Friday, May 6, 2011

Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's

Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's

Ok, most of the time I write about 3 elements in my blogs about life.  These elements usually link to one another in some form based on the content written.  Today, I wanted to set up this blog by saying the distinction in this blog leads to one ultimate end.  That end is God.  So what does Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and shofar's have in common?  What is the link between these three?  All three are linked by one night, with three different purposes as their end.  Take a moment and read, see if this links to your heart and I would love to hear your response!

Chris Tomlin

If you do not know who Chris Tomlin is, then you are sheltered in a hole against your will.  Chris Tomlin has been a part of ever major Christian worship song in the church at one point or another.  Chris' songs include "How Great is Our God," "Forever," "Holy is the Lord," "Jesus, Messiah," and my daughter's personal favorite is "Our God is Straighter (Greater to you and me, but she is 3)." 

Chris Tomlin grew up in Grand Saline, TX, it's a hole in the wall.  On Chris Tomlin's Birthday, he was paraded through the streets and Main St is now Chris Tomlin BLVD.  Chris gives a free concert at the high school football field in which 3,000 people show up to sing.  The concert was really good by the way, it was typical of how good he is in leading worship.   

Chris Tomlin in his being had to feel deep within a little sheepish about this pomp and circumstance, and it was pomp and circumstance.   I will give Chris Tomlin props for one thing, he did tell the crowd that all this stuff was cool, but it held to purpose on the why we were gathered on that football field.   It had nothing to do with Chris Tomlin BlVD, I'm not sure that KVNE grasped that concept.  

KVNE

KVNE is a local christian radio station out of Tyler, TX.   KVNE is not bad in itself, the radio station provides good quality programming to the local community and the East TX area.   KVNE produces good cheesy christian music, including Chris Tomlin.  Most of what I know about today's Christian music is that the music is soft on God.  It paints a picture of God that all expectations of God is based on our works.  One of things that God freed me from was the ability to have to listen to Christian Music and KVNE.  I, for the most part, cannot stand to listen to KVNE and its programming because it is a bowl full of Velveeta.  I'm not a velveeta fan when it comes to christian music.  Chris is not velveeta, nor is his music.  KVNE was there in full grandeur.  

The evening was a huge plug for them in their ratings!  KVNE gained major exposure for themselves including taking about a 1/3 section of the bleachers for themselves which they filled in a minimal bases.  About 50 seats were available for citizens who could not afford to sit down at a normal paid event, was forced to stand at the fence because it was reserved!  My angst is not against Christian music, but the publicity of the music and its nasty business.

Shofar's

A shofar is a ram horn that is featured in scripture as a means of presenting and praising the coming of the Lord.  My first time to hear a shofar blast (and it's a blast, not just blown, a blast and it's very loud) was in a charismatic church in Mobile, AL, who sheltered homeless people.  The sound of the shofar is piercing, it will strike to the very chord and center of a person when one hears its blast.  

In the midst of the pre-show for Chris at the football field, there was a buzz in the crowd in the anticipation of Chris coming out on stage and playing music.  There were about 1500 people on the field itself, including my church group and we were having a chat when we were interrupted by KVNE.  

KVNE had their moment in the spotlight, to tell everyone of how great Chris Tomlin is and how incredible their radio is in this east Texas area.  A young lady stood up on stage from KVNE and said "Wow, by you all being here tonight, you must really love Chris Tomlin and ..."  at this point from behind us in the open part of the field, there we blast from two shofar's which totally drowned out the praising of Tomlin.

Two young men in yamaca's were dancing and blasting the shofar's in the middle of her speech.  Many people thought, "how rude to blast the shofar in the middle of KVNE's speech."  

I must confess that it startled me at first, because when scriptures read at the trumpet sound will be the coming of the Lord.  I thought that Jesus was coming back and it was time to go.  The blast was so loud that it overtook the sound system which was enormous in stature.  

Who were these men so rudely interrupting this introduction speech about Chris?  I'm not sure, they may have been two men from a local messianic fellowship or they could have been angels with a common purpose.  

What common purpose could these guys have in blasting the sound of the Shofar?  The blast lasted about a minute and a half.  Long enough for Chris to enter the stage and notice the parting of the crowd because all attention was not on Chris at that moment, it was on the blast.  The crowd upon hearing the horn all turned and it was as if the red sea was parting an opening shown down the middle towards the stage.   

A man asked afterwards, "why are you two blowing those horns?"
the response was simple, yet so profound, "to prepare the way for Hashem!"  

in Hebrew the meaning of Hashem is "The Name."  We know it written as YHVH, it is the name of God which is not spoken so that they will not blaspheme His name. 
Hashem, folks showed up at the blast of the Shofar and became the center of attention.  Not a parade, not a street name, and not a radio station can stand in the way of the weight of glory felt on the field that day.  It was subtle, most people did not recognize that the shofar is the instrument used in preparing the coming of the Hashem (The Lord, Adonai, in the greek Kurios).  The hair on my neck stood, tears began to fill my eyes, and at the sound of the shofar we began worshipping God... and the concert hadn't even started.

The point of Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's is this:  That we should all be ready for God's presence and not pomp and circumstance.  The stage is and will always be God's.  The beautiful part about worshipping God is not that it comes as a requirement of stature, but as a result of relationship.  Thus, it is a glorious lifestyle.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

As one of the organizers of the event I am sorry to hear that yours was the perception of anyone who attended. I assure you, that was not our intention. I have known Chris personally since we were in grade school -- everyone in this town knows Chris and we are all keenly aware that his "popularity" has nothing to do with anything except his heart for God. I promise you, we did what we did to honor that. Again, I'm truly sorry if the way we presented this event led to your perception.

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