The announcement did not involve a press conference, but it did resonate with high drama. It was made to me upon my return last Tuesday from Atlanta.
“There is a mouse in the house. I have seen it.”
Such news is not entirely surprising. Mice have been spotted in northeastern Kansas in the past. Our house is around 70 years old. Cold weather has arrived. If I were a mouse, I wouldn’t plan on riding out the winter in the back yard.
The complicating factor was, in 72 hours, 50-60 people were expected at our house for a party. Our fear was that one of our friends might actually see the afore-mentioned rodent. We also had a house guest coming for the weekend from Iowa. Would she see the mouse? If she saw it would she scream?
Snap traps and peanut butter were collected, and plans for the critter’s trip to Mousy Gloryland were laid.
It wasn’t until after the party that the traps accomplished their work. Much to our family’s relief, the rodent did not appear at the soiree. Blood-curling screams and social shame were avoided.
I guess we are not the only family in America dealing with a mouse in the house. We were told by friends who live in a fancy house in the suburbs that they trapped twenty-five mice in their basement. (Ooooooh!) Also, I saw a commercial on television for a fancy new mouse trap one morning last week while getting ready to go to work.
The trap in the commercial looked like an oversize can of chewing tobacco. It had a mouse sized hole on one side. The cheerful announcer proclaimed, “You don’t have to see it. You don’t have to touch it. You don’t have to deal with it. And, the mice are gone!”
Well, how about that! With this fancy device -no objection...I am going to buy one- you can kill the mice in your house, throw the remains away trap and all, and you don’t have to deal with the bloody mess that results from the snap trap. Cool!
It occurs to me, though, that we sometimes try to do the same thing in the Church. For over two centuries American churches have too often engaged in a prettified facade. We sweep our difficult situations and our difficult people under the rug. We allow them to go into the fancy mouse trap where they are disposed of in a way that we don’t have to see them, touch them, or deal with them. We sometimes throw them out...trap and all.
I don’t think we intend to do this...it is just our way of refracting the ministry of the Church through the lens of our tidy suburban, middle-class, American lives. The bloody, messy issues of sin and pain are easy to gloss over. Just like it was in the days of Jesus and the apostles, the Church is filled with a parade of screwed-up people dealing with tough situations. Sometimes we answer the call to deal with pain and sin compassionately and forgivingly by finding a sanitized way to pretend that it isn’t there.
That is one of the reasons I shared the full text of Wesley’s O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing in a recent rehearsal. In the tradition of Martin Luther, Wesley approached the tough issues of sin, death, repentance and forgiveness with straight talk and tough love. This is why his hymns will be loved and treasured as much by Christians 250 years in the future as they have been in the 250 years since they were authored.
Carlyle Marney was a Southern Baptist pastor who died in the early 1970s. A liberal maverick in a very conservative system in a conservative region, he was known as a no-nonsense straight talker. The story goes that he was called for an interview at the Myer’s Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Myers Park in the 1960s was the ultimate in gentrification: a silk-stocking Southern church. The pulpit committee arrived to the formal interview with the legendary preacher in their buttoned-down finest. Limo drivers waited in the parking lot.
Marney, by contrast, arrived late in cowboy boots complete with the evidence of his afternoon riding visit to a nearby ranch. A gentleman, he removed his ten-gallon hat and laid it on the conference table near one of the committee members. It was said that his lack of a recent shower was apparent.
Marney took charge of the interview and asked the first questions: “What are your goals as a church?” “What do you want to accomplish in the next ten years?” “What do you see my contribution being to that?”
After listening silently for about twenty minutes, Marney stood up and said, “I am not your man. I want to open the doors of the Gospel to people who are hurting. All you seem to want to do is gather more people who look like you, talk like you and think like you. You don’t seem to give a [darn] about anything other than counting your money. Real ministry is a dirty business. Jesus calls us to approach the ugliest parts of ourselves with love and compassion. I want to help people with broken hearts and empty wallets.”
As the committee sat in stunned silence, Marney walked out of the room, his boots trailing horse manure on the carpet of the well-appointed church parlor.
The best part of the story is that the leaders of Myers Park Baptist Church spent months in prayer and Bible study and then asked Marney for another interview. This time, he accepted the call and served a pastorate that was one of the most storied in American church history. As a part of his ministry, he created a support organization for pastors and church leaders called “Interpreter’s House.” The organization sponsored retreats for church leaders at Lake Junaluska, NC, where men and women in these high-stress professions could go to “deal with ugly things” in a place of acceptance and emotional safety.
As we approach the holiday season, there will be people in our community that are wrestling with painful and difficult things. Perhaps it is an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Perhaps it is a broken relationship that may end in divorce. Perhaps it is a serious or terminal illness for them or a loved one. Perhaps it is an area of sinfulness or selfishness that cannot be overcome by their efforts alone. Perhaps it is a crossroad where a heart is asking, “Is there anything to this God thing?” or “Is this...house, car, boat, HDTV...all there is to life?”
There is no question that they will come to us in our own congregation. Some are already there. The only question is, “Are we ready to get some horse manure on our boots and some bloody mess in our hands?”
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
A DAY REMEMBERED IN INFAMY
It is amazing how we humans remember seminal events that bind a nation, a world, or a culture together in a moment of common attention and purpose. My first memory is the emotional reaction of my parents to the news of the assassination of President Kennedy. Many of us remember hearing of the explosion of Challenger. Of course, for those too young to remember Pearl Harbor, the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, remains the primary such event in our lifetime.
I had just taken a two year interim job in a church outside New Orleans. It was my last full-time ministry position, and I took it with the understanding that I would commute two days a week to Kansas City and two days a week to Atlanta to work toward the building of the Choral Foundation as my future primary vocation, an event that was accomplished by mid-2003.
My son John, then four, was playing in the family room while his mother watched The Today Show. Daughter Marguerite, then four months old, was protesting the imposition of tummy time on a blanket in front of the television. Since we had been in Louisiana less than three weeks the house was cluttered with boxes and debris from unpacking. The day I had planned included a meeting at the church in the morning, followed by a noon drive across Lake Pontchartrain to the New Orleans airport and a Festival Singers rehearsal in Kansas City the same evening.
I had placed my bags in the car and walked in the house to say goodbye when John yelled out, “Daddy, a plane flew into a building on television.” Since children of that age can say almost anything, I gave an unconcerned glance to the screen in time to see the replay of the first plane strike. I remember thinking that some drunk must have gotten off course and flown his small general aviation craft into a building.
I didn’t realize the event was a terrorist attack until I got to the church office and saw the ashen faces of my colleagues.
There were many moving images in those days. I watched the memorial service from the National Cathedral from the comfort of my daddy chair with my chubby infant daughter on my lap and I prayed for the world that she would live in one day. I remember talking to my brother about the senselessness of it all and raging, “I want chase those #@^&%$* to the ends of the earth and choke the life out of every one of them with my bare hands!”
The image that I remember the most, however, was the news coverage of the grounding of all flights over American airspace. A huge board somewhere in Washington had a blinking light for every plane in the air across the nation. One by one the lights when dark as the last planes landed. As the reporters remained silent the last few lights went out, leaving the dark board to certify that America was shut down. The greatest human kingdom on the face of the earth had been stricken.
But, even in the depths of the fear and despair, we knew as a people that we would rise again.
I was one of the first to board a plane in New Orleans after air travel resumed. There were seven people on the flight. Looking back at the Knowing the Score newsletters for late September 2001 reminds me that the Festival Singers added eleven new members in those two weeks. Several of those members became some of the most significant leaders in the history of the Choral Foundation. Though the 2001-2002 season was among our most challenging as an organization, many seeds of a decade of stupendous growth were sown during those dark and frightening days.
As the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches Sunday, the media will be filled with stories about the event and the struggle against terrorism that will probably extend for the remainder of our lives. There will be pious words by theologians and philosophers. There will be policy debates by candidates and politicians. There will be spoken prayers and moments of silence by those who have survived and on behalf of those who were lost.
And the Festival Singers will sing. We will sing songs of faith and hope, living out the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian who died in a concentration camp at the hands of the Nazis: “...daring to love and pray for those who bring you harm is our highest calling under God.” As an eternal witness to his words, Bonhoeffer, knowing he would be killed at dawn, served the Sacrament of Holy Communion to the men who would be his murderers.
Yes, the Festival Singers will sing. We will affirm the power of love over hate. We will affirm the truth of life over death. We will give voice to the creative joy of the human spirit to bring a better world out of the rubble of destruction.
The arts have no greater purpose.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
I had just taken a two year interim job in a church outside New Orleans. It was my last full-time ministry position, and I took it with the understanding that I would commute two days a week to Kansas City and two days a week to Atlanta to work toward the building of the Choral Foundation as my future primary vocation, an event that was accomplished by mid-2003.
My son John, then four, was playing in the family room while his mother watched The Today Show. Daughter Marguerite, then four months old, was protesting the imposition of tummy time on a blanket in front of the television. Since we had been in Louisiana less than three weeks the house was cluttered with boxes and debris from unpacking. The day I had planned included a meeting at the church in the morning, followed by a noon drive across Lake Pontchartrain to the New Orleans airport and a Festival Singers rehearsal in Kansas City the same evening.
I had placed my bags in the car and walked in the house to say goodbye when John yelled out, “Daddy, a plane flew into a building on television.” Since children of that age can say almost anything, I gave an unconcerned glance to the screen in time to see the replay of the first plane strike. I remember thinking that some drunk must have gotten off course and flown his small general aviation craft into a building.
I didn’t realize the event was a terrorist attack until I got to the church office and saw the ashen faces of my colleagues.
There were many moving images in those days. I watched the memorial service from the National Cathedral from the comfort of my daddy chair with my chubby infant daughter on my lap and I prayed for the world that she would live in one day. I remember talking to my brother about the senselessness of it all and raging, “I want chase those #@^&%$* to the ends of the earth and choke the life out of every one of them with my bare hands!”
The image that I remember the most, however, was the news coverage of the grounding of all flights over American airspace. A huge board somewhere in Washington had a blinking light for every plane in the air across the nation. One by one the lights when dark as the last planes landed. As the reporters remained silent the last few lights went out, leaving the dark board to certify that America was shut down. The greatest human kingdom on the face of the earth had been stricken.
But, even in the depths of the fear and despair, we knew as a people that we would rise again.
I was one of the first to board a plane in New Orleans after air travel resumed. There were seven people on the flight. Looking back at the Knowing the Score newsletters for late September 2001 reminds me that the Festival Singers added eleven new members in those two weeks. Several of those members became some of the most significant leaders in the history of the Choral Foundation. Though the 2001-2002 season was among our most challenging as an organization, many seeds of a decade of stupendous growth were sown during those dark and frightening days.
As the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches Sunday, the media will be filled with stories about the event and the struggle against terrorism that will probably extend for the remainder of our lives. There will be pious words by theologians and philosophers. There will be policy debates by candidates and politicians. There will be spoken prayers and moments of silence by those who have survived and on behalf of those who were lost.
And the Festival Singers will sing. We will sing songs of faith and hope, living out the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian who died in a concentration camp at the hands of the Nazis: “...daring to love and pray for those who bring you harm is our highest calling under God.” As an eternal witness to his words, Bonhoeffer, knowing he would be killed at dawn, served the Sacrament of Holy Communion to the men who would be his murderers.
Yes, the Festival Singers will sing. We will affirm the power of love over hate. We will affirm the truth of life over death. We will give voice to the creative joy of the human spirit to bring a better world out of the rubble of destruction.
The arts have no greater purpose.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Thursday, July 28, 2011
SECULAR SPIRITUALS?
It was over twenty-six years ago that the William Baker (then called "Gwinnett")Festival Singers was born in the basement of a Norcross church. For the first thirteen years the group was a growing and successful Atlanta-based choral ensemble. Now it represents the first chapter in a national arts organization that sponsors ten groups based in three states.
The signature repertoire of the Festival Singers choirs has been sacred a cappella classics and spirituals along with works for chorus and chamber orchestra. I like to say that “sacred” and “a cappella” are our signatures, not our prisons. From time to time, as in the coming season, we will also sing a number of the secular works that are equally worthy of inclusion in the repertoire of the ensembles.
Every conductor has his or her own personal style and an approach to the interpretation of musical ideas that arise from their personal value systems, training, experiences, and perspective on life. There is really no such thing as right and wrong in these matters. In fact, the diversity of leadership styles and personalities is one of the great gifts we enjoy in the rich choral community of Atlanta.
One of those perspectives for me is the open consideration of the spiritual dimension that is an inherent and, to my mind and heart, inseparable element of these great sacred works of art. Yes, you can study the craftsmanship of Handel’s MESSIAH, or you can experience the thrill of air flowing across your vocal chords to make sound, but I do not believe that you can truly approach any level of understanding of the music in its full glory without the consideration of the import of its text.
Please let me be clear. This is not to say that you must ascribe to the specific doctrines expressed in a piece of music in order to experience it fully or to perform it faithfully. Rather, I believe it is important to consider the relationship of the composer and the author to the words and the music they have created... for what purpose, to reveal what questions and struggles, and to gnaw at what potential answers. The questions of time and eternity are always there for us humans, whether we choose to consciously consider them or not. Most certainly we can go through our musical lives singing only of birds and bees and flowers and trees, but doing so does not satisfy the thirsting in the soul that generation after generation has wrestled with throughout history.
Great music, as opposed to entertainment music, can be scary. Great music does not roll passively by us. It is a change agent that will not stand to leave us where we were when we encountered it. You don’t hear spirituals playing on the sound system at the grocery store. You don’t hear choruses from THE CREATION or ELIJAH in the elevator of your office building. You don’t hear the MISSA SOLEMNIS played as background music at the city pool.
Because great music can be scary, and because many educators and conductors appropriately desire to avoid any danger of actual or perceived proselytizing, I think we often hide from the consideration of the text, how the music serves the text, what the composer was trying to reveal through his or her setting of the text, and what is needed from a performance stand-point to make the composer’s work come alive through both the music and the text in their uncompromising relationship to each other.
I believe this is a relationship that cannot be broken, though many in recent years may try. I couldn’t help but chuckle some years ago when one of our Festival Singers’ ushers told a story about an encounter with a woman of a certain age at the CD table following a concert. “I just loved the concert...but especially the joy with which you sang the spirituals,” she said, “but I noticed that all of the spirituals your choir sang today are religious in nature. Could I please buy a CD of spirituals that aren’t religious?”
We also see the same issue in many public school choral situations. When there is a prohibition of music with sacred texts, nearly all of the great works of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Handel, and many others are not allowed. How then, can we provide comprehensive music education while excluding much of the repertoire of the masters? It would be like trying to teach American history after proclaiming George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and World War II to be politically incorrect and disallowed from the curriculum!
It is not necessary to be Lutheran to sing the ST. MATTHEW PASSION on a level that speaks to the soul and the spirit as well as the ears. Singing the AVE MARIA of Franz Biebl or William Byrd does not make a performer a member of the Catholic Church, nor does singing the Ernest Bloch SACRED SERVICE make a performer Jewish. For that matter, singing Carl Orff’s CARMINA BURANA does not make the performer a promiscuous drunkard. (I can’t help but wonder, then, why CARMINA BURANA is acceptable among the politically correct, but MESSIAH is not.)
All of this said, I must agree that it is equally inappropriate to use the performances of a civic organization, a public school, or the concert stage to attempt in any way to force belief. And, I understand that the use of any sacred text in any situation other than a service of worship must be done in a way that does not attempt to force belief or work to marginalize those who hold other views. I think it is also the responsibility of music leaders and educators to expose their singers and audiences to the widest possible diversity of inquiry and philosophy without compromising the standard of musical or poetic excellence at any level.
This admittedly rambling discourse was inspired by a couple of conversations I enjoyed with members of our Summer Singers over the last few weeks. After some very kind words about how our reflections on the background and import of the sacred texts have enhanced their exploration of this immortal music, one of our members said, “Are you sure this is okay? I hope you are not going to get ‘in trouble’ with the board, or some arts agency somewhere!”
No danger there. One of the beauties of an independent organization like the Choral Foundation is that we are beholden to no one as we pursue the cause of excellence and diversity through music of timeless beauty and worth. We can ask any questions we wish to ask... of history, of philosophy, of literature, of poetry, and yes...of religion too. We will never impose answers to those questions for anyone, but we will allow every ingredient to enjoy unfettered access to our gumbo of exploration in the free exchange of great ideas.
To my mind, my heart, and my soul, that is what the arts ...especially the choral arts...are for!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
The signature repertoire of the Festival Singers choirs has been sacred a cappella classics and spirituals along with works for chorus and chamber orchestra. I like to say that “sacred” and “a cappella” are our signatures, not our prisons. From time to time, as in the coming season, we will also sing a number of the secular works that are equally worthy of inclusion in the repertoire of the ensembles.
Every conductor has his or her own personal style and an approach to the interpretation of musical ideas that arise from their personal value systems, training, experiences, and perspective on life. There is really no such thing as right and wrong in these matters. In fact, the diversity of leadership styles and personalities is one of the great gifts we enjoy in the rich choral community of Atlanta.
