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On May 28, 2021 By In Books, Music

Singing as Pastoral Theology in Bonhoeffer

Reading Bonhoeffer’s pastoral heart during my dissertation writing was a sweet sound to my soul. His prison letters led me down a path of admiration and excavation to my own heart. I read almost 1,000 pages’ worth, and I left with a sense of passion for the holy. Among the many glorious things gleaned from Bonhoeffer, in particular, I was drawn to the musical component of this astute and brave Lutheran scholar. His engagement of congregational singing with young seminarians and his particular thoughts on singing in the community has largely inspired my mission for my local body and the role I see sacred music play in parish life.

For Bonhoeffer, singing is a relational tool. If there is one thing quite clear in his writing is that there is a special bond created when people sing together. Life together does not just happen; it is cultivated. The young seminarians were not immune to temptations; in fact, it is precisely their singing together that alleviated some of those natural temptations to pursue sin. Singing is and ought to be a tool of healing and reconciliation. We can engage in spectacularly contradictory forms of protests today with our yard signs and vocal cords, or we can engage in spectacularly harmony-driven singing that cultivates relationality.

As Bonhoeffer notes:

“Music … will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.”

A few years ago, I was invited to visit one of my parishioner’s grandmother on hospice care. She asked me to minister to her family, whom I had never met. By the time I arrived, her grandmother was no longer responsive. It was just a matter of hours before she died. I walked in there and saw that dear woman and the first reaction I had was to sing: so, I did. We all gathered, and I asked them permission to sing. I sang Psalm 23 and prayed. I was a stranger to all these people, but suddenly that old Irish melody brought everybody together. It was a mystical moment, if I can use that term.

For Bonhoeffer, one of the great pastoral means to deal with pain and death is singing. Paul says to encourage one another with psalms and hymns and Spirit-songs, which is to say, singing as a church invites the church to enter each other’s stories and narratives. Singing allows pastoral theology to come alive.

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On May 1, 2021 By In Culture, Discipleship, Wisdom

Get Wisdom

Life is pretty simple when you’re young. Everything is laid out for you. There are clear rules to follow and very little responsibility. Of course, in your younger years, you think that you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. However, you don’t think much about your purpose in life and how things are supposed to work. Your mind is on your next meal, game, or homework assignment. The extent of thinking about purpose might be, “Why do I have to take Algebra? How is that going to be useful?” but beyond that, you’re probably not thinking too much about “the meaning of it all.”

The older you become, however, the more you have to think about how life is supposed to work and its meaning. You begin asking questions, searching. What are you looking for? Wisdom. You are looking for wisdom. Where do you find it?

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On April 22, 2021 By In Art, Church, Culture

Woke Is No Joke

We live in a chronically anxious society. With the confluence of Draconian COVID lockdowns and the maturation of Critical Theories (Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, Intersectionality, etc.), the tension in our society hangs in the air like gasoline fumes ready to explode at the slightest spark. Edwin Friedman, in his book The Failure of Nerve, describes what characterizes chronic anxiety in societies large and small, from the family to the nation. Herding: moving everyone to adapt to the least mature and/or most dysfunctional members. Blame Displacement: becoming victims instead of taking responsibility for one’s own well-being and destiny. Quick Fix Mentality: Constantly seeking symptom relief rather than a willingness to fundamentally change. Lack of Self-Differentiated Leadership: leaders who become part of the problem instead of leading from outside of the problem. Finally, Reactivity: vicious cycles of intense reactions of each member to events and one another and the loss of the capacity for playfulness.

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On April 20, 2021 By In Culture

Radical vs. Ordinary: The Case for the Ordinary

‘This is the Way the World Ends: Not with a Bang but a Whimper’- T.S. Eliot

There is not a dispensational bone in my body. I think so rigidly about the Psalter’s optimism, that I wouldn’t dare opine in opposition. I guess I am one of those fellas who take the enthusiasm of a martyr to the bank. Bonhoeffer died with immense hope and Kanye West talks like a postmil–how can I not see better things ahead?!

But there is something rather surprising about the “whimper” observation Eliot notes in the “Hollow Men,” and I want to use the same logic to make a differing conclusion. My argument is that fruitfulness is the result not of “bangs,” but “whimpers” in the history of the Church. If the world/ideology ends with whimpers, so too do such worlds and ideologies thrive with whimpers. We too often observe that unless something radical occurs, we shall have no world left for us and our grandchildren. That kind of exact-ism is too forceful! The changes that take place in the Bible are often through “still small voices,” which I interpret as small acts of goodness and gratitude enough to fill the world with music.

There is an incredible investment in the evangelical community in the word “radical.” There is nothing inherently sinful about the word, but its common usage has turned into a marketing scheme. For instance, well-known author David Platt in his book “Radical” observes:

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy… It’s not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.”

