What Would Jesus Play?

My grandma would say, “The only hymn you need is A Mighty Fortress is our God.” It was good enough for Grandma, but it probably isn’t gonna cut it with the current Christian audience. Not to mention the secular audience.

My grandma used to say that the saxophone was the devil’s instrument. She believed that just listening to it could cause young women to completely lose control of their libido. Very frightening. Was this more of a personal confession or a verifiable fact?

My mom used to talk about the evils of Rock and Roll. Elvis Presley gyrating his hips; John Lennon misquoted as saying the Beatles were greater than Jesus; or the on-stage antics of Jimi Hendrix—what do we make of these? Jimmy Page once claimed that in the middle of guitar solos he felt as though someone else was playing. Was it the work of the devil?

I remember being a member of a church that actively encouraged its youth to melt records--yes, I’m talking about vinyl LPs...I am that old!  They were convinced of the influence of Satan in music and that even if the Allman Brothers sang “Jesus is just alright with me!” the fact that they played guitars...no ELECTRIC GUITARS...was an indication of satanic activity.

Maybe you have been in a debate or witnessed an argument regarding Satan’s activities in a particular genre of music. Or maybe you suspect that all music of a particular genre is pure and simple music from the devil. I don’t and I don’t think we should teach that it is. I believe all things that can be used for good can also be used for evil. And many things that are used for evil could be used for good. For good or ill we are inhabitants of this world and we need to take what we find and what we experience and use it for good.


Beethoven was considered by many to be “too-secular”; J.S. Bach, who over a five year period annually wrote 60 cantatas for worship, had detractors who questioned his “theological disposition”.



I am not saying that everything is okay or permissible, what I mean is we ought to be selective about that to which we expose ourselves. I’ll give you a few examples.
Some Rock and Roll songs encourage aberrant behavior: rebellion against parents, drinking, drug use or sexual promiscuity. Other songs encourage loving the environment, caring for one another, being true yourself or praising God. Is Rock and Roll good or evil? I don’t think you can make a categorically exclusive claim here. And let's face it not all rock (evil or not) is good.


LYRICS

Youch!! I think that performance needs MORE COWBELL!


Rap music that encourages abusive treatment of people (especially women) I would say is evil and destructive. Addressing people using demeaning words may be acceptable by the artist, the audience and even by the person being marginalized; but I suspect it erodes self-esteem and encourages people to believe they are lesser human beings. It works against what Jesus taught us about the treatment of those who are marginalized. But does that make ALL rap music inherently evil? No, it is bad because it is an AWFUL SOUNDING NOISE WITH AN INSIPID BEAT AND TERRIBLE VOCALIZATION. But my Grandma used to say the same thing about Rock. “It is just a bunch of noise.” Rap just isn’t my cup of tea. If you like it, more power to you.

To me, Christian praise music gives me a Mr. Misty headache. It is okay to hear a song at church, but I simply can’t listen to KTIS for more than a half hour at a time. I just can’t. To me it isn’t enough to just sing “Jesus is my pal” to a happy bouncy tune. To others, it is incredibly centering.

If it doesn’t make people turn away from God, I am willing to admit that it is good. Any music that reinforces the pathway between God and people is good music. It doesn’t mean it works for me, but if it works for you; then it is Good.

The Waiting is Over

As the glacier makes its way down to sea level, so too do I embrace this new project...assignment...chore. Trouble is I am a perfectionist glacier. Unwilling to do anything unless I do it to the best of my capabilities...if I don’t think I can do it well...

it sits..

and waits...

and festers...

until it is too late to do anything of quality.

But what could I do, I only had 17 hours to post 51 blogs!?!?!? That’s like a blog every 20 minutes...

what an unfair assignment!

it’s not my best work, but it was the best I could do given the circumstances.

Hmmm, is it too late to drop this class?



Wanna know what they are saying? Follow this link:
LYRICS

I have to stop thinking and do something. It is like Gutiérrez and his call to praxis. Actions over intentions.

So I am doing something I have never done before. Allowing my rough draft to be my final draft. You are reading this as I write it. No one else has proof-read it. It is unedited. This may mean nothing to you. It is a huge step for me. You are getting this typos and all. Well, I did spell check it, but can you blame me???

Okay. I am done with self-confession.

Oh, sorry, one more confession: Starting this blog is a class assignment for me. I am building on a previous education class at Luther Seminary.

Now the confessions are done.

Why did I tell you all of this? I think it is important to know these little things to understand my learning model. If you look at the diagram below, you will see ovals. This was supposed to be an exercise in most important stuff inside and things of lesser import but still worth teaching in the outer rings. But I did the exercise wrong.

Again back to Gutiérrez, there is action and there is planning action. He wanted action. For me there has to be reflection. Action without reflection creates anarchy...sort of.




