Patron Saint of Rock and Roll ~ Jon Foreman
Good ol' Jon, roasting the church, yet again.
I love this song. Every time I listen to it I just wanna cheer for these bold lyrics that hold so much truth. I remember driving through the alleyways in Colombia, playing this on the iPod dock and we were all sitting around it just saying, "Wow," after every line.
There's a park downtown where the homeless get ignored
Where the church next door is a crowd singing, "Blessed are the poor"
Where the Mercedes drive away muttering, "Druggies, drunks and whores"
Where the bumper sticker displays, "My copilot is the Lord."
I love this song and I love Jon's lyrics because I feel like it's the message of Jesus Christ's ministry on earth. Did He not roast the Pharisees? Did He not point out to them, with no lack of sarcasm, their own hypocrisy? It's blatantly obvious in these lyrics, and just makes us cringe inside when we realize how true they are. It's a groovy tune jam-packed with blow after blow to the pride of the self-proclaimed Jesus followers.
In my opinion, too many churches are not Jesus followers, but Jesus merchants. They sell His music, they sell the rights to His Gospel, they sell His Word on shirts and jackets, they sell Him. This is not the lifestyle He has called His children into, but it's the lifestyle His children in every First World country are beginning to enter. It's scary, it's embarrassing, it's wrong.
I want to include this song, specifically, because this needs to be said. Kudos to Jon Foreman and every other artist who isn't afraid to offend. That's the way to do it. If you're afraid to offend the self-righteous, you're afraid to follow Jesus. He was the self-righteous' worst enemy.
Selling the News ~ Switchfoot
Couldn't stray too far from my all-time favourite musicians- Jon Foreman and Switchfoot. How convenient that their favourite thing to do is put a sermon into a 4-minute song. We've already roasted the church, how about roasting society?
This song could be either really depressing, really maddening, or really profound. For me, it's all three at once. There is nothing in this that isn't true in the world, today. The puns and the plays on words all make it increasingly clear how demented the system is. Just one listen and you'll be shaking your head in disgusted agreement.
See, opinions are easier to swallow than facts. The greys instead of the whites and the blacks
If you shoot it too straight, it won't come back. We're selling the news.
Blogs are more read than the Bible. Youtubers' opinions and ideas are more widely adhered to than the Bible. Nothing is sound, nothing is literal, nothing is set in stone anymore. It's all a matter of opinion. Facts are now a personal choice. Truth is subjective.
The lines start to blur, I get so confused; I get shiny new models mixed up with the blues
I get binary code mixed up with abuse. The facts are simply one option to choose!
When nothing is sacred, there's nothing to lose. When nothing is sacred, all is consumed.
We're still on the air, it must be the truth. We're selling the news.
Preach. The internet has now reached over 1 billion websites. That means there are hundreds of millions of contrasting opinions and beliefs. There are millions of ways to sexually harass online. There are millions of debates and arguments to fall into. There are millions of X-rated images and videos floating around.
There is all the knowledge of good and evil known to man in the hands of almost every child, teenager, and adult in the first world. Does that not scare you? At this rate, dictionaries will be too offensive to exist. We will be able to choose which definition of a word we prefer. Already, patrons are not required to disclose their gender, in case they identify as something different every day. The safety precautions online are minimal, and people are being spied on, harassed, abused, exploited, and endangered. The sex trade is fueled by online functions. It's like the government stays away from the problems of the internet, because the problems are just too huge to deal with.
And as this monster grows and grows and sucks the world in more and more, Truth loses it's capital 'T' and becomes just another opinion among the billions. And as Switchfoot verbally slams this huge issue in society, they also present the growing dilemma to the Christians of this age:
I wanna believe you. I wanna believe, but everything is in-between.
The fact is faction. The fact is fiction.
I wanna believe you. I wanna believe, but everything I see is greed.
The fact is fiction.
Suspicion is the new religion.
Amen, amen, and amen. We are living in the age of postmodernism, the age that I believe will steal the hearts of many Christians. It's the perfect living conditions for the devil and his forces. As long as he can cause us to believe that he is only mythical, Christianity will take a beating. As long as he can keep us convinced that there is no such thing as absolute truth, he can do more damage than ever before.
