Friday, December 30, 2005

Sojourn Worship Songwriting Community pt. 5

Only three writers came to the October workshop, down from six the previous month. Whenever you start a new venture, it is common to begin with a "buzz" and then settle into a smaller pigeon-hole for awhile, until you can build up a good base. Still, I had hoped for a bigger crowd. Maybe some new faces.

Actually, we ended up with four people because Sojourn's teaching pastor/ elder Daniel Montgomery happened by, and with a ginormous smile and much gusto plopped into a chair and said, "Oh, this is my favorite group!" He listened with enthusiasm to each song, and came up with some great comments and questions. It's encouraging to writers when their pastor takes an interest in what they're doing. So many pastors that I've met, mostly through my work in gospel radio, view music as a second-class citizen or even a necessary evil -- something to take up some time in a worship service before the real ministry begins. Daniel views music as integral, however, and is in love with original music that is birthed out of community.

The other two writers that month were Jeremy Quillo and Lorie King. Jeremy played two songs he'd just finished. Those of you who own the latest Sojourn worship CD, "These Things I Remember," know that he wrote about half the songs on that disc. Since that time, he hadn't written anything -- said he'd been kind of blocked. These new songs showed that he hadn't lost a step, though.

One was a modern hymn called "The Fatal Wood." It had a Celtic groove and featured verses set in what's called "common meter". Blew us all away. He's told me since then that he has raised the music a whole step and altered some of it rhythmically, so I will be interested to hear it again. He said it had been a long time since he's been so excited about one of his compositions. I was excited too. Jeremy sets the benchmark for the rest of us time and again.

Common meter, by the way, is so named because it's the most common form of hymn meter in the English language. It features alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The "iamb" is a metric foot that consists of two syllables on a stress pattern that reads "da-DAH." Think, for instance, of how you say the word "today." "Tetrameter" means four metric feet -- in this case, four iambs. So basically there are eight syllables.
"Trimeter" means three metric feet -- in this case, six syllables. So the odd lines have eight syllables, the evens, six. You can see this, for example in Amazing Grace:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me ....


More specifically, hear the stresses:

aMAZing GRACE, how SWEET the SOUND ....

Lorie had come up with some lyrics, no melody. Had some good words to it -- very perspicacious, as her songs tend to be. Many of her lines can be sermons in themselves. I played a melody that I thought would fit -- a waltz-time tune, a boat-like, sea shanty kind of thing on guitar, with a harmonica interlude. I don't think it was at all what she wanted for the song, but that's one of the purposes of collaboration -- you pitch things and see if you get a hit. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.

It's tricky for a new writer, even for an experienced writer, to come up with both words and melody. There is no single way of doing it. Sometimes I get an idea for a song that includes both at the same time. I start writing down the words, singing as I go. Other times, I'll fool around with my guitar, come up with some cool chord changes, and think, "I should write some lyrics to this." Still other times, I write the lyrics first. Everyone needs to discover, through trial and error, what works best for them.

Jeremy suggested some things for Lorie's song -- Jeremy, like me, has a background in poetry. Unlike me, he has a long history of writing songs for corporate worship. His opinions have gravitas. He's a very humble person -- in fact, he told me a couple weeks ago that he sees his role in our group as being more of an advisor. He doesn't want to pitch too many of his own songs, because he sees we have a lot of beginning/ developing writers. He told me that he feels he's gotten enough attention through his writing, and now he wants to help others step up to the plate.

Back to the October meeting: I played an original of mine called "Forgive Us." Part of the lyrics -- a pre-chorus, go:

You lit up the nightfall to show us the way,
We'd grown to love darkness so we raised the stakes ...
And hammered them into Your skin.


Lorie had already heard this song and applied her judicious editing skills to it. Daniel and Jeremy had some questions, particularly wanting to know what I meant by "raised the stakes," beyond the fact of the soldiers piercing Jesus' with stakes on the cross. It was obviously also a metaphor -- a line with both the literal, and a symbolic, meaning. Or was it just wordplay on my part, kind of a pun?

The question stumped me. This goes back to my limited experience with worship music as compared to, I don't know, what I would maybe just call "singer-songwriter" style. Singer-songwriters sometimes write in a stream-of-consciousness technique. Sometimes it is more purposeful, symmetrical, but still in a way that gives their subconsciousness control to put forth images, words, symbols that the conscious writer may not fully understand. Does everything need to be understood? Does anyone really understand everything the David Mead's, Patty Griffin's and Bob Dylan's of the world write?

Don't get me wrong -- it's not gibberish. You can draw meaning. The writer, if he felt the need, could explore his feelings and tell you what he meant. Or at least what he was feeling as he composed the lines. I write a lot of songs about bad or painful situations that I could have been in, or could be in now, based on my experiences, if not for the grace of God. A lot of those songs have come about in the aftermath of my divorce -- a couple I can think of, "Sheila" and "If I Didn't Know Better," come from the standpoint of a guy who has jumped into a bad relationship to "save himself" from the aftermath of a painful loss, knows it, but is "hooked" (no -- I don't know any real "Sheila's"). Another, "You're Making A Mistake," was written from the standpoint of a guy on the road to recovery who is trying to get a girl to take him in, to believe that he's a good, steady catch who now has his act together. These aren't situations that I have allowed myself to fall into, but again, without God's grace, instruction, and power, I would have.

