When I was in college in Birmingham, I used to attend a church called Brook Hills. One Monday in the lunch room I noticed a kid that had sung a great song at church. I approached him by the cereal and said, "That was a really good song you sang yesterday, did you write it?" He looked at me with unexpected disdain and replied, "No, God did." And then he walked away.
I felt like such a heathen. At that point in my life I felt like God had gone silent. I wasn't getting any word from him. He wasn't even sending me fortune cookie length messages and this guy was co-writing songs with him? I couldn't get God to send me a postcard with, "wish you were here" on it and he was having a Hall and Oates moment with the Alpha and Omega. I felt hopeless.
But now, I realize that sometimes we put God in the liner notes of albums I don't think he had anything to do with. I know that in some sense, God is infused in everything in the world and as a Christian he should be woven in to every part of your day, but this kid's song was not that good. I mean, I've seen God's work. He made the Grand Canyon and the platypus, when he gets creative, he really gets creative. But sometimes, in a variation of throwing the God Card, we thank God for things I think he'd just as soon say, "whoa, whoa, whoa, that chorus is weak and don't even get me started on that bridge. Leave my name off that song champ."
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
ROFL As a teacher of effective communication, I was more concerned with the way he addressed you. Not a very grace-filled way to share with you that he believes God inspires him.
JoJo
Hi! I'm site-jumping from http://cindyswanslife.blogspot.com/, and I just have to say your list is hilarious!
I spent almost two hours last night reading and laughing. I grew up in much more conservative circumstances, but A LOT still applies. Many of my friends are survivors of similar backgrounds, so I'm referring them to this site.
Thanks again for making me laugh SO hard - I hope your book gets off the ground. Good luck!
I've heard many people say that in the past, typically right before getting up and singing the worst song ever. Deep in my heart, even as I'm saying "that was a good song," I'm thinking, "maybe God should take it back."
didn't know you were from B'ham! (well, lived there) I'm there now! Well bless your heart! (referring to #whatever)
A friend emailed your site to me this morning and I've read back this far so far. This entry really reminded me of a chapter in the book "Survival Guide to Christian Culture". My husband and I picked that out of a $1 bin at Barnes & Noble while we were honeymooning. (Weird, I know.) We've since passed it around to a lot of our friends. If you haven't yet, you should check it out.
All Star United has a song on the CD "Love & Radiation" called "Song of the Year". It talks about this. It's hilarious.
A friend once coached me that it's "okay to smell the flowers before passing them on to God". I think a better response from that young man would have been to say, "Oh, thank you, yes, I did, but I definitely felt God inspiring me. I couldn't have done it without him" or "Yes, I did, but if God hadn't blessed me with..." you know, whatever. I think the kind of response that was actually given unfortunately destroys community and growth between individuals, and ultimately, between that individual and God. If one is not showing grace to one's neighbours, it is difficult to be in a close grace-filled relationship with God. And the effect it had on your life is further evidence of the necessity of grace. There's that verse in Corinthians about not causing a brother to stumble, and even though it sounds like something a Christian ought to say (that "God wrote that song"), it was a discouragement to you. I think we need to realize that we don't have everything figured out, and to acknowledge that God is always way ahead of us. There are other people walking this path with us, ahead and behind and at the same pace. And so we have no right to be proud, since there are others ahead of us, and no right to be disdainful, since those behind could use our help.
I had a friend in high school who tried to convince me that Limp Bizkit was a Christian band because the leader singer thanked God in his liner notes.
Wouldn't claiming that God wrote a song put it at the same level as scripture?
I took piano lessons when I was a kid, and every so often my parents would sign me up to play "special music" in church. It was bad enough that I had stage fright, but afterwards they insisted that I respond to any praise about my performance with the following: "Thank you, God helped me do it."
So the well-meaning grandpa would approach after the service and kindly thank me for my "musical offering", and I'd just want the floor to open up and swallow me whole before having to repeat my parents' required response. Particularly if my performance hadn't gone so well... how do you honestly say God helped you mess something up? Yeah...
I guess that's kind of the opposite of voluntarily saying God wrote the song for me, but this post brought back a similarly uncomfortable childhood memory. Good times!
"I couldn't get God to send me a postcard with, "wish you were here" on it and he was having a Hall and Oates moment with the Alpha and Omega. "
Ever come across a line you wish you had written? Well, for me, that one is it! *chuckle*
Post a Comment