These truly are the dark times. While it's hard to hear and hard to accept, it's still the Truth. And the Truth is something that is going to be forbidden soon, which is why I am including this now. While we still can, and while we still recognize it, let the truth offend whoever possible, because it's not often that people change their behaviour after being complimented on it.
We Don't Eat ~ James Vincent McMorrow
I think too often, as Christians, we pretend that hard times don't happen. Or at least, when they do happen, we put a brave face on and praise God through the storm.
And maybe that's what we should be doing. We should be like Paul in prison, or John in his exile. But the reality is, when hard times come, we sometimes just need to vent. We need to give voice to our doubts and struggles, because it's only in our brokenness that God can come to mend.
This song by James Vincent McMorrow may come as a shock to the right-wing, upright church goers. This song gives voice to the real concerns and literal doubts about faith. These lyrics make the problems come to light, and to some, these lyrics sound sacrilegious and wrong to say aloud. However, I disagree. I think it is wrong to live a lie, living to pretend that everything is peachy. Christ doesn't want perfect Christians, He wants Christians who are willing to admit their failings and brokenness. He wants Christians who are willing to share their deepest thoughts and hurts with Him. He came to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. So, while this song may seem shaky, like somebody on the verge of denouncing their faith, it's important to recognize the problems that we all face at one time or another.
If this is redemption, why do I bother at all?
There's nothing to mention- and nothing has changed.
So I'd rather be working for something than praying for the rain,
So I wander home 'til someone else is saved.
*Gasp.* But, Jesus saved you! How can you say nothing has changed? How can you ask 'Why bother?' Why would you rather go work than pray? And how can you have such a dispirited outlook on your faith?
Get real, people. If you haven't had these thoughts, you're hardly human. I can't count the number of times I've thought to myself, "Am I really a Christian?" "Am I really different from the unbelievers around me?" "I know I should pray about this... but will that actually do anything?" I know I'm not alone in these thoughts, because I've heard many, many others voice these ponderings to me, as well. It's reality. It's the weakness of our spirit. It's life.
I'd remember all the things my Mother wrote.
That we don't eat until your Father's at the table.
We don't drink until the devil's turned to dust.
Never once has any man I've met been able to love,
So if I were you, I'd have a little trust.
Here is the story of the cradle-to-grave "Christian" kid. These are the rules that are written out. Pray before every meal. Repent of your sins every night. Go to church every Sunday. James Vincent McMorrow speaks of these things almost reluctantly, wondering what the point of all these rules and regulations was. Did they get him further? Did they bring Him closer to this Christ-guy he's supposed to be following blindly after? It doesn't make sense, but for some reason, his mother held these beliefs strongly and enforced them in her house. What did she understand that he's missing?
Two thousand years, I've been in that water
Two thousand years, sunk like a stone
Desperately reaching for nets that fishermen have thrown
Trying to find a little bit of hope.
'Two thousand years' is a reference to how long it's been since Christ came to earth. These lines are more or less shouts of frustration. Two thousand years, and he's been in that water. He's been baptized, and unlike the radical transformation that many people claim happens underwater... McMorrow finds that he is sinking like a stone. What is he doing wrong- and what are we doing wrong? I've asked myself that about a thousand times, at least. Every time I fail to keep the promises I tell God, I think to myself, "Did my baptism mean nothing?" "Why do I continue to fail?" "Where is that strength of character I was promised?" Sometimes we really are like the fishermen desperately reaching for the nets... trying to find a little bit of hope... but, more often than not, our nets are empty.
While the song does not allude to a recovery or a revelation, this depression need not be the end of the line. I know for a fact that even if we check the nets a hundred times and find them empty, they will be overflowing on try #101. So many times it's the breaking point that God chooses to reward us. It's the moments where we're about to jump; about to give up on it all, that he gives us something to hold onto. He is worth more than our lives and our efforts. He is worth more than all existence. And even in our weakest, lowest moments, He is still there. And while we may not feel it and may not see it, He has not abandoned us, nor will He.
