I was asked an interesting question on my Tumbler today. It was based on a quote by Buckminster Fuller about utopia. The question is: If you could snap your fingers and create a utopia, what would it look like?
Oddly enough, my first reaction wasn't Jesus! New Jerusalem! Maybe it should have been, as a Christian, but it wasn't. I think my first reaction actually said a lot about me as a person beyond myself as a Christian (or perhaps as the authentic person I am in Christ.)
My initial response was: more art. More beauty. More people doing what they would love and less concern for money. And then I threw in something pithy about making Rupaul President of the US.
But the sentiment is interesting, isn't it? Aren't people hung up on utopia? From zombies to nuclear war to Ray Bradbury to Left Behind (the series) to HG Wells, the idea of utopia has hung on our minds since the fall (and even more clearly dystopia).
Think about it. What does utopia look like for you?
Well, in the case of this blog, I would like to offer this song for consideration:
I Can Only Imagine (MercyMe): http://youtu.be/N_lrrq_opng
This song is all about the idea of heaven as unimaginable and I like this idea. I think we take God for granted. The idea of his holiness and deity has been cast aside with tradition in favor of his softer and more feel good qualities. But we can't forget that God is deity and all goodness, pure light, and...well, its like that scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Nazis all get face melty.
This song is pretty romantic in its worship of God and our relationship to the divine. It doesn't dwell on streets of gold or whether we're still married as angels or what happens to free will, but it talks about how God is there. How Jesus, the big kahuna of redemption and love, is there and has waited for us to be with him.
I imagine my utopia as art. God imagines his utopia as us with perfect bodies and no sin. What does that tell you? What does that stir in your heart and minds?
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Love Song
Love. Today we talk about love.
Why love?
Because I have just spent the past week watching the Tumblr meltdown over the Klaine box scene.
Translations: Tumblr (social networking site, like blogging only with lots more gifs)
Klaine (Kurt and Blaine, two characters on Glee, two boys in a relationship)
Box scene (A script from the Christmas episode of the 3rd season of Glee that was purchased (and money raised for charity) with the express intent of finding out what was in the box from Blaine to Kurt. It did not disappoint.)
Where does this leave me as a Christian blogger? Perhaps you are expecting certain things. Certain things from Leviticus or Romans. You won’t find them here if you are. Why? Because I haven’t made my mind up, haven’t researched everything regarding the issue and I don’t want to make assumptions for others in their personal walks with Christ.
I will tell you that a whole host of issues comes up with me and Klaine. And the biggest issue is probably the world’s expectation of love.
First, don’t get hung up on all the different types of love found in the bible (Greek words like phileo, agape, etc…). It’s distracting, lets just go with “love” as a general term and go from there.
Love to a Klaine fan means this speech:
“To always love you. To defend you even if I know you’re wrong. To surprise you. To always pick up your call no matter what I’m doing. To bake you cookies at least twice a year and to kiss you whenever and wherever you want. Mostly to make sure that you always remember how perfectly imperfect you are.”
How can you not like what he says? A bunch of Klainites on tumblr have equated these words to a marriage vow and in many ways I agree. I love the romantic feel (and free cookies!) and the sentiment of embracing imperfections. Its refreshing in so many ways and so poetic and so everlasting.
And it’s love. It’s romance. But is it real?
God proclaimed his love for us by sending His son to die on a cross for us so that we might all be saved.
New casting crowns asks about that love and how far it takes sin away from us. Response: From east to west.
http://youtu.be/GjvOpff_ReE
For me, the trouble is rectifying the two because if another guy said something like what Blaine said to Kurt, I can’t imagine that I would have a problem with it. Truth is, I’m hungry for someone to say that to me in many ways.
http://youtu.be/bKcgJzj6WBU
And I’m hungry for God. It’s like the god things two weeks back- we crave the thing which satisfies but we create something that won’t sustain us permanently just to satiate the temporary pain. The little gods of marriage vows over loving God and the day to day that really looks like.
So love.
Some might say love is in your heart and you’re a prisoner to it.
Some might say that God is love and should be all sustaining.
Some might say to love who you want as long as I don’t have to see it.
Some might say that love has no gender.
Have we made love into our own god? Have we taken the promise of love and bowed to it? Watching Klaine and reading fan fiction makes me think that at least my generation and the one beneath us has. The biggest trouble is not knowing how, when, or why you did it.
Klaine seems natural sometimes and silly sometimes and vain sometimes but it doesn’t seem wrong. Is it wrong though? Do I live in a Roman account or from Levitical standards at face value or do I take into account that there was a commentary that said homosexuality was only a sin for prostitutes and pimps that engaged in it?
More questions than answers.
Especially if you want God more than anything.
Why love?
Because I have just spent the past week watching the Tumblr meltdown over the Klaine box scene.
Translations: Tumblr (social networking site, like blogging only with lots more gifs)
Klaine (Kurt and Blaine, two characters on Glee, two boys in a relationship)
Box scene (A script from the Christmas episode of the 3rd season of Glee that was purchased (and money raised for charity) with the express intent of finding out what was in the box from Blaine to Kurt. It did not disappoint.)
Where does this leave me as a Christian blogger? Perhaps you are expecting certain things. Certain things from Leviticus or Romans. You won’t find them here if you are. Why? Because I haven’t made my mind up, haven’t researched everything regarding the issue and I don’t want to make assumptions for others in their personal walks with Christ.
I will tell you that a whole host of issues comes up with me and Klaine. And the biggest issue is probably the world’s expectation of love.
First, don’t get hung up on all the different types of love found in the bible (Greek words like phileo, agape, etc…). It’s distracting, lets just go with “love” as a general term and go from there.
Love to a Klaine fan means this speech:
“To always love you. To defend you even if I know you’re wrong. To surprise you. To always pick up your call no matter what I’m doing. To bake you cookies at least twice a year and to kiss you whenever and wherever you want. Mostly to make sure that you always remember how perfectly imperfect you are.”
How can you not like what he says? A bunch of Klainites on tumblr have equated these words to a marriage vow and in many ways I agree. I love the romantic feel (and free cookies!) and the sentiment of embracing imperfections. Its refreshing in so many ways and so poetic and so everlasting.
And it’s love. It’s romance. But is it real?
God proclaimed his love for us by sending His son to die on a cross for us so that we might all be saved.
New casting crowns asks about that love and how far it takes sin away from us. Response: From east to west.
http://youtu.be/GjvOpff_ReE
For me, the trouble is rectifying the two because if another guy said something like what Blaine said to Kurt, I can’t imagine that I would have a problem with it. Truth is, I’m hungry for someone to say that to me in many ways.
http://youtu.be/bKcgJzj6WBU
And I’m hungry for God. It’s like the god things two weeks back- we crave the thing which satisfies but we create something that won’t sustain us permanently just to satiate the temporary pain. The little gods of marriage vows over loving God and the day to day that really looks like.
So love.
Some might say love is in your heart and you’re a prisoner to it.
Some might say that God is love and should be all sustaining.
Some might say to love who you want as long as I don’t have to see it.
Some might say that love has no gender.
Have we made love into our own god? Have we taken the promise of love and bowed to it? Watching Klaine and reading fan fiction makes me think that at least my generation and the one beneath us has. The biggest trouble is not knowing how, when, or why you did it.
Klaine seems natural sometimes and silly sometimes and vain sometimes but it doesn’t seem wrong. Is it wrong though? Do I live in a Roman account or from Levitical standards at face value or do I take into account that there was a commentary that said homosexuality was only a sin for prostitutes and pimps that engaged in it?
More questions than answers.
Especially if you want God more than anything.
Friday, May 25, 2012
How God Is Great and Jealous
I'm not satisfied with what I've been writing this week for the blog. It seems to lack my usual heartfeltness and direction. To be perfectly honest, I may have been able to mix a CD for my friends Angel and Lisa, but I couldn't choose what I wanted to say about God this week - partially because I'm still hooked on the love song ideal and partially because I want to know what songs you guys like to hear about and/or sing to God. I'm curious because I have a point of view, but I want to know about the songs and albums that rocked your world. Thoughts?
Two songs for today-
How He Loves: http://youtu.be/h7SQBJTjwOw
Fun fact: The original band for this song was not the David Crowder Band.
How Great is Our God: http://youtu.be/CFP4C6aJ5WY
I know there are great biblical references in these songs to be decoded, but I'm not feeling it today. I also didn't want to leave you hanging though, I wanted to give you something.
I chose these songs because of how they expand and react to God. How He Loves starts as this startling intimacy and then becomes a cry out to God because of his love, because there is an undeniability - how are you supposed to hold it in when someone has lyrics like:
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
It's pretty good poetry, really it is.
And honestly, when you think of God's jealousy, you can see it in Hosea. Hosea is almost like an Old Testament parable instead of just a book. Hosea is representative of God's love and Gomer (along with the second wife) show the wandering of God's chosen Israel and how it grieves him. That is his jealousy when they sacrifice animals or infants (seriously, it happened all the time - the Israelites had minds the span of a goldfish or something) to a god that did not get them to a promised land and did not help David to achieve great and beautiful things for the nation.
It's an honor to have God be jealous for me as a gentile, not gonna lie. Betcha that Paul and that centurion whose slave was healed would say the same thing.
But why then would I follow with How Great is Our God? It's a great anthem but its not as intimate, feeling more formal and choral, almost like a Phillips, Craig, and Dean hymn. Well, there is a more personal reason to it. I was raised Pentacostal and taught that the Trinity was a lie and false and to believe it was to die (essentially) and when I came to believe in the Trinity, it was the first song I sang- so there is special meaning behind it.
You're the name above all names
You're worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How Great is Our God?!
I'll leave you with those thoughts for now.
-John
Two songs for today-
How He Loves: http://youtu.be/h7SQBJTjwOw
Fun fact: The original band for this song was not the David Crowder Band.
How Great is Our God: http://youtu.be/CFP4C6aJ5WY
I know there are great biblical references in these songs to be decoded, but I'm not feeling it today. I also didn't want to leave you hanging though, I wanted to give you something.
I chose these songs because of how they expand and react to God. How He Loves starts as this startling intimacy and then becomes a cry out to God because of his love, because there is an undeniability - how are you supposed to hold it in when someone has lyrics like:
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
It's pretty good poetry, really it is.
And honestly, when you think of God's jealousy, you can see it in Hosea. Hosea is almost like an Old Testament parable instead of just a book. Hosea is representative of God's love and Gomer (along with the second wife) show the wandering of God's chosen Israel and how it grieves him. That is his jealousy when they sacrifice animals or infants (seriously, it happened all the time - the Israelites had minds the span of a goldfish or something) to a god that did not get them to a promised land and did not help David to achieve great and beautiful things for the nation.
It's an honor to have God be jealous for me as a gentile, not gonna lie. Betcha that Paul and that centurion whose slave was healed would say the same thing.
But why then would I follow with How Great is Our God? It's a great anthem but its not as intimate, feeling more formal and choral, almost like a Phillips, Craig, and Dean hymn. Well, there is a more personal reason to it. I was raised Pentacostal and taught that the Trinity was a lie and false and to believe it was to die (essentially) and when I came to believe in the Trinity, it was the first song I sang- so there is special meaning behind it.
You're the name above all names
You're worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How Great is Our God?!
I'll leave you with those thoughts for now.
-John
Thursday, May 17, 2012
As the Deer
Since I confessed I liked Glee last week, I thought it would be good to give you just a bit more insight into my brain and I hope you will enjoy it, and we will become closer through it. If you have not yet guessed - the above cookie jar (I know, there’s something underneath those cookies?!) is a TARDIS.
What is the TARDIS you might ask? I’m glad you did. The Time And Relative Dimensions in Space machine is the starship of Doctor Who of BBC fame. The Doctor has recently begun to surpass cult fame, but has been an institution almost continually since 1963. The doctor is allowed to do this through the simple death cheat of regeneration, thus creating and preserving new story lines, characters, and actual set change.
