Sun, rain, art, salt, light

Today I was thinking about this verse:

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

The context of this passage is the radical command to love our enemies, but I was thinking about that last part of the passage, the part about God making the sun shine and rain fall on both “good” and “evil” people……and then wondering if there was any application for me as a Christian artist (an artist who follows Jesus). What does it look like for my art and music to be a vehicle God uses to bless not only those inside the Church (which is primarily where I’ve used it so far) but also maybe to people who wouldn’t step foot in church?

In college I was a huge fan of the band Caedmon’s Call. Caedmon was a monk of the 7th century who miraculously received the gift of music and songwriting through a divine dream.  I have heard it preached that his “call” was to write music for the Church; obvious, I guess, in that as a monk he was separated from the world. Interesting to note, though, is that (according to accounts we have anyway) his dream occurred before becoming a monk, before he was cloistered away in a monastery for the rest of his days…

As a writer of songs that are sung in places where congregations gather to worship, let me say that I fully embrace the calling some have to write songs strictly for the Church to sing.  This is part of what it means to be God’s holy people, the ones “set apart” to Him.  It is a different kind of writing to write for worshipping congregations than it is to write for top 40 radio (not to say that some songs don’t do well in both places).

But I’m wondering lately how to do more of the “salt and light”, “rain on the righteous and unrighteous” kind of music-making in a way that compromises neither the message of the good news nor the person that I am as a Christian. Talking to my wife about whether people will think I’ve sold out if the next set of songs I record make no mention of Jesus’ name, she says to me what I think are some pretty wise words:

It makes no difference—you sing the song that God puts in your heart, whether that’s a praise and worship song for the local church or a pop track for a wider audience.

And of course, she’s right. The intent must be right or the execution won’t really matter, at least not from the standpoint of my own involvement. Which reminds me, I need to finish this book.

Anyone else have any thoughts?