But in this area - secular vs. sacred - I am learning that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. All Jesus music or, gasp, un-Jesus music (or literature, movies, you name it). Maybe there is a different way of looking at this great debate!
Usher in the fabulous Calvin Miller, whose study I just read -- A Hunger for the Holy: Nurturing Intimacy with Christ. Here are some excerpts:
"The marvelous Christ pervades the entire world of thought and study. We have nothing to fear, therefore, by growing in many directions at once. In fact, the more we know of psychology or literature or mathematics or philosophy, the wider our perception of God becomes. J.B. Phillips, in his well-known book, Your God is Too Small, grieved that the God of harried, busy Christians really is too small. If this is true, it is because we give Him only a fractional, religious place in our lives. As we allow God to be in charge of more of our world, our understanding of His immensity will grow." - p. 96
"How small we keep God when we force Him to be the author of some printed devotional guide or doctrinal statement. We had better let God grow! Then we may meet Him in the art galleries of our world. There we will see the Holy One of Israel in the colored pinpoints of the impressionists or the heavy umber warmth of Rembrandt. Were any of these artists atheists? No matter. God exists in the very threads of their canvases and will not be denied. Was the composer an unbeliever? Never mind. His unbelief will not lock God from the concert hall. Does a book we treasure as a great piece of literature not concern itself with God? Nonsense. If the book contains any beauty or makes any sense, it has come from God as surely as Jesus did. Not only has it come from God, but God inhabits its pages. We read and meet the incognito Jehovah who passes His truth from the writer's paragraphs to our retina and never mentions Himself. But if the book is full of light, it is full of God." - pp. 102-103
This last piece is critical to me - it is a new plumb line of sorts: If it is full of light, it is full of God. If it isn't full of light, I can be "nothing" about it, but if it is full of light, even though it is not overtly religous, is full of God and I need not abstain from it or fear it. Calvin Miller goes on to address this directly:
"Certainly God has called us to evaluate the messages contained in art and culture, however we need to engage our world, not run from it. As more than conquerers, God calls us to see His majesty in all the world around us." - p. 103
Amen! Like Dirty Dancing says: No one puts Baby in a corner. So why put God in one? The sacred in one? Spurgeon was talking about the Word of God here, but I think his thoughts still apply: The Word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.
Is my all or nothing bent when it comes to sacred vs. secular putting God in a corner rather than letting Him be the lion that he is?
Some final thoughts and a challenge to ponder from Miller:
"I will never force the cosmic Christ into some corner where I may feed Him sour bits of church life. Nor will we meet only where the institution agrees to our meetings. He will be mine in His own music, and I will be both His song and His enthralled audience. At the table we shall talk of our love, and everywhere else we shall glory in it. Thus the intimate wildenerness expands until all parades and markets join with nature to celebrate His presence and thrill to His silent and roaring reality." - p. 103
I'd love to hear your thoughts in response to Miller! Please comment away and lets dialogue.
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