This does not explain why I like Doctor Who though. I like Doctor Who because of his messianic complex, his strange brilliance, and his knack for picking up earthlings and helping them learn about themselves while traveling the stars and saving the universe. The Doctor calls them companions but really they become disciples. You can especially see this in the second series of the “New Who”, which is when David Tennant took the role of the good Doctor.
Two cases to make about Doctor Who as a nerd religious symbol:
1) School Reunion: Old companion Sarah Jane meets then current companion Rose (Giles from Buffy plays a memorable villain). Current companion learns old companions don’t fly with the Doctor forever and perhaps she is not as special as she thought (well, she is, but that’s because Rose was the best companion pretty much ever). Her faithful discipleship of the Doctor is shaken. Donna Noble is a later companion who comes to this grim realization when she almost dies saving 27 planets (including Klom and the lost moon of Poosh).
2) New Earth: Perhaps the most blatant of messianic (savior) visuals comes from this episode. I actually love this episode quite dearly but the ending with the water and cleansing (I won’t spoil if you haven’t seen it) makes a case for the goodness and belief in the Doctor. I couldn’t find a decent clip to visualize, but I wish I had.
So what is the point and how does this relate to Christian music? Well, it relates to any Christian music in which Jesus is discussed as the savior and only God. I mean, people believe in Doctor Who and Joss Whedon. People are hardcore Harry Potterites (though less crazy) and some people even still have grand fervor for Ayn Rand.
Whether or not you want to argue, you can look inside and see for yourself that everyone has a god they bow too, whether it be God or god (and sometimes there is a terrifying duality inside the person which causes painful warring). Truth be told, if I didn’t believe in God, I would fully embrace the Whovian (Doctor Who) lifestyle with the same reckless abandon I took for being an Angel aficionado (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Green Lantern, and even the Power Rangers.
Interestingly enough, a god that is not God will often be modeled after the so called seven deadly (or cardinal) sins: Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, and Wrath. Those little gods that we tote around might be simple daily things (“I cannot get through my day without coffee!”), things that are means to an end (workaholic, alcoholic, Fight Clubaholic), escapism (voyeurism, bondage, fan fiction), and even other actual gods (pagan beliefs included here).
People try and debate me on this, but we love stuff that is not god. We’re guilty of it -sometimes even after we actively choose the real Christ. Its sin in its truest form, the dark whispers from the garden. Anyone who states otherwise is lying to themselves and I used to be that way too, so trust me when I say you are not alone in that one.
So what do we do? How do we recognize the emptiness in us that comes from other gods? How do we let the true God fill us and replace that? How do we long after him the way he longs to come for us as though we are a lost sheep or Mary? (Luke 15: 3-10)
The first thing is to recognize how unfulfilled you (we) are. Truth be told, you may not actually think you are. Percentages work in my favor here because blogs are still relatively youthful enough, but those mid-life crises that movies make fun of or that we read about as runaway brides and such on slate? That is a lack of true fulfillment. That’s how you know its counterfeit to Jesus.
And there may be nothing outward about it. After awhile, a callous may easily build against your heart and soul, numbing out God and the thing you’re running after that’s not God. Dullness, desensitization, a lack of quietness in the confusion all come next. And its not pretty. Sometimes someone will end up cutting themselves or committing suicide because of that feeling. Sometimes it will motivate them to physical healthiness (jogging, for instance). And sometimes, it takes God wresting with them and their demons for someone to understand.
Don’t mistake this wresting for a lack of power on the part of God. There is biblical prescient for wresting, as when Jacob became Israel and would go on to birth a great nation and a great peoples and eventually the Messiah. (Genesis 32)
The best illustration in song I can think of right now is As the Deer. As the Deer is not quite a hymn, but its not a new song. It was represented and became quite famous about the same time as God of Wonders but it predates God of Wonders. Also, you may recognize some of it as Psalm 42.
As the Video Panteth For The Water: http://youtu.be/TF27EczT_pU
God’s spirit and holiness are the waters here that fill. Jesus talked about with the woman at the well (Gospel of John Chap. 4), also using things like bread to make the same point. The point of us being naturally more like deer and him naturally more like that pure water.
Remarkably, as the Deer continues a tradition of giving names to God that are intimate: Friend, Brother, Strength, Shield.
The author also talks about wanting God more than gold or silver (something only a handful of Israelites could say) and even more than anything.
And that, my friends, seems like an incomprehensible love. At least it does to me. I pray more out of need that love or praise. I don’t follow through with Christian things like telling people about Him (though in my defense I am working on that kind of). I don’t discipline myself or even read the Voice every day like I should to be fresh and renewed (there’s that water metaphor again!). And sometimes it doesn’t bother me that I don’t do these things like I should.
And it should bother me more. It should bother us more. And I’m not talking about shouting through megaphones, I’m talking about Peter. Peter whose love for God redeemed him. And Stephen, whose love for God ended in his death. And David. And Ruth. And Jonathan. And John. And Paul. I’m talking about us. Not our holy wars or the wages of sin.
I’m talking about loving God back with a microscopic version of what he gives us. And it haunts me sometimes that I cannot give him enough. That I don’t deserve his love and yet, there it is, waiting to wash me. I go off and I sin lustfully with men, for one of the worst examples. And the weight of it might not be biblical. It may be shame rather than the easy burden and light yoke that we’re actually supposed to have as Christians, but I don’t think we’ve ever known that burden and yoke because we expect to work for our salvation and feel like… hey! Good deeds!
And good deeds are good. But they are not salvation. They do not fill you. You are not Scrooge from the Christmas Carol. And I am not Mother Theresa. I am John and I am loved but I do not love back enough.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, May 11, 2012
Writing A Love Song
I didn't think there would ever be an appropriate time to mention that I am sometimes a fan of Glee (because some episodes are great (like On My Way) and other episodes are centered around the musical "stylings" of Justin Bieber). All the same, Glee is kind of an inspiration for this week's post. Case in point, a sampling of songs from recent episodes:
Take My Breath Away
What Makes You Beautiful
I Have Nothing
I Will Always Love You
The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)
If I Can’t Have You
How Deep Is Your Love
The common denominator between these songs is that they are all love songs (and for the most part, incredibly cheesy). How does this relate to a blog about Christian music, you might ask? The answer for me is simple. These love songs express human love, limited and narrow in scope, but they share a singular trait in that they are a glimpse of the love God has for us.
Based on this knowledge and the above list, I set out to try and write a love song to God. You would think it would be easy, I sure did. But its easier to write a love song to a tangible person and apparently for me to sound like Patrick Swayze (seriously, everything I thought about came back to She's Like the Wind).
You might say, wait a minute fearless blogger, aren't all Christian songs love songs to God? Well , yes, some are. But most aren't specifically a love song to God. They are about commissioning, what heaven could be like (I Can Only Imagine- a personal favorite), story songs (think American Dream or While You Were Sleeping...both by Casting Crowns), and praises to God for different attributes of his personality (Revelation Song comes to mind here).
I am working on my own project for God -a love song of sorts, but I am intrigued by this idea of a love song to God. Not merely a personal expression of faith but of a passion that exceeds understanding. Is it/ should it be so much harder to sing I Will Always Love You to God rather than to another human?
There are several good ballads in Christendom that one could argue are perfect love songs to God and I chose on my favorites for this week's deconstruction. Before we begin though, I'd like you think about your love song to God. What instruments would be instrumental (trumpets -I Was Made to Love You, violins- Agnus Dei by Michael Smith, piano only, drums)? What would you write? What would the tempo be?
Well, before I get a little too Sister Mary Clarence on the topic, let me introduce this week's song choice. Wonderful, Merciful Savior by Selah: http://youtu.be/gQzrqmcwg8o
I want you to notice the imagery that is provided for us and I want you to dwell on that - to dwell on who God is through Jesus Christ in those things. Wonderful, Merciful, Savior, Precious, Redeemer, Friend, Almighty, Infinite Father, Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
If you're one of those people that only goes to church for Christmas and Easter, you might notice that several of those titles are represented during the Christmas passage of Isaiah where the coming King is discussed (Isaiah 9:6).
And normally, those titles are glossed over to get to the cute manger scene with the lowing cattle and such. But to think of God as something like Wonderful is more than a nice novelty of Christmas. In some cultures, its almost akin to blasphemy because of the perception of God being so removed from the lives of His subjects -and its seen as quite proper.
But being removed is never who Jesus was. He came into a messy world to grant us life and to give us a chance to join him in his work (in whatever form that may take) and he came to be all those titles and more.
Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?
And Jesus being referenced as a lamb is nothing new. He is the spotless lamb and the lamb that opens the seals in Revelation - him being the only one able. (1 Peter 1:18-20, Revelations 5) The lamb is reference to his sacrificial offering that brought the curse of Adam to an end with his death and resurrection. Curiously enough, you also see a passage like this in the bible where the time is promised where a lion will lay with a lamb.
Hint: Jesus is also the lion of Judah (Revelations 5:5/ Hosea 5: 14). That my seem slightly confusing, but seeing Jesus as a spotless lamb is actually just as difficult to see him as lion overturning tables in the temple out of anger. How is it easier? Well, because of the fact that Jesus being a 33 year old carpenter at the end of his ministry means that he was faultless, sinless, and guiltless through 33 1/2 full blooded male years, while being tempted, while healing demons, and while calling disciples to him and sending them out.
I have a hard time even getting to the gym most weeks. Kidding aside, I'm sure that if you've been a Christian that you have run across some sort of argument that tries to make Jesus seem more human, fallible, and therefore not guiltless (Dan Brown fictional novels come to mind).
Its so hard in our day and age of free access porn and instant gratification brownie mix and buy it now online airfare that there would have ever been anyone like Jesus. There is just a brain pattern that screams It is Impossible! It is Inconceivable!
But its true. Jesus was the Son of God who did no wrong and gave us freedom even though we do wrong on a mostly hourly basis.
Following his titles, there are notes in the song, subtle hints in the wording that leaves you to fill your life into them. Phrases about faithfully loving your own and a Spirit we long to embrace. It comes close to this love song I've been trying to write, a love song that is maybe one day a love story - which, at the end of the day, Christianity really should be.
But its not just about us longing for him, seeing how we've yearned and remembering that need. Oh no. Our Jesus found us in darkness and falling before his throne.
And he loved us instead of throwing us on the funeral pyre where we belonged after we, each person in history, every person reading this blog and every person both before and after, hung that innocent lamb on a horrific cross of crucifixtion. Whether or not you want to toss blame on Pilate, the Romans, the Jews, Herod, the cowardly apostles, or anyone else in the history of the story, you cannot.
The truth is deeply more personal in that he loved us while we were still sinners and an answer is demanded from our lips thus:
You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace our
Hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for
So this week, think about your love song to God. Toil with it, struggle with it, don't make it some mediocre achievement, make it a festival and an offering. Oh yeah, and I can't wait to hear or read them.
Thanks for reading,
John
Take My Breath Away
What Makes You Beautiful
I Have Nothing
I Will Always Love You
The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)
If I Can’t Have You
How Deep Is Your Love
The common denominator between these songs is that they are all love songs (and for the most part, incredibly cheesy). How does this relate to a blog about Christian music, you might ask? The answer for me is simple. These love songs express human love, limited and narrow in scope, but they share a singular trait in that they are a glimpse of the love God has for us.
Based on this knowledge and the above list, I set out to try and write a love song to God. You would think it would be easy, I sure did. But its easier to write a love song to a tangible person and apparently for me to sound like Patrick Swayze (seriously, everything I thought about came back to She's Like the Wind).
You might say, wait a minute fearless blogger, aren't all Christian songs love songs to God? Well , yes, some are. But most aren't specifically a love song to God. They are about commissioning, what heaven could be like (I Can Only Imagine- a personal favorite), story songs (think American Dream or While You Were Sleeping...both by Casting Crowns), and praises to God for different attributes of his personality (Revelation Song comes to mind here).
