"Sing Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in yuor hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:19-20. Marva Dawn once commented about music in worship, interpreting Ephesians 5:18 and 19 in light of life in the post-Pentecost Christian community. She said that Paul's allusion to the spiritual singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs was an indication of the kind of musical life they ought to have. Had they been arguing about what songs or music was befitting worship? Had they been arguing about the use of language in music, the use of scripture in music? Had they been gathering in reverent silence and thereby cooling the joyous spirit that had warmed their hearts? Had they reduced their musical expression to a few familiar hymns, which became the exclusive expression of the Ephesus congregation? Familiarity breeds contempt, because it naturally excludes anyone who is unfamiliar.
Marva Dawn says that Psalms were the old chestnuts, the old songs that everyone knew. Ancient texts, ancient carols, Chants. Hymns were those songs found in the New testament, like the Magnificat and the Kenosis hymn from Philippians 2. And spiritual songs were indigenous to the contemporary gathered community. Marva suggested that Paul suggested music in worship that was both ancient and familiar and traditional; and also new and ocntemporary. Of course the primary goal was to tell the story of salvation through music. The bible was their songbook, but so was their experience in life. Someone might have a song to share on their hearts that glorifies the Lord. And that kind of spontaneous expression ought to be welcomed in the context of the Word being proclaimed.
The implications of this for the gathered community today are many: Worship music ought to be rooted in Scripture, tell the story of salvation, talk about GOD and talk to GOD, and it ought to reveal the joyful hearts of those present. Worship is about the heart open to God's heart, the mind open to the mind of Christ, the spirit inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I so often leave traditional Lutheran liturgy wondering where the awe, the mystery, the love, and the joy are. And although much of the liturgy is biblical in its language, the musical medium by which this language is carried does not connect. So often, classical and organ-based music seems so out of touch with the world in which we live that I scarcely can listen. Its not fun anymore. Fun ought not to characterize every worship experience, but as fun is connected to joy, shouldn't orship sometimes be fun? Fun is a strange word here. I mean the kind of fun that can be had together in the company of others; like a wedding party with dancing and merriment.
I love music. I am somewhat of a musician. And I love many genres of music; from reggae to rock, jazz to folk. I even appreciate some rap and some country music. But church music is not connecting me to GOD the way it can and should. Does it convey the gospel? If its singable. And when is it singable? When its melody and rhythm grab us. When it is beautiful, lovely, poignant, real.
At the ELCA Youth gathering in New Orleans we gathered in the Superdome for worship and inspiration every evening and Sunday morning. The house band was led by Peter Mayer, the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett. I enjoyed their music. And the crowd sang together. But I was even more struck by something else that happened musically. At the end of each night's gathering, as we exited, a song was cued up and played in the dome. It is the song, "i'm yours" by Jason Mraz, a simple four chord tune with a reggae beat. Lyrics about love and belonging to one another. "Open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and then your free, look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love. Listen to the moment come and sing with me, we're just one big family, and its our God forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved loved." Everyone sang this song as we exited the superdome. People gathered in small circles to sing it. Its a popular song, has been for a year or so, I bet. And it moved them. It seemed to connect and set a mood of love, joy, friendship, kindness. I was as moved by the response to this pop song as I was to any music we heard in worship that week.
Music in worship can convey adoration for God and for creation. It can inspire us to mission and call us to discipleship. It can help us to cry out in the face of injustice, poverty, and sin. It can unite and build community. And worship music can be sacred and secular; is there really a division in God's world? All of it is God's isn't it? Even the crap. What if worship and the music of our souls was all about GOD and not about me or us? What if it really was about the message, remembering that the medium, the art, the lyric must contextualize that good news for listeners/musicians/singers.
"We do not think about worship so much in terms of what we do. Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God's action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus." This thinking is contrary to consumerist worship, where the important question is, "What did I get out of it?" Worship does indeed feed the soul because God feeds us there. But GOD is the one being worshipped. Not me. Not the band or the singer or the organ or the hymnal or the pew or the ritual act. We worship GOD. So, as emerging Christian people seek to worship the trinity, may we be centered on God's Word and the Eucharist as the point of contact with Jesus' forgivng love. And may we sing our guts out.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
and they shouted, "crucify him"
Jesus was no stranger to highly charged political/religious rallies. Passover amounted to a giant political uprising, with riots and police brutality, and government crackdowns and public executions. Jesus himself is victim to Passover revolution, traditionalist power/privilege ideology, and imperial controls. The crucifixion was largely the result of political/religious fervor, threat of revolution, and the use of violence to quell potential violence. Jesus, on the other hand, is determined to suffer on the cross and die becaus ehe is determined to overthrow the rulers of this world by not participating in their game. he is silent before accusers. He is willingly handed over. He believes God has sent him to die. He forgives. He commits his spirit to GOD. This is cross. Self-emptying, vulnerable, powerless, speechless, weak, dead to this world.
