The B-I-B-L-E, Yes That's The Book For Me...

Most Christ-followers like to have a good, strong dose of Christian in their preferred media. We like our songs to have a few Gods or Jesus' thrown in for good measure. We want our Christian movies or books to have a plenty of Bible. When the artists that create these art forms don't play ball the right way and get the vernacular up to speed, most Christ-followers take their toys and go play in someone else's yard.

Last evening, I had to be in a couple of different places at once. We had a Sunday school teachers banquet at church, while WCQR held a special VIP screening of the new animated motion picture "The 10 Commandments" at Marquee Cinema (props to them). While hastily scarfing down my fried chicken (hey, we are Baptists!) so that we could make it to the screening, someone at our table commented that they heard that the movie supposedly did not mention God. While I found it difficult to believe that could have been pulled off successfully (it wasn't...I stopped counting at about 37), my mind raced to all those conversations I had had regarding artists who "didn't sing about Jesus enough."

The archetype for said conversations in Christian music circles back in the day centered on the one and only, Amy Grant. When "Heart In Motion" hit the shelves in 1991, churches, Christian schools, Christian radio and the frozen food section of Kroger were all abuzz with incredulity at the thought of Amy going from "El Shaddai" to "Baby, Baby."
"She has left her roots."
"Not one 'Jesus' in the whole song."
"She says it is supposed to be about her daughter, but don't you believe it."
"Yada, yada, yada."

I bristle just thinking about those conversations. Now, 16 years later, no one wants to look back to consider how many more millions of people Amy was able to dialogue with through her music because of a few songs that were sung from a larger stage.

This blog entry was inspired by an article I read in The Christian Post with the following lead:

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) and the American Bible Society (ABS) have agreed to a long-term ministry partnership that celebrates songwriters who incorporate the Bible’s life-changing message into their music.

GMA president and CEO, John Styll, goes on to say: “Music has the power to inspire, while the Bible has the power to transform...With the Bible Society’s support as our ministry partner and their guidance as the administrator of the ABS Scripture Song category, the GMA is very excited about the prospect of raising up new generations of biblically-informed songwriters who will create music that both inspires and transforms lives.”

I have absolutely no problem with this. I think that it is wonderful to encourage artists to glean lyrics from the awesome, inspired word of God. It is, without a doubt, transformational. My problem is with those who would disparage other artists who happen to be Christ-followers simply because they write a few songs that don't meet the Holy word count standard, whatever that may be. In so doing they are merely taking cues from Jesus Christ, Himself.

There were times when Jesus chose to communicate using quotations from the law and the prophets. There were other times when Jesus told culturally relevant stories about life in order to make a point. We call these parables. Why can artists of today not do the same thing? In everything He did, Jesus modeled for His disciples (us included) how to best get the message across because He would soon be leaving it up to them to get it done.

Now it is our turn. Thank you to all the artists who continue to follow the path Christ lights.