Shai Linne

This weekend Westminster Presbyterian Church (our church here in Lancaster) hosted what was a most unusual event for our congregation.  In the middle of our 18th Century Puritan meeting-house style sanctuary, we hosted a hip hop concert.  It was the kind of cultural clash that I know the Lord loves to see happen.  A church of predominately white middle/upper class folks opening up their sanctuary to a hip hop artist from Philadelphia is the kind of cultural line crossing that should be happening in the Church today and its the kind of event that stretches congregations to the point of discomfort, and that’s good for everybody when such stretching is Biblically based.

I personally was most moved by the event.  For those who may be unfamiliar with Shai Linne, his style of hip hop (which he calls “lyrical theology”) is jam-packed with Reformed goodies.  He can define and defend a doctrine of the Reformed faith in a four-minute song better than some preachers can do it in an hour.  How many hip hop artists do you know are out there penning songs about limited atonement or total depravity?  How many do you know are outlining the covenant of grace in their songs?  How many hip hop songs have you heard that resemble a chapter of John Owen’s, “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ”?  Shai does all this and more.  His songs aren’t just lessons in theology, they come across as love songs for the Church.  Yes, its his passion for the bride of Christ that made Shai Linne’s performance so stirring.  He spoke of Christ’s bride being multi cultural.  He spoke of the preaching of the Word of God as the true means in which the Church engages culture.  He shared his passion for the purity of Christ’s bride and the dangers of a Church who bends and shapes itself to culture pointing out that, “those who hate God’s Truth won’t hate it any less just because you set it to hip hop beats or have a rock band presenting it.”

For me though, the most moving thing about the event were the testimonies shared after the concert by those in our church who went in skeptical of the event.  After Shai’s concert pastor Troy Debruin invited Shai out to share his testimony and then opened up the floor for any questions.  At one point Shai asked if anyone was there who was skeptical of the event.  He asked if they would share their thoughts on the concert having now experienced it.  Several shared their experiences and all of them were positive, but the one who stirred me the most was the congregant who said, “Westminster is very deliberate about making our sanctuary into a reverent place of worship.  I was most concerned about a lack of reverence in this concert.  However, after seeing it, I have to say this was one of the most moving events I’ve ever attended here.”  I couldn’t agree more.  I’ve been to hundreds of concerts in my lifetime of all sorts.  I’ve never seen a concert, even at Westminster, which had that level of both theological substance and reverence.  Shai wouldn’t agree with what I’m about to say as he’s made himself clear that his music is not intended to supplement preaching, but going to that concert in my mind equated to listening to an hour long sermon set to beats and bass lines.  It was truly an amazing event.

Check out Shai Linne’s music or read his blog, “Lyrical Theology“