MTV, Against Me!, Joy and Jesus
December 18, 2007 6:00 pm Blogs
One week ago MTV named Against Me! the artist of the week and Spin Magazine named their latest album released in July, album of the year. Against Me! is a punk band doing very well right now and since musical artists are the quasi prophets of the day I thought I’d see if they had anything to say about joy since we’ve been talking about joy and Jesus lately.
I was surprised to find they actually have a song titled “joy.” I was even more surprised when I read the lyrics. Here’s a piece “…in passing I am asked ‘Do you believe in a God?, I shrug off the answer, continue to get high in this terror of no explanation. I am looking for a faith. My panic is an only reason. There’s a joy, a joy in all I can see. A joy, in every possibility.”
Interesting words. An sober admission of fear, longing, and need for an answer and yet seeing none and resolving to find joy in simply the question or the possibility. What does this have to say about who we are as humans and does it have anything to say about the gospel of Jesus?
We experience fear when it comes to God for sure. But I think fear isn’t so much just a fear of whether he exists or not but a fear of what that means if he does. Because if God exists then I am not God and I am responsible for my actions and I ought to worship him and what does it mean if I don’t? That is scary for sure.
What about the longing? The feeling of searching or wanting or feeling lost or estranged are surely common among us all. The sense that things are right and that something is missing. We are looking for faith. We know there is something wrong with us that needs to get fixed. It just seems we prefer to keep looking sometimes because we know that if we embrace Christ then we will have to repent of some things and the way of our life will have to change.
The most striking thing about this song is the conclusion…joy in possibility. Can there really be joy in possibility or is this just an excuse like saying, “well since I can figure it out I guess I’ll just keep on doing whatever I want and having fun.” If so, then the issues of the heart just never get dealt with.
This is Christmas. When Jesus was born the angels of heaven announced it and said that his birth was the birth of the gospel of great joy for all peoples. This Christmas know that the answer for all our fears and longings is Jesus. His is the only true anchor for joy because he was born perfect and stayed perfect. Jesus never messed up his heart his whole life and gave his life on the cross for all who would embrace him and receive his life in exchange for their fear condemned broken and hurting heart. In Jesus we have a savior…one who saves us from ourselves and gives us his eternal joy.
-Pastor Duane