Getting the Blues

April 23, 2009

Currently, I am reading a book that is against type for me and I’m loving it. The book, Geting the Blues by Stephen J. Nichols (research professor of Christianity and Culture at Lancaster Bible College) is about “what blues music teaches us about suffering and salvation.” Although I’ll make a more formal and interactive post when I’ve finished the book (I’m about half way through), I found the following quote worth your attention.

The stillness of Good Friday scares us. The immobile Redeemer, pierced and scarred and shut up in death, is too much for us. We prefer “Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er His foes,” and rightly so. But failing to linger at Good Friday, failing to keep Good Friday as an essential piece of our senses diminishes and distorts the full weight of Christ’s work. If we don’t linger at Good Friday, we have no hope to offer those who suffer from great floods, or from injustices, or from any of the litany of curses in the fallen world. Without Good Friday there is nothing left to say to those left mourning in the shadow of swaying bodies hanging from trees. And without Good Friday, that dark, cold night, there would be no redemption. Because there is Good Friday, there is something to say to those under the curse. Because of Good Friday there is the redemption and the fullness Blind Willie Johnson sang of. It is the redemption and freedom that the Child brings to the sons and daughters of Adam. (p. 108)

The references to the litany of curses in the fallen world are events that Blues musicians regularly sang of. I grew up in the happy-clappy world of evangelicalism where everything was always rosy and sin was rarely talked about, except for some outsiders who smoked or drank and tragedy was routinely ignored or confessed away. How does a happy-clappy Christianity help in times of troubles, you know, when you have the blues – when financial markets collapse, a loved one is suffering? It doesn’t because you are just to get over it and be happy. Unfortunately, life isn’t that simple. The blues creates the category which the Bible defined long ago in its own blues. We call it sin and the curse of the world. Until this age ends, we all will be singing the blues.

This is a terrific short historical-theological treatment of probably the only real music type founded in America (it spawned jazz and rock and roll, etc.). Nichols has succinct biographies of the men and women who sang the blues with insightful analysis about the impact this has for the church. It’s worth your time.

Posted by cmalamisuro | Filed Under Theology in Practice, Uncategorized

A Gospel that “creates, deepens, and inflames the faith”

March 18, 2009

As of late I’ve been reading Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity, honestly one of the more significant and challenging books I’ve read in some time.

Horton’s overarching purpose is to expose the “Christless” Christianity that is so ubiquitous today, and offer instead a profoundly Christ-centered understanding of the faith. This means we never simply “assume” the gospel and move on to bigger and better things, but we always place the gospel, the biblical message of God’s redemptive work through Christ, at the forefront of who we are and what we proclaim.

I’m not done reading yet, so I’ll reserve most of my comments until later, but today I was particularly struck by his description of what church life would look like if the church faithfully answered her calling to proclaim Christ and the glorious redeeming work of God seriously. Under this model, believers go to church primarily, not to give, do, or act, but to receive – to be fed by the news (good news!) of God’s action on our behalf. Horton asks us to imagine a scenario in church life in which…

God gathers his people together in a covenantal event to judge and to justify, to kill and to make alive. The emphasis is on God’s work for us – the Father’s gracious plan, the Son’s saving life, death, and resurrection, and the Spirit’s work of bringing life to the valley of dry bones through the proclamation of Christ. The preaching focuses on God’s work in the history of redemption from Genesis through Revelation, and sinners are swept into this unfolding drama. Trained and ordained to mine the riches of Scripture for the benefit of God’s people, ministers try to push their own agendas, opinions, and personalities to the background so that God’s Word will be clearly proclaimed. In this preaching, the people once again are simply receivers – recipients of grace. Similarly, in baptism, they do not baptize themselves; they are baptized. In the Lord’s Supper, they do not prepare and cook the meal; they do not contribute to the fare; but they are guests who simply enjoy the bread of heaven. As this gospel creates, deepens, and inflames faith, a profound sense of praise and thanksgiving fills hearts, leading to good works among the saints and in the world throughout the week. Having been served by God in the public assembly, the people are then servants of each other and their neighbors in the world. Pursuing their callings in the world with vigor and dedication, they win the respect of outsiders. Because they have been served well themselves – especially by pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons – they are able to share the Good News of Christ in well-informed and natural ways. And because they have been relieved of numerous burdens to spend all of their energy on church-related ministries throughout the week, they have more time to serve their families, neighbors, and coworkers in the world (pp. 189-190).

As I read Horton’s words I am already growing anxious for Sunday, for that gathering of God’s elect in which we hear of Christ’s redeeming work and how we’ve been swept into that story through the actions of God himself. Already I grow anxious to feed once again on Christ at the Lord’s Table where God reminds us of the true union we have with him.

Posted by Aaron Garber | Filed Under Devotional, Theology, Theology in Practice, Uncategorized

Paul’s Prayers in a Picture

October 16, 2008

Thanks to wordle.net, I was able to make a nifty picture of Paul’s prayers as found in his writings. Wordle takes the most frequently repeated words and makes those the largest. The less frequently a word appears, the smaller its size in the picture.

Although good exegesis this does not make, it is helpful to a limited degree.

Obviously, “Christ” is the largest, and thus most frequently repeated word in Paul’s prayers. Paul pray’s to God through Christ (Romans 1:8); he urges others to pray by Christ (Romans 15:30); he exults God in his prayers because he is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:17); he exults Christ above all (Ephesians 1:20-21); he prays that Christ may dwell within his readers (Ephesians 3:17); he prays for strength to comprehend and know the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18-19); he identifies Christ as an outlet for God’s glory (Ephesians 3:20-21); he acknowledges the coming “day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6) and he prays that the church would find itself “pure and blameless” when that day of Christ comes (Philippians 1:10); he “yearns” for God’s people with the same affection as Christ (Philippians 1:8); he acknowledges that the “fruit of righteousness” comes through Christ (Philippians 1:11); he acknowledges that the “peace of God” comes through Christ (Philippians 4:7); he gives thanks to God because of other believer’s faith in Christ (Colossians 1:3); he prays for open doors to declare the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3-4); he acknowledges that grace comes from Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:12); and he acknowledges that every good thing that is within us is for “the sake of Christ” (Philemon 1:6).