Monday Morning Music Ministry

6-22-26

This last week, evidently with the Wanderlust still coursing through my veins, we hit the road again, driving from Michigan to Ohio for a convention of my wife’s family reunion; thence to Kentucky and Tennessee. People – old friends and new – are always fun; but Mickey and I managed to see new sights and sites too.

Without our planning, there were unifying themes and affinities along the way. God lit our paths.

Our main targets were the famous Ark Encounter and the related Creation Museum in Kentucky.

The former museum is a 100 per cent re-creation of Noah’s Ark, built according to the Bible’s construction details. Large (of course), Ken Ham’s museum and the nearby Creation Museum are mature walk-throughs overflowing (sorry) with signage, information, models, animals, dioramas, and please-touch displays that anticipate the questions of adults, and excite the imaginations of children. It is neither condescending nor preachy, but yet cites the answers in Genesis to a multitude of questions about Creation, seeming anomalies in the Bible, the age of rocks, and, ultimately, the Rock of Ages.

At the other end of the spectrum, at the end of our trip we visited the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Spending a few days with my friends Penny and Norm Carlevato (Norm is this blog’s webmaster) and my old writing buddy Diane Obbema, afforded us the opportunity virtually to set sail on the replica – 50 per cent sized – of the ill-fated White Star luxury ship. Penny has written several books on the Titanic.

This was also very impressive: reconstructed rooms; a wealth of information – everything about the astounding construction to biographies of every passenger; displays of retrieved artifacts; the ability to plunge your arm into the 28-degree water into which passengers plunged; and, again, signage and stats and history at every turn.

As I mentioned, it was not our intention to visit in one vacation the world’s premier museums devoted to history’s most famous boats – the ancient Ark and the famous luxury liner that sank in 1912. Yet the contrasts, and the affinities, were compelling.

There is a joke that virtually has become an aphorism about the two ships. To wit, the reminder that the Ark was built by amateurs, but Titanic was built by professionals. It has been attributed to humorist Dave Barry, preacher Joel Osteen, and performers Mark Lowery and Toby Mac; its launching has floated a thousand quips. Most recently Titanic has inspired TV productions, motion pictures, all sorts of merchandising, and notable scrambles for the salvaging of its treasures.

Beyond the jokes (and the truths) about perspectives that we should recognize, and motivations we ought to emulate, are very serious lessons.

Yes, the Ark was built by amateurs, Noah and his sons. But these guys were not half-wits wondering what ends of primitive hammers to hold. This was a time in God’s temporal dispensation when He communicated with His children (one reason for His heartbreak over humankind’s rejection of Him and His precepts). Read Genesis chapters 6 through 9 and review the ship’s length and width; the kinds of wood to use; the pitch to make the ship watertight; and calculate that the construction was over decades, perhaps more than a hundred years (in pre-Flood times people lived longer than today). And so forth. Two animals of every kind? That was practical in a time of earth’s history when there were “kinds” of dogs, for instance, before breeding, cross-bredding, and species variations. Dinosaurs? Young dinosaurs might have been the dragons, leviathans, and behemoths in Biblical accounts and fossil records.

The Ark’s “builder and maker” was the Lord; Noah and his sons handled the tools.

The Titanic might not have been designed by God, but there were many hands in the science of its design. There were many hands involved in its construction – over several years Harland and Wolff (for the White Star Line) was the largest employer in Ireland. And there were many records set by the ship, even before it sailed. For instance, it was the largest moveable transportation machine in the world; it was certainly the most luxurious ocean liner of its day; and so forth.

Yet Bruce Ismay, head of the White Star Line (although J P Morgan had a controlling interest), was obsessed with PR-related records being set. An eyewitness claimed she heard Ismay urging extra speed on Captain Edward Smith during the voyage. Smith, by the way, went down with the ship as per the naval honor code; Ismay hopped on the last lifeboat and lived another 25 years in general obloquy.

We are confronted by tempting contrasts between the two ships, their manner of construction, and their fates.

