the Beatles. So where does he get his musical influence?…….

I’m not really sure yet where the line is with Christians creating and leading cultural reforms like music and art. But what if a bunch of Christ followers who feared nothing but God and loved nothing but His glory created music that captured the entire Western World. By “capture” I mean, you could be downtown San Fransisco and overhear two men talking……
“Did you hear that song on the radio by ***?”
“Yeah! It was incredible. I had never heard anything like that played on a guitar before!”
“I know! And the keyboardist created some amazing ambient textures underneath it all!”
“Aren’t they Christian though?”
“yeah, but they play incredible music. I think I might just check them out some more.”
Now I don’t think creating cutting edge music just so some christian name can be at the top of a hit chart is right, but if done with eternal things in mind (ie: proclaiming the truth of God) then it will be powerful.

Anyways, enough rambling. It was just a thought that my Music History class provoked me to think about. Darn Classical Era!

If you are interested in hearing a musician who is a Christian and is making huge statements in musical skill amongst what we would call the “secular market”, check out Sufjan Stevens. He is incredible. Plays over 21 instruments, has a degree in oboe performance, decided picked up the banjo, has a degree in literature……..

Last friday a man named Craig Detweiler spoke at our college chapel.  He is the co-director/leader of a program called Reel Spirituality.  Reel Spirituality is “a creative encounter between the church and Hollywood, featuring ministers and filmmakers in discovery of common ground as story tellers, image shapers, and culture makers.”  According to Detweiler, they find the “sacred” in the media.  So, he spent three days in chapel here at my school telling us about how you can find “Jesus” in our media and pop culture today.  Not all of it was terribly irking or anything, but the last chapel was particularly unnerving.

Detweiler was talking about how Jesus Christ was a revolutionary and  counter-cultural (changing and driving culture) activist.  Both of those are true in some sense of the words, but Detweiler kept going back to our current western media in order to provide backing for this “nature” of Jesus.  I will never forget his last example of finding this revolutionary Jesus in the TV show South Park.  I quote his words (I wrote them down), “You see guys, I think South Park has got it.  They understand the nature of Jesus.”

Wow.

That’s so deep.  That’s incredible.  That’s weird.  Where did he come to think that?  What the heck is he talking about?  I think he should get down off the podium now before I throw my pencil at him.

If South Park has got the nature of Jesus understood, then I’m going to hell because the nature they present Jesus in is not the nature the Word of God teaches.  If South Park’s Jesus is the same Jesus of the Bible, then I’ve been missing something for a long time.  If Jesus was only a revolutionary and a man who ran against the cultural norm, then I don’t need him.  He is as worthless as a piece of trash, just another attempt to bring peace to my mind.  Why don’t I go follow Mohammed Ghandi or Che Gueverra or some other world changer?  The reason I don’t do that is because my belief of the nature of Jesus Christ is that he is the only way through which I can receive salvation and eternal life.  Yeah, he was kinda revolutionary in how he thought and acted, but I follow Him because of his free salvation.

In closing, I want to make sure that no one gets the impression I am slamming Craig Detweiler.  His heart is Jesus Christ, but the way he expressed that at our chapel sessions was a bit foggy.  I do believe that some of the cultural issues he was addressing are in fact important, but we need to make sure we approach it with a non-compromising heart following after Jesus Christ.

 Sigur Ros just released their newest CD yesterday.  It is called Hvarf-Heim.  The two titles are because it is essentially two CDs.  Hvarf is the first group of 5 studio recordings, some brand new songs and some re-worked ones.  Heim is the collection of songs recorded live (some of which have never been released on a previous Sigur Ros CD.  Like all the predecessors to this CD, Sigur Ros has made another musical masterpiece with Hvarf-Heim.  If you are not familiar with Sigur Ros, who they are and what type of music they play, click here to go to their website.  Later in November, they are scheduled to release their documentary film about their tour of Iceland (their home).  It is called Heima.  Click the Heima link to read about the film.  Critics are already calling it one of the best band documentaries ever.

On a side note; I found an amazing worship song today.  It is called I Will Glory in My Redeemer.  The writer is named Vicki Cook – the same writer who wrote Before the Throne of God Above.  I will try to find a link to a sample of the song.

One last thing.  If you have never heard Sigur Ros at all, you need to check them out.  Do it once.  Just for me.

I was expecting the Sheikh to start his book off with maybe a list of “to do’s” that are central to Islam, but he did quite the opposite. Only a paragraph into the book, the Sheikh states that the first thing the new convert is taught is “the pronouncement of the fundamental formula of belief, namely ‘La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammad-un-Rasul-ullah.’” This phrase translates to “I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Apostle.” To be honest, I knew that this was the first requirement of a new convert to Islam (to profess belief in Allah and Muhammad), but I wasn’t expecting the Sheikh to go in the direction that he goes with this confession.

