In the time of postmoderns I was a Puritan

This is one of my favorite hymns that I have introdocued to my church this year in worship. It was originally written by blind preacher George Matheson in 1882, and re-written in 1997 by Christopher Miner of the Indelible Grace music community.

Many Southern Gospel arists like the Gaithers still sing the original tune but Derek Webb and wife Sandra McCracken perform it beautifully with the newer arrangement.

It has come to an end. For now.

Last night was my church’s final Sunday night service for the spring, and we won’t pick back up until the start of fall, since we take a break for the summers. (I think it is nice that we have an evening service since the majority of Presbyterians just keep it at the house on Sunday nights!) Having an evening service gives us an opportunity to have a more informal worship time and for our pastor to talk on specific subjects, or pull lessons from books he is reading, and have time for questions/discussion.

From our hymnbook I selected “The Solid Rock” and at our pastor’s request we also sang “Rock of Ages, Cleft for me” along with our pianist, then after our lesson I closed our service with “Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners” by myself on guitar. It went well, I think, and lately I’ve been receiving compliments on the music. It’s encouraging to say the least considering how painful our worship has been for me and maybe others over the course of the last year.

It all started when our paid pianist had left for another church last summer, so a lady in our church had her hands full just filling in for our morning service since she was not as well-practiced as our former pianist. For various reasons I have never been free or able to play in a worship setting since my teen years and I still play guitar so I volunteered to provide worship music for the evening service that had just begun in the fall. At first I was overwhelmed by it. Translating the music of traditional hymns on strictly acoustic guitar proved to be more difficult than I had thought, and leading people in worship proved to be more challenging than I thought it would be. It also took time during the week to pick out and practice the songs I would play on Sunday. Unfortunately it was not as….. fun as I thought it would be either, and I actually wanted to quit for some time. I “hung in there” because there were fleeting moments when I genuinely enjoyed it and felt like I was filling a legitimate need by selecting and ordering the songs and providing some music instead of us just cherry-picking a song out of the hymnbook to sing acapella like they used to. But when I messed up, sang flat, flubbed a chord change, or screwed up the tempo, I felt like I was frustrating the flow of worship. I was a hindrance and an obstacle, rather than an asset.

Sadly, I still feel like a screw-up at times, but thankfully I feel like I have come a long way.

• I worked out sound system issues so now I play my guitar though the house speakers (which lets me compete with the volume of the grand piano) and now have my own microphone and boom stand, and can provide myself with a stage monitor mix.
• I have familiarized myself with a ton of older hymns, and found much of what works, and what doesn’t work to mesh musically with a pianist.
• I have compiled my own book of music with guitar chords that corresponds to our church’s hymnbook so its all at my fingertips.
• I’ve learned to read piano clef music a bit, in a pinch.
• I’ve introduced several ”modern hymns” or new songs to my congregation, from Indelible Grace’s tunes or from Reformed Praise, and many church members have responded favorably.
• My singing voice has improved slightly, and my appreciation for congregational singing has grown immensely.
• And overall, I hope that over the last year our church group has found a deeper worship and reflection on God’s love through our evening service’s music. If they have, then I guess it was all worth it.

A year gone, but yet I’m just beginning.

I love listening to Derek Webb because his lyrics are so brutally honest and so frequently resonate with me. Different parts of the song I repent jump out at me at different times, catching my attention and send my mind contemplating, but the last two lines (emphasis by me) in particular have sparked an internal debate and study of scripture.

“By domesticating you until you look just like me
I am wrong and of these things I repent”

I mean, “Domesticating Jesus until he looks like me? I don’t do that. Christians don’t do that.” I think to myself. But the reality is even if it’s to a small degree, our culture, background, experiences, and viewpoints as humans affect how we can see Jesus. When I read the Bible, I realize how lowly my view of Jesus is, as the Son of God, and as the moral example of perfection which I am supposed to be conformed to. But I am even more horrified when I look to those outside of my theological camp, or to those outside of Christianity altogether, and see a radically different idea of who Jesus actually was and is. I see differences so immense that no matter ecenumical or “tolerant” I could imagine being cannot overcome the fact that we might as well not be talking about the same person anymore.

In fact, there are a lot of accusations that get thrown back and forth from different ideological camps concerning Jesus. I’ve heard liberal-leaning Christians claim Jesus has been hijacked and turned into a white middle-class Republican in favor of regulating morality. At the opposite end of the spectrum I’ve also heard Jesus be described as the equivalent of a limp-wristed environmentalist, pacifist, and economically a socialist. From the last year or so through media, here’s some other more extreme way Jesus has been popularly characterized that I’ve stumbled across…..

