05-4 Theology of the..

70 LOGIA
into our chaotic times and speak the truth. Still fewer have the
artistic ability to translate eternal Truth into contemporary
dialect without compromise.
The work of Jeffery Neal Larson is a refreshing exception. Jeff,
an LCMS layman from Fremont, California, brings theological
perception to artistic endeavor. Adept in both the visual and
musical arts, Jeff is equally adept at pen and ink as at guitar and
microphone. His work in both media is shaped by the incarnational
dimensions of the Lutheran Reformation.
In his Christian pilgrimage, Jeff sought spiritual direction
deeper and more solid than the fluff served up by current American
spirituality. He found that depth and reality in the writings
of Martin Luther. A self-taught scholar, Jeff is an avid collector
of Luther biographies and an ardent student of the Reformer’s
original works.
His fascination with the Lutheran Reformation is perhaps
most apparent in his graphic art. Working in the medium of ink
and watercolor, Jeff reflects for our own generation something
of the clarity and simple complexity of the woodcuts of Dürer
and Cranach. His drawings may be found as the core illustrations
in the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau prayer book series,
For All the Saints.
Recently a Dutch recording company released Jeff’s first CD,
Upper Story Landing. It contains seventeen of his original songs,
some of them recorded in live performance. Larson’s style is both
musically intricate and artistically compelling. Ranging from ballad-like
simplicity to the driving rhythms of rock, Jeff’s secular
songs are undergirded with the same Lutheran conviction as his
religious art: namely, that all the arts should be used in the service
of the God who gave them—in the service of truth, that is.
Whether portraying the complex pain of a broken heart or the
enigmatic joys of romantic love, Jeff’s music aptly describes our
turbulent times, yet with an air of solid confidence. Here is an
artist who truly knows how to redeem the time, though the days
be evil. This is First Article music, describing the reality of things
as they are, be that beauty or pain. Here is musical testimony to
Köberle’s maxim: “Whosoever has looked into the heart of God
through His son, may look upon His face in His creation” (Adolf
Köberle, The Quest for Holiness [Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing
House, 1936], 132).
Take, for example, the unflinching honesty of “Broken Fallen
World:”
shattered is the looking glass
empty are the why’s we ask
in a broken fallen world
harken to a better day
romanticize the truth away
and you can’t even feel
what is truth the poets ask
ideas lost and answers cast
finding what is real
victories of the hard and wise
can win amongst the many cries
of a broken fallen world
somewhere in the midst of pain
a candle burns in the rain
of a broken fallen world
This is honest music. “Christian Contemporary Music,” it’s
not. But Christian it is. Luther’s dictum rejects the saccharine
hypocrisy of those who call good evil and evil good: “A theologian
of the cross calls a thing what it actually is.” Jeff Larson is a
troubadour of truth, hence a true theologian of the cross.
His theology is more obvious in The Scent of a Flower We Know.
In this, his first venture into spiritual song, Larson provides us
with eight original compositions ranging from a happy guitar
romp in “The Cheerful Garden” (inspired by Luther’s letter to his
son Hans about the joys of paradise) to the ethereal sonority of
“Angels of Heaven.” For good measure, Jeff adds a sprinkling of
Luther’s hymns: a lute-like instrumental blend of “From Heaven
Above” and “A Mighty Fortress” as well as a compelling vocal setting
of “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” in which Jeff
superimposes a Gregorian tonality on his own vocal style.
Jeff’s original tunes are appealing, though probably not workable
for congregational singing. But then, this music is not composed
as hymnody, but as contemplative prayer. And on that level,
this music succeeds admirably in both its theological integrity and
meditative quality. Included are songs on sacramental themes:
“Water and the Word” and “In, With, and Under” as well as a
haunting original setting of Luther’s favorite Psalm: “I Shall Not
Die but Live.” My own favorite is “Salvation unto Us Has Come,”
a ballad-like meditation on the person and work of Christ. Here
at last is music of integrity that sings timeless truth in contemporary
tones. M.A.D./Embryo will release the material from this tape
plus some of Jeff’s newer spiritual compositions on compact disc
as The Scent of a Flower we Know, vols. 1 and 2, in March of this
year (CD NCompass Music BMI 1996).
No stranger to the “style-substance” debates of our day, Jeff
offers the following perspective on his work: “I came from a
depressed, not to mention iconoclastic, evangelical church life.
It was the beauty and the structure of liturgical worship that
attracted me to Lutheranism and its theology. Today many Liturgical
churches are moving to a more praise oriented gathering and
forsaking much of the beauty and theological depth of their heritage.
Sadly, the saying is true that we are what we sing! Sadly as
well, those of us who lament this fact are the first to close the door
on new offerings of music rather than nurturing its progress.”
Despite his artistic vitality and theological vigor, Larson has
been reluctant to try his hand at liturgical music. In this
reviewer’s opinion, he has not yet provided us with music fit for
Divine Service. But it is music in service of the divine, and that
is reason enough for us all to urge him on.
The cassette jacket (embellished with Larson’s own drawing
of Luther’s coat of arms) provides Jeff’s rationale:
The “Flower” is the Lutheran church, the “Scent” is hopefully
the hint of what this music hopes to achieve. My main intention
with this project is to encourage those of us who are
Christians, Lutheran or otherwise, as well as musicians and
artists, to begin work in these areas once again. In doing this
we will hopefully be able to take things one step further concerning
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19).
Also appended is the following wry wit from Luther’s own
pen: “We sing as well as we can here at table and afterward. If we