Then and Now: A few Musical Thoughts

Okay, for a quick moment, put yourself back in time to the second century (that's the years between 100 and 199).  You are a Christian, very likely gathering for worship in someone's house in town.  The Bible readings will be there, as you have someone who can read in the town who also happens to be a Christian.  So you get to hear something from the Old Testament and the New Testament, since much of what we call the New Testament has already come together as a unit.  You will undoubtedly pray together, and probably share a meal with the Lord's Supper. 

What do you do for music, though?  Think about this for a moment.  None of the hymns that find their way into our modern day hymnbooks have been written.  And what do you do for musical accompaniment?  Maybe someone remembered their flute, or their harp or their lyre.  Chances are, you won't be belting out "Amazing Grace" to the organ as you gather for worship at that time.  Maybe you'll sing a few of the Psalms as your hymns, or some of the music that has begun to be written about Jesus and His death and resurrection.

Now, fast-forward to today.  Have you ever been in a gathering of Christians where the type of music being sung during worship has come up for discussion?  The discussion of "contemporary" music versus "traditional" music likely has come up.  The discussion may also have revolved around the particular instruments being played.  In some ways, in our day and time, we've come to have this view that there are "right" and "wrong" songs and instruments for worship.

The thing that I most want to point out here today is that there is a reason why God has never "claimed" one instrument or type of music as superior to another in His eyes.  It's because the ultimate goal of our music which is directed toward God is to thank and praise Him for His grace and for what He has done for us.  Sometimes you can do that with a faster beat, and sometimes with a slower beat.  Whether it comes from a guitar or an expensive organ, the goal is a heart whose intent is to thank and praise God.

Since I'm not a historical expert, and since I haven't lived at all times in the history of this world, I cannot speak with a great deal of knowledge on how early Christians "did" their music.  It is a bit surprising to me that we will go to such great lengths to defend one type of music over another.  Granted, there will always be songs/hymns that are better than others, or have more doctrinal depth or accuracy than others.  We should always strive for those which are accurate about God and our faith.  As for depth, there is a time and place for those short little catchy songs as well as those that speak to the depths of our souls.

I hope that, whatever your musical preferences may be, that you remember that the ultimate aim and goal of our music and singing is to thank and praise our God for what He has done.

When Patience is Difficult

At the current time, my wife and I are having three rooms in our house finished.  With a kid on the way, we figured that we would need an additional room for family and friends to stay in when they come out to visit us, so about a month or so ago, we started looking around for someone who could do this work for us.

After a bit of a search, we contracted out with a guy who gave us a good price for the work.  At the time, he said that it would take about 3 weeks or so to get everything done.  So, once we signed the contract, we set up a time for later that week for things to get started.

Maybe it's that we are having the worst string of events possible when it comes to home finishing, but let's just say that our patience has been greatly tested.  First, the contractor (who does some of his own work in the process) hurt his back, which slowed down some of the early work that he had to do.  The framing of the empty rooms went well, but then, the contractor's father-in-law got severely ill, which set things back about 2-3 days.  Then, we were getting to the point where the sheetrock could be hung, only to find out that the sheetrocker had blood clots and was hospitalized, which set us back a full week.  Then, today, he finally got in touch with us, letting us know that his helper would be there during the day, but as of 5:00, we find ourselves still waiting.

Someone once said that patience is a virtue.  I will agree that there is a call for patience as God's people live their lives in this world.  It's good that we aren't always on people when they are a few minutes late, or when something goes slower than expected.  At the same time, we aren't to let others neglect their work and tasks simply because we want to be patient with them.  Typically, this is more a form of avoiding confrontation rather than being patient.

Patience can be difficult.  I'm sure all of you have had times in life where you found it extremely tough to be patient.  Thanks be to God that we have forgiveness for our impatience through Jesus and the cross, and that we have forgiveness for the times we have been neglectful rather than patient.

Monday Afternoon Musings

Guess what?  It snowed a little bit today.  Here we are getting close to Easter, and we have winter and spring fighting it out to see who will prevail on that day when we celebrate Christ's resurrection.

We're just about a week away from holy week. Holy week celebrates the week which began with Jesus entering Jerusalem on the donkey, and ends with Jesus' lifeless body in the sealed tomb, being watched over by soldiers.  The new week begins with lots of fear and trembling, as strange events seem to take place near that tomb, which is suddenly empty, and amid scattered reports of people seeing Jesus alive and well.

