“After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam' (this word means 'Sent'). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing." (John 9: 6-7)
Pool of Siloam is a music blog for the alternative and experimental side of Jesus-themed music. Born out of both a love for the weird and wonderful, and a frustration at the lack of Jesus-themed music with an experimental, angsty, intense, and playful twist.
The purpose of Pool of Siloam is to showcase and celebrate some of the lesser known, more underground, and more thought provoking music which explores Christian themes. The music I share on this blog is not restricted to those identifying as Christian and some of the music may surprise/challenge/offend you. Many have had a far greater understanding of the wisdom and nature of God than those proclaiming to be Christians. From Roman Centurions crucifying Christ to the prophets of our day like Johnny Cash and Kanye West.
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
The Pool of Siloam was the location for the story of Jesus healing a blind man. In the story Jesus rubs mud in blind man's eyes and tells him to wash in the Pool of Siloam (a pool built back in the 7th Century BCE by Hezekiah and although it has undergone several developments by the Romans and Byzantines, it still exists today in modern day Israel. I was lucky enough to go there a few years ago and see the site for myself). It's a less than conventional way of healing and probably not advised by most medical professionals.
I've named this blog after this story for two main reasons.
Firstly, because God does not work by human wisdom of how things should be done. I have always struggled to connect spiritually with God through the more conventional ways of worship and prayer, and have often opted to find God in the weird and wonderful, particularly through more experimental music which is not always theologically watertight and perfectly produced. But my experience of God and the God we see throughout the Bible, is that he/she/it/they are mysterious and cannot be tamed by human thinking.
Secondly, I want this blog, like the story of the blind man, to be a story of healing for myself and those reading/listening. I have often been frustrated by the church and by other Christians for neglecting - or even discounting - the angsty, melancholic, and sorrowful side of Christianity. I have found myself tied up in knots trying to explain why I struggle with much of Christianity, the religion. And I have particularly found CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) lacking and severely disappointing in its scope and depth of the musical spectrum. I do not however want this to be a CCM bashing blog - there is nothing inherently wrong with the CCM sound. However, as CS Lewis puts it in The Problem of Pain, to be a follower of Christ, we must embrace the diversity and difference in our world:
“Surely each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the Divine beauty better than any other creature can. Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently? This difference, so far from impairing, floods with meaning the love of all blessed creatures for one another. If all experienced God in the same way and returned [to God] an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony...the blessed remain eternally different: a society, because each has something to tell all the others - fresh and ever fresh news of the 'My God' whom each finds in [God] whom all praise as 'Our God'"
This blog is my way of celebrating the music I love and saying no to any condemnation that may have come my way for connecting with God in less conventional ways. I do not want to blame others or be angry towards the 'church' or 'Christians' for this will not be fruitful - I will recognise the hurt and anger but I also want to heal from it to allow myself and others to flourish in all of our weird, wacky, and wonderful beauty.
Thanks for getting this far - now let's go listen to some awesome music!!
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