One of those perspectives for me is the open consideration of the spiritual dimension that is an inherent and, to my mind and heart, inseparable element of these great sacred works of art. Yes, you can study the craftsmanship of Handel’s MESSIAH, or you can experience the thrill of air flowing across your vocal chords to make sound, but I do not believe that you can truly approach any level of understanding of the music in its full glory without the consideration of the import of its text.
Please let me be clear. This is not to say that you must ascribe to the specific doctrines expressed in a piece of music in order to experience it fully or to perform it faithfully. Rather, I believe it is important to consider the relationship of the composer and the author to the words and the music they have created... for what purpose, to reveal what questions and struggles, and to gnaw at what potential answers. The questions of time and eternity are always there for us humans, whether we choose to consciously consider them or not. Most certainly we can go through our musical lives singing only of birds and bees and flowers and trees, but doing so does not satisfy the thirsting in the soul that generation after generation has wrestled with throughout history.
Great music, as opposed to entertainment music, can be scary. Great music does not roll passively by us. It is a change agent that will not stand to leave us where we were when we encountered it. You don’t hear spirituals playing on the sound system at the grocery store. You don’t hear choruses from THE CREATION or ELIJAH in the elevator of your office building. You don’t hear the MISSA SOLEMNIS played as background music at the city pool.
Because great music can be scary, and because many educators and conductors appropriately desire to avoid any danger of actual or perceived proselytizing, I think we often hide from the consideration of the text, how the music serves the text, what the composer was trying to reveal through his or her setting of the text, and what is needed from a performance stand-point to make the composer’s work come alive through both the music and the text in their uncompromising relationship to each other.
I believe this is a relationship that cannot be broken, though many in recent years may try. I couldn’t help but chuckle some years ago when one of our Festival Singers’ ushers told a story about an encounter with a woman of a certain age at the CD table following a concert. “I just loved the concert...but especially the joy with which you sang the spirituals,” she said, “but I noticed that all of the spirituals your choir sang today are religious in nature. Could I please buy a CD of spirituals that aren’t religious?”
We also see the same issue in many public school choral situations. When there is a prohibition of music with sacred texts, nearly all of the great works of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Handel, and many others are not allowed. How then, can we provide comprehensive music education while excluding much of the repertoire of the masters? It would be like trying to teach American history after proclaiming George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and World War II to be politically incorrect and disallowed from the curriculum!
It is not necessary to be Lutheran to sing the ST. MATTHEW PASSION on a level that speaks to the soul and the spirit as well as the ears. Singing the AVE MARIA of Franz Biebl or William Byrd does not make a performer a member of the Catholic Church, nor does singing the Ernest Bloch SACRED SERVICE make a performer Jewish. For that matter, singing Carl Orff’s CARMINA BURANA does not make the performer a promiscuous drunkard. (I can’t help but wonder, then, why CARMINA BURANA is acceptable among the politically correct, but MESSIAH is not.)
All of this said, I must agree that it is equally inappropriate to use the performances of a civic organization, a public school, or the concert stage to attempt in any way to force belief. And, I understand that the use of any sacred text in any situation other than a service of worship must be done in a way that does not attempt to force belief or work to marginalize those who hold other views. I think it is also the responsibility of music leaders and educators to expose their singers and audiences to the widest possible diversity of inquiry and philosophy without compromising the standard of musical or poetic excellence at any level.
This admittedly rambling discourse was inspired by a couple of conversations I enjoyed with members of our Summer Singers over the last few weeks. After some very kind words about how our reflections on the background and import of the sacred texts have enhanced their exploration of this immortal music, one of our members said, “Are you sure this is okay? I hope you are not going to get ‘in trouble’ with the board, or some arts agency somewhere!”
No danger there. One of the beauties of an independent organization like the Choral Foundation is that we are beholden to no one as we pursue the cause of excellence and diversity through music of timeless beauty and worth. We can ask any questions we wish to ask... of history, of philosophy, of literature, of poetry, and yes...of religion too. We will never impose answers to those questions for anyone, but we will allow every ingredient to enjoy unfettered access to our gumbo of exploration in the free exchange of great ideas.
To my mind, my heart, and my soul, that is what the arts ...especially the choral arts...are for!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Sunday, June 26, 2011
A GOOD INVESTMENT
The worst economic downturn in the past eighty years has created repercussions in every area of American life as families, businesses and governments seek ways to maximize income and cut expenses.
There is not a state in our nation that has not at least considered dramatic cuts in the arts, or the elimination of public funds in their entirety. There are many arguments for this, some of which, to be honest, have validity and need to be thoughtfully considered and addressed.
My personal political philosophy tends to run with Thomas Paine: “The government is best which governs least.” It is true that the presence of public money in the arts has led at times to not-so-subtle attempts by government bodies to take control of the arts. If you have ever completed an application for government arts funding, you must agree that the burden of political correctness is onerous. Rather then encouraging a truly free exchange of expressive ideas through the arts, public funding too often tends to support the agenda of the governmental agencies that determine which organizations and projects are funded.
Then, there is the very real issue of government inefficiency. To be honest, the number of person hours required to complete an application for public funding is usually so great, and the amount awarded so relatively small, that it is hardly worth the effort. There are many organizations who apply for public funding for the sole reason that significant private contributors often will only consider organizations that have been awarded government grants.
However, as valid as these points may be for many, there is one argument often heard that is completely invalid and must be loudly protested by everyone of sound mind in our society. That argument is that the arts are, somehow, a luxury or frivolity that can be dispensed with in challenging times.
I would contend that the arts are a foundational component of the highest human aspiration, as essential to the mind, soul and spirit as food and water is to the body. It is our thirst for and pursuit of ideas and hopes that separate us from the lesser creatures of Creation. The need to express and experience beauty has been a human drive since the dawn of Man, in the best of times and in the worst of times. Art is not an addendum to the human experience. Art is essential.
Consider the results experienced across the nation by school districts that have cut art and music from their curriculum for the purpose of spending more class time and energy in “math and science.” Almost without exception the math and science scores plummet. In school districts where funding and support for music and art has been maintained, math and science scores are higher.
There are many reasons the United States continues to fall below the world standard in public education, but I believe the loss of support for expressive arts is chief among them. Education is very different from vocational training. It should be the purpose of the educational system to create educated human beings who are possessed of the skills and creativity to build a better world. A student cannot become an educated person without a well-rounded education that includes art, literature and music. The nations across the globe that are excelling in education have proven this time and again.
Most of all, the arts are a good investment. It is a proven fact that every dollar invested in the arts, either publicly or privately, reaps a rich harvest of economic benefit. In Charleston, the change from a small Southern city with a crime-ridden downtown in the 1960s to a beautiful, safe, prosperous, and vibrant tourist destination for the last 35 years, is due largely to the city’s investment in the Spoleto USA and Piccolo Spoleto Festivals.
One of the primary considerations for business seeking new locations, or for top professionals seeking homes for their families, is quality of life. Cities without a vibrant arts community simply do not have the quality of life that attracts growing commerce and the highly educated professionals needed to sustain it.
The arts produce an amazing return for such a small investment. Those who advocate cutting the arts often neglect to point out what a tiny fraction of government spending is invested in cultural programs. The arts are a convenient target of attack because of their vulnerability and their lack of effective lobbying support systems. If every penny spent across the nation on the arts were eliminated, the savings would be infinitesimal, but the negative economic impact would be profound.
Opera star Joyce DiDinato, 2010 Gramophone Artist of the Year and native of Prairie Village, Kansas, recently wrote a powerful editorial in the Kansas City Star. She offered this quote by Alex Aldrich, head of the Vermont Arts Council: “Finally, and perhaps most importantly, every state should invest in the arts sector simply because it makes good economic sense. One of our most conservative policy analysts looked at state and local tax revenues that flowed to state and municipal coffers from our very narrowly-defined arts sector in Vermont. Income taxes paid by artists, arts administrators and independent arts contractors reveal a total return of $19.25 million on a combined investment of $2.5 million, which includes our $500,000 (state) appropriation. This annual return on investment of 775% is even more astonishing since nearly all of Vermont’s state tourism dollars promote skiing, outdoor recreation, fall foliage, and maple syrup...”
The arts are a good investment that brings life to our civilization and civilization to life. As President John F. Kennedy said: “I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.”
There is not a state in our nation that has not at least considered dramatic cuts in the arts, or the elimination of public funds in their entirety. There are many arguments for this, some of which, to be honest, have validity and need to be thoughtfully considered and addressed.
My personal political philosophy tends to run with Thomas Paine: “The government is best which governs least.” It is true that the presence of public money in the arts has led at times to not-so-subtle attempts by government bodies to take control of the arts. If you have ever completed an application for government arts funding, you must agree that the burden of political correctness is onerous. Rather then encouraging a truly free exchange of expressive ideas through the arts, public funding too often tends to support the agenda of the governmental agencies that determine which organizations and projects are funded.
Then, there is the very real issue of government inefficiency. To be honest, the number of person hours required to complete an application for public funding is usually so great, and the amount awarded so relatively small, that it is hardly worth the effort. There are many organizations who apply for public funding for the sole reason that significant private contributors often will only consider organizations that have been awarded government grants.
However, as valid as these points may be for many, there is one argument often heard that is completely invalid and must be loudly protested by everyone of sound mind in our society. That argument is that the arts are, somehow, a luxury or frivolity that can be dispensed with in challenging times.
I would contend that the arts are a foundational component of the highest human aspiration, as essential to the mind, soul and spirit as food and water is to the body. It is our thirst for and pursuit of ideas and hopes that separate us from the lesser creatures of Creation. The need to express and experience beauty has been a human drive since the dawn of Man, in the best of times and in the worst of times. Art is not an addendum to the human experience. Art is essential.
Consider the results experienced across the nation by school districts that have cut art and music from their curriculum for the purpose of spending more class time and energy in “math and science.” Almost without exception the math and science scores plummet. In school districts where funding and support for music and art has been maintained, math and science scores are higher.
There are many reasons the United States continues to fall below the world standard in public education, but I believe the loss of support for expressive arts is chief among them. Education is very different from vocational training. It should be the purpose of the educational system to create educated human beings who are possessed of the skills and creativity to build a better world. A student cannot become an educated person without a well-rounded education that includes art, literature and music. The nations across the globe that are excelling in education have proven this time and again.
Most of all, the arts are a good investment. It is a proven fact that every dollar invested in the arts, either publicly or privately, reaps a rich harvest of economic benefit. In Charleston, the change from a small Southern city with a crime-ridden downtown in the 1960s to a beautiful, safe, prosperous, and vibrant tourist destination for the last 35 years, is due largely to the city’s investment in the Spoleto USA and Piccolo Spoleto Festivals.
One of the primary considerations for business seeking new locations, or for top professionals seeking homes for their families, is quality of life. Cities without a vibrant arts community simply do not have the quality of life that attracts growing commerce and the highly educated professionals needed to sustain it.
The arts produce an amazing return for such a small investment. Those who advocate cutting the arts often neglect to point out what a tiny fraction of government spending is invested in cultural programs. The arts are a convenient target of attack because of their vulnerability and their lack of effective lobbying support systems. If every penny spent across the nation on the arts were eliminated, the savings would be infinitesimal, but the negative economic impact would be profound.
Opera star Joyce DiDinato, 2010 Gramophone Artist of the Year and native of Prairie Village, Kansas, recently wrote a powerful editorial in the Kansas City Star. She offered this quote by Alex Aldrich, head of the Vermont Arts Council: “Finally, and perhaps most importantly, every state should invest in the arts sector simply because it makes good economic sense. One of our most conservative policy analysts looked at state and local tax revenues that flowed to state and municipal coffers from our very narrowly-defined arts sector in Vermont. Income taxes paid by artists, arts administrators and independent arts contractors reveal a total return of $19.25 million on a combined investment of $2.5 million, which includes our $500,000 (state) appropriation. This annual return on investment of 775% is even more astonishing since nearly all of Vermont’s state tourism dollars promote skiing, outdoor recreation, fall foliage, and maple syrup...”
The arts are a good investment that brings life to our civilization and civilization to life. As President John F. Kennedy said: “I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.”
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING
The liturgical year is designed to ensure that the Church remembers the key events of Biblical history over the course of its three-year cycle. Of course, Easter Sunday always focuses on the resurrection. The first Sunday of Lent is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Epiphany Day brings the visit of the Magi, and the first Sunday after Epiphany is the wedding at Cana.
The encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus (as important to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as Maundy Thursday) is celebrated on Easter night. The first Sunday after Easter is traditionally the story of doubting Thomas.
You know how it goes... The word on the street is that Jesus has risen from the dead. All of the remaining eleven (Judas has committed suicide at this point) have seen Him except Thomas. Who knows, maybe Thomas had taken the weekend for a beach vacation or something...
When told that Jesus had risen from the dead, Thomas said, in effect, “Yeah, right. I be believin’ it when I be seein’ it!” Of course, he does indeed encounter Jesus, places his finger in the nail holes and falls in worship before His Savior. Jesus blesses him, but also says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.”
It really is a pretty intense story. After all, most of us can groove on the idea of celebrating the return of spring, or bunnies, eggs, birds, bees, flowers and trees. We can even get into some kind of spiritual renewal that returns our spirits back to the Great Universal Who-Hah in the sky.
That isn’t the story of the Resurrection of Jesus.
The true Easter story is pretty ugly. It is the story of God becoming fully Man, suffering a horrific and torturous death. Really dead ...lungs not breathing, heart not beating, dried blood, rigor mortis.
The resurrection is physical and bodily. The same body that has died lives again. It is appointed to every person once to die, but the promise of God is that death is not the end. There is resurrection to a life that will never end. Without that promise ...not hope, promise! ...the whole business of Christianity is a cruel fraud.
Still, it is hard to believe. I have given my life to the service of this Gospel and I have a hard time believing it. I do believe it with all my mind, heart, soul and spirit, but I cling to it with tired fingers and a fearful and fast-beating heart. It is only through the grace of God that my weak hands can continue to cling to it.
I think Thomas gets a bad rap. I understand his doubt. I think Jesus Himself understood his questions. When Thomas says, “You gotta be kidding, Jesus... is it really You?” Jesus answers, “Yes, here, look at this big hole in my side.”
One of my favorite prayers in the ancient liturgy is, “Dear Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief!”
One of the things that helps us sustain our belief is to act out of our belief rather than act out of our doubt.
Sometimes those of us who labor as leaders in the Church -professional or lay- can't seem to get it through our thick heads that the success of our ministry is not up to us. The final words of Jesus' Great Commmission are often the hardest to claim: "...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the Age."
In this Season of Resurrection, as we claim God's promises for our eternal life, let us be about His work in this world confident that He will keep His promise to be with us in all of the work that He has given us to do.
Then, we will act out of our faith and not out of our doubt.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
The encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus (as important to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as Maundy Thursday) is celebrated on Easter night. The first Sunday after Easter is traditionally the story of doubting Thomas.
You know how it goes... The word on the street is that Jesus has risen from the dead. All of the remaining eleven (Judas has committed suicide at this point) have seen Him except Thomas. Who knows, maybe Thomas had taken the weekend for a beach vacation or something...
When told that Jesus had risen from the dead, Thomas said, in effect, “Yeah, right. I be believin’ it when I be seein’ it!” Of course, he does indeed encounter Jesus, places his finger in the nail holes and falls in worship before His Savior. Jesus blesses him, but also says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.”
It really is a pretty intense story. After all, most of us can groove on the idea of celebrating the return of spring, or bunnies, eggs, birds, bees, flowers and trees. We can even get into some kind of spiritual renewal that returns our spirits back to the Great Universal Who-Hah in the sky.
That isn’t the story of the Resurrection of Jesus.
The true Easter story is pretty ugly. It is the story of God becoming fully Man, suffering a horrific and torturous death. Really dead ...lungs not breathing, heart not beating, dried blood, rigor mortis.
The resurrection is physical and bodily. The same body that has died lives again. It is appointed to every person once to die, but the promise of God is that death is not the end. There is resurrection to a life that will never end. Without that promise ...not hope, promise! ...the whole business of Christianity is a cruel fraud.
Still, it is hard to believe. I have given my life to the service of this Gospel and I have a hard time believing it. I do believe it with all my mind, heart, soul and spirit, but I cling to it with tired fingers and a fearful and fast-beating heart. It is only through the grace of God that my weak hands can continue to cling to it.
I think Thomas gets a bad rap. I understand his doubt. I think Jesus Himself understood his questions. When Thomas says, “You gotta be kidding, Jesus... is it really You?” Jesus answers, “Yes, here, look at this big hole in my side.”
One of my favorite prayers in the ancient liturgy is, “Dear Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief!”
One of the things that helps us sustain our belief is to act out of our belief rather than act out of our doubt.
Sometimes those of us who labor as leaders in the Church -professional or lay- can't seem to get it through our thick heads that the success of our ministry is not up to us. The final words of Jesus' Great Commmission are often the hardest to claim: "...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the Age."
