main cow pic

09.29.10

did we just sing that? (part 2) – reflections

Filed under: God's movement,worship — 4:16 pm

First, thanks so much for all the thoughtful and passionate comments about the last post!  I’m thrilled that so many of you care this deeply about how we sing, talk, and think about (and ultimately give our lives to serve) God.  Good things happen when we honestly and humbly wrestle with big questions together (Phil 2:12), and I hope this is as helpful to you as it is to me.

I’d like to reply to every comment, but this week has been nuts.  Here are a few reflections…

1- I wish I would have shared the concept without using a specific song.  I don’t want to be the kind of person who critiques other people’s art in such a public way.  You could all find something to disagree with in each of my songs, and you’re gracious enough to not blog about those.  (Thank you!).  Next time, I’m going to stay more conceptual.

2- I really resonated with two themes from your comments:  (1) You view the “Our God” lyrics as wider than “our religion vs. their religion”….God is bigger than our sin, fear, sickness, etc….He is bigger than anything we can let become gods in our lives.  Good thoughts.  (2) Many of you challenged me to not be ashamed to stand up for truth.  I couldn’t agree more!  Nothing good comes from being afraid or wishy-washy.  Instead of fear, I’m looking for a more nuanced, open, and gracious courage… a Christ-like courage that never lets go of Christ-like humility.  We don’t have to choose between being arrogantly right or graciously wrong;  let’s find the third way.

3- Finally, many of you reminded me that the “Our God” language is from scripture, which is true, but the scriptures are full of all kinds of things I don’t think we should sing.  For example, Psalm 137:8-9 says “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” Should this scripture inspire us to sing songs about killing the infants of our enemies?  Of course not.
Or Titus 1:12 says “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true.” Should this scripture inspire us to sing about the negative stereotypes of some of our neighbors?  Of course not!
Or Song of Solomon 4:5 says “Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.” This song would be very popular in the college ministry, but it might not be a good focus in worship.  Even though it’s scripture.

I guess I’m appealing for nuance, discernment, and humility.

Am I certain that I’m right about all this?  Absolutely not.  And thanks to some of your comments (especially Darren’s), I have a lot to think about.  Thanks again for being part of this conversation.  I hope it opens us all to the possibility that the Story of God is so much bigger, more compelling, less homogeneous, more surprising, and more beautiful than we could ever dream.  And that’s something to sing about!

09.27.10

did we just sing that?

Filed under: God's movement,worship — 8:49 pm

I recently heard a worship band lead this popular worship song…

“Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!”
(listen here)

raising hands

And although the melody was great and people sang with their arms raised, I was very, very uncomfortable with the language of this song.  It felt like the playground taunt of “my dad is stronger than your dad”, and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. A couple questions…

First, in a global, diverse world where people threaten to burn others’ religious books, how is this helpful?  In a time of history where “us vs. them” forms of religion keep fueling violence, how is this productive?  It seems like we’re picking a fight.

Second, whose God are we talking about anyway?  How do we define “our” God?  Is this the Christian God but not the Muslim God?  Or the Protestant God but not the Catholic God?  Or the Driscoll Mars Hill God but not the Bell Mars Hill God?  Who is the inside group and who is the outside group?  (And who gets to decide?)

I’m sure that the songwriter is a godly person with fantastic intentions, and much of this language is from the scriptures, but might a song like this reinforce a belief that we are the right ones and everybody else are the wrong ones? Could it make us less willing to consider that God’s family might be a little wider than our specific tribe?

To be honest, if the chorus was “God You are greater, God You are stronger…”, I wouldn’t have a problem.
I absolutely believe that all those traits – great, strong, healer, powerful, etc – are absolutely true.
But I just don’t think that “we” own Him.

Thoughts?

09.23.10

a super fun, oddball collaboration

Filed under: creativity,music — 8:59 pm

There is so much right about this video.  Ben Folds (one of my favorite musicians/songwriters), Pomplamoose (two of the most inventive musicians online), and Nick Hornby (British author, High Fidelity and About a Boy) join unlikely forces for this oddball collaboration.  And it’s super fun!!

“Things You Think” is a VideoSong, a new medium with 2 rules:  First, what you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
  Second, if you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Enjoy!

09.21.10

weekend review: The Box

Filed under: creativity,God's movement,willow,worship — 5:27 pm

This last weekend (9.19.10) at Willow was really exciting to be a part of.

After the pre-service – Izzy’s killer string quartet arrangement of “Today” by The Smashing Pumpkins – we launched into a quiet chorus of “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” and a corporate reading of Paul’s great prayer of Eph 3:14-19.  This mediation on God’s sweeping LOVE morphed into “Thank You (You’re Love is Everywhere)” – the really uplifting and quirky song by Glen Phillips.  I especially love the “won’t you let it flow through me…” bridge.

But before we got to that bridge, Sharon stepped up and tore the roof off with a song/rap she wrote for.  The band did our best to lock down the groove of “Family Affair” by Mary J, but really, Sharon carried us on her much cooler, much more soulful back.  It was SO fun to watch such a gifted and passionate person bring what only she can bring.  Check it out here…

The heart of the worship set, however, was “Cannot Keep You” by Gungor.  (You can read more about why I love his music here.)  Using a bit of performance art and a whole lot of Blaine Hogan‘s visual genius, we attempted to bring this song to life and then invite our community into some of the deeper questions:  In what ways do we try to contain God?  Why?  Am I willing to invite His “uncontainable-ness” to have full reign in my life?  What could that look like?

