Last Saturday evening I had the opportunity to spend two hours watching one of my "musical hero's" sing and play his greatest hits. I've been listening to Gordon Lightfoot for forty years. Over seventy years old now, his voice a slight bit slurred and also raspy from cigarettes (he admitted during the concert), he still put on an amazing show.
His was the first and only concert I remember attending where the sound was near perfect. We could hear every word, every instrument, and every key change. Sitting there I wondered how many times he's sang some of his hits in a concert setting and as we listened to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald it seemed like Lightfoot had the three-thousand of us in the palm of his hand. Nobody moved. We were focused on him and his band on the stage.
But as I thought about it on the drive home, I thought how sad it was that the concert was mostly Godless. Yes, he asks the question in the Edmund Fitzgerald song, "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours," and it's a good question and is mainly, I think, what the biblical Book of Job is about. But if I remember correctly none of the other songs contained references to God.
And then I remembered something I thought about during last years Christmas Season while I was listening to Frank Sinatra sing a Christmas Carol. What came to mind last year was how empty the Christmas Carols sounded from Frank, Dean, and Bing, James Taylor, or George Strait. The same songs sung by Fernando Ortega, Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, and Casting Crowns sound different somehow and I think I know why. It's because of the joy of the Lord in those artist's lives. It's the reality of Christ in that individual's life.
Joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Part of Psalm 16:11 says, "In Your [God's] presence is fullness of joy." Let Psalm 33:1-3 sink deeply into you being, "Sing for joy in the LORD , O you righteous ones; praise is becoming to the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy."
I believe that joy in the Lord is the difference. And when Christian artists sing Christmas Carols the reality of Christ, and the inward joy of knowing they are His, comes through in their voices.
You know what, I love and listen to all sorts of different music including all of the singers I've mentioned including Gordon Lightfoot. But this Christmas Season I'm going to purpose to sing and play all of the well-known Christmas songs with the joy of the Lord bubbling over in my life because I'm one of His. I'm going to listen to Christian radio and cd's hearing the joy of the Lord coming through loud and clear.
You too?
Dan
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Election 2010
It's Election Day 2010 and for someone who watches the news everyday I have to say that I'm glad the political television ads will be missing from my favorite programs starting tomorrow. But I also thought about the 2012 election. It will probably start in earnest tomorrow. Hooray, right? Not! If you're like me I'm tired of the negativity and the backbiting and the partisanship? I'm thinking that if there is a truly honest politician out there (Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, whatever...) we should elect him president in 2012. I wonder if there is one???
If you have never watched the 1939 Jimmy Stewart classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington it's way worth your time. Stewart plays a kind of a hick from Illinois who is chosen to fill a vacated Senate Seat who is supposed to tow the party line. But after he rubs his party's leadership the wrong way and won't go along with their underhanded dealings they try to paint him as dishonest and a troublemaker. I think it's ironic that after 70 years we see the same sort of things still going on in political circles today in 2010. (By the way Stewart's character wins in the end).
In stark contrast to the climate we see in our 2010 culture (especially in political circles) the Bible holds up integrity and honesty as virtues we are to go after, acquire, and then model for others as believers in Christ. After all, that's how our Lord lived. He's the benchmark.
Psalm 15 speaks eloquently to this subject. David wrote,"O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; he does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."
Oh that we'd have leaders like that in our country. We need some more Mr. Smiths in Washington. We need more Mrs. Smiths there as well. We need more people like Zacharias and Elizabeth the parents of John the Baptizer. They are described in Luke 1:6 as, "Both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord."
So let's see who wins today, Zacharias and Elizabeth type politicians or those who are negative, backbiting and partisan. You decide.
If you have never watched the 1939 Jimmy Stewart classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington it's way worth your time. Stewart plays a kind of a hick from Illinois who is chosen to fill a vacated Senate Seat who is supposed to tow the party line. But after he rubs his party's leadership the wrong way and won't go along with their underhanded dealings they try to paint him as dishonest and a troublemaker. I think it's ironic that after 70 years we see the same sort of things still going on in political circles today in 2010. (By the way Stewart's character wins in the end).
In stark contrast to the climate we see in our 2010 culture (especially in political circles) the Bible holds up integrity and honesty as virtues we are to go after, acquire, and then model for others as believers in Christ. After all, that's how our Lord lived. He's the benchmark.
Psalm 15 speaks eloquently to this subject. David wrote,"O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; he does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."
Oh that we'd have leaders like that in our country. We need some more Mr. Smiths in Washington. We need more Mrs. Smiths there as well. We need more people like Zacharias and Elizabeth the parents of John the Baptizer. They are described in Luke 1:6 as, "Both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord."
So let's see who wins today, Zacharias and Elizabeth type politicians or those who are negative, backbiting and partisan. You decide.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)