African-American Spirituals - Teaching Us How to Lament

There is much to learn from African-American spirituals in terms of lament. "'I surely will die?' That's the kind of negative thinking that'll ruin a perfectly good day!" If we are swept away by our present day's refusal to reflect on the gravity (and inevitability) of suffering and death, the following will be tragically lost on us.

I'm Troubled in Mind

Oh, Jesus, my Saviour, on Thee I'll depend
When troubles are near me you'll be my true friend

I'm troubled
I'm troubled
I'm troubled in mind
If Jesus don't help me
I surely will die

When ladened with troubles and burdened with grief
To Jesus in secret I'll go for relief

In dark days of bondage to Jesus I prayed
To help me to bear it, and He gave me His aid

http://www.negrospirituals.com/

Not Far from the Tree

For those of you out there with a penchant for brooding, brink-of-self-destruction folk, I give you early Bruce Springsteen. Bleeding out of middle-America disillusionment, betrayal and murder, Nebraska will haunt you. Though it may seem silly to recommend an album 25 years old, I think you'll find it surprisingly consonant with the current works of any artist out there with an acoustic guitar and angst-ridden despair.

Worship - Escape or Engage?

Is worship in the church for the purpose of getting a spiritual fix and escaping the ugly world OR might it be for the purpose of being confronted and engaged by our God, the Lord Christ who takes on flesh and immerses himself in the filth of the world? What if we came not for rose-colored lenses to be polished for another week in our big, bad surroundings, but to encounter the God who cares intensely about his creation? Are we Deists or are we Christians? Is our God aloof and indifferent or is he dynamically involved, calling his people to sacrifice everything that his presence might be seen, heard and felt in the here and now? As tears fill our eyes for the suffering around us are we not in a mindset, a heart-set pregnant with worship of and petitions to our God?

A suggestion: Some American bodies have partnered with churches abroad for mutual encouragement, missions contacts, etc. This is great, but what if it was taken in a direction for immediate impact on the liturgy? Take a church in say Burma or Uganda; what are they dealing with—socially, economically, relationally—both within the church and in their local setting? The answer to these questions could be grafted into the liturgy so that as the congregation was offering worship to the Lord they would simultaneously be united to their brothers and sisters abroad, becoming informed of their joys and pains, learning from them what it looks like to build the Kingdom under vastly different circumstances. It should go without saying that when one gets a glimpse of the world through a wholly-other context, immense clarity is gained for one’s own setting. Is this not desperately needed in our often blindingly affluent milieu?

Possible Stupidity

The other day, while playing my $55 piano, I realized just how desperately it needs to be tuned. However, if you know anything about piano tuners, they can be on the pricey side, especially for a full-time student's budget. So, in curiosity, I found this site and am now convinced I have the necessary knowledge to tune my piano. Once I purchase the tools and go to work, I'll let you know how it tunes out.

Hauerwas Interview

"If Christians really faced up to the facts of Jesus' story, they would be shocked. It is a radical tale: God revealed himself in inauspicious circumstances — in a provincial backwater of the Roman Empire and among a beleaguered people, the Israelites. Through his ministry and death, Jesus offered humankind a radical vision of forgiveness and freedom from revenge. To a world obsessed with power, that is outrageous. An omnipotent God incarnate who relinquishes his power and dies an ignominious death in order that human beings might "have life and have it more abundantly"? Whoever heard of such a thing?"

Full article

Afternoon Television...

Watched Oprah this afternoon. (I can hear you jeering....) Something interesting though. The theme of the show was that of confrontation, confession and reconciliation in America's most challenging high schools. As the students gathered in the gym to practice a form of group therapy, it dawned on me; so much of what once took place in the home--honest communication and forgiveness--has now become a desperate act in the public sector. The most basic relational practices have so deteriorated in our homes we must now look to the government for healing. This is nothing less than a tragedy.

Call That Justice

Every day, tens of thousands of children around the world wake up behind bars. Many of them will have committed no offence.

Calvin for the Christian

“The Apostle assigns the reason, “Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered,” (Heb. 5:8). Why then should we exempt ourselves from that condition to which Christ our Head behoved to submit; especially since he submitted on our account, that he might in his own person exhibit a model of patience?” (p.431). Why are the calls to follow Christ and to suffer seen as mutually exclusive? When considering the normative life of a Christian we speak of living morally, attending church, being good citizens, etc. and then (maybe) make some concession for the reality of hardship. I pray I will be able to cultivate an ecclesial community someday which recognizes and even embraces a cruciform understanding of life.

However, this costly lifestyle of cross-bearing results in something profound. We will be privileged to taste of our Savior in ways luxury could never afford! Calvin assures us, “How powerfully should it soften the bitterness of the cross, to think that the more we are afflicted with adversity, the surer we are made of our fellowship with Christ; by communion with whom our sufferings are not only blessed to us, but tend greatly to the furtherance of our salvation” (p.431-432).

Mission + All

Incarnate.

Liturgy as Newspaper

Hot off the press, something has happened and is being reported as fact, taking place in space and time. We read, we think, we converse--we respond. Come in off the sidewalk and pick it up. It is declarative of something fresh, something alive--the news of a dynamic God on the move. He is assembling a people, building a kingdom, renewing the cosmos. Just as we open our city's daily newspaper with the expecation of being informed and even challenged by the realities of our world, so might we open our liturgies with the expectation of being informed and indeed challenged by the realities of our God and His world. War is Over, Christ is Risen.

Of Criminals and Their Transporation

Driving through South City the other day. Stopping at a red light I look next to me and see a St. Louis Metropolitan Police van. This was no ordinary van. Through the windows a steel cage was visible, seemingly custom fit to match the entire space of the back portion of the vehicle. Then it hit me--People ride in the back of that van, locked inside that cage, through busy traffic, right down the middle of countless city streets. These are human beings who have, to some degree, forfeited their humanity through their crimes, many of which dehumanize their victims. Though my understanding of our justice system is extremely limited, I think it says something profound when we put a fellow human being behind bars. In effect, we are stating, "You have violated an image-bearer, another creature representative of the Creator God. This is ultimately an offense against God. As a result, measures must be taken to see that you answer for your actions." However incarceration must never be the end of the story. Should we not consider everything from the cage, to the courtroom, to the prison cell as means to the end goal of reconciliation with and restoration to humanity, the very community in which they committed the crime? This side of the Fall I would like to think of every van with a cage I see as the first step in restoring a criminal to his own humanity and humanity at large.

The Essential Hook

In song writing, I am finding there must be a hook. Obvious as it may be, you have got to provide the listener with something to hang their hat on. I realize some will argue against this claiming repetition to be the cheap wine for the immature palate and that truly great music never repeats itself. Fair enough, but for the vast majority of people in this world, they're looking, listening for the recurring, dominant theme, something to anticipate and reference for their entire song. Though often found in the chorus, it can come in the verses. Regardless, it's my obligation to deliver something memorable.