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.

Winter 1991, a poem

One of my dear friends growing up in Conyers, GA, was Ryan E. Crais. I think we just about covered all of the county running together from 1990-1994. We ran early, we ran late, we ran short and we ran long. Ryan was a freshman student at Georgia Tech when I was a senior in high school. As a part of my training regimen for wrestling, I would run at night. I had a number of different routes from my family’s house on White road which varied in length but encompassed a beautiful and distinctively rural landscape. Ryan would run with me 4-5 nights a week. We used the time to catch up with one another and pounded a lot of pavement together. The pace most always went from fast to maniacal, but that is how we liked it. Runs in the winter evenings are what I remember most and are the backdrop for the following poem I wrote a few years ago. Ryan is now an officer in the United States Military and has served our country with distinction. Thank you, Ryan.

Winter 1991
e.m. moulton 2002 for r.e. crais

Frozen patches of field grass
Stood at full attention for our coming,
Glistening under the canopy of stars
And the round, papery moon

We swore we were gazelles
Cutting into the night
On the fuel of dreams and
Dare I say grace?

We knew the world waited.
Cruel. Dark. Glorious. Attainable.

The torrid pace was never enough
To prevent the sensation of slowness
And near stand-still, like reflections
On languid water

We traversed the countryside,
Talking mostly and listening
Until words ran their course,
Giving way to cadenced breath
And elongated shadows
Dancing under starlight

Until all went frozen
Beneath a blanket of winter air-
At that moment we launched above all-
Kairos. A time outside of time.
We were timeless-
And young

A Fragment on Pascal and his Pensees

This summer I was introduced more fully to the writings of the 17th century French mathematician, philosopher and theologian, Blaise Pascal. Of course, most everyone is familiar with Pascal’s Wager, which, as my professor, Richard V. Horner, says, may not even represent his best work in theology and philosophy. Dying relatively young (age 39), Pascal made considerable contributions to the world of math and science. It is Pascal’s work after his conversion to Christ that really stands out, particularly in the areas of philosophy and theology.

In the wake of Descartes’ monumental cogito ergo sum, a completely rational approach to epistemological thought, Pascal writes to counter reason as the soul apparatus of reality, asserting faith by way of revelation as a legitimate means of knowing. His posthumously published (yet unfinished) Pense’es is described by many to be the finest work of literature the French language has ever seen. Here Pascal lays out, one short thought at a time, a thorough defense of Christianity. He criticizes not the use of reason as a means of knowing, but the use of reason as the exclusive metric for such foundational “knowing.”

The pensees may be read in a variety of ways and is full of incredible insight and compelling arguments on the merits of Christianity. While Pascal’s genius mind is to be honored and recognized both in the realm of science and theology, it is his passion that impresses me and inspires me. Shortly after his death, a reflection of his conversion to Christianity was found sewn into the lining of his coat. It is believed that he wore this as a reminder to himself of the work God had done in his life and of who he was in and through Christ Jesus.

Here is what it said:

The year of grace 1654,Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology.Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others.From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,

FIRE.

GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacobnot of the philosophers and of the learned.

Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.

GOD of Jesus Christ.My God and your God.

Your GOD will be my God.

Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.

He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.

Grandeur of the human soul.

Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.

Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.

I have departed from him:They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.

My God, will you leave me?

Let me not be separated from him forever.

This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.Jesus Christ.

I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.

Let me never be separated from him.

He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:

Renunciation, total and sweet.

Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.

Eternally in joy for a day's exercise on the earth.

May I not forget your words. Amen.

New Release from U2

The Irish band U2 is putting the final touches on a new studio album set to be released in late October of this year. I have deeply admired and appreciated the craft of U2 for a long time. In a world of excess, arrogance and gratuitous, “throw-away” lyrics and music from today’s pop world, U2 stands apart. They have managed, for nearly thirty years, to champion life and to keep the arrow pointing toward the redemptive, both on and off the stage. While I would love to see Bono become a bit more “confessional” regarding his Christian faith, I do admire the causes that he champions. Here is a link to an interesting article from the London Telegraph on how U2 have managed to survive (and thrive) as a band after all these years. If you want to have an incredible U2 concert experience in your own home, pick up a copy of the U2 concert dvd, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle. It is epic.

And for what it's worth, my favorite U2 album is their 1991 effort, Achtung Baby. It was their 7th studio album release and it is a great listen, start to finish.

