Wii...Mass?

This just has to be a joke. It has to.

HT: First Things

Most Stressful Jobs That Pay Squat: Music Ministry Director?

I'm just sayin':

5. Music Ministry Director

Median pay: $40,800
% who say their job is stressful: 67%

You may not think of people who plan, direct and conduct performances for religious services as being under a particularly high amount of stress. But they also choose the appropriate psalm or hymn for every wedding and funeral -- only some of the most important events in a family's life. And those stressful situations can create some demanding clients.

"Every now and then you'll get a strange request," said Dan Fenn, Music Ministry Director at St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield, Minn. "A couple of years ago I got a request to play the Beer Barrel Polka at a funeral. You have to ask yourself, is this appropriate for a worship service?"

New Christmas Music: Sting and Bifrost

There's life's struggle to bring the message of salvation to the world. And then there's life's struggle to find decent Christmas music. I'm not sure which one is harder. Two new albums, however, might just be worth your mula.

Sting: If On a Winter's Night...

Sting is hopelessly, insufferably self-important. And at some level, his latest album exudes that (especially the CD's liner notes and pictures...sigh). But even self-importance can't completely mask Sting's God given talent, or those musicians he brings along for the ride. If On a Winter's Night follows just about every "How to make a good Christmas album" rule.

1. Use some standards, but only the good ones (no "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" please).

2. Don't screw up the originals. Make them your own, but don't reinvent the wheel.

3. Make it warm and inviting. That is, make it feel like it's Christmas in the dead of winter and you are happily sipping hot cider by a fire.

4. Simplicity reigns. Sound nothing like the Transsiberian Orchestra.

5. Don't avoid songs that point to reason we celebrate Christmas (Christ).

Most of the arrangements on If On a Winter's Night are well thought out, simple and support the vocals well (even if Sting sounds a bit strained here and there). Favs include "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," "Hounds of Winter" (which is a redo from a previous album) and "Cherry Tree Carol."

Buy it: If On A Winter's Night...

Salvation Is Created: A Christmas Record From Bifrost Arts

My conversion to "Indy" music has been a long one. I have accepted "Indy" so many times I don't know which one stuck. I think what finalized my conversation was the realization that, not unlike grunge music in the early 90's, Indy music is transforming music culture for the better. Thankfully, the crap music that we had to bear in the late 90's and early 2000's is slowly being replaced by high culture (notice that much of the live music on the late night shows is Indy).

Such is the case with a new music label called Great Comfort Records. But unlike the "mainstream" Indy scene, Great Comfort is ostensibly Christian. Created by Daniel Smith and family (of the inherently bizarre Danielson), their goal is to "[look] for and [find] those melodies, those poetic lyrics, those honest expressions, captured in song: the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs… sacred music for the invisible church." They are not timid in their goals, hoping to "completely change the course of the old gospel ship." (See the CT article on their label here.) Though it is doubtful they will actually be able to turn the ship around, I'll be happy listening to them as we all sink.

They have produced two albums so far. Come O Spirit! Anthology of Hymns & Spiritual Songsand Salvation Is Created: A Christmas Record From Bifrost Arts. The first I have yet to get into, but the second, the Christmas album, is good. And I of course mean that in all the ways previously mentioned with respect to the rules of Christmas albums. It is standard, but new. Warm, inviting, and simple. And, boldly, they point to Jesus. Now this album might not be for everyone. Indy music, it seems, is bound together only by its behemian weirdness, and that is definitely the case with Salvation is Created. But whereas some Indy is just unlistenable, this latest release from Great Comfort is very accessible. Favs include "O Come O Come Emmanuel," "Let All Mortal Flesh," and "Out of Heaven."

Buy it: Salvation Is Created: A Christmas Record From Bifrost Arts

Why All the Denominations?

Churchless Christianity is the for the Immature

Kevin DeYoung (also in the post belwo this one) was interviewed by CT on his new book Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. This was the standout quote:

You say people are disillusioned with the church for many reasons. Which is the hardest for people to get over?

I think the personal reasons are definitely the hardest and most frequent. There are enough sinners in all of our churches, and we need to be willing to listen to people when they are genuinely hurt. But I think a lot of this "church is lame" stuff is really immaturity.

Hopefully people will look back and say, "We were kind of like petulant children getting tired of our parents and thinking that they didn't know anything." Then you get married and have your own kids and realize, "Maybe I didn't always see everything as clearly as I thought I did."

Unfortunately, we have so many choices of churches that we don't have to work through those things (and the growth that God might want to give us through the painful process).

When the Sheep Care for the Shepherd (and the Sheep)

If you're interested, posted below is the sermon I preached this last Sunday, from 2 Timothy 1:15-18, on Onesiphorus. Click the play button to listen to it.

