If you like, then try...

A while ago, God dealt with me on some issues pertaining to music and Christianity. I've been putting them into a book. The book will basically be 9 essays with these being the essay "promos" if you will. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In the Beginning, God CREATED!
The first thing we learn about God is that He has always existed. The second thing, is that He is creative. We are created in His image. We are creative. Whether you are a painter, a dancer, a singer, a thinker, a marketing genius, an ad wizard, or, yes, even good with numbers—you are creative. We have been taught through various means that 1) creativity is not Godly and 2) that creativity is what we hear on the radio. But we were created in the image of the One who has been from the beginning and who is a creative genius. That same genius is in us. Create Oh Creation…Create!

The Swine That Threw the Pearl Back
Do not cast your pearls before swine the scripture says. What about when the swine is the one throwing the pearl back at us? There are books, movies, plays, songs, etc. that are created by the unregenerate that express the heart of God, cry out to the heart of God with desperation, and stumble on truths that we in the church have horded so as not to improperly throw them in the mud. I love to find the pearls that the swine threw. I love to polish them and see the image of the Creator reflected in them.

Make a Joyful Noise…Command, Suggestion, or Happy Thought?
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 95:2

If it is a command, can we make an angry noise? If a suggestion or happy thought, can love your neighbor be a happy thought too? What are the Biblical rules governing art and creativity? What are our boundaries?

Is it Ministry or is it Memorex? (or it’s all about me being about You)
Ok, much of the audience wont get the reference but I’ve been told time and again by xtian musicians that what they do is a Ministry, but is it? After a long period of examination I had to answer that question myself. No, it was not ministry. While the text may have had ministry aspirations, my own subtext was fame and fortune.

Stealth Ops
As a kid, I loved to play A-Team. Being me, I was always Hannibal. I had to lead, be in charge. But we loved to sneak around, to spy. Jesus said to be wise as serpents…to be sneaky. Where are the sneaky Christians? They are out there. They are making a difference but you wont see them, they are in stealth mode.

Perversion in A-minor.
Country music is depressing. Rap is violent. Rock and Roll is all about debauchery. Blues is about losing something, everything, or being blue because you lost nothing and have nothing to sing about today. How has satan perverted music? How has he poisioned the church with an if you like…then try mentality?

The Surfing Spirit
God once told me that the spirit in which something is performed is the same spirit in which it will be received. Is it performed angry? Anger received. Is it performed in Worship? That same spirit will be there in the listening. It will transcend the airwaves, the speakers, the instrument and become a minister of life or death.

Lyrics Only Tell Part of the Story
Christian music is the only music defined by the content of the lyric and not the style of the music. If the lyric is stripped, is it still “Christian”? Harmony, melody, rhythm and lyric all combine to make up a song. Plato has some thoughts on this, as do I.

posted by Renovo Creative @ 11:06 AM