But there are other songs that I have written -- who knows where they came from or what each line means? I don't care to examine them, necessarily. I know they stirred certain emotions in me -- perhaps they'd stir different emotions in someone else. Maybe some time in the future I'll look back at them and think, "Oh, this is obvious to me now: I was writing about "Person X" or about emotions that I was dealing with, or whatever. By then it will be easy to see -- perhaps now it would be painful, annoying, or difficult to comprehend. The subconscious mind is always ahead of the conscious mind.

Worship writing is different. You're coming up with something to be sung in a corporate environment. The lyrics need to have a certain obvious-ness to them. Otherwise they're just personal prayers -- not something that will edify others and turn their gazes and voices God-ward.

So what did I mean by "raised the stakes"? I guess my subconscious was remembering the parable of the tenants -- how the vineyard owner sent servants to collect his due from the tenants. The tenants beat one, killed one, stoned one. So then the owner said, "I'll send my very own son. They wouldn't dare disobey him." Only they did. They raised the stakes, turned up the notch, got down to brass tacks -- they killed the son.

Of course, in our workshop, I didn't think of this. It hadn't dawned on me why I'd written that line other than that there was a double meaning, it was clever, and it moved me. So I probably sounded like an idiot when I offered my feeble attempt at an explanation, but live-and-learn.

I am learning to be more direct, more purposeful. I still love lines that aren't necessarily obvious at first. They're like little treats. Have you ever had that experience, where you love a song, it's catchy, you sing it and listen to it many times, and then one day, for some reason, you "get" a certain line in a way that has previously eluded you? You think, "Aha! I didn't realize they were alluding to that." A treat. But there is a difference between having a little "treat" in the context of a worship song with an obvious message or petition, and having an entire song, or a line on which an entire song hinges, that is obtuse.

In November, we moved out of HCF for the first time and switched the workshop from a Sunday to a Saturday. I didn't know if we'd get more people, less, or what. I didn't know if the dynamic would change.

It did.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Sojourn Worship Songwriting Community, pt. 4

On August 24, Mike Cosper held a meeting for all the artists at Sojourn -- a big meeting, since Sojourn is a very artsy church. We filled the first ten rows or so of the Highland Christian Fellowship building -- poets sitting next to musicians, painters next to songwriters, film-makers next to vocalists, and so on. I found it to be exciting.

Mike issued the challenge for everyone to step their game up, not only as individuals -- not even primarily as individuals -- but as a collective unit. He wanted everyone to pick up the ball and run with it, to get together with each other, come up with new ideas on how to use the arts to glorify God and edify the church. He said he and the Sojourn elders were looking for people to take initiative and start new ventures, explore new opportunities.

This was music to my ears -- exactly what I had always wanted.

In the first three installments of this series, I've talked about several of the key players in the foundation of the writers' group -- all wonderful, talented people who had been contributing to Sojourn through music long before I came aboard. This is a good point to bring Lorie King into the story -- one of my best friends and most trusted, respected confidants. Cheryl Rupp said recently on her blog that if there were such a thing as reincarnation, then Lorie and I would have had to have been siblings in a past life. I understand what she meant.

Lorie is also an effective worship leader, one of the best singers I've ever heard, and a budding songwriter. She and I began discussing the establishment of a tightly-knit songwriting group in light of Mike's requests. Actually, Lorie had helped me assimilate into Sojourn and, regarding a songwriting group, think things through every step of the way (it was she who, after we'd met in November 2004 at the Mindy Smith show, had introduced me to Jeremy Quillo) and continues to do so. She's more than my right hand, and truthfully, if I'd never come to Sojourn she probably could have organized everything herself if she weren't so busy with all the important things she does for our community.

I always bounce ideas off of Lorie, not only to solicit advice on my thoughts, but to get her opinions on how to build the group. She even edits my own songs as soon as I can get them typed up (I wouldn't ask anyone to read my illegible scrawl), and has in fact helped me polish a few songs so much that I've given her co-writing credits just to keep things honest.

On August 26, after Lorie and I had talked for a couple of days following the meeting, I sent Mike an email entitled, "So you said to take initiative ..."

I outlined the idea of having an official songwriters' group that would, at least initially, center around an informal monthly workshop. All writers would be encouraged to attend, as well as those who would like to help in the process -- musicians, vocalists, those who had an interest in songwriting but didn't know how to begin. I thought that only an official effort by the church could get people of different personalities and stylistic backgrounds together. I wrote in part:

"We don't need all the singer-songwriters to cling together, we don't need all the expert musicians to just hang out and jam all the time, we don't need the hardcore theologians huddled up alone somewhere. We needs teams where a poet connects with an instrumental whiz, where a street-wise rock-singer who didn't even grow up in church connects with someone who's been singing p&w since preschool, we need Dylanologists who connect with hymnologists, we need space-rock afficianados talking to collectors of black spirituals ...