We Don't Eat is a prime example of the prayers that we so often mutter in frustration. It is a song filled with the thoughts that many Christians are afraid to acknowledge. We pretend to have it all together. We pretend to have a faith without doubts. But if we knew something beyond a shadow of a doubt... would it require faith to believe in it? I don't think so. If there is a possibility for faith, there has to be a possibility for doubt, and this is the wonderful paradox that we have been thrown into in this beautiful chaos called life.
Love Like This ~ Kodaline
Let's skip over to the land of happiness, shall we? Sadly, that's all it's made of. It's a quickly sinking island of mere happiness.
Kodaline is known for their songs concerning love and heartbreak. After the first listen, Love Like This sounds like bliss. It sounds like peace and prosperity and joy and honeymoons... until you listen to the lyrics.
It feels right in the sun, the sun
We're running around and around
Like nothing else could matter in our life
But wait, but wait, but wait
The sun will stop shining soon
And you'll be dark in my life
Yeah, you'll be gone, it's as simple as a change of heart
But I'm not gonna think about the future
A love like this won't last forever
I know that a love like this won't last forever
But I, I don't really mind, I don't really mind at all
It feels right. We're running around and around. Nothing else matters. We're carefree, we're happy, we're madly in love (for the moment), so what's to worry about? But wait- the sun will stop shining soon. You'll be gone, it's as simple as a change of heart... but I'm not gonna think about the future.
This might as well be the anthem of the world we live in. Materialistic, self-centered, momentary, fleeting, fickle. "A love like this won't last forever, but I don't really mind at all." This is the opposite of the way Christians view Love.
According to 1 Corinthians 13, Love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful. It is not rude, and it is not self-seeking. It keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil, but delights in the truth.
God is Love, and therefore, true Love should have all of God's traits: He is eternal, He is patient, He loves unconditionally, He is just, He is True. Does that sound anything like the summer fling that this song by Kodaline is describing?
I'll admit I like this song. It's catchy, the harmonica gets me dancing, and it's great for a summertime playlist. Lifts my spirits, and allows me to drift away and think of the sun... but I can never listen to it without feeling just a twinge of guilt. Why am I celebrating these lyrics? Why am I celebrating this momentary concept of a love that only lasts as long as the feeling? Why am I jamming along to this song that promotes the emotion, and not the commitment?
Sorry, Kodaline. Your harmonica and mandolin aren't quite enough to bring me out of reality into your world of instant pleasure.
Love Like Jesus ~ PawnShop kings
This song is goals. In every way. From its smooth instrumentals to its catchy beat and musicality to its profound and challenging lyrics, this song is basically a well-rounded pledge that every Christian could sing.
In fact, this song has become my own personal anthem in this past year. It's frightening how often I fail. It's terrifying to see how often I forget the words in my day-to-day life. "I wanna see the world looking through your eyes." "I wanna do you what you ask of me." Love the forgotten ones." "Love the children." That's sometimes me. It's often not.
Some parts are easy, but most of these aspirations are so difficult to achieve on a daily basis. It's hard to welcome dormies into my room when all I want to do is curl up in bed and take a nap. It's hard to be forgiving when the kitchen is constantly a mess, and others don't clean up after themselves. It's hard to teach the wild, and sometimes disrespectful children. It's hard to love the nagging, rude classmates.
But it was hard for Jesus to be crucified on the cross.
It was hard for Jesus to remain completely blameless as he lived his 30-some years on this earth. I've only been here for 18, and I feel like I've already had more than enough of a few people on this planet. But who am I to complain? Who am I to harp on people who probably are just as done with me as I am with them?
We are imperfect. We are flawed and broken and wounded. It proves that we're humans in need of saving. I've been saved, and He continues to save me every day of my short existence on earth. And just as He's extended an infinite amount of grace to me, I need to be extending the same grace to those around me.
I wanna love like Jesus. The forgotten ones, the children, the friendless, I wanna love them like Jesus did. It's easy to say, but it is the absolute hardest thing to live out consistently. Why else did Christ tell us to pick up our crosses?
