According to Beaujon, contributing writer for Spin, sales of Christian music totaled 47 million albums in 2003— outselling jazz, classical music and New Age combined, with sales climbing 10% each year for the past five years. Beaujon came up with the title of his book from a T-shirt he saw at the Cornerstone Christian music festival depicting Jesus's hands with holes in them. In addition to promoting fundamentalist evangelical Christianity, such messages, Beaujon explains, delivered in either folky ballad lilts or throat-wrenching Steven Tyleresque heavy metal screams, are strongly antiabortion ("stop killing my generation"), staunchly conservative (70% of Christian rockers and their fans are Republicans) and provirginity ("dating is prostitution"). Beaujon developed the book from a series of pieces written for Spin and, consequently, the text reads like pithy, onsite, you-are-there set pieces. In "Black and White in a Gray World," he profiles a day in the life of youthful prolife Christian rockers who tout their anticontraception, antiabortion and anti–stem cell research messages through prolife rock music. Many of Beaujon's musical references may be obscure to those over 25, but his insider view of the ideologically passionate world of Christian rock is compelling. Beaujon—an agnostic—reports well but passes no judgment.
Relevance is borne of relationship . . . and when we do not know lost people, we may do some pretty weird things . . .
Not too long ago the broader evangelical church enjoyed a craze over the evangelistic possibilities of The Passion. I have observed this kind of thing repeatedly -- most recently in The DaVinci Code.
Being relational in evangeistic philosophy, we took people to the movie -- friends of my wife's of many years. Our experience was not too positive with the folks we invited -- they were former church people, now quite secular, and they were offended. They did not want to go to coffee afterwards -- they said an awkward goodbye and we did not hear from them for a long time.
It was, after all, a two hour flick which involved cruel torture. It was about Jesus -- but they could not see how that mattered. The most common objection to Christianity in our day is its blood and cruelty -- why does God require such a sacrifice? The Passion simply reinforced this. I learned a lot that day about how I see evangelistic opportunities and how secular people may see them. I was "out of touch" with the way to bring the Gospel to these people.
There were multiple examples of being "out of touch" with lost people during that time. But the most bizarre was this -- a church with a "billboard" in the front -- one of those signs where you put cute sermon titles. The method is antiquated at best -- I have never met any lost person who read or paid attention to those signs. But the message on this particular sign was an example of being so out of touch with unbelievers that I was stunned. The sign was very simple: Go see The Passion. Then come ask us questions. Yes, I am telling the truth.
I had just had my experience of finding I was "out of touch" but the sign struck me as a metaphor. There was no seeking of the lost in it -- it was passive -- it was waiting -- it assumed so much. There was no relationship. It assumed people were interested. It was a picture of the way Christians tend to think of non-Christians. It was, in a simple word, irrelevant. It had no meaning to those who drove by.
Relevance comes from knowing people -- their names, specific circumstances, questions. It cannot come from books or surveys alone.
At the risk of "ranting" -- few things are more disturbing than the way Christians stereotype and treat lost people with nothing short of prejudice. I know of times where I have heard Christians even laugh at the "foolish ideas" of unbelievers. This is more like the scribes and Pharisees than it is like Jesus. They are lost -- yes, and the wounds of lostness are upon them. They are also bearers of the image of God and the marks of that IMAGO are all over them. ONLY in seeing the image of God in them do I have a basis for relationship and evangelism. Indeed, as Francis Schaeffer noted, the one thing about God they cannot escape is the image of God, and they meet it every day in themselves. Secular they may be, and a-theistic in practice -- but they know that they cannot explain their loves and hates and sorrows and worries as mere chemical reactions. And when they are treated as image bearers, they sense it and appreciate it.
You see, the reason I can relate to the unbelieving with loving discernment is this: I know something about them that they do not believe -- I know they are image bearers. I know that image is corrupted and the effects are often tragic. I can explain their lives from Scripture in more than moralistic terms. I can, by grace, touch something deep in their souls. And that is what relevance is all about.
C.S. Lewis said, we don't need more Christian writers; we need more Christians who can write. Lewis and Tolkien wrote 50 years ago and are still influential today because their work had spiritual, intellectual and creative ballast. They would not have imagined operating in the kind of parallel universe that Christian media has become. They were mainstreamed. Last year alone their works sold in the millions. At the risk of sounding uncharitable—50 years from now, how many copies of Left Behind and the Purpose Driven Life will be sold? Our popular culture is impoverished and the "Christian media culture" is satisfied to make money by serving crumbs off the table of that fallen culture, often dumbing down our faith in the process. Until we experience a spiritual, intellectual and creative renaissance, both culture and the parallel universe of Christian media will serve thin gruel, entertaining ourselves to death. I'm concerned about the whole Christian media enterprise.