In this Season of Resurrection, as we claim God's promises for our eternal life, let us be about His work in this world confident that He will keep His promise to be with us in all of the work that He has given us to do.
Then, we will act out of our faith and not out of our doubt.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
PREACHER TRICKS
The voice of my young colleague coming through the phone was filled with the same disbelief and amazement that I myself have experienced so many times in my 35 years of service in the church.
“Oh, Bill,” he said incredulously, “I submitted my hymns for Easter Sunday. I had chosen ‘Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands’ or ‘Christ lag in todesbanden’ for the Hymn of the Day.” The next day I got an email from the pastor saying, “On a Sunday like Easter, we need good strong, traditional Lutheran hymns ...not new unfamiliar things like this!”
If 500 years of serving as a recommended hymn of the day for Easter Sunday among Lutheran bodies world-wide isn’t “traditional Lutheran,” then please tell me what is!
I did my best to comfort my frustrated friend. I told him that ministers sometimes say silly things when they don’t personally like a hymn and want to trump up a reason not to use it. “I wish he would just be a man about it,” he replied, “...and say he just doesn’t like it.”
As I hung up the phone my mind went through a litany of experiences with ministers during Holy Week and Christmas that have gravely encumbered and diminished worship events for thousands of congregants while making the entire staff of the parish look bumbling and completely bereft common sense. At best, it appears that many pastors ...actually most in my experience... are so focused on themselves and their homiletic commentaries that they become out of touch with reality.
I will share a couple of the stories that come immediately to my mind. I do this to offer comfort and support to my music ministry colleagues so that you can see that you are not alone in your experiences. I offer them to those of you that serve on lay committees and church boards so that you will take more interest in monitoring the behavior of your pastors, offering needed encouragement, but also offering occasional guidance and correction. And, yes, I offer them to some of you pastors in the hope that you will think about your own priorities in leading God’s people in worship. Perhaps you can be a positive influence when your pastoral friends are tempted to take a ride on the crazy train.
By first hand witness I can affirm that both of these stories is true. The names have been changed to avoid embarrassment, though well deserved, to the guilty.
It was the first year of Bob’s appointment to the Harmony Hill Church, a congregation of some 1200 members. Bob was excited to be in such a large congregation, and he was especially thrilled to learn that many Christmas eve nights saw over 1000 people in the three worship services. He was so filled with excitement over the prospect of preaching to so many people in one night that he was fairly trembling as he walked into the staff meeting to plan worship.
To say he was disappointed to learn that the congregation traditionally celebrated Holy Communion at each of the Christmas eve services would be a grave understatement. With an ashen face he asked the staff, “How long does all of this Communion take with so many people?” When he was told that the sacrament was very precious to the congregation and that the tradition was for a brief message followed by Christmas carols, Communion, and the lighting of candles while singing “Silent Night,” he was determined to find a solution to his dilemma.
He came up with an idea.
Communion would not be celebrated in the services but it would be provided for everyone. He asked the Altar Guild to prepare a large stack of trays with consecrated grape juice, and a large bowl of communion wafers. Before the first service he took the elements into the Chapel and placed them on each side of the altar. He made signs on his computer with the words of institution -one sign for the bread and one sign for the cup- and taped them to the front of the altar. He then cheerfully announced in the services that everyone could stop by the Chapel on their way out, serve themselves communion if they wished to do so, and remain for prayer as long as they wanted. He then launched into his well-rehearsed, anecdote-filled forty minute sermon.
His gambit was not well-received by the congregation and a letter of protest was sent by the Staff Parish Committee to the Bishop. After several meetings by the Council on Ministry, the Bishop recommended a three-month “spiritual sabbatical” -at full salary, of course- for Bob to pray and consider the importance of his role as a spiritual leader and minister of both Word and Sacrament.
Bob returned from his imposed vacation with a new idea for the next Christmas eve: Communion would be celebrated only at the midnight service, but would also be observed at the Sunday between Christmas and New Years Day. Bob joked to the Lay Leader of the congregation, “If I am going to forced to lose preaching time, at least I can move it to a low Sunday when one of the associates will most likely preach anyway.”
Bob remained appointed as Pastor of Harmony Hill for four years. During that time worship attendance dropped by 65%. Combined Christmas eve attendance his last year was about 400, down from over 1000 his first year. The operational budget fell by 55%, resulting in the cutting of several lay staff members and one associate. In his final report to the district superintendent, Bob commented that “people just aren’t as committed to church as they once were...”
Of course, Bob’s six-figure salary was unchanged during his appointment.
+++++++++
At the beginning of Lent, Sally, the new youth minister, and Ron, the long-time music director were considering ways to engender meaningful involvement among the youth of the congregation in worship. Though many of the youth participated in church orchestra, choir and bells, not everyone was musically inclined. The goal was to find a means of participation for those youth who did not participate in musical groups.
It had become the custom of St. Michael’s Church that the choir and ministers processed on the opening hymn each Sunday. Appropriately, the processional did not occur during Lent, but had returned with palms for Palm Sunday.
The staff members decided to expand the procession for the Easter services and use the youth who were not involved in musical ensembles. The young people researched the tradition of the procession in Sunday School, learning the proper order for the cross, torches, banners, Bible, and so forth. Two parents created Easter banners for the occasion and several of the young women helped sew them together as a part of their youth group activities. On the Saturday morning before Easter, a rehearsal was held in the nave of the church as the three teams of teens -one team for each of the three services- rehearsed their processional spacing, carrying their appointments with dignity and reverence, and timing their movement to the altar to fit perfectly with the flow and meter of the hymn.
At the staff planning meeting some twenty days before Holy Week, Ron and Sally told the staff about the plan and related the enthusiasm of the young people. There were many comments about how the prospect of participation in worship had inspired the teens and offered hope of a deepening faith and commitment to the church. Pastor Martha appeared to listen while she checked her Blackberry, but never directly commented on the plan.
Easter Sunday morning came and all of the youth on the first processional team arrived early. With great reverence the cross, Bible, torches, and newly made banners were brought out of the sacristy. As the organ prelude was rising in the nave, the teens stood in the narthex prepared to lead the procession of worship followed by their friends in the youth choir, then the adult choirs and, finally, the pastors.
Pastor Martha entered the narthex and almost shouted, “What is all of this!?” Sally, responded quickly, “...this is the procession for Easter ...we talked about it in staff ...the young people have been preparing.....” Pastor Martha cut her off in mid-sentence: “We can’t do all of this silly pomp on Easter Sunday... it takes too long ...tell them they can hold their things and stand in the chancel ...just go arrange them up there... Ron, tell the choir to find their way to the loft. There will be no processing on high attendance days!”
“But,” Ron protested, “How does it take ‘longer’ to process? The hymn lasts the same amount of time whether we are moving or not...” Pastor Martha responded sharply, “Don’t argue with me ...do as you are told!”
A lot of tears were shed at the youth meeting that Sunday night. The disappointment and sense of betrayal among the young people was thick in the air. At choir rehearsal the following Thursday members wanted to know why the plans for a glorious Easter celebration had been so arbitrarily dismissed. One member said to their music director, “You need to talk to Pastor Martha and tell her....” “No,” replied Ron, “My job is to follow her directions. If you have a concern, you should respectfully meet with her and express your concern.”
Many members of the choirs, along with parents of the youth group, did meet with the Pastor in the coming week. For the most part the meetings were respectful and cordial, but there were deep frustrations strongly expressed as well.
Late on Friday afternoon, Ron and Sally were meeting in the conference room reviewing plans with the church administrator for upcoming summer camps. Pastor Martha’s secretary entered the room and said, “Ron, Sally, Pastor Martha would like to meet with you both for a few minutes.”
“Well, good,” said Sally as they walked together to the Pastor’s study, “Maybe we can talk this out and come up with a better solution for next Easter.” Ron was at first puzzled, then filled with dread as he entered the study to see Pastor Martha and Paul, the chair of the church personnel committee, waiting with long faces.
Pastor Martha spoke: “Today is your last day of employment at St. Michael’s. Several members of the choir and youth parents have paraded through this office complaining to me about Easter Sunday. I am sure that you have put them up to this and I will allow no insubordination. Your severance checks are on your desks according to the Staff-Parish Handbook. You may now retrieve your belongings under supervision of the personnel chair and then you will be escorted from the building. He will take your keys.”
As Paul walked the shell-shocked fired staff members to their cars he said, “You have both served this congregation well, and you have brought many families to our number. This is not fair, and it is not right, but she is our pastor and we must follow her lead.”
I wish these stories I have related were not true. I wish they were exaggerated, but they are not. I wish I could say that they were the only two such examples I knew of families and congregations being ripped apart, and faithful dedicated lay servants put on the street because of the egos and arrogance of ministers violating the trust of their ordination. I am sad to say that I could offer dozens more such stories from my own experiences and from the experience of close friends and colleagues in ministry.
This is certainly not to say that all pastors are corrupt, selfish, and muscle-headed, but the truth must be told that many are. Even worse, the structures of most mainline denominations and the configurations of church boards and committees provide layers of protection for pastors without holding them accountable at any level.
I believe that this issue, as much as any other, has led to the disillusionment of the laity and the loss of literally millions of congregation members from mainline churches.
Consider the families of the youth in our second story. Some of those families left the congregation for other parishes. Some of them stayed and worked through their anger. Some stayed on membership rolls, but become inactive. Others simply dropped out of the life of the Church entirely.
Some years after the incident my friend Ron ran into one of the teens at a computer store. The young man had been scheduled as crucifer that fateful Easter Sunday at the earliest service. Ron asked the now-graduate school man where he was going to church. The young man responded, “I have no use for the Christian religion... the egos, the hypocrisy... I have had enough!”
How many souls have been lost at the hands of pastoral ego and arrogance?
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
“Oh, Bill,” he said incredulously, “I submitted my hymns for Easter Sunday. I had chosen ‘Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands’ or ‘Christ lag in todesbanden’ for the Hymn of the Day.” The next day I got an email from the pastor saying, “On a Sunday like Easter, we need good strong, traditional Lutheran hymns ...not new unfamiliar things like this!”
If 500 years of serving as a recommended hymn of the day for Easter Sunday among Lutheran bodies world-wide isn’t “traditional Lutheran,” then please tell me what is!
I did my best to comfort my frustrated friend. I told him that ministers sometimes say silly things when they don’t personally like a hymn and want to trump up a reason not to use it. “I wish he would just be a man about it,” he replied, “...and say he just doesn’t like it.”
As I hung up the phone my mind went through a litany of experiences with ministers during Holy Week and Christmas that have gravely encumbered and diminished worship events for thousands of congregants while making the entire staff of the parish look bumbling and completely bereft common sense. At best, it appears that many pastors ...actually most in my experience... are so focused on themselves and their homiletic commentaries that they become out of touch with reality.
I will share a couple of the stories that come immediately to my mind. I do this to offer comfort and support to my music ministry colleagues so that you can see that you are not alone in your experiences. I offer them to those of you that serve on lay committees and church boards so that you will take more interest in monitoring the behavior of your pastors, offering needed encouragement, but also offering occasional guidance and correction. And, yes, I offer them to some of you pastors in the hope that you will think about your own priorities in leading God’s people in worship. Perhaps you can be a positive influence when your pastoral friends are tempted to take a ride on the crazy train.
By first hand witness I can affirm that both of these stories is true. The names have been changed to avoid embarrassment, though well deserved, to the guilty.
It was the first year of Bob’s appointment to the Harmony Hill Church, a congregation of some 1200 members. Bob was excited to be in such a large congregation, and he was especially thrilled to learn that many Christmas eve nights saw over 1000 people in the three worship services. He was so filled with excitement over the prospect of preaching to so many people in one night that he was fairly trembling as he walked into the staff meeting to plan worship.
To say he was disappointed to learn that the congregation traditionally celebrated Holy Communion at each of the Christmas eve services would be a grave understatement. With an ashen face he asked the staff, “How long does all of this Communion take with so many people?” When he was told that the sacrament was very precious to the congregation and that the tradition was for a brief message followed by Christmas carols, Communion, and the lighting of candles while singing “Silent Night,” he was determined to find a solution to his dilemma.
He came up with an idea.
Communion would not be celebrated in the services but it would be provided for everyone. He asked the Altar Guild to prepare a large stack of trays with consecrated grape juice, and a large bowl of communion wafers. Before the first service he took the elements into the Chapel and placed them on each side of the altar. He made signs on his computer with the words of institution -one sign for the bread and one sign for the cup- and taped them to the front of the altar. He then cheerfully announced in the services that everyone could stop by the Chapel on their way out, serve themselves communion if they wished to do so, and remain for prayer as long as they wanted. He then launched into his well-rehearsed, anecdote-filled forty minute sermon.
His gambit was not well-received by the congregation and a letter of protest was sent by the Staff Parish Committee to the Bishop. After several meetings by the Council on Ministry, the Bishop recommended a three-month “spiritual sabbatical” -at full salary, of course- for Bob to pray and consider the importance of his role as a spiritual leader and minister of both Word and Sacrament.
Bob returned from his imposed vacation with a new idea for the next Christmas eve: Communion would be celebrated only at the midnight service, but would also be observed at the Sunday between Christmas and New Years Day. Bob joked to the Lay Leader of the congregation, “If I am going to forced to lose preaching time, at least I can move it to a low Sunday when one of the associates will most likely preach anyway.”
Bob remained appointed as Pastor of Harmony Hill for four years. During that time worship attendance dropped by 65%. Combined Christmas eve attendance his last year was about 400, down from over 1000 his first year. The operational budget fell by 55%, resulting in the cutting of several lay staff members and one associate. In his final report to the district superintendent, Bob commented that “people just aren’t as committed to church as they once were...”
Of course, Bob’s six-figure salary was unchanged during his appointment.
+++++++++
At the beginning of Lent, Sally, the new youth minister, and Ron, the long-time music director were considering ways to engender meaningful involvement among the youth of the congregation in worship. Though many of the youth participated in church orchestra, choir and bells, not everyone was musically inclined. The goal was to find a means of participation for those youth who did not participate in musical groups.
It had become the custom of St. Michael’s Church that the choir and ministers processed on the opening hymn each Sunday. Appropriately, the processional did not occur during Lent, but had returned with palms for Palm Sunday.
The staff members decided to expand the procession for the Easter services and use the youth who were not involved in musical ensembles. The young people researched the tradition of the procession in Sunday School, learning the proper order for the cross, torches, banners, Bible, and so forth. Two parents created Easter banners for the occasion and several of the young women helped sew them together as a part of their youth group activities. On the Saturday morning before Easter, a rehearsal was held in the nave of the church as the three teams of teens -one team for each of the three services- rehearsed their processional spacing, carrying their appointments with dignity and reverence, and timing their movement to the altar to fit perfectly with the flow and meter of the hymn.
At the staff planning meeting some twenty days before Holy Week, Ron and Sally told the staff about the plan and related the enthusiasm of the young people. There were many comments about how the prospect of participation in worship had inspired the teens and offered hope of a deepening faith and commitment to the church. Pastor Martha appeared to listen while she checked her Blackberry, but never directly commented on the plan.
Easter Sunday morning came and all of the youth on the first processional team arrived early. With great reverence the cross, Bible, torches, and newly made banners were brought out of the sacristy. As the organ prelude was rising in the nave, the teens stood in the narthex prepared to lead the procession of worship followed by their friends in the youth choir, then the adult choirs and, finally, the pastors.
Pastor Martha entered the narthex and almost shouted, “What is all of this!?” Sally, responded quickly, “...this is the procession for Easter ...we talked about it in staff ...the young people have been preparing.....” Pastor Martha cut her off in mid-sentence: “We can’t do all of this silly pomp on Easter Sunday... it takes too long ...tell them they can hold their things and stand in the chancel ...just go arrange them up there... Ron, tell the choir to find their way to the loft. There will be no processing on high attendance days!”
“But,” Ron protested, “How does it take ‘longer’ to process? The hymn lasts the same amount of time whether we are moving or not...” Pastor Martha responded sharply, “Don’t argue with me ...do as you are told!”
A lot of tears were shed at the youth meeting that Sunday night. The disappointment and sense of betrayal among the young people was thick in the air. At choir rehearsal the following Thursday members wanted to know why the plans for a glorious Easter celebration had been so arbitrarily dismissed. One member said to their music director, “You need to talk to Pastor Martha and tell her....” “No,” replied Ron, “My job is to follow her directions. If you have a concern, you should respectfully meet with her and express your concern.”
Many members of the choirs, along with parents of the youth group, did meet with the Pastor in the coming week. For the most part the meetings were respectful and cordial, but there were deep frustrations strongly expressed as well.
Late on Friday afternoon, Ron and Sally were meeting in the conference room reviewing plans with the church administrator for upcoming summer camps. Pastor Martha’s secretary entered the room and said, “Ron, Sally, Pastor Martha would like to meet with you both for a few minutes.”