So I went to a rally in Lebanon this morning where U.S. Senator Arlen Specter was holding a town hall meeting about the proposed bill to reform health care. I arrived to find a large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the college building in which the meeting was being held. That's understated. I found a mob. Hundreds of people. I found some friends, including anotehr Pastor and his wife, and stood with them in the midst of the rally/protest. At first, it seemed like a two-sided rally. Some are for government intervention and reform, many were not. I stood among opposers to the current congressional bill. I had a sticker on my clerical shirt that said, "Health Care Reform Now." The ElCA advocates a position on health care that we need reform and that the government has an important role to play in creating an environment in which quality health care options are available and affordable for all Americans; especially the underprivileged, the unemployed, children, and the 47 million uninsured Americans. Health care costs need to be regulated so that private insurance businesses don't continue to ration health care to those who can afford the rising premiums. A public option, essentially broadening medicare/medicaid by offering a lower cost government insurance policy, would provide competition and drive down costs. other measures of regulation wuold reduce health care inflation, which has risen three times higher than wages. Go to
the PA health Access Network website to learn more.
As I stood silently with my friend, the crown behind me began to shout at me. A woman began to shout invectives toward me, "May God judge you harshly for supporting this bill that supports abortion and euthansia." As soon as I turned to address her, I found myself surrounded by anti-abortion protesters. For the next forty minutes I became their whipping boy or punching bag. I was the perfect straw man: a religious figure who does not share their opinion about health care reform. I made it clear to them that I am not pro-abortion. But they would not understand a nuanced, theological truth about abortion and life that I and the Lutheran church embrace. Instead of thoughtful conversation, they are justified in their right opinion without hearing testimony from me or anyone else. They put me in a box labeled "the foolish, lost enemy" and started kicking. I believe that we see through a glass dimly, especially on matters concerning life, conception, sexuality--things we cannot fully understand. But, because this was not a venue for reasonable conversation or a place for constructive theological debate or spirtual discernment of God's Word, I was simply an easy target. People screamed at me. "Do you have children? Do you love them? Which one of your boys would you choose to abort?" And, "You are supporting murder. God will judge your wickedness. You have to live with yourself." And "You preach the social gospel but you forgot the gospel."
I could go on. But let's just say that these comments are a verbatim assortment of the kinds of things spoken against me. I have not felt so uncomfortable in public in a long time. Ironically, I am always a target among church people, fellow Christians. Its not non-believers who are destroying church, its the church destroying itself and taking others down with us. Mind you I asserted only a handful of claims. One, that I am a Lutheran Christian. Two, that I believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead and who forgives sinners. Three, that I support the governments role in helping to provide a broader safety net of affordable access to quality health care, since the current system is severely broken and unsustainable.
I also asserted that I am not in favor of abortions. I believe women who become pregnant in untenable circumstances will choose abortion as an option and I hope we might provide a safe medical alternative to unregulated, illegal, black market abortions that put women in danger. We just watched "Revolutionary Road", a story of how a destructive marriage in the 1950s ends in the untimely death of a wife and mother who performs an abortion on herself. I also hope that abortion ends, that genocide ends, that homicide ends, that hunger ends, that war ends. And to embody the kingdom of GOD is to long for the fulfillment of these hopes and to work with God in ending injustice and the power of sin.
What was interesting about the experience for me was this: I went there to listen to Senator Specter, to engage in the process, to listen and to learn. I did not go there to fight, to argue, to condemn or malign anyone. I was not ready to be condemned or maligned either. But I was. I became the center of a hateful circle of "righteous Christians" who used the bible to condemn and reject. I should have sung, "Jesus loves me." I should have said, "Father forgive them for the know not what they are doing." I should have said, "Therefore now there is no condemntation for those who are in in Christ Jesus." And "Love one another as I have loved you." I saw Christians attacking a Christian because of a single politicized issue that is culturally bigger than Roe v. Wade or the constitution or the health care reform bill. There are broader implications. Who loves the child born in poverty and abuse? Who loves the girl who is afraid of what her father will do to her if she tells him she is pregnant? Who loves the rape victim? Who loves the women who do not have prenatal care or go into debt in order to have a child? Incidentally, if our children had been born under our current insurance, we would have gone into medical debt.
Cross-bearing comes when we publically live the sign of our baptismal identity in the face of injustice. I did not go there to bear witness to the cross, but I believe I did. I could not speak. I could not defend myself. I could not diffuse their anger. I could not rationalize with them. I could not avoid them either. Could I have walked away? Eventually, I did. But first I was subject to a biblical tirade and a personal attack. Jesus calls us to stand with the suffering, the abused, the poor, and the uninsured. Whenever we do, we will bear the cross. May tomorrow be a day of resurrection joy!
