The Gospel's Major And Minor Themes (Essentials*Green)

In his book "Art And The Bible", Francis Schaeffer talks about two themes in the Christian worldview: a major theme and a minor one.

The minor theme expresses the bent and shattered side of humanity as well as creation. That we've deviated from our original purpose and don't know how to fix ourselves. It also has to do with the truth that regardless of someone's profession of faith, their lives are still affected by darkness and live at times in a defeated existence. It reminds us that total and complete victory is a desire of our hearts but unfortunately left unfulfilled while living in a broken world.

The major theme stands opposed to the minor one, and lures us from hopelessness by reminding us that God is (he exists), and we are made in his image. It highlights the truths that in this life, hope and love can be found, that we can free where we were bound, that we can find resurrection where we've known only death. It reminds us that God's kingdom is advancing in the here and now, and that one day he will return and justice will be served. Love will win. Hate, disease, and sin will be exterminated.

Each of us usually have a particular bent towards one of these two. If the bent is toward the minor theme, we might call ourselves realists (while others might label them pessimists). If the bent is towards the major theme, we might call ourselves idealists (while others might say we live in a fantasy world detached from true human existence). How do we account for both in our lives, for both are evident around us (at certain times, one feels stronger than the other)? If we major on the minor and minor on the major, then we lose sight of our truest destiny and give greater weight to something that deserves less weight. This doesn't mean we're not horrified but the cruelty and injustices happening right now in the world, but rather the major theme fuels a response in the here and now. We can approach minor themes without a sense of desperation because we know God will win and overcome in the end (regardless of appearances).

I Need Resurrection

In the season of Lent, we confront the sin in our own hearts. From the heinous to the subtle, and the colorful to the plain. Regardless of how we dress and decorate it, at the end of the day it's all sin that took Jesus to the cross. The sin and our lack to overcome it is a symptom of a deeper condition. We find death where we were intended for life. There is a corpse within all of us, yet we know that corpse was intended for greater things.

I identify with Jon Foreman's lyrics in his song, "Resurrect Me":

I’ve become the empty shell, of a man I don’t like so well
I am a living, breathing hell, come on and resurrect me!

I tried to drown the pain with a friend of mine
It didn’t seem to help
She’s got a pretty face with her wedding lace
But I’m still waking up with myself

I’ve become the shell of a man, I can’t begin to even understand
Have I forgotten who I am? Come on and resurrect me!

I read Jesus' words in John 11:25-27 earlier today that connect with this:

"Jesus said to Martha, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'"

The first interesting thing is that Jesus said this to Martha, the "busy" one. The one who could get things done, accomplished, and checked off her list. Jesus slows her down and says, "You need me. Despite all your outward workings and signs of life, I see the Lazarus inside of you, and I want to call him from his grave and free him to dance again." This is so hard for a prideful generation to hear, but just because it's hard doesn't mean it's wrong. I heard a song once say, "the truth is a hard sell, cause it burns out the lies."

Jesus says that He is the resurrection and the life. He knows well our condition, but also has the power to do something about it. So many people can diagnose our shortcomings, even offering short-term solutions, but Jesus knows that the solution is far beyond just a couple tweaks and a change in mindset. We each need resurrection, our corpses need a second birth.

What was Martha's reply? "I believe that you are the Messiah." Today, what would my response be? Do I believe? Do I trust that the resurrection I need is not only found in Jesus, but is Jesus? Is our belief and trust not just in a nice principle, but rather in a Person who wants us to trust him as he leads us from our cold dark graves into green fields bursting with life? Give us eyes to see how dead we are apart from you.

I need resurrection. We need resurrection.

Re-Storying (Essentials*Red)

For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

What is the role of a worship leader? It seems like my answer to that question has varied over the years, depending on what season you found me in. This quote from Dan Wilt in “Essentials In Worship History” struck me as I read it:

“Worship leaders today must stand up again and again before the people, and routinely retell the same messages – forgiveness is possible, grace is irresistible, resurrection of the faithful is inevitable and new creation is just around the bend.”

One of our roles is to be story-tellers. Given our forgetful nature as humans and broken image bearers, we approach and re-approach the story of God in all of its dimensions and call people to look afresh on it. Often this will seem redundant, but wasn’t it Luther who said he re-tells the gospel week in week out because the people would forget and live as if it weren’t true? Therefore, we must acknowledge our role of re-storying those who come every week (or for the first time). We want to remind them who God is, who they are in Him, and why they’re still here. We repeat it, but perhaps in a slightly different light each time in order to allow others to come to a greater understanding of the attributes and acts of God.

