In honor of ER's post on Keith Green, I thought I'd highlight the one contemporary Christian artist I like. Casting Crowns speaks to me, sometimes speaks for me, out of the depth of my own faith, and lack of it. They have a new CD coming out August 28, and a new single. Below are, first, the song that, no matter how often I hear it, makes me weep from deep within, because it speaks of my own fear, my own cowardice, my own desire to be what I wish I could be, but fear I will never be. It might be overused, but I can't help it. It's "Voice of Truth":
Also from their previous CD is a song that ponders the wonder embedded within the strange thing called Christianity, that the God who created the Universe has some kind of sense, some kind of relationship, desires to be with . . . me. It's called, "Who Am I?"
Finally, off their new album, The Altar and the Door, is their first single, "East to West":
Perhaps I will make a muddle of it, but I feel a need to explain something here. These songs touch me because they reflect the very deep sense I have of the reality of what the Church and the Bible talk about. It is too personal to relate, too deep for words, too strange to comprehend. Sometimes I think I hide behind debates about the nature of Christianity to mask my own sense that, in the end, it all comes down to the feelings expressed in these songs, feelings that highlight not glory and praise, but doubt, fear, awe, and the desperate wonder that comes from a very personal Divine-human encounter. I would take refuge in such subjectivism, but I cannot, so I try to make sense of it all. When all is said and done, though, the reality sung about here - this is my experience put to music. I cannot make it any more plain than that. This band, this singer, these songwriters say what I cannot say because, if I said it, it wouldn't make sense. When they sing it, it not only makes sense, it becomes real.
Virtual Tin Cup
