I watched the Coldplay performance on SNL tonight. I imagine there will be a lot of different impressions of the songs, but I felt like Christ Martin demonstrated himself to be someone who throws himself into his performances - even if that is sometimes awkward.
That is my aspiration - to reach for what is real and spontaneous and scary in a performance, even when it requires stepping out into new territory.
This weekend I was asked for the thousandth time if my band is a “Christian band”.
It’s a tricky question - with many ramifications on either side.
If I say, “Yes, we are a Christian band”, then I pigeon-hole us in a way I don’t want to be pigeon-holed. In many people’s minds, at least, this would mean that we only play songs that directly talk about a spiritual or religious subject. To most people, it would mean we were playing “Contemporary Christian Music”, a genre that has less to do with Christian subject matter than with a particular sound that has broad appeal among the Christian market.
Neither of those things are true about us. We do not play CCM (Contemporary Christian Music), nor do I limit my songs to ones that have religious themes.
My approach to music is from a different direction altogether. Rather than set out a genre that I want my music to fall into, I set out from the start to write music about things I cared about. The things I think about and immerse myself in become the subjects and the inspiration for the songs I write.
Rather than set out to write a song about the theological notion of God’s grace, I write a song that arises suddenly and spontaneously from my experience of the utter depth of my faithlessness - and the recognition of God’s presence even there.
How could I say we’re a Christian band? But how could I say we’re not?
The issue is that we’ve divided the world up into the “Christian market” and the “secular market”, into “the Christian subculture” and everything else. We have Christian movies, Christian music, Christian comedians, Christian television, Christian books, Christian bookstores, Christian colleges, etc, etc, etc.
I don’t think Jesus intended things to be done this way. Jesus didn’t intend to set up a subculture - an insular group creating content only for themselves. Instead, he intended to create a group that would go out into the world and draw from his example to create, to transform the situations they found themselves in.
Rather than Christian movies, we should have Christians embedded in Hollywood, involved in the making of movies, influencing them to be deeper, more artistic, more authentic. Rather than Christian musicians, we should have Christians involved in the creation of music at all levels, embedded in the music culture, authentically expressing the human spirit.
If we shift from the idea of a Christian subculture to this idea of embedded Christianity, we will see something far more productive than simply an alternate version of whatever’s popular in secular culture. Instead, we will see the rise of an entirely new level of cultural and creative development, as Christians everywhere begin to use their God-given creativity to transform all of their lives.
If we shift to this idea of embedded Christianity, we won’t just see more songs written to be sung on Sunday mornings, we’ll see songs written to cruise to, to climb mountains with, to sing to your friends and neighbors. We’ll see music that addresses all of our God-given human emotions, that honors the depths of humanity created in the image of God.
And bearing the image of God in all that you do is definitely not a narrow genre.
It was our first day in Colorado. We arrived in Colorado Springs to play in the Glen Eyrie Castle. The only trouble was getting our trailer and equipment TO the castle.
Turns out, they don’t make castles for easy trailer-access.
The helpful castle residents informed us we would need to take our trailer out a trail they called the “Fire Road”. It would lead us up a steep mountain overtop the castle, and finally to the castle’s back door. And half-way through, we would need to reverse the car and trailer, and take the whole contraption backwards to the entrance.
Video can’t really capture the fact that a huge ravine lies directly to your side. But here is our attempt:
Daring Navigational Feat by The Redding Brothers at Pike’s Peak
I was walking down the block to check my mail, and I noticed the light. It was just before night, just before twilight actually, and the ambiance of the sky mixed with the streetlights. It illuminated the trees, giving a new depth to the reality of the street I was walking on.
And it occurred to me that this light would have been entirely different - if it were just the light itself. But this light was moving - constantly changing, and I could feel that by the time I got back to my house, twilight would have fully come. With every step, the light changed.
It’s change that makes life special, because real life moves.
When I was driving through the country-side, looking for the opportunity to refuel, I came upon a gas station selling fuel for $3.19. Or so I thought. Since gas prices had just been over $4.00, this was an amazingly low price. But as I got closer, I could see that gas was actually being sold for $3.39. Clever sign.
Clever and evil.
Gas is $3.19. Or is it?
Gas is $3.39!
Today, I walked beside the lake.
It was pretty - and I use that word only because “beautiful” is overdone. Beside the lake was anything but overdone. The grass ran right up the water’s edge, and a habit-made walking trail ran alongside it.
Insects fluttered in the grass, buzzing around, keeping things active. A misshapen dragonfly followed a circuit above the water, but it was the less pleasant bugs that had my attention.
If only the world was free of these, nature would be perfect.
Suddenly I saw something else. I imagined God walking along the water, and I saw him enjoying each of these insects as something unique, each fulfilling its purpose, each keeping the world alive and busy.
I’ve seen old paintings where man walks among the beasts, lions and snakes all in harmony under man’s leadership. It’s the ancient image of paradise - a kingdom of nature, with humans as the rulers. Man is the representative of god, the stories tell us, and humanity exercises his care for the creatures.
