Let God Speak 4: Arts and Culture page 1

I want to play you a song from the CD last year that most helped me to worship God.

[CD plays in background.]

This song is called 'Here I Am', and imagines God calling across the divide to human beings, wooing them to him. I particularly love the line, 

'You are from the dirt of the earth
And the kiss of my mouth
I have always been your lover
Here I am'.

The CD contains some other wonderful songs. One called 'Time In Babylon' expresses how people who wanted to change society for the better ended up disillusioned, because all we got was consumerism. A song called 'Can You Hear Me Now' is like those Psalms that cry out to God in the midst of pain, wondering if he is there. A track entitled 'Strong Hand' celebrates the life-long faithful marriage of the singer's sister and brother-in-law. Another one called 'Lost Unto This World' tells how God watches the suffering, even if human beings don't care.

There's just one thing I forgot to tell you about this CD: it's not by a Christian. It's by the much-lauded country rock singer Emmylou Harris. Emmylou Harris has had Christian friends in the music industry for many years, and at least two appear on this recording - the singer Julie Miller and her husband Buddy Miller, who plays in Emmylou's touring band. But the last I read, she has never felt able to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, this CD has spoken very powerfully to me. Tellingly (I think), it is called 'Stumble Into Grace', and I pray that if she hasn't done since, then one day Emmylou Harris may indeed stumble into the grace of God.

This experience has made me think very hard about how God speaks to us through the creative arts, such as music, poetry, literature, drama, and films. It seems to pose a number of important questions for Christians: one is about how and why God speaks to us through both Christian and non-Christian sources; another is about how Christians might use the creative arts in a constructive way so that people might hear God's voice and not ours.

Ultimately I've divided it down into two doctrines about the nature of God - the sovereignty of God, and God the Creator.

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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.