Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs: 09.12.30 (Advent 3)

This week we celebrated week three of Advent at The Crossing and the morning had several highlights for me, personally. We had a string trio as a part of the band which added a rich, warm texture to many of the songs while hinting at the of longing and need we're called to wait in during this season. 

We participated in communion together and also introduced a new/old hymn called "Savior of the Nations, Come" arranged by Bruce Benedict (a great musician and an acquaintance of mine). Bruce himself shares some thoughts on the hymn in his blog, Cardiphonia, that give some insight into its history and meaning.

Savior of the Nations, Come is a fairly obscure but ancient hymn that beautifully reflects the themes of advent as well as reinforcing the tenants of the Apostles Creed, the humility of Christ (Phil 2), His Intercession, and the gloried anticipation of his expected return.

Savior of the Nations, Come is an ancient hymn written by Ambrose (4th cent.)  Ambrose is a well known Latin Father, preacher and mentor of Augustine.   As early as 372ad Augustine attributes this hymn to the hand of Ambrose, originally composed in Latin as “Veni, Redemptor gentium.”  Martin Luther picks up this text in 1523 and as part of his reformation translates it into German for his congregations.  It is today probably one of the most beloved german advent hymns. It was first translated into English by William Reynolds in 1851.  This translation comes from Calvin Seerveld who prepared it for the Psalter Hymnal (1984).

You can also find more information on the hymn at Bruce's blog also contains some wonderful readings and hymns that he has adapted that serve as helpful guides for our journey through Advent. You can also find more information on "Savior of the Nations, Come" at The Hymnary. Be sure to check both out. 

Call to Worship 

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Words: Charles Wesley
Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord
(London: William Strahan, 1745), number 10.
Music: Hyfrydol, Rowland H. Prichard (1830)
Alternate tune: Traditional Welsh Melody
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night”

Coming Glory: Candle Lighting
Isaiah 46:2 

Joyous Light
Words by unknown author (late 3rd -early century 4th century)
Translated by John Keble (1834)
Alt. arrangement and additional chorus by Chris Tomlin,
David Crowder and Louie Giglio (2004)
Recording by Chris Tomlin 

O Come, Let Us Adore Him
Words: St. 1 attr. J.F. Wade, 1751; tr. F. Oakeley (1841)
sts. 2-4 anonymous,
Music: John F. Wades' Cantus Diversi (1751) 

Coming Glory: Prayer Litany
Psalm 96:1-3, Luke 24:25-27, 30-32, II Corinthians 4:6, 
Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 7:11-12

Come, Lord Jesus (An Advent Song)
By Diane Thiel
Recording by Diane Thiel (Vineyard Music)
From the album “Is God Listening?” 

Coming Glory: The Advent of Jesus Christ, Part 3 
Luke 1:57-2:7 

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Words: Liturgy of St. James (5th century),
Adapted by Gerard Moultrie (1864)
Music: PICARDY 8.7.8.7.8.7. French melody (17th century).
Arr. by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1906).
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night” 

Message:The Courage of Joseph
Shay Roush | Matthew 1:18-25

O Come, O Come Emmanuel
LM 88 88 (Veni Emmanuel), Words: Latin, 12th Cent; tr. composite
Tune: "Processionale:, 15th cent. ; adpt. Thomas Helmore, 1854
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night”

Savior of the Nations, Come
Words: Ambrose (4th Century), Martin Luther (1523),
Traditional: Calvin Seerveld (1984)
Music: Enchiridia, Erfurt (1524),
Arrangement: Bruce Benedict (2009)
Recording by Bruce Benedict 

Joy to the World
Words: Isaac Watts (1719) (based on Psalm 98)
Music: ANTIOCH C.M.rep. George Frederick Handel (1742)
Arr. Lowell Mason (1836)
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night” 

Musicians for 13 December 2009:
Vocals: Mark Collum
Bass: Nick Havens
Acoustic Guitar, Piano and Vocals: Scott Johnson
Percussion: Andrew Luley
Organ and Piano: Kerry Maggard
Reader: Claire Novak 
Cello: Josie Patton
Vocals: Kristen Pierce
Violin: Alison Tatum
Viola: Jake Wandel

Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs: 09.11.30 (Advent 1)

The season of Advent is now upon us. Bruce Benedict writes that Advent (which means “coming” or “arrival”) is a time that "focuses our attention of Jesus Christ’s birth and ministry as well as his Second Coming. Since we can’t anticipate the day or hour of Christ’s return, we are filled with both a sense of Joyful expectation and humble reverence, with our spiritual focus being on lives of prayer and preparation."

