Welcome and Quicken Now!
“The soul of man must quicken to creation, out of the sea of sound come the pillars of pitch, out of the watery mire of tones, the imprecise frequency of organic movement, springs the life of music.”
-Micah (with a little help from T.S. Elliot)
Dear reader,
Welcome to the Kenaniah Blog! We are so excited that you are following along on this exciting journey we are embarking upon together. We aim to make music from the soul, championing glory, beauty, and the creative imago dei. We cherish your support as we seek to be drawn further up and further into the kingdom of God!
Let’s start with a vision:
“To see people all over the world awakened to glory and beauty and experience the joy of the creative image of God, and so spark a musical movement of creative artistry for the kingdom of God and the world at large.”
We’re in a wasteland. The world does not uphold god as glorious, beauty is cast aside and replaced with convenience and commercialism. Voices in art are secularized, and while all art done well gives God glory, voices in contemporary music are seeking to demean the image of God, the very image which they employ in creation. Kingdom voices are often subjected to the same commercializing processes which subjects the secular world. Record labels and market studies, not hearts turned to God and minds set on creation, determine the flow of what is acceptable for Christians to listen to…
“The economy of drywall,
Wide desert of pixels as we,
Lose our souls to the grey abys,
Cold hues but no refreshment, as
Unblinking eyes grow wider,
But the soul closes, shut”
-Micah
But God is a God of beauty, glory, color, soul. What other reason have we as artists but to turn these gifts back to his service, gifts that he gave? He placed a music on our hearts, and said, go forth, multiply, fill the land and sea, the mountains and the fields with the sound. This is our eternal call, and we join in with the 12 elders and the seraphim as we sing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”
Quicken Now
This burden has been brewing for over 30 years. One of our founders, Steve Harrow, my dad and creator of the Sing the Word CD series, has carried this burden through his years serving as a professional musician and worship pastor. We’ve danced around it for several years, but now, this multi-generational message takes root and begins to unfold; we are challenged to put wings to this vision and carry it out. This is the quickening, now and not later, not falling under the spell of good intentions, dreaming “that would be nice” and then letting it die by the wayside. No, the lion is on the move and we will respond. Quicken now!
That’s what our debut show is all about, the chorus of the song “Quicken Now” reads”
“Further up and further down,
The soul of man must quicken now,
Hope deferred will lose the day
So summon all your powers now
and play.”
Follow along as we explore this mission together. We need support, advocates, prayer, and listeners. Let us know what you thin,k respond to this email, message us on social media. Let’s get talking!
But what does this have to do with you? You may not be a musician or an artist, but we believe that the three-fold vision of glory, beauty and the creative imago dei extends to everyone. Is it not written, “whatever you do, be it eat or drink, do all for the Glory of God”?
Meditate, think, listen; see where you are being called to bring your best offering to God in a spirit of glorification and beautification. Give honor to God and of the gifts that he has given us. How could you exercise creativity and vision over the lot you’ve been given? How could you bring an attitude of excellence to the tasks at hand? We offer you to join us, for glory and for beauty, for order and joy, for the creative image of God, Quicken Now!