“Well, good,” said Sally as they walked together to the Pastor’s study, “Maybe we can talk this out and come up with a better solution for next Easter.” Ron was at first puzzled, then filled with dread as he entered the study to see Pastor Martha and Paul, the chair of the church personnel committee, waiting with long faces.
Pastor Martha spoke: “Today is your last day of employment at St. Michael’s. Several members of the choir and youth parents have paraded through this office complaining to me about Easter Sunday. I am sure that you have put them up to this and I will allow no insubordination. Your severance checks are on your desks according to the Staff-Parish Handbook. You may now retrieve your belongings under supervision of the personnel chair and then you will be escorted from the building. He will take your keys.”
As Paul walked the shell-shocked fired staff members to their cars he said, “You have both served this congregation well, and you have brought many families to our number. This is not fair, and it is not right, but she is our pastor and we must follow her lead.”
I wish these stories I have related were not true. I wish they were exaggerated, but they are not. I wish I could say that they were the only two such examples I knew of families and congregations being ripped apart, and faithful dedicated lay servants put on the street because of the egos and arrogance of ministers violating the trust of their ordination. I am sad to say that I could offer dozens more such stories from my own experiences and from the experience of close friends and colleagues in ministry.
This is certainly not to say that all pastors are corrupt, selfish, and muscle-headed, but the truth must be told that many are. Even worse, the structures of most mainline denominations and the configurations of church boards and committees provide layers of protection for pastors without holding them accountable at any level.
I believe that this issue, as much as any other, has led to the disillusionment of the laity and the loss of literally millions of congregation members from mainline churches.
Consider the families of the youth in our second story. Some of those families left the congregation for other parishes. Some of them stayed and worked through their anger. Some stayed on membership rolls, but become inactive. Others simply dropped out of the life of the Church entirely.
Some years after the incident my friend Ron ran into one of the teens at a computer store. The young man had been scheduled as crucifer that fateful Easter Sunday at the earliest service. Ron asked the now-graduate school man where he was going to church. The young man responded, “I have no use for the Christian religion... the egos, the hypocrisy... I have had enough!”
How many souls have been lost at the hands of pastoral ego and arrogance?
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Monday, April 4, 2011
DRY BONES
One of the coolest illustrations in the scriptures is the story of Ezekiel (37:1-14) preaching in the valley of the dry bones. You probably remember the story: The Lord leads Ezekiel to a valley filled with the remains of the dead... bones that were dead so long that they were completely dried out.
The Lord asks Ezekiel if the skeletons could ever live again. The prophet, either as a statement of faith or trying not to say the wrong thing to God, replies, “Sovereign Lord You know!” You can almost hear the wheels turning in Ezekiel’s head, “Uh... uh... I don’t think they can, but I am not going to be the one telling the Lord what He can or can’t do.”
Of course, Ezekiel does indeed prophesy to the dry bones and, lo and behold, they rise (probably dancing) up, flesh returns and they come back to life.
Lots of available themes in the story: 1) God can do anything no matter how impossible it seems to the human mind; 2) Don’t you be telling God what He can’t do; 3) The Word of God is so powerful and sufficient that it can pierce even the shadow of death itself. There are many other interpretations, but these are the most common.
Isn’t it amazing how a bunch of long-faced church bureaucrats
in denominational offices and on parish councils can wring their hands and, in effect, tell God what He cannot do.
I have this vision of the Holy Spirit showing up at a committee meeting talking about a struggling congregation. The Holy Spirit
is nicely arrayed in His Hart, Shaffner and Marx suit, bright tie and custom made shirt. (After all, the Holy Spirit gotta look good!) He fills out His name tag, enters the meeting room and takes a seat.
The topic of conversation is a struggling congregation in an older suburb. The membership fell a bit and, to save money, the local council cut programming drastically, resulting in a more severe loss of membership. There is some debt, but not overwhelming. Fixed costs are rising while giving is not. The roof and nave flooring are wearing out and need to be replaced.
The long faces confer about “best use of limited funds...” They talk about the latest motivational gimmicks from the church marketing industry. At length the painful decision is made that every church is born to one-day die.
Since no one at the meeting thought to include the Holy Spirit in the conversation, He had pulled out His Droid phone, caught up some email and checked out the baseball scores. As the meeting was beginning to close He looked up, “Does anyone have any questions for me?”
“Well, no, Holy Spirit!” said the chair of the committee, “We are always glad when you come to our meetings. Would you stop by and comfort the hearts of those in the congregation that we have decided to close?”
“Sure, I will help clean up your mess,” replied the Holy Spirit, “After 6000 years I am rather good at it.”
“Let’s end our meeting with prayer,” said the chair, turning away from the Holy Spirit and back to the long-faced committee members.
“Yo!” said the Holy Spirit, “Since prayer is talking with God and I am, like, right here, why don’t we revisit this issue about the struggling congregation.”
“Well, its late,” said the committee chair, gathering papers into his briefcase, “We just don’t have resources, and church growth experts tell us that there is not a market for that sort of church in that community anyway.”
“Now, hold off!” said the Holy Spirit, “I think you are missing something here. Remember all of that stuff in the Bible about God having all the cattle on a thousand hills, turning water into wine, and preaching to the valley of dry bones. If I can make those dead, rotting bones come alive, I can certainly handle a roof on an old church and replace a little flooring. You are spending too much time ruminating and fulminating about the things of this earth and not focusing on the Great Commission I gave you to boldy preach God’s Holy Word. You get to the work of ministry and leave the work of provision to Me!”
“...and another thing...” the Holy Spirit was on a roll, “Lay aside this business of closing churches, wringing hands, and singing ‘Woe is Us.’ Most of all, don’t be telling the King of Kings and Lord of Lords what can’t be done. If Paul and Silas can set off on missionary tours across nations with nothing but their teeth in their mouth, you can be assured that I will take care of you if you do My work!”
There was confessional silence in the room as the leaders of God’s earthly church considered restructuring their thinking from failure to faith and from despair to action.
Each member gave the Holy Spirit a hug as they exited the room. The last one to leave kissed Him on the cheek and whispered in His ear, “....now about the Kansas City Royals!”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
The Lord asks Ezekiel if the skeletons could ever live again. The prophet, either as a statement of faith or trying not to say the wrong thing to God, replies, “Sovereign Lord You know!” You can almost hear the wheels turning in Ezekiel’s head, “Uh... uh... I don’t think they can, but I am not going to be the one telling the Lord what He can or can’t do.”
Of course, Ezekiel does indeed prophesy to the dry bones and, lo and behold, they rise (probably dancing) up, flesh returns and they come back to life.
Lots of available themes in the story: 1) God can do anything no matter how impossible it seems to the human mind; 2) Don’t you be telling God what He can’t do; 3) The Word of God is so powerful and sufficient that it can pierce even the shadow of death itself. There are many other interpretations, but these are the most common.
Isn’t it amazing how a bunch of long-faced church bureaucrats
in denominational offices and on parish councils can wring their hands and, in effect, tell God what He cannot do.
I have this vision of the Holy Spirit showing up at a committee meeting talking about a struggling congregation. The Holy Spirit
is nicely arrayed in His Hart, Shaffner and Marx suit, bright tie and custom made shirt. (After all, the Holy Spirit gotta look good!) He fills out His name tag, enters the meeting room and takes a seat.
The topic of conversation is a struggling congregation in an older suburb. The membership fell a bit and, to save money, the local council cut programming drastically, resulting in a more severe loss of membership. There is some debt, but not overwhelming. Fixed costs are rising while giving is not. The roof and nave flooring are wearing out and need to be replaced.
The long faces confer about “best use of limited funds...” They talk about the latest motivational gimmicks from the church marketing industry. At length the painful decision is made that every church is born to one-day die.
Since no one at the meeting thought to include the Holy Spirit in the conversation, He had pulled out His Droid phone, caught up some email and checked out the baseball scores. As the meeting was beginning to close He looked up, “Does anyone have any questions for me?”
“Well, no, Holy Spirit!” said the chair of the committee, “We are always glad when you come to our meetings. Would you stop by and comfort the hearts of those in the congregation that we have decided to close?”
“Sure, I will help clean up your mess,” replied the Holy Spirit, “After 6000 years I am rather good at it.”
“Let’s end our meeting with prayer,” said the chair, turning away from the Holy Spirit and back to the long-faced committee members.
“Yo!” said the Holy Spirit, “Since prayer is talking with God and I am, like, right here, why don’t we revisit this issue about the struggling congregation.”
“Well, its late,” said the committee chair, gathering papers into his briefcase, “We just don’t have resources, and church growth experts tell us that there is not a market for that sort of church in that community anyway.”
“Now, hold off!” said the Holy Spirit, “I think you are missing something here. Remember all of that stuff in the Bible about God having all the cattle on a thousand hills, turning water into wine, and preaching to the valley of dry bones. If I can make those dead, rotting bones come alive, I can certainly handle a roof on an old church and replace a little flooring. You are spending too much time ruminating and fulminating about the things of this earth and not focusing on the Great Commission I gave you to boldy preach God’s Holy Word. You get to the work of ministry and leave the work of provision to Me!”
“...and another thing...” the Holy Spirit was on a roll, “Lay aside this business of closing churches, wringing hands, and singing ‘Woe is Us.’ Most of all, don’t be telling the King of Kings and Lord of Lords what can’t be done. If Paul and Silas can set off on missionary tours across nations with nothing but their teeth in their mouth, you can be assured that I will take care of you if you do My work!”
There was confessional silence in the room as the leaders of God’s earthly church considered restructuring their thinking from failure to faith and from despair to action.
Each member gave the Holy Spirit a hug as they exited the room. The last one to leave kissed Him on the cheek and whispered in His ear, “....now about the Kansas City Royals!”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Friday, March 25, 2011
TREES
Since my house is three blocks from my office, I usually walk to work. I have, at times, been rather boastful that the only traffic I encounter is when a child leaves his tricycle on the sidewalk or I have to walk around a slow-moving gaggle of high school girls walking to the Catholic school in the neighborhood.
The community is old, comprised of homes built between the great wars. The oldest dates to about 1920, and the newest houses were finished just before the outbreak of World War II. The choke-hold of a harsh winter has finally eased and I am sure that the maple, oak, sycamore and elm trees will soon explode into a canopy of leaves over the street. It is said that a squirrel can get from one edge of town to another, going from tree to tree, without ever touching the ground.
The story goes that the council of our town passed an ordinance in the 1930s that the city would provide a sapling to every homeowner for just $1 each. The young trees were put out on the town square for residents to claim and plant. The idea was to encourage the young families building the neighborhoods to participate in the conversion of the landscape from open prairie to a warm and inviting community.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of trees were bought and planted during those early years. Many of them are now the majestic oaks and sycamores that magnificently beautify the community.
Imagine the stories those trees could tell. As they have extended their branches sunward they have provided beauty and shelter for workers like me going to their offices. They have held swings for children and lovers to laugh in. They have dropped thousands of acorns on the heads of teenage boys raking up their leaves in the autumn. As years have become decades they have stood under oceans of rain and snow. Still and all, they have grown stronger and mightier with each passing day.
But, we must remember, every one of them began when the city council and the homeowners made a commitment to enrich the quality of life for themselves and for those around them. They made the investment in the saplings. They took the time to carefully and lovingly plant and protect the trees when they were yet fledgling and fragile. They didn’t wait for someone else to “think of something to do...” They opened their wallets and they took their shovels out of the garage and set themselves to work. They also had to know that they would never live to see the trees in all of their splendor, but they had a vision of a better world that would live beyond themselves.
I believe that this is what we are doing right now in our vocation (and avocation) of music and ministry. The saplings you are planting are enjoyable to see, but with each sprouting leaf we can see the promise of immortal music from the heart of God through the pen of great composers to the voices of our choirs to the ears and spirits of many who come to hear.
This is a blessed opportunity. When the rehearsals get long and the notes come hard, let us never forget how good it is to be a part of the struggle. When the logistics seem impossible and when the support is so hard to build, let us never forget our calling as pioneers and prophets.
My mentor, Robert Shaw, once said that at length he came to an understanding of the literal reality that God is Love. Not just that God inspires or creates love, or that He is loving, but that He IS Love in true essence. And if God is the Loving Creator, then just maybe He is still about His work of loving and creating.
When we sing music that is greater than ourselves, we reflect the profound majesty and wondrous love of our Creator. Even more, we become a part of His work of continual creation, and we sing Wondrous Love on behalf of ourselves and everyone who has come before us. We sing not only to everyone who hears us, but to their children, to their children’s children, and to every ear that will live and breath, love and hope, in our community.
May we give thanks for the privilege of being a part of the pattern in the seed.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
The community is old, comprised of homes built between the great wars. The oldest dates to about 1920, and the newest houses were finished just before the outbreak of World War II. The choke-hold of a harsh winter has finally eased and I am sure that the maple, oak, sycamore and elm trees will soon explode into a canopy of leaves over the street. It is said that a squirrel can get from one edge of town to another, going from tree to tree, without ever touching the ground.
The story goes that the council of our town passed an ordinance in the 1930s that the city would provide a sapling to every homeowner for just $1 each. The young trees were put out on the town square for residents to claim and plant. The idea was to encourage the young families building the neighborhoods to participate in the conversion of the landscape from open prairie to a warm and inviting community.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of trees were bought and planted during those early years. Many of them are now the majestic oaks and sycamores that magnificently beautify the community.
Imagine the stories those trees could tell. As they have extended their branches sunward they have provided beauty and shelter for workers like me going to their offices. They have held swings for children and lovers to laugh in. They have dropped thousands of acorns on the heads of teenage boys raking up their leaves in the autumn. As years have become decades they have stood under oceans of rain and snow. Still and all, they have grown stronger and mightier with each passing day.
But, we must remember, every one of them began when the city council and the homeowners made a commitment to enrich the quality of life for themselves and for those around them. They made the investment in the saplings. They took the time to carefully and lovingly plant and protect the trees when they were yet fledgling and fragile. They didn’t wait for someone else to “think of something to do...” They opened their wallets and they took their shovels out of the garage and set themselves to work. They also had to know that they would never live to see the trees in all of their splendor, but they had a vision of a better world that would live beyond themselves.
I believe that this is what we are doing right now in our vocation (and avocation) of music and ministry. The saplings you are planting are enjoyable to see, but with each sprouting leaf we can see the promise of immortal music from the heart of God through the pen of great composers to the voices of our choirs to the ears and spirits of many who come to hear.
This is a blessed opportunity. When the rehearsals get long and the notes come hard, let us never forget how good it is to be a part of the struggle. When the logistics seem impossible and when the support is so hard to build, let us never forget our calling as pioneers and prophets.
My mentor, Robert Shaw, once said that at length he came to an understanding of the literal reality that God is Love. Not just that God inspires or creates love, or that He is loving, but that He IS Love in true essence. And if God is the Loving Creator, then just maybe He is still about His work of loving and creating.
When we sing music that is greater than ourselves, we reflect the profound majesty and wondrous love of our Creator. Even more, we become a part of His work of continual creation, and we sing Wondrous Love on behalf of ourselves and everyone who has come before us. We sing not only to everyone who hears us, but to their children, to their children’s children, and to every ear that will live and breath, love and hope, in our community.
May we give thanks for the privilege of being a part of the pattern in the seed.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Friday, March 18, 2011
GIVE IT UP, BABY!
I got a chuckle listening to the radio the other day, hearing the story of how college students have given up Facebook for Lent. While I admire the spiritual commitment of the interviewed young people, I couldn’t help thinking that they sounded like recovering crack addicts in withdrawal!
I heard a story about a minister who is using the discipline of fasting as a Lenten-oriented weight-loss program. In fact, he is bringing a scale into the chancel of his church so that he can be weighed before the congregation during services to be affirmed in his achievement.
I have thought of giving up grilled cheese sandwiches for Lent, but I remembered that I was allergic to cheese anyway. Then I decided to forego praise choruses and contemporary worship, but I remembered that I despise them anyway. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have struggled to find a worthy sacrifice that I am willing to accept for myself.
Where does this idea come from? Does the Bible command us to “give up something” for Lent?
Of course not. Precious as the Church Year is to the spiritual journey of Christians, it is a creation of Man for the purpose of focusing our faith and building our understanding of the story of salvation.
The genesis of Lenten disciple comes from Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness as He prepared for His ministry. During our 40 days of Lent, we follow His example of self-denial as a spiritual discipline that can open our minds and hearts to the power of His scriptural word and the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The part of all this that I think we often miss is the importance of adding something for Lent. You see, we “give it up...” but we forget to add something in its place. The spiritual discipline of Lent should focus our mind, heart, soul and spirit on the redeeming love of our Savior, but that cannot happen by only giving something up.
I hope you will join me during this Lenten season in taking a few minutes every day to exchange (give it up, baby!) a comfort with a spiritual discipline. I think for me it will be my habit of getting a cup of coffee and a cookie in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe I can take that time and spend it reading through the Epistle to the Romans, or the Gospel of St. Matthew. For you it might be a silent walk every evening talking to God and listening for His voice. Your spiritual discipline might be to listen to sacred music quietly for a few minutes every day, or read a good devotional book.