Advent is one of my favorite times in the church calendar for the eason that it asks that we slow down and examine the story of Jesus Christ more closely. In the details of his arrival and birth we remember how God fulfilled his ancient promises to Israel. We then find encouragement has we hold fast to His promise that Christ will one day come again and restore this broken world.

The Crossing's services on 30 November ushered us into the season of Advent with songs scripture readings and silent prayer that helped us to be still, wait, understand our need and thus, go deeper in our longing for Christ, our Emmanuel (which means, "God with us").

Call to Worship

Joyous Light
Words by unknown author, late 3rd -early century 4th century;
Translated by John Keble, 1834,
Alt. arrangement and additional chorus by Chris Tomlin,
David Crowder and Louie Giglio.
Recording by Chris Tomlin

Coming Glory: Candle Lighting
Isaiah 9:2

Prepare a Place
By Michael W. Smith and Christine Dente
Recording by Michael W. Smith and Christine Dente
From the album “Gloria”

Coming Glory: Prayer Litany
Psalm 24:9-10, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 3:9b,
Isaiah 40:3-5, Matthew 25:31-32a

O Come, O Come Emmanuel
LM 88 88 (Veni Emmanuel), Words: Latin, 12th Cent; tr. composite
Tune: "Processionale:, 15th cent. ; adpt. Thomas Helmore, 1854
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night”

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Words: Charles Wesley
Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord
(London: William Strahan, 1745), number 10.
Music: Hyfrydol, Rowland H. Prichard (1830)
Alternate tune: Traditional Welsh Melody
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Silent Night”

Coming Glory: The Advent of Jesus Christ, Part 1
Luke 1:1-25

Come, Lord Jesus (An Advent Song)
By Diane Thiel
Recording by Diane Thiel (Vineyard Music)
From the album “Is God Listening?” 

Message:
Finding Hope in the Ultimate Dysfunctional Family
Keith Simon | Matthew 1:1-17

The Gospel Song
Words by Drew Jones, Music by Bob Kauflin
Recording by Sovereign Grace
From the album “Songs for The Cross Centered Life”

Musicians for 30 November 2009:
Vocals: Mark Collum
Bass: Nick Havens
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals: Scott Johnson
Vocals: Megan McDonnell
Reader: Claire Novak 
Cello: Josie Patton 
Percussion: Stephen Varner
Piano: Ethan Vizitei
Organ: Cortney Wright

The Broken Beauty of Michael Jackson

Yesterday, I saw "This is It," the documentary culled from over 100 hours of rehearsal footage of what was to be Michael Jackson's final tour. I really enjoyed this film. So much so that I bought Thriller off of Amazon marketplace (24 years after the fact). As much as it is easy to say this after his death - it is a great, great album.

Here are some thoughts on the film...

I enjoyed the lack of artifice, hysteria and histrionics that usually accompanies a Michael Jackson production. Except for one section, there are no rapid cuts to screaming fans or shots that only serve to magnify the myth of Michael Jackson. Instead, we get to see the working artist in the trenches preparing himself for a tour and working hard. One is reminded that Jackson was very, very gifted artist... a fact that was somewhat lost amid the nonsense of the past 15 years. Some of the best moments of the film are simply watching the amazing control he had over his body as he effortlessly moved and danced around the stage. He also had a wonderful voice which is underscored in the way he effortlessly sings the coda of "Human Nature" with an aching beauty.

It was interesting to see how much the crew enjoyed the Jackson 5 songs that he performed, particularly; "I'll Be There." This segment brought a big smile to my face as I enjoyed the purity of those songs and what they mean to people. At the same time, I wondered if the J5 songs have the same aura of beauty and joy for Jackson as they have for his fans given the tumultuous lack of childhood he experience in that period of his life. Do they conjure good memories or bittersweet, painful ones? Wherever Jackson himself is at, there is a broken beauty when one witnesses the juxtaposition of the fresh faced 12 year old singing those songs to the 50-year-old version of Jackson that is markedly changed in appearance. I like what my Pastor, Dave Cover, wrote about this in a recent blog of his...

