Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Tolerance in The Humanist

Every Friday my wife has a meeting at Barnes and Noble to go over some work stuff with her boss. I usually tag along and push Ezra, our six-month-old, around in his stroller while browsing the books and magazines. Last week a front cover article in the magazine The Humanist caught my attention. The article was titled "Free Speech Aflame." Ezra was sleeping so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be an interview with Greg Lukianoff, who is the president of FIRE, a nonprofit educational foundation that supports free expression, academic freedom, and due process at U.S. colleges and universities.

As I am currently putting together an article on the nature of tolerance in our culture, several statements by Lukianoff caught my attention. Here are some snippets of the interview.
FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that supports free expression, academic freedom, and due process at U.S. colleges and universities. - See more at: http://thehumanist.org/may-june-2013/free-speech-aflame-the-humanist-interview-with-greg-lukianoff/#sthash.mhGqq23Y.F1tCUudt.dpuf
FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that supports free expression, academic freedom, and due process at U.S. colleges and universities. - See more at: http://thehumanist.org/may-june-2013/free-speech-aflame-the-humanist-interview-with-greg-lukianoff/#sthash.mhGqq23Y.F1tCUudt.dpuf
  
The Humanist: FIRE periodically defends students’ religious beliefs that some humanists—or non-humanists—would find hateful. Why? 
Lukianoff: Personally, I’ve been an atheist since seventh grade. And FIRE was founded by two non-religious civil libertarians. All of us believe in the entire First Amendment, and that includes the establishment clause and free exercise clause.
So we’ve defended Muslim student groups and evangelical Christian student groups, some of whom are being kicked off campus because they believe that homosexuality is sinful. I don’t agree with that point of view, and I both hope and believe that such views will eventually be abandoned. But I challenge my friends who support expelling such groups: Do we really want to live in a society that can try to coerce somebody into changing their theological point of view just because it’s unpopular?
Our founders learned from Europe’s religious wars that the government should stay out of establishing a theocracy, deciding matters of theology, or interfering with people’s faith.
I understand the frustration on campus—some people want evangelicals to change their minds on issues like sexual morality. But you’re not doing that cause any favors if your solution is to kick those students off the campus. It probably hardens their point of view, and turns the narrative from “We have an idea that many people find objectionable” into “We’re being exiled for our points of view.” So, in addition to the strategy being wrong, I think it can backfire. 

The Humanist: Intolerance—say of another’s code of sexual morality—is assumed to be a bad thing on campus because supposedly it creates an environment that makes other people uncomfortable. 
Lukianoff: Yes. The question of making people uncomfortable versus discriminating against them is a distinction that I draw all the time. There’s a big difference between discriminating on the basis of an immutable characteristic, and opposing on the basis of a belief. Discriminating on the basis of an immutable characteristic like skin color or sexual orientation is something that should be challenged, as this discrimination prevents others from exercising their rights. But belief is intertwined with expression and civic integrity. Democratic societies need to nurture and protect people’s right to believe anything they want, no matter how distasteful it may be to others, even if those others are in the majority.

See the full interview-Link

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Tolerance, pt. 1

I am working on a larger article on the subject of tolerance. I am beginning to find sources and quotes and thought I'd put a few of them up here as food for thought. I would love comments on these, especially if you find yourself disagreeing with them. As these quotes convey, our culture is losing its ability to discuss differing opinions with respect and reason. We need more of this.

Here is a quote from Meic Pearse's book, "Why the Rest Hates the West", as quoted in D.A. Carson's recent book, "The Intolerance of Tolerance."

“The currency of the term tolerance has recently become badly debased. Where it used to mean the respecting of real, hard differences, it has come to mean instead a dogmatic abdication of truth-claims and a moralistic adherence to moral relativism-departure from either of which is stigmatized as intolerance…Where the old tolerance allowed hard differences on religion and morality to rub shoulders and compete freely in the public square, the new variety wishes to lock them all indoors as matters of private judgment; the public square must be given over to indistinctness. If the old tolerance was, at least, a real value, the new, intolerant “tolerance” might better be described as an antivalue; it is a disposition of hostility to any suggestion that one thing is “better” than another, or even that any way of life needs protected space from its alternatives.”

