David Bowie
was more than a rock star, he was a true artist. His art was music and for five
decades he wrote songs that entertained millions of people. He was a gifted storyteller,
musician and singer; one could argue that he was as gifted as any other artist
in the past fifty years. Art has a way of being timeless, and some of Bowie’s
music will be listened to for years to come. The artist however, is never
timeless. By nature of being human we all have an expiration date. Our bodies
and minds can only perform so well for a finite period of time. Most artists
become irrelevant before their bodies give out because they struggle to change
with the times. Many older musicians still tour, but they play their greatest
hits from years ago to an audience that was, in large part, alive when their
music was released. The ability to adapt is what set Bowie apart from the
crowd.
Bowie
understood the reality that the culture changes rapidly, and he was willing to
lead the change; this was his true genius. He would be ever-changing,
ever-evolving, ever-reforming his craft. He went from Ziggy Stardust to the
Thin White Duke in the 1970’s. In the 1980’s he changed his look and musical
style for Modern Love, dressing more like a banker than a rocker. In 1997,
thirty years into a successful career, he partnered with Trent Reznor of Nine
Inch Nails to record another popular song, “I’m
Afraid of Americans.” He was unafraid of change, so unafraid that he even
wrote a song about it in 1971, titled “Changes.”
In that song he wrote something that I think was true for the rest of his
career, “and every time I thought I'd got it made, it seemed the taste was not
so sweet.” He kept changing to stay relevant, he kept changing to share his art
with new people.
I think the
church can learn from that.
The church
has a timeless piece of art, the gospel story. This story has been told for
thousands of years by the church and still carries the same power today that it
did when it was first told. But sometimes the church is a little bit behind the
culture. The Apostle Paul once wrote:
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to
win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To
those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am
not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not
having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to
win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all
possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:20-22)
Paul, like Bowie, took the time to understand the context before deciding
what to say, or sing. The gospel story is not a greatest hits album, it is a story
that transcends time and space; it will be shared as long as human beings are
still inhabiting this planet. It is not an ancient story about people who lived
long ago. It’s a new story, about people who are living now, and it has the
power to change lives, and the world. Our job, as the church, is to find new
ways to tell it.
Bowie moved on from Ziggy Stardust. Paul moved on from strict Judaism. For
the sake of the gospel, it’s our turn to change.