"It was clear that there is both a glory and a wretchedness to Michael, just like in everyone else. But it seems more obvious in him. He was so talented and, well, so obviously gloriously made in the image of God. And he was also so deformed and decrepitated by his own idolatries of fame and money. You could actually see the very physical toll his idolatry took on his appearance. I felt so sorry for him. Yet I’m sure God sees me the same way. My heart’s idols ruin me in so many ways that are clearly visible in my relationships, my emotions and attitudes, and yes, my own appearance."

One last thought - The Jackson I saw in the film is a distinctly lonely man. One gets the impression that there is an invisible barrier between him and his crew and, as a result, the viewer. Jackson's inner world is the living embodiment of the line used to describe the mystery of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, "Nobody ever goes in and nobody ever goes out." As I became aware of this subtle undercurrent in the film, I started thinking about the success of Thriller. It was probably the best and worst thing to happen to Jackson in that it brought him incredible success and fame but at the cost of true relational community. Jackson himself once said in an early 80’s interview,

"Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."

Jackson's loneliness is poignantly evident all these years later and probably the most tragic part of his whole story.

Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs: 09.10.25

Last week, The Crossing wrapped up it's sermon series on Revelation with Keith Simon speaking on Revelation 21 and 22. Instead of focusing every song on the promise of restoration in Christ's return, we decided to tell the story of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation using songs, readings, and visual interpretations of the beauty of creation and the intrusion of sin. We hoped that as The Crossing remembered the whole story of God's glory in His creation, the brokenness of humanity and Christ's once and for all sacrifice that overcomes human sin, it would stir in us a longing for the promised new heaven and new earth and a desire to live our lives in a manner that reflects that hope.

CREATION

The Doxology
Words: Thomas Ken (1674)
Music: Old 100th, Genevan Psalter (1551),
attributed to Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510-c. 1561)
Recording not available

All Creatures of Our God and King (All Creatures #2)
Words by Francis of Assisi (1225); tr. by William H. Draper, (c. 1910)
Tune from "auserlesen Catholische Geistliche Kirchegesange", Cologne (1623)
Adapted and additional chorus by David Crower (2004)
Recording by David Crowder Band, from the album “Illuminate”

FALL

Corporate and Silent Confession

Only Your Blood
By Neil Robins (2009)
Adapted from “Psalm 51, Part II” by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Recording by Sojourn Community Church
From the album “Over the Grave: The Isaac Watts Project, Volume One

REDEMPTION

Reading: Titus 3:3-7 (NIV)

In Christ Alone
By Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
Recording by Joanne Hogg, Margaret Becker & Máire Brennan
From the album “In Christ Alone: New Hymns of Prayer and Worship”

RESTORATION

Reading: Revelation 1:1-5 (NIV)

I Will Rise
By Louis Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher and Jesse Reeves
Recording by Chris Tomlin
From the album “Hello Love”

Message:

The Present Power of a Future Promise

Keith Simon | Revelation 21-22

Lord Jesus, Come
By Adam Sacks
Recording by Sovereign Grace Music
From the album “Lift a Shout” (Out of print)
From the album “Spring Harvest: Live Worship 2003”

Musicians for 10 October 2009:
Piano: Nathan Billings
Violin: Taylor Bonderer
Bass: James Dent
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals: Rhett Johnson
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals: Scott Johnson
Percussion: Andrew Luley
Organ and Synth: Kerry Maggard
Vocals: Kristen Pierce
Vocals: Lynn Roush

Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs: 09.10.11

I've decided to start posting the songs (and song history), scripture readings and other service elements for The Crossing's weekly worship services. Some weeks I'll comment on the song order and the significance of the choices that were made. Other weeks will just be a simple post with the service order. Each item will have a link for those who are interested in seeking out a specific resource.

The following is the service order from 11 October 2009.

