“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 (first line, 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.”
God, the God of infinite glory and infinite beauty calls us to awaken to his greatness at all times. What greater calling have we then to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. As artists, we seek this through the music we make, and we want to bring others along with us however we can. Luther put it well:
“Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our hearts, minds and spirits.”
Luther
How can we express his glory and beauty better than with artistic music done well? To put to work all that we have to reveal some bit of truth about the greatness of God, and value of his creation — this is our call.
And God is, first and foremost in scripture, the Creator. This is how he is first known to us in Genesis, and it is how Jesus is first introduced to us in the gospel of John. As his image bearers, the great joy of immersing ourselves in this aspect of His good character is immense. Man is separated from beast by his creative mind and imagination – aspects of the Image of God. We seek to magnify this to the utmost!
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!