Wendell Berry Haunts Me part 1

On our relationship with place and its impact on culture:

Few cultural commentators put the dagger in my heart repeatedly like Wendell Berry seems to be able to do. There are some voices that, having read them, haunt you with their ceaseless echoes swirling in the chamber of your mind and heart. Wendell Berry is like Nathan speaking to David, waking him from his own delusion and fantasy. In many ways, Wendell Berry is that cultural prophet, warning our nation’s citizenry of its crippling vices and crying out for healthier, less consumer-crazed lives. Berry is a poet, novelist, essayist and a deeply committed conservationist, whose primary concern is conserving what it means to be a healthy humanity, being human with the place where we live in creation. In a highly globalized, specialized society, Berry sees people being stripped of their sense of place, humanity’s relationship with the land and the unraveling of culture that ensues as a result. He writes, “The concept of country, homeland, dwelling place becomes simplified as “the environment” –that is, what surrounds us. Once we see our place, our part of the world, as surrounding us, we have already made a profound division between it and ourselves.” (The Unsettling of America, p.22).

Berry confounds both those who place themselves on the Left and on the Right. He is incredibly consistent in his stance on the sanctity of life, and has, in my opinion, penned one of the most concise and eloquent arguments for the pro-life position that I have ever read. You can read it here.

There will be much more to say about the writings and insights of Mr. Berry. He covers a vast array of issues that speak to the particularities of what it means to be human in our day and time. For now let me leave you with this, from his book, The Unsettling of America. Here he is commenting on the pitfalls of an age of specialization and the dependence of the consumer. “In our time the rule among consumers is to spend money recklessly. People whose governing habit is the relinquishment of power, competence, and responsibility, and whose characteristic suffering is the anxiety of futility, make excellent spenders. They are the ideal consumers. By inducing in them little panics of boredom, powerlessness, sexual failure, mortality, paranoia, they can be made to buy (or vote for) virtually anything that is “attractively packaged.” The advertising industry is founded upon this principle.”

The image Berry paints of anxious, paranoid, powerless and dependent consumers is haunting and looks less than human- less than the dignity for which we were created (Genesis 1.26-28). Thinking through the solutions and the challenges of re-orienting one’s life away from such blind-dependence is really tough, really sobering. More later…

O Love Divine

The Phos Hilaron (O Gracious Light) was one of the first recorded hymns of the Christian church, but certainly wasn’t the last. Jesus Christ and his redeeming love dominates the landscape of song in human history. In the Old Testament Israel worshiped and foreshadowed the Incarnation of Christ and the church, in response, writes hymnody and verse in reflection of his saving work on our behalf. There have been many prolific hymn writers through the ages; Fanny J. Crosby, Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, to name a few. I have recently been blessed by a hymn text of the great 18th century hymn writer, Charles Wesley. It is believed that Wesley penned over 6,000 hymns through the course of his lifetime. This is staggering, especially considering the theological weight and scriptural centeredness of his texts. These aren’t, “Love me Do” pop tunes, but serious, sublime, and beautiful hymns.

Wesley’s Hymn, O Love Divine, has lately been important to me and a blessing to my thoughts. Here is the text:

O Love Divine
The Gadsby Hymnal #249
Words: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788/Music: Jeff Koonce
© 2006 Red Mountain Music www.redmountainmusic.com

O love divine, how sweet thou art
When shall I find my willing heart
All taken up by thee?
I thirst, and faint and die to prove
The greatness of redeeming love
The love of Christ to me
The love of Christ to me

Refrain
O love divine how sweet
O love divine how sweet
O love divine how sweet thou art

Stronger his love than death or hell
Its riches are unsearchable
The first born sons of light
Desire in vain its depths to see
They cannot reach the mystery
The length and breadth and height
The length and breadth and height

God only knows the love of God
O that it now were shed abroad
In this poor stony heart
For this I sigh, for this I pine
This only portion, Lord, be mine
Be mine this better part
Be mine this better part

This hymn has been newly arranged by the worship artists at Red Mountain Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It exists on a collection of b-sides that did not make one of their recordings. You can download it free, here. They have recorded numerous albums of rediscovered, obscure hymnody. Many of these are found in the Gadsby compendium of hymns. Another group of artists doing a great job of giving forgotten hymns new life are the folks at Indelible Grace. They also have produced several albums dedicated to the renewal of the neglected hymnody in the church.


O love divine, how sweet thou art
When shall I find my willing heart
All taken up by thee?
I thirst, and faint and die to prove
The greatness of redeeming love
The love of Christ to me
The love of Christ to me

Workday, a poem

In the late Summer months of 1992, I had the privilege of working a few days for Clay Chapman. He was building a barn near Zebulon, GA and asked if i would like to help him for a few days before Fall semester at college started back. I am sure I was mostly dead-weight on the work-crew and maligned more than a few nails and defenseless 2x6's, but it was a great couple of days working with a genius craftsman in rural Georgia. Many years later I was able to pen this poem, a reflection on those few days. Thank you, Mr. Chapman. My apologies to the nails and lumber! And if you have yet to taste a sun-ripened scuppernong, I suggest you do so in the very near future.

