Just give me a new law...

Last night we saw Derek Webb in concert (front row baby)...it's the second time we've seen him live. Let me just say that he is one of my very favorite musicians. He spent about 10 years with a group called Caedmon's Call and then headed out on his own as a solo artist. His only tools last night were a microphone and a 12 string guitar (wow...what an incredible sound).

While Derek Webb is a Christian artist, he certainly isn't your run of the mill Christian musician. His lyrics require a lot of thought and really speak to the social issues facing our culture today. Many of his lyrics might seem contrary to what people would expect from a Christian. But I dare say that this is exactly the kind of thing we need.

It does the Christian community no good to pretend to be super spiritual, and in the process, disregard the things happening in our world and the hurting people that we are called to reach out to. Derek Webb's lyrics challenge the heart and mind to go beyond "church" and live a life of true service...just like Jesus did.

The title of this post is a line from one of his songs...and one of my favorites. It's called "A New Law" (go to Chris' blog to see both the lyrics and a video of this song). The best line in the song is:

what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
for one you can that cannot get you anything

Wow. Follow me on this one. He's basically saying that what's the point in giving up on striving for the highest call and standard and lowering your standard to something so low that it doesn't require hard work to achieve it. Because in the end, the low standard that requires nothing of us, isn't worth it anyway. We're better off striving for a high standard, failing, and trying again, than attaining something that doesn't cost us anything.

Does that hit you like it hits me? I'm sorry if it's not coming out 100% clear, but this is the kind of thing that hits right at the center of my heart and is so hard to put into words.

If you are interested in hearing his music (and I highly recommend you do, regardless of whether or not you label yourself as a Christian) he has posted his latest album on www.freederekwebb.com and you can download the entire album free (and legal). If you do this and listen to it, let me know what you think.

Here are a couple of pictures of Derek Webb.