Advent

Advent is quickly becoming my favorite season of the liturgical church year. The reminder of the Incarnation of Christ and the eventual triumphal return of the risen, ascended and glorified Lord of all presents the opportunity to rejoice at God’s great mercy and yet still hope through faith, anticipating his certain return. Advent reminds us that the Kingdom has come and yet is coming still in complete fullness. It highlights the tension of living between two ages- the one that is and the one that is to come. Holding his tension in balance will keep us from the error of the Thessalonians and their over-realized eschatological tendency (they were worried they had missed the return of Christ or that his coming was so immanent that they no longer needed to work to support their families) and the church in Galatia with their under-realized eschatology (being tempted toward the law-regulations and away from righteousness by faith).

Advent teaches us, among other things, how to be about our pilgrim way. We look to the first advent and are emboldened at the finished work of Christ (the victory secured through the cross). And yet because Christ’s return has yet to happen, we understand the world is still groaning, as Paul says in Romans 8, waiting for the “Sons of God to be revealed.” What was inaugurated in the first Advent has yet to be consummated by Christ at the end of the age. Thus, our journey from the city of man to the City of God will not be easy. It will resemble Bonhoeffer’s “costly discipleship,” in which he describes costly grace as being costly because it call us to follow, but is grace nonetheless because we follow Jesus Christ. As Dr. Scott Swain says, the gospel is simply that “We have a home. And we have a way home.” Amen.

Prepare the way of the Lord.

Sojourn Church has produced a few really good worship albums. Their collection of Advent Songs is a really outstanding offering for the season. You can check it out here.

Apocalypse, a poem

Apocalypse
e.m. moulton august 2004

we talked about what you believed tonight
after the rain and the last glass of wine
and what you would be willing to pay a price for
despite what you saw and did that ultimately
defy the gravity that pulls you down

was it made of flesh and blood and would it
refuse all the kingdoms of this world
for love alone and the chance to start again
from the beginning and the thought of hope
not being deferred like you felt last week
alone on the crowded subway car and

of course you said you had thought of this but opted for
a more complex and sophisticated ransom
from this sickened earth, something about believing in
everything and questioning it all and how you would like to
hang on until tomorrow when maybe something
made sense or might be dropped down in some sort of apocalyptic moment
that is what you said you needed now and then you faded

staring into a basket of bread crumbs
and tracing a water droplet down the side your glass
you were gone like flame into night whispering
something about a friend living across seas
and how you hoped to hear from her soon

More on Religulous

Here is a final thought on Bill Maher’s Religulous. In the Filter magazine interview he was asked whether agnosticism was the most “honorable” outlook one could take regarding the afterlife, etc. Maher responds by commenting that for Christians, salvation is really a selfish pursuit. He says, “…whenever they start to answer these questions in religion about what happens when you die, it gets bound up with saving your own @%$. Just ask any Christian- it’s about salvation. Ethics and good works run a distant second and third to salvation.”

This is what is what I referred in my earlier post on this as being “irksome.” Maher apparently has no idea what the scope of the Christian Gospel entails. The reaches of the Gospel go far beyond personal personal salvation (though this is certainly central to Jesus’ death and resurrection). The gospel has a cosmic/creational span that includes a righting of all that collapsed under the penalty of sin. The Christian Gospel is the pinnacle of the history of redemption and announces the reversal of the fatal blow humanity and all creation incurred in Genesis 3. Now, granted, some overly simplistic, evangelical emphases has been placed on personal salvation and escapism from the world and whose vision of heaven stops at the intermediate state, failing to see it all the way through to the consummation of Christ's Kingdom. For a good sermon about creation/new creation, click here. Classic Dispensational teaching on the rapture and some millennial understandings have undermined the scriptural teaching of the Kingdom of God, heaven and the implications of resurrection. There is also a detrimental, pervasive Gnostic outlook that views the physical creation as bad and the spirit or spiritual as the only thing of lasting value (I guess Jesus’ physical, bodily resurrection poses a bit of an issue here!). This unfortunate misunderstanding fuels the stereotypes articulated by Mr. Maher and others. It makes the gospel look small and petty, when in reality, Jesus is Lord of all and his death and resurrection signaled the coming of his Kingdom in unspeakable ways. What the finished work of the cross ultimately accomplishes has and will literally shake the universe. As author Nathan Bierma so elegantly describes the “Big Gospel” in his book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth,

