wonder , I think some of our songwriting is caught up in that too . At least in my circles . We have a tendency to want to really close down what I think a lot of the aim is of good songs in my view , where we just have this tendency to want our songs to prove everything . And if we say it loud enough , it ’ ll be better . And I think I understand that , and I do appreciate that in some context . But I also feel like what we ’ re undervaluing oftentimes , is that a lot of great songs are offering you companionship . They ’ re much like a good therapist or mentor . They ’ re not trying to give you the answers . They ’ re trying to walk with you long enough until you find them yourself . They actually have the wisdom and the maturity and the patience and the security within themselves to not need to be so assertive . They actually can leave some room for necessary ambiguity and wonder and mystery to let the real work happen in you . And I think we have let go of a lot of that for a lot of various reasons , but certainly the clickbait world of social media is not helping .
[ WM ] Right . And it extends to even marketing . Back in my record label days , marketing was planned quarterly , and you would have campaigns , and of course there was room to shift if you knew things were working or not . But still , it was a three-month plan , and then there was a secondary backup . Now marketing is minute by minute . One of the basic ways to sell records has always been through word-ofmouth recommendations . It ’ s just gone digital now . It ’ s fun to talk to you about this subject . I ’ ve been fortunate to teach for 12 years at Dallas Baptist University in music business . And so we do talk about wonder and that it ’ s lost .
But let ’ s get back to basic faith . How have things in the church gotten so complicated , polarized and divisive , and bypassed that basic faith ?
[ Sean ] Let me say I love these questions . They haunt me . They ’ re questions that keep me up at night . I think a lot of my music revolves around these questions that are really complex and I think I ’ m somehow subjected to and also contributing to . And wow , what do you do ? I think , “ Well , maybe what I ’ ll say is that I ’ ve been thinking about a piece of this puzzle a lot recently ”. And in my view , I think I grew up in an era where in one way or another , we spent a lot of time cultivating , almost turning the word religion into a negative word .
And it wasn ’ t malicious or something , but it was just done by expressions . For instance , “ It ’ s not about religion , it ’ s about relationship ”. And if you pull that thread long enough , I think the heart maybe was there , and there ’ s something really precious and beautiful about what that ’ s trying to say . But I ’ m also observing now that we ’ ve absolutely forsaken liturgy and it ’ s been replaced with celebrity . And so for better or worse , I think it requires maybe some honesty from us to recognize that maybe we ’ ve pushed this so far , that the result is something that ’ s a little troublesome as well . And I think I ’ m in the middle of that . And no matter how we slice it ,
8 August 2024 Subscribe for Free ...