Right now, I find myself in the proverbial "eye of the storm."  Next week will see a frenzy of worship times, of different events to prepare for Christ's death and resurrection (such as two Passover seders), and of messages to give to God's people as we gather to observe those crucial events on the way to the cross. It's crazy and frenetic, and yet, I also wouldn't trade it for the world.

That's because those events point to something far greater than you and I, but which have a tremendous amount of impact for you and I as people. To think that some person's death on a cross outside of Jerusalem could purchase forgiveness and freedom for you and I seems crazy, to say the least.  And yet, that far-distant action has immediate, life-long application to the life you and I now live.  We never escape its reach.

So bring on the frenzy and the various events.  But more importantly, God, bring on the great gifts of grace that You freely give us now because of those events almost 2,000 years ago.  Let those gifts flow abundantly to us, and let them overflow in our lives, so that they spill over and splash those around us.

How guilty do you feel?

Okay, who ever likes to feel guilty?  I can't think of a single person who really enjoys having their guilt pointed out to them.  I know of a few people that seem to take some kind of joy in pointing out other people's guilt, but usually they aren't really trying to build up the other person.  Instead, the effort seems to be more inclined toward tearing them down in some way.

One fairly significant part of our human nature is that we are all guilty.  Who of us was a perfect child growing up?  Who of us has never told a lie to another person?  Who of us has never said something hurtful to another person?  Who hasn't taken something that didn't belong to you?  At quite a few times in our lives, we inevitably have to feel guilty about some of the things that we do.

For some people, this guilt can be tremendous.  It may have been something that really did bring a great deal of hurt to another person, or that they did something that has negatively affected quite a few people.  The knowledge that such pain came because of their action can create doubt as to that person's ability to ever be forgiven for what they have done.

The funny thing is, God actually wants us to recognize and own up to our guilt.  It's not that He takes pleasure in our suffering, or in seeing us squirm. Rather, God wants us to own up to our guilt and acknowledge it because He wants to take it away from us. He doesn't want it to weigh us down and bother us any longer. He wants it to be forgiven.

That's ultimately what the cross of Jesus is all about.  There, God has forgiven and dealt with your guilt.  It doesn't matter how big or small, how recent or long ago.  It's been taken care of and dealt with, once and for all.  While we may still struggle with the after-effects as long as we live, from God's point of view, our guilt has been dealt with and no longer comes between us.  That's a good thing. 

I'll be talking a bit more about dealing with guilt between ourselves and other people in future posts. But know this for sure. God has forgiven your guilt because Jesus suffered, died, and rose for you.  In God's eyes, your guilt has been forgiven.  That's a reason to give thanks!

Coming from our Roots

My wife's dad was out visiting with us for a little more than a week recently, and it was a great joy to have him with us. He graciously helped to paint our nursery and guest rooms, as well as a few other small projects around the house. But more than anything, we simply enjoyed having him out here to spend some time with us.

As the time went by, I began to notice a lot of ways that my wife is like her dad.  There were common ways of approaching decisions that they share, little phrases, their particular approaches to how well a project should be done, and a number of other things that I noticed coming out.  After witnessing some of these, I started to comment to both of them about how similar they were to each other.

This afternoon, that got me to thinking.  We can be so very similar to one or both of the parents that we come from.  But, as Christians, we also have been given a new birth, one that took place when we were baptized.  At that time, when faith first stirred up to life within us, we were made children of God the Father.  Many of us have had the good fortune to be raised in Christian households, and so we've been raised, in some respects, by our Father, through things such as our worship and our learning times.

Just how much has our Father rubbed off on us?  After all, we have the greatest "Dad" ever. He's a dad who takes all of our inherited sinfulness and badness, and put it to death in Jesus on the cross.  He's a dad who daily washes us and makes us new because of that baptism that we received.  He's a dad who is gracious, who is compassionate, who is loving and caring.  He's a dad who is just, and who looks for our good, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in.

Our dad has given us a new life in Him, through our connection to Jesus through our baptism.  It would then make sense that we, in some form or fashion, would start showing some of those similar characteristics as our Father.  Never perfectly, and far too often we will fail to act accordingly. But the absence of these could legitimately raise the question of if we really are related to this Father.

How has the Father rubbed off on you?  How do you see the influence and character of your Father in your life?

Thinking about Rest

Over the past week or so, I have been involved in a pretty major house project.  Actually, this has been something that has been going on for the past two to three weeks. My wife and I decided to finish our basement AND to paint our guest room and future nursery, and the timing of this all has worked out in such a way that it's all being done at the same time.

