Sacred Songs

I still remember the pang of guilt when I bought my first "secular" album. I didn't grow up in a fundamentalist household, but I held myself to a high standard. In retrospect, it's funny. The Joshua Tree has more spiritual content than many of the Christian albums with which I grew up. But as I purchased that CD from my local Best Buy, I felt like I had crossed the Rubicon. I did not realize that I would find God on the other side.

Fast forward a couple of years later and I bought Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head. Credit where credit is due, I'm pretty sure it was at the suggestion of my younger brother Taylor. Coldplay has been one of my favorite bands ever since. That statement will elicit some eye rolls. I won't be an apologist, but I'll tell you that they hit me at the right place and the right time.

When I was in college, I was beginning to discover that God also existed outside the borders of my youth group Christianity.  Over time spiritual growth became less like a train on a track and more like a wild Easter egg hunt. I was looking for traces of the gospel wherever I could. The vague spiritual yearning in Coldplay's music hit my sweet spot. And in a way, they opened the doors for me. If I could find God here, then where else? I probably have Coldplay to thank for Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Bob Dylan, Chance the Rapper, and many more.

But right place, right time. I know they're mostly love songs. Yet in "The Scientist" from A Rush of Blood (about which I have written before), I hear God singing about creation lost and a love that will do anything to bring us all back to the start. Every time the drums kick in on "Fix You" from X&Y, I see a father running through a crowded airport to embrace his prodigal son. When I hear "Strawberry Swing" from Viva la Vida, I remember driving Jim home from the hospital, how EA and I foolishly left his first song to the chance of a shuffle, and yet were rewarded with a song about a perfect day that bright May morning. These and others are sacred songs to me; as sacred as any hymn.

And there were moments in the Coldplay concert that EA and I attended last night that felt like a worship service. It wasn't worship of the band though I am sure that probably was happening too. But it was people singing together, celebrating together, dancing together. In a world that often seems overcome by darkness and division, this arena was a sanctuary for a few short hours. We were going to sing at the darkness until it melted away. As I watched people bounce like pogo sticks with their LED bracelets or heard an entire arena sing the chorus to "The Scientist," I was reminded of David Dark's assertion: every one of us is religious.

The concert felt like a worship service in abstract, but there came a moment for me when it truly became like church. During this tour, Coldplay is inviting fans to post videos on Instagram requesting songs they don't normally sing in concert. The deep cuts. EA and I talked about having Jim help us request "Strawberry Swing" but never got around to it. The band was actually playing on a C-stage up in the audience. They had brought the music back to the people. Then the video request came on the big screen. It was a father and his young son requesting "Till Kingdom Come." EA says the look on my face was priceless.

"Till Kingdom Come" is the final track on Coldplay's X&Y. Originally written for Johnny Cash, it is possibly my favorite Coldplay song. One summer at a youth camp, I taught a breakout session on finding God in the world around us. We talked about art, nature, books, movies, etc. But every time I taught, the linchpin was always "Till Kingdom Come." I would play the song and then we would talk about where we saw God in the words. We talked about how fire and flood are associated with Old Testament images of God and how tears and blood are associated with Jesus. Over the years, I taught breakout sessions on many different topics, but that one was always my favorite.

It is not a explicitly a song about God, but I can't not hear it that way. When we go to church we listen to a Sunday playlist consisting of hymns and worship songs. Over the years, I have mixed up that playlist here and there. Some new songs will be added and others will drop off. But "Till Kingdom Come" has been on that playlist for a decade. EA asked me sometime before the concert if they would play it and I flatly said no. It was too deep of a cut off an album that was over half their career ago. I believed there was no way I would ever hear Coldplay perform "Till Kingdom Come" live. And then they did.

I am not one of those people who believe that God would rig a random song to be played in a concert just for me. I don't think God works that way. But I will tell you that I needed that song. My heart needed it. My faith needed it. It was a balm to my wounded spirit. Through tears, I sang along like it was a hymn. That is exactly what it is for me.

In Your tears and in Your blood
In Your fire and in Your flood
I hear You laugh
I heard You sing 
"I wouldn't change a single thing"
And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummers begin to drum
I don't know which way I'm going
I don't know what I've become

For You, I'd wait till Kingdom come 
Until my days, my days are done
Say You'll come and set me free
Just say You'll wait, You'll wait for me