This past weekend we took a long road trip from Texas to Columbus, Ohio for a twenty one pilots concert. The show was amazing and our family had a wonderful time together. (And, we brought along a friend of our ours allowing us to “feel” like a family of five again…what a blessing.)
During the concert, it struck me that over 100,000 fans belted out the lyrics to the songs. To experience that as a band in their hometown in a venue they likely watched football games in the past as a fan themselves must feel amazing.
Then, today I started to think about what the fans are actually singing…these lyrics the band composed screamed back at them in exhilaration.
They’re singing of the beauty of the gospel.
Look with me at some of the lyrics…from the song ‘Screen’:
I do not know why I would go
In front of you and hide my soul
‘Cause you’re the only one who knows it
Yeah, you’re the only one who knows it
And I will hide behind my pride
D-don’t know why I think I could lie
‘Cause there’s a screen on my chest
Yeah, there’s a screen on my chest
The singer speaks of standing before God, acknowledging that he can’t hide from God because God knows his soul and sees into his heart (that screen on his chest).
How about the chorus to ‘heavydirtysoul’:
Can you save, can you save my
Can you save my heavy dirty soul?
And, from ‘Drag Path’
A drag path etched in the surface
As evidence I left there on purpose
A sad sap laying on the surface
Can you find me?
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path etched in the surface
Can you find me?
Now, in both of these songs, I think Tyler Joseph (lead singer) is communicating a few things in that he is asking for help from different sources. However, the ultimate place he seeks help from is God which seems clear from these and many of their other songs.
Going back to the audience at the concert…twenty one pilots is not labeled as a “Christian band”. I do believe they are Christians, but you won’t find them on Christian radio. As a result, their fans come from all walks of life, faith and cultural backgrounds, and literally from around the globe.
Yet, all of us sing these lyrics at the top of our lungs.
A loud chorus singing of the beauty of the gospel.
Essentially, that is what Tyler brings out in his songs. Through the lyrics, Tyler is clear about his own struggles with mental health but also with crying out to God. Even answering the question in ‘Drag Path’ (Can you find me?) earlier in the song with “You found me.”
Fans of twenty one pilots greatly love the band and their music. Yes, the music is good. Yes, the band is entertaining. But it’s the lyrics and meaning of the songs that draw all the fans into a deeper enjoyment and love for the band that leads us to belt out their songs together. Though people may not even realize what they are singing, they inadvertently are drawn to the gospel. Why? Because the gospel truths shining through these songs are beautiful enough on their own.
This is what C.S. Lewis called “stealing past watchful dragons”. From his 1956 essay, “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said”:
“Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons?”
twenty one pilots steals past the watchful dragons of the world, getting them to sing of the beauty of the gospel. They communicate truths found in God’s Word and through a life lived in faith…and their fans respond. They do not adorn the gospel by adding “extras” and they don’t sugarcoat life. Instead, they bring their fans alongside them through the glorious heights and disastrous lows of life.
We should not feel pressure to add to the gospel for the gospel is beautiful enough.
And, the beauty of the gospel will shine through whatever crowd or storm…we only need to be lamps on a stand to let it shine through.
Let us live our lives in a way that we communicate to a dying world the beauty that exists in a life lived in Christ. Yes, life is hard and we struggle with some very hard realities. Some will look to find hope in places and things and others to redeem those struggles from further pain, but they will only come up emptier than before.
It is only the life lived in Christ that finds help in the struggle…hope in the lost…and light in the darkness. So, steal past those watchful dragons like a lamp on a stand…
Till we are home…
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