" ... we need to start off with a simple roundtable and invite people to share something they've written, and usher in a spirit of collaboration. Not only should we want more songwriters to develop, we should want more songwriters to work with each other. That's how we're going to really break out of molds, and not only produce better art, but become more "one" with each other .... Not that we'll ever stop writing individually -- that is the most convenient way to write, and it is a way that God frequently chooses to work through, but I think we will be pleased with what can happen if all the music makers (from writers, musicians, vocalists, and even the congregation as a whole) are on the same mission to "sing a new song" to the Lord."


Even then, I was hesitant to say, "Let me lead this." I would have been perfectly willing to simply present my ideas and have Mike, Lorie, Jeremy, Jay or someone else run with it. I got an email back from Mike on the 29th though, saying, "I’m all about this, but you need to drive it. Whatever you need to make that happen, we’ll make it happen."

Well then, it was time to crank the engine. I compiled a list of all the songwriters I knew about at Sojourn, sent them an email explaining what was about to happen, and said that the first monthly workshop would be held the second Sunday night in September. I posted the same information on www.sojourn.com in case I'd missed anyone. Lorie and Jeremy also passed the word around. I had about 10 songwriters on my list. I thought if half of them showed up for the first meeting, we'd have something solid to build on for the future.

We held that first meeting in a small room behind the baptistry of the Highland Christian Fellowship. We had six writers: Jeremy, Jay, Mike, Lorie, Rebecca Dennison, and me. I thought we got off to a good start. Jay and I each played songs we had written and solicited advice from the others. Lorie passed out lyrics that she'd come up with. Everyone offered a unique perspective, and seemed to be pleased afterwards with this initial meeting.

TO BE CONTINUED ....

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Sojourn Worship Songwriting Community, pt. 3

I had tried to visit Woody (Guthrie) regularly ... Woody had been confined to Greystone Hospital in Morristown, New Jersey, and I would usually take the bus there from the Port Authority terminal, make the hour-and-a-half ride and then walk the rest of the half mile up the hill to the hospital, a gloomy and threatening granite building .... Usually I'd play him his songs during the afternoon. Sometimes he'd ask for specific ones -- "Rangers Command," "Do Re Me," "Dust Bowl Blues," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Tom Joad," the song he'd written after seeing the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." I knew all those songs and many more.
Bob Dylan, Chronicles, vol. 1


The image of a young, pre-celebrity Bob Dylan traveling 90 minutes one way to trudge up a hill and play a few songs for his dying hero, in an asylum, is worthy of consideration. Dylan is wrongly held by many to be an archetype of the modern, unBiblical model of the artist as a recluse, a lone rebel, in need of no one, understood by no one. The truth is that not only did Dylan feel an extreme debt and amount of gratitude toward his musical forebears and mentors, but he constantly surrounded himself with others in his set, trading notes, swapping tales, helping with gigs.

After establishing the Biblical basis for creative community, stemming from the eternal trinity and existing throughout both testaments, Michael Card writes, in "Scribbling In The Sand":

Historically, the greatest periods of creativity have been the result of community. The Renaissance, that great flowering of creativity, faith, and imagination, was largely the result of the coming together of communities or schools of artists. Da Vinci, Michelangelo and practically every other artist of name was a product of a creative community or "school." In the context of such a "school," which usually centered around a single "master," the young artist would be apprenticed for a period of months or years.
In such early schools creative input was given within the context of community, that is, within a context of respect and trust. The community encouraged excellence and an aesthetic accountability. The freedom to experiment and even to fail was a vital part of the experience of every young apprentice. The image of the lonely, tormented artist came largely with the modern era.


These are the kinds of things I meditated on from the time I joined Sojourn up until the creation, this past September, of the monthly songwriting workshops. These are the kinds of things I'd been thinking about for many years previous, too, but I had no one to turn to -- no local Christian songwriting mentors or peers, really.

Several of the songwriters at Sojourn have told me similar stories -- Chad Lewis, for one. Chad has a clear, powerful dulcet voice and a minstrel's flair for telling stories through his songs. He's been writing alone now for awhile, and, like me, is glad to have fellow Christian songwriters to bounce ideas off of. I'll tell you more about a collaboration between he and I in a later edition of this series.

Jay Eubanks is another one. Jay is "Bonofied." What I mean by that is, well -- here's a tidbit from a story Dylan tells about having dinner with Bono, the lead singer of U2, in "Chronicles, vol. 1":

Spending time with Bono was like eating dinner on a train -- feels like you're moving, going somewhere. Bono's got the soul of an ancient poet ....

That's what it feels like to talk to Bonofied Jay Eubanks -- you're going somewhere. You can feel the movement, the heart of the sojourn you're taking together, the discoveries you're making and the trail-markings you're leaving together so that those who come this way later will have an easier time sticking to the path.