Won’t it get old? Don’t people want the “new thing”? If God’s attributes are infinite, just as his mercies are new every morning, then we should have no problems finding new songs to sing or old songs with newly found fire. We have been, are being, and will be greatly saved, so greatly shall we praise him. Let that praise be spoken with our words, songs, and prayers. We will find that the stories re-told fuel our songs as well as our lives over and over.

Sacred Space Prayer

I pause for a moment
and think of the love and the grace that God showers on me, creating me in his image and likeness, making me his temple.

"Lachrimae Amantis" - Geoffrey Hill

What is there in my heart
that you should sue so fiercely for its love?
What kind of care brings you
as though a stranger to my door
through the long night and in the icy dew

seeking the heart that will not harbor you,
that keeps itself religiously secure?
At this dark solstice filled with frost and fire
your passion’s ancient wounds must bleed anew.

So many nights the angel of my house
has fed such urgent comfort through a dream,
whispered “your lord is coming, he is close”

that I have drowsed half-faithful for a time
bathed in pure tones of promise and remorse:
“tomorrow I shall wake to welcome him.”

The Art of Knowing We're Not Alone (Essentials*Red)

For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

This week we looked at the languages of art and music, and how they can be useful in connecting us to each other as well as to God. I’ve found that at times it’s nearly impossible to verbalize how one feels, but a melody might help capture a particular emotion, or maybe a color best describes one’s mood. Maybe you find yourself nearly weeping in a movie because for some reason you identify with a character in the story,or see yourself in a character’s eyes in a painting. Why is that?

Often I find that art steps in when words can’t. Indeed it does bypass much of our critical thinking, and allows us to feel something. In that moment, I’ve come to realize why I value connecting with that piece of art: it reminds me I’m not alone. Others have felt what I feel, although not exactly, for no one has lived in my shoes under the exact same circumstances. When I find something that allows me to say, “That’s exactly what I was trying to say, but didn’t know how,” it allows me to feel understood, less crazy. Others fight with the same battles too, so don’t give up.

This is, in a way, a call for artists to continue to bleed and weep and laugh till you cry onto the canvases we create. Express the deepest emotions and longings and the saddest hues of darkness and brightest shades of joy you can. Tell of the “mundane”, the ordinary, and even the boring. For when those who walk down that same road as you do (either now or 20 years from now) and see or hear or experience your work, they will know they are known.

Dorothy Sayers Quote

"To make the Easter story into something that neither startles, shocks, terrifies, nor excites is ‘to crucify the Son of God afresh.’"

The Interconnectedness of Baptism and Eucharist (Essentials*Red)

For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

In our reading for the week, this was a quote that stood out to me from James White’s book “A Brief History of Christian Worship”:

“Baptism is initiation into God’s new Kingdom of which the Church is a colony on earth. The Eucharist is a lifelong renewal of baptism’s initial foretaste of God’s kingdom.”

Although both are clear Sacraments we participate in (or have participated in), I had never thought about their connection with one another. I love the imagery provided in Baptism of this renouncing one lifestyle (facing the West, symbolic of evil, sin, and satan’s kingdom), and then turning towards the East (symbolic of the dawn, new beginnings, new creation), acknowledging Jesus as Lord, being immersed into our death and now emerging as ones who live for him.

On the same note, as we come to the “table” for Eucharist (be it a couple people holding the elements out for us as we wait in line, an actual table, or a tray we pass around), we acknowledge that this is the only table our souls are fed by. In that sense, we renounce other sources of satisfaction, claiming only the bread and the wine as our sustenance.

I love the idea that the Eucharist is a “renewal of vows” to God. It is a regular turning toward Him. Perhaps we compare Baptism to a wedding, while Eucharist represents the both people now in that marriage regularly “choosing” each other, over and over and over. Pursuit is never a passive thing, always active. Obviously in Baptism and Eucharist, we are reminded that we were first pursued and loved before we could pursue and love! Still, that pursuit of us and that love we feel demands a response. Eucharist is one of the main ways we re-acknowledge our status as “beloved” but also it reminds us to extend that uncontainable love to the loveless.