So by now you may have heard of or seen the youtube viral video that has Canadian, Marc Martel, covering Queen's "Somebody to Love".
What's so funny to me is that I've been listening to this guy for years as the frontman of a band called "downhere" - and I've been saying for a while that "Wow that guy sounds a lot like Freddie Mercury!"
Now here is some real irony for you - and I hope its a good irony. Martel's band "downhere" is a Christian band. A band that is known for its deeply Biblical content and love for Christ.
I was fortunate enough to see these guys live at the Performing Arts Center in town a while back - and I was blown away by the raw talent and deep love and dedication to Jesus that they clearly had.
So in other words - Marc is a devoted Christian and Mercury, as we know, was gay ( or at least bisexual).
And this has a lot of people talking.
Don't Christians hate gay people?
No.. no we don't. Not even a little bit.
I want so badly for my friends in the LGBT community to know that Christians , in fact, have a deep love for them... and where this isn't true I want Christians to know that if they want to be anything like Christ that this love is only natural. Re-read your Bible!
Of course we disagree. I'm not sugarcoating that.
But as I've said a hundred times and still pray that people on both sides understand - Its possible to strongly disagree with someone and still deeply love them.
When Marc was asked about this apparent irony, he told the Wall Street Journal:
“Freddie Mercury wrote songs that were real and true. Rock and roll reaches people because it’s honest, and doesn’t shy away from the issues. You can have a great voice, but people can spot a fake from a mile away. Our music may come from a biblical standpoint but we don’t shy away from true experiences – doubt, loss, pain, sorrow – we want to deal with all of that. Queen’s repertoire deals with those emotions and feelings too and I love singing their music because at the end of the day, it’s just true.”
Also from belief.net See full interview here
"Bonham: For the guy who’s fought the comparisons to Freddie Mercury, you’ve got to think this situation shows that God has a pretty good sense of humor.
Martel: Absolutely, and I think the last 10 years have been a preparation for me to be able to handle this. I don’t think I could’ve handled this 10 years ago. God’s moving in this very obviously.
Bonham: If you win this contest and get the chance to tour next summer with the Queen Extravaganza, how would you expect God to use you to impact others?
Martel: Obviously I would be working for Queen and obviously I’m not going to be preaching on stage or anything like that. I really believe that any influence this would have for the Gospel, God is going to be handling that. All I can do is be faithful with my gift, be faithful with anyone I talk to and let love be my guide and just be gracious with people. God will take care of the rest. I really believe that.
So at the end of the day my prayer is twofold - first that Marc does not just go completely "secular" but stays true to his faith and his first Love ( and I know that is his passion)- and secondly that perhaps this viral irony can build a bit of healing between these two communities of Christians and LGBT.
Because really, in the Biblical perspective, there are only two communities of people in this world - sinners who have come to Jesus Christ for redemption and sinners who have not.
Marc Martel cover's Queen's "Somebody To Love"
downhere's latest song "Let Me Rediscover You"
And finally for an amazing Christmas song, downhere performs "How Many Kings"
