What the Church Needs To Learn From Heavy Metal Concerts

I went to the Rocklahoma music festival over Labor Day weekend, an almost overwhelming adventure by any stretch of the imagination, but one that I am glad I got to experience. 

Rocklahoma is a three-day hard rock music festival held in Pryor, OK, for the past thirteen years.  It garners some of the top bands in the heavy metal and hard rock scene in a circus-like environment.

It was hot. Not Austin hot, but hot.  

On Friday, a torrential downpour shut down the festival, making the grounds muddy and muggy.  

I decided to camp at the festival camping grounds, which were within walking distance of the venues but also jammed with RVs, tents, and elaborate camp setups.  

The campsites were within a few feet of one another.  And trust me when I say this, long after the shows were over at the end of the day, the parties kept going in the campground until the wee hours. 

You might say, "That doesn't sound fun," and you would be right about a lot of it. I'm getting a little old to do such things, but I wanted to get the full experience of being at a music festival, so I went all in. 

I have taken away many great memories from the weekend, but something struck me about nearly all the artists who played at the festival: They talked about the elephants in the room. 

Nearly half of the bands I saw made statements about how politics and religion often divide us as a country, but the fact that we were all gathered there jamming to the same music was evidence that we have more in common than we are led to believe.  

Several of the bands made statements about mental health and how important it was to check on friends who are struggling or get help if you are dealing with depression.  Others spoke of addiction and talked about their own journeys to sobriety. 

Over the past thirty-five or more years, I've grown up listening to and attending concerts by many hard rock bands.  While many of those bands had a sharp social conscience, most fully embraced the hedonistic rock-n-roll lifestyle, which comes with a price. 

As many members of the bands at the festival aged, they discovered 

Hearing hard rock and metal artists discuss unity, faith, hope, mental health, sobriety, and other such topics is refreshing and absolutely necessary. 

More than once over the weekend, I heard artists say something similar to this: "Don't let anyone tell you who you are supposed to be. Don't let anyone put you down and make you feel less than. Find your way. Live your life to the fullest..." 

I've been thinking about all of this since then, and I had a kind of revelation on my drive home. 

Why is it that hard rock and metal artists can talk freely about sobriety, unity, mental health, and spiritual awakenings, but the Church seems to be largely silent on these issues? 

Shouldn't our church family be a community where we can freely share our struggles? Shouldn't it be a place where leaders get honest about their own doubts, fears, and challenges?  

And yet, more often than not, it's at church that we put on our facades of having it all together, act happy even when we're not, and silently struggle with doubts about our faith. We do this so that no one thinks less of us or because we feel like we have to be part of the group. 

Since the day I felt called to be a pastor, I have sought to create space for openness, authenticity, and safety for all those who doubt, struggle, fear, and are not okay.  I also want every person in my congregation to know they are loved, enough and beautifully broken. 

We may not always get it right, but we still stumble after Jesus, who exemplified what it meant to make space for everyone who felt like they were not good enough.  

I am proud to be a part of a community that embraces this kind of openness.  I wish that more churches would do the same.  If Christians are going to change the narrative about Christianity in a culture that is becoming increasingly hostile toward religion, we all need to demand this of our faith communities.  

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.