"Dancing at the Crossroads 2000" is a glorious
success!" I say, "IS a
glorious success," because even though 6 of our teenagers
and I, together
with 25,000 other youth of the ELCA, have returned to our homes
from last
week's "gathering" in St. Louis, an additional 20,000
high school youth
gathered this week for a second "Crossroads Event"
that ends today.
I am sure that our teens would agree---every minute of every day
got better
and better! Take a look at the photographs displayed in the
narthex. The
evening sessions were the highpoints---especially the music!
This is not grandma's music---by the way. And, it's not the
music of Martin
Luther or John Wesley (even though we did sing a smashing
rendition of "A
Mighty Fortress," with a steady, haunting drumbeat). The
performing artists
we heard, serve-up hard rock, rap, hip-hop, and retro-swing. You
won't hear
anything resembling it in the elevator, the grocery store or in
most churches
for that matter. I didn't even know there was such a thing as
"retro-swing"
until the kids began dancing in the aisles---and I underwent a
mental
flashback.
Should you ever decide to attend such an event or one of the
many smaller
gatherings that are offered regionally, prepare to be rattled
with rock riffs
that are hard, hair-raising, harrowing, and, at the same time,
holy!
It is all part of today's world of contemporary Christian
music---a growing,
nearly 1 billion dollar-per-year industry. Although a generation
ago it was
easy to separate the "Christian sheep" from the
"secular goats," the tunes of
groups we heard at both "Crossroads" worship and
party-nights have a sound
that would mix right into any Top 40 play list.
Check out the lyrics of this award winning song sung by
"Lost & Found" a
popular duo our kids couldn't get enough of:
"Oh them lions they can eat my body,
but they can't swallow my soul;
They keep on trying to crash my party,
but they can't gain control.
No way, baby!"
No, No-No; No, No-No!
If you think the introduction of contemporary music into
traditional Lutheran
worship has been divisive---you haven't witnessed anything yet!
Actually,
here at St. James the transition that took place 15 years ago,
first with
individual musical offerings and then Damascus Road, was
relatively
uneventful. However, the Church is now facing the dilemma of not
only
controversial musical instrumentation and sounds, but lyrics
that have one
foot in the sacred and the other in the secular.
How does one live "in the world," without being
"of the world" when Christian
music and worship offer no clear distinction? A growing
number of critics
are suspicious that the newest breed of contemporary Christian
artists and
writers are simply riding a "Jesus wave" toward their
own material success.
Entertainment artists themselves are finding that it's not easy
to serve two
masters and yet, individual performers and groups like those we
heard over a
five day period, are clearly and deeply faith-based and they
remind us (as
one Christian rock artist did David Letterman on his "Late
Night Show") that
"every gift we have, including heavy metal, is indeed a
gift from God."
Within the context of this morning's text, contemporary
Christian music may
be telling us that, while Jesus was rejected at Nazareth, he's
found a new
home in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville! He has moved from
bad reviews in mid-America to multimillion-dollar deals in the
nation's urban centers,
becoming a multimedia magnate through books, music, film and
video games.
What conclusions should we draw from this phenomenon? What does
Jesus think
about all this? Who can say for certain but, interestingly
enough, one
record company president who handles some of Christian rock's
most successful
artists, tells those who are thinking of crossing-over into the
secular
market: "Don't cross-over unless you plan to take the cross
over." Jesus
couldn't have put it better.
The challenge of living a spiritual life in a secular world, had
to be on the
mind of Jesus when he told his disciples to "hit the
road"---to go out into
the world "two by two." And, he not only authorizes
the disciples' transition
from living in the "sacred circle of apostleship" to
serving in the "profane
world of ungodliness," but Jesus provides a user-friendly
list of
instructions for them to follow:
"Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the
place (the town
or village). If any place will not welcome you and they
refuse to hear you,
as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a
testimony against
them."
It's clear that Jesus wants his disciples to get to work, and
this means
taking the gospel to work with them. The message of Christ is
not always
going to be popular, so postmodern apostles need to be prepared
for
rejection. They must be ready to "shake off the dust"
that is on their feet
as they move on to more promising fields of service.
Likewise, when we step into the world, we better have the gospel
with us. It
is, after all, not a question of IF we are going to cross over
the line
between worlds, sacred and profane---we do it all the time. We
leave our
homes, where we set the spiritual and moral tone, and cross over
into the
workplace where the rules are usually determined by others. We
live a
substantial part of our lives in office buildings, schools,
grocery stores,
restaurants and the like. We confront people who curse and
harass, who cheat
and abuse, who lie and steal, who live to work and work to live,
who chase
the gods of materialism, who are nonplussed by the very notion
of living a
Christian lifestyle.
The challenge for Christians, and perhaps even more so for
Christian
disciples who are artists and musicians, is to mediate between
the two
worlds. "Praise music," launched with guitar and
tambourine some 25 years
ago, has evolved into an industry that is not only transforming
the way
Christian music is produced and disseminated but also, in the
process,
changing the way the Church worships---sings, prays, and
preaches. Praise
songs such as "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,"
"He Has Made Me Glad," "I
Love You, Lord," "Majesty" and "Awesome
God," all of which you have no doubt
sung here at one time or another, represent a contemporary form
of hymnody
that is already more popular in American churches than
traditional forms.
With straightforward lyrics and easy to sing tunes, contemporary
Christian
and gospel music sales are the industry's fifth
largest---selling more than
twice as many albums as Latin, classical, jazz and New Age music
combined.
(Christian Century, February 23, 2000).
Of one thing you can be sure. In our worship and music,
Jesus honors both
"the new" and "the old." Also, he doesn't
kow-tow to either. If the old
doesn't "do it" for you, as an instrumentalist,
vocalist, or worshipper, then
move on to the new; if the new doesn't "do it"
for you, then return to the
old or, to somewhere in-between. There are plenty of ways to be
at home in
the many worlds of Christian worship and music.
Prepare to "shake the dust" of old or new off your
feet. The Church is
constantly receiving "new things" so its people can
let "old things" go;
and, at the same time, the Church is rediscovering "old
things" because some
of the "new things" just don't seem to fit.
Don't be afraid to shake-off
whatever dust just doesn't "do it" for you. Do so
whenever you find yourself
in worship "places" that are not welcoming, or in
which you are simply
uncomfortable---whatever the worship style or form. "If you
ever go to a
place where you feel you don't belong, leave it!" because,
in fact, Jesus
says you should; and, he adds to those words of
permission, " . . . shake
the dust (of what you leave behind) off your feet."
Frankly, Jesus doesn't want us to be in "faith places"
where we don't want to
be. Jesus wants us to be in "faith places" where we
want to be and where we
feel we belong. Whenever you get the feeling that you might be
"out of
place," say so. And, if there is a willingness on the
part of others in that
"faith place" to change, help them with that change!
If there is not such
willingness, then "shake the dust off your feet" and
move on. Remember, you
have none other than Jesus' permission.
Now I realize that, in terms of true biblical scholarship, this
interpretation of "shaking off the dust" might be a
stretch. However, if I
have learned anything over the years, it is that, in Scripture,
what is not
always explicit is often clearly implicit. Count on it!
Amen!