So about three weeks ago, we started cleaning. Two of the unfinished rooms downstairs were basically storage areas, which meant that everything had to be moved out of them.  To do this, I had to reorganize the crawl storage space, which would hold a lot of the things we would be moving out.  Then, we also had to clear out the two rooms that would be painted.  This meant moving that stuff out to the garage or other storage places.  Needless to say, there was a lot of moving of boxes and things, of which I had to move the majority, since my wife is 32 weeks pregnant.

So we got all of that cleaned out, and this past week, her dad arrived to help paint. So each day this week, after I finish my work at church, I'm going home and engaging in about 3-4 hours of painting projects in the evening. We've had to cover up one of my biggest mistakes of house ownership, that of painting the house blue originally.  Blue is really hard to cover up.  It means multiple coats of paint just to get things ready for the new paint, so that the blue doesn't show through.

I'm not saying all this to complain (okay, maybe a little).  What all of this has shown me is the importance of rest.  Normally, I try to keep at least one evening during the week and one full day to rest and relax both my mind and body.  But with all these projects, I haven't had that luxury.  Over the past few days, I've felt it catching up to me a bit.  And that has shown me the importance of rest.

The Bible tells us that, when God created the world, He rested on the seventh day.  God, being God, probably didn't really need to take a break as though He had tired Himself out.  In fact, several places in the Bible speak of God's resting on that seventh day as a way of showing us our need for rest.  We need to rest our bodies physically, to let them rejuvenate and recharge. We need to let our minds rest periodically, so that they stay fresh and sharp. We also need to find our rest in God spiritually with some regularity, since we are bombarded by sin, temptation, struggles, and the like as we live our lives.

I write all of this to encourage you to make regular use of rest.  Rest your bodies when the opportunity comes up.  Rest your minds so that you will be sharp when that is needed.  Also rest in the LORD our God, who tells us to come to Him, we who are burdened and weary, and we will find rest in Him  (Matthew 11:28-30).

Contrasting Then and Now

Have you ever heard someone long for the "good old days?"  I've always been intrigued by what people mean by a phrase like this.  For some, it means that they long for the time when life was simpler, or when there weren't so many decisions or distractions to life. For others, they long for a time when people enjoyed interacting with others rather than sit with their headphones on while they block out the rest of the world.  I would imagine that there are a lot of other things that this phrase could also mean.

Since I'm so intrigued by this, every once in a while, I'll be tossing up a blog post or two that talks about "then" and contrasts it with "now".  We'll look at how things were back "then", and see what has changed in the "now".  Sometimes the changes are for the better, and sometimes they are for the worse.  Sometimes things changed simply because the situation and circumstances changed, and the change is neither better nor worse.  And sometimes, we'll discover that things really haven't changed all that much.

I will introduce the first one tomorrow, but for today, I encourage you to think about some of the things that have changed in what you would call "then" and in the "now" that we live in. 

Just as a last reminder, we'll typically take a faith-centered approach to this, though some topics will expand farther afield than faith.

A brief apology

Hey there, all my faithful followers,

I want to apologize for the sporadic posts lately.  My wife Carrie and I have been getting our house ready for some painting and finishing projects, which has left me short of regular time that I would have to blog.  I will continue to put some things up here, but if the posts aren't as deep as you are used to (if your idea of deep is about an inch), it's simply because I am focusing on work stuff more during this busy time, and then on home stuff when at home.

Thanks for your understanding!

Education as God?

"You shall have no other gods before me."  Exodus 20:3

When the LORD God spoke these words to Moses, and had him deliver them to the Israelites gathered at Mt. Sinai, there was a great deal of meaning to these words. Think about it like this.  God had just brought them out of Egypt. God had done might actions to set them free. And yet, if you read through the early chapters of Exodus, we encounter something a little strange to us.

The Egyptian magicians were able to do some of the same things that God the LORD did in terms of plagues.  They turned water to blood.  They made frogs appear.  After that, the LORD God seemed to get to things that were too difficult for them to do, but nevertheless, there were others who could do things that God could do.

So the temptation to discover other gods who could take care of the people was very real, especially since God had given the command that no image ever be made of Him.  And that seems to go against something very deep inside us as humans. We want something tangible to turn to when we need help, or when things are going right and we want to say thank you.  We have a hard time giving thanks to an invisible and seemingly detached God.

Which brings me to the point of this post today.  We humans want to find a reason for the good or the bad that happens in life.  Here in the United States, the thing that we have really started to point to as the vital thing in order to do well in life is to have an education.  We give credit to our education for so many things.  Our education gets us a job.  Our education gives us purpose and meaning in life.  Our education is the thing that we put our hope in when times are tough.  I've noticed this a lot with the recent recession/depression. Where are people turning to make things good in life?  For many, the answer is to go back to school.

