And he [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. – Colossians 1:18
I have been meaning to follow up on all my hymn postings recently with a posting about having a meaningful and authentic “contemporary” worship service. Now that word “contemporary” is full of all kind of negative connotations with me, but I also understand that is the imperative forced upon many worship leaders today in modern evangelicalism. A recent comment on my blog summed up the phenomenon nicely for me with the term “7-11 songs.” Seven words sung eleven different ways. While I am not completely jaded towards “contemporary” church music (yet), I would like to pen a modest open letter to all worship leaders about the songs they select for their Sunday morning gatherings.
Dear Worship Leaders,
I am writing today to encourage you to play songs that your congregation doesn’t like. I mean it. Literally. I know playing songs your congregation doesn’t want to hear sounds like a horrible idea and flies in the face of many years of your contemporary worship training, but I don’t know when your job became more about pleasing man instead of Jesus. Now before you get all huffy, let me explain.
First, I don’t mean purposefully playing songs that your congregation doesn’t like stylistically; although, if people only worship Jesus when they hear a Chris Tomlin song, then I’d say you have really big idolatry issues to tackle, so maybe purposefully not playing Chris Tomlin is a good idea.
Secondly, I don’t think being a contrarian is a sign of leadership maturity. I’m not advocating simply doing the opposite of what other churches are doing, or constantly trying to throw off your congregation in worship simply because seeing them squirm makes you feel like you’re really doing God’s will. Here’s what I am saying: As worshippers we are constantly battling idols taking the place of Jesus. The idols that we tear down inevitably take new shape and present themselves as something new, and more worthy, and acceptable of worship. If anything takes our worship away from Jesus, it is idolatry; or more importantly, sin. Our congregations worship a lot of things over Christ, and it should be a worship leaders job to expose idols in our worship, tear them down, and place Jesus above them as our focus of worship.
Probably not too many of you have any problems with the above paragraph, but here’s where it gets messy. For the families that worship their own comfort, rest and individualism by showing up 15 minutes late, do you think they want to sing about how there is no rest outside of Christ? That even in our sleep we toil; or that they’ve forsaken the gathering because they worship their individuality and comfort? Show them by singing that we only enjoy peace and rest in Christ because of the bloody, violent, death of Christ on the cross that now they’ve been saved to community, the body of Christ, to sacrifice, serve and worship together.
For the high school and college kids that show up right on time because they love the music, but spent last night partying hard, indulging in their sinful passions, do you think they want to sing about how they are slaves to sin, deserving of death, and that unless they get a new heart in Christ, their posturing in worship (the jumping, the singing, the Passion choruses) are worthless clatter? That they worship themselves and can’t atone for their sins by singing loudly? Show them by singing that Jesus is their propitiation, that they are dead in their sins, but that there is life in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That if they truly encountered Christ they’ve be given a new heart, and that they’d no longer desire to live a life of sin.
For the religious church couple that just walked in dignified, that has no reason to get uncomfortable because they were “saved” at a youth camp at age 10 and baptized in the pool. Show them by singing the psalms that our hearts cry out, our soul thirsts for Jesus, that we fall at the feet of Jesus and cry “Hosanna”; and that if they don’t, the rocks, even the chairs they comfortably sit in, would cry out for Jesus. Their dispassionate hearts ultimately show that they worship their dignity, which all through scripture is shown to be folly.
Worship leaders, don’t make yourself a petty entertainer. Don’t seek to satisfy your congregation’s idols. Lead your congregation to worship the real Jesus. Show them who Jesus is and what He has done. If they get that, they’ll see themselves for who they are, repent and become new creations in Christ. Sing the songs their flesh doesn’t want to hear, sing the songs that wreak havoc in their hearts. Our worship should be a dance of repentance, praise and honor. Worship leaders, seek to have Jesus preeminent in all things. All things.
Shelby out!
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying “Repent,” intended that the whole life of believers should be repentance. – Martin Luther, Thesis 1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. – Psalm 46:1
I have been doing a lot of data entry at work lately, and as mundane as it is, I have been using the opportunity to listen to a lot of sermon podcast from this past weekend (November 1). While most I would classify under the Matt Chandler term “Christless expounding on nothingness,” the most amazing fact I noticed was the complete lack of references to the significance of the Reformation weekend.
On October 31, 1517, pastor and theologian Martin Luther wrote to Albrecht von Hohenzollern, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting the claim that freedom from God’s punishment of sin could be purchased with money (indulgences). He enclosed in his letter a copy of his Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, which came to be known as The 95 Theses. I have posted what I consider the most important thesis above, and having read a few biography’s on Luther, I understand that he was attacking the medieval notion of sacramental penitence with this specific thesis. This kind of “repentance” could be limited to isolated outward acts, leaving the rest of our lives safe from the absolute upheaval of true repentance. Luther contended that real repentance opens us up to endless personal transformation, leaving nothing about us untouched.
This brings me to the title of my post. One of the greatest songs that I associate with the Reformation and Martin Luther is Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott (A sure stronghold our God is He). Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott was written by Martin Luther somewhere between 1527 and 1529, approximately a decade after he presented his theses to the Archbishop. It was only later, in 1852, when Frederick Hedge translated the text to the more familiar A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing
Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe
His craft and power are great; and armed with cruel hate
On earth is not his equal
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, a psalm that greatly encouraged Luther during a time when Luther and his followers were going through a particularly rough patch of opposition with the Emperor, Charles V, seemingly determined to suppress the new “Reformation” movement. The word “bulwark” in the first line is an old word for a structure of protection and support, the “refuge and strength” described in the Psalm. Luther modulates the text into a New Testament setting and describes the true battle we’re fighting. The powers of evil and the devil are at work against us, but the name of Christ is power enough to defeat them authoritatively and finally. Luther’s original composition became immediately popular with the common people of Germany, being sung continually in the streets and chanted by the martyrs as they awaited their grim fate.