God calls us to live every day in His abundance. When we give something up for Lent, and replace it with something the ushers us into God’s presence, we open the door to a new gift of abundance.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
I heard a story about a minister who is using the discipline of fasting as a Lenten-oriented weight-loss program. In fact, he is bringing a scale into the chancel of his church so that he can be weighed before the congregation during services to be affirmed in his achievement.
I have thought of giving up grilled cheese sandwiches for Lent, but I remembered that I was allergic to cheese anyway. Then I decided to forego praise choruses and contemporary worship, but I remembered that I despise them anyway. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have struggled to find a worthy sacrifice that I am willing to accept for myself.
Where does this idea come from? Does the Bible command us to “give up something” for Lent?
Of course not. Precious as the Church Year is to the spiritual journey of Christians, it is a creation of Man for the purpose of focusing our faith and building our understanding of the story of salvation.
The genesis of Lenten disciple comes from Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness as He prepared for His ministry. During our 40 days of Lent, we follow His example of self-denial as a spiritual discipline that can open our minds and hearts to the power of His scriptural word and the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The part of all this that I think we often miss is the importance of adding something for Lent. You see, we “give it up...” but we forget to add something in its place. The spiritual discipline of Lent should focus our mind, heart, soul and spirit on the redeeming love of our Savior, but that cannot happen by only giving something up.
I hope you will join me during this Lenten season in taking a few minutes every day to exchange (give it up, baby!) a comfort with a spiritual discipline. I think for me it will be my habit of getting a cup of coffee and a cookie in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe I can take that time and spend it reading through the Epistle to the Romans, or the Gospel of St. Matthew. For you it might be a silent walk every evening talking to God and listening for His voice. Your spiritual discipline might be to listen to sacred music quietly for a few minutes every day, or read a good devotional book.
God calls us to live every day in His abundance. When we give something up for Lent, and replace it with something the ushers us into God’s presence, we open the door to a new gift of abundance.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
ASHES & DUST
I can’t remember the last time, but I know that I have thought often, and occasionally written, about the natural disconnect between Lent and the beginning of spring. Has it ever seemed weird to you that we focus on “ashes to ashes” and “dust to dust” at about the time baseballs begin flying in Arizona and Florida, and we are once again seeing the ground on a fairly regular basis. Within a few weeks now it will be warm enough to fire up the grill and work in the yard again.
Now, of course, I know that our fathers in faith who laid the outline of the church year did so mindful only of their call to faithfully tell the story of sacrifice and salvation. It is a sure bet that baseball, yard work and barbeque were not on their agenda at all. The forty days (not counting Sundays) beginning Ash Wednesday start with the solemn mark of the cross on our foreheads and the dreadful, but perspective-establishing words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
In the spirit of honesty I must say that I don’t groove with this whole business of returning to dust. I am having a great time on this earth, and I don’t want to see my fun come to an unexpected conclusion any time soon. What my selfishness really wants is for my church to ignore the whole business of betrayal, sacrifice, scourge, sin and crucifixion so that I can spout a few praise choruses and blithely pretend that every Sunday is Easter.
Not only does life not allow me -or you, or anyone else- to get away with such fantasy, neither does the God of our Bible or the tradition of our faith.
A couple of hours before writing these words, I learned of the death of my best friend in childhood. Eight months older than me and yard neighbors from birth through my teen years, we played trucks together as toddlers, baseball and basketball as grade-schoolers and Steppenwolf and Jethro Tull as young teens. Though I had no contact with him at all in adult years, hearing of the death of anyone at my age -especially someone who was a part of my life for a long time- was quite rattling.
But, you see, this story is the reality of life and the true presence of a real and living God. God is not a vending machine that doles out trite feel-good blessings in response to our token coins of prayer, faithfulness and good works. Neither is God a great juke-box well-stocked to play our favorites upon our whim and request.
God is the God of dust, and He is the God of ashes. He is the God Who calls us to mourn our sins that He might redeem them, not ignore them. He doesn’t allow us to pretend that death is not real, but He gives us the sure and certain hope of resurrection and life eternal. Yes, dust to dust and ashes to ashes, but dust and ashes that live anew, never to die again.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Now, of course, I know that our fathers in faith who laid the outline of the church year did so mindful only of their call to faithfully tell the story of sacrifice and salvation. It is a sure bet that baseball, yard work and barbeque were not on their agenda at all. The forty days (not counting Sundays) beginning Ash Wednesday start with the solemn mark of the cross on our foreheads and the dreadful, but perspective-establishing words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
In the spirit of honesty I must say that I don’t groove with this whole business of returning to dust. I am having a great time on this earth, and I don’t want to see my fun come to an unexpected conclusion any time soon. What my selfishness really wants is for my church to ignore the whole business of betrayal, sacrifice, scourge, sin and crucifixion so that I can spout a few praise choruses and blithely pretend that every Sunday is Easter.
Not only does life not allow me -or you, or anyone else- to get away with such fantasy, neither does the God of our Bible or the tradition of our faith.
A couple of hours before writing these words, I learned of the death of my best friend in childhood. Eight months older than me and yard neighbors from birth through my teen years, we played trucks together as toddlers, baseball and basketball as grade-schoolers and Steppenwolf and Jethro Tull as young teens. Though I had no contact with him at all in adult years, hearing of the death of anyone at my age -especially someone who was a part of my life for a long time- was quite rattling.
But, you see, this story is the reality of life and the true presence of a real and living God. God is not a vending machine that doles out trite feel-good blessings in response to our token coins of prayer, faithfulness and good works. Neither is God a great juke-box well-stocked to play our favorites upon our whim and request.
God is the God of dust, and He is the God of ashes. He is the God Who calls us to mourn our sins that He might redeem them, not ignore them. He doesn’t allow us to pretend that death is not real, but He gives us the sure and certain hope of resurrection and life eternal. Yes, dust to dust and ashes to ashes, but dust and ashes that live anew, never to die again.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
TEACH ME HOW TO LIVE
For nearly a decade I have walked through the boarding door of an airplane at least two, sometimes four or eight, times in the course of most every single week. I count most of the AirTran terminal staff at KCI as personal friends. I have often joked with them that I could recite the pre-flight briefings from memory with complete accuracy.
My weekly return to Kansas City involves a walk from one end to another of the Atlanta airport. I have done it so often that I can name most of the advertising posters along the walk. There are ads for hotels, airport shuttles, and the King Center, among others.
One of the signs pictures the bright face of a ten-year-old boy wearing a baseball cap with a bat drawn expectantly behind his back. The expression on his face is firm and determined. He could be either of my sons. Four decades ago he could be me.
The large letters say, “He wants to be a baseball player when he grows up.” The smaller copy tells the story of his fight with an immune deficiency that threatens his future. It is obvious that he knows -to the extent any of us do- what he is up against. Still, he responds with courage and determination.
As I walked past the sign to security this morning I remembered the story of another courageous young woman in the Atlanta suburb I lived in during the 1980s and 1990s. Her name was Danielle. She was amazingly gifted as a vocalist, singing recitals of Donizetti and Faure at the age of 13. She was a championship tennis player, a straight-A student and a leader in the youth group of her church.
Danielle’s life seemed as charmed as anyone’s in history until one day she went to the office of the school nurse with a splitting headache. When the pain did not respond to over-the-counter treatment her parents took her to the doctor. Test “just precautionary” were ordered, but the results were the most feared. Brain tumor. Inoperable. Nine to fifteen months. Maybe.
Danielle faced decisions that no human should ever have to face, much less a child. She chose to trust God, give thanks for the life she had been given, and enjoy every remaining day to the fullest. Though her singing and tennis skills faded as the disease progressed, her courage inspired thousands in her church, in her school and in her community.
She died during the wee hours of a Monday night. Her completed homework that she would never submit waited on the breakfast table of her home. Her selected clothes for the school day that would never happen hung on the door of her closet.
I read her story and obituary in the newspaper as the plane lifted into the air. The photo of a smiling Danielle speaking to her youth peers about facing death with hope centered the article. In the dark of my imagination my mind superimposed the face of my own daughter over the one of the fallen child.
I hid my face with the newspaper and wept.
God does not promise us lives free of suffering and death. Not only does faith in God not protect us against suffering, sometimes it becomes the source of our suffering. To the disappointment of those who would seek to bring people to the Church by making them “feel good,” it is Jesus Himself Who commanded “...take up thy cross and follow Me.”
The victory that God gives us over death through the passion and resurrection of our Lord is that He Himself will not only be with us through the valley of the shadow of death, but that He will raise us up to live eternally with Him.
“ I shall not die, but live, and proclaim the works of the Lord!” -Psalm 118:17
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
My weekly return to Kansas City involves a walk from one end to another of the Atlanta airport. I have done it so often that I can name most of the advertising posters along the walk. There are ads for hotels, airport shuttles, and the King Center, among others.
One of the signs pictures the bright face of a ten-year-old boy wearing a baseball cap with a bat drawn expectantly behind his back. The expression on his face is firm and determined. He could be either of my sons. Four decades ago he could be me.
The large letters say, “He wants to be a baseball player when he grows up.” The smaller copy tells the story of his fight with an immune deficiency that threatens his future. It is obvious that he knows -to the extent any of us do- what he is up against. Still, he responds with courage and determination.
As I walked past the sign to security this morning I remembered the story of another courageous young woman in the Atlanta suburb I lived in during the 1980s and 1990s. Her name was Danielle. She was amazingly gifted as a vocalist, singing recitals of Donizetti and Faure at the age of 13. She was a championship tennis player, a straight-A student and a leader in the youth group of her church.
Danielle’s life seemed as charmed as anyone’s in history until one day she went to the office of the school nurse with a splitting headache. When the pain did not respond to over-the-counter treatment her parents took her to the doctor. Test “just precautionary” were ordered, but the results were the most feared. Brain tumor. Inoperable. Nine to fifteen months. Maybe.
Danielle faced decisions that no human should ever have to face, much less a child. She chose to trust God, give thanks for the life she had been given, and enjoy every remaining day to the fullest. Though her singing and tennis skills faded as the disease progressed, her courage inspired thousands in her church, in her school and in her community.
She died during the wee hours of a Monday night. Her completed homework that she would never submit waited on the breakfast table of her home. Her selected clothes for the school day that would never happen hung on the door of her closet.
I read her story and obituary in the newspaper as the plane lifted into the air. The photo of a smiling Danielle speaking to her youth peers about facing death with hope centered the article. In the dark of my imagination my mind superimposed the face of my own daughter over the one of the fallen child.
I hid my face with the newspaper and wept.
God does not promise us lives free of suffering and death. Not only does faith in God not protect us against suffering, sometimes it becomes the source of our suffering. To the disappointment of those who would seek to bring people to the Church by making them “feel good,” it is Jesus Himself Who commanded “...take up thy cross and follow Me.”
The victory that God gives us over death through the passion and resurrection of our Lord is that He Himself will not only be with us through the valley of the shadow of death, but that He will raise us up to live eternally with Him.
“ I shall not die, but live, and proclaim the works of the Lord!” -Psalm 118:17
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Thursday, February 17, 2011
WONDERFUL WORDS
Last week my Associate Music Director for the Festival Singers introduced a new selection to me and to our choristers, Williametta Spencer’s “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.”
I mentioned to the choir that the words are from the “Holy Sonnets” of English poet, parliamentarian and priest, John Donne (1572-1631). Regarded for his “vibrancy of language” and “inventiveness of metaphor,” Donne’s work is a colorful example of a golden age of English writing that includes the King James Bible of 1611, Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), Robert Southwell (1561-1595), and, of course, William Shakespeare himself (1564-1616).
A couple of weeks ago, in a beautiful hour when the snow was deep outside, the fireplace glowed with warmth and the dog rested quietly next to my chair, I read through the entirety of the Holy Sonnets from which Spencer’s motet is drawn. I rose to go upstairs mentally comparing the language of the English mystic to the hymn-writers and poets of today wondering how we could have fallen so far in just 400 short years.
If Donne were alive in the 21st century I think he would be described, in the words of my father, as a “root-tooter,” -part bad-boy, part starving artist, part-genius- deeply religious with a Davidian-like sinful self and a Pauline-like converted faith. His writing is like his life: deep, colorful, masculine, fallen, repentant, redeemed, and earthy.
I offer these three excerpts from the Holy Sonnets:
At the round earth’s imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,
All whom the flood did, and the fire shall, overthrow,
All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death’s woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For, if above all these my sins abound,
‘Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground
Teach me how to repent; for that’s as good
As if Thou’dst sealed my pardon with Thy blood.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
As musicians in the service of Christ, we dwell in the realm of voice and music, but it is language and poetry that is the heartbeat of our expression.
In much the same way that exercise and good nutrition contributes to the health of our bodies, I believe that wonderful words and great writing contributes to the health of our intellects. Words that quicken our sense of spirituality and provide us voice for the aspirations of our hearts contributes to the health of our souls.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
I mentioned to the choir that the words are from the “Holy Sonnets” of English poet, parliamentarian and priest, John Donne (1572-1631). Regarded for his “vibrancy of language” and “inventiveness of metaphor,” Donne’s work is a colorful example of a golden age of English writing that includes the King James Bible of 1611, Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), Robert Southwell (1561-1595), and, of course, William Shakespeare himself (1564-1616).
A couple of weeks ago, in a beautiful hour when the snow was deep outside, the fireplace glowed with warmth and the dog rested quietly next to my chair, I read through the entirety of the Holy Sonnets from which Spencer’s motet is drawn. I rose to go upstairs mentally comparing the language of the English mystic to the hymn-writers and poets of today wondering how we could have fallen so far in just 400 short years.
If Donne were alive in the 21st century I think he would be described, in the words of my father, as a “root-tooter,” -part bad-boy, part starving artist, part-genius- deeply religious with a Davidian-like sinful self and a Pauline-like converted faith. His writing is like his life: deep, colorful, masculine, fallen, repentant, redeemed, and earthy.
I offer these three excerpts from the Holy Sonnets:
At the round earth’s imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,
All whom the flood did, and the fire shall, overthrow,
All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death’s woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For, if above all these my sins abound,
‘Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground
Teach me how to repent; for that’s as good
As if Thou’dst sealed my pardon with Thy blood.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
As musicians in the service of Christ, we dwell in the realm of voice and music, but it is language and poetry that is the heartbeat of our expression.
In much the same way that exercise and good nutrition contributes to the health of our bodies, I believe that wonderful words and great writing contributes to the health of our intellects. Words that quicken our sense of spirituality and provide us voice for the aspirations of our hearts contributes to the health of our souls.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
OPTIMISM & DETERMINATION
As the ship of history sails deeper into the 21st century we can look back with a wider perspective on the previous century where our lives began. February 6 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan. It is considered conventional wisdom among historians that Reagan’s was one of the two most consequential presidencies of the 20th century, the other being Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Both men came to leadership when our nation faced horrific economic challenges and external threats that put the lives and safety of Americans at risk. Roosevelt came to power at a time when the entire financial system of the nation had collapsed and over a third of Americans were unemployed. Many citizens were forced into soup lines to feed their families. Even worse, mass-murderers had taken control of two of the largest military forces on earth, Japan and Germany, with clear intentions of world domination. The best response of Roosevelt’s doddering predecessor, Herbert Hoover, had been shrugged shoulders and wringing hands.
When Reagan was inaugurated in 1981, unemployment was in the double digits and the interest rate for purchasing a home (now 5%) was over 20%. Energy resources were growing more scarce by the day because of a crisis in the Middle East that led to the taking of 52 Americans as hostages for over a year. Though many may disagree ...and my purpose is not to spur a political debate... most modern historians regard his predecessor Jimmy Carter’s presidency as one of the most impotent in history.
Both Roosevelt and Reagan are credited with reshaping America during their terms in office, and with leaving office with the nation in a much different circumstance that it was in on the day of their first inaugurations.
How did these men accomplish this work in the face of such impossible odds? What are the common threads of their success?
It is certainly true that the world did not fix itself under their watches. Not only was the United States not the primary military power at the start of World War II, we weren’t even in the top five. Our task was to mobilize against the worst crisis the western world had faced in five centuries while in the throes of a paralyzing depression. Likewise, in 1981, the terrors of radical extremists, unemployment, energy crisis, and inflation were world-wide and unabating.
It is certainly true that Roosevelt and Reagan did not share a common political philosophy. Roosevelt used the power of government to accomplish his work and, in doing so, built the foundation of expansive government that continues to grow into the 21st century. Reagan, on the other hand, viewed government as “the problem, not the solution” and sought at every turn to diminish the role and power of government.
What they did share was a sense of optimism about the rightness of their cause and the exceptional nature of their American homeland. They also shared a determination that stood with uncompromising strength against any opposing force that the evils in the world could assail against them.
Roosevelt’s words from his 1933 inaugural address ring with great clarity: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” A modern translation might be “Okay, we have a tough situation here. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to the work of fixing it.”
