If you’ve spent anytime with me recently, you know I have a new favorite band. The band’s name is the Rend Collective Experiment. They’re a band from Ireland, which automatically makes them worth a listen, and they have an incredibly amazing sound. I was talking to a worship leader friend of mine recently, and he said that this style is what he’s been waiting for in terms of “church music”. They’re unapolgetically Christ-centered, which is kind a refreshing in our world of cross over, trying to be hip bands that are flooding our ears. They sing their message and they do it with an amazing sound.
What I love about this band isn’t just their willingness to be open about their faith and story, but that they are doing it with a surge of creativity that inspires me. I try to listen to a LOT of music. I love melodies and harmonies and all that fun stuff. At any time, my iPod may be playing a Dvorak or Bach piece followed by Garth Brooks or U2 or Mumford and Sons. You might hear a little Michael W. Smith and then a little Rich Mullins or Kari Jobe. I listen to all this music because I think life takes place in the midst of these rhythms and tunes. In listening to such an eclectic mix, I have found that as many good songs that there are, there are just as many really bad songs. I think what really irritates me though is the fluff that we often accept as music – especially when it comes to music that is supposedly Christian. I’ve had a long relationship with Christian music, but to be honest, recently it’s gotten pretty bleh. It’s more happy nothing music or it’s some artsy thing either of which don’t tell a story and produce hope or movement.
This is why I love Rend – they’re singing words that they’ve obviously wrestled with and thought through. They’re singing with purpose and I love it. Their purpose and intentionality is something that makes my soul perk up. That’s what happens with good music, but it’s also what happens when one has purpose. I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of purpose recently. I’m deeply appreciative for books like “Purpose Driven Life” and for what they have done for so many. However, I also think that the word Purpose has maybe watered down because it was everywhere and maybe purpose got drown out in the hype.
My recent preoccupation with purpose has dwelt in my rethinking of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. It doesn’t take one very long to realize that Jesus was intentionally headed to this place the romans called Skull Hill. As you read the Gospels, Jesus is bent in that direction. He tells his followers about it on multiple times (and yet even as they argued they still couldn’t believe it when it actually happened). But why did Jesus go to the cross? What was his purpose?
I think the answer is shockingly simple – His purpose, His intentional journey to death like a criminal, is directed at you and me. His purpose was us. His purpose was to cleanse us from all the effects of sin and brokenness. His purpose was to restore the crown of creation to it’s purpose. His purpose was to release us, and enable us, to be the difference – to be the purpose. His purpose was to give us His life so that we could be the creative spark in his hurting world. His purpose was to restore us to a place where we aren’t just floating through life – with a kind of fluffy uselessness – but with intention and an unapologetic bent of
offering the same purpose to others.
We get to do this. We get to live like this. We get to let the dry bones within feel the resurrection power of Jesus to beautifully transform us into amazing works of art. This isn’t something we “have to do” it’s something that we get to do. When we “have to” live this life of faith, then we start making music that is just noise – it’s uninspiring and it’s bland. When I “have to” worship or “have to” be a part of my church community, I’ve forgotten my purpose – I’ve forgotten His purpose in me. I traded in that purpose for dogma and diligent service, which is boring and not what we were given by Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong, I think we all go through dry places, Mother Theresa’s lasted decades. The difference is that she wouldn’t let go of the purpose of Jesus in her life, even when she struggled to feel it. This is our challenge as much as it was Momma T. Will we hold onto the purpose that Jesus has given us – will we be a people who live unapologetically as the creative spark of God in a drab and tasteless world?
The band I mentioned earlier, Rend Collective Experiment, has a song called Come on My Soul. The beat is infectious and the melody will make you smile. But the words are what give this song it’s power. Come on my Soul let down the walls, it’s time to look up. That’s all the song has in it in terms of lyrics, but maybe it’s all we need? Maybe we need to let the walls around our souls and hearts fall so that the purpose of Jesus could come shining through inside and throughout us? I pray this for us all – that we would be a people of unapologetic purpose – a people of flavor and the beauty of a life giving God song to those we encounter. May we conspire to be this kind of living proof…
Grace and Peace…
Location:Awake, my soul…