Gathering Song: My Savior’s Love Endures (Magnificat)
By Jennie Lee Riddle, JJ Heller and Dan Heller
Based on Luke 1:46-55
Recording by JJ Heller

Call to Worship: Sursum Corda (Lift Up Your Hearts)
(circa 3rd Century)

The Doxology
Words: Thomas Ken (1674)
Music: Old 100th, Genevan Psalter (1551),
attributed to Louis Bourgeois

Here is Love
Words by William Rees, 19th century;
Music by Robert Lowry, 1876;
Additional Chorus by Matt Redman (2004)
Recording by Passion Band
From the album “From the album “Hymns: Ancient & Modern”

The Lord Is
By Pat Sczebel and Bob Kauflin (based on Psalm 23)
Recording by Sovereign Grace Ministries
From the album “Psalms”

Reading: Psalm 23 (ESV)

Come, Holy Ghost
Words: "Veni, Creator Spiritus", att. Rhabanus Maurus (c. 800)
and Raymond G. Mills (1997)
Music: Bruce Benedict and Raymond G. Mills (2006)
Recording by Redeemer Presbyterian Church
From the album “Mid All the Traffic”

The Doxology: Reprise
Words: Thomas Ken (1674)
Music: Old 100th, Genevan Psalter (1551),
attributed to Louis Bourgeois

Message: A Tale of Two Feasts

Communion Medley: Sing to the King
By Billy Foote and Charles Silverster Horne
Recording by Eoghan Heaslip & Laura Story
From the album “Worship Project H214”

Communion Medley: Here is Our King
By David Crowder
Recording by David Crowder Band
From the album “A Collision”

Revelation Song
By Jennie Riddle
Recording by Kari Jobe (Christ For the Nations)
From the album “Glorious”

It was a memorable service for a lot of reasons, one of which I'll talk about next week but for now, here's an MP3 of The Crossing singing "Come, Holy Ghost/Doxology".

Music Styles and Christian Snobbery

This quote is from David Peterson, author of the wonderful book Engaging With God. The quote is transcribed from a lecture on musical styles and the church at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

We all know that music is a great encouragement to snobbery. You can either be a classical snob, or a rock snob, or a folky snob. Basically, what we do with our music is we say, "I love this kind of music; this is what really excites me, and I can't bear that other stuff. I am not going to listen to your stuff."

The sad thing is that Christians fall into this same worldly trap. We become so familiar with and comfortable with our particular styles of music that we end up saying, maybe overtly sometimes, "I am not willing to listen to your kind of music. I am not willing to sing one of your silly songs." We get even more intense than that. We say, "Your music is not true worship. Your music is not honoring to God."

This is one of those areas where Christians feel at liberty to be quite unrestrained and quite ungodly in the way in which we position ourselves and talk to one another when it comes to music. So if music is going to be a meaningful and effective part of our church life, we need to submit it to the Scriptures. We need to apply the Scriptures in a very rigorous fashion from the pulpit about this subject. It is not just something for musicians to consider. I believe that as pastors of churches and as theological teachers, we have a responsibility to bring this, as with everything else, under the Word of God.

The Power of the Pentatonic Scale

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus", from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009.

Publish Post

Help My Unbelief, Part 3

Tattoos usually don't move me but somehow this one did.

A constant and consistent prayer for this person and for me.

It's Like a Heatwave Burning in My Heart

Not quite...but our air conditioner did break down today.

Oi! It's not going to be a pleasant sleep tonight.

Don't Slack Off

Don't slack off seeking, striving, and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted people to strive for, and a degree of which you have had in conversion. Thus pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive sight, that you may know your self and be brought to God’s feet, and that you may see the glory of God and Christ, may be raised from the dead, and have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart. Those that have most of these things still need to pray for them; for there so much blindness and hardness and pride and death remaining that they still need to have that work of God upon them, further to enlighten and enliven them. This will be a further bringing out of darkness into God's marvelous light, and a kind of new conversion.

Jonathan Edwards, Advice to Young Converts.

Mistakes and Corporate Worship

"The church has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes that she has made us like ill-taught piano students; we play our songs but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music, but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch...I have now heard the strains of grace, and I grieve for my friends who have not".

Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace?

Babette's Feast and the Foretaste of Heaven

The following is an excerpt of a review of Babette's Feast (one of my favorites films for its themes of redemption and trasncedence) by Thomas S. Hibbs. Read on and be sure to check out this great Danish film.

Babette’s Feast (is) a story of the sacramental celebration of sensible delight and communal reconciliation as a sign of the heavenly banquet (Luke 14:23 and Matthew 22:1-10). Set in Denmark amid a small, austere community of Protestant Christians, united in their devotion to their founding pastor, whom they honor as “priest and prophet,” the film focuses on the founder’s beautiful daughters, Martine and Filippa. Named after the great reformers Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, the daughters early on attract the attention of worthy suitors. Neither daughter is capable of freeing herself from her father and the community he has established. One of Martine’s suitors, Lorens Löwenhielm, leaves disappointed; learning from this religious family that “earthly love and marriage” are mere illusions, he vows to devote himself to his career and becomes a decorated general. Another, Achille Papin, a famous Parisian opera singer, discovers a great musical talent in Filippa, but he too is rebuffed.

