- 1. Read Tiff's recent blog post
- 2. Click here to listen to Casting Crowns' song "Stained Glass Masquerade" and think about the words
Sometimes their music is repetitive, but I absolutely love the lyrics of Casting Crowns' songs. I haven't seen them in concert, maybe someday I'll get to... But I have read a bunch of stuff by Mark Hall, their lead singer. His lyrics are real, his stories cut to your heart and cause you to stop and think. I recommend reading his book LifeStories. It gives insight into the people and events behind his songs. Powerful. Or check out www.castingcrowns.tv.
I'll quote some of my favorite paragraphs from the chapter on the "Stained Glass Masquerade" song:
"In John 3:30, John the Baptist refers to Jesus and says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
My conversations with students I minister to cast the verse in a different light: I must decrease before the kids so they will have a greater chance to increase. I must become humble, meek, transparent, and approachable. I must become real. I must never become an ivory-tower preacher. I must live a real life in a real world...just as they do.
Instead of building walls to hide my weaknesses---like those I had expertly crafted my entire life---I should expose my weakness. Even when it is humiliating. I have to decrease, even in the students' respect of me, because they don't need a hero. They need a Savior. So if knowing Jesus means they have to discover that I don't have it all together---and if I'm a little less cool in their eyes---then so be it.
I make sure to convey this message in concerts today.
When we're onstage, my goal is to prove to you that God can use anybody. The Apostle Paul took the same approach: "I boast in my weakness." (2 Cor 12:9)"
Mark goes on to say:
"One Godline did not make this song, but I use it in concerts and when I talk to my students. It summarizes the song perfectly: I don't think it bothers the world so much that we sin; I think it bothers the world that we act like we don't.
Growing up in a church that didn't talk about personal sins and struggles, I sketched a mental picture of a strong Christian, someone who truly walks with Jesus. I strived to be that person. If there was anything in my life that didn't fit the mental picture, I had to bury it. I guess subconciously I thought that if my church folks believed i was OK, then maybe I really was.
Sound familiar?
I don't think I'm alone. Our insistence on maintaining an image is the reason most believers rarely confess bitterness, jealousy, addiction, lust, self-hate, greed, and anger at God. If that is the case in our lives, then people at church don't really know us.
I seems we're missing so much in the area of fellowship. If only we authentically knew each other, it would be so much easier to loosen up and accept and love each other."
So, I've been thinking a lot about fellowship lately too. How does one go about building authentic fellowship, true community? I think it starts as a matter of the heart. Do we truly love our neighbors? Are we real with them? Do we love others and ourselves the way Christ loves us, unconditionally?
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