And a couple more quotes from Carson's book.

In this tolerant world some things are intolerable-especially those judged to be intolerant. (30)
Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is facilitated when there is a strong Christian voice loyal to the Scriptures-as well as strong Muslim voices, skeptical voices, Buddhist voices, atheistic voices, and so forth. Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is not fostered when in the name of tolerance none of the voices can say that any of the others is wrong, and when this stance is the only ultimate virtue. (35)
What is unhealthy is derisive criticism that does not engage with the views of a particular party, but merely dismisses them and tries to expel them from the discourse on the ground that they are intolerant. (43)

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Happy, Happy, Happy Church Music

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm going to take this week to write about church music.

This morning I found myself spending some significant time reading the Psalms. I have found that it is usually in times of sorrow, suffering, and uncertainty that the Psalms really come alive and have a lot to offer.

How freeing and comforting it is to cry out with the Psalmist,

"O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes-it has also gone from me." (38:9-10)

"Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy" (61:1-3).

These verses comfort me by reminding me that it's legitimate to feel stressed and burdened by sorrow and that it's appropriate and good to cry out to God in times like these. I don't need to have all the answers. I don't need to maintain a "peaceful, easy feeling" about everything. Trusting in God doesn't mean that I won't feel hurt, confusion, and sorrow. Yes, we know that it is God's will for us to "rejoice always," but the Psalms teach us that this doesn't mean we need to pretend like we don't hurt and suffer or that we need to keep a smile on our face at all times.

Now, how does this tie in to church music? From my experience and observations as a worship director, I think that many of the songs that we sing in church do a poor job of giving legitimacy to a range of emotions. Much of the worship music being written today assumes that we are feeling happy, settled, and thankful. This can lead many to walk away from a church service with their greatest emotions and needs unacknowledged and untouched. Of course, we'd all like to be thankful and joyful all the time. But that is not reality for most of us. We hurt, doubt, question, mourn, suffer, etc. And the Psalms tell us that these things are part of the human condition, even as Christians, and that we don't need to gloss over their existence.

It's my desire to see churches recognize this deficiency in many modern worship songs and do something to combat it. One of the reasons I am drawn to hymns is because they tend to do a much better job of connecting with a wide range of emotions. This is not to say that there are no modern worship songs that deal with suffering, sorrow, or doubt (Tim Hughes' "I've Had Questions" and Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name" come to mind); but these types of songs are not the norm and the worship sets at most churches continue to convey the belief that the only acceptable emotions from which to worship are happy, thankful, and settled.

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Lord, 
Take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above."

Monday, June 17, 2013

What will you worship today?

I'm going to take this week and write a series of posts on church music. A little clarification will be helpful. While it is common to use the term "worship" to refer to the singing portion of a church service, this easily leads to a misunderstanding. The term "worship" means to give worth or reverence to something or someone. It comes from combining the words "worth" and "ship." Worship, according to this definition, is not something limited to singing songs. More importantly, the understanding of worship that we get from the Bible is also much broader than merely singing "praise and worship" songs. When we use the word "worship" to describe the 20-30 minute set of 4 songs that we sing on Sunday, it is easy to start thinking that worship means singing, or that worship happens only on Sundays.

However, as will be clear, worship is something that is meant to be all-life encompassing. But even more than that, worship is something that everyone does by nature, all the time. We are worshiping creatures. We give worth to things. We highly esteem things. We give money, time, and thoughts to certain things or people. We all worship something, all the time.  Food, sex, making money, spending money, comfort, religion, morality, business, respect, family...all around us are voices begging for our worship.

I like to think that life is like a big game of king of the hill. There are many things vying to be the object of our worship, many things trying to become the king of our lives. We worship food one day, but eventually the high wears off (we get bloated or sick) and we turn to our job or family or religion or image to assume the throne. But there is only one true King of the Hill, only one thing that rightfully deserves our utmost time, treasures, and thoughts. And that is God.