Whether or not we are comfortable with Platt’s conclusion is a different question. But crucial to this discussion is the use of the word as an accentuation of the Christian faith: Radical faith=authentic faith. In sum, if there is no “bang” there is no faithful Christianity. I demur.

Is this how the Bible portrays the Christian life? In other words, why do so many authors and speakers find the need to insert the word “radical” into the clear commands of the Bible? Is radical faith a kind of secret life that only a few can find through a consistent impulse to abandon wealth and prosperity and the American dream? Simply put, are we making Jesus’ yoke hard and his burden heavy? Are we creating a sub-culture of radical Christians who do the risky thing for Jesus while the others are left in this trite category of non-radical? Will the world end if we don’t function at the speed of “bang”? Will we not be blessed through small whimpers?

Part of the genius of the Christian Bible is that the ordinary is radical. Forcing an alliance of radical Christians into the Scriptures makes the ordinary unnecessary. Certainly, the impetus of such a move is to offer the evangelical world a more robust expression of Christian living. But my assertion is that creating a radical platform to encourage people to do their ordinary work is not an encouragement, but a detriment to pursuing the ordinary work of Christian living. Who, after all, feels radical after a long bout of chemotherapy? You feel ordinary. In fact, you feel incapable of being anything more than ordinary. In fact, your calling at this point is to be as ordinarily Christian as you can as your body decays from within.

Ordinary Christian living is different from radical Christian living. It does not feel shame in the comfort of a hammock at the lake or in the luxury of an afternoon game at the stadium or the perfectly grilled steak. Ordinary Christian living does not negate the good, it gives thanks for the good. It does not negate the routine of a mother’s third diaper change of the day, it exalts the role of motherhood. I do not doubt many in this movement would affirm these assertions, but the reality is that the kinds of disciples these authors and speakers are producing are either misunderstanding the message of “radical” proponents like Platt and Piper, or they are using this message as a way of avoiding ordinariness or to look down upon the common.

We live in an age where we need less radical things and more ordinary things lived out daily in the Church. We need more bread and wine, more hugs, more encouragement, more connection with one another, more good night kisses, and more tickling of babies. We need more ordinary. Jesus accomplished the radical. Let’s live out the radical nature of the ordinary in faithful obedience. Fruitfulness comes with the ordinary whimpers of disciples. If explosive acts of transformation do occur, I’d be happy for them. But I do not find the explosive acts as the expected way of Christendom. The ordinariness of the faith is good enough.

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On March 31, 2021 By In Culture, Theology

“Transgender Day of Visibility”

Our president declared today, March 31, “Transgender Day of Visibility,” honoring and celebrating “the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities.” The Biden-Harris Administration is pressing the passage of the Equality Act that will “provide long overdue Federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  The Equality Act will deliver legal protections for LGBTQ+ Americans in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems.” You can be sure that if you don’t positively affirm anyone who identifies as any of the various letters of the alphabet, your lack of tolerance will not be tolerated.

 So-called “transgender” and those who “identify” as the opposite sex have been around for quite some time. Up until recently, we haven’t really had to take them seriously as a culture. They were always on the fringe. In many ways they still are. However, now our culture is not only tolerating them, but they are being praised for their courage of breaking free from “social constructs” of male and female foisted upon them by the interpretation of their anatomy and becoming the sex they really feel they are on the inside; their courage being recognized by the highest offices in our land. The media that feed our society are pushing the rest of us to sympathize and celebrate these new heroes.

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Council of Nicaea

On March 25, 2021 By In Culture

Our Need for a Creed

In a recent Sunday service, our church sang a rather uncharacteristic hymn not found in the denominational hymnal: My Faith Has Found a Resting Place. I associate this hymn with chapel services at the Baptist university I attended in Minnesota in my youth, as well as in the affiliated church of which our family was part around the same time. In many respects it’s a great hymn, nicely communicating the message of the gospel and the assurance of salvation.

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

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On March 23, 2021 By In Culture

Discussing Kuyperianism at the Reformed Rebel Network

Wonderful to join Grant Van Brimmer at RRN. Check out their previous episodes and support their Patreon page!

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On March 22, 2021 By In Culture

When the Cancel Culture Comes After Wheaton College

The culture of apology is enduring its greatest momentum since Tiger Woods apologized for his numerous affairs with prostitutes. The apology stock is reaching new highs. At this stage, no one is safe from the apologistas. “Apologize or face the wrath of the mob.” It doesn’t matter if you thought once that Caitlyn Jenner looked better in the cereal box phase of his career, or if you did the unthinkable and accused O.J. Simpson of being insincere in 1995. The end result will be that the apologistas will surf through your Twitter terrain to find your dose of nasties you dared to share with the world in a moment of “weakness.”

