Marvin

Yes, I know, not a church review. Sorry from the bottom of my heart. It's been a crazy couple of weeks with too many trips to the hospital. I promise I'll be back in the swing of things soon. In the mean time, how about some good music? 

I have a confession to make - I don't listen to Christian music. I know, I'm terrible. The one and only Wandering Reverend (TM) listens to secular music. For some reason in my life, it just never caught on with me.

Growing up, my family never really listened to Christan music. My mom went from classic rock and disco to country. My step-dad didn't really listen to any music (he was a sports talk radio guy. . . very boring for a kid). So between the two of them, no Christian music really made its way to my ears. My musical tastes were mostly influenced by my friends. Back then we mostly listened to hip hop (that's "rap" for you old folks), Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and others. There was some rock in there but that was never really my thing.

The Christian music that my Christian friends told me about always, well, sucked. First of all, it was usually rock (not really my cup of tea) and in my opinion, back then, it wasn't that good. There was DC Talk, the only Christian rappers, but their skillz were dismally pale compared to the rap giants of A Tribe Called Quest and the Beastie Boys.

Fast forward a few years after I fell out of the church and then found religion again. I still had my same finicky musical tastes and there was still no Christian music that really stood out to me. What made it worse is that I was leading a teen youth group and was in charge of trying to get these kids away from the secular and into the religious. I had no alternative to the secular radio stuff they were listening to and my CD collection probably would have made even them blush!

Honestly this weighed on my mind quite a bit. The songs I liked were really awesome musically but the message was far from sacred. I even went as far as to "clense" my collection to get some of the really bad stuff (Goodbye Wu Tang! I will miss you!). As if God was saying something to me, I used the money I got from the CD's to buy a DVD player. . . which promptly broke. Ugh. . .

I had always had an ear for old Mo Town (most hip hop being comprised of samples mostly from this era) but had never purchased any of it. Just whatever was on radio was all I ever heard. I was at Best Buy with my cousin, perusing the music, and noticed they had a Marvin Gaye CD on sale. So I picked up What's Going On and put it in the CD for the ride home (he lives about 40 minutes north of me).

That was the most musically spectacular ride home I have ever taken.

His voice, perfectly soulful. The music was both classic and way ahead of its time. The themes were love, war, and his relationship with God. I had found the most perfect CD. I listened to it the entire trip home and as if God was smiling on me, the CD ended as soon as I pulled onto my street.



I was blown away. But the best part of this music is that it was very spiritual and to me, very Christian. With songs like Wholly Holy and God is Love, there was finally some Christian music that I could listen to! I can't really put into words how happy this made me.



If you haven't listened to this album from front to back, you are missing out on life (even better, it's one of those albums where the songs flow into each other, making for a great album experience).

I'm still struggling to find some good Christian artists that I can really get behind (Chasing Chariots is doing a great job!). There are other bands and even some hip hop (gasp!) that I have found that is actually quite good. . . and Christian. But I can always take relief knowing that when I need it, I can always throw some Marvin on, enjoy some good music, and think about my creator.

Right on, Marvin. Right on.
Rev.