Song: "Cowboy Take Me Away"
The chorus of this song resembles a prayer that the church should pray on a regular basis (I've replaced names and pronouns accordingly. Keep in mind that the church is the bride of Christ):
Fly Your church as high as You can into the wild blue...
set us free, oh we pray,
closer to heaven above
and closer to You
closer to You"
The Dixie Chicks' "Cowboy Take Me Away" is a wonderful illustration of the divine romance (thank you John Eldridge) that exists between Christ and His Church.
Indeed, God created the world to serve as a backdrop for this relationship. Another part of "Cowboy Take Me Away" illustrates this nicely:
I wanna break it in my hands
I wanna grow something wild and unruly
I wanna sleep on the hard ground
in the comfort of Your arms
on a pillow of blue bonnets
in a blanket made of stars
oh, it sounds good to me..."
Christ's suffering and dying on the cross is an eternally substantial expression of His desire for us, His church. He has gone to divinely extravagent lengths to win us over.
God desires us. He also built us to desire Him. Everything inside, outside and around us demonstrates this fact.
5 comments:
Hey Patrick - This reminds me of what I have recently been hearing a lot on "Way of The Master" (radio show). They say that for some reason, modern Christianity "romanticizes" a relationship with Jesus, referring to Him as we refer to a "lover". They are of the very strong opinion that this is wrong. Many worship songs these days do this, and while I've never given it much thought, hearing their opinion on this really makes me question whether doing that is right. What do you think? Do you ever listen to their radio show? (they also have a Tv show with Kirk Cameron, but mostly, I am referring to the radio show with Todd Friel hosting)
I'd honestly have to hear some of their stuff to know for sure... i think there's an accurate and an inaccurate kind of romanticism. Godly romanticism is impractical and yet necessary at the same time; it was a crazy romantic thing that God should continue seeking His people... refer to the history of Israel for example.
Ray Comfort is the main guy behind The Way of the Master, right? He is an obedient man of God; i listened to his "Hell's best kept secret" three times in a row, learned a lot from that sermon series.
My first inclination to anything that Ray Comfort says, however, would be to lean more toward balance; last time i checked his entire worldview was soaked with evangelism, which is fine for an evangelist... but is there more to the gospel than evangelism?
I agree on the crazy romanticism of God continuing to pursue his people even though they were continually unfaithful! We were just talking about Hosea at our home study and a few people had never read it and were surprised at the story!
But is there more to the gospel than evangelism? I think once we become believers, we are obligated to share the way to salvation, which is, in essence, evangelism. I don't think it's just street preaching or missionary work - it can be sharing with those that come in to our lives on a daily basis. I definitely fall short in sharing the gospel, but the more I read the bible, the more I think that that is what we're told to do.
That doesnt mean that there's not more to learn about God once we understand the gospel though. We can spend a lifetime learning about Him and never quite understand it all!
But you said that you think WOTM needs balance, and I will say that as I listen to them, I sometimes think they do "border" on legalistic - but I always wonder if I feel that way just cuz I'm used to the the "feel good" gospel that is so prevalent in our country. as I look at the life of Paul, I find it resembles someone like Ray Comfort more than it resembles ...well, I dont wanna name names, but there are a lot of "God can make you happy!" kind of preachers out there.
Not sure if that answers the question, but you really made me think! :)
I always imagined the "cowboy" in the song to be Jesus! It's great to see that I'm not the only one. The Bible uses the romantic illustration many times. I think it is completely legitimate, but I suppose it could become unbalanced as well. I think the relationship between the church and Christ, Creator and creatures, Savior and saved, is a complex one and cannot be expressed by just one illustration. I love the persistence seen in the story of Hosea! God does not give up on us!
love this post! one of the most powerful ways i encounter god is through music. i too am also weary of the over romanticism as dealing with god. far too many times people turn it in to 'i'm so lovable and thats why god loves me...' thats what makes the love story with god so amazing is that we are completely and utterly unlovable yet god mightily loves us. frickinridiculous, huh!
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