So I went to a rally in Lebanon this morning where U.S. Senator Arlen Specter was holding a town hall meeting about the proposed bill to reform health care. I arrived to find a large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the college building in which the meeting was being held. That's understated. I found a mob. Hundreds of people. I found some friends, including anotehr Pastor and his wife, and stood with them in the midst of the rally/protest. At first, it seemed like a two-sided rally. Some are for government intervention and reform, many were not. I stood among opposers to the current congressional bill. I had a sticker on my clerical shirt that said, "Health Care Reform Now." The ElCA advocates a position on health care that we need reform and that the government has an important role to play in creating an environment in which quality health care options are available and affordable for all Americans; especially the underprivileged, the unemployed, children, and the 47 million uninsured Americans. Health care costs need to be regulated so that private insurance businesses don't continue to ration health care to those who can afford the rising premiums. A public option, essentially broadening medicare/medicaid by offering a lower cost government insurance policy, would provide competition and drive down costs. other measures of regulation wuold reduce health care inflation, which has risen three times higher than wages. Go to
the PA health Access Network website to learn more.
As I stood silently with my friend, the crown behind me began to shout at me. A woman began to shout invectives toward me, "May God judge you harshly for supporting this bill that supports abortion and euthansia." As soon as I turned to address her, I found myself surrounded by anti-abortion protesters. For the next forty minutes I became their whipping boy or punching bag. I was the perfect straw man: a religious figure who does not share their opinion about health care reform. I made it clear to them that I am not pro-abortion. But they would not understand a nuanced, theological truth about abortion and life that I and the Lutheran church embrace. Instead of thoughtful conversation, they are justified in their right opinion without hearing testimony from me or anyone else. They put me in a box labeled "the foolish, lost enemy" and started kicking. I believe that we see through a glass dimly, especially on matters concerning life, conception, sexuality--things we cannot fully understand. But, because this was not a venue for reasonable conversation or a place for constructive theological debate or spirtual discernment of God's Word, I was simply an easy target. People screamed at me. "Do you have children? Do you love them? Which one of your boys would you choose to abort?" And, "You are supporting murder. God will judge your wickedness. You have to live with yourself." And "You preach the social gospel but you forgot the gospel."
I could go on. But let's just say that these comments are a verbatim assortment of the kinds of things spoken against me. I have not felt so uncomfortable in public in a long time. Ironically, I am always a target among church people, fellow Christians. Its not non-believers who are destroying church, its the church destroying itself and taking others down with us. Mind you I asserted only a handful of claims. One, that I am a Lutheran Christian. Two, that I believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead and who forgives sinners. Three, that I support the governments role in helping to provide a broader safety net of affordable access to quality health care, since the current system is severely broken and unsustainable.
I also asserted that I am not in favor of abortions. I believe women who become pregnant in untenable circumstances will choose abortion as an option and I hope we might provide a safe medical alternative to unregulated, illegal, black market abortions that put women in danger. We just watched "Revolutionary Road", a story of how a destructive marriage in the 1950s ends in the untimely death of a wife and mother who performs an abortion on herself. I also hope that abortion ends, that genocide ends, that homicide ends, that hunger ends, that war ends. And to embody the kingdom of GOD is to long for the fulfillment of these hopes and to work with God in ending injustice and the power of sin.
What was interesting about the experience for me was this: I went there to listen to Senator Specter, to engage in the process, to listen and to learn. I did not go there to fight, to argue, to condemn or malign anyone. I was not ready to be condemned or maligned either. But I was. I became the center of a hateful circle of "righteous Christians" who used the bible to condemn and reject. I should have sung, "Jesus loves me." I should have said, "Father forgive them for the know not what they are doing." I should have said, "Therefore now there is no condemntation for those who are in in Christ Jesus." And "Love one another as I have loved you." I saw Christians attacking a Christian because of a single politicized issue that is culturally bigger than Roe v. Wade or the constitution or the health care reform bill. There are broader implications. Who loves the child born in poverty and abuse? Who loves the girl who is afraid of what her father will do to her if she tells him she is pregnant? Who loves the rape victim? Who loves the women who do not have prenatal care or go into debt in order to have a child? Incidentally, if our children had been born under our current insurance, we would have gone into medical debt.
Cross-bearing comes when we publically live the sign of our baptismal identity in the face of injustice. I did not go there to bear witness to the cross, but I believe I did. I could not speak. I could not defend myself. I could not diffuse their anger. I could not rationalize with them. I could not avoid them either. Could I have walked away? Eventually, I did. But first I was subject to a biblical tirade and a personal attack. Jesus calls us to stand with the suffering, the abused, the poor, and the uninsured. Whenever we do, we will bear the cross. May tomorrow be a day of resurrection joy!
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