Reflection on ancient and contemporary worship and literature.
My friends Nick and Chris (of Bringing up Bobby fame) called me recently asking for input about some research they were doing on tithing. After a brief chat and some catching up they asked if I would be on their podcast. It was just posted on there website http://glowingnose.com in their post about The Love of Money. Check it out! With all their brilliant editing and arrangements I actually sound okay – if I do say so myself.
I have noticed a trend; people are rarely satisfied with the denomination in which they were raised. This was not the case a century ago. In the past people identified themselves as “methodists”, “lutherans”, “baptists”. The ties were so fierce marriage outside the denomination was discouraged. “Dagnabit Irene, you know we baptists don’t hang out with them there lutheranians.” This is seldom true today. If postmodernism has taught us anything good it is this: we should not be overconfident that we have everything right 100% of the time. My generation is more open to cooperation outside our own narrow fold… as long as they aren’t Catholic… and don’t cuss… at least not in church.
This trend has been attributed to our generational distinctive. Our grandparents were loyal to their church and their company from the day they crossed the threshold into work and religion. My generation feels that employers are not interested in the well being of their employees. They pay as little as possible and keep benefits as minimal as government will allow so the Man can keep his dragon’s share. Churches are like every other industry, only interested in numbers and not me as an individual. Why offer loyalty to another big business that only wants me for one more tally in their numbers game? If I have to go to church it will be on my terms and they must cater to me, just like every other business I patronize. A caricature of my generation.
Apart from this trend of consumeristic and suspicious thinking I have also noticed that, in denominational transfers, certain denominations logically lead to others. For example, baptists tend to turn liturgical, specifically episcopal . Why? Because if you have grown up baptist you may feel they only offer hype with no substance and structure. Baptists want people to come into the church and get saved. Every service begins with a call to salvation and ends with an alter call. (They used to call them altar calls until they realized no baptist really knows what an altar is.) They see hypocrites in their church and think, “these hypocrites are here because we are all shallow in the faith.” After a half a lifetime of this the well thought out structure and depth of liturgy is appealing.
Episcopals in turn become pentecostal. After half a lifetime of reading the same prayers, psalms and “peace be with you”s it can seem rote. They doubt that anyone can really mean what they are saying week after week. They see hypocrites in their church and think, “these people are all fakers and no one really means what they say.” Then a friend brings them to a pentecostal service and people are shouting out, dancing, and waving banners. They compare this enthusiasm with their church and think, “yes, this is what true devotion and affection looks like, not reading dead words out of some little red prayer book.”
Pentecostals in turn become baptists, or, if that is too hard for them to stomach, non-denominational. (In truth all non-denominational churches are baptist ashamed of their name.) Why? Maybe they couldn’t manage the second baptism and felt left out. Maybe they faked speaking in tongues growing up so their parents would be happy but now they don’t care what their parents think. Or maybe it was those hypocrites in their church who had so much enthusiasm on Sunday but treat other people like dirt. So why do they turn baptist? As much as they hate to admit it, pentecostals are baptists with an extra shot of HS power. They might disagree over “once saved always saved” but by the time someone is ready to give up on the charismatic gifts they are ready to be saved forever.
In two generations a family could easily end up back in the church they started from. While I have not seen this entire cycle played out over several generations I have seen each piece on a number of occasions. I suppose other cycles exist that encompass all variety of protestants, and even catholics and the orthodox. So what does this all mean? You tell me.
Psalm 107:22 Let them present thank offerings, and loudly proclaim what he has done!
What can be done to thank the Lord when he has heard our distress? As a 21st century believer I have no outlet for my joy, no work I can do to show my deepest gratitude. In former days a thank offering could be brought to the Lord, a sacrifice not demanded by the law but given when a worshiper felt overwhelming awe at the work of God. I have no goat or cattle, I have no cakes made without yeast and there is no altar or priest to officiate on my behalf. All these things were a shadow of things to come, but now, at the fulfillment of the age, I am at a loss. How can I say “Thank you”?
In the psalms when people were in distress they made vows to the Lord. “If you get me out of this I will… for you.” It sounds a little shallow to our ears. After all, what can we offer to God? As I have studied these psalms I have been struck by how often the vow is a simple, “I will praise you.”
Psalm 22:21-22 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
These vows are not haphazardly placed in the psalms, nor are they hollow promises made in distress. When a psalmist says he will praise the Lord he means he will tell others how the Lord has rescued him in this specific situation. The praise is not general, but specific. In psalm 34 David praises the Lord for his deliverance from Abimelech. He proclaims the Lord’s might in the situation and then encourages his hearers to put their trust in God.
Psalm 34:4,5 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
So I, in my life in the year 2007, having no goat and no vow (for fear I might forget to fulfill it), can still declare the mighty works of the Lord witnessed in these days.
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Surly the Lord is a Father to the orphan
A helper to the helpless and a deliverer to those in bondage
His arm is not too short to save
not to short to reach his child in Guatemala
I cried out to the Lord against injustice
I prayed to the Lord and he was not deaf
We cried out to the Lord from our despair
For our arms could not reach her
She was abducted in the night by armed men
A child, a babe under the care of your covenant
Stolen with her sisters from caring hands
Stolen to be sold or discarded
Oh the wickedness of men, what perversity and scorn
Men who have neither heard your law nor know your Son
Do not destroy them in your anger
In your justice may mercy follow close behind
I sought you that day
We mourned in the night
When we awoke our hearts were heavy with tears
I sought you that day
We mourned in the night
When we awoke the sun shone bright
You took captive captivity to release us from fear
You were sold as a slave to release us from bondage
You walked among us and carried our pain
You are not ashamed to call us brothers
Jesus, your wonders never cease
And when we awoke the Son shone bright
The news of her deliverance was not slow in coming
She was returned with two of her sisters
Even three of her sisters felt the overflow of grace
Poured out on your beloved child
Let all the miserable and broken hear this
The Lord lives
Let all the wicked and mockers hear this
The Lord lives
Let all the fatherless hear this
The Lord is by your side
Let all who love his Son hear this
Our Lord lives, our Lord hears
The Lord is mighty to save.
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Two stories were written about this incident in the local news paper. Article 1 Article 2
In addition, updates have been made on the Western Seminary Alumni page, for the dates March 16th, and two posts on March 14th.