I was listening to a band at a place called "The Red Cat" a month or so ago a friend was playing there as well. Not to shamelessly plug my friend but I enjoy my friend's music because it has a tension at the soul of it. It is very clear in his music that as Christians we sing the song of the redeemed. That the tension of sinfulness and soul is seen in his music. It was a showcase of semi-local talent and a band went up to close out the show. As they started to play I realized it was perfect, musically missed no notes, no harmonies, and nothing I could add to it to make it better. But to me the music rang hollow. The music had no soul, no tension, no struggle, it was altogether an un-relatable expérience. I hated it, it was not what I enjoy about music.
Music is often a topic either allegorically or literally tied to the Christian idea of heaven. We speak of worship in heaven as perfect and it may be, just not our idea of perfect. As I listen to and write music, struggles are what make the best songs. So as I think of the song of the redeemed, we as the church have been brought through sin purposefully to sing and glorify God in a way that does not ring hollow. We will be cleansed of our sin, but it is not as if our identities we gathered through the lives we had are removed. The sanctification we experienced through our lives here on earth will be complete in heaven, not abolished.
I feel as an artsy person and a theologian that there is a purpose to sin, that God as the Ultimate being, in total control, allowed sin for a reason. And perhaps this reason is that the song of the redeemed might have soul. Perhaps the relief of the tension it will be, but it may be Jazzy, perhaps sung from the chest.