"Have you considered the simple fact that all three members of the triune Godhead sing? The Father is said to sing over His people: “He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:17, NIV). The Son of God sings with His disciples: “And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30). It also appears that the Son of God sings over us (i.e., His people) even now. Hebrews 2:12, using Psalm 22:22, says, “I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.” The Holy Spirit sings within the heart of each of God’s elect, according to Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, both primary texts studied in this issue."
"I suggest that Christians have no choice but to be deeply concerned about music, especially the music that is used in their churches. This is true, if for no other reason than that half of what we do in public praise involves music. Surely this fact alone urges us to take seriously the music of our churches if we desire to reform them biblically."I thought this point needed some clarification:
"Finally, any philosophy that treats music as an end in itself is suspect and unhelpful. This is the “art for art’s sake” idea. It often drives certain churches that take great pride in their “high cultural” approach to liturgy and form in music. The answer to this is simple: Art for Christ’s sake is our goal!"
Who are you in the aftermath of this great exchange? Are you shocked into silence? Do you feel the need to whisper? There is a place for those hushed tones but there is also a place for us to lay aside our whispering and join with the creation and those men and women who had eyes to see and to shout rightly, “Let His blood be on us and on our children.” But now this shout is not to mock but to be cleansed by His blood. Now is the time to shout out in adoration, “He saved others, but He did not save himself. And because He did not save Himself, He
saves us. Praise Him!”
Despite the fact that Congressman Westmoreland cannot name all ten of the commandments, he still knows that they belong in public courthouses nationwide. Brought to you by The Colbert Report.My comment: Pretty funny.
Seeker services were the target of criticism. But the best spokesmen for the seeker movement insisted it was “not about the event” – but about relationships – and that they would be examples to their people of building relationships with unbelieving people so they could be invited to the “events.” I listened to Bill Hybels tell a national meeting that he had taken up sailing and joined a yacht club and had joined a sailing team of all unbelievers. Out of that came many opportunities for the Gospel. I was ashamed of my indifference. I began to change. (As an aside, here is what I found. The more unbelievers I knew, the less I needed to read Barna to figure out what they were like. I have never met a statistical average.)
A good part the criticism had validity – but the critics (like me) were also reactionary. The seekers said, “We need to figure out how to communicate the Gospel in a relevant way.” The critics said, “Forget that – the Gospel is relevant – just preach it.” Some pastors forced a new model on their churches and this almost always led to division and splits and angry departures.
The seeker movement has, by and large, been theologically simplistic and moralistic. The critics have camped on this. But their criticism seemed to be Monday morning quarterbacking because they were not leading churches with immense evangelistic fruit – so it was simple to answer them, “We like our bad methods better than your no-methods.”
Though these pieces are typical of Pärt's style, they seem less bleak than those on previous discs. The Te Deum, while often in a minor tonality and sometimes imposing, has a suitable extroverted quality; the Magnificat, with its hushed intensity, does seem solemn, but its cadences are striking, typically resolving from a tonal chord to a shimmering major-second dissonance. The Berliner Messe includes not only the Mass ordinary, but also three propers for Pentecost, and displays a range of moods from nervous penitence in the Kyrie to lively good cheer in the Credo to serenity in the Agnus Dei. Best is the sequence "Veni sancte spiritus," sung largely in unison to a haunting 6/8 melody. Tiny Estonia, Pärt's homeland, has provided him with some impressive interpreters.
We must not...reject [or] condemn anything because it is abused. This would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us in Deut. 4 not to lift up our eyes to the sun (and the moon and the stars), etc., that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations. But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Therefore we propose to rush in and pull the sun and stars from the skies. No, we had better let it be. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him (Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30); so we kill all the women and pour out all the wine. Again, gold and silver cause much evil, so we condemn them. Indeed, if we want to drive away our worst enemy, the one who does us the most harm, we shall have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart, as the prophet, Jer. 17, says, "The heart of man is crooked," or, as I take the meaning, "always twisting to one side." And so on - what would we not do?
-From his fourth Invocavit sermon from 1522, found in Works, American Edition, vol. 51, p. 85
I’d imagine every parent, at some point in his or her parenting career, cries in exasperation: I’ve done all that I know to do, and nothing is working! The couple with the foster child is not unique: the best spankings in the world will not necessarily change a tough kid stuck in his sin.
