Honestly

Well, what can I say? I'm home for Spring Break right now. It's so nice. I really do enjoy getting up at 12:30 in the afternoon and sitting around in my pajamas until the evening. It makes me forget that I actually have responsibilities and obligations (those urgent headhunters). At the request of a friend, I've continued to write in my little notebooks. It's been a very rewarding process so far this week. I enjoy scribbling down half-cooked ideas and thoughts at red lights and in coffee shop corners. I admit, it helps me to drool out letters in this little corner of the blogosphere but it can get awfully lonely. One thing I liked about xanga was the feeling (or maybe the illusion) of comradery. Someone would leave a comment and you would comment back. It was a give and take. Here, it feels more like I'm working in a backroom exhibit that charges way too much money for entry. I have narcoleptic feet.

So here's the rub. I love honesty. It's one of the most attractive things to me. I hate myself when I find that I've been disingenuous. My affinity for honesty sometimes gets me into trouble. But honestly, I feel I can't help it. It pains me to my bones that the secular arts reach such heights and delve such depths of honesty that the arts in the church have long forgotten. Christians used to write incredible concertos and build achingly beautiful cathedrals and etch prose that could break your heart. But in decades past to this very hour, we've offer cardboard cut-outs. Perhaps it's because we have traded sincerity for excellence. We think that if we sing "Glory, glory, glory" enough times over the same four chords, somehow the fact that any artistic glory is lacking might just disappear. I'm going to focus mainly on music because it's what I know.

I'm not sure exactly where the trend started. Maybe no one can pinpoint the year. But music that is created by Christians has suffered terribly at the hands of inferior musicians. There are a small number of Christian musicians and singers that I will listen to these days. While I agree with their goal (to glorify God through music) and thank God that they do it, I simply can't find much aesthetic satisfaction in listening to them glorifying God. Maybe that's a weak statement. I don't know. But I do know that, as a musician, I get more enjoyment in listening to the skill of a pagan artist (one that does not know Christ as Lord) than a Christian artist. Am I ashamed of admitting that? I am not. I think you should be careful with what music you listen to because a lyric has a way of infiltrating your head and building a nest in your heart. And if that lyric glorifies sin or smothers your love for God, then that music has to be cut out of your life. But not everything a non-Christian writes is going to do a Christian harm.

What are most songs about that were written by non-Christians? They're about relationships. They're about desires and thoughts and people. They're about daily living. And I'm not talking about the vocal minority that sings about sex using vulgar and childish language. But the lyrical content runs the gamut. Now, contrast that with what Christian artists write songs about. They are songs about God, about the atonement, about loving others. Are those bad things to sing about? By no means! But do those things encapsulate life? What about desires? What about divorce? What about buying groceries and having a conversation with a stranger? I'm going to agree with the singer/songwriter Derek Webb when he says that Christian music addresses about 2% of life. But the life I lead isn't always about praising God and singing glory to His name. Practically speaking, it can't be. Yes, I want every aspect of my life to give Him the honor due His name. But my life is made up mostly of going to school, sleeping, eating, doing homework, talking with friends, etc. My life is not a very lofty, transcendent story. And I think, in general, life is not made up of lofty, transcendent moments. I want the honest Christian to start writing songs about life as it really is. I want the honesty that paints life in its true colors. I can think of too few bands and singers who have been willing to do that.

Your PB from J for today: "They always grow louder when they're about to feed on human flesh!"