Now, I'm not here to try to determine when we cross the line to having another god, but the thing that I would point out is that God warns us about looking to other things, things of this world, in order to give meaning to life, or to provide for our life.  It's not that God is against us being educated (I say all of this fully aware that I am studying for a doctoral degree, after all).  The thing of importance is to realize that our education is a gift of God that enables us to better manage our lives, and is not the thing to put our hope and trust in.

I realize that this seems like a fine distinction that I'm making.  But I guess that's even part of the point.  How do we know when we've gone from putting our hope in God, and making use of His gifts, to putting our hope in our education and the possibilities that it brings?  I would dare say that it's a very fine distinction, a very fine line that we walk.

What do you call "Being Nice"?

Yesterday I gave a few thoughts on how we can sometimes use the word grace to really mean that we tolerate something.  As I've given it a bit more thought, one of the things that I have realized is that we often want to be "nice" to others, but sometimes what we are nice about isn't really all that nice in the long run.

Want an example?  Let's start off with a fairly cheesy one.  Your friend was eating lunch, and some ketchup or mayo got onto their cheek.  They haven't noticed.  You want to be nice to them.  So do you not say anything about it, since it may not be "nice" to mention it?  Or do you say something to them because it wouldn't be nice to let them walk around like that for others to see?

Like I said, cheesy example.  But let's put it into a bit tougher situation now.  You have a friend who just blurts out things that sometimes can be offensive to others.  It makes you feel uncomfortable when this person does this.  You know that it affects how other people see your friend.  So what is the "nice" thing to do?  Do you just keep your mouth shut, since drawing attention to it might strike a nerve with your friend?  Do you say something because you know that it is affecting your friend's reputation in the eyes of others?

That one might be a bit tougher.  It's a lot harder to draw attention to someone's habits or personality than it is some food on their cheek.  One of our human tendencies is to say that it's "nice" when we don't say something to upset our friend.  After all, it might cause friction between us, and friction is definitely not nice.

Yet, in the end, aren't we failing to be nice by letting our friend continue to live in a way that detracts from his/her reputation in others' eyes?  By us trying to be "nice", we're actually allowing our friend's reputation to suffer, which is not really all that nice, is it?

We could really take this to some deep levels, which I might do in the future, but for today, I would simply ask you to ponder that thought.  What does it really mean to be nice?  Is it to call attention to something that does need to be addressed, or is it to simply try to keep things with the least amount of friction?

Confusing "Grace" with "Tolerance"

I'm inventing the following scenario, but the real purpose of it is to guide us in thinking about how we, as Christians, may actually say we are being gracious to someone when, in reality, we are being tolerant of their continued sin.  On with the story.

Sue was getting fed up.  Once again, she had been forced to attend a parent/teacher conference alone because her husband Tim had to work late.  This was a regular issue coming up between the two of them.  He would work long hours, and his reason was always that they needed the extra income to pay for their mortgage, their cars, to put food on the table for their son, and the like. 

The thing was, Sue was tired of it.  She knew that Tim really did want her and their son to have good things in life.  She knew that Tim liked to have this lifestyle, as well.  But it was getting in the way of them being a family.  Tim didn't really know his son, and she herself had felt the distance that came up between she and Tim. 

Sue knew that the issue needed to be addressed.  So she went and talked to a couple of her church friends about it.  She heard them say that she needed to act with grace toward Tim while dealing with him.  Grace should be her guiding principle in this whole interaction.  That made a great deal of sense to Sue.  Wasn't God gracious toward her?  Didn't God show His grace even when she didn't deserve it?  The not so subtle message was that she should show that same grace to Tim, while they tried to find a workable solution.

Now, you may have just read that story and didn't see anything wrong in it.  But here is where I would venture to say that this story shows that we do exactly what the title of my post is for today.  We confuse grace with tolerance.  Tim (and the rest of the family) have a particular lifestyle that they are comfortable with.  While the issue with time spent at work versus time spent at home is a very real issue, both Sue and Tim are framing it around the things they "need".  They need two cars and a bigger home, and a number of other things.

But let's focus for just a moment on the solution that is given to Sue by her two church friends.  "Show him grace" is essentially their message.  But let me venture forth this question.  Is it really grace to let someone continue to deceive himself that he's working for others when he really is working to fill his desires?  Tim (and Sue) both approach his work as though it's taking care of their needs, and yet, it seems that they are striving for far more than what they "need".  They are after the things that they want in life, things that make for a nice, easy life.