"In a small gospel, God’s main job is to be a missionary
coordinator, and salvation is an insurance policy for hell
avoidance. In a big gospel, God is the maker and manager
of the entire creation and the commissioner of all the
culture making of humans, and he is working toward
the restoration of all of it.

When we live in the hope of a big gospel, we see Jesus Christ
not just as a serial intruder on people’s souls but the one in
whom “all things hold together,” in the words of Colossians 1.
All things- not just people’s hearts but the infrastructure of
nature, culture and relationships. So the hope of a big gospel is
not just going to heaven to be with God, but a vision of the new
earth and the heavenly city as the place where God’s authority
over all of life is made complete. Living in the hope of heaven
means seeing glimpses of such a place already, and wanting
more."

As to Maher’s assertion that ethics and good works are somehow exclusive to God’s people and somehow divorced from the saved, well, I recommend the book of James and any of the Gospels or any of Paul’s epistles- you get the idea. Perhaps if we preached consistently a “Big Gospel,” skeptics may see the glory of his redeeming love more clearly and powerfully.

Those regenerated by the gift of God in Christ Jesus bear fruit in keeping with repentance and love to bring glory to their heavenly Father by doing good deeds and living by the inward ethic of the Holy Spirit.

Bill Maher's "Religulous" Documentary

Last week I picked up the latest edition of Filter magazine, a music, film and cultural review periodical (that targets a young audience and leans aggressively left on the traditional culture spectrum), and found a short article about and interview of Bill Maher and his latest effort, a documentary film called Religulous. The basis of the film is to expose the inherent danger that lies at the heart of all organized religion. It seeks to demonstrate that religion and its effects are a plague on society and creates an environment of extremism, harm and denial of reasoned reality. As could be guessed, Christianity and Islam are the primary targets, according the article, and Jesus is discussed a good bit. The interviewer, Ken Scrudato, writes in the introduction, “Of course, with militant Islam sharply on the rise and American “progress” suffocating under contemporary Christian “morality” crusades, the exigency of such atheistic discourse goes without saying. But Religulous, because it’s, well, extremely funny, might actually find itself preaching to the preachers.” The author argues that rationalism is the cure for religion, in general. He says, “Emile Zola, that fidei defensor of modern day rationalism, once wrote, ‘civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on its last priest.’ Think of Religulous, then as one big @%$&*^ boulder.”

Maher is seeking to reassure what he feels is a significant number of people in society who hold to a truly agnostic or atheistic position and wants to encourage them to become a more emboldened force. “…what I find going around the country talking to people is that there are so many people who are not like you and me, necessarily- they’re not very religious but they’re not very anti-religion. And I think that there’s a large audience of people who are ready to be shown something new about this topic, and to come away thinking that religion isn’t just something that is neutral and benign; that it is actually really destructive.”

Never mind that Maher’s Religulous lumps in all religions and equates each as evil, it’s Maher’s scant understanding of Christianity and the Bible that is so irksome. His “case-studies” as examples of a “dangerous” Christianity always tend to be gross exaggerations of the worst of extreme Christian fundamentalism or a complete horrific exegesis of a Jesus quote from a New Testament gospel passage. Of these gross caricatures and obvious mis-representations of biblical Christianity, I can agree with Maher that they are wrong, sometimes harmful and regularly ridiculous. But exposing ignorance and sin among God’s people does not discredit the merits of the Gospel or sway Christ from his Lordship over all. As if a handful of bad comedians discredits and disqualifies the entire comedic entertainment industry (I realize that is simplistic analogy). It would be interesting to hear more of Maher’s and the author’s notion of “rationalism” to which they appeal as the anchor of societal “utopia,” I guess. They also seem to be concerned with America’s impeded “progress” at the hands of the aforementioned “suffocating (under) contemporary Christian “morality” crusades.” There is so much to speculate regarding this "progress" the author speaks of. And it would be interesting to hear their vision of "progress" in our culture and society. Nevertheless, I do see here an opportunity for thoughtful Christians to see this film for the purpose of engaging others in dialogue regarding its claims. The question is, are we brave enough, willing enough and equppied enough through our own study to take something like this on through meaningful, thoughtful engagement?