Considerable dispute surrounds the origin of the music, with some attributing it to Luther himself. Others give the honor to the great J. S. Bach; and it’s true that Bach did use the tune as the basis of one of his many chorales; however, Bach was not born until 1685, over a hundred and fifty years after Luther’s great song first appeared. It seems clear then, that Martin Luther rightly deserves the credit, if not for the original composition, at least for adapting it, possibly from an old German folk tune.
Martin Luther wrote many songs to teach people biblical doctrine in a way that was memorable and comprehensible, but much more important than the music, however, is the message; and what a message this great song has for the people of God. It turns their eyes and thoughts away from the afflictions of this world, and the opposition of Satanic hosts, and fixes them upon the person of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Sabaoth as Luther so rightly refers to Him in one of the verses.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing
Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing
You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He
Lord Sabaoth is His name, from age to age the same
And He must win the battle
And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us
We will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him
His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him
That Word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also
The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever
Since Reformation day has already come and gone this year, I would like to remind people of some of the basic theology that came from Martin Luther and the Reformation, as well as some questions to consider for the coming year:
Ad Fontes (To the Sources) – Do we read the Bible as often as we read books about the Bible?
Sola Scriptura (By Scripture Alone) – Is Scripture alone the supreme authority to which we direct thoughtful attention each day?
Priesthood of Believers – Do our neighbors and friends see in us a commitment to gospel ministry worked out in a regular routine of service?
Solus Christus (Through Christ Alone) – Do we enter God’s presence directly and with confidence by virtue of the high priesthood of Christ?
Sola Fide (By Faith Alone) – Do we rest in our Lord’s finished work, accessed by faith alone, as the sole basis of our right standing with God?
Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone) – Do we regularly communicate the good news of Jesus’s death, resurrection, and new creation, believing that the Holy Spirit will extend redemption through the foolishness of this message to save lost people and transform the world?
When Luther posted his theses, he undermined self-reinforcing Christianity (which is not Christianity), and he launched a new era of self-challenging Christianity, which is the power of the gospel. The world needs this kind of gospel disturbance. Carbondale needs it. I need it.
Shelby out!
P.S. I still consider Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D major, op. 107, ”Reformation,” one of the greatest musical settings of this hymn.
There are two musical situations on which I think we can be confident that a blessing rests. One is where a priest or an organist, himself a man of trained and delicate taste, humbly and charitably sacrifices his own (aesthetically right) desires and gives the people humbler and coarser fare than he would wish, in a belief (even as it may be, the erroneous belief) that he can thus bring them to God. The other is where the stupid and unmusical layman humbly and patiently, and above all silently, listens to music which he cannot, or cannot fully, appreciate, in the belief that it somehow glorifies God, and that if it does not edify him this must be his own defect. Neither such a High Brow nor such a Low Brow can be far out of the way. To both, Church Music will have been a means of grace: not the music they have liked, but the music they have disliked. They have both offered, sacrificed, their taste in the fullest sense. But where the opposite situation arises, where the musician is filled with the pride of skill or the virus of emulation and looks with contempt on the unappreciative congregation, or where the unmusical, complacently entrenched in their own ignorance and conservatism, look with the restless and resentful hostility of an inferiority complex on all who would try to improve their taste–there, we may be sure, all that both offer is unblessed and the spirit that moves them is not the Holy Ghost. – C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections, On Church Music
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God – Colossians 3:16
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is one of my favorite hymns. For me, it is the epitome of why hymns are better than most, if not all, of today’s worship songs. It engages my intellect, my imagination, and uses diverse and biblical imagery that tells a story that is focused on the gospel. It only serves to remind me that these lyrics and songs were written by theologians and pastors (not “musicians/artists”) who knew their Bibles better, and probably knew God better, than us.
Various influences over the past century have seemingly brought about a decline in the Biblical, theological, poetic, and artistic depth of worship songs, which is exemplified with all the contemporary “Christian” songs that are published and marketed today, generally lacking solid and good theology, and promoting self over the work of Christ. That is why it is helpful to incorporate songs into a Sunday morning song service that have been around for a while (both text and tunes). This helps to remind us of and root us in history, as well as keeping us humble.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty was written in 1680 by Joachim Neander. Neander was born in 1650 as Joachim V, the fifth Joachim Neander to become a pastor in the Bremen area of Germany. At age 24, he became head master of a grammar school owned by the Reformed Church in Dusseldorf. The school did well, but Neander could not confine his interests to work. He enjoyed the woods and the hills, and frequently wandered in the valley where the school was located. There was a cave in the hills that he especially enjoyed, and he would conduct meetings there to discuss the Bible and various beliefs espoused by people such as Luther and Calvin. These meetings had not been approved by the local elders, who arrived at the school one day in 1678 to publicly remove Neander from his post. After that, Neander spent even more time at the cave. He was so closely associated with this place that the area came to be known as the “Neander Valley,” and the cave itself as “Neander’s cave.”
Neander’s life was tragic in the classic sense, a life of great potential cut short by an untimely death in 1680 from tuberculosis at the young age of 30; however, he wrote 60 hymns, most during his tenure at the Latin School. Most are hymns of joyful praise, even though they were written during a time when Neander was living under considerable stress and sickness. Today Neander is considered one of the finest hymn writers in the German speaking church since the Reformation.
