Isn’t the Light OK?

Andrew Osenga’s at it again. Seri­ously, I should just pack this site in and repub­lish his blog entries, because he’s much bet­ter at artic­u­lat­ing my own issues with the con­tem­po­rary church (and its’ artis­tic expres­sions) than I am.

Any­way, this time he’s talk­ing about fear and safety, and ask­ing why, if we fol­low a God who com­mands us not to fear, must every­thing we’re involved with be “safe”? It’s a good ques­tion, and I think it has as much to do with the usual sus­pects (con­sumerism, hyper-individualism, the “pack­ag­ing” of the Gospel, etc.) as it does with our own desire for rules imposed from the out­side. In many ways, this makes me think of Derek Webb’s song A New Law:

don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for

don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

I think it’s fit­ting that Webb ends that song by repeat­ing, mul­ti­ple times, “Do not be afraid.” In its own way, the end of the song reminds me of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunt­ing, hug­ging Matt Damon’s char­ac­ter and repeat­ing “it’s not your fault.”

At first Damon reacts on a purely intel­lec­tual level, just brush­ing it off with “I know.” Then as Williams keeps repeat­ing it, it begins to sink in, and Damon starts sob­bing uncon­trol­lably as he sheds his outer lay­ers of cool indifference.

While I didn’t cry like a baby, the first time I heard this song, Webb’s “Do not be afraid” hit me in a sim­i­lar way. At first, I heard some­thing that made sense in my mind, so I assented, “Of course — we shouldn’t be afraid.” Then with each suc­ces­sive rep­e­ti­tion, I began to think of his rea­sons for putting this at the end of the song, and it finally hit me.

If we were truly “not afraid,” we’d be able to trust the Spirit wher­ever he leads, even if it’s into places or sit­u­a­tions that aren’t safe or “fam­ily friendly.”

Pop­u­lar­ity: 6% [?]

This entry was posted Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 6:00 am. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.