Situational Missionary: Situation FOUR: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Yesterday, I experienced a beautiful family day. We did a little bit of lazing around the house and then had a great night in downtown Seattle. Our big stop of the night was the concert featuring the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. All people from all walks of life were surrounding me in the KeyArena. That’s not what captured me that night however. It wasn’t the amazingly well synced lighting or pyrotechnics or even the music itself either.

Now, a little background of this orchestra. To put it simply, they make the orchestra fun for everyone. How do they do it? They splash rock guitars, electric bass guitars and heavy drum beats over the traditional choruses of Christmas carols. Some of the arrangements so intricate and detailed it just leaves trails of the original for you to follow along on your own time. All the while they input their own original songs and an amazing story that goes with it. That’s where my thinking points me to tonight.

The story is about how Christmas came about. The birth of an Angel, the birth of a Savior. However, the way that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra wraps it you could conceivably think about it as a desperate cry and a wonderful answer to a plea. This song so wonderfully told by a man who I truly believe could make the phone book sound like the most amazing story I’ve ever heard. His deep voice and lyrical style are beyond compare. While I have no doubt that there were other Christians in the arena, I also have no doubt that there were people there solely because of the musicianship and the great time. As this rich voice told the story of Christmas, I couldn’t help but think one thing. The way it’s packaged could be a connector between the church and the non-believing. On the other hand, it also was deeply theological so that the believer felt like they were receiving the message again. As my thoughts wrapped around it more, I came to a question. Why hasn’t the church come to this amazing way? While I’m sure the intent of the night was not to bring people to Christ or even let the thought enter the minds of the concert-goer I could not help but be compelled to tears because it was so beautifully intertwined.

Faith has a funny way of integrating itself into the secular world. Likewise with secular world rituals coming into the walks of Christians everywhere. It’s just funny that when faith collides into the secular world it gets persecuted until we take it back. Yet, when a secular trait invades the Christian culture, we’re expected to embrace it and if we fight it we’re called “extremists” and then ridiculed for it. Yet, the secular world has yet to bring anything but negativity. They expect us to welcome Gay Marriage as normal and abortion as commonplace when it’s not within our written law. I have gay friends, I know people who have aborted children, some of them are my closest friends. I have nothing against them and they have nothing against me. They know exactly where I stand, and I know where they stand. But it’s the gay population as a whole. They strive for marriage, when marriage only ever happened in churches and our Law states that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s not up for debate. They should be willing to accept that because quite frankly I accept them regardless of the fact that they may love someone of the same gender. Yet, whenever we start standing our ground we’re retaliated against with hate and it just makes me cry for their hearts. Yes, I’ve received hate mail. Yet the only thing I return to them is love. It’s the constant double-edged sword that we as Christians walk minute to minute. Quite frankly, it’s unfair. I could go on for years about this, but I won’t.

Overall, the night was amazingly deep, led me through deep thoughts, and challenged me spiritually. I can stand on the other side saying, I’m glad I’m a believer. There were people there that night with no hope. I just pray that someone who came that night hopeless, left hopeful, and in search of the Father that they spoke of.