"you mean it, you really mean it."
"His glory reaches where every prayer is cried is cried. God is hope, God is light..." begins the chorus of the praise song "When Jesus Came" by Something Like Silas. Sam Ip, Amelia and I went to a contemporary evening service at College Avenue Baptist Church called "The Flood." The worship band is a band called Something Like Silas. They sing praise songs. Eric Owyang, an asian with bleached spiked hair, is the worship leader. He writes praise songs. "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." - Psalm 33:3. I found it so refreshing, that the worship leader wrote the songs we were singing. They are really awesome contemplative worship songs. Not overly loud or charismatic, but original. Psalm 33 shocked me. God wants newness and creativity.
The immutable awesome God of the universe wants newness. That is trememendous. Many people say that God does not change his mind. God himself may not change, but it would be a mistake to box him in and say that his actions cannot change. It would be a mistake to say that he does not want change on this earth. Change happens every day and he allows it. He even encouragesit. God commands us to "sing to him a new song" all over the entire bible. Why not sing to God the same songs if their still good? The reason? They aren't good enough anymore. I love singing new songs at church beacuse they bring new words. They bring new struggles and new wisdom that perhaps I have not thought of before. Generally, I don't listen to preachers because they aren't saying anything new. I nod and say "yeah I know that..." boom my mind shuts off. Say something new and I'll listen. God established a new covenant to replace the old inadequate one. Christians encounter new experiences and new trials every day. We need to continue to praise God through new songs which reflect the newfound discoveries of God's character. Let us sing new songs that speak to new triumphs over old temptations. Our God is to be glorified in every new generation. Each generation much choose God for themselves. They cannot rely on the fact that their parents worshipped God. In fact, God must be exalted through every new generation. Daniel 7:14 says,"He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him." All peoples and all nations will glorify God. They will glorify them in their own unique language and with their own unique culture. Every nation and tongue will lift up the Lord in song and with their lives, through their culture. God did not force Greeks to conform to the circumcision culture of the Jews. He allowed the gentiles to worship God through their own culture. Every culture and nation must come to know God in their own unique and yes--new--way. God created diversity. He rejoices in diversity. We cannot simply worship God in the same way as our parents did. Yes we must take lessons and learn from them, but we must seek God in a new way. We must seek God through the challeneges of our culture. We must worship him through the internet. We must worship God with our cell phones and "rice rockets." We must worship God through our music. Yes, God desires to be worshipped through OUR music. God created us in a different situation than our parents or neighbors because he wanted to be glorified in every situation possible. God created us to worship him.
God created. He himself is the source of all creativity. Witness his creation! Behold the beautiful birds, majestic mountains, and fantastic flowers! That is creativity against which our human art pales in comparison. We too must be creative as he is creative. Let us worship God in a creative way. Can we imitate our God in his creative poweress? No, but we can try. Should we try? Ask a typical person on the street, what kind of people are the least creative in our society? I wouldn't be surprised if he named the church as being the least creative. The church spurns literature and popular movies because of the sin and forgets the creativity that the rest of the world appreciates. The church denounces some forms of music as noise. I visited the Louvre on Paris last December. A majority of the art found in that museum was dedicated to God. I think God has given us a mandate through his creation to glorify him through our creativity. We can glorify him through paintings, songs, fiction, photographs, sculptures, websites, poetry, cuisine, and lifestyle.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. - Gen. 1:28

(dunno why blockquotes mess up the font..but anyway...) God commands us to be fruitful. Though we can never measure up to the creativity of our Lord, he does command us to use his creation for the benefit of all. He commands us to fill the earth and subdue it. Through science and technology we have begun to rule over the earth, but do we do it for the glory of God?

Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, "See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel...He has filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship; to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work. He also has put in his heart to teach... to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroider, in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver...Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it." Exod. 35:30-36:2

In constructing the tabernacle and building the ark of the convenat, man used his creativity and craftsmanship to glorify God.
Something Like Silas is a very refreshing new worship band that glorifies God through creativity. My sister says creativity and newness is good because "..you mean it, you really mean it." Let us not spurn the new. Reject not the different. Rather let us explore our diversity and creativity in order that this generation would worship God in the way that this generation knows how. Let us reach different peoples and encourage them to worship God through their culture. Finally, let us worship with hymns of old, but also let us glorify God with new and creative songs. "Still constant He prevails. Through the change of time, of time. So holy (worthy) So holy (worthy). So holy is the Lord our God," the Something Like Silas song continues. It is true, God will be exalted through change. He will be exalted through time. He will always be holy.