Anyway, Jay and I were talking recently about a great song of his that we workshopped at the last monthly group meeting. He told me how much he prefered to create in community, and to get the feedback. It's interesting to me that a good, experienced writer like Jay, who is capable of creating in a vacuum if need be, is so high on community, while lesser artists I've known cannot divest themselves of their own pride and over-protectiveness, insisting that no one can really judge their work because no one "understands" them. Such a notion does not come from a Biblical framework, it comes from pride and insecurity. The team that has assembled at Sojourn understands this.

Enough can't be said about the importance of apprenticeship. From Card:

Apprenticeship reminds us once again that creativity does not occur in a vacuum; it requires a community. From apprenticeship the community acquires new artists, artists who have been spared innumerable dead ends because a "master" has taken them in hand and passed on a wealth of experience...
Apprenticeship is discouraged in the industrial world for two reasons. First, the commercial system is based on individualism (celebrityism). Second, production schedules rarely afford the time required for someone to be nurtured in his or her craft. In the absence of community, the artist experiences a sense of aloneness and defeat.



We have a diverse crew -- folkies, rockers. Theologians, poets. Amateur hymnologists and praise chorus afficionados. Everyone brings something different to the table. We also have varying degrees of experience -- "Masters" and "pupils," you might say, but I'd argue that everyone acts in both capacities on occasion. I have learned a lot from the others. In turn, many of them have asked me to help them with various compositions, and I think I have provided good food for thought on occassion. We have writers who have been at this for years, and some who are just starting, but there is a good level of respect across the board.


I don't mean to imply that we have "arrived" though. The whole thing is still on the ground floor. And that's where I was getting to in the last installment of this series, before I took this lengthy aside to tell you some of my thoughts -- why I think creative community is so important to the church (and the Church).

Part Four will pick up chronologically with the birth of the monthly songwriting workshops, the core of our songwriting community.

Sojourn Worship Songwriting Community, pt. 2

At a Mindy Smith concert in Headliners, I met a couple people who had participated on that old songwriting thread. From there I ended up meeting several others, including two of Sojourn's main songwriters, Jeremy Quillo and Rebecca Dennison.

Everyone I talked to remembered the thread and was still favorably disposed to the idea of a forum or regular series of meetings. No one wanted to facilitate, however. In general, everyone was already spread too thin, either having recently gotten married, started a family, gone back to school, or any number of responsibilities. A couple people even said, informally, "Why don't you start something up?"

I was loathe to jump right in, though. My own personality has been slightly distrustful of, and cautious around, newcomers who immediately swoop into a business, church, or social group and start changing things around. I believe in "look before you leap." A person should quietly lay the groundwork, forge relationships, and prove himself. At the very least he should prove he isn't going to be a flash in the pan; here today, gone tomorrow.

Also, my marriage had just ended a few months previous. I was still reeling from that, and I was hesitant to overextend myself or even to put myself forward as a model/ leader of anything. I needed to ground myself in solid Biblical teaching and relationships like never before, and pray for the Lord to lead me in whatever way I should go. Shortly before the divorce, I had started attending a Bible college with hopes of eventually entering into the preaching ministry. After the divorce I clearly heard God say, "I'm not going to let you go that route, but I have other ways in which I would like you to impact the Church and the culture if you'll humble yourself, let Me renew and restore you, and not run ahead of My plans."

So with these things in mind I put the idea of an official songwriting community on the backburner. I did pitch the idea to a couple more people at Sojourn, always hoping that someone else would say, "That's a great idea. I'll take control." What I always heard was, "That's a great idea. You should do something about it."

I continued to work on my own songs. I'd grown up in church, but we never did what you'd call "worship songs" or "praise choruses." Not even psalms set to new music. We did hymns, gospel standards, and newer examples of what Harold Best calls "witness music," music designed to talk about what God has done in the singer's personal life. Think about the kind of music you hear on Christian radio (although much of it is substandard) and you'll get the idea. It's not exactly the same lyric style as worship writing, so I had to struggle to understand what makes a good worship song. Jeremy Quillo was especially helpful to me in this regard.

I eventually met with Mike Cosper, Worship Arts Director at Sojourn, to play some of my songs for him and get an idea of where I stood developmentally, and where I might fit in as a songwriter. I didn't really want to be a worship leader, in front of people -- again, partly because of having recently gone through a divorce, but also in large part because Sojourn already has so many singers -- great singers, at that. I believe in the saying, "If you've got two people doing the exact same thing, then one of them isn't necessary." So I told Mike that, although I have led worship before, I'm really most interested in working behind the scenes as a writer.

He listened to several songs, had some comments. He liked some better than others. Didn't think any of them were bad, but a couple stood out as being more "ready" than the rest. And actually, the last song I played him turned out to be the one that got him excited.