Later, as war envelops Paris and families are torn asunder, Papin sends a friend, Babette, to live with the family he still admires. A devastated Babette, who has endured the murder of her family, begins work as a cook, preparing the simple meals the sisters insist upon eating. A series of fortuitous events make it possible for Babette to prepare a feast for the entire community. The sisters wish to commemorate the anniversary of their father’s founding of their religious community, a community lately afflicted by “testy and querulous” disagreements. What they have in mind is a “modest supper followed by a cup of coffee.” Plans change, however, when Babette wins the French lottery and has 10,000 francs at her disposal. She persuades the sisters to let her prepare a French feast. In a humorous set of scenes, wine and live sea turtles arrive; the sisters suffer nightmares and confess to their religious brethren that they may have “exposed” everyone to “evil powers” and a “witches’ Sabbath.”

It looks at this point as if the stage is set for an evening of quiet misunderstanding, an evening in which the splendors of the senses will be wasted on a community that identifies religious asceticism with a state of disembodied detachment. But another chance event, the last-minute arrival in town of General Löwenhielm alters the chemistry of the meal. His presence means not only that there will be twelve at the meal but also that a person of cultivation will enjoy, and comment on, Babette’s feast.

The general is the first to sense the transforming effects of the feast, as he marvels at the quality of the food and the wine. Here the meal is an occasion for the most human and most philosophical of passions: wonder. The dinner is at first characterized by comic incongruity between the general’s comments and the non sequitur responses from the other members of the dinner party. At one point, a woman, who had earlier described the human tongue as a source of “unleashed evil,” sips her wine as she speaks innocently of how much she is enjoying the “lemonade.”

The film completely transcends our popular way of framing the debate over appetite, which pits a repressive Puritanism against a celebration of the indulgence of untutored desire. If the religious views of this community are in many ways shallow and repressive, the film’s corrective consists not in a repudiation of religion as oppressive. Instead, the film makes clear that bodily goods and sensible pleasures can be vehicles for the manifestation of grace, occasions of communal transformation. The feast achieves what the sisters’ attempts at moral and religious reform could not; it brings about reconciliation as warm memories of the departed founder flow forth in speeches from those assembled.

As the general recounts famous meals at the Parisian restaurant, Café Anglais, where the renowned chef was a woman (Babette, of course!) with a gift for transforming dinner into a love affair that weds spiritual and bodily appetite, he offers an education in the way sensible things can be vehicles of spiritual realities and meals can be foretastes of heaven. If his words are lost on his dining companions, they need not be on us. Viewing this film...provides a glimpse of the remarkable scope of the drama of redemption and of the way in which art, like food, can be a vehicle for the expression of the most profound of spiritual realities.

Joy Is Contagious

Yes, I know it's a commercial for a cell phone but don't be all curmudgeony. Think on this...

1) Joy is contagious. Many of the people in the video were commuters who joined in the dance as a result of the enthusiasm expressed by those hired for the commercial. My favorite commuter is the man, who, after hearing the first few bars of "My Boy, Lollipop" eventually succumbs to the dance by lifting his arms as his expression turns from bewilderment into a beatific smile.

2) Joy is meant to be shared because God created us to live in community with one another. The older I get the more and more I see this truth manifested in my life. The times that I am most aware of God's goodness is when I am with friends and family, sharing a meal, a glass of wine, trading stories or making music. I mean, let's face it...this wouldn't have been quite as effective if it was simply one person dancing in their flat by his/herself.

3) Joy is expressed through clapping, shouting and dancing. If we have the true and life changing Good News of Christ Jesus, why can't our times corporate worship look more like this? Heck, even closer to home, why don't I live my life more like this? Consider Psalm 130:11-12...

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

4) Ultimately, as much fun as dancing can be, the kind of joy we see in the video only be sustained for so long and after awhile starts feeling empty. The truth is that sustained, substantive, life changing joy is found in God alone. Augustine has said that our souls are restless until they rest in God and there are many Psalms that attest to this. I'd like end this post with a few of my favorites.

