Asking the question 'should I take this gig or not?' is not merely a question of pragmatics, concerning availability or remuneration. Sure, those things are important, but for the Christian, there are extra considerations to do with the gig's compatibility with your confession of Christ as Lord. What if it's on a Sunday? What if it involves performing something by someone known for their opposition to Christianity, or something involving content that appears to promote sexual immorality, or which revels in debauchery and licentiousness? What if it's in a venue, or for an occasion, that you feel is incompatible with your Christian faith?
This situation requires an understanding of what the Bible says about various things, including holiness, wisdom, and what constitutes a 'conscience issue', which we will deal with in 'part 2' of this mini-series on whether to take a gig or not. However, in this first part, we examine a framework shared by Matt & Jacky Waldock at the Music Network's training track at Word Alive 2023, adapted from Daniel Strange's book Plugged In, which gives us some useful guidance that can help us come to a definite answer as we face these situations in our daily life as musicians.
The framework
This framework consists of asking three questions each time you are having to ask yourself 'should I take this gig or not?' They are as follows:
- What are the sunbeams?
- What are the shadows?
- How can the Christian gospel bring redemption here?
Sunbeams
God's 'common grace' is the reality whereby all people, whether they acknowledge Him as Lord or not, benefit from His generous provision and abundant goodness in creation (say, of food, or shelter, or indeed every extra luxury that goes beyond this) - see Matthew 5:45 or Acts 14:17. Anything that a person delights in because it points to the inherent order, beauty, goodness, wisdom, or love that infuses this world - of all such things, Dan Strange writes:
These are sunbeams - dancing rays of light pointing to the source of all goodness: God himself.
Such 'sunbeams' could be the delightful poise and shapeliness of a Mozart sonata, the ravishing harmonies of a Mahler symphony, the brilliant virtuoso technique of [insert your personal musical hero here], the incredible togetherness of your string quartet, the exuberant fun and joy of your jazz band. All such things, if noticed and enjoyed by either yourself or your peers, are things that point ultimately to Him in whom all such goodness originates, and as 1 Timothy 4:4 states:
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving
So, in whatever musical situation you find yourself in, ask yourself the question: 'What are the sunbeams here?'
Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that God has 'set eternity in the human heart' and indeed these sunbeams not only point to the present reality of God's goodness, they also point forward to that for which our hearts yearn: the new creation - a time and place which knows only these blessings and is untainted by all that is broken and evil - the shadows.
Shadows
Shadows, by contrast, are all the daily reminders to all people (again, whether they acknowledge Christ as Lord or not) that this world is broken and evil. Anything that a person finds vaguely irritating all the way up to things that they find deeply distressing and/or which actually cause them harm - all these things are shadows which are, Strange writes, 'cast back from the end of time', from the day of God's wrath. If sunbeams point forward to the perfect new creation, shadows point forward to the Final Judgment. If sunbeams are morsels of God's goodness, then shadows are what Strange calls 'drops of wrath'.
These "drops of wrath" are God telling us that something has gone terribly wrong, and we need to do something about it. We need to listen up and turn around before it's too late.
Such 'shadows' could be the lightly-veiled anti-Semitism in Wagner's Ring Cycle, the celebration of sexual depravity in an avant-garde opera, the crushing words of a harsh and unkind teacher, the gossip and slander rife within your chamber choir, the selfish ambition and consequent backstabbing among those on your musical theatre course. All such things, whether or not they are noticed by yourself or your peers, are things that point ultimately not only to the Fall where such evil began, but also forward to the wrath that is being stored up (see Romans 2:5) against those who do not repent.
So, once again, in whatever situation you find yourself, ask yourself the question: 'What are the shadows here?'
A redemptive gospel
Christ is Lord over all things. In Colossians 1:20, the Apostle Paul writes that God was pleased, through Christ, 'to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.' The gospel - that Christ died on the Cross once for all to pay for sins, and rose again in triumphant victory over sin and death - is all-encompassing. All things are to be reconciled through this gospel, and in some mysterious way, that can include your musical activities, broken and tainted as they too are by sin. Sure, this 'redemption' is not the same as our redemption; we are responsible creatures, made in the likeness of the God who created us, and against whom we have rebelled. Our redemption involves a penalty paid, forgiveness given, and union with Christ brought about by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is obviously not the case for our musical activities. Their 'redemption' is different, and is an activity to which we are called.
Whenever we, as redeemed children of God relying entirely on the Cross for our salvation, act in obedience to Christ in any given activity - i.e. we do it in line with His Word, His law, His ways - we can be said to be 'redeeming' that activity, such that it becomes infused with gospel ethics and gospel truth.
