Joshua Wagner Online now has a new home. The blog is now being hosted on DreamHost and is powered by Wordpress. I’ve been working on the new theme for about three weeks now, and I think it works pretty well. I’ll be adding to it here and there for probably a few weeks.
I’ve called the theme SlateBlue (for obvious reasons). I’m considering releasing the theme in some form, but I’m not sure yet. Any suggestions are welcome as well.
Enjoy!
[Image by NeitherFanboy]
On Sunday, I went to church online.
I had seen and been told about LifeChurch.tv and this week my wife and I decided to check it out. Here’s what I thought.
The message was great. I think God reminded me of a few things. I liked that the worship music was included in the service. The podcasts or vodcasts I know of don’t do that (admittedly, I only know of a few).
Overall, I think this is a brilliant idea. Church online had more attendees than some small local churches I know. There is even interactivity, via chat rooms and virtual hand raising. People connecting and praying.
This is a great outreach opportunity. The relative cost of going to church online is zip. You can just jump in, no questions asked. It allows for people wondering about God and church to check something out, and maybe get connected with a church and God. It allows people who, for whatever reason, can’t make it to services to “go” to church. This is leveraging the technology of the internet!
I think we should still seek face-to-face interactions in our communities, though. Being at church online made me miss being with everyone. I think that people connecting offline will never be replaced. Not that this is what I think LifeChurch.tv is trying to do (they have physical campuses all over).
But church online is good. Check out this post if you want proof! God moves in it. Welcome to a new era.
I sat down and watched Michael Hyatt’s presentation at O’Reilly Tools of Change Publishing Conference on “Blogging as a Tool of Change.” If you haven’t watched it, you should. And it got me thinking on how we use all this new tech.
One thing that he said in the presentation really struck me. “You’re not going to find the future unless you engage it.” That seems so simple, but so elusive. We can’t sit on the sidelines and expect to leverage these new technologies for our own good.
Change will come. It always has and always will. If you want to be a part of the change, you need to be involved. Get dirty with it, try it out. I have been finding out lately that the more tools I try, the more incredible the landscape becomes. I see more opportunities and think of more ideas.
And make no mistake, the future is on the internet.
Just a few thoughts today.
In my previous post, I said that music is essentially a vehicle of meaning. Music communicates emotions, but can only communicate so many before something else is added.
Adding Layers
Adding words to a song makes it more specific. The sounds of music are like broad strokes on the canvas. Lyrics are the details. They bring the fuzziness of emotions into focus, or increase the effect.
When you add somber lyrics to a somber tune, it intensifies the effect. When you add worshipful words to a glorious melody, it makes you want to worship. You can also add irony and tension. If you mix the two (happy tune, sad lyrics) you can add shades of meaning, ranging from comical to satire.
This is why music says it better. If you say “I love you” to your spouse, that says a lot. If you sing it to your spouse, that adds the extra emotions. (Valentine’s Day hint…)
Creating a Response
We write music to convey something. The human who creates the music shapes the meaning. And this applies, I think, to individual performances as well. One band can mean one thing with a song, but another band plays it and it conveys something else.
We also have our own response. Art is about expressing Truth beautifully. As such, the same music can have different meanings to different people. Rock music is a good example. To some people, it means to express freely. To others, it is connected with rebellion. Always remember the context! And when you use context well, it empowers the song you write.
Remember, oh you writers of music, the power you wield.
Music as Language
Music is powerful to us humans. We consume – no, devour – music for everything. We play it for celebrations, we use it for sorrow, we use it to vent, we play it to romance.
Music at its core is a language.
Compare it to a spoken/written language. Music has letters (notes), words (musical phrases), sentences (verses), and together they make stories (songs). A song tells you something. That something is its meaning.
Vehicles of Meaning
I read the phrase “language is a vehicle of meaning” and I immediately thought of music. Music does the same.
For example, if I write a bouncy, light, skippy tune, you might think of something happy. If I write, a dark, somber, plodding tune, you may feel something sad. This effect is extremely powerful! I can make you feel something with just timed sound.
However, I think there are some limits. I can’t really make you think something specific, like say the day Dad took you to the ball game, or the feeling you felt when your best friend moved.
Music superimposes itself on us. It uses our past. If some soul had never, ever heard any music, they probably could guess the bouncy tune was happy, but they would not know that it was written to resemble the way a family dog bounced on everything.
This idea is important though. There are certain emotions you can convey well, such as happiness, sorrow, longing, anger, or reverence. Outside of these emotions, you would need some other experience or opinion. If you heard a certain tune every time your parents were angry, then you would associate that tune with those events, even if the song does not deal with that.
Always search for the purpose of a song. Especially the intent of the writer and performer. The whole meaning of a song includes the human intent and the human interpretation.
The purpose of all art in the Church is to glorify God.
When the Church creates art, it is expressing what the soul wants to say to God. It is our expression of what God has revealed to us to be Truth (as in absolute Truth). This can be in a worship song of adoration, a novel based on a biblical story, or a painting of a sunset.
So how is it that we glorify God with our art?
From my standpoint, I see three big ways art from the Church glorifies God.
Building Up
When art builds up the community of God – His Church – then the art brings glory to God. Some examples include worship music and books dealing with our relationship with God. When a local church sings praises to God, the people get closer to God. When we read a book that shows us how to pray, then we are encouraged and given knowledge. These things build the community. As the community is strengthened in God, He is given the honor for it.
Reaching Out
When art reaches people outside of the Church – as in leading people to Christ – then the art brings glory to God as well. When the Church grows, the fame of God increases. He receives the credit. Examples here include movies or plays that intentionally reach out to people. If someone goes to a church Christmas production and realize that a relationship with God is what they need, then God receives glory.
Personal Expression
Art leads the soul to some Truth, and there God is given glory too. This category is quite broad, and it also gets into some gray areas. What I mean here are the works of art that point to God. Much of Christian music can fall into this category. Hawk Nelson doesn’t make music that is designed for worship. They play music from a biblical standpoint, pointing out spiritual truths, or looking at life through the lens of their faith. Much of literature (novels, poetry, stories, etc.) could fall in here. Thomas Kinkade paints a beautiful picture, but he doesn’t paint (I don’t think) to reach out. He paints because that is how he expresses beauty. And that beauty, in some way, reflects the beauty of God. When we see that, we thank God for beauty, and that glorifies Him.
This is most certainly an incomplete list. And many of the examples could fit into more than one category. Think of the Psalms. Most of them could fit into the first and third categories easily.
The point is this: each category has a place in the realm of art from the Church. Just because your music isn’t sung on Sunday mornings doesn’t mean it isn’t Church music! Isn’t it wonderful that we have so many ways to glorify God?
So go, create!
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