• According to Oprah Winfrey, Jesus was a good teacher we can learn from but we should “stop clinging to the old rugged cross”
• According to James Tabor, author of “Jesus Dynasty”, Jesus of Nazareth was the product of rape and more of a political activist whose message was distorted by the Apostle Paul. 
• According to most liberal scholars, Jesus was not born of a virgin, did not resurrect on the third day or ascend to the Father, and He certainly did not make any sacrifice to atone for man’s transgressions.
• According to several writers including Baptist Gregory Boyd and Steve Chalke, Jesus did not die to bear the wrath of his Father in our rightful place because they deny the idea of Penal Substitution atonement.
• And according to Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, Jesus was quite possibly a homosexual.

So how do YOU characterize Jesus? Because it’s clear to me from all these people’s ideas that we aren’t all even speaking of the same person anymore, and certainly not the same Jesus I believe in. Tolerance be damned, I certainly can’t just knod and smile when I hear statements and beliefs that so horrifically contradict what the Bible says.

• John the Baptist beheld Jesus of Nazareth and proclaimed Him to be “The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
• John the disciple referred to Jesus as “begotten” of the father, just as the Nicene Creed centuries later affirmed Jesus as “Begotten, not made, being of the same substance as the Father”
• The writer of Hebrews quoted Psalm 102 in referring to Jesus’ eternalness, as well as declared Jesus to be “propitiation for the sin’s of the people” (2:17) which means Jesus’ sacrifice had to actually satisfy the debt and punishment of sin.
• Paul repeatedly proclaimed Jesus’ divinity.
• Daniel in the Old Testament prophesied that He would ascend to the ancient of Days to receive his Kingdom, which would have no end.

So He is King and ruler, He is Lord and eternal, He has dominion and an everlasting Kingdom, He has made payment for sin by becoming sin for us. As if that isn’t enough, Jesus was the word of God made flesh, He lived an earthly life in obedience to the Father and poured himself out in generosity and compassion before finally yielding His life on a Roman cross.

So the bottom line is, if I sacrifice one inch of Jesus’ holiness, sinless ness, divinity, perfection, graciousness, compassion, or generosity then I am turning Him into something other than what the Bible represents Him to be. If I subtract ANYTHING from Him that the Bible claims about Him I am guilty of sinful negligence. If through my cultural context or framework, I impose additional characteristics to Jesus that the Bible does not proclaim or at least allude to, then I am doing an injustice to His character.

Of these things, we should repent.

I have more thoughts on this topic, which I’ll continue later

Derek Webb and wife Sandra McCracken finally releasing a collaboration EP.

But even after eight years of personal and professional collaboration, thirteen albums, a marriage, and a new baby, the one thing McCracken and Webb had never done together successfully was write songs.  When asked why, Webb jokes, “The majority of co-writing we’d done up to this point pretty much resulted in marriage counseling.”

The future of the Christian music industry and predictions by Chris Peacock.

A blogger’s perspective to the present Myanmar crisis.

And finally, John Piper on abortion.

I couldn’t resist posting a shameless promotion post for Red Mountain Church’s new album This Breaks My Heart of Stone, which I haven’t even bought yet but is one of RMC’s most promising albums; featuring another 8 hymns from William Gadsby’s hymnbook. I am always grateful for quality music put out by Christians, with a reverence for God and worshipping Him at the forefront and a concern for popularity or sales far, far down the line of priorities. Check out the album here: http://www.redmountainchurch.org/rmm/alb/tbmhos.html or read Brian Murphy’s note to would-be listeners:

And yet, there are moments where the light shines. There are moments where I am “convinced as a sinner, to Jesus I come”. There are moments when I meet someone and their belief shakes me somewhere deep inside, because I feel a similar belief inside myself. These moments of belief don’t seem to happen very often, but when they do, it feels like rain is falling on the drought of my soul.

For me - and I think for a lot of us - these moments of belief often coincide with music. These songs remind me, they remind us, that the gospel is at work. That redemption is taking place. That sad things are being made untrue. That hopefully in small pieces and small moments, our hardened hearts are breaking.

Heres a link to an interesting story today on The Today Show with Matt Lauer about the openly gay Bishop Robinson of the Episcopal Church and his upcoming civil union, book, and plans to attend The Anglican Church’s Lambeth Conference this summer.

Here some of his quotes from the interview and my thoughts:

“When you try to love the world the way God loves the world, you’re going to get in trouble. The prophets of Judaism got in trouble. Jesus got in trouble….. I’ve come to understand that this is a particular historic role that God is calling me to play at this moment,”

 Bishop Gene Robinson is the guy that hinted he believed Jesus was possibly a homosexual. It’s amazing how people will repaint, and distort Jesus of Nazareth to conform to their own image to justify their actions.

