Jesus Songs

“Do you know any songs that aren’t Jesus songs? Because you can’t do any Jesus songs here”. That’s the recent sound byte from the management at the restaurant that I’m a waiter/pastor at. The restaurant recently decided to give live music a shot on Friday nights from nine til midnight, so naturally I volunteered our church band “Groove Juice” to play for the meager price of free food and a heart felt pat on the back. I’m sure you’re thinking three things: 1) “How did you come up with the sweetest church band name in the world, and is it copyrighted?” 2) “Is your band really in a position to start making demands about free food, when there is probably someone out there who will undercut you, and strike a deal for just the pat on the back?” 3) “What is a Jesus song anyway?”.
The first question makes me grin sometimes as a drift off to sleep at night. The second question has caused me some minor concern. I must admit, however, that I’ve lost some sleep over the third question.
Try as I may, I can’t come up with a working definition of a Jesus song. My obstacle seems to be this, “How spiritual does something need to be in order to cross the great divide from the ‘secular’ to the ‘Jesus’? Perhaps the scale goes something like this; Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It”…most likely secular, Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks”…hard to place a label on, “I Surrender All”..I suppose most definitely a “Jesus Song”.
Well, I gently reassured the restaurant management that we could put the Jesus songs on hold for now, whatever that means. I also gave them my word that at no point in the three hour song set would I take an offering, have a time of testimony and prayer requests, or randomly lay hands on any patrons who may have had too much to drink. They seemed to appreciate this for whatever reason. So now it’s time for plan B; sneak in Jesus songs in a way so stealth, they’ll never see it coming. I know what you’re thinking, “Risky business! What if management receives an anonymous tip about this scheme, and shuts the whole operation down?”. Well my friends, whom hopefully I can trust with this privileged information, its just a risk I’ll have to take.
So the dilemma is this; “Are things really that easy to place a label of ‘secular’ and ‘Christian’”? Does life really resemble a Christian gift shop and book store? If we take the apostle Paul’s teaching for example, and choose to focus our minds on those things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, the box that contains all those things that might actually be pleasing to Jesus gets blown wide open. Let’s have a brief moment of honesty. There are things that are labeled “Christian” that fail Paul’s guidelines in Philippians miserably (my apologies to “testa-mints”, “Christian Pirates”, and holy water via phone order). On the other hand, we can easily find the noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy in many things that the Christian community all to hastily places a “secular” stamp on.
The Sunday that still makes me grin when I think about it is one in which we received blank stares as we sang “Here I am to Worship”, which was followed by a visible display of worship and emotion as we sang Van Morrison’s “Full Force Gale” (not exactly a sacred standby by an measure). It strikes me that there just might be a good chance that God’s musical taste, if such a notion exists, just might extend beyond the realm of Michael W. Smith (no offense, Mike).
I suppose when it all comes down to it, if we get a chance to reflect the noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, we just might be able to sneak those “Jesus songs” in. You never know…the community might even get a glimpse into the very nature of God. As a brand new church, and as believers in God for that matter, we inherit the great privilege, and even greater responsibility of ensuring that our actions not merely carry a Christian appearance, but truly reflect the heart of Christ. I have a suspicion that if we get rid of the box we’ve too readily placed Jesus into we just might find him in places we never would have suspected. You never know, it just might be at Auntie Pasto’s with the up and coming “Groove Juice”!

Death and Taxes

Apparently there’s something to the whole death and taxes thing. Change is inevitable I suppose. We can try our best to stop it, but it always seems to arrive one way or another. Ever nagging, excruciatingly persistent change finds us eventually, even if we have a crafty hiding spot. This morning I stood in a house full of priceless memories for the last time. It struck me like a punch to the gut that even though this particular moment will forever be embedded in my mind it’s a moment that will never happen again. Sure, I’ll experience many more moments like this, but this particular moment, in all its significance, has come and gone. When I think about it, I suppose that’s what life is composed of: Thousands upon thousands of moments that collectively contribute their beauty, sadness, pain, and elation into the work of art that is life. We can attempt to force these moments, or we can resist like a toddler resists a nap, but the stark reality is that sometimes these moments unfold in ways that are beyond our control.
I’m writing this from row 42, seat F, on a plane that just ascended into the air a moment ago. I’ve decided that it’s in my best interest that the plane continues moving. My four year old, Addy, is sound asleep in my lap snoring, which is actually quite endearing for a four year old. By some cruel twist of fate, she starts kindergarten next week. Leg shaving and car borrowing are approaching a little too quickly for my comfort. I’m coming to the realization that if I could freeze time, or even slow it down a bit, I would have much less anxiety in my life. I could sleep a little more peacefully at night knowing that change is not coming as fast as this jet I’m sitting on. Since apparently this is not an option, I guess we’ll just have to soak up each moment, and look forward to the next.
When our lives are continually flooded with change…jobs, finances, living situations, government, relationships, our age…sometimes the church becomes our one constant. It becomes the one stable entity in the midst of surrounding chaos. Maybe this is why we find change so difficult in the church. When the foundation begins to shake, we fear the entire house will soon cave in. Inevitably we become attached to those things that allow us to breathe a collective sigh of relief: A pew, a hymnal, a screen with captivating pictures and a brand new font, our favorite chair, a familiar chorus, and even our pastor. Life may be as chaotic as the running of the bulls, but at least we will always have these things. Or will we? What do we do when what we thought was the foundation begins to crumble before our very eyes? I suppose the only logical solution is that God, who is the one real constant, really is supposed to be the foundation of the church. Everything else can, and will change. In many cases it must. Where the Holy Spirit dwells there will be change. All the metaphors for the Holy Spirit we find in scripture, a dove, fire, water, wind, all contain elements of change. The Holy Spirit moves!
So when it comes right down to it, the church is not exempt from these moments: These moments of brilliance, of awe, of miraculous beauty, of anxiety, and even gut wrenching pain. These moments contribute to the collage that is the masterpiece of Christ’s church, not just in our generation, but throughout the course of human history. As my kids would say, “To infinity…and beyond”! Ah yes…the church will change in ways that we cant begin to imagine, but the church will still be the church.
Cherish each moment, because there will never be another just like it. Change is coming, so hold on tight. Actually…don’t. Maybe it’s better we just trust God’s plan and release our grasp. Rest assured. The church will change…but God wont!