Music Monday

Ever have a song totally grow on you?

You hear it once and don't really like it, then after a couple plays later, you wholeheartedly are singing along to it. It happened to me. Yesterday.

I heard this song twice before church. I think I may have heard it another time earlier in the weekend too. I'm not a fan of Matthew West, he's always struck me as a little to Christian-Pop or too radio-friendly.

But wouldn't you know that this song and it's message didn't get stuck in my head and grow on me. It focuses on our identity in Christ, which just happens to be one of my 'pet issues' that I find under-appreciated in Christians and under-preached in churches.

So with out any further ado, here's a video for "Hello My Name is" by Matthew West.

Note: Acoustic Version was the only official kind I was able to locate on the interwebs this morning.

Sermon Snippets

Humility and How I Got It.

That's the title of the book I'd write if I was ever able to con a publisher into letting me author a book. At least that's the title I came up with in high school as me and my friends were joking around. It's ironic and sarcastic - just like my sense of humor.

To seriously write a book on humility is a dangerous endeavor though. Preaching and teaching about humility is as well. One article I found from Time magazine offered this helpful and true commentary:

"that word humbled is an interesting one to think about. Humility is a virtue — except when it isn't. We think of it as one of the attributes that make up a certain quiet acceptance of one's lot, even saintliness — think of Pope John XXIII. At the same time, what the books call false humility — the act of constantly saying that one is not worthy, a not-so-subtle way of provoking someone else to exclaim, "Oh! But you are!" — is one of the most annoying of all character traits. Uriah Heep...in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield — forever telling everyone how 'umble he is — must be one of the most loathsome figures in world literature."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1929452,00.html#ixzz2Rb0Ps0o4

Our world admires humility, to a point.  We grow suspicious of people who are always humble and we will grow to hate those who are always modest-but-fishing-for-compliments-and-praise. We also will grow tired of humility in some circumstances:

Another distinction: we may want our national leaders to be personally humble, just as we would like them to be kind and generous and to take out the cat litter each night. (Funnily enough, of the hundreds of politicians I've met over the years, humble is a description that comes to mind for very few. Now that I think about it: none.) But we do not really want them to be politically humble. Passivity and resignation in the face of challenge may, in some religious-belief systems, represent an admirable surrender to the will of the Almighty. But we do not elect leaders to be monks. We want them to do things.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1929452,00.html#ixzz2Rb0sVm7b

In Mark 10:32-45, Jesus calls us to take a humble posture no matter what. He calls us to follow his example and listen to his instruction when he says that in God's view, greatness is found in humility, service, and assuming the position of the lowest of the low (even if you deserve better).  The first will be last and the last will be first, because the Son of Man came to serve not to be served. Jesus came not to rule, but to give his life as a ransom for many. 

Music Mondays

If I were to create a Wikipedia page on "Underrated Christian Rock Bands", I'm pretty sure I would put Bleach's picture front and center.
I always found them similar to Weezer, a somewhat underrated secular band of comparable sound and style. Their greatest hits CD is one of my favorite albums, but to further confirm their status as underrated, you'll have a hard time doing a Google search for them without running into pages for an anime show, a laundry ingredient, and a Nirvana album.

But I hope you enjoy this video for a song I'd rank as my favorite of theirs:

Sermon Snippets - Mark 9:30-10:31

Following Jesus will turn your world upside down if you are not careful. It's fair to say that Jesus was counter-cultural, but it would be more accurate to say he was counter-human. I realize that's not really a term, but in our passage this week, he picks apart normal human values and and encourages us to find a better path.

We naturally want to buddy up to the rich, powerful, and influential. Jesus wants us to reach out to the overlooked, the neglected, and the unimportant.

We naturally want to make as much money as we can and enjoy financial security as quickly as possible. Jesus wants us to give and give up the obsession with wealth and materialism if we are going to follow him.

There's so much more packed into Mark 9-10, in fact, I found three other categories. Each one is convicting enough in and of themselves. Put them together and you have a passage that really makes you wrestle with what it means to follow Jesus.

Music Mondays

The Smalltown Poets were part of the mid-90's generation of Christian musicians who were rising up to replace the old guard. Their self-titled first album garnered them two Grammy and multiple Dove award nominations. It was packed with quality songs and a few radio hits, like "Prophet, Priest, and King."

This was the first album I remember having additional features on it. When you popped it into your computer, it had some behind-the-scenes movies on it that seemed high-tech at the time. It also had a hidden track at the end, which became all the rage, at least in Christian music circles. Unfortunately, it appears as if no music videos were made of any of those first album songs.