One interesting page in history is Neander’s roots, and the later use of his name. Two hundred years after his death, the valley area that he lived and worked in was owned by a man who mined some of the valley for limestone. In the process, there were some bones discovered. Since the German word for valley is “thal,” the bones became referred to as “Neanderthal” man. One wonders what Neander would have thought of this development!
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is a free paraphrase of Psalm 103:1-6, and Psalm 150, and is a joyful, triumphant expression of praise to God for his sovereign care over his creation and for his people. It calls God’s people and all creation to praise God for his mercy towards us.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near
Praise Him in glad adoration
Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth
Hast thou not seen how thy longings have been
Granted in what He ordaineth
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
If with His love He befriend thee
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before Him
Let the Amen sound from His people again
Gladly forever adore Him
Shelby out!
We live in an age of darkness. A world full of fear, hate and intolerance. But in every age, there are those who fight against it. Charles Xavier was born into a world divided. A world he tried to heal. A mission he never saw accomplished. It seems it’s the destiny of great men to see their goals unfulfilled. Charles was more than a leader, more than a teacher. He was a friend. When we were afraid, he gave us strength. When we were alone, he gave us a family. He may be gone, but his teachings live on through us. His students. Wherever we may go, we must carry on his vision. And that is a vision of a world united. – Storm’s eulogy at Xavier’s funeral in X-men 3
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – I Peter 2:9-10
For the past few weeks, X-men 3 has been playing relentlessly on my basic cable package. The TV gods have seemingly been taunting me to comment on this movie and franchise, and having watched and re-watched these films numerous times, I am now prepared to comment on what draws me, and hopefully others, to these movies and the comic books that they are based on. X-men 3 was directed by Brett Ratner, who took over the movie franchise from Bryan Singer. Now typically when a franchise is taken over by someone else, especially a superhero franchise, that new director utterly ruins it. Anyone remember Batman and Robin? Well a director named Joel Schumacher utterly destroyed the first Batman franchise with that movie.
So when they took the franchise from Bryan Singer, who gave us The Usual Suspects, and handed it to the man who gave us Rush Hour, there was a little bit of concern about how this movie would turn out, and a little concern that Chris Tucker would be Wolverine. Fortunately, that did not happen. Jackie Chan made no cameo as a mutant. What we got, in my opinion, is a pretty good movie. There was also some concern that the two visions of the directors would not match up, but I believe that Ratner did a good job of wrapping up the trilogy. I know that there are differences of opinion on that.
A lot of people have complained that it doesn’t have enough plot, but if you look at a lot of good trilogies (Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix), it’s the central movie that generally has most of the plot. Usually in the first film you get introductions, and in the second film you get a whole lot more exposition and character development. The third film pretty much turns out to be one big battle, or heavily focused on the final confrontation, to the point that if you take the film by itself, it really doesn’t stand on it’s own. The third film rarely contains much character development. Taken over the course of a franchise perspective (especially with the way a lot of today’s media is going, with immersive video games, and ongoing TV shows like Lost where you get into things by installment), I believe this trilogy is really good. If you haven’t seen the other two films, then this may not feel like a great movie; but as a third act in a play, I believe that it comes across very well.
I would like comment on the X-men as a franchise, because it is interesting that these stories, these characters, and these narrative themes have been around for as long as they have. These themes have been explored since Stan Lee created this comic in September 1963. For those of you who don’t know, Stan Lee is the same guy who created Spiderman, The Hulk, and The Fantastic Four. It’s hard to believe that so much came out of one guy! This comic has been around for about 46 years! I find it fascinating that these stories, and characters, and themes have been around for that long. It’s definitely had an incredible impact on our society. I believe one of the reasons it has been around so long is its ability to tap into some significant issues in peoples lives. Some of the grandiose themes that the X-men have tackled over the years include: adolescence, race issues, racism, national issues, homosexuality, and any other hot button issue you can think of.
There are a lot of things that the X-men canon has meant to people over time, and the different metaphors it has been used for. One of the current writers for X-men, Grant Morrison, has actually cast aside all these metaphors, and simply says that this is a story about simply being different. It’s really just a story about an unaccepted subculture, and this unaccepted subculture wanting to be accepted. If you look at it this way, from a narrative perspective, it actually has almost endless applications; especially with how this subculture tries to affect change, and transformation of peoples minds, hearts, and actions.
This actually brings me to what I really think the film ties into, which is the Christian life, or the Christian experience. In the X-men, there is always this underlying notion of new life and new birth: that people are born and seem like everyone else, but then they hit a certain age and something happens in their life; a seeming new birth and new life and experience. They are then born into a new family, which is what I feel the X-men is all about.
Another current writer for the X-men, Joss Whedon, who writes for The Astonishing X-men (who has also written for and created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and several other popular genres for TV and films), says that he loves and is enamored with the idea of what he calls a “made” family; a family that isn’t born and bound by blood, but a family that is brought together by circumstance, and relationship, and the oppression that they are facing. This “made” family is then bound and united by that. That they actually grow to be a stronger family than your typical nuclear family because some sort of fate or conspiracy has brought them together. This is all part of the Christian experience as well. Part of the Christian experience is that you become part of a family, and a family with both purpose and mission.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (family of believers). – Galatians 6:9-10
I think this verse is appropriate for this movie because it paints a picture of the family that we belong too, a family that has come together with united purpose and mission. It’s understood in this verse that life is going to be a long and hard road; and that this world is full of toil, difficulty, endurance, patience, sin and destruction. All of this is what we witness in these movies. Although we may not have thought about it, a lot of the time we feel the same pain, emptiness, loneliness, and trials that the characters in this movie go thru. I hate to ruin the surprise for you, but life is hard!
