Habit and Skin

There is an inevitable tension between popular culture and traditional Christianity which is not hard to understand. Popular culture is mostly focused on the transient and ever-changing world. Traditional Christianity is mostly focused on the eternal and unchanging kingdom of God. For anyone involved in both worlds, it can be a strain. I know this firsthand. Some days I think it is worth it. That is, I see value in writing, recording, and performing songs in the context of popular culture. Other days I would rather be involved in a more traditional form such as Celtic and/or bluegrass music. Yet other days I would rather break my guitar into little bits and just stand in church singing the ancient spiritual music that has been passed down in the Orthodox Church. I always feel the tension. However, I am certain that at times "A hint of chanted prayer whispers from the fresh night wind to this shattered heart and soul held together by habit and skin." This line from a Bruce Cockburn song (Don't Feel Your Touch), plus countless others like it, demonstrate to me over and over again, that popular music is capable of carrying beauty and truth.

It is a basic tenet of traditional and ancient Christian understanding that God communicates Himself to us in the guise of everyday life. That is, all of life is sacramental. As an Orthodox Christian I believe that Christ's broken body and spilled blood is communicated to me at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the humble form of bread and wine. I am not equating this holy mystery of the Church to popular culture. That would be blasphemous. But I am saying that something of value can be communicated in the humble form of popular culture. The tension is not in the possibility of this union. . .it is in the implementation of it. In other words, to the holy, all things are holy. To the profane, all things are profane. That's my paltry understanding of this. . .I'd love to hear what other people think.