I am working on my own project for God -a love song of sorts, but I am intrigued by this idea of a love song to God. Not merely a personal expression of faith but of a passion that exceeds understanding. Is it/ should it be so much harder to sing I Will Always Love You to God rather than to another human?
There are several good ballads in Christendom that one could argue are perfect love songs to God and I chose on my favorites for this week's deconstruction. Before we begin though, I'd like you think about your love song to God. What instruments would be instrumental (trumpets -I Was Made to Love You, violins- Agnus Dei by Michael Smith, piano only, drums)? What would you write? What would the tempo be?
Well, before I get a little too Sister Mary Clarence on the topic, let me introduce this week's song choice. Wonderful, Merciful Savior by Selah: http://youtu.be/gQzrqmcwg8o
I want you to notice the imagery that is provided for us and I want you to dwell on that - to dwell on who God is through Jesus Christ in those things. Wonderful, Merciful, Savior, Precious, Redeemer, Friend, Almighty, Infinite Father, Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
If you're one of those people that only goes to church for Christmas and Easter, you might notice that several of those titles are represented during the Christmas passage of Isaiah where the coming King is discussed (Isaiah 9:6).
And normally, those titles are glossed over to get to the cute manger scene with the lowing cattle and such. But to think of God as something like Wonderful is more than a nice novelty of Christmas. In some cultures, its almost akin to blasphemy because of the perception of God being so removed from the lives of His subjects -and its seen as quite proper.
But being removed is never who Jesus was. He came into a messy world to grant us life and to give us a chance to join him in his work (in whatever form that may take) and he came to be all those titles and more.
Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?
And Jesus being referenced as a lamb is nothing new. He is the spotless lamb and the lamb that opens the seals in Revelation - him being the only one able. (1 Peter 1:18-20, Revelations 5) The lamb is reference to his sacrificial offering that brought the curse of Adam to an end with his death and resurrection. Curiously enough, you also see a passage like this in the bible where the time is promised where a lion will lay with a lamb.
Hint: Jesus is also the lion of Judah (Revelations 5:5/ Hosea 5: 14). That my seem slightly confusing, but seeing Jesus as a spotless lamb is actually just as difficult to see him as lion overturning tables in the temple out of anger. How is it easier? Well, because of the fact that Jesus being a 33 year old carpenter at the end of his ministry means that he was faultless, sinless, and guiltless through 33 1/2 full blooded male years, while being tempted, while healing demons, and while calling disciples to him and sending them out.
I have a hard time even getting to the gym most weeks. Kidding aside, I'm sure that if you've been a Christian that you have run across some sort of argument that tries to make Jesus seem more human, fallible, and therefore not guiltless (Dan Brown fictional novels come to mind).
Its so hard in our day and age of free access porn and instant gratification brownie mix and buy it now online airfare that there would have ever been anyone like Jesus. There is just a brain pattern that screams It is Impossible! It is Inconceivable!
But its true. Jesus was the Son of God who did no wrong and gave us freedom even though we do wrong on a mostly hourly basis.
Following his titles, there are notes in the song, subtle hints in the wording that leaves you to fill your life into them. Phrases about faithfully loving your own and a Spirit we long to embrace. It comes close to this love song I've been trying to write, a love song that is maybe one day a love story - which, at the end of the day, Christianity really should be.
But its not just about us longing for him, seeing how we've yearned and remembering that need. Oh no. Our Jesus found us in darkness and falling before his throne.
And he loved us instead of throwing us on the funeral pyre where we belonged after we, each person in history, every person reading this blog and every person both before and after, hung that innocent lamb on a horrific cross of crucifixtion. Whether or not you want to toss blame on Pilate, the Romans, the Jews, Herod, the cowardly apostles, or anyone else in the history of the story, you cannot.
The truth is deeply more personal in that he loved us while we were still sinners and an answer is demanded from our lips thus:
You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace our
Hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for
So this week, think about your love song to God. Toil with it, struggle with it, don't make it some mediocre achievement, make it a festival and an offering. Oh yeah, and I can't wait to hear or read them.
Thanks for reading,
John
Saturday, May 5, 2012
A Quick Word about ....
Sorry that this week's post is so late, guys. I think people are reading thus far and I am grateful for that, so I am sorry that I did not post with my usual weekly punctuality.
I want to talk this week about Godspell. This is a rather informal post, different from my usual ones, but important notheless. I am a member of a local theater production of Godspell and I find that there is a powerful connection between my faith, my love/hate relationship with acting, and the music of this play.
Firstly, Godspell is based on the gospel of Matthew, godspell being the old English for gospel (fun fact). It is from the 70s, so some of the music is funkified but its overall goodness weighs the slight need for updating. Oddly enough, it was considered heresy when it was first performed. I can't see it, but some people thought the author was making fun of Jesus. Perhaps its because he took artistic license with where to stage things in the story? Or because the movie Jesus had a white man's afro? Who knows. The 70s were a strange time, methinks.
The show's cohesiveness comes from the centrality of Jesus (whom actually never leaves the stage) and the community of believers he creates. Our version uses the colors of the rainbow to deliniate both this cohesiveness and useful individuality we each possess as a child of God.
Something that is different from both movie and recorded versions (its not even on the original cast album) is that the show opens differently with a different song altogether. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord may be a great opening for the movie, but the show actually opens with several different kinds of philosphies competing for attention. This actually enhances the entrance of John the Baptist, I think (though I think the movie version actually captures something different and beautiful unto itself).
Prepare Ye the Way of the Video: http://youtu.be/wSIs1MHdFQY
Bonus biblical Nerd points: Before or when the term Christian first came into play, the movement of Jewish Jesus followers was known as "the Way".
Interestingly enough (point 1), several of the songs can be found in old hymn books. My personal favorite is O Bless the Lord, My Soul - call me a sucker for a good gospel song but this song has great capacity for movement and joy as well as being chocked full of biblical references that won't go over your head. Its easier to listen to than try to dissect in one blog post. Fun fact: This song occurs in the midst of act one, and is followed by the Beatitudes (Blessed are the...., For they shall be....), which actually occurs in the gospel of Matthew a lot closer to the beginning but I thought was a great artistic choice for the show.
O Bless the Lord, My Video: http://youtu.be/19LP4qNYUD4
Or consider our version of All Good Gifts. We have a larger cast than the traditional ten, so we have two different parts of the stage interacting with All Good Gifts. On one side, you will find the disciples in their individual colors coming together for the first time. Jesus and Kelly the disciple (interestingly enough (point 2), disciple names are based on the real person names - if you get a copy of the real script, you'll find disciples with names like Joanna and Gilmer) are in the center of their circle and Kelly is singing about God's majesty in nature.
I'd like to stop and take a moment to consider this. There are several psalms (8, 19, 147, 148) that speak of the majesty of God in nature and there is certainly a movement among some Christians to view nature in light of God (case in point: Donald Miller's books) and praise him for it. But do we think about it? Do we praise him for the soft, refreshing rain or the sunshine?
Conversely, do we praise him during blizzards or heat waves? I don't praise him during heat waves so much, but he made the heat to wave as much as he made the pleasant sun and the sweet scent of the rose. So that is a thought to bear.
The other part of the stage is seperated by those of us in the world, who have not yet or will not choose to follow Jesus. Our chimes at the end of the song sound bittersweet and the black we wear onstage signifies our following of the world and its sin.
Its honestly hard for me being part of world and I'm only more aware of it now in light of what I do not do as a Christian. When I hold up the Bible to myself as a mirror and look at those who have come before, I find myself horribly comfortable and not really living for Jesus. Were I to live in the old days, I fear I would not have been chosen based on my kindess (several disciples are chosen by Jesus and the holy Spirit afterwards this way). That being said, I am glad to be chosen for grace's sake and glad that when I can give, I give. I fear I could have always given more, but that is the past. And since I have no Tardis, I must struggle with giving it to God and leaving it there.
Working in Godspell at this moment in time is great, because there is a revival cast either on or having just finished on Broadway, so we have a point of reference for what we are doing (even though we are a unique cast in many ways). If you have a chance, I recommend a visit to Godspell. Its reminiscent of Jesus Christ Superstar, but its much more like Hair or Tommy (the movie) than Superstar. It is a great joy and privilege to be part of this cast (puns and singing at Red Robin included) and I think this might be the start of something good for me.
I'll be back next week to our reguarly scheduled blog cast. Now that tech week is done and we're onto performances, there will be more time to read, reflect, renew myself, and consider the difficult things in what I read, post, and even sing.
Thanks for reading,
John
I want to talk this week about Godspell. This is a rather informal post, different from my usual ones, but important notheless. I am a member of a local theater production of Godspell and I find that there is a powerful connection between my faith, my love/hate relationship with acting, and the music of this play.
Firstly, Godspell is based on the gospel of Matthew, godspell being the old English for gospel (fun fact). It is from the 70s, so some of the music is funkified but its overall goodness weighs the slight need for updating. Oddly enough, it was considered heresy when it was first performed. I can't see it, but some people thought the author was making fun of Jesus. Perhaps its because he took artistic license with where to stage things in the story? Or because the movie Jesus had a white man's afro? Who knows. The 70s were a strange time, methinks.
The show's cohesiveness comes from the centrality of Jesus (whom actually never leaves the stage) and the community of believers he creates. Our version uses the colors of the rainbow to deliniate both this cohesiveness and useful individuality we each possess as a child of God.
Something that is different from both movie and recorded versions (its not even on the original cast album) is that the show opens differently with a different song altogether. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord may be a great opening for the movie, but the show actually opens with several different kinds of philosphies competing for attention. This actually enhances the entrance of John the Baptist, I think (though I think the movie version actually captures something different and beautiful unto itself).
Prepare Ye the Way of the Video: http://youtu.be/wSIs1MHdFQY
Bonus biblical Nerd points: Before or when the term Christian first came into play, the movement of Jewish Jesus followers was known as "the Way".
Interestingly enough (point 1), several of the songs can be found in old hymn books. My personal favorite is O Bless the Lord, My Soul - call me a sucker for a good gospel song but this song has great capacity for movement and joy as well as being chocked full of biblical references that won't go over your head. Its easier to listen to than try to dissect in one blog post. Fun fact: This song occurs in the midst of act one, and is followed by the Beatitudes (Blessed are the...., For they shall be....), which actually occurs in the gospel of Matthew a lot closer to the beginning but I thought was a great artistic choice for the show.
O Bless the Lord, My Video: http://youtu.be/19LP4qNYUD4
Or consider our version of All Good Gifts. We have a larger cast than the traditional ten, so we have two different parts of the stage interacting with All Good Gifts. On one side, you will find the disciples in their individual colors coming together for the first time. Jesus and Kelly the disciple (interestingly enough (point 2), disciple names are based on the real person names - if you get a copy of the real script, you'll find disciples with names like Joanna and Gilmer) are in the center of their circle and Kelly is singing about God's majesty in nature.
I'd like to stop and take a moment to consider this. There are several psalms (8, 19, 147, 148) that speak of the majesty of God in nature and there is certainly a movement among some Christians to view nature in light of God (case in point: Donald Miller's books) and praise him for it. But do we think about it? Do we praise him for the soft, refreshing rain or the sunshine?
Conversely, do we praise him during blizzards or heat waves? I don't praise him during heat waves so much, but he made the heat to wave as much as he made the pleasant sun and the sweet scent of the rose. So that is a thought to bear.
The other part of the stage is seperated by those of us in the world, who have not yet or will not choose to follow Jesus. Our chimes at the end of the song sound bittersweet and the black we wear onstage signifies our following of the world and its sin.
