Do I love “YOU” or do I love “HIM?” And when does "Him" become "you?" If I'm worshipping "Him" wouldn't I say "You" to Him? I know for sure I'm singing to Him about you! But you may not know that unless I refer you to Him.
This is the ongoing struggle in Christian writer's world since before the dawn of "You Light Up My Life". Churches are mostly suspicious if your song sounds too much like God could be your girlfriend. God forbid that you might see love for Him IN your love for others. Or speak to God directly even as you are in front of them. “But why not just say ‘he lights up my life’ if that is the true intention?” someone asked me in a discussion. Well first of all God is with me all the time; I don't talk as if He's not standing here at the moment. “Maybe it’s giving your listener the chance to make a decision for themselves” I suggested.
If you haven't checked the fine print in the definitions of "Proclamation" vs "Declaration" you should be seriously confused at this point. So, are we singing to the choir or the congregation? I'd like to think both! But then, maybe nobody’s listening. In the evangelistic circles I’ve swirled in, we’ve had a tendency to believe that it is our job to “make” people believe. Well that explains the high burnout factor in ministry work. “No one comes to the Father except he be drawn by the Holy Spirit,” I read after several years in Christian music. And all this time I thought I was convincing people.
A friend told me once "anything you can talk people into is something the devil can talk ‘em out of."
If you are sharing to anyone about a relationship with God, that would include You and Him. The trouble is, there's a third person in the room tryin’ to figure out who you are talking to. I always smile when I recall the comment, "If you talk to God people say you’re religious; if He talks to you people think you're crazy!"
I lost an evangelistic opportunity with a huge church denomination once. "WE want YOU to talk to THEM about HIM" was the concise evangelists comment to me over the phone. "We both have the same desire,” I said to him. "I guess it's a matter of delivery". Neither is wrong, but one is a declaration and one is a proclamation.
I lost an evangelistic opportunity with a huge church denomination once. "WE want YOU to talk to THEM about HIM" was the concise evangelists comment to me over the phone. "We both have the same desire,” I said to him. "I guess it's a matter of delivery". Neither is wrong, but one is a declaration and one is a proclamation.
I tend to speak directly to God and You, using the term "You". It removes a distance is the only way I can put it. It's not something I've taken lightly either. You pay a price for your convictions. What you say in every word will define to someone where they place you in their own files of integrity. Jesus too, managed to irritate the irreligious and inflame the icons of faith at the same time. They both wanted to hear something different. And the current surrounding may create a different story for your song than was intended. "He touched me" doesn't go over quite as planned if you're singing it in bar.
Here's where your own ethics must stand alone. The temptation to use "God talk" to appease those who are concerned about the legalities of the declaration will, in the end, stifle your God given talents to create from a place of pure Joy. But consider too that to “streamline” your lyrics to be intentionally vague so as to appeal to a wider audience sounds a little suspect as well. What are your intentions? In the end I think I need more than one way to be trustworthy. Anyone can say anything in dramatic fashion. Certainly the actor can play Jesus if he has the script. And a writer can create a fictional story based on non-fiction.
The truth for me is that I mostly see God's love for me in my relationships with His people. And my relationships with people surely point out my need for a relationship with God to survive it. Most of us need a demonstration of how a relationship with God works. Singing words to God in front of others is the way I do that.
The real conundrum is that my proclamations of love often fit more than one dynamic. I feel my love for God most when I am loving those around me. So does that make the song illegitimate for church? Depends on the agenda I guess. Not everyone is at the same mile marker on the journey. I sing faithfully from the place I'm in. Maybe it's simply my own life's diary. But who hasn't been tempted to read someone else's?
"You can feel the 'self-edits" in your writing," a publisher said to me once. "You are afraid to just say what you feel," he adds. "Stop trying to protect yourself. You are killing the passion". So . . . is it just ME, or do You and Him have a familiar connection in songs regardless of how it sings?
Here's where your own ethics must stand alone. The temptation to use "God talk" to appease those who are concerned about the legalities of the declaration will, in the end, stifle your God given talents to create from a place of pure Joy. But consider too that to “streamline” your lyrics to be intentionally vague so as to appeal to a wider audience sounds a little suspect as well. What are your intentions? In the end I think I need more than one way to be trustworthy. Anyone can say anything in dramatic fashion. Certainly the actor can play Jesus if he has the script. And a writer can create a fictional story based on non-fiction.
The truth for me is that I mostly see God's love for me in my relationships with His people. And my relationships with people surely point out my need for a relationship with God to survive it. Most of us need a demonstration of how a relationship with God works. Singing words to God in front of others is the way I do that.
The real conundrum is that my proclamations of love often fit more than one dynamic. I feel my love for God most when I am loving those around me. So does that make the song illegitimate for church? Depends on the agenda I guess. Not everyone is at the same mile marker on the journey. I sing faithfully from the place I'm in. Maybe it's simply my own life's diary. But who hasn't been tempted to read someone else's?
"You can feel the 'self-edits" in your writing," a publisher said to me once. "You are afraid to just say what you feel," he adds. "Stop trying to protect yourself. You are killing the passion". So . . . is it just ME, or do You and Him have a familiar connection in songs regardless of how it sings?