Fifty-two years later, Ronald Reagan stood at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, in plain view of the guard towers and electric fences where millions had been imprisoned and murdered by Communist regimes. His words of hope and determination were equally clear: “....if you believe in liberalization, come to this gate. Mr. Gorbechev, (General Secretary of the Soviet Union) come to this gate! Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!”
Optimism and determination.
I have to believe that optimism and determination are traits that are mutually dependent upon each other. You may have a sunny disposition that will serve you well, but it does you no good unless you have the courage of conviction, and the determination of enterprise, to apply it to the questions of life. You can have all of the industry on earth, and unstoppable determination, but what does it matter if you do not believe with all your heart in the rightness of your cause and in the certainty of ultimate victory.
I believe that such a level of optimism and determination is needed now in the support of the arts, not only choral music, but symphony, ballet, opera, visual art, and literature.
The dumbing down of American culture seems at a critical state. Not in every area, but certainly in many, music education programs are being cut mercilessly to the detriment of families seeking well-rounded educations for their children. Even some churches have cashiered a thousand years of beauty and depth for tawdry entertainment music and personality cult. Funding for arts organizations, our own included, has never been more challenging.
These are struggles that are very real and very threatening.
But, in the same manner that Hitler and Hirohito’s armies fell to the determination of America and her allies, and the Cold War ended in the fall of the Soviet gulags and the Berlin Wall, there is no evil might in this world that can hold back the expressive power and the hopeful optimism enshrined in the arts.
I believe that the pursuit of truth and beauty, though often clouded by experience and polluted by popular culture, is woven into the core of our being as a part of our creation. Though it may become challenging to fund it and though it may become frustrating to promote it, there is no power on earth that can stop it.
Great leaders become great leaders because they set their sights on great things and they refuse to take “no” for an answer. Whatever slings and arrows come their way, their faith, determination, courage and optimism hold fast.
May it be so for us and for the Choral Foundation!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Both men came to leadership when our nation faced horrific economic challenges and external threats that put the lives and safety of Americans at risk. Roosevelt came to power at a time when the entire financial system of the nation had collapsed and over a third of Americans were unemployed. Many citizens were forced into soup lines to feed their families. Even worse, mass-murderers had taken control of two of the largest military forces on earth, Japan and Germany, with clear intentions of world domination. The best response of Roosevelt’s doddering predecessor, Herbert Hoover, had been shrugged shoulders and wringing hands.
When Reagan was inaugurated in 1981, unemployment was in the double digits and the interest rate for purchasing a home (now 5%) was over 20%. Energy resources were growing more scarce by the day because of a crisis in the Middle East that led to the taking of 52 Americans as hostages for over a year. Though many may disagree ...and my purpose is not to spur a political debate... most modern historians regard his predecessor Jimmy Carter’s presidency as one of the most impotent in history.
Both Roosevelt and Reagan are credited with reshaping America during their terms in office, and with leaving office with the nation in a much different circumstance that it was in on the day of their first inaugurations.
How did these men accomplish this work in the face of such impossible odds? What are the common threads of their success?
It is certainly true that the world did not fix itself under their watches. Not only was the United States not the primary military power at the start of World War II, we weren’t even in the top five. Our task was to mobilize against the worst crisis the western world had faced in five centuries while in the throes of a paralyzing depression. Likewise, in 1981, the terrors of radical extremists, unemployment, energy crisis, and inflation were world-wide and unabating.
It is certainly true that Roosevelt and Reagan did not share a common political philosophy. Roosevelt used the power of government to accomplish his work and, in doing so, built the foundation of expansive government that continues to grow into the 21st century. Reagan, on the other hand, viewed government as “the problem, not the solution” and sought at every turn to diminish the role and power of government.
What they did share was a sense of optimism about the rightness of their cause and the exceptional nature of their American homeland. They also shared a determination that stood with uncompromising strength against any opposing force that the evils in the world could assail against them.
Roosevelt’s words from his 1933 inaugural address ring with great clarity: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” A modern translation might be “Okay, we have a tough situation here. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to the work of fixing it.”
Fifty-two years later, Ronald Reagan stood at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, in plain view of the guard towers and electric fences where millions had been imprisoned and murdered by Communist regimes. His words of hope and determination were equally clear: “....if you believe in liberalization, come to this gate. Mr. Gorbechev, (General Secretary of the Soviet Union) come to this gate! Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!”
Optimism and determination.
I have to believe that optimism and determination are traits that are mutually dependent upon each other. You may have a sunny disposition that will serve you well, but it does you no good unless you have the courage of conviction, and the determination of enterprise, to apply it to the questions of life. You can have all of the industry on earth, and unstoppable determination, but what does it matter if you do not believe with all your heart in the rightness of your cause and in the certainty of ultimate victory.
I believe that such a level of optimism and determination is needed now in the support of the arts, not only choral music, but symphony, ballet, opera, visual art, and literature.
The dumbing down of American culture seems at a critical state. Not in every area, but certainly in many, music education programs are being cut mercilessly to the detriment of families seeking well-rounded educations for their children. Even some churches have cashiered a thousand years of beauty and depth for tawdry entertainment music and personality cult. Funding for arts organizations, our own included, has never been more challenging.
These are struggles that are very real and very threatening.
But, in the same manner that Hitler and Hirohito’s armies fell to the determination of America and her allies, and the Cold War ended in the fall of the Soviet gulags and the Berlin Wall, there is no evil might in this world that can hold back the expressive power and the hopeful optimism enshrined in the arts.
I believe that the pursuit of truth and beauty, though often clouded by experience and polluted by popular culture, is woven into the core of our being as a part of our creation. Though it may become challenging to fund it and though it may become frustrating to promote it, there is no power on earth that can stop it.
Great leaders become great leaders because they set their sights on great things and they refuse to take “no” for an answer. Whatever slings and arrows come their way, their faith, determination, courage and optimism hold fast.
May it be so for us and for the Choral Foundation!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
FUN
Have you ever read a book that gave voice to thoughts you have had with such clarity and power that you wish you had written it yourself? I am in the throes of such a book right now.
Three weeks ago I was having lunch with a church musician friend, Herb Buffington. Together we were lamenting the junk masquerading as church music in many congregations in recent years. Our conversation turned to thoughts about revealing to pastors, colleagues and lay-people the important work of raising standards in these dark and challenging times.
Herb recommended a small book that he had recently read, This Little Church Went to Market. I ordered it from Amazon and have been devouring it for the last few days. I have found it to be one of those books that I would like to buy a 100 copies of to send to colleagues and friends around the country. Though I don’t swing with some of the author’s fundamentalist theology, I find that he clearly and powerfully states the case against the recent wave of entertainment worship and the felt-needs foundation of much church programming and marketing.
You will probably be subjected to a number of thoughts and applications of those thoughts from my present reading project in the coming weeks, but I will start with these ideas...
The author, Gary Gilley, unpacks the development of our American entertainment culture and the evolution of our concept of “fun.” He contends that the idea of fun as a goal or objective is quite recent in western understanding. Most certainly, through human history, there has been joy and exaltation, even ecstacy. But it has only been in the last few decades that amusement for the very sake of amusement has become an end in itself.
In fact, the pursuit of fun as an objective now permeates the worship of the church, our processes of education, the choosing of our national leaders, the assignment of societal values, and our individual measure of self-worth and life-fulfillment.
Gilley quotes Neil Postman from the latter’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, when he says.. “... to enjoy the fine arts required a person to think, to meditate, and to engage the mind and the soul. The new brand of entertainment, increasingly enjoyed by the masses is mindless. It is about gratification rather than edification, indulgence rather than transcendence, reaction rather than contemplation, and escape from moral instruction rather than submission to it.”
From the standpoint of the Church, when we seek to cashier expressions of timeless beauty and worth for the amusements of the day, we distort the Church’s message of love, faithfulness and sacrifice into a form of popular psychobabble that falls short of the ultimate message of salvation by grace through faith.
Though Gilley’s book has been an affirmation and inspiration to me on these topics, more and more writers and periodicals are beginning to consider these them. In a recent article in Christianity Today, Donald Bloesch, had this to say about the back-lash forming over “seeker-sensitive” worship:
“Protestantism is in trouble as an increasing number of business and professional people are searching for a new church. The complaint that I hear most often is that people can no longer sense the sacred in either the preaching or the liturgy... worship has become performance rather than praise. The praise choruses that have preempted the great hymns [in many churches] do not hide the fact that [their] worship is essentially a spectacle that appeals to the senses rather than an act of obeisance to the Mighty God Who is both holiness and love. Contemporary worship is far more egocentric than theo-centric. “
I have long believed that the whole of Church history teaches that fads will come and fads will go. Be those fads contemporary worship, praise choruses, gender-neutral language, or politics of the left or the right, they will in time fade and fall as the ancient liturgy and its solid root in Holy Scripture stands from generation to generation and from age to age.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Three weeks ago I was having lunch with a church musician friend, Herb Buffington. Together we were lamenting the junk masquerading as church music in many congregations in recent years. Our conversation turned to thoughts about revealing to pastors, colleagues and lay-people the important work of raising standards in these dark and challenging times.
Herb recommended a small book that he had recently read, This Little Church Went to Market. I ordered it from Amazon and have been devouring it for the last few days. I have found it to be one of those books that I would like to buy a 100 copies of to send to colleagues and friends around the country. Though I don’t swing with some of the author’s fundamentalist theology, I find that he clearly and powerfully states the case against the recent wave of entertainment worship and the felt-needs foundation of much church programming and marketing.
You will probably be subjected to a number of thoughts and applications of those thoughts from my present reading project in the coming weeks, but I will start with these ideas...
The author, Gary Gilley, unpacks the development of our American entertainment culture and the evolution of our concept of “fun.” He contends that the idea of fun as a goal or objective is quite recent in western understanding. Most certainly, through human history, there has been joy and exaltation, even ecstacy. But it has only been in the last few decades that amusement for the very sake of amusement has become an end in itself.
In fact, the pursuit of fun as an objective now permeates the worship of the church, our processes of education, the choosing of our national leaders, the assignment of societal values, and our individual measure of self-worth and life-fulfillment.
Gilley quotes Neil Postman from the latter’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, when he says.. “... to enjoy the fine arts required a person to think, to meditate, and to engage the mind and the soul. The new brand of entertainment, increasingly enjoyed by the masses is mindless. It is about gratification rather than edification, indulgence rather than transcendence, reaction rather than contemplation, and escape from moral instruction rather than submission to it.”
From the standpoint of the Church, when we seek to cashier expressions of timeless beauty and worth for the amusements of the day, we distort the Church’s message of love, faithfulness and sacrifice into a form of popular psychobabble that falls short of the ultimate message of salvation by grace through faith.
Though Gilley’s book has been an affirmation and inspiration to me on these topics, more and more writers and periodicals are beginning to consider these them. In a recent article in Christianity Today, Donald Bloesch, had this to say about the back-lash forming over “seeker-sensitive” worship:
“Protestantism is in trouble as an increasing number of business and professional people are searching for a new church. The complaint that I hear most often is that people can no longer sense the sacred in either the preaching or the liturgy... worship has become performance rather than praise. The praise choruses that have preempted the great hymns [in many churches] do not hide the fact that [their] worship is essentially a spectacle that appeals to the senses rather than an act of obeisance to the Mighty God Who is both holiness and love. Contemporary worship is far more egocentric than theo-centric. “
I have long believed that the whole of Church history teaches that fads will come and fads will go. Be those fads contemporary worship, praise choruses, gender-neutral language, or politics of the left or the right, they will in time fade and fall as the ancient liturgy and its solid root in Holy Scripture stands from generation to generation and from age to age.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
KEEP YOUR RELIGION OFF MY BODY
With a heavy heart I bring to our weekly discussion one of the most painful and difficult issues of our time, the matter of abortion. It is certainly the most intractably divisive issue of our day. If you believe that the pre-born fetus is, indeed, a human being “...endowed with unalienable rights,” then you must come to the conclusion that the termination of that life is tantamount to murder, and thus should be prohibited under American law. If, on the other hand, you believe that the fetus remains a part of the woman’s body until given life at the time of birth, any restrictions on the care or destruction of that fetus beyond the choice of the carrier is an unspeakable violation of privacy.
It is only natural, in questions of life and death, that many people turn to religious faith to form and define their beliefs and values about such important matters. If you believe the fetus to be a child created intentionally and specifically by God, then the preservation of that life is among the most important questions a society faces. If you believe that the fetus is a part of the woman’s body without a soul of its own, then religious faith would call us to protect the dignity and privacy of the woman and the province of her choice.
There simply is no middle ground in the question. The fetus is either life or it isn’t.
That said, it is imperative that we as a society take this question out of the realm of religious belief and argument. The United States of America is, despite the charmingly ignorant proclamations of some that we are a “Christian” nation, a secular society. We affirm freedom of religion, but we make our laws on the basis of known science and on the common understandings of personhood as prescribed in the Declaration of Independence and as codified in the United States Constitution. For the purpose of making and enforcing laws, it is these documents and known science, not articles of faith, that must guide the argument and our decisions as a society.
Thus, we must keep our religious faith off the woman’s body and, for that matter, off the body of the child.
I have often said, and I firmly believe, that the question of abortion at the turn of the 21st century is reminiscent of the question of slavery in the United States 150-200 years ago. On the one hand, there were those who then proclaimed that “all men are created equal, endowed.. with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...” They believed that the enslavement of one person to another was a base violation of the enslaved’s core right to personhood. On the other hand, there were those who argued that humans with black skin were not persons at all, that they were some “middle ground” between animal and human, and that to keep them enslaved was not only allowable, but was a compassionate means of providing for their care and protection. Such was often preached from pulpits in both the North and the South in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thankfully, that question has been settled. Though the struggle was long, hard and bloody, there are very few modern Americans that would question the personhood of any human being. In fact, most Americans look back at the days of slavery with shame and embarrassment, a throwback to a more primitive and barbaric time.
One of the primary reasons for this understanding, even above Lincoln’s goodness and Grant’s artillery, has been the advance of science. In time it came to be commonly understood that beyond color and environment humans are essentially the same. They are each and every one endowed with gifts and graces, strengths and weaknesses, talents to offer and burdens to carry.
Though it escapes the notice of partisan media and lobbying organizations, there have been many advances in the science of prenatal development since the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that opened the door to the legalization of abortion. At every turn, with every scientific advance we learn more and more that the developing fetus quickly attains all of the elements of personhood, emotions of fear and happiness, curiosity, playfulness and self-preservation. We have learned that many elements of our personhood are formed in the womb, including personality and intelligence.
In the application of known science we must determine then that the developing fetus is, indeed, a human being “endowed with certain unalienable rights” under the Declaration of Independence and, by extension, the United Sates Constitution.
In light of the advancing march of clear science, the only way that the child can be considered merely a tissue mass that is a part of the woman’s body is through a form of blind faith or superstition that flies in the face of clear, indisputable fact. Thus when we say, “Keep Your Religion Off My Body” the words should apply to the protection of the child’s right to live, rather than the woman’s option to terminate the life of the child.
I believe, I guess as a matter of faith, that our culture and society will grow in this matter in the same way that we overcame slavery. It is my confident hope that, 200 years from now, an American society will look back with shame and sorrow over the denial of personhood and the destruction of the lives of the most vulnerable of Americans. I am sure that they will consider us a barbaric culture for our willingness to sacrifice human lives on the primitive altars of “choice” and “privacy.”
Though I fear that none of us will live long enough to see that day, I do believe that we can work together to help open the door to an America where the rights of all people -born and unborn- to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are equally respected.
Here is how you can help...
1) Approach all people on every side of this issue with compassion and with respect. Most people who consider themselves supporters of abortion rights take that position because they do not understand the facts of the situation or the barbaric nature of the procedure. The media and the abortion industry have worked hard to keep this information from the public. Without judgment or condemnation it is important to gently and persuasively keep the facts of abortion and the science of fetal development before as many people as possible.
2) Stand up for the social services that promote and enable adoption, and support the social safety nets that make it possible for women to carry their children to a healthy delivery. Mother Theresa was once asked, “If you wish to deny abortion, what shall we do with all of these unwanted children?” She replied, “Bring them to me!” Those who seek to protect life before birth must be willing to support the lives of children after birth. This means funding for health care, adoption programs and education.
3) Ensure that women who face an unplanned pregnancy know that alternatives to abortion are available. This is done by promoting adoption and support programs that will often cover the expenses of pregnancy. There are tens of thousands of American couples that would love to receive an adopted child into their homes.
4) Be sensitive and kind to women who have made the abortion choice earlier in their lives. In most cases these women were abandoned by the men who had fathered the children. In many cases financial fears and family pressure encouraged their tragic decision. In other cases they fell prey to the abortion industry and its counterparts in politics and the media. Every person on earth has made mistakes and most of us have made very serious ones. While it is important to fight the practice of abortion, it is not helpful to condemn good people who have made poor choices in tough times.
