How to Know How Far to Go

We don't create art in a vacuum.  People in popular music are always so interested in pushing the barriers, and many times exploding them.  Madonna, Lady Gaga, Usher, John Mayer, as gifted as they are, probably have very few thoughts about whether what they are doing or saying will hurt anyone, offend anyone or if they have to clean up their mistakes from their art.  But those of us who want to create art for the church have much more to consider.  Of course, the main part of what we are doing is to worship God and to connect people to do the same.  But there is the other part of ministering through music, through art that is about creating an atmosphere of safety, joy and readiness to hear the Gospel.  Sometimes we do this in serious moments, light-hearted moments, gut-wrenchingly deep moments, comical moments.  But these moments should never just serve themselves.  We shouldn't shock for the sake of shock, or push the limits simply because we can.  We must consider the listener's, the watcher's souls. Are we preparing the heart to hear something greater, helping to connect to an idea, an expression, a God filled moment.  And do we know our people?  I want to understand in a greater way their sensibilities.  Of course I always want to challenge my friends to hear a new point of view, a new style and culture and especially be moved to do something by the Word.  But I never want to go to a level that there is fear, discomfort, or make our people feel scared, stupid or not in on the joke.  We are our brother's, our sister's keepers in what we create, communicate and promote.  Because ultimately knowing how far to go can be the difference in a person being encouraged, loved, and appropriately challenged, or being hurt by the place that is meant to help bring restoration and life.

Creating With My Head In the Clouds

I've had a real thing for taking pictures of clouds lately.  I've always stared at them, beautiful and fluffy or dark, ominous and wall-like.  I used to have a real problem in high school with staring out the windows and looking at clouds.  Staring out into space continues to be a problem for me.  When I am having a conversation it is incredibly difficult for me to keep eye contact with my fellow conversationalist.  Not because I am uninterested, but because my eyes just want to go everywhere and most notably skyward.  What is it that puts these things together, forms them and moves them along, I wonder?  I understand the science and meteorology behind it somewhat, but I mean the whole creative process that went into designing the whole production.
When my wife Rhonda and I were on a second honeymoon in the Bahamas many years ago, a ferry boat took us out to a small private island owned by the cruise line.  When we got there we quickly went to the beach area which was beautifully filled with white sand with green/blue water all around.  As I looked to the sky, it was a deep blue everywhere, except in this tiny corner to the Northwest.  In that corner was a wind shift line, that was ever so slowly producing a fine white cloud, almost as though it was coming out of the chimney of an old steam locomotive.  It started as a wisp, filled out into a fluffy cloud, and then in the middle of the ocean formed a tiny rain cloud that fizzled itself out, only to continue to produce new clouds in the very same spot.
Clouds to me have both great order to the underlying process and yet chaos in their actual creation.  Their artistry shown in peace and tranquility and violent storm.  They pop up to tell the tale of the moment and don't hide their joy or anger.  They are simply honest art and speak volumes of how heartfelt art, art that worships should be created.

Songs that Break the Heaven/Earth Barrier

We did a song last week by a band that is not typically on my radar.  Mercy Me is a very well polished group but tends to place itself a bit too much in the overly poppy Christian radio category for my listening palate.  But this song "All of Creation" just jumped right out at me.  The chorus has a fantastic "sing along" feel with lines that connect people together and really struck a chord with our church.  But I am magnetically drawn to the lines of the first verse more than anything:

Separated until the veil was torn
the moment that hope was born
and guilt was pardoned once and for all

I'm captivated
but no longer bound by chains left in an empty grave
The sinner and the sacred resolved

My point is, and I'm saying this to myself here, be willing to step out of what you perceive as your chosen genre or style of music.  There is much that is being spoken in different generations, corners of the world and through many instruments and vessels. Listen to what God is saying to his people and what they are replying back to Him.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1457196551096&ref=mf

The Arts and the Greatest Week in History

The week that we remember as "Holy Week" starting with Palm Sunday and culminating on Easter Sunday is the most amazing, dramatic, gut wrenching, redemptive, awe inspiring, love communicating week in all of history.  It is a week that has inspired more artwork than any other.  From DaVinci's "Last Supper" to U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday", with the line "and the battles' just begun, to bring the vict'ry Jesus won" the images of this very short period of history shout to all subsequent generations.  This week is the greatest of all love songs, the most beautiful of paintings, the most dramatic poem, the most spectacular play.  But it was and is real.  As real as anything ever was.  And that is why we try to re-create it.  We write songs, paint, write dramatic pieces all in hopes of communicating the indescribable.  We so hope to understand what Jesus did for us and to help others gain that understanding.  Is it the love, the self-sacrifice, man's violence towards man, God becoming man and then giving up His life, the power struggle within Jerusalem and Rome that most draws us to the story.  Is it the lack and longing within our own souls?  Is it the great faith in what Christ accomplished on the cross or is it a lack of understanding that has us asking more questions?  It really is all of that. 
For me this week I am so praying to hear all of those things because I hope that all of the pieces that we put in next Sunday's Easter service meet people in all of those places.  So as a team at CCM we are looking for the elements that will worship God, tell of our great thanks for what Jesus did and help those who are unsure of the message of the Cross understand the deep meaning and great love of it all.