You may wonder: what’s next? Are they going to come after a Wheaton College plaque commemorating the lives of missionaries who gave their lives for Jesus? They wouldn’t dare! I come to report that they did indeed.

We all have heard of the glorious deaths of those saints James Elliot and Ed McCully, and others who gave their very lives to minister the gospel truth to the savage tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle. Read the plaque which was given as a gift to Wheaton College, the alma mater of Bill Graham, Nate Saint, and Philip Ryken:

“…for generations, all strangers were killed by these savage Indians. After many days of patient preparation and devout prayer, the missionaries made the first friendly contact known to history with the Aucas.”

The word “savage” in that plaque gave the apologistas the chills. “Savage,” they say, used in any sentence can be detrimental to the well-being of humans who may come from various places around the world and view that description as applying to them. It is de-humanizing; kinda like the way they killed those godly men. But let’s not jump too far.

It is safe to say that someone looked at that word one day and said, “I cannot handle the viciousness of such language and someone must apologize for it!” And behold, that bastion of orthodoxy is now on its way to rephrase that language. Surely whatever comes from that will minimize the barbaric nature of the Aucas in the 1950’s. Test: How would you describe the act of spearing other human beings to death?

Imagine for a moment a plaque in honor of Jonah, who despite his own frailties, preached to the “barbaric Ninevities…let’s go ahead and call them savages,” and led to a wholesale revival in the city. We wouldn’t want to speak poorly of those sweet decapitators of human skulls! Off with their heads!

The apology culture means that Wheaton and a host of other institutions must correct history as it was and modernize their entire vocabulary to fit the standard of the first idiotic college student who feels offended by any word. But to be fair, it wasn’t just a freshman, it was faculty and staff who were outraged by it as well. And this leads me to say, “Do not send your children to Wheaton!” a They have drunk the apologistas’ kool-aid and have descended into the absurdity.

We are now at a point where the martyrs need to apologize, and the sad reality is that there are thousands of evangelical leaders saying, “Yes, they do, but since they are not alive, we will do it for them.”Ladies and gentlemen, this is not just a grammar issue, it’s a grandeur issue. The modern evangelical landscape no longer allows the grandeur of the Christian story to shine without nuancing it to death.

The truth is, “abortion doctors are savages,” “indigenous people who kill others are savages,” “Nero was a savage,” and gasp: “Hitler was a savage.” But I don’t want to go all crazy here, so I will stop!

The practical solution here is to say as many things publicly as possible so that they will have a tremendous case against you when they come after your words. May it be undeniable that we defended Nate Saint and the memory of Elizabeth Eliot’s husband who fought valiantly against tyrannical and primitive, savage humans who 70 years ago did not have the illumination of the Gospel. May their memories never be erased and may we never apologize for their labors. They fought savages with the Gospel, and as a result, now enjoy the blessings of Christ in their heavenly rest.

  1. I speak as one writer in the Kuyperian team, and do not speak for KC as a whole.  (back)

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On March 16, 2021 By In Church, Music, Worship

Ecclesiology 101: The assembly must edify one another

In this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

The third duty that assembly-members have is to edify one another. You have the obligation to edify, uplift, and encourage your brothers and sisters.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers (Ephesians 4:29)

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another…pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all (1 Thessalonians 5:11, 15)

These verses teach that we are to build each other up. The Greek word for edify (oikodomé) means “to build.” It’s the same word for building a house. We build up the house – the assembly – through mutual edification.

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On February 25, 2021 By In Church, Culture

Psalm 67: Joy Loves Company

Have you ever encountered the guilt mongers, those people who want to make you feel guilty for enjoying something while someone else in the world is deprived of it? If your family is able to enjoy exchanging nice gifts and a feast at Christmas, the guilt-monger pounces, “How could you do such a thing when there are children around the world who don’t have but two grains of rice to eat per day?” In recent years this has happened around Mothers’ Day quite a bit. People publicly express love for their mothers and celebrate their relationship only to be reminded that all of their celebrations are hurting those women who can’t have children. If there is one person in the world who is miserable because of some sort of deprivation, then you have no right to be joyful and celebrate. You must be miserable.

Since there is never a time in which someone will not be deprived of something that he thinks or others think he should have, the world must live in misery. This type of guilt is not just about interpersonal relationships. It is used politically to create class envy, to foment racial tensions, and to manipulate the rich into playing the proper political games. This guilt is used in geo-political relations as well. Any country that has prospered should not be allowed to enjoy prosperity but must feel guilty and send money to irresponsible governments of countries whose policies and general culture have kept the citizens or subjects poor.

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