Mockingbird

Yahoo! Music Unlimited is wonderful. Using "Christmas money," I purchased a one year subscription to the service, including the "To Go" option. Now, I can download millions of songs if I want, and then transfer them to my Treo 650 using a program called Pocket Tunes and a 1gb SD card. It's a pretty slick setup, I must admit. The only downside is I can't burn any of the songs to CD, but I have a small FM transmitter that can "broadcast" the music to any FM radio. CDs are sooooo mid-90's, anyway.

One of the biggest draws of the subscription service is that I can try all kinds of new music with no further investment. It will even recommend similar artists if you are looking for someone who sounds like Caedmon's Call, as I was the other day.

That's when I stumbled across Derek Webb. The former front-man for Caedmon's is now putting out solo albums. He released She must and Shall Go Free in 2003, and Mockingbird, released this past December. He also released I See Things Upside Down and The House Show in 2004, but I haven't listened to either of them yet.

In light of my previous post on Christian music, it was refreshing to find Webb's music. I "grew up" on Caedmon's Call in college, when I still bought music on CDs. I had Caedmon's Call and 40 Acres, and I listened to them almost nonstop. I always thought the lyrics actually meant something, in contrast to most of the "Christian" music out there.

Webb's recent work maintains this same standard. On the second track from Mockingbird, "A New Law," he mocks the legalism and popular Christianity that is so prevalent in the church today.

And don't teach me about politics and government
Just tell me who to vote for
And don't teach me about truth and beauty
No, just label my music
And don't teach me how to live like a free man
No, just give me a new law

I don't wanna know if the answers aren't easy
So just bring it down from the mountain to me
I want a new law
I want a new law
Just give me that new law

And don't teach me about moderation and liberty
I prefer a shot of grape juice
And don't teach me about loving my enemies
And don't teach me how to listen to the Spirit
No, just give me a new law

I don't wanna know if the answers aren't easy
So just bring it down from the mountain to me
I want a new law
I want a new law
Just give me that new law

Cause what's the use in trading a law you can never keep
For one you can that cannot get you anything
So do not be afraid
Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid

Isn't that exactly what many in the church want today? Please label my music "Chrisian" so I can listen to it, even though the artistic quality is terrible. Please replace the communion wine with grape juice, so I can be holier than that wine-drinking Jesus fellow. Please tell me which candidate to vote for, since everyone in heaven will be white, middle class Republicans.

On "The Rich Young Ruler," Webb sings,

So what must we do?
Here in the West we want to follow you.
We speak the language and we keep all the rules,
Even a few we made up.

Rather than preaching a life-changing, all-consuming Gospel, we reduce "Christianity" to saying an initiation prayer (from your heart, of course) and a new set of do's and don't's. "Go, sell everything you have, and follow me" is now, "Walk this aisle, pray this prayer, stop drinking, smoking, and dancing, and don't say any of the words on this list right here…"

When you read the gospels, you notice that Jesus never heals people the same way twice. He uses spit, mud, his voice, touch, and even the hem of his clothing. His ministry was never reduced to a formula that applied equally in all situations. Unfortunately, we have reduced our modern Christianity to a checklist, a formulaic step-by-step process that we've devised that will hopefully lead us all to heaven.

"What's the use in trading a law you can never keep, for one you can that cannot get you anything?"