On February 28th, I’ll be speaking at Zion’s Menu-U (a monthly gathering for men to share breakfast and discuss ideas) on the topic of music. Or, more specifically, how Christians can engage, interact with, think about, and enjoy the music that surrounds us, regardless of whether it’s “Christian” or not (more info). It’s essentially an evolution of a similar talk I gave on Arcade Fire’s music awhile ago, but even so, it’s a daunting task—one that I feel rather under-qualified for, even as I’m very excited about the whole deal.

In order to get ready, I’ve been going through and re-reading those who have inspired and informed my way of thinking when it comes to Christianity and music, folks like David Dark and Andy Whitman. And of course, like any good music obsessive, I’ve been putting together a mix of some of the songs that I’ll play and talk about on Saturday… or at least, would like to play and talk about if we had five or six hours.

• Arcade Fire - “Neon Bible”
• Radiohead - “Fake Plastic Trees”
• Animal Collective - “My Girls”
• Sufjan Stevens - “Casimir Pulaski Day”
• Kanye West - “Welcome To Heartbreak”
• Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - “God Is In The House”
• Woven Hand - “To Make A Ring”
• Sigur Rós - “Glósóli”
• The Postal Service - “Clark Gable”
• U2 - “A Sort Of Homecoming”
• Gavin Bryars - “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”
• Arvo Part - “Spiegel Im Spiegel”
• Daniel Lanois - “Shine”
• Marvin Gaye - “God Is Love”
• Pedro The Lion - “Secret Of The Easy Yoke”
• Sixteen Horsepower - “Black Soul Choir”
• Mark Hollis - “The Colour Of Spring”
• Low - “Dragonfly”
• The Trees Community - “Psalm 42”
• Scott Walker - “Clara”

In his book, Everyday Apocalypse, David Dark comments on the term “apocalyptic”. Today, we hear the word and we immediately think of doomsday and “end of the world” scenarios, the kind that Hollywood depicts oh so well. But the word actually refers to revelation, to the scales falling from our eyes so that we can see the world as it truly is and our lives as they truly are. As Dark puts it:

Apocalyptic shows us what we’re not seeing. It can’t be composed or spoken by the powers that be, because they are the sustainers of “the way things are” whose operation justifies itself by crowning itself as “the way things ought to be” and whose greatest virtue is in being “realistic.” Thinking through what we mean when we say “realistic” is where apocalyptic begins. If these powers are the boot that, to borrow Orwell’s phrase, presses down upon the human face forever, apocalyptic is the speech of that human face. Apocalyptic denies, in spite of all the appearances to the contrary, the “forever” part.

Or, as N.T. Wright puts it:

...“apocalyptic” is a way of investing space-time events with their theological significance; it is actually a way of affirming, not denying, the vital importance of the present continuing space-time order, by denying that evil has the last word in it.

Some of the songs listed above were written and performed by Christians, some of them weren’t. Some of them deal with explicitly religious themes and ideas, some of them don’t. Some of them could be considered offensive and sacrilegious, some of them might even be considered worship music. But I believe they all, in some small way, manifest the concept of the apocalyptic… for me, anyways, and ultimately, that’s all I can hope to communicate.

They strip back the veneer that so often clouds my sight; they push aside the ambivalence brought about by the cynicism that permeates our day and age and prevents me from speaking honestly and forthrightly; they breathe new life and beauty into a soul often deadened by marketing, commerce, and materialism. And I look forward to sharing and discussing them with others this Saturday.

David Dark, Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons And Other Pop Culture Icons:

If, in our day, religion is seen as a machine whose purpose is the forgetting of history and the ongoing neglect of the world outside, apocalyptic is the maddening corrective. It resists the appropriation of biblical language to achieve the ends of ideology and overturns our assumptions about success, power, and effectiveness. It mercifully breaks down the the images we use to congratulate ourselves. Without it, we’re desperately ill-equipped to perceive the meaning of what’s passing before our eyes in our immediate environment and beyond.

When we bring our wits to bear upon the apocalyptic expression, we find that it has a way of unmasking the fictions we inhabit by breaking down, among other things, our constructs of public and private, political and religious, natural and spiritual. It’s annoyingly resistant to our short-sighted either/or propositions and refuses all abstract (and in the case of biblical apocalyptic, anachronistic) divisions such as sacred/secular. For the apocalyptic mind, there isn’t a secular molecule in the universe, no matter outside the scope of its coming kingdom, no nook or cranny exempt from the redemption it announces. Neither Jesus nor any Jewish prophet ever instructed his listeners to merely repent “spiritually.”

David Dark, Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, the Simpsons and Other Pop Culture Icons:

[Malcolm] Muggeridge is contending that all human achievement, this side of the Second Coming, is laughable, and he does mean all—Chartres Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Bach’s B Minor Mass, the work of Mother Theresa, whatever we can propose for the status of dignified and noble and true. [William F.] Buckley, as we might guess, is scandalized. How can this be?

Muggeridge: “Let’s think of the steeple and gargoyle. The steeple is this beautiful thing reaching up into the sky admitting, as it were, its own inadequacy—attempting something utterly impossible—to climb up to heaven through a steeple. The gargoyle is this little man grinning and laughing at the absurb behavior of men on earth, and these two things both built into this building to the glory of God.”