There is a growing, aggressive push on the agnostic and atheistic fronts to discredit religion in general and Christianity in particular. Religulous, seems to fall in line with this effort and agenda. The appeal to strict rationality reminds me of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, in which he makes a substantial appeal to the atheistic worldview on the basis of rational thought and scientific method.

Where do we go from here? I think Maher’s hunch about a growing number of people in the religiously ambivalent category is accurate and that his statement that they are “up for grabs” is equally accurate. I see such a generally shallow foundation among our young people in the church (we have failed many of them on their journey toward fulfilling their Baptismal Covenant and growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ). But that is a lament for another day. Many fall away at the first challenge from the academy or from culture’s music, film, literature, etc. To our detriment we have neglected the glory of God and the great doctrines of the faith for a self-interest type of spirituality that appeals primarily to an existential expression of faith. It bothers me that a documentary like this can be launched and remain unchallenged by many because the church doesn’t know how or is simply unwilling to respond with reason, grace and hearty dialogue and debate.

A book that may be an encouragement and helpful resource among all the recent “atheistic manifesto’s” and anti-Christian propaganda is Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

The way of God, who disposes all things with gentleness,
Is to instill religion into our minds with reasoned arguments
And into our hearts with grace, but attempting to instill it into our
Hearts and minds with force and threats is to instill not religion
But terror. Terror rather than religion. –Blaise Pascal, Pensees 172


If we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing
Mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our
Religion will be absurd and ridiculous. –Blaise Pascal, Pensees 173

The Puritans: Part 1

I am reading J.I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan vision of the Christian Life and my heart is stirred just in its opening chapters regarding the holistic vision that the Puritan reformers held. The Puritan ideal is not satisfied with anything less than total transformation – of heart, mind, body, church, community & culture. The glories of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God will settle for nothing less. Ultimately, the gospel fruit in full bloom will witness the new heavens and the new earth at the second coming of Christ and the consummation of the Kingdom- the sure arrival of the glorious City of God.

Who were the Puritans? “Puritans were labeled such “in the early 1560’s, it was always a Satirical smear word implying peevishness, censoriousness, conceit, and a measure of hypocrisy, over and above its basic implication of religiously motivated discontent with what was seen as Elizabeth’s Laodicean and compromising Church of England,” writes Packer. The Puritan Vision of the Christian life is often relegated as cold, doctrinally obsessed intellectualism, but this is not a fair caricature of the movement al all. “The Puritan goal was to complete what England’s Reformation began: to finish reshaping Anglican worship, to introduce effective church discipline into Anglican parishes, to establish righteousness in the political, domestic, and socio-economic fields, and to convert all Englishmen to a vigorous evangelical faith.” (Packer, Quest for Godliness, p.28)

Societal transformation was an integrated feature of their theological outlook and understanding of the church’s role in the world. The Kingdom of God is here and is yet to come. Transformation is possible at every level and will come in fullness in due time. Too often Puritans are seen as heavenly-minded separatist “pietists” with no interest in the souls of men or in the affairs of the world. This could hardly be a more false caricature. According to Dr. Packer, a fresh study of the Puritans would yield great fruit for the contemporary church. To understand the practice of these English and American reformers like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Richard Baxter, John Owen and Charles Spurgeon would open up a true fount of blessing for Christians everywhere, for churches everywhere.

