T
he excitement mounts as footsteps rustle across the stage.
There’s an audible hush across the room. The lights clamp
on, and the band strikes the first chord; they’re off! Snare
and cymbal fuse with hollers and screams, as the lead singer’s voice emerges like a lion from his den. Crowd surfing
and sing-alongs commence, and the song is in full fury
hand-in-hand with herkies and flying hair.
But suddenly, amidst the noise and excitement, a distraction disrupts the unison of the band. The drummer looks
out into the crowd, locks eyes with a feminine beauty, and
his beat begins to hasten, gradually accelerating to match
the pace of his heart. During the drummer’s attempt to
mask his mistake, the lead singer, in utter bewilderment,
sings a note a half-step too high.
The next thing you know, the crowd-surfer is dropped, the
band is in disarray, and the audience is in uproar. Bottles
smashed, tomatoes thrown, and all is at a loss. Until they
hear it. The song of the phoenix! The flight of the eagle!
It arises beautiful and clear—the reverberating chime of
the electric guitar. The crowd is silenced. The band stands
still. The soloist steps in. Notes sail through the air with a
flawless and indescribable ease and all of a sudden, it appears as if Heaven has met earth. As the soloist strikes his
last note, the drummer locks in, and the band is redeemed.
Shouts resume, everyone’s hugging, and a father is seen for
the first ime in tears.
Sometimes in our sexuality, we may miss a few beats or
even drive ourselves into the pit. Sometimes we have
created such dissonance that we can’t repair it on our own.
Perhaps it’s not our own doing, but what’s been done to us.
But when all is said and done, we have the ultimate Guitar
Soloist ready to step in at any time and redeem what’s been
broken; to put us back in sync. When we set our eyes on
Him, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can transform our
petty little sing-a-longs into rock hits of the ages. Some
things about our sexuality may be scarring, maybe we have
hit many wrong chords, and while they can’t be changed,
“God makes beautiful things out of dust. God makes
beautiful things out of us (Gungor, “Beautiful Things”). He
makes us whole. He makes us new. And in those places
we feel we still have holes, He lets our light shine through.
“
“For he has rescued
us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the
kingdom of the Son
he loves, in whom we
have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.”
- Colossians 1:13-14”
21