Pausing in the dark places

Mike Cosper has a great review of the latest Radiohead album.

He explains part of their appeal:

There’s a kind of alarm bell being sound by Radiohead. They want us to see how deeply trapped we are in the milieu. They offer no solutions, though they hint at the idea of community and connection....It’s a fairly hopeless perspective, but their fans aren’t listening to them for solutions. They listen for solidarity. Someone else feels lost. Someone else feels like everything is too big, too fake, too plastic.

We are used to observing the longing of our culture and our friends for something more than they know. We also know from experience that only Christ can truly satisfy, and if you ask he will give you that living water.

But I wonder if in our various ministries we run too quickly to the good news? (Can I say that?!) Before people want answers and hope, they want to hear "solidarity" - someone else that feels thirsty.

One of the strengths of law-Gospel preaching is that it does just that. It doesn't rush to the Gospel, although that is its goal. It recognises that these feelings do not just belong to those who are not yet Christians, but are known by all Christians as they are continually moving from death to life until the final resurrection of the dead. Having identified with people in the lostness of their broken dreams, destructive relationships, painful experiences, guilt and shame it then carries them with it, out of the tomb into the glorious dawn of Sunday morning.