5) Be consistent in your support of life. If it is wrong to destroy a human life in the womb, it is equally wrong to support state-sanctioned killing in prisons. Most civilized countries have outlawed the death penalty. Those who oppose death by abortion should be at the forefront of opposing death by capital punishment.
6) Support the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. Whatever one’s personal view might be on the appropriateness of homosexual relationships, there are tens of thousands of fine couples who happen to be gay or lesbian that would give anything to provide a loving home for a child.
7) Support life with your vote. Though you may be ridiculed as a “one issue voter” do not vote for any candidate for any office that claims a pro-choice position. Do not vote for any candidate of any party that proclaims a pro-choice position in its platform. Yes, it is a shame to vote against otherwise strong candidates for important offices, but there is no issue more critical to a civilized society than the protection of innocent human life.
8) Support life with your dollars. It is important to contribute to responsible pro-life organizations, and it is important to make sure that any organization receiving your support conducts its affairs with integrity, fairness, consistency and compassion. It is equally important to do everything possible to withhold funds from any organization that supports abortion or helps fund an organization that provides abortions. For example, the United Way is a funding source for Planned Parenthood, one of the largest abortion providers in the nation. Do not contribute to United Way, even if United Way supports other causes of interest to you.
9) Insist on impartial, candid and open abortion education. The media and the abortion industry do not want to talk about the process of abortion, how the procedure is done, or the emotional and physical complications that often continue throughout life. Most people do not understand exactly what happens in a partial-birth abortion or in a vacuum aspiration. Difficult though it is, like any other surgical procedure, the process needs to be revealed in vivid detail.
10) Most important of all, it is imperative that those who deplore the violence of abortion speak out loudly against violence and intimidation toward those with whom they disagree. Dr. George Tiller of Kansas was most certainly a mass murderer in the cruelest sense, but the deranged man who assassinated and martyred him did much to harm the cause of life. Even more, any word from anyone opposed to abortion that could be interpreted as supportive of the destruction of property, threats to abortion providers and supporters, or harm to any individual only serves to give credibility to those who contend that abortion is a legitimate medical procedure. The loudest condemnation of Tiller’s murder should have come from the pro-life community.
I believe that this painful matter is, indeed, the moral issue of our day. I hope that generations to come will look upon us as the people that began the process of eradicating this scourge from American society. The work will be long and hard, and it will not be accomplished on religious arguments, intimidation or abusive methods. The battle will be won through the application of science, the dispensation of factual information, and a spirit of compassion and healing.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
It is only natural, in questions of life and death, that many people turn to religious faith to form and define their beliefs and values about such important matters. If you believe the fetus to be a child created intentionally and specifically by God, then the preservation of that life is among the most important questions a society faces. If you believe that the fetus is a part of the woman’s body without a soul of its own, then religious faith would call us to protect the dignity and privacy of the woman and the province of her choice.
There simply is no middle ground in the question. The fetus is either life or it isn’t.
That said, it is imperative that we as a society take this question out of the realm of religious belief and argument. The United States of America is, despite the charmingly ignorant proclamations of some that we are a “Christian” nation, a secular society. We affirm freedom of religion, but we make our laws on the basis of known science and on the common understandings of personhood as prescribed in the Declaration of Independence and as codified in the United States Constitution. For the purpose of making and enforcing laws, it is these documents and known science, not articles of faith, that must guide the argument and our decisions as a society.
Thus, we must keep our religious faith off the woman’s body and, for that matter, off the body of the child.
I have often said, and I firmly believe, that the question of abortion at the turn of the 21st century is reminiscent of the question of slavery in the United States 150-200 years ago. On the one hand, there were those who then proclaimed that “all men are created equal, endowed.. with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...” They believed that the enslavement of one person to another was a base violation of the enslaved’s core right to personhood. On the other hand, there were those who argued that humans with black skin were not persons at all, that they were some “middle ground” between animal and human, and that to keep them enslaved was not only allowable, but was a compassionate means of providing for their care and protection. Such was often preached from pulpits in both the North and the South in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thankfully, that question has been settled. Though the struggle was long, hard and bloody, there are very few modern Americans that would question the personhood of any human being. In fact, most Americans look back at the days of slavery with shame and embarrassment, a throwback to a more primitive and barbaric time.
One of the primary reasons for this understanding, even above Lincoln’s goodness and Grant’s artillery, has been the advance of science. In time it came to be commonly understood that beyond color and environment humans are essentially the same. They are each and every one endowed with gifts and graces, strengths and weaknesses, talents to offer and burdens to carry.
Though it escapes the notice of partisan media and lobbying organizations, there have been many advances in the science of prenatal development since the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that opened the door to the legalization of abortion. At every turn, with every scientific advance we learn more and more that the developing fetus quickly attains all of the elements of personhood, emotions of fear and happiness, curiosity, playfulness and self-preservation. We have learned that many elements of our personhood are formed in the womb, including personality and intelligence.
In the application of known science we must determine then that the developing fetus is, indeed, a human being “endowed with certain unalienable rights” under the Declaration of Independence and, by extension, the United Sates Constitution.
In light of the advancing march of clear science, the only way that the child can be considered merely a tissue mass that is a part of the woman’s body is through a form of blind faith or superstition that flies in the face of clear, indisputable fact. Thus when we say, “Keep Your Religion Off My Body” the words should apply to the protection of the child’s right to live, rather than the woman’s option to terminate the life of the child.
I believe, I guess as a matter of faith, that our culture and society will grow in this matter in the same way that we overcame slavery. It is my confident hope that, 200 years from now, an American society will look back with shame and sorrow over the denial of personhood and the destruction of the lives of the most vulnerable of Americans. I am sure that they will consider us a barbaric culture for our willingness to sacrifice human lives on the primitive altars of “choice” and “privacy.”
Though I fear that none of us will live long enough to see that day, I do believe that we can work together to help open the door to an America where the rights of all people -born and unborn- to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are equally respected.
Here is how you can help...
1) Approach all people on every side of this issue with compassion and with respect. Most people who consider themselves supporters of abortion rights take that position because they do not understand the facts of the situation or the barbaric nature of the procedure. The media and the abortion industry have worked hard to keep this information from the public. Without judgment or condemnation it is important to gently and persuasively keep the facts of abortion and the science of fetal development before as many people as possible.
2) Stand up for the social services that promote and enable adoption, and support the social safety nets that make it possible for women to carry their children to a healthy delivery. Mother Theresa was once asked, “If you wish to deny abortion, what shall we do with all of these unwanted children?” She replied, “Bring them to me!” Those who seek to protect life before birth must be willing to support the lives of children after birth. This means funding for health care, adoption programs and education.
3) Ensure that women who face an unplanned pregnancy know that alternatives to abortion are available. This is done by promoting adoption and support programs that will often cover the expenses of pregnancy. There are tens of thousands of American couples that would love to receive an adopted child into their homes.
4) Be sensitive and kind to women who have made the abortion choice earlier in their lives. In most cases these women were abandoned by the men who had fathered the children. In many cases financial fears and family pressure encouraged their tragic decision. In other cases they fell prey to the abortion industry and its counterparts in politics and the media. Every person on earth has made mistakes and most of us have made very serious ones. While it is important to fight the practice of abortion, it is not helpful to condemn good people who have made poor choices in tough times.
5) Be consistent in your support of life. If it is wrong to destroy a human life in the womb, it is equally wrong to support state-sanctioned killing in prisons. Most civilized countries have outlawed the death penalty. Those who oppose death by abortion should be at the forefront of opposing death by capital punishment.
6) Support the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. Whatever one’s personal view might be on the appropriateness of homosexual relationships, there are tens of thousands of fine couples who happen to be gay or lesbian that would give anything to provide a loving home for a child.
7) Support life with your vote. Though you may be ridiculed as a “one issue voter” do not vote for any candidate for any office that claims a pro-choice position. Do not vote for any candidate of any party that proclaims a pro-choice position in its platform. Yes, it is a shame to vote against otherwise strong candidates for important offices, but there is no issue more critical to a civilized society than the protection of innocent human life.
8) Support life with your dollars. It is important to contribute to responsible pro-life organizations, and it is important to make sure that any organization receiving your support conducts its affairs with integrity, fairness, consistency and compassion. It is equally important to do everything possible to withhold funds from any organization that supports abortion or helps fund an organization that provides abortions. For example, the United Way is a funding source for Planned Parenthood, one of the largest abortion providers in the nation. Do not contribute to United Way, even if United Way supports other causes of interest to you.
9) Insist on impartial, candid and open abortion education. The media and the abortion industry do not want to talk about the process of abortion, how the procedure is done, or the emotional and physical complications that often continue throughout life. Most people do not understand exactly what happens in a partial-birth abortion or in a vacuum aspiration. Difficult though it is, like any other surgical procedure, the process needs to be revealed in vivid detail.
10) Most important of all, it is imperative that those who deplore the violence of abortion speak out loudly against violence and intimidation toward those with whom they disagree. Dr. George Tiller of Kansas was most certainly a mass murderer in the cruelest sense, but the deranged man who assassinated and martyred him did much to harm the cause of life. Even more, any word from anyone opposed to abortion that could be interpreted as supportive of the destruction of property, threats to abortion providers and supporters, or harm to any individual only serves to give credibility to those who contend that abortion is a legitimate medical procedure. The loudest condemnation of Tiller’s murder should have come from the pro-life community.
I believe that this painful matter is, indeed, the moral issue of our day. I hope that generations to come will look upon us as the people that began the process of eradicating this scourge from American society. The work will be long and hard, and it will not be accomplished on religious arguments, intimidation or abusive methods. The battle will be won through the application of science, the dispensation of factual information, and a spirit of compassion and healing.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Friday, January 21, 2011
ROSES
The ice cream parlor is new. The street is old...even to me.
A few days ago, my young daughter and I stopped for an ice cream cone at a new Baskin-Robbins. The store was located on a street that I have known since high school. For nearly eight years I was Music Minister for a church a half-mile up the road. When I was in high school I occasionally sang as a guest in the youth choir of a buddy’s church across the street. The building for his church was constructed at least 75 years ago. It has a cemetery around it filled with the granite headstones that were once a tradition in (then) rural Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Things change over the years. The old strip center where our church staff often went for lunch is now a new Walmart. The ice cream parlor is where the bank and dry cleaners once stood. Most of the signs and words all around now are in Spanish. I am sure the pleasant young lady scooping the ice cream relied more on my pointing fingers than on my English request for “...two chocolate cones, one scoop each.”
As dad and daughter sat down to eat our ice cream, I glanced across the street to the old church (now converted to a school) and to the cemetery beyond.
I was too far away to see the features of his face. I could not tell his age for certain, but I would have guessed at least 80. He wore casual trousers held in place by suspenders along with a solid colored dress shirt. It looked liked it had been ironed by someone who was not accustomed to ironing every day. He carried in his hands a long box and one of those small hand-held clippers that you might use on house plants. His car was a mid-1980s white Oldsmobile sedan. Though it showed normal wear, it look well-cared for. The whitewall tires looked to have been recently cleaned.
With ambling but steady steps he made his way about 20 feet from his car to one of the granite headstones. He laid the box and his clippers on the ground while he cleared the contents out of a vase that was built into the granite marker. Then, one at a time, he took a rose out of the box, trimmed it and placed it lovingly in the vase. He reached into the box once again for some baby’s breath that he carefully arranged around the vase of roses. When he was done arranging, he produced a small watering can and slowly filled the vase with water.
Had he been 18 instead of 80, and had the vase been made of glass rather than stone, I would have believed his flowers to be for a prom date instead of the mission they served in a Georgia cemetery.
When he finished his work, he knelt in prayer for a few seconds. As he got up, he brushed the edge of the headstone a few times and gazed at its words. I couldn’t help but imagine that he brushed the sand off the cold, stone slab with same gentle motion that he must have once brushed his wife’s hair from her forehead. As he stood, he leaned forward to gently touch his lips to the edge of the granite headstone.
As I watched him amble to his car, my daughter’s musical voice brought me back from my trance. “Daddy, what are you looking at?” The little face asking the question looked like a clown with a two inch border of chocolate ice cream (yes, nose included) around the mouth.
“I am watching love, honey. I am watching God’s will at work.” “I don’t understand, Daddy.” “I can’t explain it, sweetheart, but you will know it one day when you see it.”
I will never know the elderly man’s name, but I will never forget his witness. I just hope and pray that one day, when my precocious little girl becomes a wondrous young woman, someone comes into her life to adore her in the way that this loving man treasures the partner that waits for him at God’s banquet table.
I also hope and pray that God teaches me to love likewise.
“Faith, hope and love...endure all things...but the greatest of these is love.”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
A few days ago, my young daughter and I stopped for an ice cream cone at a new Baskin-Robbins. The store was located on a street that I have known since high school. For nearly eight years I was Music Minister for a church a half-mile up the road. When I was in high school I occasionally sang as a guest in the youth choir of a buddy’s church across the street. The building for his church was constructed at least 75 years ago. It has a cemetery around it filled with the granite headstones that were once a tradition in (then) rural Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Things change over the years. The old strip center where our church staff often went for lunch is now a new Walmart. The ice cream parlor is where the bank and dry cleaners once stood. Most of the signs and words all around now are in Spanish. I am sure the pleasant young lady scooping the ice cream relied more on my pointing fingers than on my English request for “...two chocolate cones, one scoop each.”
As dad and daughter sat down to eat our ice cream, I glanced across the street to the old church (now converted to a school) and to the cemetery beyond.
I was too far away to see the features of his face. I could not tell his age for certain, but I would have guessed at least 80. He wore casual trousers held in place by suspenders along with a solid colored dress shirt. It looked liked it had been ironed by someone who was not accustomed to ironing every day. He carried in his hands a long box and one of those small hand-held clippers that you might use on house plants. His car was a mid-1980s white Oldsmobile sedan. Though it showed normal wear, it look well-cared for. The whitewall tires looked to have been recently cleaned.
With ambling but steady steps he made his way about 20 feet from his car to one of the granite headstones. He laid the box and his clippers on the ground while he cleared the contents out of a vase that was built into the granite marker. Then, one at a time, he took a rose out of the box, trimmed it and placed it lovingly in the vase. He reached into the box once again for some baby’s breath that he carefully arranged around the vase of roses. When he was done arranging, he produced a small watering can and slowly filled the vase with water.
Had he been 18 instead of 80, and had the vase been made of glass rather than stone, I would have believed his flowers to be for a prom date instead of the mission they served in a Georgia cemetery.
When he finished his work, he knelt in prayer for a few seconds. As he got up, he brushed the edge of the headstone a few times and gazed at its words. I couldn’t help but imagine that he brushed the sand off the cold, stone slab with same gentle motion that he must have once brushed his wife’s hair from her forehead. As he stood, he leaned forward to gently touch his lips to the edge of the granite headstone.
As I watched him amble to his car, my daughter’s musical voice brought me back from my trance. “Daddy, what are you looking at?” The little face asking the question looked like a clown with a two inch border of chocolate ice cream (yes, nose included) around the mouth.
“I am watching love, honey. I am watching God’s will at work.” “I don’t understand, Daddy.” “I can’t explain it, sweetheart, but you will know it one day when you see it.”
I will never know the elderly man’s name, but I will never forget his witness. I just hope and pray that one day, when my precocious little girl becomes a wondrous young woman, someone comes into her life to adore her in the way that this loving man treasures the partner that waits for him at God’s banquet table.
I also hope and pray that God teaches me to love likewise.
“Faith, hope and love...endure all things...but the greatest of these is love.”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Thursday, January 13, 2011
THE CREEPS
Christian bookstores just creep me out!
There. I said it. Now what!?
I have long had this problem. I am compelled by some dastardly force to be the yin for the yang....or is it the yang for the yin. Whatever!. When I serve churches of a more liberal bent, I have been the staff conservative. When I have served churches of a more conservative stripe, I have been the staff liberal. I have been deservedly blasted from both sides of the political spectrum at one time or another.
But, I have been consistent with my queasiness in “Christian” bookstores.
I had to go into one a few weeks ago. My precious daughter Marguerite likes to listen to Cedarmont Kids CDs while driving around in the car. As a parent, I think the music is excellent for children her age. Most Christian bookstores carry the series. So does Wal-mart. I have been to Wal-marts in four states looking for a particular CD without success. Since I would march barefoot through the gates of Hell for Daddy’s Little Girl, I decided to brave a “family Christian bookstore” at a local mall to find the album. It wasn’t easy.
I can deal with the massive display of Bibles. Actually, I rather like the Bible. Unlike some of my more liberal friends, I have no doubt that the Bible is the “inspired Word of God” and will proclaim it so to my dying day without apology. My favorite edition is the Geneva Study New King James Version, but I find several other translations interesting and useful. I like the commentary embedded in the text. It helps explain the literary and historical background of each passage.
I also like some of the books found in the store. Every Christian should read Luther’s Theology of the Cross, as well as the entire output of heros like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C. S. Lewis. Some of the modern church sociologists are nutty, others are quite insightful. Some are actually nutty and insightful.