So what do we do? Are we out of gas? Hanging by the end of our rope about to fall into the pit of parental despair and family chaos?
I find that in these situations we can become strangely secular in our parenting. The word “secular” means “of this world.” We forget about God. We think it’s all about technique: “Apply the three rules of child training and they come out like muffins in the oven.”
Christians can be and ought to be content with the simple necessities of life. I'll mention three reasons why simplicity is possible and good. First, because when you have God near you and for you, you don't need extra money or extra things to give you peace and security. Hebrews 13:5,6 says, Keep your life free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. For he has said, 'I will never fail you nor forsake you." Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?"' No matter which way the market is moving, God is always better than gold. Therefore by God's help we can be content with the simple necessities of life.Read the whole message here.
Second, we can be content with the necessities of life because the deepest, most satisfying delights God gives us through creation are free gifts from nature and loving relationships with people. After your basic needs are met money begins to diminish your capacity for these pleasures rather than increase them. Buying things contributes absolutely nothing to the heart's capacity for joy. There is a deep difference between the temporary thrill of a new toy and a homecoming hug from a devoted friend. Who do you think has the deepest most satisfying joy in life, the man who pays $100 for a fortieth floor suite downtown and spends his evening in the half-lit, smoke filled lounge impressing strange women with ten dollar cocktails, or the man who chooses the Motel 6 by a vacant lot of sunflowers and spends his evening watching the sunset and writing a love letter to his wife?
Third, we should be content with the simple necessities of life because we could invest the extra that we make for what really counts. Three billion people today are outside Jesus Christ. Two-thirds of those do not have a viable Christian witness in their culture. If they are to hear—and Christ commands that they hear - cross-cultural missionaries will have to be sent and paid for. All the wealth needed to send this new army of good news ambassadors is in the American church. If we, like Paul, are content with the simple necessities of life, thousands of dollars at Bethlehem and millions of dollars in the Baptist General Conference and hundreds of millions of dollars in the Protestant church would be released to take the gospel to the frontiers. And the revolution of joy and freedom it would cause at home would be the best local witness imaginable. The Biblical call is that you can and ought to be content with the simple necessities of life. Therefore, don't try to get rich.
Probably after the epic and genre bending, "Kind of Blue" this would be the Miles Davis record to get. Miles Davis' concert of February 12, 1964, was originally divided into two LPs, with all of the ballads put on My Funny Valentine. These five lengthy tracks (which include "All of You," "Stella by Starlight," "All Blues," "I Thought About You," and the title cut) put the emphasis on the lyricism of Davis, along with some strong statements from tenor saxophonist George Coleman and freer moments from the young rhythm section of pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. This hour-long LP complements the up-tempo romps of Four & More. The original CD issue was as a double disc with extra material. Thankfully, Legacy issued this as a single disc in 2005 as it appeared on LP, keeping the integrity of the original release.The liner notes on this record tell the back story of this concert. No rehearsal. The band showed up and were told by Miles that they were playing for free. Bass player, Ron Carter was going to walk. Eventually they got it worked out and went out and played one of the most amazing concerts of jazz improvisation ever committed to a recorded medium. Listen hard to how they listen hard to each other. It's a clinic on playing together in a group. It's almost like they are reading each other's minds. For anyone half way interested in jazz, this is for sure a record to have in the collection.
To every preacher and every singer God will someday ask, “Did you bring the people to where the action could be found…at the throne of grace? If you just entertained them, if you just tickled their ears and gave them a warm, fuzzy moment, woe unto you. At the throne of grace I could have changed their lives. Jim Cymbala, did you dazzle them with your cleverness or did you make them hungry to come to me?”
Here’s a funny story about uncooperative animals on the set of the upcoming movie The Nativity. Production for the New Line Cinema feature—due out in December—has been slightly delayed due to unpredictable barnyard animals and inexperienced shepherds.
We are now witnessing the corruption of the masculine ideal into absolute violence and amorality. This phenomenon has developed over time, as manhood and the role of men in the home and in the society have been undermined by social, legal, economic, and ideological forces.Read the rest here.
We now know that boys are doing more poorly in school than girls and that young women now outnumber young men on college campuses. The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by young men, and young males drive the statistics in virtually every form of antisocial behavior. The absence of strong male role models for boys and young men to respect and emulate--especially fathers--is surely the largest contributing factor to the rise in the social pathologies and antisocial behaviors.
