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?