Its honestly hard for me being part of world and I'm only more aware of it now in light of what I do not do as a Christian. When I hold up the Bible to myself as a mirror and look at those who have come before, I find myself horribly comfortable and not really living for Jesus. Were I to live in the old days, I fear I would not have been chosen based on my kindess (several disciples are chosen by Jesus and the holy Spirit afterwards this way). That being said, I am glad to be chosen for grace's sake and glad that when I can give, I give. I fear I could have always given more, but that is the past. And since I have no Tardis, I must struggle with giving it to God and leaving it there.
Working in Godspell at this moment in time is great, because there is a revival cast either on or having just finished on Broadway, so we have a point of reference for what we are doing (even though we are a unique cast in many ways). If you have a chance, I recommend a visit to Godspell. Its reminiscent of Jesus Christ Superstar, but its much more like Hair or Tommy (the movie) than Superstar. It is a great joy and privilege to be part of this cast (puns and singing at Red Robin included) and I think this might be the start of something good for me.
I'll be back next week to our reguarly scheduled blog cast. Now that tech week is done and we're onto performances, there will be more time to read, reflect, renew myself, and consider the difficult things in what I read, post, and even sing.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, April 27, 2012
You Love Me Anyway
Edit: It was after reading this to post that nowhere in the post did I use the phrase exquisite to reference how much He loves me anyway. This is where that gets rectified. Okay, back to the post.
I struggled with a song for this week. As quick as I am to judge newer Christian songs (and thus have shied far away from Christian radio in the past), I was looking at You Love Me Anyways by the Sidewalk Prophets.
Video: http://youtu.be/y8BBCYFAYRI
They were a few hours away from where I lived recently. They were on a bill with about five other bands and I immediately had no interest in going because I don’t take well to most new Christian songs. In fact, I’ve been quite prideful about it. Coming from the Midwest and breaking the bonds of the Gaither family style of worship has been difficult.
I have had some friends who have turned me on to other bands that lead me to Casting Crowns and Third Day and it was even college where I first heard of Shane & Shane, but I’ve stuck with classic artists for a long time. Heck, even admitting to liking MercyMe took longer than it should have.
And there are some things in You Love Me Anyway that I just don’t get. The opening talks about a question or a lie, very generic, and I’m not immediately drawn to the song. It sounds just like any other song I’d heard on Praise 106.5, some of which just doesn’t always strike me as good and profitable to the Christian walk. They are all creamy 1% milk when the flock really needs a T-Bone steak to be healthy.
And there are more problems as the song continues. The first verse itself seems indulgent, talking about spreading our dreams and flying, when Jesus was very specific about giving up your life to gain it -which I’ve always equated included my dreams.
I know I’m being harsh on the band, I don’t know why they wrote the song or what time in their lives it comes from. Perhaps they are my age and have started to lose grandparents (they even talk about doubt and ask why loved ones have to die in the second verse). That being said, and realizing I have a high threshold for what I consider a “good” Christian song, you have to admit that the chorus is both catchy and resonant.
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes, you love me anyway
Oh Lord, how you love me
How you love me
A chorus like this doesn’t necessarily set them apart from others using the message God sent with Jesus to the world of his love and salvation, but its not dressed up fancy to be something else either and that wins them a point from me.
Truth is, when I was at my lowest, Jesus did grab me and carried me (still carrying, actually) while telling me I was his son and he would get me through this. Its something I can be grateful for, a catalyst to the sometimes nightmare and sometimes beautiful life I have been through this past five or six years.
Anyone with a really hard story that revolves around God (like my friends Harvey or David, for instance, who are both recovering addicts in AA and who I love dearly for their honesty and sometimes propensity for swearing to prove a point) can generally agree that it can become like nothing you’ve ever known. If you let yourself truly be transformed, even colors and the taste of fruit can change. As in my case, it took longer than it needed to, but we’re getting there.
What really drew me to this song was the bridge. It has an unexpected brutality. It is the “Good Friday” of a song that revolves quite heavily around “Resurrection Sunday”.
I am the thorn in your crown
-But you love me anyway
I am the sweat from your brow
I am the nail in your wrist
I am Judas’ kiss
Oddly enough, it does not follow the actual trajectory of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal to Jesus but it references how Jesus prayed for himself, leaving himself ultimately and finally in the hands of the Father. He prayed so much that he began to sweat blood, as though he were a boxer.
And Judas’ kiss is the ultimate mark of betrayal. Jesus references that he knew who would betray him and called him anyway, let him be in charge of funds, and even let him take that first communion at the last supper. He washed his feet, he let Judas watch him heal and then gave Judas the power to heal when he sent the first twelve emissaries out. He did all of this knowing that Judas would betray him.
An argument could be made that Judas was not in charge of himself when Satan came upon him and he decided to betray Jesus, but there is always something when he is mention that makes you stop and wonder if he’s not just not getting it (because the disciples never really understand what Jesus is talking about until after his mortal body is hung on the cross) but if he’s willfully disappointed and hardens his heart or even allows himself to be tempted by demons.
In the end, I don’t think a book called the Gospel of Judas is really going to help up sort it out. People have to make up their own minds about the why. I’ve got things in front of that to ask Jesus when I see him anyways.
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart- tried to bury your grace
The above speaks for itself, personal to all of us who have turned away from our old lives (repentance) or are actively trying to turn away from our old lives and addiction (still repentance, but some repentance with feet to it) and it speaks to me.
When I was a child, I had a hard time accepting that I would have ever mocked Jesus or beat him or betrayed him. But as I turned to him later in the years, I can see how I did what was above. I can’t say I held the spear in my hand that pierced his side, but I can say that I actively participated in the creation of my sins - whether or not I knew I was sinning at the time.
Its like that old question about natural law and whether people know if they are sinning if God’s law is not present. What people forget is that God’s law does run on nature and its not supposed to be that to do list that we drudge ourselves with. It’s far more Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act than we’d like to admit.
And then alone in the night
I still called out for you
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But you loved me anyway
It’s in this little patch of song that I must have been sold on the Sidewalk Prophets for this week. Because, for me, it was true. When I was young and alone and cold in my misery, I did often cry out to God in the night (for a brother, which - if you know my story- is both a funny and cautionary tale of being careful of what you pray for (that I wouldn’t have changed for anything).
Well, that’s it for this week. I’ve got tech week for Godspell next week and then performances, which will be exhilarating and exhausting and worth it. Because He does love us anyway. In a world where remarkable evil can happen, his even more remarkable and durable goodness not just answers prayers, but heals and saves lives until my life becomes my life under Him.
Is there a story waiting to be told there? Not just yours but those around you? Think of someone this week who might be crying out to Jesus alone in the night. Reach out to them. I know its tough and yes, there is a conversion aspect, but its more than conversion.
In Luke, when Jesus sent out the 70, he told them to make themselves part of the families they went to. To become more than just isolated zealots, but to give a community new birth and to give themselves permission to be involved in new lives.
Witnessing is this and its very difficult for me (that’s why I hide behind this keyboard, I suppose). But, as the song goes, he loves me anyway.
Thanks for reading,
John
I struggled with a song for this week. As quick as I am to judge newer Christian songs (and thus have shied far away from Christian radio in the past), I was looking at You Love Me Anyways by the Sidewalk Prophets.
Video: http://youtu.be/y8BBCYFAYRI
They were a few hours away from where I lived recently. They were on a bill with about five other bands and I immediately had no interest in going because I don’t take well to most new Christian songs. In fact, I’ve been quite prideful about it. Coming from the Midwest and breaking the bonds of the Gaither family style of worship has been difficult.
I have had some friends who have turned me on to other bands that lead me to Casting Crowns and Third Day and it was even college where I first heard of Shane & Shane, but I’ve stuck with classic artists for a long time. Heck, even admitting to liking MercyMe took longer than it should have.
And there are some things in You Love Me Anyway that I just don’t get. The opening talks about a question or a lie, very generic, and I’m not immediately drawn to the song. It sounds just like any other song I’d heard on Praise 106.5, some of which just doesn’t always strike me as good and profitable to the Christian walk. They are all creamy 1% milk when the flock really needs a T-Bone steak to be healthy.
And there are more problems as the song continues. The first verse itself seems indulgent, talking about spreading our dreams and flying, when Jesus was very specific about giving up your life to gain it -which I’ve always equated included my dreams.
I know I’m being harsh on the band, I don’t know why they wrote the song or what time in their lives it comes from. Perhaps they are my age and have started to lose grandparents (they even talk about doubt and ask why loved ones have to die in the second verse). That being said, and realizing I have a high threshold for what I consider a “good” Christian song, you have to admit that the chorus is both catchy and resonant.
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes, you love me anyway
Oh Lord, how you love me
How you love me
A chorus like this doesn’t necessarily set them apart from others using the message God sent with Jesus to the world of his love and salvation, but its not dressed up fancy to be something else either and that wins them a point from me.
Truth is, when I was at my lowest, Jesus did grab me and carried me (still carrying, actually) while telling me I was his son and he would get me through this. Its something I can be grateful for, a catalyst to the sometimes nightmare and sometimes beautiful life I have been through this past five or six years.
Anyone with a really hard story that revolves around God (like my friends Harvey or David, for instance, who are both recovering addicts in AA and who I love dearly for their honesty and sometimes propensity for swearing to prove a point) can generally agree that it can become like nothing you’ve ever known. If you let yourself truly be transformed, even colors and the taste of fruit can change. As in my case, it took longer than it needed to, but we’re getting there.
What really drew me to this song was the bridge. It has an unexpected brutality. It is the “Good Friday” of a song that revolves quite heavily around “Resurrection Sunday”.
I am the thorn in your crown
-But you love me anyway
I am the sweat from your brow
I am the nail in your wrist
I am Judas’ kiss
Oddly enough, it does not follow the actual trajectory of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal to Jesus but it references how Jesus prayed for himself, leaving himself ultimately and finally in the hands of the Father. He prayed so much that he began to sweat blood, as though he were a boxer.
And Judas’ kiss is the ultimate mark of betrayal. Jesus references that he knew who would betray him and called him anyway, let him be in charge of funds, and even let him take that first communion at the last supper. He washed his feet, he let Judas watch him heal and then gave Judas the power to heal when he sent the first twelve emissaries out. He did all of this knowing that Judas would betray him.
An argument could be made that Judas was not in charge of himself when Satan came upon him and he decided to betray Jesus, but there is always something when he is mention that makes you stop and wonder if he’s not just not getting it (because the disciples never really understand what Jesus is talking about until after his mortal body is hung on the cross) but if he’s willfully disappointed and hardens his heart or even allows himself to be tempted by demons.
In the end, I don’t think a book called the Gospel of Judas is really going to help up sort it out. People have to make up their own minds about the why. I’ve got things in front of that to ask Jesus when I see him anyways.
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart- tried to bury your grace
The above speaks for itself, personal to all of us who have turned away from our old lives (repentance) or are actively trying to turn away from our old lives and addiction (still repentance, but some repentance with feet to it) and it speaks to me.
When I was a child, I had a hard time accepting that I would have ever mocked Jesus or beat him or betrayed him. But as I turned to him later in the years, I can see how I did what was above. I can’t say I held the spear in my hand that pierced his side, but I can say that I actively participated in the creation of my sins - whether or not I knew I was sinning at the time.
Its like that old question about natural law and whether people know if they are sinning if God’s law is not present. What people forget is that God’s law does run on nature and its not supposed to be that to do list that we drudge ourselves with. It’s far more Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act than we’d like to admit.
And then alone in the night
I still called out for you
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But you loved me anyway
It’s in this little patch of song that I must have been sold on the Sidewalk Prophets for this week. Because, for me, it was true. When I was young and alone and cold in my misery, I did often cry out to God in the night (for a brother, which - if you know my story- is both a funny and cautionary tale of being careful of what you pray for (that I wouldn’t have changed for anything).
Well, that’s it for this week. I’ve got tech week for Godspell next week and then performances, which will be exhilarating and exhausting and worth it. Because He does love us anyway. In a world where remarkable evil can happen, his even more remarkable and durable goodness not just answers prayers, but heals and saves lives until my life becomes my life under Him.