Here’s the whole experience…

09.20.10

what is the capital-S Story?

Filed under: books,God's movement — 9:43 am

N.T. Wright, in his brilliant book After You Believe, writes that the main theme of the scriptures is…

“…the reconciliation of heaven and earth as God the creator deals with all that frustrates his purpose for his world and, through his Son and his Spirit, creates a new people through whom his purpose – filling the world with his tangible presence – is at last to be realized. 

To be formed by this capital-S Story is to be formed as a Christian.“

09.15.10

Are you awake?

Filed under: God's movement,Uncategorized — 8:46 pm

Present Perfect

I’m currently reading and being blown away by “Present Perfect” by Greg Boyd.  His basic premise is simple:  The present moment is all that’s real. “The past is gone.  The future is not yet.  We remember the past and anticipate the future, but we always do so in the present.  Reality is always NOW.”

And so central to being a Christian is learning how to remain open to God in every moment, “for the only life we have to surrender to Christ is the one we live moment by moment.”

This simple concept is profoundly messing with me.  Really.

I’m embarrassed to admit how many hours (or even days) I can go without actually connecting with the God I’ve committed my life to following.  And so I become merely a member of the Christian religion (the hollow, institutional version of something that used to be beautiful), instead of joining God in His Movement to love the world.  I don’t want to live that way.

But thankfully, most of Boyd’s book is spent encouraging us to realize that we’re “not awake”, and then giving tangible practices and exercises to help us wake up to the Loving God who is always there.

“The moment we surrender, we are home.  In fact, the moment we stop chasing and clinging we discover that we never really left home….we find we are surrounded each and every moment with a love that infuses our life with a worth and significance that couldn’t possible be improved on.  THIS is the home we were created to eternally live in.”

09.14.10

Who needs Christian Bale?

Filed under: creativity,life — 5:10 pm

From the mind (and iPhone) of my bro…

09.13.10

Packing for the tour…

Filed under: books,life — 8:02 am

This morning at 8am, Shauna leaves for her “Bittersweet” book tour.  Although she’ll never be gone for more than four strait nights, she has 36 events in 17 cities in 13 weeks, so this is quite a nutty season.  As her biggest fan, I couldn’t possibly be more excited for her…but as her husband, I’m really going to miss her!

If you’re interested, the tour itinerary is HERE.  Maybe she’s coming to your town!

Before heading to the airport, I asked her a couple questions about the tour and how we can support her in this season.  Here’s what she said…

09.08.10

Learning about following Christ from a Muslim

Filed under: God's movement — 8:12 pm

Lynne Hybels (one of the most progressive, coolest people I know…who also happens to be my mother-in-law) just posted a fascinating blog called “Jesus and the Mosque“.  The story of the Syrian-born writer Mazhar Mallouhi captured me…

a pic I took in Jerusalem

“…in the book is a photo of him in the famous Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo, sitting with a group of Muslims as they read the Gospels together. It is his custom to say, “I am a follower of Christ. Here is what Jesus said. Tell me honestly, do you think I am living as Jesus said I should?”

What a simple but challenging question!  Can you imagine what would happen if Christians asked it?

I was taught that what made me a Christian was what I believed.  End of story.  My actions were important, but purely elective and for over-achieving.  This sounds ridiculous, but in many ways I called myself a “Christ-follower” without ever actually trying to follow Christ.  It was more of a brand than a life.  More of a club than a mission.  More of a transaction than transformation.

Richard Rohr provocatively wondered “maybe we would be better off spending less time worshiping Jesus and more time following Jesus”.  As a person who grew up (and now works) in a church, I need this advice nearly every day.  I’m full of scripture and theology and religion, but I’m still really selfish and hurtful and proud.  I sing about Jesus professionally, but my life is still unlike him in many ways.

Maybe I need to be born again…again.

09.06.10

Regret

Filed under: life,quotes — 10:01 am

According to Gilbert, studies show that “in the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.” (read more)

This strikes a deep chord in me.  I get distracted by doing things…but my deepest, most core fears are all about missing out.  What if I don’t live up to my ideals and dreams?  What if I get caught up in pragmatic safety and miss out on the path to real adventure?  What if I never actually become the person I was made to be?  I don’t want to be driven by fear…but I don’t want to ignore this deep ache either.

What is it for you?

09.04.10

A new band you must here!

Filed under: music — 11:15 pm

Tonight, I went to the first ever show of The Handsome Bandit.  They blew the doors off Penny Road Pub with fantastic melodies, huge hooks, deep grooves, and just enough melancholy to keep it anchored.  Think Ben Folds Five meets Panic at the Disco meets Thrice!  Now, I would be quite partial to this band anyway (since my brother is the singer/bassist) but I truly think they’re great!  Here’s a video and some pictures…

Check out their new EP here!

The Handsome Bandit

The Handsome Bandit

Penny Road Pub

09.02.10

Worship as an Industry

Filed under: God's movement,worship — 11:10 pm

Derek Webb posted this on his blog today and it really got me thinking..and wrestling…and shouting “Amen, brother!”…and feeling sad to be so deeply entrenched in many of the things Brian is talking about.  The video is only 2:45 long.  What do you think about his assessment of “worship” today?  In what ways do you agree and/or disagree?