This scripture encourages us that we will be weary, and we will be tired, and the admonishen is for us to simply be together with one another; for us to encourage one another, and to do good to each other so that we can overcome that sense of weariness, pain, and misery, and actually endure together as a family of believers. This doesn’t just stop here, like the X-men and Xavier’s dream, they don’t just want to be a blessing to each other, but a blessing to the whole world. They have an internal family mission to each other, and an external mission to the people of the world. With the trilogy putting its focus on the character of Wolverine, it really gives us a glimpse on what it means to become part of a family; to come to love that family, and to understand that sense of mission and purpose, both to each other, and to the world. Another thing I would like to bring to light in these movies happens to be one of the most potent images that all of narrative deals with again and again, and that is the idea of the sin nature. We really see that in the character of Jean Gray, especially when we see that she has wrestled with her past her whole life.
There is this idea throughout all of narrative, even going back to classical literature, of the good and bad that we seemingly wrestle with inside ourselves: stories like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and even The Hulk. Now most of us on any given day don’t think that we do as much destruction as Jean Grey, but at the same time, we are not omniscient to understand how the tiny things of our lives affect other people. Maybe it’s the harsh word we deliver at work. Maybe it the small amount of lying and cheating. We have no idea how our sin and corruption affect others, or how much it plays into the bigger picture of devastation and destruction; and yet we wrestle with this, and when we are truly honest, we know its there.
A lot of times we perceive this struggle with the good and bad inside us as 50/50. Some philosophies and religions even espouse that we are basically 50% good, and 50% bad, and that there is this eternal struggle within all of us to try and balance that and make the right decision in every case. I hate to tell you, but the Christian experience is not 50/50, and I don’t think X-men 3 portrays that. What we see in this film is that Jean is ultimately all-consumed. There is a part of her that would like to escape her “bad” side, but ultimately she is unable to. In fact, the only way that she can hope to be saved is to ask to be put to death.
Even Xavier’s best offering falls short, because he can only offer Jean suppression of her tendencies. And we all try this, right? “I’m just going to white-knuckle this problem I’m having.” “I’ll do better tomorrow.” “I’ll just pull myself up by my bootstraps.” We all do this! Although I thought it was a beautiful part of the film, the best Wolverine can offer Jean, out of his love and sacrifice, is to put her down like a dog. There is something truly sacrificial about that moment though, as she knows she has to do die, and he has to do it. That’s the best he can offer. This film basically leaves us with the idea that either we try and suppress these tendencies inside us, or we just take you out of the picture.
While I didn’t feel like there was one true savior figure in these films, there are still some salvific characters here, albeit very human. There are characters who offer some measure of freedom and salvation, but ultimately they can only offer human answers to spiritual problems. Yes, we can help one another; yes, we can give ourselves up for one another; but when it comes down to it, we can’t deal with someone else’s sin nature, and like Jean, we can’t even deal with our own. That’s why in the Christian experience, we look towards these metaphors like Xavier, and we look to the sacrifices and transformed life of Logan; but ultimately we should look beyond that to Christ. We need somebody to give us righteousness to us. We need somebody who can not just suppress our sin, or simply take us out of the picture so we don’t hurt anybody; but someone who can literally take our sin upon himself, and give us righteousness. Better than any savior in the X-men movies, Jesus deals with this quotient.
Throughout these films though, there is still a sense of hopelessness that permeates the landscape, even with all its salvific characters. Unlike Superman, who is a very Christ-like character and gives you this notion that someone from space will come down and be a savior for our problems, there is hopelessness in the X-men movies as you see more and more people dying. There is a sense that some progress is being made, but it requires so some much pain and hardship, that a big question mark hangs over what the final picture will look like, and if they are able to overcome. This is why I love Storm’s eulogy at Xavier’s funeral stated above. It is totally congruent with the Christian experience. By contrast though, Jesus Christ did not see His goals unfulfilled. Jesus, like Xavier in this fictional story, in a very real sense died and conquered death and truly resurrected. He is seeing His goal fulfilled; and Christians believe that He was more than a leader, and more than a teacher, and more than a friend. We believe that He is our savior. We believe that when we are afraid Jesus gives us strength. When we’re alone, Jesus gives us family. His teachings don’t just live on through his students, but as disciples of Jesus, we do carry on and proclaim his teachings and commission. Why do we do this? So that we can get a world united.
Much like Xavier and his X-men, Jesus comes to us and makes us family. He literally takes our sin, dies, and rises from death, so that everything ultimately will be united under one head, God; and for those of you who read a lot of comic books, this is a very prevalent theme: Superman dies and is resurrected; Spiderman always seemingly dies, but always has some miraculous comeback. In comic books and other stories from classic literature, you will always find a character that seemingly dies, and then rises again to save the people. Some people will say that this simply makes Christianity just another myth or story that is grasping at the collective human consciousness, but there is a reason for this, and it’s not just because there is some hokey mono-myth in our consciousness. The reality is that Jesus Christ permeates our consciousness.
What this means for us is that we shouldn’t shoot other people down when they are simply grasping at this notion; instead, we should point to Jesus. Comic books, and comic book movies, are filled with tragic characters wrestling with what is essentially just a highly elevated grandiose form of their sin nature; however, they are also full of Christ figures like Xavier. Our duty as Christians, like Xavier, who had a dream and a vision and brought people together for mission and purpose, is to show people where these characters, ideas, themes, and stories are fully revealed, fully explored, fully exposed, and only really fully known in the person of Jesus Christ.