Is there a story waiting to be told there? Not just yours but those around you? Think of someone this week who might be crying out to Jesus alone in the night. Reach out to them. I know its tough and yes, there is a conversion aspect, but its more than conversion.
In Luke, when Jesus sent out the 70, he told them to make themselves part of the families they went to. To become more than just isolated zealots, but to give a community new birth and to give themselves permission to be involved in new lives.
Witnessing is this and its very difficult for me (that’s why I hide behind this keyboard, I suppose). But, as the song goes, he loves me anyway.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, April 20, 2012
Week 3: Mighty to Save
Mighty to Save (Jeremy Camp style): http://youtu.be/YVeQoHdIDEE
It’s a blanket statement if I’ve ever heard one. Everyone needs compassion and I’m not sure there is anyone that would disagree with that (perhaps that family of a murder victim withstanding, they’d perhaps seek justice over compassion). But, unique cases aside, these three are a universal need, no matter what creed you adopt: compassion, love, mercy.
Compassion is what gives families that ability to accept their son wanting to be a drag queen. Love is what drives a family to work in a soup kitchen during the holidays. Mercy is what tugs at your heartstrings, giving someone standing on a street corner with a sign a few dollars from your wallet or change from your cup holder.
Compassion is also what keeps families from killing each other on long road trips. Love is what keeps a teacher motivated when parents yell and scream because their “perfect kid” isn’t quite so perfect. Mercy is what has stopped back alley abortions and gay bashing and laws against things like interracial marriage.
I thank God for these things that he has brought into the world: Compassion, Love, and Mercy.
Perhaps, though, you feel numb to these things. Late night infomercials about the ASPCA or to sponsor a third world child have left you dry and unmoved. Scandals about where that money actually goes leaves you feeling like its an empty gesture, hollow to the point of ignoring it. In some ways, it might be a hollow gesture - a guilt being projected that some do want you to pay for. it’s the old adage: Finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa. My generation replies: So what? Are you going to mail my food to them? We used to joke about things like that. They get clever in college and all of a sudden Spencers has a poster that states: Finish your beer, there are sober kids in India.
Reality: That’s horribly jaded, we are horribly jaded as a culture, society, even as a global village. We create remarkable feats in our minds for those who do simple and wonderful things for others (Mother Teresa being a supreme example of this), when it could be more commonplace, where Jesus wants it to be more commonplace. I can’t remember him ever saying that this was a faith that was solely for after death.
This is a life: a community built on those principles. That was the whole point of Jesus’ ministry, of new Jerusalem, of the first eight chapters of Acts. It wasn’t just the Holy Spirits that fell in Acts 2, it was the capability to see and give mercy. To be the good Samaritan, not the judge or the Levite that just walks past the bruised man, as Jesus shows in the parable of Luke 10:25-37.
Moving into the second verse of Mighty to Save, doesn’t it sound wonderful to think of everyone getting forgiveness? Are there some throughout history (both personal and global) that you think forgiveness is too good for? Those hypocrites in the 700 Club, perhaps? Genocidal dictators?
God knows hearts. We’re not supposed to judge, not that those genocidal dictators or the Westboro Baptist folks make it easy. They make it downright difficult- like something right out of Levitical law. Truth be told, we want them to be below the bar of Jesus‘ forgiveness. We see Jesus on the cross as something for grandmothers and little kids and addicts in the program or even maybe for the more repentant criminals, heck sometimes even for vampires in Joss Whedon‘s world.
The truth? Jesus wants to forgive Ken Lay for what he did as CEO. He mourned over the genocides in the Balkans and Rwanda. He can’t be too fond of those politicians and rappers and football stars who leech onto him without any idea who he actually is. I have to be honest here. For me, I hate people like Tim Tebow that push forward an anti-abortion agenda because of celebrity. It disgusts me when you see pictures of Rick Warren and people laying hands to pray for Rick Santorum on the campaign trail because they believe that America should be a theocracy and a Christian nation.
And after hearing about Rick Warren’s pledge signing to stone gay people in Uganda(?), I certainly had/have no desire to forgive him for that. But I’m not Jesus. I don’t sit on the throne and listen to people’s hearts throughout their lives. I don’t have access to the tapestry of time and its hardships. I don’t understand how people can abuse the name of God for their lust or anger or power or greed.
I’m not Jesus. Some should be very grateful I’m not.
Suddenly, we find that the ideas behind this song go from communal to personal, such as it is with God. Indeed, he came to save the whole world but knew each person individually that he called, talked to, or even just saw in the crowd around him. And that was just during his 3-½ years of ministry, not to mention how many of us he must have seen accepting him from that cross. After all, he came to save the whole world (1 John 2:2)
What is most interesting in this portion of the song is that there is an endorsement of being imperfect and yet loved and cared for by God. There is a recognition of having fears and failures and that it is okay to have them after you are saved. Now, I think some people have the idea that at the moment of conversion, everyone suddenly becomes perfect and that there are no addictions or battles to fight. The opposite is actually truer in that the battles are still there, only there is an awareness of sin and that awareness is most often just the beginning, the first step of a longer journey to come (what you surrender to, what you leave belief in to find Jesus, that “life“ that you give: (Luke 17:33) .
-Chorus-
I bet you’ve heard something in relation to Jesus being able to move mountains and its usually in relation to moving a mountain of sin or getting a needing believer a job or a car or just into a better situation physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually. The mountains can really be anything and its great symbolism for the hard things of life (if you’ve ever done a hard climb like Half Dome or Mailbox Peak Trail, you know what I’m talking about).
Thing is, Jesus talked about giving us the power to move these mountains. Not that we’re God- like once we believe in him, but that we would have the faith to believe that those mountains are nothing, that they don’t need to stand in the way of the journey. This particular scripture is found in Matthew 17: 14-20 (and Luke 17:6, but a mulberry bush isn’t quite as impressive as uprooting a mountain, is it?) and this is right after he has sent out his disciples, deputizing them with the power to heal and cast out demons. He goes out to pray by himself (Jesus loves doing this) and he comes back down from whatever mountain he was on to find that there is a demon that the disciples couldn’t cast out and he replies thusly (to the disciples) after casting out said demon, about why they were unable:
“ Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The salvation in this song doesn’t just talk about salvation, but its also about the faith through times good and bad, a faith that is cultivated through maturity and community. If you only ever get to 8th grade confirmation and then just stop, there’s a good chance that your mountain probably isn’t going to move in the near future. Its not just one moment, it’s a journey. That may be the hardest myth of Christianity to debunk.
I was reading Eat, Pray, Love (journey books like that are some of my favorites, like Julie/Julia and the stuff by Kathleen Norris, who became a Benedictine oblate) and Ms. Gilbert (the author) addressed her personal beliefs in God almost at the very beginning, since she was going to be using the word throughout the book.
She actually confessed to loving Jesus (“that great lover of peace”), but did not want to be encumbered with the idea of him being the only way to God. Its unfortunate, however true, that this idea of one solitary way to God keeps so many from believing. People of this age believe in choice and individual and it becomes burdensome in a way to think that there is only one way. Often, a Christian can be accused of being short-sighted or exclusionary. Parts of this song would argue that is not the case.
As for Ms. Gilbert, I respect her opinion and what she did throughout her book (same way I feel about Julie Powell actually), but I cannot agree with her view of Jesus. She kind of cut and pasted her own view of the Christian life and left out the bulk of what he actually said and did. Not knowing her personally, I cannot say how she came to this view nor do I feel a need to debate with her on it, but I also remember reading Josh McDowell (a present from my baptism) and his talking about how you cannot separate the parts of Christ. The argument in More Than a Carpenter is done more justice by Mr. McDowell than I would do, believe me. I’d recommend a read-through of that rather than some Cliff Notes version in my blog.
There is actually quite a celebration at the end of the chorus of the song, and, as a Christian, I have taken for granted that Jesus came and rose from the dead. It was miraculous, sure, but after so many times of hearing it- it just lost the power to move me, especially if you‘re a kid and no one around you seems to be moved by it to any sort of emotion.
One of our scripture readers addressed this at church last week in his little pre-verse address. He stated that the phrases “He is risen” with its answer “He is risen indeed” should have the power to move and transform and yet they so often lose that power. I regret that for so long I did not cherish the uniqueness and power of what God did through Jesus.
Granted, there are those in the world who try to either scientifically, historically, or empirically change what Jesus did. There are lots of excuses: there was something in the wine/vinegar combo that just made him look like he was dead, there was something in the spear that hit his side, his body was moved/ he left the tomb and disappeared to create his own religion (which feels like it really just gives the whole thing a more malevolent purpose than it should), and even some have claimed the Jesus himself was a wiccan or had pagan powers. Those voices often add to those who have claimed Jesus to be another story, another part of the sacrifices that various gods made for us throughout history (apparently Greek mystery cults are rife with stuff like that).
In college, I was faced with these arguments. People really like adding a spin to what Jesus did, perhaps refusing to either acknowledge him or the circumstances of his deity for their own needs. And, truth be told, some of the above excuses are easier to believe. They allow you to minimize what Jesus did for us and move on with our lives without him.
But, seriously, I’m getting too old for crap like that. I prefer to admit that I do need Him, and I’m not sure that makes me as weak as some would argue. Needing God is something I think denotes a strength of character that some never achieve or find in other ways (power, money, sex, anger….). I have some atheist friends who this might land me in hot water with, though I doubt it since most of them know that I prefer Jesus, but like I said- getting too old for crap like that.
Would you like to minimize what Jesus did for you? I know that Easter is supposed to be over and that Christians all across the country are putting away the paper mache tombs and the “Friday and Sunday” videos in favor of Acts or Romans or Psalms or Daniel, but what does that leave us with? It leaves us with that calendar of the Pharisees, without time to dwell, to process, to extol on what has happened. It leaves us without the heart and soul of our own message to the world (even to the ones who have rejected it).
This week, I want you to take two blank note cards. I want you to write on one “He is Risen” and on the other “He is Risen Indeed!”. I suggest using a colored sharpie or something to make the words pop (lectio divina style).
Note: Lectio Divina is an old latin phrase the church has used as a way to study the bible. Its where you take a short passage and meditate on a word or small phrase that sticks out to you. Its not only personal, but it’s a great way to invite God into a conversation. I heartily endorse this form of studying as its one of my favorites.
Now those two blank note cards should go somewhere that you will see them often throughout the day or in a place where you begin and end your day. Fridge, bathroom mirror, car dashboard, maybe even your work cubicle. Its like a reminder, maybe even a way to pause to think of God and his mercies and blessings for us.
A bonus achievement for all this is what is says in Proverbs 3:3:
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Thanks for reading,
John
It’s a blanket statement if I’ve ever heard one. Everyone needs compassion and I’m not sure there is anyone that would disagree with that (perhaps that family of a murder victim withstanding, they’d perhaps seek justice over compassion). But, unique cases aside, these three are a universal need, no matter what creed you adopt: compassion, love, mercy.
Compassion is what gives families that ability to accept their son wanting to be a drag queen. Love is what drives a family to work in a soup kitchen during the holidays. Mercy is what tugs at your heartstrings, giving someone standing on a street corner with a sign a few dollars from your wallet or change from your cup holder.
Compassion is also what keeps families from killing each other on long road trips. Love is what keeps a teacher motivated when parents yell and scream because their “perfect kid” isn’t quite so perfect. Mercy is what has stopped back alley abortions and gay bashing and laws against things like interracial marriage.
I thank God for these things that he has brought into the world: Compassion, Love, and Mercy.