Robinson feels that people who use the Bible to condemn homosexuals fail to understand Scripture. It is called an abomination for a man to lie with another man as with a woman, but, he writes, the Bible also says it is an abomination to eat pork or shellfish, to wear clothing made of two different fibers, or to sow two different types of seed in the same field.

Should a Christian Bishop be throwing the whole Bible “under the bus” in the process of defending himself? It reveals a bigger issue about the law that I worry a bishop such as this does not even care to address with integrity. It seems we can just pick and choose which laws seem good to follow.

“We’ve often misinterpreted Scripture,” Robinson told Lauer. “We’ve used Scripture to justify slavery; the subjugation of women.”

When speaking of his upcoming civil union he says:

“I am simply not going to put my life in jeopardy without putting into place the protections for my beloved partner and my children and my grandchildren that are offered to me in a civil union,” Robinson said. “I think any husband or wife would want to do that.”

Dude, it’s called a having a will, or even better a “living trust”. The same rights heterosexuals enjoy by default are available to homosexuals if they go through proper legal channels. You can assign whoever you want to as beneficiary on insurance policies, and you can “will” whatever you want to whomever you wish. The plea to have the same rights as heterosexuals is such a smokescreen.

As of last month, I now have a cousin who has relocated from Florida, U.S.A. to New Zealand to pursue youth ministry. He attended Palm Beach Atlantic college in south Florida, and then seminary in New Orleans. After a couple youth pastorates here in the states he sought out ministry abroad. So there he is now, in his late 20s and half a world away, driving on the left side of the road from the opposite side of the car, and yielding to sheep herds. Here’s a couple pics….

Its really cool to know that I have family living as transplants on another continent, in another hemisphere. Its like the world just got a little bigger. I am very anxious for future reports on his ministry there as a small towns first official Youth Pastor. I am also very curious to see his reflections on American/Western Christianity after experiencing the spiritual life and practices on an entirely different continent.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Some interesting links:

The Vatican declares baptism to be invalid and to be redone if wrong words are used http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801159.htm and the Christianity Today article about it: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/17.21.html

And Part 4 of Young, Restless, and Reformed posted today at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/mayweb-only/119-32.0.html

Several years ago, I was introduced to what is called a “Preterist” view of prophecy, or a “realized eschatology” by my grandfather John L. Bray, who is an old school Southern Baptist preacher that began to question what SBC churches teaching about the “last-days”. After retiring from the pastorate he has written, published, and distributed his own books and newsletters about prophecy now for several decades. But for me it was THROUGH his book “Matthew 24 Fulfilled” and other books from preterists like Gary Demar and others that I gradually realized Dispensationalism for the sham that it is. Since that time, I have read many other books, articles, and such from other preterist authors. In the process I actually reformed and came to a Calvinist and Covenantalist view, which my grandfather never really was since he was an old school Southern Baptist. So though we might not agree on some points of eschatology, and we certainly differ on our soteriological views, I owe a lot to his writings which jumpstarted in interest in theology for me, and getting to know the Scripture from which my faith in Christ is embedded, founded upon, and flows from.

So naturally, I was always curious what would become of my grandfather’s work when he retired for good and left this earth. His book “Matthew 24 Fulfilled” after all, was self-published and without my grandfather still around to send you a free copy by mail, I didn’t know what would become of it. But apparently his good friend Gary Demar of American Vision is going to take up my grandfather’s book and reprint it, now with a fresh layout and cover design. (Just one look at their publication “Biblical Worldview” should be proof of their commitment to excellence in layout and publishing design). This is exciting. Stay tuned. And visit www.americanvision.com to see what they are about. Or read this excerpt from the book:

But it is important that we recognize the fact that most of all the passages in the New Testament which are generally used to picture a coming of Christ in our future to judge the world, are actually passages referring to the coming of Christ which the disciples expected in their generation (Matthew 24:34) and which Jesus had promised would take place before all of them were dead (Matthew 16:28). from Pg. 174

 

Bray has researched, and quotes historians, early church fathers, Bible commentators and scholars such as Josephus, Eusebius, Tertullian, Augustine, John Owen, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, and Benjamin Warfield. It was is a well-researched book. I’m anxious to see what American Vision is going to do for it.

Last night I pulled out a modern hymn from those guys at www.reformedpraise.org to use for our evening worship service, that I lead at my church. I stumbled through leading our small group in singing it but it is a beautiful song nonetheless. (on that note, why can’t leading worship from standing behind a microphone be as easy as just sitting at home playing guitar and singing like I do throughout the week?)