Why do certain narratives evoke certain emotions in us? Why, particularly in this day and age, does the story of the superhero draw us in like never before? Films are great vehicles to ask questions, but lousy at offering answers. The questions and themes posed in this movie almost beg for a biblical response or answer. I would encourage everyone to go back and watch this trilogy. Think about the characters. Think about the themes. Think about somebody or a situation that may reflect something in your life, obviously sans eye beams and claws. Even look at some of the social implications that are brought up in this film. Just because this is based on a comic book does not mean that there is not something we can’t learn either about someone we know, or even ourselves. You may find that you learn something about the grander narrative of your life, or the meta-narrative of the human condition, if we all agree that there is one.
Shelby out!
Before you even start reading, I feel obliged to point out the Code Red level of sarcasm that follows; however, as with all sarcasm, there are some kernels of truth interspersed in the following rant.
I grew up on late 80’s and 90’s church “worship” music. I remember thinking how cool it was that we didn’t have hymn books (even though now I would kill for one). Looking back, it is amazing to me how in such a short span of time, the “contemporary” church managed to flush 2,000 years of church history and biblical context down the toilet. Anyway, I remember those years fondly, and here are a few things that I really miss:
The obligatory flute or sax solo – There are a lot of church flute and saxophone players out of work today, collecting “worship” team unemployment checks. I really do miss those soft flute intros, and funky white boy sax solos, that just took the songs to a whole new power pop level. I think it was every worship pastor’s holy dream to get Kenny G saved. Can you imagine how powerfully the spirit would have moved? Unfathomable.
Streamers and banners (Church flag corp) – At its peak, churches were removing rows of chairs just to make room for this tornado of twirling silk. They should have been surrounded in caution tape because they were dangerous. Those wooden dowels were like holy swords waiting to impale you, or gouge your eyes out in accordance with scripture. I don’t know about you guys, but give me a banner team and a hard core sax solo, and that’s heaven on earth. I never could get a beat on the guys who joined the banner wavers though. That always gave me cause for concern.
Projectors and transparencies – Who can forget the giant glowing box sometimes strategically placed smack in the middle of the stage for the backup singers to operate. I honestly miss the feel, and even smell, of those transparencies; shuffling through the accordion folder to find the songs and get them all lined up. Was there ever a professional way of handling these? I certainly am familiar with the bad way, the blank transparency with dry-erase handwritten words and the operator who seems to always make the slide appear upside down no matter how many times you try to explain mirrors to them.
Percussion – Rainsticks, triangles, cowbell, congas, what isn’t appropriate for a worship song? Even the rocks will cry out, and Lord knows we tried to see what beating a rock with different sized sticks would sound like. The big churches share in culpability for this pandemic, but the smaller churches took it to a new level. I mean really, who isn’t qualified to play percussion? As long as you have a heartbeat, can fog up a mirror, and 2 hands that can beat things with, you should be on stage…right?
Constant 3 part harmonies – Picture with me if you will, vocal arrangements as a mixing board with sliders for each singer. Usually you’d think of these sliders moving up and down as the song progresses through the arrangement, layering nicely in parts, muted in others. Well back in the day this picture was more of a giant switch. Vocals are either all on or all off. Hey those words on the transparency aren’t for looking at, if you got a mic and there are words up, sang those things sister! Oh and you know your part, it’s the same harmony you do on every song, it’s easier that way. We also took the liberty of color coding the windscreens so you knew which mic is yours.
I can’t be the only one who misses some of this stuff. What are some of the things you guys miss?
Shelby out!
He said only the chosen must go, those who have heard the call. – Caleb Koestler in Knowing
For many are called, but few are chosen. – Jesus in Matthew 22:14
I can’t go with you Caleb. They haven’t chosen us, Caleb, they’ve chosen you! – John Koestler in Knowing
No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. – Jesus in John 6:65
Seldom does a movie leave me as unsettled and disturbed as my initial viewing of Knowing did. In fact, the only other movie that I can think of was David Fincher’s Seven. But last Friday night, upon picking up the movie from the library and putting my boys to bed, I discovered why people like Roger Ebert are saying that Director Alex Proyas’ Knowing is “among the best science-fiction films I’ve seen — frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome.” While I don’t consider the film as highly as Ebert did, Knowing is still a great movie, and one that I want to examine further as its larger than life themes really left an impression on me: themes such as predestination, the apocalypse, and the idea of “being chosen.” I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but will inevitably reveal some spoilers below, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, beware.
The protagonist in the film, MIT Professor John Koestler, is a man biased by a very personal loss. He is a man who has lost hope in anything save the investment in his son, and even that seems lacking. The film opens as he challenges the students in his class with contrasting theories of randomness and determinism. The deep tragic hole in Koestler’s life has led him to abandon any sense of determinism, or destiny, or fate, or higher order. He cannot see or accept any meaning in the loss of his wife, the mother of his young son.
Koestler’s bias is apparent in the ongoing silent standoff with his father, who is conveniently a Christian pastor. It’s also evident to the discerning viewer that Koestler isn’t truly wrestling with randomness or determinism, but the idea that a conscious mind, or entity (God?) is behind the scenes and involved in the decision that robbed him of his spouse. Koestler isn’t angry at his father, or at the universe, he simply doesn’t want to acknowledge the idea of an intelligent design.
Even the numerical premise that initially disturbs Koestler has an intelligent design subtext; the page of numbers he finds predicts “every major global disaster from the last 50 years in perfect sequence…” and soon the troubled teacher realizes it also “predicts that tomorrow…” grave events will occur. Where the numerical revelation came from, however, is not the schoolgirl who scribbled it. Something, or someone, fed the girl this information, and the shadowy characters in the dark outside Koestler’s home add fuel to his fears that somehow this cracks open the cosmological argument for the existence of an intelligent causal agent that is smart enough to know the alpha and omega of the human race.
