Perpetual Novelty
I was inspired by SGRWebster’s blog. I also borrowed my title from SGRWebster.com.
I think it’s important in this present age of Christian book stores, Christian radio stations, Christian record labels, even Christian blogs, to remember that Christ is older than 30 years old. And especially with this “new Christ” that seems to be all throughout our Christian circles, it’s important to keep in mind that we are far from knowing everything about Him. There is so much more lying in His person than we know.
That is incredibly exciting and compelling. I can relate it to when I hear a new band for the first time and I don’t know all the songs on their record or I haven’t read all about them yet. That’s always very exciting for me. The most recent case is Mute Math.
The wonderful truth is that Christ is always revealing new things about Himself to us if we are receptive and submissive to Him. He is, as the title of this post and the heading of SGRWebster.com say, “the only perpetual novelty.” The excitement that is knowing Christ and being connected intimately with the Father is always growing. The pleasure intrinsic to being a child of God is, in fact, limitless. All other wells run dry, but not the Fountain of living water.
Lyric of the Day
Andrew Bird>Armchair Apocrypha>Scythian Empires
Stall Out (Mute Math)
I’m not sure what the band would think of me doing this.
Racing on a faultline Bracing for a landslide Conscious of every move getting harder Has the race gone underwater? I keep stalling out I just can’t keep up There’s alarming doubt Am I good enough? But you keep coming around To convince me it’s still far from over We are still far from over
Philippians 1:6
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Thanks to SGR Webster
What’s the mission?
I don’t know where I first heard this but it’s an idea that keeps popping up in my mind from time to time.
As a young person, especially as a youth-group attender, I feel like we’ve been fed a dangerously understated Christianity. Borrowing from Mr. Webster, we’ve divorced the two hands of God from each other. We’ve taken the gracious, compassionate, beautiful, loving side of God but chosen to ignore His wrath. There is no challenge to live up to. No calling. We’ve been given a “candy and nuts” Christianity without having to eat any of our vegetables, if you follow me.
Exodus refers to God as a “man of war” whose arrows are drunk on the blood of His enemies. Isaiah refers to God as “Yahweh of Armies” (LORD of hosts) all over the book. Do you see the gap here?
As young men, ESPECIALLY as young MEN, how compelling can a calling from God be if God is just a teddy bear sitting up there for whenever we feel sad? Look at the text, guys, if we are in Christ, then we are called sons of the Most High God. We are given the spirit of the God whose mighty arm brought an enslaved people out from under the most powerful empire on earth. We are given the spirit of the God who the very sight of makes men fall over dead. His presence alone sets mountains on fire (Exodus 20). Our brother (Jesus Christ) has the authority to command legions of demons out of men and send them where He will.
I must also warn against forsaking God’s love and solely focusing on His wrath as well.
I suggest the book “Wild at Heart” for any man wishing to be more than just “a nice guy”, especially young men.
Mute Math Concert
I went to a Mute Math concert last night in Grand Rapids with Mr. Webster and some classmates. They were great. All of them were incredibly talented musicians who beat the life out of their instruments. Here are some pictures. Sorry that some turned out blurry.
Christians and “Secular Music”
Today in homeroom we listened to the Arcade Fire song “My Body Is a Cage” and talked about how Christians relate to “secular music.” It got me thinking.
I think we’ve made a mistake in drawing such a sharp line between “sacred” and “secular” art. After all art is an outpouring of the human soul, is it not? And while we, as people redeemed by the blood of Christ, are children of God, are we not still human? I don’t think we should give up all the wonderful complexities of the human experience so easily.
Now before I go further, I want to clear up that I still believe that we should be careful about what sorts of things we fill our heads with, no less believe. And as Christians we have a calling to stand out from the norm. Indeed what is contrary to God and His perfect commandments we should be much more critical of. I will proceed from there and let you figure out for yourself what that entails.
When I listen to songs like “My Body Is a Cage” my mind gets going on all sorts of things. It first goes to the frustration in trying to create some piece of meaningful art (in this case music) and coming up short of your own expectations. But more than that I think all people, yes, we Christians, too, can relate because we’ve all experienced times when we felt restrained by our present form. Frustration and despair are parts of a beautiful picture that is the human experience. Why then do Christians feel that all of their music MUST be “uplifting and encouraging” (thanks to STAR 88.3) when often times life is not? To leave them out makes the picture of the human experience look as strange as a photograph with no shadows.
How many of you have been frustrated or sad about something and gone to someone to talk about it? How many times did you have a solution to the problem? Was it therapeutic to simply articulate that feeling or emotion without necessarily getting a solution? Of course it was! While we still desperately need a solution to this fear and doubt and pain that we experience here on earth, often times what we need most immediately is to simply articulate the reality of these things. Why have we made it different for music? While music CAN certainly be enhanced by viewing it in light of the Cross, it NEEDS not always be this way. In fact if it is always this way we will make ourselves numb to the wonderful reality that the Cross offers. If we felt no pain we could enjoy no pleasure (recognition given to Mr. Webster). Salvation would not be desirable at all if we did not first feel the despair of sin.
I encourage anyone reading to consider this and hopefully broaden your horizons beyond “Christian music.” I think you’ll find there is a lot waiting out there. Most importantly…THINK!
Lyric of the Day
This town seems hardly worth our time,
And we’ll no longer memorize or rhyme,
Too far along in our crime,
Stepping over what now towers to the sky,
With no connection
The Shins>Wincing the Night Away>Phantom Limb
