The birth of a Rock 'n' Roll Preacher ...
Last year, I read Michael Austin's Explorations in Art, Theology and Imagination. Austin talks about the different ways art connects to life, and one of his most interesting ideas in that art plays a prophetic role in our lives. In other words, art tells us how to live:
The artist, whether consciously or not, asks questions of us. The artist can and does often confront us with truths to which we would prefer to be blind and compels us to pay attention to them. Art can widen our perceptions of ourselves and of others and of our responsibilities and duties.
Art plays a prophetic role in a way that circumvents our rationalistic defenses. We allow art past our brains to the heart. We make space for art that we will not make for philosophical propositions and logical arguments. This is not to say that art is illogical or irrational, or that reason and art are opposed to each other. They simply work differently. As Austin says, “reason and imagination, argument and intuition, philosophy and the arts do work in identifiably different ways – ways which cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of the other’s ways of working”.
My own life story attests to the prophetic power of art … and to the limitations of artless forms of communication. When I received a New Testament from the Gideons in Grade 5, I got up early in the mornings to read the Scriptures. I couldn’t understand a single verse. Sunday School didn’t help either, and neither did "hearing the Word" at my friends’ churches. I never could put the propositional pieces together. By the time I hit my high school years, I gave up on God. I decided to live life on my own terms, which, for a teenager, meant living for cars, guitars, and girls.
During high school, I landed a job as a guitar teacher at a local music store. It was a sweet gig, paying almost twice minimum wage and a lot better than flipping burgers at McD's. In June 1981, a few of my guitar students, who I knew were “religious”, kept talking about a rock band coming to Winnipeg – The Joe English Band. I’d never heard of the band, but the band leader/drummer (Joe) had recorded and toured with Paul McCartney and Wings. (You can hear Joe on the Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and Wings over America albums.) I decided to go. What I heard at the concert was some of the best music I had ever heard in my life. The lyrics were laden with a spiritual message, but it wasn't really the lyrics that got my attention. It wasn't the message; it was the medium – the music. The medium WAS the message that night. My moribund images of God, spirituality, etc. changed as the music played on. The transformation was vivid and powerful. The music captured my imagination and I began to perceive new things about God intuitively through the great vibes sent out by Joe and his band playing together. The prophetic power of art accomplished its task.
Yes, there was more than art that spoke to me that night. Before the last set of the night, Joe put down his drumsticks and spoke about his spiritual journey. He talked about living the rock n’ roll dream and how empty it felt. He talked about meeting Christians who seemed to be fanatics at first, but whose lives convincingly conveyed the grace and truth of Christ to Joe. He talked about letting down his defenses and admitting he needed Jesus to forgive his sins and lead his life. As Joe spoke about finding Jesus, it helped me understand for the first time ever how Jesus could change my life. I went backstage after the concert to talk shop with one of the guitar players from Joe's band, who deftly turned the conversation to Jesus ... and me. A few minutes later, I was in a “prayer huddle” with Joe and the band, praying and finding my own connection to God in Christ. I went home that night a different person. And it stuck.
Looking back on that day more than 26 years ago (June 21, 1981), I can say that if it hadn’t been for the music, my life would not have changed that night. Music still speaks to me in ways that nothing else can.
p.s.: Joe told me that I was the first person he ever led to Jesus. However, I wasn't the only person touched by his music. Check out the The Gospel According to Joe, the story of a pair of music-deprived teenagers, John and Petie, growing up in rural Arkansas. Joe blew through their town in 1980 and left a lasting legacy.
The artist, whether consciously or not, asks questions of us. The artist can and does often confront us with truths to which we would prefer to be blind and compels us to pay attention to them. Art can widen our perceptions of ourselves and of others and of our responsibilities and duties.
Art plays a prophetic role in a way that circumvents our rationalistic defenses. We allow art past our brains to the heart. We make space for art that we will not make for philosophical propositions and logical arguments. This is not to say that art is illogical or irrational, or that reason and art are opposed to each other. They simply work differently. As Austin says, “reason and imagination, argument and intuition, philosophy and the arts do work in identifiably different ways – ways which cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of the other’s ways of working”.
My own life story attests to the prophetic power of art … and to the limitations of artless forms of communication. When I received a New Testament from the Gideons in Grade 5, I got up early in the mornings to read the Scriptures. I couldn’t understand a single verse. Sunday School didn’t help either, and neither did "hearing the Word" at my friends’ churches. I never could put the propositional pieces together. By the time I hit my high school years, I gave up on God. I decided to live life on my own terms, which, for a teenager, meant living for cars, guitars, and girls.
During high school, I landed a job as a guitar teacher at a local music store. It was a sweet gig, paying almost twice minimum wage and a lot better than flipping burgers at McD's. In June 1981, a few of my guitar students, who I knew were “religious”, kept talking about a rock band coming to Winnipeg – The Joe English Band. I’d never heard of the band, but the band leader/drummer (Joe) had recorded and toured with Paul McCartney and Wings. (You can hear Joe on the Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and Wings over America albums.) I decided to go. What I heard at the concert was some of the best music I had ever heard in my life. The lyrics were laden with a spiritual message, but it wasn't really the lyrics that got my attention. It wasn't the message; it was the medium – the music. The medium WAS the message that night. My moribund images of God, spirituality, etc. changed as the music played on. The transformation was vivid and powerful. The music captured my imagination and I began to perceive new things about God intuitively through the great vibes sent out by Joe and his band playing together. The prophetic power of art accomplished its task.
Yes, there was more than art that spoke to me that night. Before the last set of the night, Joe put down his drumsticks and spoke about his spiritual journey. He talked about living the rock n’ roll dream and how empty it felt. He talked about meeting Christians who seemed to be fanatics at first, but whose lives convincingly conveyed the grace and truth of Christ to Joe. He talked about letting down his defenses and admitting he needed Jesus to forgive his sins and lead his life. As Joe spoke about finding Jesus, it helped me understand for the first time ever how Jesus could change my life. I went backstage after the concert to talk shop with one of the guitar players from Joe's band, who deftly turned the conversation to Jesus ... and me. A few minutes later, I was in a “prayer huddle” with Joe and the band, praying and finding my own connection to God in Christ. I went home that night a different person. And it stuck.
Looking back on that day more than 26 years ago (June 21, 1981), I can say that if it hadn’t been for the music, my life would not have changed that night. Music still speaks to me in ways that nothing else can.
p.s.: Joe told me that I was the first person he ever led to Jesus. However, I wasn't the only person touched by his music. Check out the The Gospel According to Joe, the story of a pair of music-deprived teenagers, John and Petie, growing up in rural Arkansas. Joe blew through their town in 1980 and left a lasting legacy.
posted by The Rock 'n' Roll Preacher at
9/09/2007 07:33:00 PM
2 Comments:
This is an important story. I had a similar experience. Though I have no talent musically, I love music, and it was hearing my friend's Xian rock music that first alerted me that there might be something other than my stereotyped picture of church, etc. I listened to people like Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill and they convinced me there was something more worth hearing. That was also in 1981 - must have been a good year.
Larry Norman was the original Rock 'n' Roll Preacher! I still love his music.
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