Perhaps, though, you feel numb to these things. Late night infomercials about the ASPCA or to sponsor a third world child have left you dry and unmoved. Scandals about where that money actually goes leaves you feeling like its an empty gesture, hollow to the point of ignoring it. In some ways, it might be a hollow gesture - a guilt being projected that some do want you to pay for. it’s the old adage: Finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa. My generation replies: So what? Are you going to mail my food to them? We used to joke about things like that. They get clever in college and all of a sudden Spencers has a poster that states: Finish your beer, there are sober kids in India.
Reality: That’s horribly jaded, we are horribly jaded as a culture, society, even as a global village. We create remarkable feats in our minds for those who do simple and wonderful things for others (Mother Teresa being a supreme example of this), when it could be more commonplace, where Jesus wants it to be more commonplace. I can’t remember him ever saying that this was a faith that was solely for after death.
This is a life: a community built on those principles. That was the whole point of Jesus’ ministry, of new Jerusalem, of the first eight chapters of Acts. It wasn’t just the Holy Spirits that fell in Acts 2, it was the capability to see and give mercy. To be the good Samaritan, not the judge or the Levite that just walks past the bruised man, as Jesus shows in the parable of Luke 10:25-37.
Moving into the second verse of Mighty to Save, doesn’t it sound wonderful to think of everyone getting forgiveness? Are there some throughout history (both personal and global) that you think forgiveness is too good for? Those hypocrites in the 700 Club, perhaps? Genocidal dictators?
God knows hearts. We’re not supposed to judge, not that those genocidal dictators or the Westboro Baptist folks make it easy. They make it downright difficult- like something right out of Levitical law. Truth be told, we want them to be below the bar of Jesus‘ forgiveness. We see Jesus on the cross as something for grandmothers and little kids and addicts in the program or even maybe for the more repentant criminals, heck sometimes even for vampires in Joss Whedon‘s world.
The truth? Jesus wants to forgive Ken Lay for what he did as CEO. He mourned over the genocides in the Balkans and Rwanda. He can’t be too fond of those politicians and rappers and football stars who leech onto him without any idea who he actually is. I have to be honest here. For me, I hate people like Tim Tebow that push forward an anti-abortion agenda because of celebrity. It disgusts me when you see pictures of Rick Warren and people laying hands to pray for Rick Santorum on the campaign trail because they believe that America should be a theocracy and a Christian nation.
And after hearing about Rick Warren’s pledge signing to stone gay people in Uganda(?), I certainly had/have no desire to forgive him for that. But I’m not Jesus. I don’t sit on the throne and listen to people’s hearts throughout their lives. I don’t have access to the tapestry of time and its hardships. I don’t understand how people can abuse the name of God for their lust or anger or power or greed.
I’m not Jesus. Some should be very grateful I’m not.
Suddenly, we find that the ideas behind this song go from communal to personal, such as it is with God. Indeed, he came to save the whole world but knew each person individually that he called, talked to, or even just saw in the crowd around him. And that was just during his 3-½ years of ministry, not to mention how many of us he must have seen accepting him from that cross. After all, he came to save the whole world (1 John 2:2)
What is most interesting in this portion of the song is that there is an endorsement of being imperfect and yet loved and cared for by God. There is a recognition of having fears and failures and that it is okay to have them after you are saved. Now, I think some people have the idea that at the moment of conversion, everyone suddenly becomes perfect and that there are no addictions or battles to fight. The opposite is actually truer in that the battles are still there, only there is an awareness of sin and that awareness is most often just the beginning, the first step of a longer journey to come (what you surrender to, what you leave belief in to find Jesus, that “life“ that you give: (Luke 17:33) .
-Chorus-
I bet you’ve heard something in relation to Jesus being able to move mountains and its usually in relation to moving a mountain of sin or getting a needing believer a job or a car or just into a better situation physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually. The mountains can really be anything and its great symbolism for the hard things of life (if you’ve ever done a hard climb like Half Dome or Mailbox Peak Trail, you know what I’m talking about).
Thing is, Jesus talked about giving us the power to move these mountains. Not that we’re God- like once we believe in him, but that we would have the faith to believe that those mountains are nothing, that they don’t need to stand in the way of the journey. This particular scripture is found in Matthew 17: 14-20 (and Luke 17:6, but a mulberry bush isn’t quite as impressive as uprooting a mountain, is it?) and this is right after he has sent out his disciples, deputizing them with the power to heal and cast out demons. He goes out to pray by himself (Jesus loves doing this) and he comes back down from whatever mountain he was on to find that there is a demon that the disciples couldn’t cast out and he replies thusly (to the disciples) after casting out said demon, about why they were unable:
“ Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The salvation in this song doesn’t just talk about salvation, but its also about the faith through times good and bad, a faith that is cultivated through maturity and community. If you only ever get to 8th grade confirmation and then just stop, there’s a good chance that your mountain probably isn’t going to move in the near future. Its not just one moment, it’s a journey. That may be the hardest myth of Christianity to debunk.
I was reading Eat, Pray, Love (journey books like that are some of my favorites, like Julie/Julia and the stuff by Kathleen Norris, who became a Benedictine oblate) and Ms. Gilbert (the author) addressed her personal beliefs in God almost at the very beginning, since she was going to be using the word throughout the book.
She actually confessed to loving Jesus (“that great lover of peace”), but did not want to be encumbered with the idea of him being the only way to God. Its unfortunate, however true, that this idea of one solitary way to God keeps so many from believing. People of this age believe in choice and individual and it becomes burdensome in a way to think that there is only one way. Often, a Christian can be accused of being short-sighted or exclusionary. Parts of this song would argue that is not the case.
As for Ms. Gilbert, I respect her opinion and what she did throughout her book (same way I feel about Julie Powell actually), but I cannot agree with her view of Jesus. She kind of cut and pasted her own view of the Christian life and left out the bulk of what he actually said and did. Not knowing her personally, I cannot say how she came to this view nor do I feel a need to debate with her on it, but I also remember reading Josh McDowell (a present from my baptism) and his talking about how you cannot separate the parts of Christ. The argument in More Than a Carpenter is done more justice by Mr. McDowell than I would do, believe me. I’d recommend a read-through of that rather than some Cliff Notes version in my blog.
There is actually quite a celebration at the end of the chorus of the song, and, as a Christian, I have taken for granted that Jesus came and rose from the dead. It was miraculous, sure, but after so many times of hearing it- it just lost the power to move me, especially if you‘re a kid and no one around you seems to be moved by it to any sort of emotion.
One of our scripture readers addressed this at church last week in his little pre-verse address. He stated that the phrases “He is risen” with its answer “He is risen indeed” should have the power to move and transform and yet they so often lose that power. I regret that for so long I did not cherish the uniqueness and power of what God did through Jesus.
Granted, there are those in the world who try to either scientifically, historically, or empirically change what Jesus did. There are lots of excuses: there was something in the wine/vinegar combo that just made him look like he was dead, there was something in the spear that hit his side, his body was moved/ he left the tomb and disappeared to create his own religion (which feels like it really just gives the whole thing a more malevolent purpose than it should), and even some have claimed the Jesus himself was a wiccan or had pagan powers. Those voices often add to those who have claimed Jesus to be another story, another part of the sacrifices that various gods made for us throughout history (apparently Greek mystery cults are rife with stuff like that).
In college, I was faced with these arguments. People really like adding a spin to what Jesus did, perhaps refusing to either acknowledge him or the circumstances of his deity for their own needs. And, truth be told, some of the above excuses are easier to believe. They allow you to minimize what Jesus did for us and move on with our lives without him.
But, seriously, I’m getting too old for crap like that. I prefer to admit that I do need Him, and I’m not sure that makes me as weak as some would argue. Needing God is something I think denotes a strength of character that some never achieve or find in other ways (power, money, sex, anger….). I have some atheist friends who this might land me in hot water with, though I doubt it since most of them know that I prefer Jesus, but like I said- getting too old for crap like that.
Would you like to minimize what Jesus did for you? I know that Easter is supposed to be over and that Christians all across the country are putting away the paper mache tombs and the “Friday and Sunday” videos in favor of Acts or Romans or Psalms or Daniel, but what does that leave us with? It leaves us with that calendar of the Pharisees, without time to dwell, to process, to extol on what has happened. It leaves us without the heart and soul of our own message to the world (even to the ones who have rejected it).
This week, I want you to take two blank note cards. I want you to write on one “He is Risen” and on the other “He is Risen Indeed!”. I suggest using a colored sharpie or something to make the words pop (lectio divina style).
Note: Lectio Divina is an old latin phrase the church has used as a way to study the bible. Its where you take a short passage and meditate on a word or small phrase that sticks out to you. Its not only personal, but it’s a great way to invite God into a conversation. I heartily endorse this form of studying as its one of my favorites.
Now those two blank note cards should go somewhere that you will see them often throughout the day or in a place where you begin and end your day. Fridge, bathroom mirror, car dashboard, maybe even your work cubicle. Its like a reminder, maybe even a way to pause to think of God and his mercies and blessings for us.
A bonus achievement for all this is what is says in Proverbs 3:3:
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, April 13, 2012
His Eye is On the Sparrow
Week 2: “His Eye is on the Sparrow”
His Eye is on the Sparrow was made into one of the more famous older spiritual songs by a scene from Sister Act 2, sung by Lauryn Hill in one of her only movie performances. It evokes a sense of the more Southern Baptist or Pentecostal traditions of worship with a greater emphasis on personal love and spirit that can sometimes be lacking in more formal hymns.
Personal note: I was pretty sure that at least part of the song was somewhere in the psalms or proverbs, but the song is only a passing reference to Matthew 10: 28-31. Maybe its just owed to the fact that it seems like something David would have written while being chased through caves by Saul or waiting to hear if his newborn son would survive the wrath he had brought on his own head.
Of course, that doesn’t deter me from deconstructing this beautiful and emotional ballad to God. In some ways, I think about this song around Easter because it reminds me of beautiful flowers laid around an altar between Good Friday and Greatest Sunday (the Resurrection). In my family, those flowers serve as a tradition of remembrance for a loved one that has passed on- usually grandparents- and somehow Easter lilies are a stronger reminder of my grandmother than most things.
Week 2: "His Eye is on the Sparrow": http://youtu.be/_eAboY5zfYE
I find this song to be ironic almost. When you read it, when you sing it, it just doesn’t seem like an inherently happy song. The pace is not quick, people generally don’t dance in the aisles to it, and its usually sung by a second alto with a deep, soulful voice. I think, those same idiosyncrasies actually highlight the fact that it is a worship song of joy and depth for all those whose love from God and hopefully for God runs deep. Now, I want you to stop and let the opening lines sink in a bit.
Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Those are some pretty intense questions to ask yourself, considering that there always seems to be a reason to feel discouraged. Heck, I was my friendly neighborhood Tree of Life Christian Bookstore this week and I saw tons of books devoted to varying topics of how to banish discouragement in all areas of life. Stuff like :
Raising teenagers (to LOVE God!)
Finance (or lack thereof) (and GIVING them TO GOD!)
Understanding marriage (And How God Wants You to Connect With Your Husband!)
Connecting with God (On A DAILY Basis)
Spiritually leading your household (Men’s section/Business)
I don’t want to get into the topic of why Men’s Leadership/Business were melded together and was only one bookshelf long, but I’m sure I’ll derail myself eventually and discuss it sometime in the future. I should also state here that while there is a bit of sarcasm in the above book sections/title selections, I don’t inherently believe that it is bad to want to instruct your children in the ways of God, give God the glory he deserves through your earnings, trying to reconnect with your spouse, doing devotionals, or even being the spiritual leader of your house - I’m just not thoroughly convinced that most American Christian bookstores are doing it right.
I’m tempted to believe that those questions (about discouragement and shadows) were originally posed to a different set of circumstances. Its not unrealistic to assume that lower mortality rates, the amount of households with abusive or alcoholic husband, and the stigma of being an unwed mother or gay person in different periods of history (and that’s just in America) gives the question something more jarring and realistic.
