In my class today on Job, Dr. Perry highlighted this quote from Stephen J. Nichols book, Getting the Blues: What Blues Music Teaches Us about Suffering and Salvation.“For many American evangelicals, life is always like having spring or summer without winter or fall. Or always Easter and never Good Friday. Not everything, however—in life or in the Bible—plays out in a major key... A theology in a minor key embraces what we so often go to extremes to avoid... the harshness and frailty of life, the presence of sin and evil, the shortcomings and limitations of humanity. Blues invites us to embrace the curse through its articulation of restlessness and despair, longing and disappointment... A theology in a minor key also sounds a note of hope, as it leads us to the Man of Sorrows and the cross. The blues artists sang out of frustration, even vengeance. [But they] sang, giving voice to their hope for deliverance.”
-Stephen J. Nichols, Getting the Blues, 14, 34
2 comments:
So, in your context, how do you get your congregation to embrace the minor? In a society that says, "I don't want minor songs, those are too much of a downer," how do you teach the richness and pathos of music in minor keys?
I think it starts with God's revelation. He has given us his word and his work is FULL of lament and brokenness. Psalms, Lamentations, Jeremiah, the life of Jesus etc.
I think we need to help our people be honest with their feelings and create cultures that give people freedom to be real. God is real, Jesus is read, thus we should be honest and real.
Leaders have to model this or it will never happen.
Like most issues in the church, it's all about teaching and modeling.
z
Post a Comment