Up on a Hill - Three Trees
Two of them wrong - one of them King
One comes to save our lives

One of them speaks - mocks the just one
The other believes - he is now set free
One comes to save our lives

Up on a hill - there is one who they choose to kill
The deed it is done - but it is our victory tht is won

. 

Learning How to Connect People to God From a 3 Minute Pop Song

There is something extraordinary that can happen in a very short period of time in a well crafted song.  There is a depth of emotion that can be communicated in a 3 minute pop song that those of us writing and performing songs for the community worship of God should be paying close attention to.  I think about the songs that have entered the cultural lexicon during my lifetime and all of them have found a way of telling a fantastic story and making an emotional connection in 3 to 4 minutes.  Songs with lines like:
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls..."  "Sounds of Silence" - Simon and Garfunkel
"I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.  But I'd always thought that I'd see you again."  "Fire and Rain" -  James Taylor written by Carole King
"I'll send S.O.S. to the world.  I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle."  "Message in a Bottle" - The Police
"You act like you never had love and you want me to go without."  "One" - U2
"When a heart breaks no it don't breakeven." "Breakeven" - The Script
"I wear my sunglasses at ni..."  OK not that one.

As writers, as leaders, we should be looking for ways to tell true stories, show true emotions, communicate true worship in a way that the heart and mind can best grasp.  We don't need line after line, word after word to say something powerful when words like: "My Jesus, my savior, Lord there is none like you", "O Lord You're beautiful, Your face is all I seek"  or "Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see you" are all we need.

David did it when he wrote: "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.."  The truth is, he did it time after time.  If David did it thousands of years ago, and pop song writers can do it to this day, we certainly can take the time to listen to the heart of God, pay attention to the needs of people, and then write down words that connect them.

Connecting God's Heart - Through Yours - To Others

One of the most amazing things about getting to lead people in worship is the chance to help them connect their heart to God's heart. And what is incredible in the exchange, is that it does not simply jump through you. You are participating in this fantastic community moment where each of you understands the heart of God in a deeper way. As gratifying as it is to worship alone, to sing to God to write something down to Him or about Him in private, there is nothing like taking the things that you have responded to in you alone time and joining it to the hearts of hundreds of people. There have been several songs that I have written, that have become so much more meaningful to me once I have seen how those words, those melodies have connected with other people.



YOU WERE LED



You Set Your mind to the cause

Knowing the pain that lay before you

For a sin stained race of lost sons and daughters

You were led to the hill

But the pain would not compare

To the abandonment of the Father

As the sin of all mankind weighed on Him

He was led to the hill

Oh my Lord your love is amazing

Why would You do this for me

Suffer and die, take my own sin

And be my lifeline, my only lifelline



BEATITUDE



Poor in spirit, broken sister

There is healing in this place

Mourning father, meek young soldier

Comfort comes, inheritance for all



Come be filled, all who thirst

And hunger for righteousness

Seeking mercy, pure intention

It shall return as you see God



Peaceful countenance, haven maker

You are called a son of God

Persecuted for conviction

All you're longed for is in store



Heaven waits, earth is given

Peace is granted, all is joy



What are the things that God has been speaking to your heart, that could take on even greater meaning if it was shared within your community?

Every Life Has a Soundtrack

I can't remember a time that music hasn't played a major role in my life. For me music is like an organizational tool. If I pulled up the file labeled "Moody Blues/Simon&Garfunkel/The Who" it would be filled with my birth-8 years as that was the background music that was mostly being played my parents. "Beatles" would be the file that included all the first albums that I bought myself and those days at recess pretending I was Paul McCartney in elementary school while 3 other friends were John, George and Ringo (I know, I had a strange childhood). The file labeled "Police/Genesis/Rush/Peter Gabriel/Van Halen/Yes..." were my teen years filled with hours in my basement trying to learn how to play all of them. There are files with music from dating and marrying my wife Rhonda, music from the births of my children and even music from my times spent in the hospital.
Countless worship songs, written by others and even those written by me would each have their own file reminding me of my walking with Christ. The moments where I really sensed his presence, the moments that I was desperately reaching for Him, times for rejoicing new birth and what seemed like eternities mourning great loss.
Now I know that I have a heightened sense of awareness of music, but I think that everyone reading this post could connect their lives to songs and musical styles just the same way. But why is that? What is the power that music has to bring remembrance, joy, tears, love and heartbreak? I believe without a doubt that God has created our lives with melody and rhythm built right in. We connect with others, we connect with out times, and we especially connect with God in a most powerful and excellent way. Think of the power that just the right song brings to the middle of a worship service, or when you are surrounded by 75,000 people at a U2 concert, or humming alone to him while reading a passage during a particularly difficult time. Now realize just how easily those songs from those settings transport you back to that place.
Listen to the music around you. Let the songs from each season lift you, remind you, encourage you, and connect you with the God who puts each song in you heart.

So what would some of the song titles be that might be the P-touch labels for the files of your life?