It may on the outside look no different than if an unbeliever performed the same activity, but it is in fact fundamentally different if its performance rendered by a Christian originated from a heart of intentional obedience and love towards God. And what's more, often such a performance will look different; it will be perceived as having something about it - a certain 'je ne sais quoi' - which those outside of Christ are unable to put their finger on.
So within the context of this framework, the question for the Christian, in any situation they find themselves in is: 'How can the Christian gospel bring redemption here?'
A worked example
Imagine, then, that you are offered the chance to perform as the title character in a final-year student production of the musical Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by Stephen Sondheim. The rehearsals will be thrice a week, on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday for three months. It will culminate with a week of performances - eight in total - every evening Tuesday to Sunday, plus matinee performances on the Saturday and Sunday, some of which will be attended by industry professionals. The director is a professor at your music college, admired widely for her artistry and high-standards, but her perfectionism can be somewhat oppressive for the performers who have to get accustomed to her quick temper when things are not how she wants them.
Here's how you might go about applying the framework for working out whether or not to accept the offer:
- What are the sunbeams? Well, they might be: the joy of using the God-given gift of your voice; the opportunity for deepened friendships with your coursemates; the complexity but profundity of Sondheim's musical language; the opportunity for potential career advancement; the satisfaction of working hard at a project and seeing a tangible end product; the opportunity to bless friends and relatives with the entertainment of your performance.
There may of course be many more you could think of.
- What are the shadows? They might include: the show's potential glorification and/or trivilisation of death ('And what if none of their souls were saved? They went to their Maker impeccably shaved'); the necessity of swearing (in these charming words about London: 'There's a hole in the world like a great black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled with s***, and the vermin of the world inhabit it'); having to suffer under the critical eye of the director; the consequent bad-feeling and slander amongst the cast; missing church on the Sunday of the performance week.
Once again, there are probably more you could think of.
- How can the Christian gospel bring redemption here? Well, for all that Sweeney Todd undoubtedly is about revenge and bitterness, murder and death, it does not inherently glorify these things. Indeed, just after the rather damning indictment of London quoted above, Sweeney declares to his sidekick Mrs Lovett that 'We all deserve to die!' How very biblical. And almost the last line of the entire musical declares that Todd served a dark and hungry god / To seek revenge may lead to hell. Neither Sweeney's twisted psyche nor his murderous deeds, nor indeed his swearing, are included gratuitously, as if purely for sheer dark humour. That may be the case for the original tale, which first appeared in a Victorian 'penny dreadful', but not for Sondheim's version, which explores in depth the realities and residues of a lust for revenge.
Thus to apply the gospel may entail attempting to portray the darkness as dark, rather than glorifying it, in other words to demonstrate just how dark the human heart can be, how completely destructive it can be to let bitterness fester unchecked in the human heart (think James 1:14-15), and how utterly in need of redemption we are as individuals and as a race.
The reality of death (which in our sanitised Western world is so often ignored as an inconvenient truth) is front and centre in this work, and surely presents the Christian performer with myriad opportunities to discuss life, death, heaven and hell with their fellow cast members, if they are bold enough to take them. Along similar lines, the Christian performer may wish to be intentional in honouring the director, even if they are difficult to work with, both in being a consummate professional who works hard and in pointedly not joining in the slander that others may be indulging in.
So what should I do? Well, even after having used this framework, there's no clear answer. For some, conscience issues over the necessity of swearing, or of performing on a Sunday, may simply prevent them from accepting the role. For others, their conscience may be fine with these - the swearing is not gratuitous and happens but two or three times; and were rehearsals every Sunday morning, they might feel differently, but as it is, it's only one Sunday out of fifty-two. Some may feel they cannot get on board with the director's interpretation of it, because it is too gratuitously glorifying of death, whilst others may feel that they can work within the director's parameters in good conscience, or that they can influence the director's decisions to be more in line with their (hopefully Christian) vision of the work. Some may feel that in any case they simply wish to make the most of the inevitable evangelistic opportunities with fellow cast members that will arise given the subject matter.
Conclusion
As is hopefully evident by now, the framework is no simple sausage machine out of which you will be presented with a clear 'yes' or 'no' answer as to whether or not you should take a gig. But it does allow you to assess the situation more holistically from a Christian worldview, and thus to make a more gospel-informed decision as to whether it would be wise or not for you to take on a musical project that may present certain challenges to one who confesses Jesus as Lord.
My prayer is that this may indeed be the case for some of you, to the glory of Christ our Lord and Saviour.