Your Calling and the Gospel

A few months ago I preached a sermon on the call of Peter (Luke 5:1-11). Now, I thought that I had preached the gospel. And in one sense, I did. I made it clear that when we come up against Jesus we see that we are sinners. But I also said that when we repent, Jesus leans in and says to us "Don't be afraid" which signifies that rather than sending us to hell, he will save us by his work on the cross. That is the gospel. But it isn't the holistic gospel. What I mean is that the gospel doesn't just speak into the first part of our life. It doesn't just save us, it is not just once and done. In truth, "angels long to look" upon the gospel because it is the glorious news that everything has changed. The death and resurrection of Christ flipped the universe on its head. And part of that flipping was our relationship with God.

Paul says that we are "new creations." But that doesn't mean that we've been given a do-over (or a 'mulligan' as so many preachers preach). If all Jesus did by dying was give us a second chance--if all he did was replace our souls with new ones--we'd immediately screw it all up again. If you read all of 2 Corinthians 5:17, you'd see that the hinge is not us, but Christ. It is the fact that we are new creations in him. And all that means is that what is required of us now is not our own righteousness, but Jesus' (see also 2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the gospel, the good news that you don't have to perform anymore, only believe. And more importantly for this discussion, this is true eternally. The righteousness of Jesus is not like training wheels. We don't stand in him for a while and then get to go out on our own when we learn enough. Thousands of years of Israel turning her back to God proved that we will never be good enough. What is needed is eternal protection, eternal change. And Christ supplies that.

Now when you understand this you start to see the gospel everywhere. Every moral exhortation, for example, is always wedded with the gospel. Take Colossians 3:2-3. Paul says simply, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Ok, why? "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Without the gospel, you will go right back to doing works-righteousness. But Paul says that the problem is not that you aren't trying hard enough. The problem is that you don't believe what Christ has done for you. Simply put, the life of the believer is an excercise in believeing the gospel more thoroughly, more deeply.

Now back to the call of Peter. When I originally preached the sermon, I preached the gospel as the thing that saves you and then said "Now go put it into action and catch men to life." The problem was that I had asked them to be saved by grace initially, but be saved by works thereafter. It was a moralistic end to an otherwise gospel-centered sermon. How should I have ended it? Well, I think that I should have said that the only way you'll be able to heed the call God has on you is if you believe that Jesus accepted his. There is only one person in history, I would have said, who has truly and fully accepted his call. And his call was to drink from the cup of wrath. And this changes everything. When we think of Jesus who died on our behalf to catch men to life, we are given the power to do the same. And only then will we be able to endure the beatings and brusings of a life devoted to Jesus. In hardest of times, we can look to him who loved us and accepted the call no one else could have heeded. This is what will sustain us. And though it is a lesson not easily learned, I know it will sustain me.

Churches are Made Up of Shoppers

From CT's Go Figure:

49% New church attendees who have transferred from other congregations, according to Protestant pastors.

32% New church attendees who were unchurched.

19% New church attendees who were children born to adults attending church.

The 49% figure is crazy to me. We have work to do.

How You Can Be Calvinist and Go to an Arminian Church?

I was searching through Michael Patton's blog and came across a great post on how he can be a relatively stanch Calvinist (complementarian) and go to an Arminian (egalitarian) church. The three main reasons he gives are,

1. Crossings (his current church) teaches the gospel and focuses on it.
2. Crossings teaches grace and does not divide over non-cardinal issues.
3. I am needed and used there.

He writes:

Would it be better if they were Calvinists? Would it be better if they were Complementarians? Sure, as long as they kept the grace. But, if I have the choice, I will never trade perfect theology (or nearly so) for grace. Grace is the Gospel. When you lose that, where do you go? Stay in bed.

You will never find the perfect church . . . never! There is no perfect denomination. There is no perfect tradition. There is no perfect church and there never has been.

Whole thing.

Driscoll on Idolatry

A few quotes from his most recent talk at a major conference for pastors on idolatry:

Taking a good thing and making it a God thing, that's a bad thing.

As Martin Luther has said, if you don't follow the first two commandments, you can't follow the following eight.

If you want to know what you treasure, think about what you would grab if your house was on fire.

Husbands, if you want to destroy your wife, make her an idol, deify her. Watch her crumble under your unmet expectations.

Church is About Gaining Christ

Michael Horton, in Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, p. 228.

The church has a very narrow commission. It is not called to be an alternative neighborhood, circle of friends, political action committee, social club, or public service agency; it is called to deliver Christ so clearly and fully that believers are prepared to be salt and light in the worldly stations to which God has called them. Why should a person go through all the trouble of belonging to a church and showing up each Sunday if God is the passive receiver and we are the active giver? It's like being expected to look forward to Christmas when you are always giving but never receiving any gifts. Answering Simon's complaint against the woman who anointed Jesus with costly perfume, Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little, loves little." Then he turned to the woman and said, "Your sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:47-48). When we regularly hear and receive Christ's forgiveness, we are filled with love for him and for others.