I almost didn't share it, because it was a bluegrass-infused tune. Everyone knows that bluegrass isn't a very popular sound in the modern Church. I just took a chance in playing it because Sojourn has a reputation for musical pluralism and eclecticism, which I'm sure is due in part to Mike's leadership -- or is at least encouraged in this regard through Mike's leadership. Plus, I liked the lyrics, which are based in large part on the Athanasian Creed -- a forceful statement of the doctrine of the trinity. And I figured, "What the heck. I'll just throw everything on the wall and see what sticks." The song was called "One Almighty God." Mike asked me to develop the verses a little more, which I did, and then he asked for a copy of it so one of his worship leaders could learn it for performance at a later time.

Jeremy helped me develop some other songs a few months later. I was still writing -- some worship songs, some ... not. I never know what to call it. I know the easiest way is to say "secular songs," but the whole sacred/ secular dichotomy has become ridiculous. Anyway, I was still writing, but still yearning for a close-knit community of writers who would share, collaborate, encourage, and advise. One of Sojourn's essential beliefs is that we were created for community. I believe artists should be in community with other artists. This is, in general, the feeling among the artists I've talked with at Sojourn, but again, no one felt the specific call to spearhead a songwriting fellowship at this time.

TO BE CONTINUED

Bah Humbug

So the day after Christmas I tried to start my car. No avail. Wouldn't start. Couldn't jump it either. I had to have it towed to a mechanic, who discovered my starter was gone.

$277.00

I'm thinking of going up to everyone I bought presents for and saying there was a terrible mistake, Santa needs the presents back. Then I'll return them and recoup my losses.

Or maybe not.

But there is no getting around the fact that I need wheels, so I had the new starter put in. Oh well.

Just had to vent. Soon I'll get on to part two of the songwriting series.

Sojourn Worship Songwriting Community

"... I was having dinner at Johnny Cash's house outside of Nashville. There were a lot of songwriters there. Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Harland Howard, Kris Kristofferson ... Joe and Janette Carter ... cousins to June Carter, Johnny's wife.
After dinner, everybody sat around in the rustic living room with high wooden beams ... We sat in a circle and each songwriter would play a song and pass the guitar to the next player. Usually, there'd be comments made like, "You really nailed that one."
-- Bob Dylan, "Chronicles, vol. 1"


This is the kind of thing that I'd always wanted to be a part of: a community of songwriters. Michael Card writes about the importance of developing inner-communities of artists within the church in his "Scribbling In The Sand: Christ and Creativity." He stresses the Biblical basis and model for community, and out of that develops at outline for a structure based on constructive criticism, apprenticeship, aesthetic accountability, freedom to experiment, and unqualified acceptance.

Each of these areas has a faux counterpart in the world of commercial artistry. For instance, artistic criticism in the world usually comes after the fact, when it can't do much good. And it's usually provided by someone who doesn't know, let alone care about, the artist. The criticism isn't designed to be constructive, it's designed to tell a consumer which product to buy.

Concerning the freedom to experiment, Card writes:

"Artists must be free to try seemingly foolish things, experiments that at the outset seem doomed to failure, if for no other reason than to be able to discover ... what does not work for them. When the dust from the debacle clears, when the cacophonies stop echoing, artists need to know that their acceptance, their value as a person, has not been damaged in any way. So what, try again. The community will always be there for them."

Card then proposes the creation of a Covenant Artist Alliance that is guided by these purposes:

1. To provide a structure for genuine community.
2. To provide a covenant to which artists and their supporting resource people can commit themselves, uniting them in purpose and vision.
3. To provide a means of aesthetic accountability within the community.
4. To provide a place where apprenticeship can happen.
5. To support a speaker series and forum for the community at large.
6. To provide a retreat center for covenant members.
7. To place in community artists and resource people so the spirit of the covenant can be lived out in the day-to-day "business" of creativity.


As a long-time songwriter who was only just beginning to learn the ropes of worship songwriting, I was looking for something like this when I began going to Sojourn in the Fall of 2004. One day, while looking through old discussion threads in the Sojourn chat room, I came across a worship songwriting discussion that had begun a year previous and died out a few months before I had begun attending. It seemed like the discussion was leaning in the direction of creating this thing that I was looking for. One person, Mike Cosper, even wrote about Card's book and the Alliance. Yet the discussion thread died out in midstream. I couldn't tell if it had "went underground," if interest had waned, or what.

TO BE CONTINUED ....

Friday, December 23, 2005

I Love To Tell The Story

Revelation 12
The Woman, Her Son, and the Dragon
1 A great Sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman dressed all in sunlight, standing on the moon, and crowned with Twelve Stars. 2 She was giving birth to a Child and cried out in the pain of childbirth.
3 And then another Sign alongside the first: a huge and fiery Dragon! It had seven heads and ten horns, a crown on each of the seven heads. 4 With one flick of its tail it knocked a third of the Stars from the sky and dumped them on earth. The Dragon crouched before the Woman in childbirth, poised to eat up the Child when it came.

5 The Woman gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod. Her Son was seized and placed safely before God on his Throne. 6 The Woman herself escaped to the desert to a place of safety prepared by God, all comforts provided her for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

7 War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, 8 but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. 9 The great Dragon--ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray--thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth. 10 Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying,

Salvation and power are established!

Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah!

The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out,

who accused them day and night before God.