Its more the other “stuff” that bugs me: Some of the jewelry with depictions of the empty tomb dangling from a wrist bracelet. Doormats with “I stand at the door and knock” and electric trains with “Jesus Saves” emblazoned on the box cars. Magazines musing about “What Would Jesus Eat?” (My answer: “Well, crawfish, cornbread and fried okra, of course!”)
Part of my problem is that I can’t clearly define what “my problem” is with these stores. I just know that I would rather order my “Christian” books on the Internet than enter one of these businesses.
It is not entirely the commercialism. Even people who make Bibles have to eat food, buy houses and pay $75 for a tank of gas. After all, for many years I, myself made quite a fine living leading church music.
It is not even the gaudiness of some of the products for sale. Who am I to make a cultural judgement on what different people find meaningful? Both the St. Matthew Passion and The Ninety and Nine speak with power to some of God’s children.
It is not the people working in the stores. An attractive and helpful young lady took me straight to the children’s music section and helped me find the CD my daughter was looking for. She even offered to wrap it for free if it was to be given as a gift. Nothing creepy about her.
Maybe it was the whole business about taking Jesus and packaging Him into whatever shape or form might serve our purposes. Certainly, our Father created all food. It is His desire that we should take the best care of our bodies...that He called His “temple.” But, do we really want to be arrogant enough to speculate on what Jesus would choose to eat were He in His pre-ascended form in the United States of the early 21st century?
Taking the Gospel and reshaping it for our human purpose has been a sad feature of the Church since the apostles Paul and Silas got into a fist fight in the church parking lot about what color the nursery would be painted. Both combatants were certain that Jesus Himself would have agreed with their preferences in decor.
But the truth is that Jesus probably had other things to concern Himself with...like sorting out Bill Baker!
I can imagine Our Lord dropping by a Christian bookstore at the nearby mall and saying, “Hey guys... books about growing in faith, fun jewelry, cool toys, great music... all of this is good. My Father created you for life abundant and joyful. Enjoy all of these things and give Him alone the glory. But you don’t have to slap my Name on everything. Please don’t use my Name for your endorsement...I have already endorsed you and everything in this world with My grace and love.”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
There. I said it. Now what!?
I have long had this problem. I am compelled by some dastardly force to be the yin for the yang....or is it the yang for the yin. Whatever!. When I serve churches of a more liberal bent, I have been the staff conservative. When I have served churches of a more conservative stripe, I have been the staff liberal. I have been deservedly blasted from both sides of the political spectrum at one time or another.
But, I have been consistent with my queasiness in “Christian” bookstores.
I had to go into one a few weeks ago. My precious daughter Marguerite likes to listen to Cedarmont Kids CDs while driving around in the car. As a parent, I think the music is excellent for children her age. Most Christian bookstores carry the series. So does Wal-mart. I have been to Wal-marts in four states looking for a particular CD without success. Since I would march barefoot through the gates of Hell for Daddy’s Little Girl, I decided to brave a “family Christian bookstore” at a local mall to find the album. It wasn’t easy.
I can deal with the massive display of Bibles. Actually, I rather like the Bible. Unlike some of my more liberal friends, I have no doubt that the Bible is the “inspired Word of God” and will proclaim it so to my dying day without apology. My favorite edition is the Geneva Study New King James Version, but I find several other translations interesting and useful. I like the commentary embedded in the text. It helps explain the literary and historical background of each passage.
I also like some of the books found in the store. Every Christian should read Luther’s Theology of the Cross, as well as the entire output of heros like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C. S. Lewis. Some of the modern church sociologists are nutty, others are quite insightful. Some are actually nutty and insightful.
Its more the other “stuff” that bugs me: Some of the jewelry with depictions of the empty tomb dangling from a wrist bracelet. Doormats with “I stand at the door and knock” and electric trains with “Jesus Saves” emblazoned on the box cars. Magazines musing about “What Would Jesus Eat?” (My answer: “Well, crawfish, cornbread and fried okra, of course!”)
Part of my problem is that I can’t clearly define what “my problem” is with these stores. I just know that I would rather order my “Christian” books on the Internet than enter one of these businesses.
It is not entirely the commercialism. Even people who make Bibles have to eat food, buy houses and pay $75 for a tank of gas. After all, for many years I, myself made quite a fine living leading church music.
It is not even the gaudiness of some of the products for sale. Who am I to make a cultural judgement on what different people find meaningful? Both the St. Matthew Passion and The Ninety and Nine speak with power to some of God’s children.
It is not the people working in the stores. An attractive and helpful young lady took me straight to the children’s music section and helped me find the CD my daughter was looking for. She even offered to wrap it for free if it was to be given as a gift. Nothing creepy about her.
Maybe it was the whole business about taking Jesus and packaging Him into whatever shape or form might serve our purposes. Certainly, our Father created all food. It is His desire that we should take the best care of our bodies...that He called His “temple.” But, do we really want to be arrogant enough to speculate on what Jesus would choose to eat were He in His pre-ascended form in the United States of the early 21st century?
Taking the Gospel and reshaping it for our human purpose has been a sad feature of the Church since the apostles Paul and Silas got into a fist fight in the church parking lot about what color the nursery would be painted. Both combatants were certain that Jesus Himself would have agreed with their preferences in decor.
But the truth is that Jesus probably had other things to concern Himself with...like sorting out Bill Baker!
I can imagine Our Lord dropping by a Christian bookstore at the nearby mall and saying, “Hey guys... books about growing in faith, fun jewelry, cool toys, great music... all of this is good. My Father created you for life abundant and joyful. Enjoy all of these things and give Him alone the glory. But you don’t have to slap my Name on everything. Please don’t use my Name for your endorsement...I have already endorsed you and everything in this world with My grace and love.”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
ABOUT HYMNS
One of my favorite characters in 20th and 21st century Lutheranism is Dr. Martin Marty. Marty, a native Nebraskan who has made Chicago his home for most of his rich life, must be considered the denomination’s foremost authority on worship and applied theology. He has been a contributor to The Christian Century since 1956. The depth of his scholarship is affirmed by 75 honorary doctorates. Smart dude, indeed!
Nearly three decades ago I attended a conference in Pennsylvania where Marty was a keynote speaker. In the Q & A after a lecture on the “place” of Lutherans in modern American Protestantism, he was asked what the primary distinguishing characteristics were of the Lutheran brand of Christianity.
He said that there were many distinctions, but two that stood high above all others, the Biblical balance of Word and Sacrament in all areas of devotional life, and the quality and depth of Lutheran hymnody. “Without our hymnody,” he said, “..we are just run-of-the-mill, garden variety Protestants, as somber as Presbyterians and as wishy-washy as Methodists.”
Though I outwardly cringe, but inwardly high-five, at his bluntness, I do believe that the jolly old fellow rather has a point. Whether it be the German chorales of Luther, Nicolai, Bach, and others, or the Scandinavian hymns of Grundtvig and Christiansen, or the more present works of Burkhardt and Manz, there is nothing like Lutheran hymnody for scriptural authority, musical strength and poetic transport.
It is a crying shame that so many of our congregations, in both the ELCA and the LCMS, have opted to cashier this timeless and profound heritage to replace it with the drab, commercial bushwash common in other churches, music that has contributed to the loss of nearly 25 million members in Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Disciples, and yes, Lutheran denominations in the last generation.
But all the news is not bad. There are many congregations across the country that have reaffirmed their commitment to excellence in worship, excellence in choral leadership, and excellence in liturgy and hymns. During my recent months of “retirement” from church music leadership I have had the privilege of visiting such churches and witnessing their success first hand.
There are many common themes that I have noticed in these growing and vital churches. Excellence in liturgy and music is chief among them. I have been inspired by the well-played organs and well-trained choirs. From my vantage point as a visitor in the congregation I have seen how the leadership of these choirs and organists empower meaningful congregational participation.
Great hymns form the core of the liturgical and musical excellence of these winning churches.
I define a great hymn as having five primary elements, none of which may be lacking if a hymn is worthy of inclusion in the service of the faithful. First and foremost, a hymn must be scripturally authoritative. It must be consistent with Holy Scripture and (for us) consistent with Lutheran theology of salvation by grace through faith.
Second, it must be musically appropriate for congregational singing. A hymn is to be sung by the gathered assembly in the context of Christian worship. There are many “songs” that are enjoyable, even uplifting as solos, choral pieces, or choruses around the campfire, but they simply don’t work for a congregation to sing together. Sadly, a misguided attempt at “diversity” has brought many of such songs into the two recent weak hymnal efforts by the ELCA, With One Voice and Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Third, the language of hymns should be particularly timely and exalted. Most certainly, the worship of the church in 2010 should include hymns from the best theologians and musicians of our day. Two songs in With One Voice are grand examples of this: “I Am the Bread of Life,” and “O Blessed Spring.” These hymns are more than worthy to take their place alongside “Praise to the Lord,” and “Now Thank We All Our God.” There is a grandeur to the language of quality hymns that emblazons Biblical imagery through the mind and deep into the soul. One of the most unforgivable offenses of recent hymnals has been the exchange of such powerful and exalted phrases for common language more fitting for a corporate expense report or the minutes of a club meeting than for the worship and praise of the Savior of the Nations.
Fourth, a hymn must be well-chosen to be effective. “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” is one of the richest hymns of the Lutheran (or any) tradition but it is simply not appropriate for the first Sunday of Advent or for Easter Day. Likewise, “Silent Night” would be out of place on Pentecost Sunday. Hymns well-chosen are chosen to augment and lift up the scripture for the day, especially the preaching text, the general theme of the liturgical season, and the specific theme of the liturgical day. For most services, the Hymn of the Day is the one that should be most closely tied to the scripture and preaching text. The opening and closing hymns can, and often should, be reflective of the theme in a more general application.
Finally, a hymn must be properly placed to be effective. In general, the opening processional hymn should be grand and majestic. Examples would be “The Church’s One Foundation,” “Praise to the Lord,” or “All Creatures of Our God and King.” The middle hymn can be more varied, as is necessary to be woven more intimately with the scripture. Often this is a good place for a hymn that is more meditative and reflective in nature. Finally, the closing hymn should sum up the themes of the service and send the worshiper out in a spirit of renewal, reaffirmation and recommitment. Hymns that are meandering or shallow placed at (especially) the beginning of the service or the end can do great damage to the energy and spirit of the worship. Consider these three wonderful hymns for the Feast of All Saints.
For All the Saints (LBW 174)
O God Our Help in Ages Past (LBW 320)
I Am the Bread of Life (WOV 702)
Obviously, “For All the Saints” is one of the most beloved hymns in the English speaking world...powerful, joyful... and it opens the worship with strength and a clear theme for the day. Though, from a purely thematic standpoint it could be placed in the middle of the service, to do so would strip it of its power while also denying the worship a grand source of majesty and energy at the outset of the celebration of Christ’s victory over death.
Likewise, “O God Our Help in Ages Past” can be used at the beginning of the service (as I have done during Lent) but it is not anywhere near as strong as “For All the Saints.” Plus, its themes of God continued providence well-fits all three gospel readings for All Saints Sunday.
Finally, in the church’s greatest affirmation of eternal life apart from Easter, there can be few worship elements more exalting and empowering than singing “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ... and all who believe in You shall live forever... And I will raise you up on the last day!” (Just typing the words in this note brings tears to my eyes in the sure and certain knowledge that I will one day be reunited with those from whom I have been parted by death.) Great hymnody should give such voice to the depth of the worshiping spirit.
Armed with rich heritage entrusted to us, and the urgent work set before us, the Church should accept nothing less than great hymnody, and should demand it without apology.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Nearly three decades ago I attended a conference in Pennsylvania where Marty was a keynote speaker. In the Q & A after a lecture on the “place” of Lutherans in modern American Protestantism, he was asked what the primary distinguishing characteristics were of the Lutheran brand of Christianity.
He said that there were many distinctions, but two that stood high above all others, the Biblical balance of Word and Sacrament in all areas of devotional life, and the quality and depth of Lutheran hymnody. “Without our hymnody,” he said, “..we are just run-of-the-mill, garden variety Protestants, as somber as Presbyterians and as wishy-washy as Methodists.”
Though I outwardly cringe, but inwardly high-five, at his bluntness, I do believe that the jolly old fellow rather has a point. Whether it be the German chorales of Luther, Nicolai, Bach, and others, or the Scandinavian hymns of Grundtvig and Christiansen, or the more present works of Burkhardt and Manz, there is nothing like Lutheran hymnody for scriptural authority, musical strength and poetic transport.
It is a crying shame that so many of our congregations, in both the ELCA and the LCMS, have opted to cashier this timeless and profound heritage to replace it with the drab, commercial bushwash common in other churches, music that has contributed to the loss of nearly 25 million members in Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Disciples, and yes, Lutheran denominations in the last generation.
But all the news is not bad. There are many congregations across the country that have reaffirmed their commitment to excellence in worship, excellence in choral leadership, and excellence in liturgy and hymns. During my recent months of “retirement” from church music leadership I have had the privilege of visiting such churches and witnessing their success first hand.
There are many common themes that I have noticed in these growing and vital churches. Excellence in liturgy and music is chief among them. I have been inspired by the well-played organs and well-trained choirs. From my vantage point as a visitor in the congregation I have seen how the leadership of these choirs and organists empower meaningful congregational participation.
Great hymns form the core of the liturgical and musical excellence of these winning churches.
I define a great hymn as having five primary elements, none of which may be lacking if a hymn is worthy of inclusion in the service of the faithful. First and foremost, a hymn must be scripturally authoritative. It must be consistent with Holy Scripture and (for us) consistent with Lutheran theology of salvation by grace through faith.
Second, it must be musically appropriate for congregational singing. A hymn is to be sung by the gathered assembly in the context of Christian worship. There are many “songs” that are enjoyable, even uplifting as solos, choral pieces, or choruses around the campfire, but they simply don’t work for a congregation to sing together. Sadly, a misguided attempt at “diversity” has brought many of such songs into the two recent weak hymnal efforts by the ELCA, With One Voice and Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Third, the language of hymns should be particularly timely and exalted. Most certainly, the worship of the church in 2010 should include hymns from the best theologians and musicians of our day. Two songs in With One Voice are grand examples of this: “I Am the Bread of Life,” and “O Blessed Spring.” These hymns are more than worthy to take their place alongside “Praise to the Lord,” and “Now Thank We All Our God.” There is a grandeur to the language of quality hymns that emblazons Biblical imagery through the mind and deep into the soul. One of the most unforgivable offenses of recent hymnals has been the exchange of such powerful and exalted phrases for common language more fitting for a corporate expense report or the minutes of a club meeting than for the worship and praise of the Savior of the Nations.
Fourth, a hymn must be well-chosen to be effective. “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” is one of the richest hymns of the Lutheran (or any) tradition but it is simply not appropriate for the first Sunday of Advent or for Easter Day. Likewise, “Silent Night” would be out of place on Pentecost Sunday. Hymns well-chosen are chosen to augment and lift up the scripture for the day, especially the preaching text, the general theme of the liturgical season, and the specific theme of the liturgical day. For most services, the Hymn of the Day is the one that should be most closely tied to the scripture and preaching text. The opening and closing hymns can, and often should, be reflective of the theme in a more general application.
Finally, a hymn must be properly placed to be effective. In general, the opening processional hymn should be grand and majestic. Examples would be “The Church’s One Foundation,” “Praise to the Lord,” or “All Creatures of Our God and King.” The middle hymn can be more varied, as is necessary to be woven more intimately with the scripture. Often this is a good place for a hymn that is more meditative and reflective in nature. Finally, the closing hymn should sum up the themes of the service and send the worshiper out in a spirit of renewal, reaffirmation and recommitment. Hymns that are meandering or shallow placed at (especially) the beginning of the service or the end can do great damage to the energy and spirit of the worship. Consider these three wonderful hymns for the Feast of All Saints.
For All the Saints (LBW 174)
O God Our Help in Ages Past (LBW 320)
I Am the Bread of Life (WOV 702)
Obviously, “For All the Saints” is one of the most beloved hymns in the English speaking world...powerful, joyful... and it opens the worship with strength and a clear theme for the day. Though, from a purely thematic standpoint it could be placed in the middle of the service, to do so would strip it of its power while also denying the worship a grand source of majesty and energy at the outset of the celebration of Christ’s victory over death.
Likewise, “O God Our Help in Ages Past” can be used at the beginning of the service (as I have done during Lent) but it is not anywhere near as strong as “For All the Saints.” Plus, its themes of God continued providence well-fits all three gospel readings for All Saints Sunday.
Finally, in the church’s greatest affirmation of eternal life apart from Easter, there can be few worship elements more exalting and empowering than singing “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ... and all who believe in You shall live forever... And I will raise you up on the last day!” (Just typing the words in this note brings tears to my eyes in the sure and certain knowledge that I will one day be reunited with those from whom I have been parted by death.) Great hymnody should give such voice to the depth of the worshiping spirit.
Armed with rich heritage entrusted to us, and the urgent work set before us, the Church should accept nothing less than great hymnody, and should demand it without apology.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
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