I myself have often felt discouraged with God. I read that Footprints poem about God carrying us when we could no longer walk on the sand and I love its romance and grandeur, but let’s face it, folks- sometimes, life with God feels like you’re just sitting in the road and you’re too bruised to move on. Especially if you’re the mother with the gay son. The father who has to stage an intervention for his brother’s drug use. The social worker who has to watch a 15 year old get kicked out of her home. Divorce after 20 years of marriage. Losing a job. Losing a scholarship. Your first driving ticket. Losing your first love. Being passed over for a promotion.
Sometimes it feels like the question is Why shouldn’t we feel discouraged? Why shouldn’t the shadows come? Why shouldn’t my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?
I don’t want to give you a pep talk. It can sometimes feel insulting if you understand how it feels to utter the above questions in dark and hard times, when rebuilding your relationship with God is harder than anything you’ve ever done before. At some stage, you’re past a point where putting a couple bucks in the plate is gonna do it for you and people are telling you that you can just pray through it and trust God and it’ll all be okay….
And you just sometimes wonder if those people have ever felt anything like what you’ve felt and you simultaneously both wish and never want them to feel it - whatever it is. And you have to resist stabbing them with your fork at the church social.
But there hope in this song, even in just the next moment when we find that Jesus is our portion, our constant friend is he (some versions use that as a pre-chorus, others in the chorus itself- depends on the arrangement mostly).
Please take a moment to flip to the story in Gospel of John, Chapter 4 of the Samaritan woman at the well.
As far as Jesus being our portion, one of the best references for that is the above meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well. He reveals himself as clean water that will fill, refresh, and purify. I can imagine that for the woman, it must have been a dumbfounding moment. I’m not familiar with Samaritan culture, but five husbands must have been a stigma even for them. What did that woman know of life? Loneliness, anxiety, being ostracized?
But she responded differently than most of us do to Jesus (sometimes even beyond just the first time we meet him). But, seeing as how I’m currently one of the folks drinking the Living Water and receiving joy and thankfulness from it, I want to say that I admire how she responds. Because, in all fairness, we deserve less than her for our mistrust and adultery and idolatry and so much more. We don’t deserve a portion of God, Living Water, a communion with which to remember him by. We are reminded, sometimes constantly, of our sin and that we merely deserve death (the wages of sin being death).
But God offers the same grace and mercy that he offers to the woman at the well that may have been waiting her whole life for someone like Jesus, without even knowing what she was looking for. In some ways, Jesus was her Footprints in the sand.
I can also imagine that the ending of this week’s song came to the woman much later, in the quiet stillness of her home, at a place where Daniel and David both found communion with the God of their Fathers. Maybe no longer with the fifth in a long line of men, maybe now with some hateful fires of her soul quenched by the soothing water of God, she could sing, quietly, breathing:
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
I sit here, typing, overwhelmed by the simplicity and by the implications of those lines in this song and what they could represent if we choose them. In this age, we often chose polite cynicism, atheism or embarrassment in the faces of the shouting Tea Partiers, or apathy when we turn away from the Occupy protesters because we believe in good intentions but that small voices are never loud enough, or because we believe all good and true things have been bartered and sold until there are none left on the face of the earth. And I believe this song would dispute that claim, using a small and defenseless bird much like Jesus would later describe lilies and grass and how they are cared for and clothed in greater splendor than Solomon (Matthew 6:29):
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me.
I suppose you could still choose cynicism, atheism, embarrassment, or even soul pollution. I’m certainly not going to stop you from that. But I want to choose differently for myself. I want to choose to believe that He watches over me (in fact, I know he has, but I still feel like I need to choose it everyday or lose myself to cynicism).
I got the inspiration for this week’s song from Diana Ross’s Memoir entitled “Secrets of a Sparrow”. I picked this particular celebrity bio in the manner I usually pick library books, wandering the aisles of tomes until something sticks out.
Miss Ross is a fan of knowing she is watched over and protected and maybe we should take this week to think about that. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve been watched over, even if you feel like you’ve been passed over, take some time and write out some major or minor events of the past that have happened.
If you’re angry with talk, talk to Him about it- ask him where he was. (I used to have a lot of trouble being angry with God, but my friends also used to remind me that he was a big God and could take me being angry with him- they just wanted me to talk with him and I advise you the same). If you find that he lead you to a certain place through these events that was all for the best, thank him for it.
Remember: God doesn’t need us as much as we need him. You not believing in him will not change whether or not he exists. Dear ones, he wants us, its that simple. At the base of theology is his love in creating us and not chaining us to an empty faith. As hard as it may seem and as much as we sometimes see past experience to the contrary, its true. God merely wants us.
Thanks for reading,
This is John- signing off
His Eye is on the Sparrow was made into one of the more famous older spiritual songs by a scene from Sister Act 2, sung by Lauryn Hill in one of her only movie performances. It evokes a sense of the more Southern Baptist or Pentecostal traditions of worship with a greater emphasis on personal love and spirit that can sometimes be lacking in more formal hymns.
Personal note: I was pretty sure that at least part of the song was somewhere in the psalms or proverbs, but the song is only a passing reference to Matthew 10: 28-31. Maybe its just owed to the fact that it seems like something David would have written while being chased through caves by Saul or waiting to hear if his newborn son would survive the wrath he had brought on his own head.
Of course, that doesn’t deter me from deconstructing this beautiful and emotional ballad to God. In some ways, I think about this song around Easter because it reminds me of beautiful flowers laid around an altar between Good Friday and Greatest Sunday (the Resurrection). In my family, those flowers serve as a tradition of remembrance for a loved one that has passed on- usually grandparents- and somehow Easter lilies are a stronger reminder of my grandmother than most things.
Week 2: "His Eye is on the Sparrow": http://youtu.be/_eAboY5zfYE
I find this song to be ironic almost. When you read it, when you sing it, it just doesn’t seem like an inherently happy song. The pace is not quick, people generally don’t dance in the aisles to it, and its usually sung by a second alto with a deep, soulful voice. I think, those same idiosyncrasies actually highlight the fact that it is a worship song of joy and depth for all those whose love from God and hopefully for God runs deep. Now, I want you to stop and let the opening lines sink in a bit.
Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Those are some pretty intense questions to ask yourself, considering that there always seems to be a reason to feel discouraged. Heck, I was my friendly neighborhood Tree of Life Christian Bookstore this week and I saw tons of books devoted to varying topics of how to banish discouragement in all areas of life. Stuff like :
Raising teenagers (to LOVE God!)
Finance (or lack thereof) (and GIVING them TO GOD!)
Understanding marriage (And How God Wants You to Connect With Your Husband!)
Connecting with God (On A DAILY Basis)
Spiritually leading your household (Men’s section/Business)
I don’t want to get into the topic of why Men’s Leadership/Business were melded together and was only one bookshelf long, but I’m sure I’ll derail myself eventually and discuss it sometime in the future. I should also state here that while there is a bit of sarcasm in the above book sections/title selections, I don’t inherently believe that it is bad to want to instruct your children in the ways of God, give God the glory he deserves through your earnings, trying to reconnect with your spouse, doing devotionals, or even being the spiritual leader of your house - I’m just not thoroughly convinced that most American Christian bookstores are doing it right.
I’m tempted to believe that those questions (about discouragement and shadows) were originally posed to a different set of circumstances. Its not unrealistic to assume that lower mortality rates, the amount of households with abusive or alcoholic husband, and the stigma of being an unwed mother or gay person in different periods of history (and that’s just in America) gives the question something more jarring and realistic.
I myself have often felt discouraged with God. I read that Footprints poem about God carrying us when we could no longer walk on the sand and I love its romance and grandeur, but let’s face it, folks- sometimes, life with God feels like you’re just sitting in the road and you’re too bruised to move on. Especially if you’re the mother with the gay son. The father who has to stage an intervention for his brother’s drug use. The social worker who has to watch a 15 year old get kicked out of her home. Divorce after 20 years of marriage. Losing a job. Losing a scholarship. Your first driving ticket. Losing your first love. Being passed over for a promotion.
Sometimes it feels like the question is Why shouldn’t we feel discouraged? Why shouldn’t the shadows come? Why shouldn’t my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?
I don’t want to give you a pep talk. It can sometimes feel insulting if you understand how it feels to utter the above questions in dark and hard times, when rebuilding your relationship with God is harder than anything you’ve ever done before. At some stage, you’re past a point where putting a couple bucks in the plate is gonna do it for you and people are telling you that you can just pray through it and trust God and it’ll all be okay….
And you just sometimes wonder if those people have ever felt anything like what you’ve felt and you simultaneously both wish and never want them to feel it - whatever it is. And you have to resist stabbing them with your fork at the church social.
But there hope in this song, even in just the next moment when we find that Jesus is our portion, our constant friend is he (some versions use that as a pre-chorus, others in the chorus itself- depends on the arrangement mostly).
Please take a moment to flip to the story in Gospel of John, Chapter 4 of the Samaritan woman at the well.
As far as Jesus being our portion, one of the best references for that is the above meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well. He reveals himself as clean water that will fill, refresh, and purify. I can imagine that for the woman, it must have been a dumbfounding moment. I’m not familiar with Samaritan culture, but five husbands must have been a stigma even for them. What did that woman know of life? Loneliness, anxiety, being ostracized?
But she responded differently than most of us do to Jesus (sometimes even beyond just the first time we meet him). But, seeing as how I’m currently one of the folks drinking the Living Water and receiving joy and thankfulness from it, I want to say that I admire how she responds. Because, in all fairness, we deserve less than her for our mistrust and adultery and idolatry and so much more. We don’t deserve a portion of God, Living Water, a communion with which to remember him by. We are reminded, sometimes constantly, of our sin and that we merely deserve death (the wages of sin being death).
But God offers the same grace and mercy that he offers to the woman at the well that may have been waiting her whole life for someone like Jesus, without even knowing what she was looking for. In some ways, Jesus was her Footprints in the sand.
I can also imagine that the ending of this week’s song came to the woman much later, in the quiet stillness of her home, at a place where Daniel and David both found communion with the God of their Fathers. Maybe no longer with the fifth in a long line of men, maybe now with some hateful fires of her soul quenched by the soothing water of God, she could sing, quietly, breathing:
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
I sit here, typing, overwhelmed by the simplicity and by the implications of those lines in this song and what they could represent if we choose them. In this age, we often chose polite cynicism, atheism or embarrassment in the faces of the shouting Tea Partiers, or apathy when we turn away from the Occupy protesters because we believe in good intentions but that small voices are never loud enough, or because we believe all good and true things have been bartered and sold until there are none left on the face of the earth. And I believe this song would dispute that claim, using a small and defenseless bird much like Jesus would later describe lilies and grass and how they are cared for and clothed in greater splendor than Solomon (Matthew 6:29):
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me.
I suppose you could still choose cynicism, atheism, embarrassment, or even soul pollution. I’m certainly not going to stop you from that. But I want to choose differently for myself. I want to choose to believe that He watches over me (in fact, I know he has, but I still feel like I need to choose it everyday or lose myself to cynicism).
I got the inspiration for this week’s song from Diana Ross’s Memoir entitled “Secrets of a Sparrow”. I picked this particular celebrity bio in the manner I usually pick library books, wandering the aisles of tomes until something sticks out.
Miss Ross is a fan of knowing she is watched over and protected and maybe we should take this week to think about that. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve been watched over, even if you feel like you’ve been passed over, take some time and write out some major or minor events of the past that have happened.
If you’re angry with talk, talk to Him about it- ask him where he was. (I used to have a lot of trouble being angry with God, but my friends also used to remind me that he was a big God and could take me being angry with him- they just wanted me to talk with him and I advise you the same). If you find that he lead you to a certain place through these events that was all for the best, thank him for it.
Remember: God doesn’t need us as much as we need him. You not believing in him will not change whether or not he exists. Dear ones, he wants us, its that simple. At the base of theology is his love in creating us and not chaining us to an empty faith. As hard as it may seem and as much as we sometimes see past experience to the contrary, its true. God merely wants us.