These insects weren’t intruders - they were mine. Not mine meaning ownership - but that they were there for me, for me to care for and watch over. And I was walking along the water as a man amongst them.
There’s something amazing about realizing the world is yours - regardless of who owns it.
And there’s something amazing about realizing that all the ugly, unpleasant things are part of the complexity and depth and beauty that make up the world.
Today I went to Starbucks. This was a Starbucks on a last-stop base in Kuwait, where soldiers come before finally reaching Iraq. My brother came through here when he went through his deployment.
I’ve gone more than 25 days without Starbucks, and now the ability to drink something familiar was an escape - an escape from the Arabic world I’ve been in for almost a month. Being 6000 miles from home for an extended period of time is something like being on a spaceship - when I’m at home, if I want something, I only have to drive minutes (at most, hours) to reach it. But here, there’s nothing I can do. If they don’t have something I want, there’s nothing I can do to reach it. If I started panicking, and wanted to go home, there’s nothing I can do. If I needed contacts, or special guitar equipment, or some rare tools, there’s nowhere to go. Even indoor restrooms aren’t something taken for granted here.
I’m in the desert, over 6000 miles from home, in a place where I’ve been warned not to venture far. There are anti-American communities nearby, and we stand out like a sore thumb.
Starbucks is like an escape, like getting to temporarily step outside the space capsule through a magic doorway, back into my neighborhood. And then walking back through the door and returning to the confined bubble thousands of miles from home.
So I ordered my normal drink, and sat inside the Starbucks looking out the windows at the blast barricades surrounding it.
Tonight was our greatest show so far - and to think it would be in the African desert.
I got up this morning, and walked 4 miles in the blazing sun, in a place where humidity reaches 100%. I’m not a sun person, but it was worth it. The trail led outside the military base, so I had to present identification and register to actually walk outside. They warned us about malaria, insects, and wild dogs. I wore insect repellent.
I did run into some wild dogs. They were actually kind of cute, in a weird, spotted-like-a-cow way. I picked up two sticks, just in case. After that, I saw what someone called “Meebos”, they look kind of like meerkats or squirrels, but weirder.
And of course, I saw French paragliders gliding over the ocean. The trail led out to the end of the runway for the military planes, so I stood at the end of it, and looked out to the ocean. Planes flew right by us. The French were here long before Americans, so they know how to have fun here - go paragliding in the early morning.
But the trip wouldn’t have been complete without the random truck decorated like a pinata driving by and the Africans inside asking us if we spoke French.
At least, I assume that’s what they asked. I don’t speak French.
Afghani trucks were the same way. Our semi-trucks are all about function - theirs get decorated like crazy.
We leave for the United Arab Emirates tomorrow. As always on this trip, we have no idea what will happen or who we will meet or where we will go when we get there. Someone knows, and they’ll tell us on a need-to-know basis.
It’s kind of nice.
I am a grand schemer; I devise plans not just for me, but for the world. And a small part of those ideas get put into practice, and change things. But most of it goes undone.
During the weekend in Atlanta, I attended the APCA conference, lived through a tornado, and set my mind on fire with ideas. Ideas that need DONE.
And so in determining to DO things, I’ve decided that I need to go public with my intentions. I need ideas and help from others, and the ability to bounce my ideas off the world.
My aim is to do more with my band than just deliver a concert. I want to create an experience, and transcend what bands are “supposed” to do. I want to empower people to turn around and create their own world, rather than being content to consume the one created by what’s left of MTV.
I’m taking baby-steps in that direction already. We’re working on partnering with some organizations that are doing important things. We’ve worked with charities (like the Heifer Project) that we felt were doing something unique and creative in the world. We’re moving into concerts that are more meaningful, and are more than just a show.
I want to make our concerts places where people build spontaneous community, not just an event people watch together. I want our concerts to empower and inspire people to go home and change their life. And I don’t mean that in a touchy-feely way.
Some concerts leave you feeling like you want to quit your job and burn down your house. Not because they make you feel destructive, but because they inspire you with the vision of something bigger and much more amazing that YOU are capable of.
I want to do that. I want to be that band. I want to inspire the next renaissance.
There’s my soul. I want your feedback.
-micah
Scientists have discovered that babies see colors differently than adults. Where babies see things are they “are”, adults process colors through the filter of their language. Apparently, people who speak Russian see blue differently than people who speak English.
This makes sense to me. After all, why does “pink” exist? We call light blue “blue”, but we call light red “pink”. Why is that?! Our language has made a different color where one never existed before.
Most of the time, when we look at a person or a thing or a color, we don’t see it for what it is. Instead, we mentally label it with some tag, like “pink”. That tag might have all kinds of thoughts and emotions attached to it. But that tag is not the real thing.
Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can see things as they really are. It might just last a second, but during that second, the world is so amazing.
