The Unchristian Idea of the Christian Music Industry
Part 2 of 2
Let me turn to a second example from the Old Testament. This time the book of Esther.
Esther is full of political intrigue, bad guys, unwitting dupes, heroes and heroines. One thing noticeably absent from the original Hebrew version is any mention of God. It is an utterly secular book, and it is in the Bible. Now the ancient scribes who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek recognized the problem and the Greek version includes lengthy prayers said by Esther and Mordecai.
I want to propose that this solution--turning this book of political intrigue into a religious book--was not the appropriate solution to the perceived dilemma.
Instead, I will propose that the most dramatic demonstration of God's involvement in the world is when at times God is left out of the story. This allows the hearer to fill in the awesome presence and mystery of God rather than those things being spelled out in rather pedantic ways.
With these thoughts in mind, let's return to music. Several years ago, in response to a marriage counseling situation I wrote the song, One Heart Is Breaking. This is a completely secular country song about how two lives never meshed. It is a very painful song. If I would have added a verse about God, forgiveness, reconciliation, etc., the song would lose its power and authenticity.
The couple in question got divorced. Could they have reconciled? Probably. But this is real life and not life idealized in a "Christian" song, and so it ends with the pain and sadness, the honky-tonk piano fading in the distance. Reconciliation, healing, and happiness are for another chapter another song.
I have also put a collection of Sara Teasdale poems to music. At one time those were available on the "House of Dreams" CD. Unfortunately, with the demise of MP3.com, the CD is no longer available (but I will hopefully have it back in production one of these days).
Now, Sara Teasdale's poetry is not particularly nice poetry. She strikes me as a very self-centered rich kid who writes whiney poetry. These poems paint a portrait of a life lived apart from the Gospel. It is a life that is ultimately full of despair and nihilism. In terms of my own body of work, the Sara Teasdale collection is similar to the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. You can't get much more hopeless than Ecclesiastes, but that's the point of the book; it's the record of one who sought human wisdom apart from God. The result all is vanity. The power of the book would be destroyed if a chapter was added that said, "Then I met Jesus and I discovered meaning for my life."
The power of the Christian message in the book is it's lack of Christian message and the consequences of that emptiness.
But let's return to the original subject: the Christian Music Industry.
The term "Christian Music" is so broad as to be unhelpful. Much of the Christian music played today would fit into the category of "Praise and Worship" music. It is music that is designed to promote worship and is addressed to God. This should be at the core of Christian music, but it is just the core, not the complete picture.
Along with "Praise and Worship" music we Christians need to think in terms of music that address the struggles of faith and the effects of life apart from the Gospel. Some of these ideas put us into the arena of "secular" music. Put another way, some of the greatest Christian truths are expressed in secular music.
For a musical canon to be complete (and therefore completely Christian) it needs to address these other sometimes shadowy areas of life. That is precisely what I seek to do in my music. But that means I write and sing both "Christian" and "secular" music as defined in today's music world.
Copyright © 2004 James E. Nelson (Just Another Jim). All Rights Reserved.
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