11 They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb

and the bold word of their witness.

They weren't in love with themselves;

they were willing to die for Christ.

12 So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there,

but doom to earth and sea,

For the Devil's come down on you with both feet;

he's had a great fall;

He's wild and raging with anger;

he hasn't much time and he knows it.


Merry Christmas from me, Love Caddy B-Dog, The Forlorn Moonpuppy, and all the staff here at Jive To The Monkey. Let's not forget what this season is all about. Even more so, let's not forget the rest of the Story, and remember that the babe in a manger didn't stay that way. Neither will His next coming be as a helpless child -- He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and His victory is already assured.

God bless you!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

JIVE TO THE MONKEY GOLD: Review of "Face Down" by Matt Redman

See the column below, and accompanying comments, if you're in the mood to rant. Otherwise, here is another edition of JIVE TO THE MONKEY GOLD, a critical analysis of Matt Redman's "Face Down" record, from earlier this year. Read it again and relive the wonder. Or read it for the first time, thankful that you didn't miss out forever. And continue to have a blessed pre-Christmas week:

Matt Redman is one of the top Worship leaders and writers in evangelical Christianity, having penned modern classics like "The Heart Of Worship," "Better Is One Day," "Blessed Be Your Name," and "Let Everything That Has Breath."
His latest live worship CD, "Face Down," is the first on Sixsteps Records, the EMI CMG label that boasts a stable of fellow Worship leaders: Chris Tomlin, the David Crowder Band, and Charlie Hall.
Redman recorded "Face Down" live at North Point Community Church in Alphareta, Georgia during the January 2004 Facedown Songwriters Gathering.The duo known as Watermark, Nathan and Christy Nockels, each contributed: Nathan produced, as well as played keys and guitars, while Christy sang backing vocals. Tom Laune (Passion, Michael W. Smith, Nichole Nordeman) mixed the final product in Nashville.
Impressive credentials, but does it work? For criteria, let's look at Dylanographer Michael Gray's assessment of the Bob Dylan gospel song, "Pressing On."
"Pressing On" seems an instant classic of a gospel song, one you can readily imagine being sung in black churches.
And why not white? Whatever Bob Dylan aficionados might feel about his Christian songs, the best of them surely comprise a body of work that brings to contemporary religious song something fresh yet well-grounded in traditional strengths, something passionate and full of an authentic saturation in biblical teaching. Anyone can hear that it wipes the floor with all that awful Pat Boonery ... and those gruesome Age of Aquarius lasers-and-love productions offered to white worshippers over the last thirty years. Dylan's religious work has gravitas."

Gray has given us a strong formula: fresh yet well-grounded in traditional strengths + something passionate + full of an authentic saturation in biblical teaching = gravitas. Few would doubt that the best of Redman's songs over the last several years adhere to these guidelines. Let's apply them to this latest record.

"Facedown" begins with the rollicking "Praise Awaits You," an effective and typical introductory song for a worship set. What makes it stand out is the unusual chords underlying the simple melody. Redman is good at providing a delightful musical twist underneath a melody that meets the worship music requirement that it be easily sung by the average person. (This is something that Jeremy Quillo is becoming adept at as well on songs such as "From The Depths": listen to the unexpected note underneath the lyric in the chorus). Fresh yet well-grounded in traditional strengths? I'd say so.

Cut 2, "Nothing But The Blood" is Redman's ode to the classic Robert Lowry Sunday school hymn, "Nothing But The Blood" (1876). Comparisons are inevitable. Redman is up to it because he isn't afraid to be different in ways that he must be. Lowry's classic was full of perfect rhymes that, in 1876, did not sound trite (flow/ snow/ know) but which would fall into cliche now. Redman starts with a couplet that uses assonant, rather than perfect, rhyme:
Your blood speaks a better word / than all the empty claims I've heard upon this earth.
A captivating line. Surely if he had made himself the slave of perfect rhyme he would have cast aside the truism of this line in search of a closer match for either "word" or "earth," but he is a confident craftsman who knows what must be said.
He does it again in the chorus:
What can wash us pure as snow / welcomed as the friends of God
and he doesn't bother end-rhyming at all in the first couplet of the second verse:
Your cross testifies in grace / Tells of the Father's heart to make a way for us.
Of course, there is an internal assonant rhyme with "grace", "make," and "way."
The song works. It praises God while it teaches us (which is another form of praise to God, since His word instructs us to teach and admonish each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs).
This same praise/ instruction is evident on "Seeing You"," "Gifted Response," and "Dancing Generation." This is not "Theology Lite," this is authentic saturation in biblical teaching.