I Was Wondering When He Was Going to Get CT's Cover

Tim Keller, and Redeemer, here.

Stop Gossipping!

Please! Ray Ortlund:

Gossip leaves a wide trail of devastation wherever and however it goes – word of mouth, email, blogging, YouTube. It erodes trust and destroys morale. It creates a social environment of suspicion where everyone must wonder what is being said behind their backs and whether appearances of friendship are sincere. It ruins hard-won reputations with cowardly but effective weapons of misrepresentation. It manipulates people into taking sides when no such action is necessary or beneficial. It unleashes the dark powers of psychological transference, doing violence to the gossiper, to the one receiving the gossip and to the person being spoken against. It makes the Body of Christ look like the Body of Antichrist – destroyers rather than healers. It exhausts the energies we would otherwise devote to positive witness. It robs our Lord of the Church he deserves. It exposes the hostility in our hearts and discredits the gospel in the eyes of the world. Then we wonder why we don’t see more conversions, why “the ground is so hard.”

What should we do when a conversation starts slipping into gossip? We should immediately challenge the sin: “Hey friend, sorry to interrupt, but this is gossip. So here’s the deal. This conversation is now on hold until you go get _____________, and then you can start over and say whatever you feel you must say right to his face. I am willing to be a witness to that conversation, but I will not participate in gossip. What do you choose to do?” Amy Carmichael established this rule at her mission station: “Never about, always to.”

People, especially in my church, check yourself on this often! No matter how altruistic you think you are being, 99% of the time talking about anyone behind their backs IS GOSSIP. Or, if you don't know what that means, it is sin.

Whole thing.

HT: Z

Ignatius

On, Consumerism Ain't That Bad

Carl Trueman, in review of David Wells' book The Courage to Be Protestant, agrees that the consumerist mindset (or, more precisely, capitalism) in the west is a force that works against the church a lot of the time. However, one mustn't throw the baby out with the bath water:

For a start, we have to acknowledge that the very forces which David (correctly) identifies as so damaging have also brought tremendous good. After all, who of us wants to go back to an era without all of those gadgets and devices which make life so tolerable? Or abandon the freedom of the democratic system which goes hand-in-hand with the freedom of the market? At the simplest, most self-serving level, I prefer to mark student papers that are typed on word processors, not scrawled in undecipherable hieroglyphics; at a higher level, I like living in a world where I have access to antibiotics, printed books, fine wines, the potential of peacefully removing failed political leaders, etc. None of these are essential to human life; but I consider them to be gifts of God's common grace that allow me to enjoy being alive. I think that living at a time such as this, when there are so many things which enhance the overall quality of life, of which previous generations knew nothing, is a good thing. And I do not think that my access to these things is separable from the capitalist system within which I live. Consumerism is thus not an entirely bad thing; nor can I easily extricate myself from the consumerist mindset, given that its values are deeply embedded in the whole of life, both for good and for evil.

Keller Infiltrates Willow Creek

Here.

Don't Waste Your Church Attendance

Josh Harris:

MH and Driscoll on Nightline

Thoughts:

1. They only showed the clips of his preaching when he was yelling, as if that is all he does. He does get animated, but most of the time he is pretty reserved.
2. They did a pretty good job of representing what the church has done, namely, to reach out to the outcast.
3. While Mark does have a penchant for teaching on sex, the reason it has come up a lot recently is because they just did a series on Song of Solomon.
4. I am glad they touched on humility at the end. That is Driscoll's biggest blindspot.

MH Baptisms

We work hard that people may be changed and turn to Jesus. See some stories and baptisms marking this conversion at Mars Hill Church in Seattle below:

Combatting Spiritual Drought

Though this advice from Craig Groeschel comes from a pastor's perspective, I think it is helpful for everyone:

I am as susceptible to spiritual droughts as the next pastor. Because I know my vulnerabilities, I work hard to keep my passion alive.

Here are a few things I try to revisit:

• See God working in another part of the world. God is so much bigger than what we see week in and week out and our churches.
• Visit an impoverished place at least once a year. Some moms choose what to feed their children. Some moms have to choose which children to feed. Putting yourself in a place that crushes your heart keeps the passion alive.
• Fasting. I don’t know why fasting works, but it does.
• Develop friendships with non-Christians. Caring about people far from God helps keep me closer to God.
• Devoted time to prayer. If I don’t spend time with my wife away from all the other pressures, it is hard for us to stay close. My relationship with God is the same. If I don’t spend time with Him, how can I know Him?
• Give extravagantly. Something about giving big breaks the grip of this world and connects me closer to God.
• Cry. For a number of years, I didn’t cry. I’m not sure I could cry. By God’s grace, I broke through it and can cry easily now.
• Visit a cemetery. Seeing today in light of eternity always changes me.

HT: Z