Is there a beginning and end to the story of man? Are we fated? Do we have a destiny? Some of us love the notion of destiny when it involves romance or a deeper purpose for our suffering, but when we realize the full set of consequences (the impact on our will, on our decisions and direction), most of us chafe at being predestined; but here is a news flash, you can’t have it both ways. If you and your significant other were “destined” to be together, you’re not an autonomous agent with free will. For various reasons, related to fear, regret, independence (but ultimately control) we don’t want to be contingent beings. We don’t want to think we’re influenced and inclined, dependent, and certainly not fated. Under the guidance of an ordered hand sounds comforting, except we don’t like the idea of that hand pulling strings. However tight or loose we hold it; and however, and whatever we call it (wheels of fate, karma, cosmic justice, sovereignty), something in us though is still drawn to this idea.
Even within Christianity, there is a healthy tension and heated debate between predestination and “free will”, though it’s impossible to argue against scripture that makes it clear the biblical Creator is a God defined as one who predestines and appoints. A first century Christian hymn quoted in the book of Acts reads “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
The oldest account in the Bible, Job, is about a man who suffers great loss like our character in Proyas’ film. In the narrative, he admits that God’s “eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.” Later, the powerful, rich and wise philosopher King Solomon took this one step further, asserting that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Unveiling even more, Jesus’ disciple Peter wrote “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” So has the future been written? The idea of predestination is a theme that rings brightly throughout this film, and even our own human psyche, but another theme that also rings true is the notion of a world’s end.
Apocalyptic movies tend to be very formulaic, but something within these stories still resonates with people. The dead rising from the grave. The sky turning red as blood. A monster attacking New York. Straggling survivors seeking shelter and struggling to survive. Dogs and cats living together. Knowing Director Alex Proyas even says “[the apocalyptic theme] touches on something in our psyche that resonates in some way. It feels true.” From Steven King’s The Stand, to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road; from Night of the Living Dead to I Am Legend, the apocalypse features prominently in our cultural landscape. Knowing, it seems, is just the latest film to show that there is still plenty of cataclysm left to go around.
What is it about end time scenarios that fascinate us? Is our underlying fascination and dread regarding the end of the world just our own mortality projected (i.e. the end of my world)? Or, is there something in us, as creatures of story and narrative that knows intuitively our world will end in fire and cataclysm? Does our “knowing” run this deep, a chord struck within us where we know the story of life and this planet has an end? A movie like Knowing plays on these fears, but before movies were proclaiming fears of global upheaval, the book of Revelation was trumpeting it louder:
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood… the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
I think there is more here than our own personal mortality at play in these world ending scenarios. We might argue over whether it is the dead returning, or a global pandemic; but the point is, we have a spiritual connection to doomsday that must be addressed. If there is an end-time event lurking in our spiritual understanding with world-ending consequences, how should we prepare? Should we try to stop Armageddon? Is there something we need to do? Is there something we need to know? Is there someone we need to know?
John Koestler assumes that he can, or should, do something to stop it; but what if that same force that has determined beginnings and endings has already determined a plan? What if we can’t stop it, yet we can be saved from it? I thought Knowing explored these ideas with a daring and bravery I found refreshing, not the naive optimism that pervades many movies and often provides a pat answer. Some reviews I read even found it blatantly Christian and railed against it for doing so. Even more, the film not only explores the idea of determinism and a pending apocalypse, but even touches down on the recurring theme of being “chosen.” Knowing is a film that uses sci-fi as a narrative vehicle to wrestle with God’s existence and the End of Days, and even goes the extra step to suggest that forces are in play calling people to a better place.
From The Last Starfighter to The Matrix, we have a shared passion for a story in which there is a world beyond this one; a resolute Morpheus calling us to wake up; a soft voice wooing us, or firm hand wrenching us out of the miasma of this existence; a Neverending Story where the bullies, and the cancers, and the fractured relationships, and the wars, and the heartaches cease. John Koestler has lost any faith he might have had. He turns down his sister offer to pray for him, and severs the relationship with his pastor father. His son, however, exhibits signs as the movie continues that suggest otherwise. Something is watching, something is calling, and something is drawing them, or at least some of them.
The silent figures that seem dangerous, yet protective, move through the landscape of Knowing with an obvious parallel to angels, though we’re not really certain of their intentions, or their benevolence. They are frightening in their resolution. We are certain they have their eyes on John’s son, as well as other children, which makes the silent stalker motif and parenting instincts kick in. Over the course of the film, however, the children become reassured that everything is alright.
This, in my opinion, is really where the film went the extra “gospel” step. If the film wanted to be sappy, everyone would get a free pass and a shiny new earth. The looting, and theft, and rebellion, and deceit, and misery causing, and everything else that is bottled up in our nightmarish nature, would get a pat on the head and paved over with a shiny new bicycle (RE: planet) courtesy of alien angels. Knowing dares to parallel the biblical idea that not everyone receives grace.
John Koestler follows a harrowing course and desires to protect his son, but discovers in the end that something greater than he was looking out for him. Tragically, this discovery is soured when he realizes that his child will be saved, but he will not. It’s a bitter pill the film makes us swallow, considering the fact that a sovereign hand is at work and determines who will be saved from the apocalypse. All three themes (predestination, apocalypse, and divine calling) spill out of the film as though John Calvin wrote the screenplay himself.
