David Bazan

David Bazan is an enigmatic artist that I was introduced to in college by my buddy Josh. (Something of a musician in his own right as I understand.)

I first heard Pedro the Lion in a dorm room at NC State; I was instantly hooked by David’s simple, narrative songwriting, and that voice. It’s been described as mournful, sad, raw, and probably dozens of other adjectives… but the one that speaks most to me, is honest. David’s songwriting spoke to me, as a non-Christian, from a place of honest faith, that had real questions for God, and didn’t presume to have all the answers.

Fast forward some nine years. I’m a self-described born-again Christian, and David Bazan isn’t. Incidentally, his latest musical offerings are just as probing, personal, and meaningful to me as ever. What’s so compelling about a “fallen Christian” to this believer?

His honesty. David Bazan is, in my mind, a man after God’s own heart. He reminds me of another pretty well known David at various points in their respective lives. There’s no doubt that he’s made mistakes in his life, he sings about them often enough, as did King David. How many times in the Psalms does David seem to doubt God? We hear time and time again of a brokenhearted servant who feels abandoned by his God in the midst of trial. Despite that feeling, those doubts, and a colossal fall from from his place of anointing in the act of adultery and murder…

Somehow, God still had a place for him. Not just a place, but a place in the lineage of the Messiah himself.

Why is it then, that in the American Church today we see no room for questioning? No room for doubt? A great, but lengthy, piece in the Chicago Reader on Bazan entitled, The Passion of David Bazan: At the Cornerstone Christian rock festival, a fallen evangelical returns to sing about why he broke up with God.

Speaking of  Christianity, David says:

The last 30 years of it have been hijacked; the boomer evangelicals, they were seduced in the most embarrassing and scandalous way into a social, political, and economical posture that is the antithesis of Jesus’s teaching.

In the article, we hear about the youth crowd’s continued embracing of David as a musician, about their stubborn refusal to accept his own explanation of where he is, and what he believes or in this case, doesn’t believe.  This is a shame, for an artist to be misunderstood so blatantly by many of his greatest fans, but even worse, is the bitter, angry, and decidedly un-Christian way a portion of the crowd responds to this man.

Pointing fingers, probing questions about the man’s faith, and “How his relationship with God is.” I’m not talking about a close friend, a pastor, or a family member here. I’m talking about the self-righteous youth of mainstream American Christianity. I’ve seen it over and over, and it breaks my heart every time. How could we fail so miserably as a church as to give our children just enough of doctrine and biblical knowledge to know how to “identify sin”, but fail to pass on the humility with which to handle this knowledge? There is so much focus on how we “walk with God” that there seems to be almost no acknowledgment of how big God is, and just who is in control.

Furthermore, how is it possible for a person to personally know, and appreciate the weight of the limitless Grace of God, but not then extend that same grace to his brother?

I, for one, don’t think it is possible. I fear that the faith of our generation, is a largely superficial, and shallow relationship that’s more about what God can do for us, than why we need Him.

Regardless, I urge you, if indie rock-and-roll is something that interests you, to give Bazan a listen. He’ll challenge you, he will ask questions that we all find ourselves asking, he’ll occasionally swear, and most of all, I promise he’ll move you.

A new track of his is available for free download here. The song is a take on the beatitudes from the point of a view of a man who has found himself poor in spirit, a mourner, and most certainly hungry. It’s both pessimistic, and hopeful.

This morning I had the opportunity to take part in the democratic process of this nation. Despite my resentment for the way these recent elections have been held, it was an absolute honor to enjoy the freedom of going into a voting booth this morning. As if that’s not enough, our happy consumerist culture gave me the opportunity to enjoy a free cup of coffee, simply for having an “I voted” sticker on my shirt.

The optimism embodied in this short ad is something sorely lacking today. Despite there being a significant push this year, as years past, to “get out the vote” there has been a certain cynicism about the whole thing. I’ve fallen prey to it as well, but I find hope in this:

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men– as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

1 Peter 2: 11-17

In being good citizens, both by actively voting, then later by holding our politicians accountable to their duties in office and promises to the people… we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So regardless of who wins this race, it is my hope that we as citizens and Christians submit to our new President as is our duty… and that we hold him accountable to that which he has sworn to do.

In doing so, let us also hold the factions of the Democratic and Republican parties accountable, and not let fear mongering deter us from voting our conscience in 2010, and 2012.

I came across an interesting article about the state of the modern church in America today entitled Beauty and Waste: More thoughts on Space and Worship. The blog is called Architecture + Morality, and has 3 contributors… an Architect, a Civil Engineer, and a Pastor. I learned of this blog via Treehugger. It’s rare that my religious readings and my design-based readings intersect, but it would appear that there are others out there who see an inherent connectedness between the work of the Architect and the spiritual state of the modern world. What really jumped at me in this post, was a quote about a man named Soren Kierkegaard.

“Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher-theologian, once described how he went into the great cathedral in Copenhagen and sat in a cushioned seat and watched as sunlight streamed through stained glass windows. He saw the pastor, dressed in a velvet robe, take his place behind the mahogany pulpit, open a gilded Bible, mark it with a silk marker and read, ‘Jesus said, “If any man be my disciple he must deny himself, sell whatsoever he has, give to the poor and take up his cross and follow me.”‘ Kierkegaard said, ‘As I looked around the room I was amazed that nobody was laughing.’

Kierkegaard wrote a lot about Christendom (note, not Christianity) and the failure of the church and its applied religion within his society. I feel much the same way that Mr. Kierkegaard felt about the state of Christian Church in America today. This is a very conflicted emotion for me, being a relatively new believer (just over 7 years now) and seeing so much wrong with the American Church. What makes this even more difficult is the fact that it’s not a specific denomination, or even a readily definable group of churches.

I look at the multitude of churches, fellowships, and gatherings of Christians across the United States, and instead of seeing the Faithful Church or even the Persecuted Church… I see the Loveless, the Compromising, the Corrupt, the Lukewarm, and the Dead Church. I wonder if ever in man’s history has the Church needed God more, and at the same time sought Him less? Perhaps the last days of the Holy Roman Empire just before the Protestant Reformation?

It makes me wonder if we’re right on the cusp of some sort of spiritual cleansing of the modern church right now… I guess only time will tell.

(image originally found here)