Workday
e.m. moulton
august 2004 for Clay Chapman

said to be out of town
and in the country
building something useful a barn
a workhouse a life
somewhere near Zebulon GA
somewhere in a fresh mown field

said to be making our way
with saw-blades and hammers
and wood planks
it was our whole lives lived in one span
in one day inside the upside-down
45° angle cuts chattering hammers
and smoke from a burning scrap heap

said to have met the day’s design
and said to have been ahead by one wall
and a raised truss on the east end
that seemed to wait patiently to be dressed
determined not to fret the night away

said to be cooling in the shotgun hallway
of the farmhouse lighted by the open front door
and lined by the sound of steel guitar and vocal streams
from crackling vinyl-
we were awake and still and alive
inside saw-dusted red skin

said to be close to evening by then
riding home full (it is like grace to make full now)
and spent with the scent of the world in summer
while holding a fistful of ripened scuppernongs
from vines off the county road

The Ethic of the Holy Spirit

Put on, then, as God’s chosen ones,
holy and beloved, Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has Forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
~ Colossians 3.12-13

This is the ethic of the Spirit of God, that builds the culture of the Kingdom. Putting off the works of the flesh (through repentance and faith), the ethic of a fallen, diseased world, and putting on Christ, yields the fruitful effects of the Kingdom’s in-break in our own hearts and into the world around us. It is in part, our participation in “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” The deteriorating condition of a maligned creation is being renewed, is being mitigated, first in my heart, and is a foretaste of that which will come in full at the second advent. So simple humility working in us is by no means a small thing, but evidence of Jesus’ resurrection and exalted glory!

Damien Jurado's World

Listening to Damien Jurado is a journey into the heart of all that's right and wrong in the world, mostly what is wrong. Jurado’s literary style and narratives follow lost loves, perplexed figures, musings on various facets of life’s mundane nature and gross brutalities. He is to songwriting what Flannery O’Connor is to the short story and what the Coen brothers are to film. They all deal in absurd characters, contrast good and evil, acknowledge the human struggle and press toward redemption amidst the darkness. Jurado fills his quiet songs with characters and stories and unfoldings that smack of stark reality, a reality often difficult to hear. His songs place you on the wrong side of the tracks, and into the heart of life’s toughest relational struggles. He takes the listener to the reality of the human condition, for better and for worse.

White Center Damien Jurado, from On My Way to Absence

Heard they shot another

No one knows the reason

It didn't make the papers

It's just another wild night

Here in white center

Tonight they gather flowers

Sunday pack the churches

Morning comes too slowly

For us who feel like victims

Here in white center

Turn off your headlights

Here comes a cop car

Music for the bad boys

Music for the good boys

Here in white center

And this is what I appreciate about Jurado’s craft and art form. In presenting the world as it is, he forces the listener to distinguish from light and shadow, between myth and reality, between truth and lie. We see truth through the moral failings of the characters in his songs and see the desperate longing for hope in a fractured, sinful world.

Jurado’s newest album, Caught in the Trees, will release on September 9, 2008.

C.S. Lewis on Desire

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ~ C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory

So darkened is our expectation of life in the world, so clouded is our hope because of the veil of sin, that we cannot imagine a world righted of all its wrongs; a world of justice, freedom & peace. Yet, this is the Christian vision of heaven, this is redemption applied at the consummation- a new heavens and a new earth under the rightful rule and reign of the triune God of the Universe- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is this expectancy that becomes the trick of the Christian journey. The tension of a Kingdom that has come, is here now, and yet is coming in fullness presents a challenge for the follower of Christ, and still a vision for ultimate reconciliation. We are tempted, as those still under the veil of darkness, to fumble around with lesser idols of our time, passions that fail to fully satisfy. We work feverishly, filling cisterns that we know will not hold water. We labor to build kingdoms of prestige and power that will fail to persevere but that give us temporary relief, comfort and notoriety. “These things,” writes Lewis, “the beauty, the memory of our own past- are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the real thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” (Lewis. The Weight of Glory) To live in the present, joyfully surrendered to the authority of the King who has come and is coming again to make all things new, will direct us away from false idols and vain “self-medications” that cannot yield eternal rest or fulfillment. Lewis’ expectation of infinite joy is realized when we recognize the kingship of Jesus, labor for his name and renown presently and wait patiently for his return. Christ is the reality, the substance that shatters all myths.