Today, we will all worship something. It will either be the true God or a functional god. Worship doesn't wait until Sunday at 9:30 AM. Just the fact that we sing songs to God doesn't mean that we worship God with our lives. For this reason, I am hesitant to use the word "worship" to primarily refer to the singing portion of our church services." Phrases such as "worship through music" or "worship in song" are helpful in avoiding this confusion. For in the true sense of the word, worship is something like an attitude or posture we assume before whatever it is that we cling to most desperately. And we all do this, all day long.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

I am Wicked

One of my favorite quotes is by Tim Keller: “In the gospel we discover that we are far more wicked than we ever dared believe, yet more loved than we ever dared hope.”

I find this insight to be extremely helpful and on the mark. I feel that we often try to convince ourselves that we are not that bad, that our sin is not really that big of a deal. Understandably, we want to feel good about ourselves. Yet as we successfully convince ourselves that we are basically good, we also successfully make God's love for us and Jesus' death in our place not all that astounding or wonderful. As we diminish our sin, we diminish God's grace.

But the GOOD news of the Bible continually tells us that we are "wretched" and in need of nothing less than a Savior. We don't merely need a self-help strategy, a new morality, a worldview, a new diet, an ego-boost, etc. We need a Savior to rescue us from our own wickedness, the "cosmic treason" we've committed against our Creator.

And why this news is so GOOD is that we have such a Savior-Jesus.

When we try to diminish our sin and in so doing, diminish God's grace, the result is that we end up living with constant, low-lying guilt. This is because we can't completely shrug the sense that deep down there is more wretchedness than we are willing to admit. But when we are honest about our brokenness and sin, we can find complete freedom and peace knowing that every last part of it was paid for by Jesus' death and resurrection. We can accept the wickedness that dwells within us because we know that we are loved thoroughly and completely by God.

May we see more clearly the seriousness and wretchedness of our sin that we may rejoice more abundantly in the vastness of God's love and mercy.

 
 This song by Derek Webb paints a good picture-"Crooked Deep Down."

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Uncertainty and doubt

This season of life has required more trust in God than usual. I often dream about how great it would be to know the future. Living with lots of uncertainty is tough. I just want to know what's going to happen. It would be much easier to put my confidence in a particular circumstance or outcome than to put it in God.

But I don't know the future. And I continue to live with lots of unanswered questions. I am left with only two options: 1) Freak out and learn to live with anxiety or, 2) learn to more fully trust God than ever before.

I have found that there are two beliefs that, if true, make all the difference in life, especially in times like this: 1) God is good, and 2) God is in control. I have always claimed to believe these two statements but that belief is being severely tested. It's tough. I don't always see God's goodness. I don't always see him working. I don't understand why things happen the way that they do.

But I must believe that he is sovereign and that he is good. Always. This is a daily decision.

How sweet are these words! "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

The words of this are great, too. Link.

Friday, June 7, 2013

LIFE AS MUSIC

I recently wrote an op-ed piece as an assignment for a class I am taking through Mars Hill Church in Seattle. That article can be seen here. The assignment was to interpret and comment on a particular aspect of culture from a Christian worldview. I have invited some of my friends from the Albuquerque portion of the class to share their papers as a guest post on this blog. I will be sharing some of their pieces over the next few weeks. As a side note, several of their papers deal specifically with Albuquerque culture. However, all of them have some great insights that are relevant and applicable to a variety of cultures. Enjoy!


