Finding God in unlikely places

"Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. "

-Martin Luther 

I've often found it hard to express the exact effect beautiful music has on me.  As is often the case, the quote above proves that someone else has said it better than I could have possibly said it myself.  Beautiful music has a way of being able to calm even the greatest agitations of my soul.

Have you ever listened to a song and felt like you were completely sucked up inside it?  Sometimes I close my eyes while listening to a song and feel as if I am swimming through an ocean of sound.  It's as if someone poured the individual parts of the song into a pool and pushed me in headlong.

I can remember as a child growing up I would take the newest cd I had and lock myself in my room for hours at a time.  I'd put the cd on, lie on my bed, close my eyes, and take in every note of every song until I knew them all by heart.

Even today in the midst of a completely quiet room, I can play back certain songs with all of their parts intact completely inside my head.  I like to call it my "internal radio."

Of all the ways that the Lord chooses to reveal Himself to me, I've always found him the most in music.  I believe the Lord moves and works through all music whether secular or Christian.  A lot of Christians believe you should only listen to Christian music, but I've frequently been moved and led to worship God in the midst of music from people that have no interest in Him whatsoever.

One great example of God hidden in the secular can be found in the new album "So Beautiful or So What" by the iconic singer/songwriter Paul Simon.  In an article titled "So Beautiful or So What So Christian?" Cathleen Falsani quotes Steve Stockman, a Protestant clergyman and music critic from Northern Ireland, as saying "[the album is] so God-drenched that it could win best Christian album of the year."  Simon, however, doesn't consider himself to be the least bit religious.

In her article "The mysterious psalms of Paul Simon," Kim Lawton quotes Simon discussing his Jewish upbringing as follows:

"I was raised to a degree enough to be bar mitzvahed and have that much Jewish education, although I had no interest. None."

As he ages, however, it seems that he has began to reflect more and more on the spiritual:

"[Religion] is a part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis.  I think of it more as spiritual feeling.  It's something that I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, but I don't quite understand it."

To not have much interest in religion, Simon frequently captures it's essence beautifully:

"After you climb the ladder of time, The Lord God is near.  Face-to-face in the vastness of space, your words disappear.  And you feel like you're swimming in an ocean of love and the current is strong.  But all that remains when you try to explain is a fragment of a song." - The Afterlife from So Beautiful or So What

When asked how he felt about being a "God chronicler by accident", Simon says:

"[I'm] gratified -- and somewhat mystified -- that some people have told [me] they believe God has spoken to them through [my] music....Is it a profound truth?  I don't know.  I feel I'm like a vessel, and it passed through me, and I was the editor, and I'm glad."

Interestingly enough, one of the albums that I frequently find myself completely lost in drops a "F-bomb" in the middle of one of the most beautiful songs.  Take a moment and listen to Bon Iver's (non-F-bomb) performance of the song "Holocene" (from his self-titled album Bon Iver) on SNL this past weekend:



While you're at it, check out Beth/Rest from the same episode:



Beautiful isn't it?

As with most things I write, this blog post started out one way and then took a completely different turn from it's intended purpose.  What I would like most for you (the reader) to take away from this, however, is an open-mindedness to seeing God in unlikely places.

Whether it's in a song, a movie, a book, or an empty field, take time to look closely enough and you'll begin to see the fabric of God woven into the minute details of everyday life.

So go listen, watch, read, and take in all that God has made and rejoice in all of His creation and not just the overly Christian parts.

While you're at it, drop me a comment and let me know what song or album swallows you up the way I described above.  I'd love to give it a listen.

Book Review: Generous Justice by Timothy Keller

At first glance, the reader might think Generous Justice is about God's judgement of the human race.  This, however, is nowhere near the case.  Generous Justice discusses the fact that the natural response to God's grace should be an intense desire to help the widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor.

Since we were saved when we didn't deserve it by the generous grace of Christ, we should be naturally inclined to extend grace to the poor around us through service.

Keller puts it much better than I can while quoting Jonathan Edwards:

"Edwards taught that if, through an experience of God’s grace, you come to find him beautiful, then you do not serve the poor because you want to think well of yourself, or in order to get a good reputation, or because you think it will be good for your business, or even because it will pay off for your family in creating a better city to live in. You do it because serving the poor honors and pleases God, and honoring and pleasing God is a delight to you in and of itself.[Jonathan] Edwards taught that if, through an experience of God’s grace, you come to find him beautiful, then you do not serve the poor because you want to think well of yourself, or in order to get a good reputation, or because you think it will be good for your business, or even because it will pay off for your family in creating a better city to live in. You do it because serving the poor honors and pleases God, and honoring and pleasing God is a delight to you in and of itself."

 Amazon says that this book is 256 pages, but it felt much shorter than that.  Then again, it may seem shorter simply because Keller writes in a style that's easy to read.

"In general, to 'do justice' means to live in a way that generates a strong community where human beings can flourish. Specifically, however, to 'do justice' means to go to places where the fabric of shalom has broken down where the weaker members of societies are falling through the fabric, and to repair it. … Reweaving shalom means to sacrificially thread, lace, and press your time, goods, power, and resources into the lives and needs of others."