So when Sue's friends tell her to deal with him in grace, it seems that they are basically saying, "tolerate his (and your) work hours in order to have what you "need"" instead of addressing the real issue.  The real issue is that both Tim and Sue feel that they need to have a certain lifestyle, and even though their efforts to support that lifestyle are creating difficulties, neither of them are willing to say that they want those things more than they want to address the issue of idolatry in their lives.  They both want security, which Martin Luther has said is one of the most tenacious idols that we can have as humans.  We look to our material wealth for our good and security rather than trusting God above all things.

I would say that Sue's friends have confused grace with tolerance.  Think back through the story, and consider how you would approach the situation with true grace, rather than grace which has been confused as tolerance.

Do you feel like a stranger?

Have you ever turned on the TV and watched some news cast about something that just seems like it had to have happened on another world?  Over the past week or so, we've been hearing about tornadoes doing things like wiping out entire towns, which isn't as big of news as it could be, since we've been exposed to this kind of thing more frequently than we would like to have been lately.

While we may only get these thoughts every once in a while, one of the things I've started to notice is that this world feels more and more like a strange place.  Or maybe, to phrase it better, I feel like a stranger in this world.  So much happens that just seems wrong, or it takes on a movie-like feeling when I watch the news, and I feel like I'm the stranger in this world.

In one way, that probably makes a lot of sense.  After all, when God created this world for us humans to live on, He created it perfectly.  There was nothing wrong with it at all.  We fit right in.  We even find, in the early chapters of Genesis, that the animals of the world didn't fear the first man, who had them all brought to him so that he could name them all.

Once the darkness of sin and the shadow of death entered, though, this world became a strange place.  In order to save His special creation, humankind, God saved them from the curse that should have been placed on them, and instead, He placed that curse on the world.  The world would no longer be a safe, familiar place for humans to live in.  Instead, we humans would have to fight with it for the things we would need to sustain our lives.

Because of all of that, we are now strangers in a strange land.  While we will wrestle with the strangeness of our world, and while we recognize that we are strangers here, the one thing that God wants us to know is that things will not always be like this.  Jesus has come to rescue us from this strange world that is bound for death and for re-creation.  He has rescued us from our sin, and part of that promise means that we will inherit a new land, one in which we will not be strangers.

I don't know about you, but as long as we live in a world that has fallen under God's curse and the curse of sin, I'm rather glad to think that I'm a stranger here, and that my true home lies somewhere else, a place that God has promised to all who believe in Jesus' sacrifice for them.  I look forward to the day when Jesus Himself gets to say to me, "Welcome home!"

The "Dirge" of Lent

I find it interesting when we get to the Lent season in the hymnbook our church uses.  Typically, the hymns for Lent are fairly somber, usually played in lower keys, and the tempo of the tune is supposed to be a little bit slower than normal.  In a way, it can almost seem like you are at a funeral when you sing quite a few hymns commemorating the season of Lent.

I've given thought to this over the years.  I remember when I was growing up that it seemed you weren't supposed to smile or be happy during the Lent season.  Typically, in Lutheran congregations, we also don't sing hymns or canticles with the word "Alleluia" in them.  All of this, combined together, can make it seem as though the Lent season is one long dirge.

But I would argue that this is a misunderstanding of Lent.  In a way, it ties in with my earlier post about this season being all about our sin and our focus on it.  However, the thing that so often seems to get lost is that we reflect on our sin because we see that God has saved us from our sin, forgiving it fully and completely in Jesus and the cross.  While we may reflect on that sin, we don't do so as though we're supposed to wallow in it.  We do so because we have the joy that our sin has been forgiven.  We are a new creation!  We are God's own children, heirs of eternal life with Him!

While we are not joyful about our sin, we rejoice in the fact that we are forgiven through Jesus and the cross.  But here's where this impacts us so much with the music of Lent.  It just "seems" wrong to be joyful or upbeat when we are reflecting on our sins, but I would make the case that this is only true if we fail to get to our forgiveness.

I have no problem with singing a hymn or song slowly, especially during Lent.  However, it just seems appropriate to pick up the pace and lighten our voices when we get to the forgiveness parts.  After all, we aren't left in our sin.  Jesus has died with our sin, but just as importantly, He has risen from the dead and declared Himself victorious over our sin.  We are forgiven!  We should rejoice.

So Lent is not just a six and a half week dirge.  Instead, we should reflect on our sin in all somberness and seriousness, but then we should respond with equal or greater joy that we have been forgiven!  We turn our dirge into a victory dance, and all because we have the assurance of our forgiveness, through the grace of God shown to us through Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection.