Music Mondays: Songs of a Certain Era

Music Mondays are back! 

It has been a bit of a hiatus but I felt like my music ideas had gotten a little stale. And I'll be perfectly honest, I don't listen to a ton of new music which probably seems illogical.

Anyway, a fresh idea has emerged and I'll refer to it as "Songs of a Certain Era". These are hits from my formative teen years when I was discovering the music world beyond Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and the Maranatha singers.

I'm creating my list and one will be revealed per week, in general chronological order. These aren't all number ones - sorry no Ace of Base "I saw the sign" or Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", just songs that woke up my musical taste buds. 

First up - "Runaway Train", Soul Asylum

I always associate this song with 7th grade...and looking it up, the timing is right. Released in the summer of 1993, I remember hearing this in art class. The cool art teachers always did stuff like let us listen to Top 40 radio while we worked. Anyway, I remember listening to it and realizing, this non-Christian song has substantial meaning to it. On its face it is certainly what the biblical scholar in me would call "Lament". But couple that with the fact that the video sought to find missing and exploited kids - my mind was kind of blown away. Especially when I heard my peers sharing how it helped find missing people (they were correct I might add).

It is silly looking back on it now. I just hadn't had the exposure to Dylan and Cash etc. And in a sense, it showed me what music, even pop music could be - socially significant. 

On Sports Fandom

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm big into sports. I've heard a sports topic come up from time to time about fandom. Who you should or shouldn't cheer for? In my particular part of the country, northern Indiana, there are a variety of "local" teams one could root for - and no obvious geographical frontrunner. 

Detroit is 4 hours away, Chicago 2.5 hours, and Indianapolis about 2. Major college teams are IU, Notre Dame, and Purdue - all still requiring hours of travel.

An oft used objection recently came up again and I felt it necessary to respond. The objection, if you cheer for ND football, you are morally obligated to cheer for ND basketball too, not IU basketball as so many do.

Well, I kind of understand that critique, but I think it's invalid. Here's my response:

Q: 

What do the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bears, Detroit Tigers, Notre Dame Football, and IU basketball all have in common?

A: 

They are my favorite sports teams and they all won championships in the mid-to-late 80's (the time frame I began to get into sports)

See, I picked my teams because they were good and fairly local to my northern Indiana residence. (The Celtics counted because they had Larry Legend, a Hoosier born and raised)

But apparently I'm "conflicted" because I cheer for one college football team and another school in basketball?

So let me counter this criticism with a couple of salient points. 

1) I didn't attend any of those institutions or work for any of those organizations. I have no inherent loyalty owed. I cheer for the teams, not the institutions. I don't owe fandom to any other sport beyond my choice.

2) I have stuck with these teams since childhood through thick and thin. And there has been a lot of thin. All of those teams were mediocre at best between '95-'01. And even when '02 saw some playoff runs and a title game appearance, no championships were won.

Isolating ND football and IU basketball only accentuates the lack of great success over the past 30 years. Their last two titles were in '88 and '87 respectively. I'm not conflicted or a cherry-picker or whatever. I am loyal (to a literal fault it would seem).

My story isn't that uncommon here in northern Indiana. Few attended/worked for either IU or ND. Many did grow up with IU BB and ND FB being successful and championship-caliber, while ND BB and IU FB were less than stellar.

So with a lot of "free agent" fans out there, why not choose to follow the better teams in each sport, even if they're from different schools? I know Ohio St. football fans are also OSU basketball fans for the most part, but do they also follow the baseball or volleyball teams?

It's not our state's fault we have two historically great teams from different schools. I'd say it's quite natural for the general population to generally pull for one school during one season and another for a different sport. 

P.S. There's a whole different discussion to be had about the Generation Z group of fans who follow individual players only and care little for the teams at all. But we'll leave that one for another day.

Theology from Parenting

It's been close to a month since my last post. Life has gotten busy and no real strong music has come across my path for #MusicMondays inspiration.

Well, something did dawn on me the other day - kind of a half-baked theological idea - and I thought I might as well process it out via this post. 

See, I've found myself using the phrase "...because I don't want you to get hurt" as I've been redirecting our two toddler-aged boys. "Don't stand on your chair, don't climb up on the table - because I don't want you to get hurt." Our oldest especially is entering the stage where we can explain a little of the reasoning as to why we are saying certain things. Usually we have to keep it basic - both because of his level of understanding and our energy levels. So often I default to "because I don't want you to get hurt" just because it's an easy-enough generality and I know he can get that.

After saying this at some point last week, I realized there could be a spiritual lesson there. If parenting can teach me about how God is our Father (and it can), is this how our Lord sometimes communicates with us. Take away our tiredness, and I think it might. 

God doesn't always explain everything to us. His Word is comprehensive but it isn't always super-detailed. Sometimes he explains why his will needs to be followed. Other times he leaves it at the level of "I don't want you to get hurt". It is easy to question why God sets the standards he does because so often they go against what we naturally want. 

But God sees the bigger picture. He sees how a short-term fix might lead to long-term damage. 

Again, there are plenty of examples in Scripture where he gives rationale for his "rules". Often though it boils down to his fatherly love for us and wanting to prevent us from harm.

Another corollary to this that is not even half-baked (is quarter-baked a thing?) popped into my mind regarding this too. We just celebrated Easter, is there a connection from this idea to Christ's ultimate sacrifice and his resurrection?

