David Bazan

David Bazan

David Bazan is an enigmatic artist that I was introduced to in college by my buddy Josh. (Something of a musician in his own right as I understand.)

I first heard Pedro the Lion in a dorm room at NC State; I was instantly hooked by David’s simple, narrative songwriting, and that voice. It’s been described as mournful, sad, raw, and probably dozens of other adjectives… but the one that speaks most to me, is honest. David’s songwriting spoke to me, as a non-Christian, from a place of honest faith, that had real questions for God, and didn’t presume to have all the answers.

Fast forward some nine years. I’m a self-described born-again Christian, and David Bazan isn’t. Incidentally, his latest musical offerings are just as probing, personal, and meaningful to me as ever. What’s so compelling about a “fallen Christian” to this believer?

His honesty. David Bazan is, in my mind, a man after God’s own heart. He reminds me of another pretty well known David at various points in their respective lives. There’s no doubt that he’s made mistakes in his life, he sings about them often enough, as did King David. How many times in the Psalms does David seem to doubt God? We hear time and time again of a brokenhearted servant who feels abandoned by his God in the midst of trial. Despite that feeling, those doubts, and a colossal fall from from his place of anointing in the act of adultery and murder…

Somehow, God still had a place for him. Not just a place, but a place in the lineage of the Messiah himself.

Why is it then, that in the American Church today we see no room for questioning? No room for doubt? A great, but lengthy, piece in the Chicago Reader on Bazan entitled, The Passion of David Bazan: At the Cornerstone Christian rock festival, a fallen evangelical returns to sing about why he broke up with God.

Speaking of  Christianity, David says:

The last 30 years of it have been hijacked; the boomer evangelicals, they were seduced in the most embarrassing and scandalous way into a social, political, and economical posture that is the antithesis of Jesus’s teaching.

In the article, we hear about the youth crowd’s continued embracing of David as a musician, about their stubborn refusal to accept his own explanation of where he is, and what he believes or in this case, doesn’t believe.  This is a shame, for an artist to be misunderstood so blatantly by many of his greatest fans, but even worse, is the bitter, angry, and decidedly un-Christian way a portion of the crowd responds to this man.

Pointing fingers, probing questions about the man’s faith, and “How his relationship with God is.” I’m not talking about a close friend, a pastor, or a family member here. I’m talking about the self-righteous youth of mainstream American Christianity. I’ve seen it over and over, and it breaks my heart every time. How could we fail so miserably as a church as to give our children just enough of doctrine and biblical knowledge to know how to “identify sin”, but fail to pass on the humility with which to handle this knowledge? There is so much focus on how we “walk with God” that there seems to be almost no acknowledgment of how big God is, and just who is in control.

Furthermore, how is it possible for a person to personally know, and appreciate the weight of the limitless Grace of God, but not then extend that same grace to his brother?

I, for one, don’t think it is possible. I fear that the faith of our generation, is a largely superficial, and shallow relationship that’s more about what God can do for us, than why we need Him.

Regardless, I urge you, if indie rock-and-roll is something that interests you, to give Bazan a listen. He’ll challenge you, he will ask questions that we all find ourselves asking, he’ll occasionally swear, and most of all, I promise he’ll move you.

A new track of his is available for free download here. The song is a take on the beatitudes from the point of a view of a man who has found himself poor in spirit, a mourner, and most certainly hungry. It’s both pessimistic, and hopeful.