LIFE AS MUSIC
WHAT TUNE DO YOU PLAY WHEN LIFE IS HARD? 
by Stephen A. Mirabal

Recently, living in the northern San Juan Basin has been a roller-coaster of difficulty. In the midst of this hardship, I believe that knowing ‘who we are’ and ‘whose we are’ in this piece of music called ‘life,’ will give us the answer we have all been looking for-Jesus Christ. By allowing him to shape us as musicians, we can be harmonious and effective in this life.
Music is an integral part of my life as well as our beautiful region. Unfortunately for me, music hasn’t always been my forte. My first guitar lesson I was horrible. I would obnoxiously glide my guitar pick against the ridges of the strings to annoy the other students. I’m not sure I even understood what melodies or harmonies were, much less improvisation!
I was sitting in my room playing my guitar along with a CD one day and finally began feeling my role within its flowing ethos of beautiful melody and tonal structures; I finally fit. Merriam-Webster defines harmony as, “the structure of music with respect to the composition and progression of chords”. It was an incredible feeling to have harmonious purpose in playing an instrument rather than a ridiculous unmusical noise. I feel the same about life. Until we have this ‘light-bulb’ moment, we will continue to be out of sync with the players around us. Completely out of tune and off-rhythm.
The difficulties of this area are vast and multifaceted, but pinpointing a few would be helpful for anyone to know how to respond appropriately and learn to play our tune within our cultural musical arrangement.
The first and most obvious trial we are facing as a region is the sinking price of natural gas, which is the economic stream for this area.  Jason Sandel, a local leader in natural gas production, has said, “If we can't find work for the rigs, then the employees will have to be displaced…” For a lot of us, this is bad news, especially when a business leader is predicting lay-offs. When news is not so good, we often find what is important to us in how we respond. Unfortunately, we often respond with fear, which will only lead to more confusion and dissonance. Whenever someone needs to improvise in music, we need to know what chord structure is expected before we can play along. This is the same in life. God, the Composer of Life, has a song for us to play. Active listening is faith and prayer. An orchestra with no faith in their composer is an inharmonious orchestra at best. The role we should play in times of uncertainty is the act of faith. Faith in Jesus Christ to hold things together, and trust in the Holy Spirit to lead.
Another crippling aspect hurting our communities is suicide and related mental health concerns, such as depression. The CDC reports the San Juan Basin to be a critical point of suicide. New Mexico is the 5th highest in the nation for suicide, with Colorado right behind as 8th highest. This is heart breaking. A close friend recently told me what we all hear so often before a suicide incident, “He was normal all day. Then I got the phone call. I just don’t understand why he would do it”. So many people around us, made in the image of God, are hurting. The poor response is to quit. We often feel the need to have perfect answers. What tune will we play in the midst of such pain and heartache for those and from those who are affected everyday by death and depression? Where do we begin to understand this arrangement?
We must ask ourselves, “In life’s song, if we are to be harmonious together, who is the author and composer?” I believe God-the triune God of Moses, Abraham, Peter and Paul-is the composer. We must follow His tune. Any other way leads to death.
The truth is that life can only come from the One who has conquered death: Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians it says, When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”  Bringing life into dead places is the role of those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. Bringing shalom, order and peace, is the best thing we can do for our broken and hurting world that is full of uncertainty and pain.
Whose music are we playing? What tune are we choosing to play along with? I hope it’s to the tune of Jesus our Lord, the composer of our faith.

Stephen Mirabal is a Worship Minister at First United Methodist Church in Farmington, New Mexico. His beautiful wife of 7 years, Brittany, is a photographer. They share life together with their 3 children; Lillian, Shepherd, and River.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

From the Depths of Woe

This song, "From the Depths of Woe," really encouraged me today. See lyrics below. I highly recommend listening to the recording. The arrangement and recording is done by the Indelible Grace group led by Kevin Twit. He was my Sunday School teacher and campus minister while I was at Belmont University in Nashville. This is off their newest CD. The whole CD with lyrics can be heard here.

"From the Depths of Woe"

1. From the depths of woe I raise to Thee, a voice of lamentation.
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me, And hear my supplication.
If Thou iniquities dost mark, Our secret sins and misdeeds dark,
O who shall stand before Thee?

2. To wash away the crimson stain, Grace, grace alone availeth.
Our works, alas! are all in vain; In much the best life faileth.
No man can glory in Thy sight, All must alike confess Thy might,
And live alone by mercy.

3. Therefore my trust is in the Lord, And not in mine own merit.
On Him my soul shall rest, His word upholds my fainting spirit.
His promised mercy is my fort, My comfort, and my sweet support.
I wait for it with patience.

4. What though I wait the live-long night, And ’til the dawn appeareth.
My heart still trusteth in His might, It doubteth not nor feareth.
Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed, Ye of the Spirit born indeed,
And wait ’til God appeareth.

5. Though great our sins and sore our woes,
His grace much more aboundeth.
His helping love no limit knows, Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He, Who will at last His Israel free,
From all their sin and sorrow.