Here at the beginning of 2011, one of the things that I have felt compelled to do is to continue pouring into young, emerging artists and worship leaders. To that end, I have picked up three very talented young ladies (one of them being my daughter) who I am instructing in our Living Stones School of Worship Arts. This week one of those ladies’ mom made a comment to me about her daughter’s latest assignment. Julia came home and told her mom, “Pastor Jon told me I have to write a song, and it can’t be about God.” Jokingly, Julia’s mom said something to me like, “What’s up with our worship pastor telling my daughter to write a song that’s not about God?”
Some people may have a problem with that assignment particularly in the context of the church. However, Julia’s mom isn’t one of those individuals. There were two main reasons for the assignment.
All of life is sacred. When you are a follower of Jesus Christ, there can never be a separation between the secular world and the sacred world. Everything is sacred. I shared this fact with my students when I gave this assignment. You see, when a Christian writes a song even if God is never mentioned, the song is completely about God. Why? Because God is central to all of our lives.
Get out of the box and be creative. Many times as Christian artists (writers, musicians, songwriters, performers, etc.) we default to our normal, trite, religious language. This assignment purposefully was intended to cause my young worshipers to think creatively about the language they use in their writing — to think creatively about beauty and what truly is beautiful. Sure, God is beautiful but instead of stating the obvious, find the hidden beauty that is all around in creation and in life.
Some of you may or may not agree with my approach. However, I am a firm believer that it is time for Christian artists to create great quality art that isn’t blatantly religious but screams of the hidden glory of God throughout all of life.
🙂 Love it!!