The Sheikh would take the next two and a half pages to explain in detail how Jesus is not Allah’s son, but rather only a apostle and servant of Allah sent to humankind to direct them to Allah – the one and only god. In the Qur’an Jesus is described as
“The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam;
He (Allah) created him from dust, then said to him:
‘Be’: and he was.”
and…
“He was no more than a servant: We granted our favour to him,
and we made him an example to the children of Israel.”
Again, I knew beforehand of the basic Islamic view of Jesus, but what struck me was that I was only three pages into the book, and all Sheikh Abd-Allah Al-Khayyat was talking about was how Jesus is not God or not even a son or relative of God (Allah). This is huge! If I was a new convert to Islam, according to this Sheikh (who is very learned and of high position in Islamic realms) the main thing I need to grasp in order to start my journey with Allah, is that Jesus Christ is created and accountable to Allah. As I thought about it, the Sheikh made perfect sense. If we get the new convert past the “christian” belief in Jesus’ nature (but where He – Christ – is still relevant and part of Allah’s story) then the rest of Islam will follow with relative ease.

Maybe I’m making too big a deal how the first problem the Sheikh deals with is any previous belief in Jesus Christ. But, as history would show, Islam has never been tolerant or accepting of Christian belief. It would be a little quick and rude of me to generalize and say that every Muslim hates Jesus Christ and is out to rid the world of Christianity, but much of their doctrine teaches that. What I see here are people who have been taken captive by Satan and one of his most cunning religious lies yet (that is, most cunning lies against Yahweh and Christ Jesus). These Muslims must hear and believe the salvation gospel of Jesus Christ, and yet how do I go about that with their confused view of Jesus Christ’s nature?

In of themselves, songs of prayer, surrender, and praise are perfectly fine, but if not used in balance with each other, they can cause a confused or blinded view of correct praise.  The Oxford American Dictionary defines praise as “expressing one’s respect and gratitude towards someone (usually a diety).”  In the context of our lyrical discussion, praise would be expressing our respect, thankfulness and awe towards (of) our God, which is Jesus Christ.  So, when we sing “take my life and let it be…” or “I surrender all to you, all…” or “you can have all my hands can hold…”, we are really offering ourselves to the Lord.  We are talking about what we are going to do for the Lord and how we want Him to have all of our being.  This is called surrender, or living in abandonment to Jesus Christ and his way of life.  Surrender is critical to following Christ.  Christ was the one who said, “If any man would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:32).  I’ll even make the obvious statement that living a life of constant surrender to the Lord is living a life of praise (ie: we praise Him in our surrender).  In the same manner, when we sing “Lord, let your glory fall…” or “Fire fall down…on us we pray” or “Show me Your heart…”  or “Dwell in the midst of us” or “Christ be the center of our lives..”, we are really asking, praying or petitioning something from the Lord.  It is rather self explanatory; we desire to see Him or focus on Him, so we write songs asking the Lord to reveal Himself, live amongst us, and be our focal point.

Yet, if when we gather together as disciples of Christ to “praise” Him, all we sing about is giving ourselves to Him and sacrificing ourselves for Him (over and over) I believe we lose sight of what praising God through song and word is all about.  For if I only sing of giving myself to God, I go in circles constantly asking Him to take me, and never actually end up singing about God or praising Him.  How long until we realize God has saved us, taken us, made us sons and daughters of God, and we sing about His saving (praising Him for His rescue)?      Likewise, if all we sing about is petitioning and asking the Lord to reveal Himself (or something similar), we never really get around to praising (expressing our thanks, respect, and awe) our God.  We get so caught up in looking for the Lord (“send your glory” “dwell here” “come Lord Jesus”) that we miss His presence right in us.  His Spirit rests within us and will never leave us.

So what then is praise through song and word?  I believe it is voicing our thanks and respect for who God is and what he has done.  Who is God?  He is merciful.  He is all-knowing.  He is supreme – above all things.  And I could go on with a very long list……  What has He done?  He has rescued us from death when we did not deserve it.  He has chosen us to have eternal life with Him.  He has given us His Holy Spirit.  He guides us.  He saved us through the death of His son Jesus Christ.  And so on…..  Praise is all about God, nothing to do with what I want to give Him or do for Him.

I hope I am making some sense.  I cannot completely vouch for the rest of the Western Church, only because I have not been everywhere, but my experience with the Western Church has been many songs of surrender and prayer, with little if any songs of actual praise.  Usually 50% of the songs I encounter deal with surrender, 25% with prayer, and 25% with actual praise.  I know that this “percentage” will vary throughout different places, but look at the songs the “worship” artists are producing these days.  What type of songs are they?  Rarely do I find CD’s or composers where the majority of their songs are true praise songs.  I think this reflects the confused state of much of the Western Church right now.

So how then am I trying to fix this problem?  Balance.  Songs of surrender are not bad.  Songs of prayer are not wrong.  (neither are songs of confession or missions wrong – which I wish we had more of)  Yet, if we never (or rarely) actually sing about the Lord, we miss the whole point of praise.  That is why balance is needed.  For a good example of this balance I suggest looking up the wonderful author David.  His book(s) is called Psalms.   Yes, let us sing songs of abandonment to the Lord and songs petitioning unto the Lord, but more than ever, let us give thanks and respect to the Lord for who He is (His attributes) and what he has done in our lives.

Write me your thoughts/experiences with this issue of praise songs – even if your view differs from mine.

“Great is our lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit” – Ps 147:5

Therefore, what’s my blog’s purpose? – it is to inform friends what is happening in my life, and spur conversation on in regards to Islam, Christianity, and Music.  In my opinion, the status of Islam and Western Christianity are the two most important things we in the West need to be well versed in.  I have added music to the discussion, only because it is a huge part of my life.

I know that it will take a couple weeks before my blog actually looks like it has some substance to it, but hang with me and I think it will be fun.