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.” ~ C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory

"...I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." ~ John 6.35 ESV

An Offering from Pittsburgh

Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge
em moulton ~ Christmas 2006


The Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge stretched out
across the Ohio this morning looking heavy
with the weight of rain soaked into the pours of
its concrete piers and dripping down
from its minted steel forms as morning commuters
inched across with lights on and wipers on and
AM radios on leaving a trail of exhaust
to join the tang of rain and river
of road-top and rusted iron


I too felt heavy walking the bridge
beneath wet clothes imagining the men who cut the roads
from the foothills across the river
and raised the bridge beneath my feet and bolted
the truss-work overhead in the fabrication yard just
downstream and I thought about the time it takes
to make something right to do something well and
to make a way like the span of redemption
taking long its course and how God must glory
in that time and is glorified yet still and
stopping momentarily fixed only on the
river below I traced a log
drifting on the waters
floating quietly toward
release

Phos Hilaron

Phos Hilaron

O gracious Light,
Pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
And our eyes behold the vesper light,
We sing your praises O God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
And to be glorified through all the worlds.

Amen. BCP p.118

The Phos Hilaron is a New Testament greek title for the church’s earliest known complete hymn text not derived directly from scripture itself. It was sung at the lighting of the candles at the beginning of the worship assembly by the congregation. There is an adaptation of this song on the recent Hymn project by Passion.

To me, this is one of the many “gems” to be discovered in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and has become a favorite non-scriptural meditation text. It just moves me to Jesus Christ, points me to Jesus Christ and declares to me Jesus Christ. It calls me to worship in proper perspective, from a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving. I especially like the daily repetition to which the hymn invites us:

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
And our eyes behold the vesper light,
We sing your praises O God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As one who ventured into an Anglican expression of worship from a more general evangelical stream, I have grown to appreciate some repetition in prayer and in some of the collects said daily. In a way it mirrors the routines and repetitions of life and seeps its way into one’s daily movements. We are creatures of incredible habit, routine and repetitions that help ground our sense of being. I find that this repetition aids my attempt to live worshipfully by filling my mind with Christocentrical meditation and declaration, which I need desperately. My son Trent and I are working toward memorizing this hymn text- he will probably get it all before me!

“He is worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O giver of life,
And to be glorified through all the worlds."

Fleet Foxes

I am listening to a new album from a young Seattle band called Fleet Foxes. The commitment to the voice as an instrument is evident throughout the disc. There are moments in the album where the vocal harmonies really step forward and become overwhelmingly powerful. So far forward on some tracks is the voice that you wonder if other instruments will appear at all. The vocal harmony and folk arrangements recall the brilliance of Simon & Garfunkel. Lyrically, appeals to the relationship of man to things and to nature take center stage. Oliver James is powerful song about a tragic death. The power of memory tied to people, places and emotions provide the fuel for these musings on life. In the liner notes, frontman Robin Pecknold reflects, "Any time i hear a song or a record that meant a lot to me at a certain moment or i was listening to at a distinct time, i am instantly taken back to that place in full detail." Who can't relate to this? It is very interesting to think about the songs you remember as a child and young person, coupled with the people, places and circumstances that connect them. This is certainly a worthwhile record. I am impressed.

An Economy of Words

Stone Would Be Water
by Samuel Menashe

Stone would be water
But it cannot undo
Its own hardness
Rocks might run
Wild as torrents
Plunged upon the sky
By cliffs none climb

Who makes fountains
Spring from flint
Who dares tell
One thirsting
There’s a well

One of the many appeals to poetry, for me, is in the economy of words. Saying a lot in just a few lines is certainly an art form of highest rank. Here poet Samuel Menashe plumbs the depths of humanity's plight and divinity's provision in twelve or so short lines.

There are certain lines from poems, or whole poems that, in their powerful brevity, become indelible imprints on the heart, the mind, the memory. These lines, a single strand of language, the turn of a phrase, can conjur the most profound reflection or evoke a new understanding. A line from Jame's Wright's A Blessing, blistered me the other day,

"Suddenly i realize
That if i stepped out of my body i would break
into blosssom"

The poetry of the Old Testament Psalter is, in this way, a most formidable shaper of the heart. God owns words and thus, poetry eminates from Him. And God's poetry is not exclusive to the Psalms, but is found throughout the New and Old Testaments. Somehow, in the hour of sweet contemplation, worship and prayer or in the valley of pain and sorrow, God knew we would need an economy of words, a blistering of his revelation, something, even, to sing. "The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not be in want..." Ps. 23.1