I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to finding new ways to "do justice" in my own life and through the church.

Book Review: Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian

During his most painful year, Tullian Tchividjian discovers a simple equation that can completely change your life.

The main point behind Jesus + Nothing = Everything can be summarized in the following quote from the book:

"Because of Christ’s finished work, Christians already possess the approval, the love, the security, the freedom, the meaning, the purpose, the protection, the new beginning, the cleansing, the forgiveness, the righteousness, and the rescue we intensely long for and, in fact, look for in a thousand things smaller than Jesus every day — things transient, things incapable of delivering the goods. The gospel is the only thing big enough to satisfy our deepest, eternal longings — both now and forever."

Jesus + Nothing = Everything and Everything - Jesus = Nothing.

This book reads less like a book to me and more like a series of written out sermons.  Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that format.  I found this to be a very quick read and enjoyed every bit of it.

Another quote I really enjoyed from this book is as follows:

"In fact, when it comes to Christian life and experience, many of us have understood the gospel as the thing that gets us in, while the thing that then keeps us in (we assume) is our own effort and performance.  We recognize that the gospel ignites the Christian life, but we often fail to see that it's also the fuel to keep us going and growing as Christians."

How often do we forget that the Gospel isn't just a tool for saving sinners, but also a guide that teaches you what to do with that new salvation?

I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading Tchividjian's other books as well.

Book Review: Jesus the Evangelist by Rev. Richard Phillips

Since I enjoyed "The Masculine Mandate" so much, I decided to go back and read Rev. Phillips first book as well.

In "Jesus the Evangelist," Phillips goes through the Gospel of John and pulls out key examples of how we can model our evangelism directly after Jesus himself.  Some key encounters that you will study throughout the book include the story of Nicodemus and the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.

While this book is aimed at showing Christians how to be a better witness for Christ, I felt that Phillips was actually preaching to me throughout the book.  Maybe he discovered that the most effective way to show someone how to preach to others was to lead by his own example.

I picked up quite a few tips on how to share my faith in this book, but one particular part caught me completely off guard.  In the later part of the book, Phillips explains that God still actively punishes people for their sins.

"It is true of course, that the God who sees all things is a loving and gracious God, a kind and merciful Father to His children. But He is also a holy God. Paul writes to Christians, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap." (Gal 6:7). There can be little doubt that many of us experience difficulties because of our sins. That is true not merely because of the natural consequences of sin, but because God chastens us, so that many of our hardships are sent by God in direct response to our sins. Hebrews 12:6 says, "The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." So even those whose sins have been forgiven through the blood of Christ nonetheless suffer in this life because of their sins. If we want God's kindness toward us to have a free reign, we will not present God with sins that require Him to discipline us. The path of obedience is ever the path of blessing."

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this particular subject.  I've always been under the assumption that once we are saved by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone, that we are clothed in Christ righteousness.  As a result, when God looks upon us, He only sees Christ and not our sin.  If anything, Phillips has definitely given me some conversation fodder for this Sunday.

In the end I enjoyed the book, but it was not as easy of a read or as engaging as "The Masculine Mandate."  I did, however, love reading the stories of people who were witnessed to and then became super stars in the faith (ie. how Dwight L. Moody was a shoe salesman that was witnessed to on the job.)

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from Ligonier Ministries, but I am not required to give any book I review a positive review if I do not enjoy it!

Book Review: The Prince's Poison Cup by Dr. R.C. Sproul

Ella has a problem.  Her stomach hurts really bad, but the medicine her father prepares looks like it will taste extremely bad.  She asks her father: "Daddy, why does medicine taste so bad if it's going to make us well?"

At this point Daddy chickens out and tells Ella to ask her grandfather when he comes over later.  Apparently Ella really likes her grandfather, because she actually takes a nap while waiting on him to get there instead of following her father around the house yelling "WHY?! WHY!? WHY!? WHY?! WHY!?"

Once Grandpa arrives, he hardly gets in the door before Ella is asking him the same question: "Grandpa, why is my medicine so yucky if it's going to make me well?"

Grandpa, being the masterful theologian he is, takes this simple question from his granddaughter and begins to tell the tale of the Prince's Poison Cup.

A simple summary of the story goes as follows (From Ligonier ministries webpage:)

"[The] great King and His subjects...enjoyed wonderful times together -- until the people rebelled against the King and drank from a forbidden well.   To their horror, they found that the beautiful water in the well made their hearts turn to stone.  To reclaim His people, the King asks His Son, the Prince, to drink from a well of horrid poison.  The poison will surely kill the Prince -- but He is willing to drink it to please His Father and help His people."

So, as you can see, the poison in this case is our sin that Jesus had to "drink" in order that we might be healed.  Not only is this story written extremely well, but the artwork is amazingly beautiful.  Justin Gerard also did the artwork for "The Priests with Dirty Clothes" as well.

Here's an example:

I think this book would make a fantastic addition to any parent's library.  I look forward to reading the rest of Sproul's children's books as well.

You can buy a copy of the book here, or look at a sample chapter here.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from Ligonier Ministries, but I am not required to give any book I review a positive review if I do not enjoy it!