304Should be Known For
posted by Jeffrey on May 22nd, 2007
I got in my wife’s car and heard a CD playing this morning that hadn’t been played in a while. Some of those songs got me thinking about other songs in the ole’ iTunes folder that I hadn’t listened to in quite some time.
Here’s one for ya, name that artist:
they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare
they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs
they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn’t that why Jesus died
not to make us think we’re right
chorus
when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die
they’ll know us by reasons we divide
and how we can’t seem to unify
because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style
or we’ll walk right down that aisle
and just leave ‘em all behind
they’ll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God’s words to cheap clichés
says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave
chorus
they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear
So rather obviously this artist is talking about the stereotypical Christian of today. Sounds like a disillusioned, curse the church, gripe and complain kind of guy eh?
WRONG
He’s a popular church camp, church concert, christian college, and christian radio artist.
*The following is NOT a loaded question, fyi*
Why do you suspect that so many people, from the disillusioned to the institution, are feeling and voicing such things?
Technorati Tags: love, christian music, Jeffrey Davis
001: Chelsie Harris,
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:26 pmSimple. Consistent observations and experiences of similar events, behaviors, and dialogue.
002: Justin,
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:08 amDW has always been a spiritually provoking lyricist, a lot like King David at times, honestly. At any rate, here’s what my two cents has written all over it.
It is painfully evident that “American Christians” do not do the whole “love” thing very well. Not when Amnesty International is at the front of World Aid & Support; MTV, VH1, American Idol are the frontrunners in the Music Entertainment World; Art - who needs to even go there (I mean, some churches, some churches, do this very well - but certainly not very many, and copy and paste from the “big church down the road’ is not art…). And “Who loves Homesexuals these days?” Ask any non-church member (which is actually very few people) and they will sometimes even go sofar as to answer like this: “Not Christians. Not the Church.”
So…I think a lot of this is what we all are feeling, so many people are voicing this concern because we know when God is not being fully reflected, even if it feels ‘good’ sometimes. After all, God is love.
Great post, thanks for the reminders…
003: lacey,
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:38 ami think alot of the frustration is in the fact that apparent Christian behaviors and practices (i.e. “going” to church, participating in Christian activities, wearing the Christian t-shirt as DW talks about, etc) don’t necessarily mean people have really inwardly been formed in the way of Jesus. So, I think a great deal of people who claim to know Jesus find themselves in a very different boat than many of their so-called brothers and sisters in Christ who are disgusted by homosexuals, who baracade themselves in church buildings away from culture, who scoff at liberal thinking and environmental issues, who fear change and progression…. etc. not to just pick out a few things, but this is from my own experience. anyways, i like what rob bell said at a conference i attended; that there seem to be a lot of different Jesus’s in Christianity. i find this to be quite accurate.
004: Jeffrey,
May 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am10 points to Lacey and Justin. The artist is Derek Webb.
Does anyone else seem to feel that you can get away with more if you write it with fiction or set it to music…contrasted to non-fiction or direct conversation?
005: lacey,
May 25th, 2007 at 11:28 ampossibly. i know that derek webb has taken a lot of heat for his music so i wouldn’t say its necessarily a more safe route. he also has lots of conversations about it as well, so that may get him into more “trouble,” too. i think controversy of any kind, be it fiction or not, will meet with some type of opposition. look at brian mclaren’s fictional series beginning with A New Kind of Christian… he’s practically the anti-christ in some circles. you still ought to read his stuff 
i think you’d enjoy the stories.
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