"Worthy, You Are Worthy" was cowritten with fellow Worship leader and songwriter extraordinaire Chris Tomlin, who also sings it with Redman on the disc. As such, standards are high.
It is a catchy tune, with three well-crafted verses.
The chorus begins with the simple but effective:
You're worthy / You're worthy / You're worthy / You're worthy to be praised
And then comes:
Forever and a day.
Wow. Did two of the Church's best contemporary songwriters just give us, as the closing line to their collaboration, the ultimate teeny-bopper cliche? Forever and a day? Like, totally.
Now, I'd imagine the songwriting session that produced this went down in a spirit of ironic truth. After all, praising God really is the one thing for which the phrase "forever and a day" makes sense. I can see them deciding that this cliche, used as it is, has been made "fresh" and has the ring of truth to it. It does, but the problem is, they don't sing it with any sense of irony -- it's just full blown, caution-to-the-wind, naked admiration of God. They mean it, which is only bad in the sense that they sing it as if they have no idea how over-used and trite this phrase is.
In spite of my critical outlook, "Worthy, You Are Worthy" swept me away. I listened to it three times in a row while driving yesterday, praising God -- and I, too, lost all sense of kitsch or irony, singing "forever and a day" for all it was worth. Then again, I am a Christian, a continuous outpourer, who, when not divided from God by my own sin, directs his outpouring Godward, as worship. And maybe the hectoring that I could imagine a secular critic, or any thinking nonChristian, would do upon hearing these lyrics, is simply due to "ways of the world" posturing. I could say that the reason we Christians can revel in this kind of lyric is because "God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise."
But though there is truth to that, we are, at all times, to be evangelistic -- even in our corporate expressions of worship. As such, this line is an unfortunate choice. The Jesusfreakhideout.com review of this disc contains the following opinion: "If you dig modern worship, this is your cup o' tea. If not, Matt Redman is certainly not for you ... only those into the modern worship scene need apply. 'Facedown' is a great, albeit exclusive, piece of work." I'm not sure that's a fair assessment of Redman in general, but it certainly fits "Worthy, You Are Worthy." (Of course, even Redman would say that his calling is to the Church, so to call his work exlusive is not really an insult; I would only offer the defence that, in most of his songs, there is a deep theological underpinning that even Christians who aren't into stereotypical modern worship, because of its light theology, would appreciate.)

One great spontaneous chorus and three compelling songs follow, including the title cut, "Face Down." Another strong effort in this trio is "Breathing The Breath," which contains a distillation of an over-riding theme of the album, the doctrine of prevenient grace, which says "before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man." (Tozer, "The Pursuit of God")
The lyric runs:
Every good, perfect gift comes from your kind and gracious heart /
And all we do is give back to you what always has been yours.
Redman hammers this theme home again and again on "Face Down," to penetrating effect. Remember, Redman isn't one of those generic, lesser worship writers who churn out The Gospel Of Good Times, dumbed down to sitcom-level. He's teaching us.

Another strong point on the album is "Mission's Flame." It is so easy to sing praise songs that are really all about us: "God, thank you for giving me stuff. Thank you for healing me. Thank you for blessing me. You are worthy to be praised because of how you've served me." Nothing inherently wrong with these themes, but the church needs more songs like "Mission's Flame," which, along with giving God glory in a direct way, actually inspire the Body of Christ to do the work of Christ:
Let worship be the heart of mission's aim / We're going with a passion for your name
We're going for we care about your praise / Send us out ....

The disc closes with a forgetable Redman song, "If I Have Not Love." The chorus begins:
This is a love song / this is a love song / Jesus a love song to you ....
He's breaking the cardinal rule of creative writing: "Show, don't tell."
Write a love song to Jesus, not just something that says "This is a love song to Jesus." We'll know it when we hear it, and more so, Jesus will. No need to explain what you're trying to do with your lyrics, just do it. Redman isn't the first Christian writer to fall into the "use the lyrics to tell what I want the lyrics to accomplish" pitfall ... far from it. Here's Bruce Carroll, a CCM darling of the mid-to-late 80's:
This is a song for You / just to try and show You how I feel.
Thank you for showing me that Your's is the love that is real.
In fact, writers of all styles and persuasions have done this on occasion. It's one of those clever tricks that works if it is rarely used, but not when everybody does it. Kind of like when Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd began addressing the viewer directly on "Moonlighting," or those infamous gun-dodges in The Matrix. Tons of imitations followed, and now the effect is cliched.

Nevertheless, "Face Down" succeeds in its aim to provide a true expression of worship. There are no "bad" songs, and the good far outweighs the mundane. There are certainly several examples of the kind of writing that has "gravitas," and fulfills the formula for doing so that Gray recommends. This collection is not a leap forward for Redman, but it is a steady journey along the path that is bringing the Church new music that will last, music that matters.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Wishes/ rants

I slide in and out of "blogger" moods. Right now I'm in an "out" mood -- I don't know what to post these days, and don't feel like posting. Have no fear, I'll be back in the swing of things again soon.

Here are three Christmas wishes/ rants for different groups of people in our society, based on conversations I've just overheard/ participated in here at work.

1. I wish all Republicans would realize that God is not their party chairman. And, unconvincing expositions of Joseph and the Seven Years of Plenty to the contrary, stuff like supply side economics has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ (except to the extent that the gospel is for everyone, from supply siders to commies).