• The Ark was built in obedience; Titanic was built according to commercial desires.
• The Ark’s goal was to rescue creatures of God’s creation; Titanic’s goal was to attract paying customers from rivals.
• The Ark followed God’s instructions; Titanic occasionally cut corners with iron rivets instead of steel, among the shortcuts.
• The Ark provided for all creatures great and small, animal and human; Titanic was allowed to have fewer lifeboats than passengers.
• … and so forth.

There is no doubt that Titanic was an engineering marvel, and many amenities were gracious, for instance the higher standards of third-class accommodations. The Ark – whether of Biblical fidelity or legend – was no less, perhaps greater, of a marvel. Thousands of years before Christ, watertight, sufficient for animate creation’s survival.

I suggest that there are many lessons to be drawn in this comparison. Some are obvious; some become evident when we contemplate the times, motivations, and fates. Amateurs vs professionals? It is a question of limited relevance – floating or sinking, so to speak, according to whether we heed the large question: do we listen for God’s direction or do we follow human desires?

Answers will come flooding upon your thoughts.

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Click: The Old Gospel Ship

7-29-24

Many of you know the Gospel songs “The Sweetest Gift, A Mother’s Smile” and “Where Could I Go But To the Lord” and “Winging My Way Back Home.” I know them as precious songs in some hymnals, also as Gospel, folk, and country classics that recording artists have sung for a generation or two. They have touched millions, as have hundreds of other compositions by their composer J B Coats.

In turn, I know J B Coats’s grandson as a friend, an Ole Miss graduate who loves the Lord and loves comics (two of my loves, too!). I am not going to link to J B Coats song this week, but some week I will focus on his music ministry. In the meantime: Daryl Coats the grandson recently shared something that could sound like a mere Internet meme… but got me to thinking deeper. He wrote –

When you hear someone say, “the last thing I wanna do is hurt you” – it suggests there’s a list, and that hurting you is on that list.

Right? That is not the same as saying, “I never want to hurt you,” or “I can’t imagine ever hurting you.” Is it a subtle difference… or big difference? The “last thing”? The person seems to be saying, “I do want to hurt you, but it’s not my main priority.”

Here is what it reminded me of: Paul wrote in II Timothy 1:7 –

God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

In the same way as Daryl parsed the words, I think St Paul meant: There IS a spirit of fear… but, remember, it does come from God. That is the similarity I see. Some Christians, “eternal optimists,” are tempted to claim that fear is something that does not exist, or have to exist. (Like the intention to hurt someone, or not). Christian-Lite celebrities like Norman Vincent Peale and Joel Osteen preach that fear is a false emotion, casually to be wished away.

Well, fear is real.

Safety comes from recognizing and respecting fear. Not yielding, but dealing. Note that the Bible does not say “There is no such thing as fear.” It says rather clearly, that there is a spirit of fear; sure enough.

… we see truth, and take heart, and overcome fear by realizing that there is a spirit of fear in this world, this life; but that God is not its author. We can fear certain things in life – let us start a list, as suggested by Daryl’s aphorism. As a nation we can fear pandemics; foreign wars; economic disruption; political corruption; assassinations; crime; personal tragedies… We can fear such things. Or we can anticipate them. Or we can work against them. Or we can plan.

We can see similarities, as I suggested above, or we can see great differences indeed when we confront “fear” – by any of its manifestations and nuances.

So we can “translate” Paul – it is called exegesis, or apologetics – and make our list:
1. There is such a thing as Fear
2. There is a Spirit of Fear that can affect people
3. God is not the author of that Spirit of Fear
4. The author, then, is the devil, or people who hate us, or we ourselves
5. We do not have to yield to that Spirit of Fear.

There is another Spirit, and that is the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost was sent to encourage us, comfort us, and strengthen us.

And speaking of power, and love, and a sound mind (weren’t we?), do you realize that Jesus Christ said “Fear Not” almost as often as He said “Hello”? In fact, the Bible counts 365 times the phrase “fear not” appears. If you want to see it this way – once for every day of the year!