As with all great science fiction, Knowing makes us wrestle with haunting parallels to our reality. What if we’ve lost our childlike faith? What if there is a guiding hand? What if the world will come to an end? And what is the distinction between those who are called out of it, and those who aren’t? At the end of the film, after the children are rocket-raptured up in an extra-terrestrial Ezekiel wheel, John drives back through the rioting, and mess of humankind, and returns to his pastor dad and hugs him sadly. As his father reassures him that this isn’t the end, we see the ultimate meaning of the film’s title.
John Koestler replies solemnly “I know”. The question is, do we?
Shelby out!
Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain
But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
takes all our sins away
A sacrifice of nobler name
and richer blood than they
- Not All the Blood of Beasts by Isaac Watts
God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. – Romans 3:25-26
We are entering a time in the church calendar where we focus our attention onto the idea of atonement. Now Atonement is not simply an award-winning movie, but a biblical doctrine that states only a perfect blood sacrifice can satisfy God’s requirement of holiness, and man’s forgiveness of sin. Throughout the Old Testament, much is told about the blood atonement that the priests had to make on behalf of their people; but the blood of bulls and goats could never satisfy God’s justice for man’s past, present, and future sin. Only the shedding of divine blood would do. This is where atonement comes into play.
Atonement is simply the work of God in Christ on the cross whereby he canceled the debt of our sin, and appeased his holy wrath against us. The death of Christ was necessary because God would not show a just regard for his glory if he swept sins under the rug with no recompense. It would be unrighteous to forgive sinners as though their sin were insignificant, when in fact it is an infinite insult against the value of God’s glory. Therefore Jesus bears the curse, which was due to our sin, so that we can be justified and the righteousness of God can be vindicated. Now when God looks at His chosen elect, He sees Christ’s shed blood and declares us righteous for Jesus’ sake. Our acceptance with God rests completely upon the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now it would be silly of me as both an artist and amateur theologian to simply write what atonement means, without showing how this doctrine is expressed both in our corporate church gatherings, as well as to a broader culture. One of the greatest musical settings of this doctrine is the 19th century song, Nothing But the Blood, whose words and music were written by pastor, musician, and theologian, Robert Lowry.
Born in Philadelphia, on March 12, 1826, Robert Lowry came to Christ at the age of 17. He would later graduate from Bucknell University with high scholastic honors, and would then go on to spend the remaining 65 years of his life pastoring churches in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City and Brooklyn. Late in his life, he became interested in writing and publishing gospel songs, and supplied the words and music for such familiar hymns as We’re Marching to Zion, Savior, Thy Dying Love, Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight, I Need Thee Every Hour, Fanny Crosby’s song All the Way My Savior Leads Me, Shall We Gather at the River, Christ Arose; and finally, in 1876, Lowry would give us the answer to our sin debt in his song, Nothing But the Blood. Though simply stated both textually and musically, Nothing But the Blood serves as a humbling reminder of the absolute necessity of trusting implicitly in the precious blood of Christ for this life and for eternity.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. – Leviticus 17:11
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. – Hebrews 9:22
For my pardon, this I see
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
For my cleansing this my plea
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. – Revelation 1:5-6
Nothing can for sin atone
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Naught of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. – 1 Peter 1:18-19
This is all my hope and peace
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
This is all my righteousness
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. – Romans 5:9
Now by this I’ll overcome
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Now by this I’ll reach my home
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. – Ephesians 1:7
Glory! Glory! This I sing
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
All my praise for this I bring
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. – Acts 20:28
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
And they sang a new song, saying, ”Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” – Revelation 5:9
For those of you who enjoyed the text above, or are familiar with the song, I would recommend a wonderful setting of this song by Page CXVI.
Shelby out!
I recently sat down to organize my iTunes, and upon doing so, I quickly realized that I have some real garbage in there, and I don’t know how it got there. The following are the worst songs in my collection and I have no good excuse for why they are in there:
If I were a comedian I might have an excuse. But A Night at the Roxbury was cool like what, 10 years ago? My only defense is I have this track unchecked; a brief moment of sanity in an otherwise bat crazy decision.
What the…how the…where the…why is this track within 10 laptops of me? Some one slipped me a rufie and popped this in my iTunes, and somehow rigged it so it comes on every time I shuffle. There are only a couple of acceptable reggae artists, and this isn’t one of them.
Ok, yeah, I get it, it was a big hit for a while, but I never even liked this song. I’m chalking this one up to some friend’s mix CD I put on my computer because I didn’t want to make them feel bad. I can’t be held responsible for this.
I must have been high to put this in my iTunes. This only goes to prove total depravity more than any other experiential evidence ever could.
No, this isn’t cool, not even in a reminiscent sense. Confession: I remember playing this in the background as I talked to ladies on the phone when I was in middle school. I was Leon Phelps smooth.
One more special bonus song…
Randy Travis - Open the Eyes of My Heart
If Jesus would have opened the ears of my head up, I would have had nothing to do with this track. This officially marked the end of Open the Eyes of My Heart covers. The Randy growl going into the chorus does bring a smile to my face, but for all the wrong reasons. Lord, I apologize, I should have stopped at five.
So now that I have aired my musical dirty laundry, I am curious to know what musical skeletons you have in your closet?
Shelby out!
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. – Romans 8:28-30
Maybe it’s written – Jamal Malik from Slumdog Millionaire
There is a scene near the end of the movie Slumdog Millionaire where the protagonist finally gets a chance to kiss the girl he has been searching for his whole life. Upon kissing her, he also kisses a scar on her cheek incurred from a cut she received while trying to protect him earlier in the film. It was at this point that I recognized the gospel of Jesus Christ shining through in a simple, everyday moment such as a kiss. It was at this point that I recognized the unrelenting love and truth and hope of God shining through amidst extremely dark circumstances; shining through in the darkest of days and in places that you might never expect. But I digress; let me go back to the beginning.
