dimanche 26 octobre 2003
Pained music
Most people who know me know that I don't listen to secular (not Christian) music at all... well maybe once in a blue moon if I'm in someone's car and some other station is playing. But I've been listening to a lot of Michelle Branch lately and I'm really impressed with how well she captures the experiences in her life in a song.
I don't mean to diss the Christian music world or anything, but sometimes a lot of songs we typically hear are "feel-good" songs that make life look like one big happy bubble. I don't know, are non-Christian songs more honest about life? I mean, these artists write from personal experience and you can hear the agony that they've gone through, the heart-wrenching emotions that they've laid in their lyrics and you can feel this pain. There are a few Christian songs that do this, but not enough. When was the last time you remember hearing a song that cried out to God like David did in the Psalms - baring his soul to the Lord and releasing his anguish from the pit of his heart? I do love hearing songs that uplift the Lord but there has to be songs too that show the reality of a Christian's life, that there are valleys as well as mountains. Maybe I'm just not listening closely enough?
This may seem contradictory to the post that I wrote about Creed where I said that I disliked hearing songs that were not positive and uplifting. Well, I would rather hear an honest song from a Christian who's struggling with life but is turning to God than an honest song about how horrible life is and that there's no solution. Oh, I just remembered that Jeremy Camp's CD is an excellent example of what I mean. A lot of the songs off his album have to do with his pain and hurt from the loss of his wife to cancer. He doesn't deny what he's going through and his album reflects that. You can hear the struggles of doubt as he sings but you know that he has a faith that will carry him through no matter what. I hope more Christian artists will begin to do this and show the world that their songs reflect all of life - ups and downs.
"The only place I can go is into Your arms
Where I throw to You my feeble prayers
In brokenness I can that this was Your will for me
Help me to know that You are near."
- Jeremy Camp "I Still Believe"