Packer identifies three groupings of contemporary believers that would benefit greatly from a study of the Puritans. He identifies these three categories as, “Restless Experientialists”, “Entrenched Intellectualists” and “Disaffected Deviationists.” (Packer, A Quest for Godliness” p.30) I will post his definitions of these three groupings on a later post, but I find his line of thought and insight to be very profound.

Who Stole Edward Mote's Hymn Title?

Edward Mote’s famous hymn, “The Solid Rock” is certainly legendary in Christ’s church. Mote was a British Cabinet-maker who penned the hymn while working one day. He later read what he had written at the bedside of an ill friend. Some two years later the hymn was published and the rest is church history. You can read more on Mote and the story behind many of the most famous of the church’s hymns here. My favorite versions of this hymn appear on Vineyard's "Touching the Father's Heart" series #10, Save us oh God, and Charlie Hall's version found on the recent Passion disk, Hymns Ancient & Modern.

The interesting thing to me is that the original title of the hymn was “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope.” There are several other claims on the original title, including "The Gracious Experience of a Christian." Granted, "The Immutable Basis of a Sinner's Hope" is a bit clumsy, but the weight and power of the title is substantial. Perhaps it is regrettable to simplify our language to the point of a minimal lexicon for our language. The reduction of terminology takes the subtlety, power, grace and style out of language- it loses its flavor when we spurn technical terms for more generic fare. The use of the word "Love" in the English language is a perfect example of our lexical lethargy! Theological words in the contemporary church are especially frowned upon – even Biblical terms such as justification, sanctification and glorification. We should celebrate the language of the church and teach it to young disciples and hold to the expectation that these words be understood and appreciated among God’s people. And, as God's people, we will be richer for it. And we should rally to restore Mote’s hymn to its original title!

So, on that note, here is Edward Motes’ “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope”

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus name

Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

His oath, His covenant , His blood
Support me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay

When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faithful to stand before the throne

Best Listens of 2008...So Far

Listening to the world demands listening to musicians. The power of music is unmistakable and sometimes lyric and melody combine for an extraordinary effect. I love music for the way it inspires and challenges, the way it relates and befuddles me. Though there a few more albums I’m looking forward to hearing this year (ie, U2, The Windupdeads and Damien Jurado’s newest effort that just released last week), here is my list of top 5 albums I have heard this year. Let me know what you think and if you have an album from 2008 to add to the list, leave it in the comment section.

Sigur Ros Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust: The boys from Iceland lose their pants for some regrettable reason (at least on the album cover) but find their up tempo groove. This album features a bit more of a cheery disposition, though there is plenty of raw emotion fused into their offering here. As far as post-rock instrumentalism goes, Sigur Ros is hard to top. This album is strong and Sigur Ros is legend, man. BTW, the album title translates, "With a Buzz in our Ears, We Play Endlessly."

Sun Kil Moon April: Mark Kozelek’s band offers a bit more rock-edge to their sound but manage to maintain plenty of muse as Kozelek meandering lyrics carry the album. Even though it’s titled April, this double disc is a stroll on an autumn afternoon.

Joseph Arthur Could We Survive EP: Joseph Arthur writes songs in prolific fashion. This musician/artist released a series of EP’s this spring on the heels of several full length albums in 2007. The obligatory anti-war song aside- this is my favorite of his EP efforts this past spring and summer.

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes: This debut album from this Sub Pop Seattle band is strong and confident. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the strength of this album is the vocal prowess of this crew, fronted by Robin Pecknold. In the way that the great S&G could sing circles around a lyric, Fleet Foxes brings back the pure vocal.

Coldplay Viva Lavida: Back when Coldplay was just releasing A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2002, they were the darlings of the “musical underground elites.” They were considered pure musical genius. Now that they are a household name, many critics have abandoned the good ship Coldplay. If the measure of an album is how much you enjoy listening to a record, then I say this is a pretty good effort.