psalm 99

I think the reason it’s hard to write good worship music is because it takes a lot of effort for me to bring the vastness of my emotional and thought world into some sort of artistic convergence.  It usually takes a measure of holistic engagement with the Bible that usually results in a little more introspection than I asked for.  Simply put, when I write, God is faithful to let me know that I’m a sinner, and that he loves me eternally and abundantly.

The Psalms are full of soul-exposing poetry and lyrics, much of which can go undiscovered or unnoticed if something like that holistic engagement is set aside for superficial knowledge or half-hearted reflection.  Take Psalm 99, for instance.  When you read it on its face, it’s pretty straightforward.  Nothing really to see.  But let’s take verse 1.  I know that most of us are already fixed inside our Western cosmologies, so if you were to read this carefully:

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthrones upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

it should make no sense to you.  You see, for us over here in Western Industrial Enlightenment-land, it makes absolutely no sense that there would be a close connection between our spiritual and physical existence.  However, it was very different for the Jews (especially the ones who followed Jesus around, but even the ones that came before them).  They were quite aware of the fact that God’s presence in the world (signified here by his reign as king) meant something real and tangible for all creation.  When I read this, it makes me think about whether or not I know Jesus as this kind of King.  Sometimes, I fall into thinking that the Jesus I gave my life to is a figment of my imagination, a guy who was real to people 2000 years ago.  I forget to pray and to hope and to live as though he is the risen, reigning King of this world, now and forever.  The question is not whether or not he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; rather, the question is whether or not I’m letting all of Jesus’ character shape my expectations of him.

I think this psalm gives us a great praise imperative (it has two variations):

Exalt the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool!
Holy is he! (verse 5)

Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy! (verse 9)

I’ll end on this.  People talk about God being holy, and usually have no idea what that means for their life.  These verses are pretty clear: one indication of the value of God’s holiness in your life is how much you give him credit and honor for his character and his work.  Think of it this way: you’ll talk someone’s ear off about the people you think are memorable or one-of-a-kind.

NOTE: you can find recordings of all of my discussed music by clicking on the My Music link at the right.

let me introduce you to n.t. wright…

I AM BACK!!
(and I’m not going anywhere for a while, either.)

So I have this friend.  Well, he’s not really my friend, but I wish he was.  I would call him my distant mentor.  He’s teaching me how to be philosophical, theological, and funny at the same time.  He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever read, and you should all read his stuff.  From what I’ve read of his, I’m willing to bet even money that you wouldn’t agree with his stance on a lot of things, but that’s okay; you don’t have to.

N.T. Wright is the bishop of Durham, England.  He’s made a fuss in the theological world over the past few years because he’s been saying some things that aren’t necessarily in line with the established order, but clearly in line with the message of the Bible, and some people don’t deal with difference or change very well.  This spring, I was introduced to him via his book, “Simply Christian,” a book where he walks readers through an explanation and a treatise of the Christian faith that I found moving and insightful; I highly recommend it.  Right now, I am reading his latest work, “Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church,” and it’s changing my life.  How is this possible?  Let me be brief, but thorough.

The tagline after the title (Rethinking heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church) says it all.  The foundational thought is that the way you understand heaven and the resurrection of Jesus Christ will define how you view the mission of the church, and thus your mission as a follower of Jesus.  If I had to wrap up his thoughts in a statement, I would say this:

The resurrection’s primary implication is that Jesus has done in advance what will be done to all creation when heaven and earth finally meet; his resurrection was a model for our own.  Heaven is not the final resting place; it is, in fact, a “waiting room” of sorts; a place where God’s people reside with King Jesus until the day that the Creator brings heaven onto earth in its fullness and renews his creation.  Sin, and all of its related power and oppression, will be defeated, with death itself being the last enemy to be conquered.  The defeat of death will signify the bodily resurrection of God’s people and the new creation of the cosmos, where God will be physically present and his image-bearing creatures will work with God in the fullness of their self-giving, other-loving relationship to demonstrate his great love to all of creation.  Until then, every follower of Jesus is to live in anticipation of such a reality by rejecting the sin Jesus has defeated and following the same Jesus who reigns over heaven and earth in the authority he’s been given by his Father.

Now, what does any of this have to do with art and beauty?  Everything.  Wright says this:

“We are committed to describing the world not just as it should be, not just as it is, but as – by God’s grace alone! – one day it will be.  And we should never forget that when Jesus rose form the dead, as the paradigm, first example, and generating power of the whole new creation, the marks of the nails were not just visible on his hands and feet.  They were the way he was to be identified.  When art comes to terms with both the wounds of the world and the promise of resurrection and learns how to express and respond to both at once, we will be on the way to a fresh vision, a fresh mission” (224).

Let me straighten this out for you.  Our hope for justice and shalom in this world should come from the fact that Jesus picked a fight with death, and he won.  If we believe that he was raised from the dead, then we believe that sin and death no longer have the power to define and oppress creation.  We believe that there is hope for redemption and renewal for the cosmos by the power and love of Jesus, and we believe that to be a reality RIGHT NOW.  I follow Jesus because he’s committed himself to doing that work and letting me help him out in whatever ways he sees fit.

And so if I follow Jesus, then as an image-bearing creation of the Father I should be committed to creating things that reflect the full reality of Jesus: born to live God’s love on earth, formerly hung, later resurrected, presently reigning and mediating the collision of heaven and earth (and the reception of justice and shalom).

My critique: most Christian art does not give you the impression that full-scale justice and shalom are on their way.  In fact, I would say that most Christian art doesn’t care about the collision of heaven and earth that seems imminent and understood by the vast majority of the New Testament.  Most of the worship songs I know of don’t have the ability to speak beyond personal salvation; writing such a song would amount to attempting to duplicate the Mona Lisa by drawing a black-and-white stick figure of a lady with eyes that follow you around the room.

I happen to think that God’s given a high calling to artists who know and love him.  We happen to be one of the clearer living reflections of the character of God on earth, as we hold the ability to bring things into existence through our imagination.  As such, we have the ability to demonstrate a fullness of his character by “painting pictures of Jesus” that are beautiful and whole.  People will know the character of the Creator by how and what his creation creates.  And so it is okay to write and express personal salvation, for that is part of the character of God.  However, personal salvation is a dollop of whipped cream that rests upon a beautiful pie.  The truth is, personal salvation is too small of a mission for God.  He’s going for the entire cosmos; and your salvation happens to be how he wants to save the rest of the world; so why would we have people sing and pray that this is all they need?  Why would we have people reflect on this as though it’s their key to heaven?

I think that art should make people excited about Jesus and the marriage of heaven and earth.  I think that art should move people to live as though such a marriage is imminent.  I think that art should tell the truth about Jesus.

I think I should get started…