Psalm 16:11
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 19:8
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

Psalm 21:6
Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Psalm 94:19
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 30:4-5

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

This last one has become more and more my prayer as of late...

Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Harold Best on the Nature of Beauty

Cosper, Best and Stam - Session Four from Sojourn/The 930 Art Center on Vimeo.

Mike Cosper from Sojourn Worship recently sat down with r. Harold Best (author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith) and professor Carl “Chip” Stam (Professor of Church Music and Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) for a series of conversation about faith, art, music and worship.

I wanted to post this 10 minute clip because I think Best's discussion on the beauty and art as it relates to the western idea of perfection is particularly insightful and helpful as we approach what we interact with the process of making music and art at the church.

Kitsch or Art?

The performance is merely a superficial imitation of the song by Kansas yet at the same time there is an undeniable quality and skill to the performance itself. Even though the method or mode of interpretation is decidedly...unique .

I'll be straightforward: I lean most decidedly towards kitsch. However, the performance does leads me to the question what is role of the interpreter's skill in art. Is the label "art" inclusive to when the work is done with skill and beauty but decidedly derivative if not outright imitation? If not, how do artists inform and influence each other? Why is it still an "acceptable" expression of art to interpret classical music but not the popular form of rock of music?

Whatever the answers are, there is something ridiculously sublime about this performance.

Piper on Authentic Worship

"Let me mention here that this does not mean that worship is authentic only when you are red-hot for God. It can mean that when you are not red-hot, your heart feels a longing for the passion that you once knew or want to know more of. That longing, offered to God, is also worship. Or it can mean remorse that even the longing is gone, and you are scarcely able to feel anything but sadness that you don't feel what you should. That remorse, offered to God, is also worship. It says to God that he is the only hope for what you need. So don't have an all-or-nothing attitude about worship. The heart can be real even if it is not as enflamed with zeal as it ought to be - which it never is in this life."

John Piper – Singing and Making Melody to the Lord

John Updike (1932-2009)

Author John Updike died a couple of days ago at age 76. Here is his "Seven Stanzas at Easter" which I recently read on the Between Two Worlds blog.

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

For more on Updike read Russel D. Moore's article entitled John Updike is Dead, which reflects on Updike's life and the deep spiritual craving that flowed from his pen into his poems and stories.

I'd like to read more of this man's work.

Help My Unbelief, Part 2

In my last post I was talking about how Jesus places a huge emphasis on our belief in Him and acknowledging the struggle to surrender myself over to Christ’s perfect will, His wisdom and His faithfulness for my life.

As I’ve been wrestling with the issue of trust I find myself identifying more and more with the father in Mark chapter 9 who said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

My heart struggles to believe the promises of Christ and my guess it’s a struggle for all of us.

“Help My Unbelief” is a song that has helped me to put into words what’s true of my heart and has served as a helpful prayer that I can come back to throughout my day. I’ve posted the lyrics below because I think the song can be an encouragement to all of us. You can meditate on the lyrics in your quiet time and download the song from iTunes. Allow the lyrics and melody to take root in our heart as you ask for God’s grace to help us believe more and more in His faithfulness.

Help My Unbelief
Words: John Newton (1725-1807), Music: Clint Wells (2005)
Taken from the Gadsby Hymnal #278
Recording by Red Mountain Church
From the album “Help My Unbelief”

I know the Lord is nigh,
and would but cannot pray,
for Satan meets me when I try
and frights my soul away.
And frights my soul away.

I would but can't repent,
though I endeavor oft;
This stony heart can ne'er relent
till Jesus makes it soft.
Till Jesus makes it soft.

Help my unbelief.
Help my unbelief.
Help my unbelief.
My help must come from Thee.

I would but cannot love,
though wooed by love divine;
No arguments have pow'r to move
a soul as base as mine.
A soul as base as mine.

I would but cannot rest
in God's most holy will;
I know what he appoints is best
and murmur at it still.
I murmur at it still.

Help my unbelief.
Help my unbelief.
Help my unbelief.
My help must come from Thee.

(A quick side note: The Crossing has created a couple of iMixes on iTunes that includes the original recordings of the songs that we sing on Sunday morning. These songs help us to meditate on scriptural truth about God and in singing them, help us to go deeper in our affections for him. You'll find the links to the iMixes below.)