Thanks for reading,
This is John- signing off
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Beauty for Ashes
Hello, my name is John and this is my new blog. I wanted to make this a youtube vlog but taking 385 minutes to upload a 6 minute video is just silly- so here we are.
The goal of this blog will be more focused than my previous attempts in that I am going to merge two of my loves: faith and music together. Also, this will be participatory because we are nothing if not a community. I hope together we might discover more about our faiths and the faiths of those around us.
Week 1: Beauty for Ashes
http://youtu.be/clVVdlyD2bw
Beauty for ashes is a love song to God, recognizing his grace in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re being hit over the head with the fact that we are all sinners and that we need grace. It is a song that evokes the image of trading a sinful past for a holier present and the breaking dawn of the future. It does not promise that there will be no hardships and there is no guarantee that all problems will immediately vanish when you turn your life over to God like some magic Houdini.
I appreciate that about Shane & Shane. Their music is honest, good for the soul, and even bittersweet in its joy- a reflection of what the Christian life can be. Beauty for ashes can be for anyone and indeed, it should be.
The words of the song talk about delighting ourselves in the richest of fare. For me that means the delight isn’t just in the richness of the fare or the goodness of whatever the fare is, its about the fact that its undeserved. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, Christians talking about undeserved grace, but I want you to take a moment to think about that. To think about the grace of Jesus.
I know that not all of you have had good experiences with Christians. I can almost guarantee you that in certain parts of my life, I’ve been one of those people. But this isn’t about me, this is about the grace of Jesus, not the imperfect people that make up his church. The grace of Jesus is huge, there are books written on it-dissertations, sermons. But what does that grace mean to you? Not just in the way that Jesus has changed your life, but how have those experiences gone deeper and penetrated your heart?
In Matthew 11:30 , Jesus talks about his burden and his yoke. He talks about how easy and light they are and he was juxtaposing what his followers could expect (grace and mercy) with what the Pharisees of Israel in those times were offering-rules. Jesus, on the other hand, was offering a way to examine yourself and your heart, not just rules. The Pharisees had a hard time with grace, and Jesus certainly gave them more than some would say they deserved.
It could be argued that his burden isn’t always easy and his yoke isn’t always light but in those cases I think that is a result of putting a lot on ourselves, working ourselves to death for our own salvation and letting ourselves get bogged down in the rules, in Romans, in the great commission (not that those things are bad, mind you). But, at the end of the day, grace gets you much farther than rules. Because you can follow the ten commandments to the letter, but if your heart isn’t in it, then it doesn’t matter how much you follow thm
The Pharisees always followed the laws, but Jesus told them about their insides, the rat infestations and the empty tombs where their hearts used to lie. He was saddened and disgusted because he knew the Father and knew the Father’s grace and mercy and love for Israel were more than just phylacteries, tassels, and the Ark. Those were all symbols of what life could be, but, at the end of the day, the curtain of the temple wasn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to God’s love.
In the song, Shane and Shane also mirror God‘s delight back to him, thankful for receiving it and thankful for him. And God delights in the grace Jesus has provided you today, this minute. What does his grace mean to you? If you’re going through AA, is it because he’s helping you battle addiction? Did God’s grace give you the strength to leave a hard marriage or go back to university? How about leaving a job where your integrity slipped away or the grace to restart a friendship that you missed desperately?
Grace can mean so much and I think we often let grace slip away because the rules are easier, they can define us and tell us who the enemy is. They give us direction for bible studies, but the songs and the psalms and the strong emotions all come from grace, mercy, and love. Grace is the richest fare we can have and for me that fare is found in the ways I have come to join the community of faith.
It has not been easy for me, I am mistrustful of many Christian organizations and for a long time I had a really bad attitude about Bible studies and the great commission and I was just really haughty, really didn’t understand but thought I knew everything. I’m not saying its all perfect now, but giving myself the grace to be imperfect and realize these things about myself, as unflattering as they are, has also given me the grace of God in growing to embrace the real community of God- not necessarily the one I’ve made up in my head.
So after you think about the grace of God in your life, I want you to praise him for it- however you do that best- and it’s a pretty long list. It can involve various forms of art, spending time with the family you’ve been provided, or even something like jogging. Praising God for his grace should come through your personality- after all, that is why God made you special and unique.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t praise him for his grace enough. I don’t sing loud enough in church or dance around like I used to with reckless abandon. I don’t listen to the breeze enough. I don’t offer up enough of the best of me to my fellow humans who are just trying, scraping, hoping to get through this life as least scathed as possible. I certainly don’t want to make it any harder than it has to be.
And I think that not praising him for grace enough can be part of the stony heart that Shane and Shane sing about. In the story of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11) the older son who didn’t run away had stone in his heart. He was angry about the grace that the father showed the younger son. I’ve felt like that, known entire congregations like that really. Aren’t there people in your congregation you have trouble getting along with? I can’t think of a single Mayberry congregation anywhere, though maybe in an underground church somewhere they get it. I don’t know. I’m not nearly oppressed enough to know.
Oddly enough, we never find out in the prodigal son how the father’s grace (bringing his dead son back to life) affects the older son and if his heart of stone chips away at all or if it becomes harder because he thinks his father is a fool or going senile because he didn’t make his younger son into a slave, like what might have been deemed prudent at the time. The oldest son, and rightly so- some would agree, probably thought some retribution was in order. But God’s not really looking to retribute anybody. He doesn’t want to judge as much as love and its something he wanted us to understand. Jesus says so when he addresses the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
I’m not pretending that’s not a tall order to love your neighbor as yourself after somehow mastering loving God with all heart, soul, and mind, but maybe this week as a community, lets extend some of God’s grace to people out there. I think its hard enough in this world without us destroying each other and ripping each other to shreds. So your first assignment is grace. First, give it to yourself (because you fall short of glory- not because you‘re God), then thank God for the grace he has given you, and give others grace - even when they hate you. Especially give grace to that person that takes 21 items into the twelve item checkout line at Walmart.
Thanks for reading and remember to comment! This is John (the Christian tiger)- signing off
The goal of this blog will be more focused than my previous attempts in that I am going to merge two of my loves: faith and music together. Also, this will be participatory because we are nothing if not a community. I hope together we might discover more about our faiths and the faiths of those around us.
Week 1: Beauty for Ashes
http://youtu.be/clVVdlyD2bw
Beauty for ashes is a love song to God, recognizing his grace in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re being hit over the head with the fact that we are all sinners and that we need grace. It is a song that evokes the image of trading a sinful past for a holier present and the breaking dawn of the future. It does not promise that there will be no hardships and there is no guarantee that all problems will immediately vanish when you turn your life over to God like some magic Houdini.
I appreciate that about Shane & Shane. Their music is honest, good for the soul, and even bittersweet in its joy- a reflection of what the Christian life can be. Beauty for ashes can be for anyone and indeed, it should be.
The words of the song talk about delighting ourselves in the richest of fare. For me that means the delight isn’t just in the richness of the fare or the goodness of whatever the fare is, its about the fact that its undeserved. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, Christians talking about undeserved grace, but I want you to take a moment to think about that. To think about the grace of Jesus.
I know that not all of you have had good experiences with Christians. I can almost guarantee you that in certain parts of my life, I’ve been one of those people. But this isn’t about me, this is about the grace of Jesus, not the imperfect people that make up his church. The grace of Jesus is huge, there are books written on it-dissertations, sermons. But what does that grace mean to you? Not just in the way that Jesus has changed your life, but how have those experiences gone deeper and penetrated your heart?
In Matthew 11:30 , Jesus talks about his burden and his yoke. He talks about how easy and light they are and he was juxtaposing what his followers could expect (grace and mercy) with what the Pharisees of Israel in those times were offering-rules. Jesus, on the other hand, was offering a way to examine yourself and your heart, not just rules. The Pharisees had a hard time with grace, and Jesus certainly gave them more than some would say they deserved.
It could be argued that his burden isn’t always easy and his yoke isn’t always light but in those cases I think that is a result of putting a lot on ourselves, working ourselves to death for our own salvation and letting ourselves get bogged down in the rules, in Romans, in the great commission (not that those things are bad, mind you). But, at the end of the day, grace gets you much farther than rules. Because you can follow the ten commandments to the letter, but if your heart isn’t in it, then it doesn’t matter how much you follow thm
The Pharisees always followed the laws, but Jesus told them about their insides, the rat infestations and the empty tombs where their hearts used to lie. He was saddened and disgusted because he knew the Father and knew the Father’s grace and mercy and love for Israel were more than just phylacteries, tassels, and the Ark. Those were all symbols of what life could be, but, at the end of the day, the curtain of the temple wasn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to God’s love.
In the song, Shane and Shane also mirror God‘s delight back to him, thankful for receiving it and thankful for him. And God delights in the grace Jesus has provided you today, this minute. What does his grace mean to you? If you’re going through AA, is it because he’s helping you battle addiction? Did God’s grace give you the strength to leave a hard marriage or go back to university? How about leaving a job where your integrity slipped away or the grace to restart a friendship that you missed desperately?
Grace can mean so much and I think we often let grace slip away because the rules are easier, they can define us and tell us who the enemy is. They give us direction for bible studies, but the songs and the psalms and the strong emotions all come from grace, mercy, and love. Grace is the richest fare we can have and for me that fare is found in the ways I have come to join the community of faith.
It has not been easy for me, I am mistrustful of many Christian organizations and for a long time I had a really bad attitude about Bible studies and the great commission and I was just really haughty, really didn’t understand but thought I knew everything. I’m not saying its all perfect now, but giving myself the grace to be imperfect and realize these things about myself, as unflattering as they are, has also given me the grace of God in growing to embrace the real community of God- not necessarily the one I’ve made up in my head.
So after you think about the grace of God in your life, I want you to praise him for it- however you do that best- and it’s a pretty long list. It can involve various forms of art, spending time with the family you’ve been provided, or even something like jogging. Praising God for his grace should come through your personality- after all, that is why God made you special and unique.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t praise him for his grace enough. I don’t sing loud enough in church or dance around like I used to with reckless abandon. I don’t listen to the breeze enough. I don’t offer up enough of the best of me to my fellow humans who are just trying, scraping, hoping to get through this life as least scathed as possible. I certainly don’t want to make it any harder than it has to be.
And I think that not praising him for grace enough can be part of the stony heart that Shane and Shane sing about. In the story of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11) the older son who didn’t run away had stone in his heart. He was angry about the grace that the father showed the younger son. I’ve felt like that, known entire congregations like that really. Aren’t there people in your congregation you have trouble getting along with? I can’t think of a single Mayberry congregation anywhere, though maybe in an underground church somewhere they get it. I don’t know. I’m not nearly oppressed enough to know.
Oddly enough, we never find out in the prodigal son how the father’s grace (bringing his dead son back to life) affects the older son and if his heart of stone chips away at all or if it becomes harder because he thinks his father is a fool or going senile because he didn’t make his younger son into a slave, like what might have been deemed prudent at the time. The oldest son, and rightly so- some would agree, probably thought some retribution was in order. But God’s not really looking to retribute anybody. He doesn’t want to judge as much as love and its something he wanted us to understand. Jesus says so when he addresses the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
I’m not pretending that’s not a tall order to love your neighbor as yourself after somehow mastering loving God with all heart, soul, and mind, but maybe this week as a community, lets extend some of God’s grace to people out there. I think its hard enough in this world without us destroying each other and ripping each other to shreds. So your first assignment is grace. First, give it to yourself (because you fall short of glory- not because you‘re God), then thank God for the grace he has given you, and give others grace - even when they hate you. Especially give grace to that person that takes 21 items into the twelve item checkout line at Walmart.
Thanks for reading and remember to comment! This is John (the Christian tiger)- signing off
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