But what is he laughing at? Evil? Pomposity?

“He’s laughing at the inadequacy of man, the pretensions of man, the absolute preposteous gap—disparity—between his aspirations and his performance, which is the eternal comedy of human life. It will be so till the end fo time you see.”

Till the end of time. This is where Buckley, like a great many of us, can hardly help but hesitate. But the alternative, a worldview that allows for some finalized perfectability of human nature in the here and now (the steeple without the gargoyle, Babel, what have you), has proven hopelessly off, even dangerous, and we all know it. What Muggeridge so profoundly understands and what Buckley has such trouble seeing… is that the state of affairs we’ve found ourselves in is really quite liberating. No one, as it turns out, has managed to plateau. No one has successfully dotted ever “i” and crossed every “t”. And there’s a glory in this imperfection. Mother Theresa knows she’s simply doing what she can, and this, according to Muggeridge, is precisely what makes her such a beautiful person.

While getting more info for my recent post concerning the 2009 L’Abri conference, I came across Jerram Barrs’ bio page on Covenant Seminary’s website, and noticed that he has three books that are due out in 2009:

• Through His Eyes: God’s Perspective on Women in the Bible
• The Evangelism of Jesus
• Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity and the Arts

Having attended his sessions at past L’Abri conferences and listened to some of his lectures and sermons at Covenant, I’ve no doubt that the above books will be full of Biblical wisdom, discernment, thoughtfulness, and a spirit of grace.

We just received the brochure for the 2009 L’Abri conference in Rochester, MN. This year’s theme is “Proclaiming All God’s Wondrous Works: Creation, Redemption, and Future Glory”, and not surprisingly, the line-up looks as solid as ever. We won’t be making it this year again, due to some other travel plans, but if we were attending, here’s what we’d be checking out (scheduling conflicts notwithstanding):

• “I believe in God… Maker of Heaven and Earth…” - Jerram Barrs
• “Looking into Eternity: The Heavens Declare God’s Glory” - Arend Poelarends
• “China, the Gospel and a Vibrant Church” - Hurvey Woodson
• “Technology and the Loss of Moral Coherence” - Ranald Macaulay
• “The Beauties of the Law” - Jerram Barrs
• “The Apologetics of Blaise Pascal” - Gannon Murphy
• “How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind” - Jock McGregor
• “Longing for Hope in an Age of Cynicism” - David Richter
• “Walking with Giants: Participating in Redemption Through the Christian Imagination” - Jeff Adams
• “An Incontrovertible Truth: Creation as Glorious Ruin” - Denis Haack
• “The Dark Clouds of the Big Bang: Models and Problems” - Arend Poelarends
• “The Revelation of St. John: Have We Really Understood It?” - Jerram Barrs
• “The Skeptics Dilemma” - Jock McGregor
• “Hope of Redemption in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony” - John Hodges
• “Worlds in Collision: Worldviews Behind Contemporary Science” - Arend Poelarends

The full list of speakers and sessions, as well as a registration form, can be downloaded from the conference webpage.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

Christianity is an entirely spiritual religion, concerned solely with heavenly things; the Christian’s country is not of this world. He does his duty, it is true; but he does it with a profound indifference as to the good or ill success of his endeavors. Provided that he has nothing to reproach himself with, it matters little to him whether all goes well or ill here below. If the State is flourishing, he scarcely dares to enjoy the public felicity; he fears to take a pride in the glory of his country. If the State declines, he blesses the hand of God which lies heavy on his people.

Dorothy Sayers:

It is precisely because of the eternity outside time that everything in time becomes valuable and important and meaningful. Therefore, Christianity… makes it of urgent importance that everything we do here (whether individually or as a society) should be rightly related to what we eternally are. “Eternal life” is the sole sanction for the values of this life.

Some of you probably don’t know who Ray Boltz is, but for those of us growing up as Christians in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was nearly impossible to listen to the radio without hearing his songs, such as “Thank You” and “Watch The Lamb”.

Earlier this month, Boltz announced that he was gay. Now, I’d forgotten all about Boltz, partly due to his departure from the spotlight, but mostly due to my growing disinterest is all things CCM. Even so, this news came out of leftfield.

Eric over at Between The Trees has posted a couple of really good thoughts on the whole situation. Here’s an excerpt:

A ton of people seem to be saying things like “I’ll never use his songs again for worship” or even “I guess I can’t listen to his music anymore.” This is patently absurd… the idea that we can’t listen to, and even glorify God through, his music is completely unbiblical. Let’s face it: when part of the book of Proverbs is clearly based on Egyptian wisdom literature and both David and Solomon, inspired authors of the bible, lived their whole lives in adulterous relationships with dozens of women, we should think twice before leveling the cannons on someone like Ray Boltz. God’s truth is always true, and he often uses sinful vessels to articulate it in order to show his sovereign power all the more fully. If Ray Boltz says true things about God and His gospel in his music, praise the Lord all the more that he uses sinners to speak His truth.