In order to shield us from God's just wrath, our brother took our place out of his infinite love, in essence saying "I don't want you to get hurt". 

Still working these things out in my head at this point. If you agree or disagree I'd be happy to hear it in the comments below or via FB/Twitter.

It is not an entirely new idea to me - God wanting to protect us from harm. But it has taken on a new aspect now that I am a dad myself.

Sermon Snippets

I always try to "practice what I preach" but yesterday offered a perfect opportunity to test that out.

My sermon passage was Hebrews 4, which largely focuses on entering "God's rest". We all love our rest - who doesn't love a nap?

In context, "God's rest" is more than a nap of course. He references it in relation to the entering the Promised Land in the Exodus (4:1-2,9-10). But also connects it back to Genesis 2 when God finished his creating our world (4:4). He also implies that it is something we can experience or discover today (4:7). Some have seen it as our reward of heaven when we die, others believe it to be God's full realization of his Kingdom at the end of the ages. Others define it as a state-of-being we believers can enjoy now (See Guthrie's NIV Application Commentary on Hebrews, pg. 151-155)

So what is it? Which of those options best captures what "God's rest" is?

It may be a combination of all of them in reality. God's rest will ultimately be established in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21-22). And except for the last generation, we will all have to experience death ourselves before we see that day.

And yet, Jesus promises "abundant life" in the here-and-now to those who follow him (John 10:10). Our burden of sin is relieved by faith in Christ. Our never-ending pursuit of significance is eliminated when we understand how Christ transforms our identity and has determined our significance. In that sense, God's rest can be experienced in the present. 

With this latter point in mind, I tried to enjoy some of God's blessings and "rest" yesterday. The day started with worship - and worship has always been part of God's Sabbath design. But beyond that - with the sun shining and a young family at home - God's rest looked a lot like this:

Steaks on the grill, marinated with my own special sauce concoction. I overcooked the a little, but sides of veggies and a baked potato made for a filling meal. Time with the boys and the wife was fun, if not also chaotic as it can be with two toddlers. Time for a nap did open up, which felt good. Some NBA All-Star basketball to end the night? Sure, I'll take it.

It wasn't a perfect day necessarily. It was a good day though. 

Enjoy the "rest" God provides. And be sure to heed the message of Hebrews 4, which is, be sure find that "rest" through obediently trusting God's Word. 

 

Music Mondays

Theme songs have magical powers. 

Before, I would have affirmed that statement while recognizing how hyperbolic it is. You'll never be able to convince me otherwise of it's literal truth now that I'm a parent.

Partly due to my own tv watching habits and partly due to my own affinity for these songs, two distinct, lyric-less songs will stop our two boys in their tracks and get them dancing in front of the tv.

First, is the classic ditty from The Office:

Going back to the early days in our marriage, I would often drum tap on Stephanie's leg whenever the song played at the beginning of the episode. Now I carry on that tradition with our sons and it has gotten to the point where they will halt whatever activity or mood they happen to be in, in order to listen to the music.

A second one has emerged as a powerful attention grabber, this time without my enthusiastic encouragement:

I am a sucker for the classic L&O shows, my personal opinion being that the after the first 10 seasons or so, the writing and plot structures became a bit formulaic. The classic jazz/blues number (is that the right genre?) really matches the tone of the older, grittier seasons. 

Much like The Office, my kids couldn't care less about the show itself once the song is done, but it is so amusing to see them react to the music each time.

Music Mondays + Sermon Snippets

Yesterday was unique in the sense that Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday. 

Naturally, this pastor chose to prepare a topical sermon on love. I eschewed the theme of romantic love, though I believe Scripture has much to say on that topic. I decided instead to focus on God's love for us. 

The verses of Ephesians 3:17-19 had come to mind early in my preparation process, especially the part where Paul prays that we "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...".

Have you ever thought about how wide God's love is? How long it stretches? How high it reaches? How deep it goes?

I tried to answer those questions in the message and, in doing so, many great songs kept popping up into my head. 

This one in particular stood out above the rest and I ended up quoting it in my conclusion. 

It is such a great song that pays proper tribute to the amazing love of God towards us. I am always captured by the lyrics of the second verse which state:

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky

Some songs begin with their most powerful and profound statements. This one waits until the second verse to use incredible imagery to capture the limitless nature of God's love for us.

The love of God - it shall forevermore endure, the saints and angels song!

Music Mondays + Sermon Snippets

We are beginning a sermon series in Hebrews and I'm going to do my best to regularly highlight songs that fit the passage. I imagine this will be harder in some parts than others, but I guess we will see.

The winter storm forced us to cancel our service yesterday, though I still shared my sermon in truncated form with a co-starring appearance from our son. 

It was no surprise that Tate's presence was a little distracting, at least to this speaker. It's a little ironic given that our passage, Heb. 1:1-4, is all about tuning into Jesus as the only voice worth tuning into. 

One of the songs our worship team was going to lead us with was an "oldie" I remember from my college days. It's a simple chorus - one that fits the 7/11 repetitious stereotype. And yet, in it's simplicity, it fits the tone of the introductory verses of Hebrews. 

There are many other more popular and more loved songs that focus on Christ and elevate His name. But something about this one seemed just right. May all the other voices fade away and we commit ourselves anew to worshipping and obedience.