Monday Morning Music Ministry

9-27-21

“The only things in life we can be sure of are death and taxes.” Well, those are not the only things. One more is that stupid, lying saying itself. We hear it a lot, which doesn’t make it truer.

We can be sure of many things. King Solomon said that there is nothing new under the sun, and he was famously wise for such clarity. We can be sure of death, yes; and sickness, disease, sin. Broken promises, lost love. Not so quick – we can also be sure of life, birth, new life, and re-birth. Love. Happiness, joy, innocence, forgiveness, redemption. Salvation.

The good side of the ledger is longer, and more profound, than the dark side.

We can read those good items off the list, and we can write them. We can live them, and share them. But none of it is automatic. Sometimes the gloomy list of things in life seems written boldly, in large letters. And sometimes – too often – the cheery words and promises seem hard to read… the letters small… the words smudged.

But they are there. Move your eyes closer; turn up the light; focus.

Focus. Things like death and taxes, hard times and false friends can seem indeed like the stark, sure things in life. And sometimes the blessings and good can seem distant and obscure. Well, God promised us many things, but not always a silver platter – we are better off when we focus, concentrate, pray, seek, and find.

I recently “discovered” a place called Pictured Rocks on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The UP is a strange and large place that once welcomed workers who felled all its trees (it is dense forestland again) and copper (mostly removed) and iron ore (largely mined). Now it is a remote and, despite its spurts of past exploitation, a sparsely populated forestland.

Its soil is not pure dirt, if there be such a thing. It still has traces and veins of copper, iron, and other minerals. But just as fermentation can be a curse or a blessing in foods, so do these random minerals in the soil – not enough to mine successfully any more, and perhaps annoying to farmers – “redeem” themselves. Along Lake Superior are sandstone cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, inland lakes, a deep forest, and a wild shoreline of cliffs. The minerals, exposed to the sun and air and moisture, present rainbows of copper-oranges and oxidized greens and all varieties of colors. Rust actually can be beautiful.

Dig a little and discover the good that lives in surprising places.

Yeast, wine, cheeses, black tea, penicillin, and a thousand things that “turn”… are transformed to good. As people, we can “turn” too; and even circumstances can turn to good. You know the song: tadpoles to bullfrogs; caterpillars to beautiful butterflies. Rusty rocks to unlikely rainbows.

Turn the pages of life if you have to. There is beauty everywhere in God’s world, and treasures in His plans. Focus; you will see them.

You can be them.

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Click: This Is My Father’s World

9-20-21

A message from your friendly neighborhood Christian Curmudgeon. Actually, I am risible about some aspects, many aspects, of corporate worship these days, but it is not related to my being a reactionary about many other things. “Reactionary” might be too strong; but I have been called a moon-calf, a fuddy-duddy, a jabbernowl. Perhaps with justice, but I must first grab a dictionary.

I honestly (and earnestly) think that many forms of contemporary worship divert the focus from God and the Christian message, all in the name of – here we go – “relevance,” “inclusion,” “being welcoming,” “attracting youth,” and so forth.

The Italians have a phrase that I remember hearing, or rather I remember the meaning which is very wise. I think it was something like “Per andare avanti, guarda indietro,” and its meaning is, “Before moving forward, one needs to look back.” That is: remember; build on the past; respect your heritage. Further, using another Italian word, “ritorno” can be a palliative. That is: return to values before you lose what is valuable; preserve what carried you to a good place.

Can these stern prescriptions apply to worship and music in the contemporary church? Yes, and applicable to many, many larger aspects of life these days.

You don’t have to be a mossback to recognize that our world is spinning out of control. Specifically I mean “our” world of Western Civilization — Post-Christianity, secularized and hedonist, materialist and moral-relativist. Whether virtually worshiping “science” or finding value in no-values, our world thinks it has found the formula for success in the pursuit of happiness.