This video is from their second album, Listen Closely. While they apparently have continued to exist as a band, the height of their success came at the beginning of their careers. Their work has always struck me as being underrated. While in high school, they came and played at Grace College and I had a second row seat at their concert that was essentially an 'Unplugged' event. I remember their keyboardist had a hand keyboard that you had to blow into to play. I remember they seemed like pretty cool people and included a question-and-answer session too.

Weird personal note, on the ride home from attending dc Talk's Supernatural concert in Ft. Wayne in May of 1999, this song got stuck in my head and I remember even singing it to myself. The concert had a great worship aspect to it, and after that personally exhilarating experience, this song felt like it just fit.

Music Thursday

During our current sermon series, we've come to the section in Mark where Jesus explicitly reveals that his messianic mission was to suffer and die and be resurrected (8:34-35, 9:30-32, 10:32-34). His disciples couldn't wrap their minds around this and similarly, his opponents were rejecting him every step of the way as He presented himself as the true Messiah.

His mission to become the one true Sacrifice for our sins was in many ways a mystery and a secret.

I referenced the following old-school song by Michael W. Smith last week because it fits perfectly with what Mark records in the middle of his gospel. Enjoy this late 80's/early 90's production as a bonus music selection this week:

Music Mondays

This week I'm continuing my 'underrated CCM artists' theme with GRITS, Christian music's original southern hip-hop kings.

The quality of both their lyrics and their music set them apart from their peers. I got introduced to them because they were signed to Gotee Records a label TobyMac helped found. I can't pretend to know the nature of their relationship with the present-day Christian hip-hop scene, but I will always see them as the musical-forefathers of this current generation of artists.

My original hope was to post their video to "Ooh Aaah" which is one of my favorite songs. Alas, no video was ever made for it. We'll have to settle for one of their original hits "They All Fall Down":

This song has always reminded me of Ecclesiastes, with it's themes of the vanity of pursuing worldly things and the brevity of life.

Sermon Snippets: Mark 8:22-10:52

This week, we are going to cover one of Mark's Sandwiches in his account of the life of Christ.

Mark is one of my favorite books of the Bible because it's outline is so sandwich-y a fact I learned in "Exegesis and Theology of the Gospels" with Dr. Bateman almost 10 (!) years ago as a first year seminary student.

A literary 'sandwich', sometimes known as a chiasm, is where three (or more) major sections can be distinquished with the first and last sections corresponding to one another.

The entire book of Mark can be broken down in such a way:

Jesus' Ministry in and around Galilee - 1:1-8:21
Jesus Predicts his death on the way to Jerusalem - 8:22-10:52
Jesus' ministry in and around Jerusalem - 11:1-16:8


As with any good edible sandwich, the most important part of a literary sandwich is the middle. Readers should take care to note the points and themes emphasized in the middle section. It's in our middle section that we find another sandwich, even more obvious than the book's general form:

Jesus heals a blind man - 8:22-8:26 (or vs.30)
Jesus predicts his death three times - 8:27-10:45
Jesus heals a blind man - 10:46-52

The themes we should pay attention to are the so-called "passion predictions" in chapters 8,9, and 10 and the implication on us as his followers. If Jesus came to serve, sacrifice, and give His life on our behalf, we should expect to do the same as his disciples. Jesus the Messiah was not the commonly-expected political savior, He was a spiritual savior whose mission was centered on giving up His life so that we might live. As followers of Jesus, we must not get caught up in the all-too-American values of material success and cultural glory. We must be resolute in embracing the position of a servant (10:43-45) and committed to taking up our cross each and every day (8:34).

Music Mondays

I can't remember how I got my hands on Polarboy's Back from Nowhere album. I just know I was a freshman in college and really dug their sound, quirky yet quality lyrics, and their similarity to the Counting Crow's This Desert Life Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Californication album. The latter aspect I discovered after listening to their CD scrambled with the aforementioned Chilli Pepper's album on a hall-mate's stereo on Beta 3rd North Hall. That was back in the day of 3 disc-CD stereo's that could be set at 'Random' and it would play all three CD's with the songs alternatively mixed. Today, our ipods do the same thing with the 'Shuffle' option.

Polarboy never struck it big and it's hard to find much evidence online that they even existed. But they made one great album and are this week's choice for underrated Christian band. Once again, I'll introduce you to a video that I'd never seen before until today. But I can say this, it's all I thought it would be as a fan. A little strange and quirky but also self-aware.