20 September was the last Friday of the summer. What better way to spend than
at the Jersey Shore on a beautiful sunny day? Except maybe to cap it off with
a Jars of Clay concert with some dear friends.
Well, that's exactly what the doctor ordered for Ocean Grove, New Jersey. The
band Jars of Clay made a stop on their "Eleventh Hour Tour" at the historic
Great Auditorium.
Nineteen friends and I joined 3000 other people for the Jars of Clay show at
the historic auditorium, which was built in 1894 and seen the likes of such
great evangelists such as Billy Sunday to Billy Graham. It is here that we
came to say goodbye to the summer of 2002.
Jars of Clay, is one of Christian music's most popular bands, which enjoyed a
crossover hit with the song, "Flood" from their debut outing back in 1995.
Seven years and three CDs later, the band has perfected the art of great
songwriting and live performances.
Though classified as a Christian band, which enjoys most of its success in
the Christian arena of the musical landscape, musically and lyrically the
band's message is not necessarily evangelistic in nature. Rather, the band
has written about subjects such as pain, suffering and trials that we all go
through from a Christian perspective and through a Biblical lens. The band
derives it's name from the scripture verse 2 Corinthians 4:7, where
the apostle Paul in writing to the people of Corinth said, "But we have this
treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God
and from us." It is a hopeful picture of what God can do with human
weakness. Jars of clay in those days were ordinary and highly breakable just
as people are. Just as Paul used his words to encourage others to have hope
in Christ, Jars of Clay use their words to do the same some 2000 years later.
Jars of Clay are Dan Haseltine, who sang lead vocals and played assorted
instruments from drums to the accordion. Charlie Lowell who played keyboards.
Stephen Mason who played guitar and sang background vocals. Matt Odmark who
also played guitar and sang background. They band was rounded out by two
touring members who made up the rhythm section that evening. Joe Porter who
played drums and Chris Donahue who played bass, both Joe and Chris played on
tracks on Jars of Clay's most recent disc "The Eleventh Hour."
The band came out rocking with the song, "Disappear" from "The Eleventh
Hour," followed by "Unforgetful You" from "If I Left the Zoo." They slowed
things down temporarily with an acoustic version of the song "Crazy Times,"
from the "Much Afraid" CD, before ripping into "Like a Child," "I Need You"
and "Something Beautiful." All very tight and clean sounding.
A special treat was the inclusion of the "Coffee Song." Introduced playfully
by Dan Haseltine as a tribute to one of the bands favourite things that they
had enjoyed together since their college days and "could quit at any time!"
Jars of Clay fans might know the song from the limited edition "Much Afraid"
CD or from "The White Elephant Sessions" CD. It was an obvious crowd
favourite and one of the many highlights of the show. The song left me
wondering if that Dunkin Donuts that I passed on the way in would still be
open this late. (Thank God, it was!)
The band followed this with the songs, "Fly" and "Collide" which gave
guitarists, Stephen Mason and Matt Odmark a chance to show off their musical
chops with some very fine fretwork. The hit, "Flood" was next and was
obviously both well expected and received by the crowd who sang along word
for word.
"Love Song for a Saviour" was a welcomed highlight as it spoke of people
being able to find Jesus in simple things that God shows them along the way.
The Lyrics, "someday she'll trust Him and learn how to seek Him, someday
He'll call her and she will come running and fall in His arms and the tears
will fall down and she'll pray, I want to fall in love with you," point out
that we should never give up on praying and hoping for the salvation to the
people closest to us. It was one of the more poetic songs offered that night
and was a great addition to the set. The evening closed out with the very upbeat
"I'm Alright" and "Revolution," before the band returned for the encore with the title track from "The
Eleventh Hour," which was hauntingly beautiful. The song was an encouragement
that we don't always have the answers, but can know that God is there anyway.
The line from the song, "I don't know where, I don't know how, I don't know
why, but your love can make things better," speaks of the honesty that we can
and should have before God.
The band interrupted itself so Dan Haseltine could take a few minutes to draw
attention to the ongoing AIDS crisis in Africa. He pointed out that 9000
people are dying each and every day from AIDS and that the church as a whole
needs to commit itself to do more about it. He said that he was not looking
for money, but rather for people to educate themselves about what was going
on and encouraged that people read up on it on the World Vision website.
(WWW.WorldVision.Com) This echoing the commitment that Bono from U2 has as
founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, and Trade in Africa) which Christian artists
such as Michael W Smith and Sixpence None the Richer are involved in. Dan
pointed out that as long as Christians mistakenly think of AIDS as "just a
homosexual disease" only, then very little would be done about it, which is a
sin.
The show closed with the song "World's Apart" which begun with Dan Haseltine
and Stephen Mason on guitar. As the song grew each member of the band took up
their instrument and joined in. The song ended with the crowd singing along
with Dan Haseltine, repeating "Hallelujah" as each member, one by one,
quietly left the stage. Finally, the only thing remaining was 3000 people
singing "Hallelujah" over and over together. It was quite moving indeed.
In the end, after all the cheering, clapping and singing along with Jars of
Clay, the night was about God, and the knowledge that He is always there, He
will never leave nor forsake us and that in our weakness He is strong…just as
the band intended for all in attendance to know.
~Stephen James Evans (September 2002)