Music Mondays - Paul and The Lego Movie

I'm pretty sure I scared some of our congregation members yesterday when I sang this week's Music Monday selection in a high falsetto voice. If I didn't scare them, I certainly make them laugh at me. If you want to hear for yourself, you can listen here (the illustration comes about the 10 minute mark). 

Here's the real version in case you're not familiar and would like nothing more than to get a song stuck in your head:

An explanation may be warranted if you haven't listened to my sermon. Romans 8:28 often gets used sugarcoat bad things and mask real pain. It gets pasted on many different versions of sympathy cards.  And often, when we aren't sure what to say or do when tragedies strike, we quote it to cover for the questions and confusion. 

Paul was not advocating some sort of "Pollyanna" theology. That approach buys into the false idea that "everything is awesome." The song in The Lego Movie proves to be pure satire and a harbinger of the coming conflict. Romans 8:28 is not telling us to blindly consider only the positives in life. Sometimes everything is not awesome. 

The "good" Paul has in mind is something more significant. 8:29 defines it as "to be conformed to the image of his Son". All things aren't good and won't necessarily work out nicely. But for the believer, they will work out to make us more like Jesus. And that is something worth singing about.

Music Monday - "Who the Son Sets Free..."

Can you remember hearing a song on the radio and thinking, "I need to look that up later" - only to totally forget it when you get home?

That happened to me with this song, only of course I remembered it thankfully. Yesterday it played on Christian radio on the way home from church. I think I've heard it before, but it really struck a chord in my heart for whatever reason. 

Only, when I tried in my head to come back to it today, nothing. Couldn't even remember the chorus. 
Eventually I figured it was Hillsong and I started scouring YouTube and whatdoyouknow, it turned up. 

If you are still interested in reading more and will indulge my idiosyncrasies, this song does provoke some stereotypical criticisms in my mind. 
It reminds one of U2, it seems to end the same as many other Hillsong singles, and it is very individual-centric. 
But it's musical composition and lyrical faithfulness to God's Word keeps pulling me back in. John 8, 14, 1 Peter 2. 

Yes modern worship can be too much about "me". But the impact on the Gospel upon our identity is a clear emphasis of the New Testament. Let's praise God for what he's done for us!

Music Mondays

This week's selection is a gem from my youth that I'd totally forgotten about. Thanks to the Good Christian Fun podcast, who reviewed the entire album, my lost love for this prophetic rock song was rekindled.

"Lost the Plot" is a nuanced and confrontational song that builds up to a rich, convicting crescendo. I'm posting the lyrical video so it's easier to follow the flow of the song's message.

And if you'll allow me to a moment of self-promotion, it also fits the sermon series we're working through this summer. "Missing the Point" highlights popular verses many church-goers have misunderstood and misquoted. And especially with yesterday's verse, Jeremiah 29:11, I fear we've lost the plot.

Music Mondays

We're going with a bit of a change-up this time around. 
I just returned from the Brethren National Conference and it was a good time of fellowship, training, worship, and networking.

One of the newer advancements that our denomination is pursuing is a celebration of our collective artistic gifts. We're calling it Story & Song. 

Artwork was displayed in our large gathering room and new songs were taught and sung. More will come of this no doubt, but I was surprised at the excellent quality of what was produced. I probably shouldn't have been. It's great to see artists honoring God with their gifts.

Music Mondays - Manufacturing Controversy

Well, it's been a few weeks and I can't even get around to posting on a Monday. But I did want to move this little series along. 

Of all the controversial songs in CCM's history, "Cartoons" by Chris Rice may be one of the most interesting. 

It was criticized for being anti-worship, misusing the Lord's name, and being borderline obscene (it references Beavis and Butthead!). 
It was also a chart-topper and one of Rice's most popular songs in a career that contained a lot of radio hits. 

Ultimately, I think it proves that many Christians don't get satire and can't laugh at themselves very easily. Too many of us take things like this too seriously. 

Rice's music resume reflects an incredibly profound heart for God and uniquely humble appraoch to worship. Why go crazy over a hidden track of a song he wrote for a youth group event?

I could conjure up more thoughts and arguments in his defense, but this article does it for me: https://www.crosswalk.com/culture/music/chris-rice-and-the-great-cartoons-controversy-1383756.html.

Meanwhile, let's allow ourselves a little fun, ok?

Music Mondays - Manufacturing Controversy, it's Reckless.

Over the past several months, the worship song Reckless Love has climbed to the top of the charts and become a staple in the sets of many contemporary worship services.

The questions, criticisms, and controversy wasn't "manufactured" unnecessarily. People questioned whether the idea of God being reckless was a biblical idea. That's a legitimate question to ask on it's face. Analyzing the lyrics of the songs we sing is not a bad thing or a waste of time. 

The reason I'm featuring it in this ongoing series of "manufactured controversies" is that the answers were there the whole time. Relevant Magazine did a good job of running through the various issues of controversy and theology. The song itself defines it's meaning. Cory Asbury, the musician who penned this song, also gave a thoughtful and biblically-based explanation of the idea behind the song. I mean, why not go to the source if you have a problem with it? 

For some personal context here, I was triggered a bit by a blog that was shared on my Facebook timeline regarding this song. I can no longer find it, but it was authored by someone taking their task way too seriously (probably a lot like myself). It ended up using 800-1,000 words dissecting the song and the related biblical issues...all to conclude that the song was ok and it's good to take into consideration how an author/musician defines words and concepts. 

And in my mind I was like, "why?". Let's let art be art and give some creative license to faithful artists. I know that opens up for the possibility of heresy popping up. But the thing about our modern world is, we got plenty of heresy hunters that will sound the alarm plenty early before it's endangering the Church. Let's give more freedom to our creatives and let them (biblically) expand our imaginations about who God is and what He's done and doing for us.

Music Mondays - Manufacturing Controversy Over a Terrible Thing Called "Joy"

"Joy to the World" is a song full of bad theology!!! 

Or so I was told.

I will admit, this one is a bit of a stretch and may only pertain to my experience. I grew up in a conservative non-denominational Christian church that embraced Dispensationalism. Specifically the idea that Christ wouBut it wasn't at church where I was warned about this popular Christian hymn. It was actually in college.

I went to a small Christian college (and seminary) that similarly held to Dispensationalism. And while there have been many developments in this particular theological system, there were enough "old-school" traditionalists still around in the early 2000's who more than once criticized this song.

The charges against were that Isaac Watts was an a-millenialist, or was it post-millenialist? I honestly don't remember. But you could read the lyrics and discover his erroneous theology in this beloved Christmas hymn. See one strong tenant of Dispensatoinalism is the premillenialism understanding that Christ will reign on earth for (a literal?) 1000 years before God establishes the final new heavens and new earth of Revelation 21-22. And any suggestion that the world would get better and better until Christ returned, or that he's reigning as King now - well that was close to heresy.

You can google those alternative millennial views and the various debates around them. What you will discover is that there are a lot of differing viewpoints each claiming significant biblical evidence for their view. And as a Progressive Dispensationalist, I see those old anti-Joy arguments to be needlessly nitpicky.

I see this song as anticipating Christ's second coming and describing the glory of His Kingdom as the Scripture that inspired it - Psalm 98 - does. The one thing about it is, somehow we've married it to the Christmas season when it is clearly pointing to the end times.

Again, maybe it's just me, but I've come to resolve this manufactured controversy for myself.