2. I wish all Democrats would face the issue of abortion head on -- the real issue. Don't hide behind "choice." And don't try to divert the subject to another issue: ie. "Well, you have to admit that we Democrats care more about the homeless, or ending poverty, etc." Even if that is so, those in our society that are most helpless, that can least defend themselves (indeed, that can NOT defend themselves) are the unborn. Obviously.

3. I wish all singles who say things like, "How come the ones I want, don't want me, yet the ones I don't want to pursue me, do?" would ask themselves if maybe the proper question would be "Why do I want what I can't have, and why do I refuse to value what's in front of me?" Now this doesn't mean one should date someone they simply find unattractive, or that they have a personality conflict with, or that has little in common with them in terms of beliefs, goals, likes and dislikes, etc. But perhaps the people that you "feel" things for are not really the best people for you -- perhaps you feel what you do based on your low self-esteem or some other self-destructive mechanism, rather than "love." Perhaps you shouldn't be ruled by your subjective feelings (which we Christians sometimes pretend is "discernment"). And I have definitely been there, done that, as have the two here at work that I discussed this with -- they admitted it.

Well, now I've pretty much dissed the majority of people in America. So, um, sorry. But it needed saying. And I needed to write a blog column. Merry Christmas anyway, though. Really. Joy to the world.

8-)=

(smiley-faced vampire)

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

"Jive To The Monkey" 2005 Song of the Year

The staff and I here at Jive To The Monkey have voted, and the results are in. The 2005 Song of the Year award goes to writer Jakob Dylan and recording group The Wallflowers for "We're Already There," from their "Rebel, Sweetheart" album.

It's a haunting masterpiece that uses apocalyptic and common-place imagery to say, "Look where we are. Look at what has become of our society. Look at what all of our social experiments and our money and our technological advances have done -- look at where they've brought us. We thought we'd build a tower of Babel and reach heaven. And look where we are."

Here are the lyrics:

We're Already There

Quarter moon on a city grown thick
With good advice that won't stick
From the ballrooms to the suburbs
And the abandoned mines
Atlantis may be rising but we're all out of time

Colored lights on the fire escape
bodies move behind drapes
And the light is uneven and we're safer in pairs
And we're no match for what is waiting
For each of us out there

Whistle, baby while we walk
don't say anything, do not talk
The journey is over, it is time to exhale
Wherever we were going
We're already there

It's over the turnstiles and through the guardrails
and into Washington Square
Cause no amount of nightmares would ever compare
To the thought of only silence in this ghost-filled air

Whistle, baby while we walk
Now don't say anything, do not talk
The journey is over, it's too late to prepare
Why can't you see that, baby
We're already there

Here comes your silhouette
and more pillow talk
Here comes the ticking of these clocks
They say the quickest way to end a war is just to lose
Another chamber locks and I already withdrew

Here comes the booming and the hunger of each night
Here comes the burden of might
this day was not divinely made to leave you impressed
We may become someone someday, but we haven't yet

Whistle, baby, while we walk
Now don't say anything, do not talk
The journey is over, it is time to repair
Whatever we were building
Baby, we're already there

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Jive Monkey Gold: Our Place In The Story

I will return shortly with a new column but for now, here's the first issue of "Jive Monkey Gold," a reprinting of a former column, still pertinent, that you may have missed. This particular one features a message that will ring true till Kingdom Come:

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a publicspectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col 2:15)

The recent blockbuster Lord of the Rings: Return of the King left out the final scene from the book version. In the book, the hobbits return home to the Shire, as they do in the movie --triumphant. The ultimate battle between good and evil has ended, and good has prevailed. The righteous and true king has defeated evil and routed the armies of death. Peace has enveloped the land.
Here's where the movie departs from novel: as the hobbit heroes enter the Shire, they find that the hobbits back home are unaware of the victory.The vile wizard Saruman, driven out of his castle during the battle, has taken refuge in the Shire. He has assumed control of the humble village, aided by petty thiefs and bullies. So the returning heroes, aided by the knowledge that the True Victory has already been won, retake their Shire and corner Saruman. He tries one final time to scare the righteous into submission:" ... do not think that when I lost all my goods I lost all my power! Whoever strikes me shall be accursed. And if my blood stains the Shire, it shall wither and never again be healed."
Of course, he is bluffing. When he dies, the Shire is free.
Despite access to the Bible, we often act like ignorant hobbits, cowering in fear of an enemy whom our King has vanquished. TheGospels declare that Christ entered history to battle the devil. The pages of the New Testament are filled with accounts of such skirmishes, always won by Christ and His apostles. Jesus consistently displayed His power over death, disease, and demon possesion, then delivered the mortal blow at Calvary.
Satan's only real power comes if we let him blind us to thereality of his defeat (the Gospels) and the inevitable outcome of that defeat (Revelation). Let's keep reminding each other, and telling others, this Good News. The war is over; evil is defeated. Our enemy is mortally wounded. Every Christian who dies is initiated into an immortal army whose leader sits on a white horse, ready to free the Shire called Earth from the desperate last grasp of an enemy who knows his days are numbered.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, (Heb. 2:14)