We seem to believe that every generation, every society, every belief system in all of human history had it wrong. Contemporary society has figured it out, it tells us: the best religion is no religion; the best standards are no standards. “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man.” The theme song for a generation was really a funeral dirge of self-deception.

Somewhere along the way, their karma ran over our dogma.

Our puppet-masters dance more madly with each other, inspiring the suicidal, incestuous, relentlessly aimless “life” we are forced to live amidst the ruins of religion, order, respect, reverence, law, and learning.

And what of my original choleric indictment of church worship? A minor factor? I don’t believe the trends and modes in Christendom today are peripheral, but are squarely indicative of a rudderless society. Indeed, the general drift in contemporary churches – thank God, not all: I acknowledge that – are mirrors of what afflicts our “civilization.”

So I will address my thoughts to malignant trends in many churches today.

*The mad rush to “run” more and more people into pews is an admission that churches don’t believe the sweet Salvation message is sufficient.

*The transformation of music and “doing” church to be “contemporary” and “relevant” tells those who hunger for Eternal Truth that fads of the moment are what really matter to the clergy.

*Many churches act as if traditional hymns are illegal and printed hymnbooks and prayer books are toxic. Except for the (rare) great old hymns, who knows the words or can sing more than those new songs’ seven words repeated 11 times?

*Performances on stages, with worshipers as mere audiences, now are substitutes for congregational participation.

*Hosts challenge people to smile and grin and yell Good Morning – “Louder! I can’t hear you!” – when in fact some people seek church in order to weep and seek God and listen for Him.

*I am not against instruments other than organs and pianos, but many people leave church services more in love with guitar riffs than with Jesus Christ.

*I have seen uncountable youth pastors, in their 30s and 40s, wearing cargo pants, sporting tattoos, and dying their hair in order to relate to their Middle Schoolers. Kids today don’t need idiot adults pretending to be kids who have classmates and friends already. What kids need are Christian adults to be role models.

*Sin frequently is not addressed in many contemporary Christian churches. To ignore our sin nature and the stain of sin in our life is to deny what Jesus came to defeat, and the Holy Spirit sent to empower our resistance.

*Do we know the prayers of the church any more? The Commandments? The Creeds that summarize our faith? Do we know the distinctives of our denominations, or do differences make no difference? Really?

*Finally, how many American Christians are taught about the history of the church, about the defense of the faith – from schisms within, or from periodic Muslim invasions over 1500 years? How many of us know about, and take inspiration from, the martyrs who died for their faith?

… I believe if we don’t know about all the martyrs who died for the Faith, we surely will die for our lack of faith.

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Click: The Old Rugged Cross

9-13-21
Nine-Eleven ~~

Think back on 20 years ago, September 11. How many victims of terrorism were there?

Most people will cite around 3000.

That is wrong. On September 11, 2001, there were approximately 3000 victims of murder at those three American locations.

But there were 300-million victims of terrorism. And still are.

Words are important. They can point to the truth; they also can obscure the truth. They inform us; they deceive us. Humankind is persuaded that words and language elevate us over the rest of animate creation; but in truth, “communication” is only useful according to the character of the user – and the discernment of the hearer – and otherwise camouflages the baser aspects of human nature.

“Terrorism” does not need adjectives and modifiers. Have you noticed TV news reports of, say, a school shooting or a planted bomb exploding, and the reporter says, “Officials have not yet determined whether it is terrorism.” Idiots. People are terrified – that suffices to be Terrorism.

America has been on a war footing – a wartime economy, busied with large and small wars, newer and newer weaponry – since World War II and the Depression it overcame, so we live in an Age of Terror. Afghanistan became boring to many Americans after 20 years, but we forget that history is replete with Hundred Year Wars and Thirty Year Wars. Not only wars: for centuries, people lived under constant threat of Black Plagues, Yellow Plagues, and other mysterious pestilence.

