My Love/Hate Relationship with Christian Music

I really like Christian music and there is a lot of it around, but I can understand why people sometimes make fun of it. It can be simplistic and superficial. Even though I won't ever get tired of worship music, lately I have been wanting to find any kind of Christian music that is more subtle and complex, and it's here that things get a little more difficult.

I understand it is a hard balance for bands. If they want to be overtly Christian they usually have to cut out the primary market because people who are not religious and are in to music have a quasi hatred for bands that try to be independent artists and Christians at the same time. I think there is some truth in this criticism - a lot of people just cannot see how someone can make something the primary focus of their music and still stay true to who they are and free to express their art. And it seems that the Christian market is not really interested in artists trying to explore new kinds of music or ways of expressing their art, it really is a niche market looking for a similar kind of sound in most cases.

So, I understand people who do not like Christian music because I used to share this extreme dislike when I was not Christian. In high school, when I found out that Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate had become a Christian, I stopped listening to the band altogether. I think I just did not think that someone could be a Christian and a real artist at the same time. Here is the letter he wrote fans like me who were disturbed when he became Christian. Now that I am Christian, I think it is pretty brave.

I now understand how artists who become Christian or who have been Christian their entire lives cannot just sing music and cut their religious beliefs out of it like I have heard so many secular people insist they should do. If musicians did this then they would be untrue to who they are as artists. Artists express what is going on interiorly and share it with the world in the hope that they will identify with it or learn something from their experience. If you love God and think about Him all the time, it would be "anti-art" to cut that part of your soul and life out of your music.

So lately I have been scribbling down names when I encounter good Christian musicians whose music is not simple or superficial. They seem to be exploring their Christianity through their music, not just writing lyrics that make it seem like they already have everything figured out. I appreciate that.

Here are some of my favorites:

Derek Webb *
Matt Redman
Jon Foreman *
Brooke Fraser
Bebo Norman

(my favorites)

Hope you enjoy some of it as much as me!

Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness

Getting to Know Myself

I spent the weekend in a workshop getting to know my Catholic spiritual gifts.

A friend who was in the workshop with me showed me this web site where you choose 5 or 6 adjectives that you think describe you and then ask your friends and family to choose from a large list and you can see where the overlap is and where your blind spots are.

Can you help me get to know myself better? Please fill this out!

And HONESTY is what I am looking for, not flattery :)

http://kevan.org/johari?name=theresagnes

Accidents

I'm ok guys! But I do miss my little car......

Thanks to God for protecting my life and my friend's lives. I am forever grateful for His love and protection.

Pro-Life Poll

More American are calling themselves pro-life than ever before, 51% to be exact. That is the first time a majority of Americans have called themselves pro-life in 15 years.

Link to Article

Halleluia!

Saving Souls

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.

--Saint Francis Xavier

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When Jesus says "I am the Way the Truth and the Life," do we really take that seriously?

What is the balance my friends in sharing our faith and being passionate about others' souls in the same way you would want them to be passionate about yours? When does it go too far?

I think too far is very often not nearly as far as we go...

Or rather, I think it more accurate to say - Most people either do not go far enough or go too far. Which side do you fall on and how can we reach a balance so we can help God bring as many souls into His kingdom in the end as is possible?

Silence

This work by an icon painter from the Kirillo-Byelozyorsk Monastery in Archangel (Arkhangelsk) depicts the apostle touching his lips with his right hand, as a sign that he is keeping silence, while with his left hand he points to the text of the Gospel According to St John. The size of the figure is exaggerated in comparison with the small angel behind the saint's shoulder. The hovering angelic form with a seven-pointed halo is an embodiment of the Holy Spirit, and symbolizes wisdom.

We cannot find God in noise and agitation.

Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.

What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.

In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.

Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds.
...in the silence of the heart
God will speak

---Mother Teresa, from No Greater Love