right now i am listening to a guy by the name of alexi murdoch. this guy has some kind of hold on my attention. it doesn't matter how many times i have heard his album, and believe me it's pretty worn out on my itunes, when i hear his voice spit out those lyrics and his guitar playing in the background i have to stop and listen. he is brilliant. he is honest. he is transparent. and most of all... he is talented.
music does that to us. it has the opportunity to stop us in our tracks. it can bring us back to specific times in our lives (a death, a love, a season, a loss, a win, a memory) and like some kind of mind travel device we are instantly feeling the same things we were before. music paints pictures that are only found in the deepest parts of our minds and dreams. it oftens says what we are thinking... or at least want to think.
in other words. music pierces the soul. it breaks walls long before the hearer is ready to let down their guard. it changes minds. it causes people pause.
music, in a sense, is lyrical portraits that are perceived by each person in a different way. so when we sing songs that are focused on the character and person of God, they are interpreted differently by every listener. this is the brilliance of music in regards to the worship of God. each person has the opportunity to have a very deep and personal relationship with God that is specific to them and is displayed within the larger scope of the community of faith. music, much like the preaching of the word of God, is heard specifically by each person in slightly different ways.
the portrait of who God is seen clearly by biblically based accounts of Him in song.