Anyway, if the term “Modern Hymn” seems like a contradiction of terms, or an oxymoron then I would ask you to consider what Bob Kauflin (Soveriegn Grace Ministries) says:

“The uniting of unchanging truth with contemporary expression is an idea as old as the Word of God itself. What a joy it is to see more songwriters bringing new life to hymns rich in theology and biblical doctrine.”

So why is this such a radical concept since we don’t find it often in our churches? That is, old hymn texts meeting contemporary music? Long ago it was customary in the Church to try hymn texts to different tunes, either by using the metrical index found at the back of a hymnal, or by musicians within the church bringing a fresh or regonizable tune to the lyrics. Sometimes the results can be abysmal, as I knew of one church that liked to sing John Newton’s beloved “Amazing Grace” to the tune of the Gilligan’s Island theme song. But for the most part, if something didn’t work it would be cast aside, and if it did work then it would “stick”. This tradition has been long forgotten though.

A force that has proven to be powerful in our churches is the desire to modernize our musical worship. A desire to sing music that more closely resembles our tastes than our grandparent’s taste. From my experience, many churches have felt that they could not ignore Contemporary Christian Music, (or CCM as I’ll refer to it from here) but still have some sense of loyalty to the hymns. Maybe it is out of sincere appreciation for the richness and poeticism of the lyrics, or continuing the tradition of worship the church had been accustomed to, or maybe even simply to appease the older members of the congregation, but nevertheless these churches held on to tradiational hymns while simultaneously exploring the new worship styles and songs that we just lump together generically under the term CCM. This creates conflicts,  because inevitably some type of balance has to found. Maybe seperate services were created; “Traditional” and “Comtemporary” giving church members a choice, but ultimately segregating the congregation by their musical preference, and consequently usually their age and maturity as well. Not the greatest solution really.

Many churches have adopted what they call “blended worship”, whereby they try to “blend” multiple styles. It sounds nice, but what is actually achieved is hardly a model for the rest of us in the Church to follow.

You see, it seems that churches that practice ”blended worship” do not really “blend” anything at all. From my experience, I have stood in church and sang (and maybe clapped to) a contemporary song with faily repetetive and simplistic lyrics accompanied by a full band of drums, keys, and electric guitars at a rousing tempo, only next in the order of worship to sing a traditional hymn at a dirge-like tempo accompanied only by the piano/organ. Meanwhile, the full band that brought us to our feet just moments before now simply stands there with their guitars and handheld microphones or sitting there with their drumsticks, awkwardly unaware of what to do other than just stand there. The difference between lyrical content, and the disparity of musical style and tempo is felt like the force of a game of tug-of-war. In other words, putting two incredibly dissimilar things side-by-side in worship is not “blended” at all.

I applaud people like Red Mountain Church for their modernizing of hymns, and other churches that strive for the same flow in their worship. No matter how new or old the song, no matter the tempo, no matter the subject matter, a certain “flow” to the worship is achieved by not having such abrupt differences present. In, other words, they really “own” their worship and make it personally their own as they offer it to the Lord, not simply borrowing a pre-conceived way of doing it from Christian radio, or even their hymnals.

I know from experience in leading worship that translating older songs and the way we’re accustomed to singing them to modern instruments can be difficult, though not impossible. For example, there is a reason that, as a guitarist I simply would not choose many older hymns to sing if using modern instruments is the goal. “Depth of Mercy” by Charles Wesley is a perfect example of a wonderful old hymn that because of its rhythm and awkward chord changes would make many acoustic guitarists like myself run screaming. But Red Mountain Church has done a lovely job of putting “Depth of Mercy” to new music that in the hands of quality musicians is both modern sounding and incredibly powerful. I believe Charles Wesley, if alive today and familiar with modern day music, would be delighted. Likewise, I believe many forgotten hymnwriters, if alive today, would be delighted to be remembered and their beloved lyrics re-used, re-imagined, re-worked for a new generation by groups such as Reformedpraise.org 

Corum Deo!

The following text is an old hymn, written by William Sleeper and published over 100 years ago. Its been set to a new tune by Greg Thompson of the Indelible Grace music community (www.igracemusic.com) several years ago and ever since has come back into use by many churches. I lead worship at my church one service a week, and have introduced this song to a group of older Christians who haven’t sung anything “new” in years. Even they love it. I encourage you to meditate on the words. Remind yourself of all of the things we cast off, and the things we gain through Jesus Christ as Christians. At the bottom is a video of a group playing it at a church in NY, although I think the Indelible Grace version with Matthew Perryman Jone’s singing it is stellar and you should check it out on Indelible Grace III “For All The Saints” cd.

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus , I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Our of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth.
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Our of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Our of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Find sheet music and hear a demo at www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/hymns