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**Staying Relevant**
"The biggest thing that people who don't know God are looking for in us is reality.
They want to see that what we're talking about when it comes to God is real."
Rebecca St James
As I sat in a Christian meeting at Grapevine (a Christian Festival in Lincoln), I listened to a man who was having to translate the song for his son. The boy did not speak another language, he could see perfectly and he was probably capable of reading the whole Harry Potter series - his only problem with understanding the words was due to the fact that he lives in the 21st Century.
Maybe the Church hasn't realised this yet... We are still using archaic language that was last used by Jane Eyre and Hamlet. Unfortunately they are now dead, so there is no need to keep using phrases like "whose goodness faileth never" and imagery to do with shepherds and seeds. As soon as the line "king of love my shepherd is" appeared on the screen, a whisper in my ear asked, "Was this song written by Yoda?" (Yes, apparently our songs would be understood better at Star Wars conventions.)
The bible is relevant
The good news is that the people who write our bibles have figured this out. The bad news is that the people who choose our songs haven't. Take the Message for instance, Psalm 23 (where the Jedi speak comes from... apparently) says "God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing". See, to someone who lives in the 21st Century that makes a lot more sense.
Even better, The Word On The Street (whose title is 'Psalm 23: You comfort me © David') says:
"You're my guide and my guard, my minder, my mentor.
What more do I need? What's better at the centre?
You sit me down, put my best CD on,
And my dismembered soul remembers who I am again.
Jesus is relevant
Picture this: Jesus is sat with a bunch of shepherds and farmers. What does he talk about? Sheep and seeds. Now picture this: Say Jesus waltzed into the church meeting. Do you think he'd talk about sheep and seeds? I may be wrong, but I think the answer is no. Why? Because most of us have never met a shepherd apart from angry ones on school Geography trips and associate seeds with annoying things you have to spit out of fruit that you buy from Asda. I think he'd talk to me about computers, TV and ipods. (...and my brother, Dave, thinks so too!)
Rachael Hickson was relevant
During my time at Grapevine, I listened to a whole load of fancy imagery thought up by Christian speakers from around the world. Unfortunately, the only thing I can remember (don't worry I took notes on everything else) is "if you're not connected you can't download". If there's one thing that I can relate to, it's computers - that is what's relevant to me.
Christian Contemporary Music is relevant
One of my favourite songs is "I Am" by Nichole Nordeman (from the album Woven and Spun, if you're
interested), which has a verse about being 16. I'm seventeen and a half (at the time of writing
this) so this is a verse that I can relate to. It says:
"Heart-ache healer, secret keeper
Be my best friend
You said "I am."
No angry shepherds, but someone who will heal heart-aches, keep my secrets and is my best friend. That's how relevant Jesus is to me in the 21st Century.
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