Christian Enough

I have a confession.
I listened to my first Christmas album of the this season today.
I am not advocating celebrating Christmas before we celebrate Thanksgiving.
I am not trying to blend the holidays all together so each is unrecognizable.

If truth be told, I will begin to listen to Christmas music in a few weeks.
We decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving.
On that day and until December 26, Christmas music will be wafting through the house.
I had a distinct reason for listening to a Christmas album as I drove around.

It was all because of an article I read before I set out.
The November 1 article was in the Washington Post and it was written by Jennifer Cooke.
Jennifer Cooke is Amy Grant’s manager.
Amy Grant and her Christmas albums are a mainstay in our home.

I would have been a good contestant on Name That Tune.
I can name that tune in two notes, I could absolutely say.
I only have to hear two notes to know that it is Nat King Cole’s, The Christmas Song.
I only have to think of Christmas music and I think of Amy Grant.

This year, Amy came out with a new Christmas album.
I got it soon after it was released.
I was going to wait patiently until the day after Thanksgiving.
The Washington Post article changed my mind.

Jennifer’s article began:

I moved to Nashville in 1989 to begin my career in Christian music. I was immediately struck by the depth of thought and the vast number of immensely talented artists and writers I had never heard on Christian radio. I soon came to understand the word “gatekeepers” — those in Christian radio and retail who decide what to play, promote and sell.

There is an odd question and reality in the Christian music business: What is a “Christian enough” song or project recorded by someone who is “Christian enough” that deems it worthy of exposure and commercial viability via Christian radio and Christian retail?

I had to reread the second paragraph.
What does it mean to be a “Christian enough” project?
What does it mean to be a “Christian enough” artist?
Why is the emphasis so much about the bottom line?

As I read on, my questions were addressed.

It was perplexing to me as a Christian to realize that to be promoted on the radio and in retail, each song really needed to be able to be neatly wrapped up in a “Jesus is the answer” bow. Of course, I believe Jesus is the answer, but I also find him to be engaged in the midst of our humanity and that there is also something beautiful and holy to be explored in our humanness…And here we are again, Christmas 2016. Grant has released her first (all new) Christmas record in nearly 20 years and the debate is on again. “Is it Christian enough for Christian retail to support?” LifeWay Christian Resources, the large Southern Baptist retailer, decided it wasn’t. It’s their choice, and it’s okay.

I had to listen to Amy Grant’s new Christmas album.
I had to break the no Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving rule.
I thoroughly enjoyed every song.
I failed to see the problem, except that the album did not have the, “Jesus is the answer” bow.

I thought about my own writing.
I have Scripture in each of my blog posts.
However, the stories themselves are just stories.
They are stories in which, and through which, I see Jesus.

I thought about a quote from C.S. Lewis.
Lewis has the uncanny ability to sum up truth in a succinct way.
Lewis sums up my feelings about this controversy perfectly.
This quote is always in the back of my mind when I write.

The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature. (C.S. Lewis)

Lewis is saying that we do not need the Jesus is the answer bow tied around our work.
When we are believers in the Lord Jesus, He is present in all we do.
When we saturate ourselves with the Word of God, His truth is breathed out.
We cannot hide the fact that we belong to Him or that we spend time in His Word each day.

When the apostle Paul preached in the synagogues, he used Scripture references.
When the apostle Paul spoke in the marketplace, he spoke the same truth.
The truth was woven through all Paul had to say to them.
However, Paul did not quote Scripture directly to the people in the marketplace.

Would we dare say that Paul did not tie the Jesus is the answer bow?
Paul spoke of Jesus every chance he got.
Paul breathed Jesus in his daily life.
Paul boasted only of knowing Christ and making Him known.

One of the songs on Grant’s new album is called, Melancholy Christmas.
It deals with the reality that Christmas time is difficult for many people.
Amy Grant does not sing the name of Jesus in that song.
But He is there; Jesus is always there.

I’m singing out this song til every lonely soul has heard. We’re not alone ’cause Love has put His arms around the world…To be together…At Christmastime… So every time that lonely feeling comes around again, listen Love is knocking here wanting to come in… to be together.

Jesus’ name is never overtly mentioned.
However, Love, with a capital L, is mentioned.
We who are in Christ know that God is love. (1 John 4:6)
We know who Amy Grant is talking about in her song.

God is present in everything.
Sometimes you have to look a little harder to find Him.
He is there.
He is unmistakably there.

We do a disservice to others when we neatly tie up a piece of writing or a song.
We do them a disservice when we neatly tie a Jesus bow on a painting or a photograph.
God reveals Himself to us.
Jesus spoke in parables, which never tied up anything neatly.

The listener walked away and would later have the “ah-ha” moment.
I was the son who ran away from his father or I was the woman who found the pearl.
I was the man who wanted to build bigger barns or I was the lost sheep.
The ah-ha moment allows us the freedom of discovery as the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.

No neatly tied bow.
Stories that paint a picture and point us to Christ.
Jesus’ name was never spoken in any of the parables.
Using the current litmus test, would the parables be Christian enough?

It is not up to us to tie the Jesus is the answer bow around everything to make Him known.
Jesus will be known.
The Holy Spirit makes sure of that.
We have to be faithful to God’s Word and to the Lord Jesus in all we say and do.

The duty to be faithful is ours.
The result of our faithfulness is God’s.
The question is not, Are we Christian enough?
The question is, Are we faithful enough?

That makes all the difference.