"You listen to rock music?!" This is the shocked reaction I get 9 times of out 10 whenever someone finds out my music taste. Then, there are the crickets following my statement, "Yeah, Christian rock is my favorite." Somehow it changes everything when the singers are screaming about Jesus. It is something I've never been able to understand.
I recently attended one of the concerts in Lacey Sturm's tour, and it was an eye opening experience. I knew she was a Christian artist, and I had been to Winter Jam before, so that was the crowd and atmosphere I was expecting. The concert was at a night club, for starters, and the crowd was definitely not what I, a college cheerleader at a Christian school, was used to. You should've seen me when the mosh pit started! The audience was a sea of black, and everyone seemed to be wearing eyeliner, even the men.
I've had many of my Christian friends argue that Christian rock music cannot actually be "Christian" music, simply because the singers scream. Their old fashioned ideas say that hymns are the only songs that bring glory to God. Hymns are definitely not my cup of tea, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. My only thought is that the setting hymns are played in are churches, on Sunday mornings. Which again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! However, isn't it our job as Christians to witness to those who have never heard of God and his unending love and mercy? I believe that Christian rock artists, like Lacey, have the right idea. She, and other artists, target those who wear all black, hang out in clubs, and have been hurt by the world, to what they believe is beyond repair. Doesn't it seem like a great way to show the empty and broken the love that Christ has to offer?
We cannot "make" people become Christians, that commitment is between them and God. We can, however, plant the seed in nonbelievers to, at the least, expose them to the good that Jesus's love brings. So maybe, before we diss the way fellow Christians spread the good news that we are all tasked with spreading, we look at all the good it can do.
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
Matthew 4:19 NIV