The Crossing: Songs for Worship (A-I)

The Crossing: Songs for Worship (J-Z)

Help My Unbelief, Part 1

Last year I was spent a lot of time studying the first four books of the New Testament and in my study I was really struck by how much the promises of gospel are linked to our belief Christ.

John 6:35 - "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:40 “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

John 1:12 - "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."

John 3:16 & 18 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life... Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

Jesus places a huge emphasis on our trust, our faith and our belief in Him.

So, I’ve been taking more and more time to think and pray about how much I really do believe in Christ for all things. Am I trusting in Christ’s perfect will, His wisdom and His faithfulness for my life or am I believing in my own ability (or should I say inability) to make life work out the way that I think it should?

That's the struggle of sin, isn't it?

Katie Smith on Music and Faith

Here are some excerpts from an interview Andy Patton conducted with Katie Smith, a pianist in the music school at Mizzou, for the "Art Every Wednesday" segment of the Veritas blog. Katie shares her thoughts on art, piano, and the interaction of faith and music in a way that compels me to invest more time growing, not only in the practice of my musical skill, but also how I approach music through deep thought and deep feeling.

Andy: What is one time that you’ve had an experience with art t hat has done that to you? That has reached you at a deep level, and what about the art did that?

Katie: There are many times when I will be at a concert and be moved. I was in Atlanta and saw Emanuel Ax play. He played Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto. It was so beautiful. The playing was excellent. Some pianists play as if they attack the piano, as if the piano is something to be mastered. He didn’t pay like that. He played as if he and the piano were old friends and that reached me as a fellow pianist. The second movement is traditionally a slower, more emotional movement, and it was the combination of that and the greatness o f his ability... I was touched by the depth of emotion both in the music itself and in his ability to bring that out.

A: How do your faith and your piano playing interact. How are you a different pianist for being a Christian?

K: Ideally as a Christian pianist I would take time to rest like I should, and my identity as a pianist would not be found in the way I play. It would be found in the fact that when I play it is glorifying to god.

A: Why is it glorifying?

K: Because he ultimately gave us music and created it. Instrumental music declares truth. It can declare the goodness and beauty of creation and of God himself, or it can declare the fallenness of us as humans... If we view God as the creator, then we are mini-creators and he has given us gifts to make something beautiful to reflect him.

A: Has your playing piano made you trust the gospel more?

K: Being a musician and studying music in a college environment certainly has. It has made me more aware of what rest is supposed to be. There is a fine line between work and overwork and I cross it all the time. There is a drive in the art world toward perfectionism, and it feels like if you are not working towards perfectionism then you are not working hard enough. Granted, we should always strive for excellence, but we are people. We need to rest. I need to get better at taking intentional rest.

A: That is an ironic thing, because theoretically the music school is creating beauty and music students should be interacting with that more than anyone else. Yet through the drive to perfectionism they face the danger of missing out on it.

A: Think about the relationship between pain and good art. You hear in the art world that one requires the other, that you need pain and despair to make good art. What are your thoughts about that?

K: I think that in the Christian meta-narrative there is a struggle between good and evil and there is this pain that results, and good art reflects that in some way. It either captures the beauty of what is to come after the struggle is over, or what was before the struggle, or the beauty of the deep pain that we are in right now.

A: So you think that is art’s place - to capture that beauty?

K: Yes.

A: I love that as a way to look at what is happening every time you sit down at the piano.

A: Is art a powerful thing, if so, what is it’s power?

K: Art takes us out of the everyday, and yet relates to the everyday. That in itself is a very powerful thing. It take you out of the situation you are in and allows you to relate to that situation in a completely different way, and then you go back in to that situation and you are completely different.

A: Those are all my questions. Anything else you want to say?

K: One thing I want to say is that I feel that artists have largely excluded the rest of the population. That is something that as an artist I want to redeem. You sometimes see, for example, funding getting cut for arts programs in schools, I think that is the result of artists putting a privieleged box around art. It is saying, "only these people can understand it and you have to be born with this ability in the first place." That is crap. Art is an ability that can be developed just as much as sports abilities are. Inherent ability and talent isn’t everything. I'm no mathematician, but I can study math and become better, art and music are no different.

There Blows a Cold Wind

There blows a cold wind today, today,

   The wind blows cold today;

Christ suffered his passion for man's salvation,

   to keep the cold wind away.

(Middle English Lyric, anonymous)