For the past year, my wife and I have been rediscovering the joys of the public library. She and I regularly check out books there, both for us and the kids. We have also begun checking out movies; and surprisingly, the library has proved to have every movie that we have requested, including new releases. The public library is now our own personal Netflix or Blockbuster, all for free.
Keri came home last week with our latest requests from the library, and one of the movies she got was Slumdog Millionaire. Now awards aside, I really had no desire to see this film, as what I had read and seen advertised simply didn’t interest me. With that said, I was pleasantly surprised upon my viewing of the movie that night.
The movie is essentially the story of a young man who grows up in the slums of India, falls in love with a girl, and realizes the opportunity to get back with her (after a series of tragic events) by appearing on the Indian television version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It begins with an intense interrogation scene where our protagonist, Jamal Malik, is being questioned by local police because they aren’t convinced that this lowly “slumdog” could know so much and be on the verge of winning 20 million rupees on a game show.
So when the police review the game show tape with Jamal, each question brings up a specific memory in Jamal’s life, and the seemingly preordained circumstances in which he learned the answer to each question. He simply tells his story of a poverty stricken life in the slums, where he and his older brother, Salim, grew up; including their years on the road, train hopping and hustling locals and tourists, and their encounter with their “third musketeer,” Latika. While Salim becomes hardened and driven mainly by money, it becomes clear, as Jamal’s unbelievable story unfolds, that the driving force in Jamal has always been the love for Latika.
I don’t want to give away anymore details, but as the movie unfolds he ends up being a hero in the eyes of millions of poverty stricken people who watch the show, inspiring them with the possible chance to escape the sadness around them. So in a sense, Jamal becomes a Christ figure. A hero that is willing to go through anything for love; and by doing so, he inspires millions of people who didn’t have a voice. The lost and broken and dying swallowed up in life’s toils and snares; the forgotten ones, and those who’ve given up hope.
There’s also redemption in this movie. Not only in the relationship of Jamal and Latika, but in the life of Jamal’s brother, Salim. While this isn’t the main point of the movie, it is worth noting that the Cain and Abel vibe does get broken up by sacrificial love, and the breaking of sin’s bonds.
Another subtle theme that runs throughout the movie is the idea of predestination. The film gives us a “big picture” view of life and the interconnectedness of all things. We realize that despite the ups and downs of Salim’s and Jamal’s lives, it all happens and comes together for a reason. Even the smallest incident involving sacrificial love from one of the most crooked characters in the movie shows us that their existence too is a part of the Big Picture; and even in death, they can provide life. Because of the hell and death that the characters experience, life can seemingly begin once again, and in many ways, start over. This brings me to the scene I described at the beginning, this beautiful scene where Jamal has a chance to kiss Latika and figuratively kisses away her scars, a symbol of restoration and the beginning of a new life.
As weird as it sounds, the themes in this movie have a lot in common with the movie Cloverfield, in the fact that even though there is death, life still gets the last word. And at the end of it all, both Slumdog Millionaire and Cloverfield make me think of life beyond death and reminds me of a quote in C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce:
…both good and evil, when they are fully grown, become retrospective
So I highly recommend this foreign film, even with all of its tricky flashbacks interchanged within the narrative (Lost fans will love it!). Its message of hope and triumph in the face of life’s most difficult circumstances will definitely put a smile on your face. Hopefully Slumdog Millionaire is a reminder that whether our life on earth is full of peace, beauty, clarity, horror, tragedy, or confusion, we will be able to look back on it all when we die, and smile in the face of the Creator and say, “because of Your Love, it was all worth it.”
Shelby out!
Burn down the disco, hang the blessed DJ, because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life – Panic by The Smiths
The Aspen Music Festival and School’s 2009 summer season will be very memorable for me. In addition to listening to some absolutely amazing performances this summer, and working with some of the most talented musicians in the world, I spent a lot of the summer in my car. My commute to and from Aspen provided the yin to my otherwise yang day, and provided me the opportunity to contemplate on the many epiphany’s that came to me during my daily travel time. Here are some of my most memorable takeaways from this summer:
After an initial demonstration, I am now a faithful disciple of the Neti Pot. It’s like a hot shower, swimming, nose spray, and picking your nose, all wrapped up in one glorious genie bottle. I have said “goodbye” to allergies, and “hello” to saline irrigated nasal passage goodness.
On a scale of 1 to awesome, the new Sojourn album (Over the Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, volume one) is an 11. Seriously though, their new album is even better than I initially thought. I managed to listen to this album both going to work every morning, and driving home from work late at night. With both incredible music, and spot-on theology, this album is a perfect example of the kind of authenticity and creativity a local church can have, and demonstrate to its community. This album gets 3 thumbs up by The Green Room.
An honorable mention in the music category will also go to Isreal Houghton’s new album, The Power of One. I have always had an affinity for this man, just not always for his music; however, this album is his best one in a long time, and I would highly recommend it, especially the song Sing Redemption’s Song.
Interspersed with listening to the new Sojourn album and Israel Houghton, I managed to get some Bible on CD into the regular rotation. I cannot recommend the ESV Bible enough, and the ESV Bible on CD became a very worthwhile tool during a time when I barely saw my family, and rarely had a chance to actually read my Bible. During a very busy summer, I managed to keep myself reminded of how dead in sin I am, and how sovereign our God is with constant listening to both Romans and Psalms.
My wife is the most beautiful creature on the planet, and I’m so glad she lets me take 9 weeks during the summer to let me be an artist. Check out her Squidoo pages on the right and learn a little about her interests.
Finally, my days of long hair are officially numbered:
Before vs. After
Shelby out!
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