Of course I do not minimize the current waves of Terror, and of course I mourn the murdered and honor the brave rescuers. Searing emotions. But for our nation to lull itself into thinking that 9-11 was a “one-off,” or that life can be “normal” again… invites another shocking news story interrupting our regular programming. We want Terrorism to be a limited series and Terror incidents to be sound bites. Transforming evil into banality is seductive… and ultimately deadly.

I was a boy at the dawn of the “Nuclear Age,” when schools had bombing drills. Herded into hallways by the gym, or taught to kneel with hands over our heads, under desks, in order to protect ourselves, we were told we protected ourselves from a possible thermo-nuclear attack. I had nightmares.

My son was an intern at MSNBC (when it was a different cable-news operation) on 9-11. Its studios are in New Jersey, across from lower Manhattan; its parking lot affords a superb view of the Statue of Liberty, and, on that morning, a clear view of the flaming, smoking, collapsing towers. Working three straight emergency shifts, he edited raw footage of bodies falling and people dying that have not yet been widely seen. My late wife was afraid he would be emotionally scarred; but he, young professional, has not had nightmares.

The truth is we are all scarred, and scared. We all have nightmares – of different sorts, but… the world is different, more dangerous than it was 20 years ago.

We were attacked because we were a Christian nation thriving on freedom and private enterprise. Have we doubled down on those values, or moved away from those values, after 20 years?

Why my doom and gloom on this anniversary? I remember; I do not forget; I honor the brave; I grieve for the lost and their families. We commemorate on the anniversary. But… it is a kind of American trait to seize upon anniversaries so that we may turn the page. And move on. And lie to ourselves about persistent challenges.

We cannot let that happen.

Twenty years ago, would you have thought there would be no “major” Terror attack on our soil for two decades? Answered prayer.

But who would have thought that brave police forces would be cursed and defamed today? Who would have thought that “unity” – so real while the dust was still in the air – would today be a cruel joke and a false slogan? Who would have believed that after thousands of service casualties overseas, and billions spent on arms, today the cursed Terrorists once again would be in control of their vast base, brandishing “Made in USA” weaponry; and an American president cavalier about the situation… a situation that includes dead and abandoned US citizens?

Ah, but words are employed by some people to describe those facts differently. Propagandists at podiums and on cable news engage in “newspeak.” Their training manuals are not so much the writings of Marx and Lenin… but Orwell and Huxley.

This is an essay devoted to Christian encouragement; I have not forgotten. More than Marx, Lenin, Orwell, and Huxley, the training manual we need to be reading is the Holy Bible. The problem with words is not always with the words themselves, but in the deceits of the speakers and the ignorance of the hearers. So we should remember important aspects:

One, that Jesus is the “Word of God.” The world was spoken into existence. We are told in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Second, the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Finally, since I have mentioned the power of words to deceive as well as inform, remember that the Bible tells us that No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison…. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so (James 3:8,10).

Discern things clearly on this anniversary. Those poor 3000 souls were victims of murderers. The rest of us were, and still are, the victims of Terrorism. That fact has not changed. Is our response changing?

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Click: Dido’s Lament

9-6-21
Labor Day Weekend
In whatever way you spend the weekend holiday, pause a moment and pray something from your heart.

Like the ancient Roman empire, this world is doomed to fall
And it’s much too big a thing for mortal man.
Just take a look around and see the writing on the wall.
Somehow we’ve got to find a helping hand.

This world has never been in the awful shape it’s in,
And people scorn the things our leaders do.
It’s time a prayer was spoken from the heart of every man.
Jesus, take a hold and lead us through.

The mighty roar of gunfire is now a local sound
And our city streets are filled with angry men.
Law is now a mockery throughout our troubled land
And destruction seems to be the current trend.

This world has never been in the awful shape it’s in.
And our leaders seem in doubt as what to do.
It’s time a prayer was spoken from the heart of every man.
Jesus, take a hold and lead us through.

Jesus, take a hold and lead us through.

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Click: Jesus Take A Hold