I’ll explain this drawing briefly:
At the center is a Well-informed; Meaningful and Active Faith-life. NOTE: This doesn’t mean “go to church” but it does mean being engaged in the world as a child of God; and expressing love while being a good steward of the creation. No point are lost for going to church however! In fact it can be a great place, sometimes you can even run into other Christians there, which does help in your faith formation. I highly recommend it. It isn't a requirement, it's an opportunity!

In the next ring out there are elements that I find particularly (but not exclusively) meaningful for me. They feed one another; a personal theology leads to faith traditions which leads to praxis (action in the world), reading scripture (our own and other faith traditions) leads to personal theology...this circular motion is not unidirectional but works both ways and across the ring as well. Faith leads across the ring to reading scripture. And so on.

Within the third ring are examples or subsets of the middle ring. Activity moves me from the inner circle to the outer and outer to inner.

For the center of my life, learning is the key. Being well-informed from first hand sources means that you read your Bible and make your OWN assessments—do not allow others to take that away from you and make those assessments for you. Then take your insights into the world. Reflect alone first and with others and then see what resonates with you. As Socrates said, “an unexamined life is not worth living.” I say “an un-reflected faith life is NOT YOUR OWN, it is SOMEONE ELSE’S.” You shouldn’t let someone else control your relationship with God and the creation.

As you read my blogs, if you do. My main emphasis will almost always be trying to break what I consider stereotypes of Christianity. I tend to be cynical of anyone or anything that claims to have “all the answers”; or who knows how to have a “truthful" or "genuine relationship with God” or says “the Bible clearly says...”. Personally I don’t think the Bible is terrible “clear” on very many things. The things it is very clear on 1) Love God with your whole self and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself; both tend to become marginalized.

WWJP?

So I wonder WWJP? Gimme a sec, I’ll get there.

I was born the same year the Minnesota Vikings began playing in the NFL. Most often, people root for a sports team that represents their city, state or region. Consequently my folks were Packer fans first and later became Viking fans. It was easy to choose Titletown’s Packers over those dirty Bears...but that’s another story.

I am told that THE rivalry in the NFL is between the Bears and Packers. But with the advent of a Minnesota football franchise, people from the Twin Cities through western Wisconsin have developed a very strong border rivalry--especially due to the success of the Vikings in the late 60’s through the early 80’s and the Packer’s lack of success.

I find a parallel here between two hierarchical triads: sports, football, and the Packers; and the Creation, religion and Christianity. In both of these triads you will find detractors, but stay with me.

Almost everyone can agree that the Creation is good. Or if you are not “God-oriented” let’s just say “the universe” is good. Almost everyone can agree that some form of sport is good. Whether it is participation or observation; being active is a good thing. Some people are spiritually inclined and some are not. Some people like to run, bike, race cars. Some people watch or play football, others baseball and still others (for some unknown reason) like soccer. Some spiritually minded folks are Buddhist and others Muslim. There are plenty of Deist, Wiccans, Baha’is, Hindus, and Christians. For football fans, some like the Vikings, others the Packers; in the NFL alone you have 32 teams from which to choose a favorite. God help us all, some people actually support the Cowboys.

The trouble I have with the Packers, as a Viking fan, is not the players, but the fans. I dislike obnoxious behavior that I am sure they see in me. I dislike the way they tout that their team has won the Super Bowl (yes, I know: three times) and is therefore better than my team; putting me down because I have props for a Super Bowl loser (four times over). They are still my team, we love the same game, and we love the same sport. Do Packer fans have the exclusive rights to love football and sports in general?

So that brings me to WWJP? (Whom Would Jesus Prop?) Would Jesus be a Cheesehead? Is Packer football any more pleasing to God, than Viking football? Or would Jesus love the whole league—even the Cowboys. Do Christians have exclusive rights to worship God? Would Jesus follow the World Cup (soccer)? Most certainly. Christians are the obnoxious fans of God that the rest of the religious community distains. Nobody likes the fan that crams their beliefs down other people’s throats. Me? I still like the Packers—it’s the hate-filled zealous fans I can do without. Moreover, when I see Viking fans tailgating and burning Packer jerseys on days that the Vikings are playing the Lions, I don’t much like Viking fans either. But I love the sport.

God creates out of love. God loves the creation so much that we Christians believe God sent the Word (Jesus the Messiah) into the creation to love us, teach us and die for us. Above all I believe God’s act was one of love for the creation. Christians too often feel as though they have the exclusive right to God’s love and the providence of the creation. From my perspective, Christians are the Packer fans of the religious community. Is it any wonder that Christians are seen as exclusivists, hate-mongerers, prejudicial and hypocritical? I am a Christian, but I am not so sure I like Christians.

Love the sport, love the creation, love the athlete, love the fan, love the fact that other fans are reaching toward God. And maybe you should learn a little something about Soccer, maybe you will find something about American football that is more meaningful because of it. Learn something of another’s faith, you just might find God there too.

The fun begins

There is nothing of any particular import here today. I am just getting myself set up to see how all this works. Perhaps one day something poignant or deeply philosophical may appear, but for now I will simply say. Hello.