Where do you keep your lists? On the fridge? On your computer screen’s frame? On Post-It notes? Keep this list in your hearts and minds.

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Click: No Depression in Heaven

4-23-12

This week, two iconic figures of American culture, both of whom made their marks in the 1970s, died. Chuck Colson was a powerful political operative, convicted felon in the Watergate scandal, and then a leading force in the evangelical church. Levon Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas; played various – and “fused” – forms of country, folk, blues, and gospel music; was a major member of “The Band” that backed Bob Dylan; and became an inspiration to two generations of singers and songwriters.

There is no case to be made for “ideological bookends,” or the irony of two enemies in the culture wars: that is not the fabric I wish to weave. These two men did not face off 40 years ago; Levon, for instance, was not even a part of any major protest movement in the pop music of his day, otherwise a common association.

The lives of these two men, different as they were, offer, I think, powerful lessons for countrymen they leave behind. Their names were seldom paired in a sentence before this week, but should be in a certain way.

They showed us that how you live is important. But how you die is more important.

Colson’s story has become the stuff of legend (in fact, his autobiography, Born Again, was made into a movie): powerful Washington lawyer; connections; joined the Nixon Administration, where his official duties included communication with lobbyists and interest groups, and political strategy, and his unofficial duties included dirty tricks and monitoring “enemies.” He was involved in Watergate and the cover-up, but was convicted of complicity in a break-in and scheme to discredit an anti-war opponent. Colson served time in prison.

Having read C S Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he gave his life to Christ. He witnessed to other inmates in jail. Colson founded Prison Fellowship after his release, and ever after toiled for prisoners’ rights, visitation reform, assistance to families of prisoners, and chapel programs. He founded an institute to enable Christians to be informed and effectively work in today’s society. He became an ardent, and thoughtful, foe of post-modernism. Prison Fellowship, as an evangelical outreach, is active in 114 countries; my son-in-law’s father ministers weekly in Ireland as part of the team there.

Levon Helm, in another corner of the culture, worked in many fields of music as a singer, mandolinist, drummer, and composer (“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”). His dedication to roots music began in the 1960s and ‘70s. He also acted in “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “The Right Stuff.” Battling painful cancer of the vocal cords for more than a decade before his death this week, he continued to perform until a couple months ago. Sometimes without singing. Sometimes digging deep, from somewhere, finding the strength and the pipes to sing some lyrics. Amazing. As always.

More and more he came to concentrate on old-time country, gospel, mountain music, and rural blues. This son of a cotton farmer represented something I have long held about the value of tradition, race, and nationhood: no matter where you roam, or how much you explore, or what faraway places you might live in, the best journey is that whose end is right where you started.

Chuck Colson returned to his Savior. Levon Helm returned to his musical roots. What really united this unlikely pair, in my eyes, was that they each completely sold out to the things they loved and knew. Their passion knew no bounds. They each died in the saddle, so to speak – Chuck’s brain hemorrhage came while he was speaking to a church group; Levon performed at his house (“Midnight Rambles”) in Woodstock right to the end. How many of us have that passion… and live with that passion?

We cannot be too sad when people like this leave us. They lived worthwhile lives to the fullest, enduring much even amidst their joy. No less a person than William F Buckley, for instance, doubted and mocked Colson’s conversion at first. Helm felt betrayed by members of The Band and sometimes met resistance to his mixed bag of roots music. But in a sense, passionate fighters like these men did not just die – they LIVED. How they lived is important, but to the rest of us, how they died might be more important.

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A predictable number in Levon’s stage show was the great Carter Family gospel song “No Depression in Heaven.” Purposely, the lyrics were ambiguous about economic or emotional depression – because neither will be there, in God’s place. Here is a stage version from a couple years ago with Levon on the mandolin and the great Larry Campbell among backup, and Sheryl Crow on lead vocals. Great lyrics.

Click: No Depression in Heaven