Chad
Darkness as a backdrop
Sep 8, 2009
One criticism I have of Modern Christian music is our fear of being too transparent... Many of our greatest Christian leaders and writers suffered with depression, anxiety, and other dark areas of their soul. When we read the Psalms we could easily come away thinking David is Bi-polar at best... While I don't necessarily believe in glorifying our past, I do feel we owe our listeners an Honest representation of our Present... Why one might ask? Truth be known, even at our best we don't have things all together... It is important that we let our audience know their struggles are the norm and not the exception... Even on the mountaintop we can still feel in the Valley... The challenge is not showing people there is Hope in God. Rather, The challenge is painting God's Hope amidst the backdrop of the dark places in our soul... I believe this duality is what made David a man after God's own heart... He did not run from the man in the mirror. Rather, He described exactly what he saw, and then contrasted that with the Light of God's Truth... God give us the guts to pull out the songs that are really in our hearts!
Sadly, Mental disorders and depression have become the Leprosy of our day in Christianity... We run from what we don't understand because Christians are supposed to have "Sound Minds"... Even worse we stigmatize them as merely "Struggling". Struggling to me conotates immaturity and lack of self restraint. I myself find this insulting and offensive to those who are SUFFERING, BROKEN, and INTERNALLY BLEEDING... God give us Hearts that Love, Arms that Embrace, and Songs that Heal our dear brothers and sisters in Christ:)
Unfortunately I think all too often we only view brokenness in the light of sin... Often our failings and sin shed light on a deeper brokenness of the heart. Yes, A brokenness of heart even common among mature Christians:(
It's a mystery that we the "Broken" are not instantly healed by Christ like the lame. Rather we find our own healing by binding the wounds of the "Broken"
“Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve.”
- Thornton Wilder
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