dangerous anthems

When we hear a talented musician play something amazing and fresh we do not say that music is doing a "new thing".

Music is interesting in that while it is experienced by physical senses, it somehow crosses between the natural and supernatural. Some argue that music is discovered rather than created... all the sounds and rhythms are out there, but we need to find them and piece them together. Music would exist without people, but it is through people that we realize music exists.

When we hear a talented musician play something amazing and fresh we say that the musician is doing a new thing... and we can describe what it is they are doing.

Quite a while ago I had a conversation with a pastor of a local congregation. During our time together I was describing to him something that I had been processing and had some concerns about. During this conversation I ended up using the phrase "dangerous anthems" to describe what I had been witnessing.

To give a brief description...


dangerous anthem: [deyn-jer-uhs - an-thuhm] -noun

1. A blanket statement with biblical truth used to justify an individuals actions, often times overriding question and accountability.

Just to give an example, I will pick one such anthem that causes me alarm...

"God is doing a new thing"

This statement in itself is not entirely inaccurate. I think that God inspires and moves people to begin new works quite frequently.

It becomes a dangerous anthem when paired with other symptoms.

It is not as though the eternal and everlasting Creator of the universe just realized one day that what He had started out doing was no longer right. Like He had made a mistake and decided that His initial trajectory was miscalculated and he had to change what He was doing in order to start "a new thing".

He didn't just say "oops. sorry. let me try that again.... "

but... sometimes it seems that people believe that has happened and will justify actions based on the dangerous anthem. UnGodly changes can be made because of a small nugget of truth used inappropriately.

To some degree, I think that music operates in a similar fashion to how God does. God is unchanging although unpredictable. In theory, we are supposed come to understand more about God through the people who claim to follow Him. Sadly this is not often the case, but in theory... it's how it is supposed to work.

Apparently we have a lot of bad musicians and equally impressive christians.

anyhow,

Sometimes a little nugget of truth will be stumbled upon, used out of context, and cause hurt and confusion.

That is a dangerous anthem.

Dangerous anthems also are dangerous because of how vague they tend to be.

The lack of specifics is a cause for alarm.

"God is doing a new thing" could mean anything, and justify any changes that are made... for better or worse.

A more accurate statement would be "we are doing a new thing and feel God is behind it" Although that doesn't quite have the same tribal ring to it when paired up with some djembes and acoustic guitars in a emotionally lit room.

or better yet " We are now doing _______________ and feel God is behind it because ___________"

I know... crazy concept. Actually describe what the new thing is and your reasoning behind it, turning it from a concept blindly shouted out and into a reality, and taking responsibility for your actions... not very romantic, but much healthier and appropriate.

So beware of dangerous anthems, bad music, and change your undies frequently... cause you never know when you will get in a car crash.

Peace.

lingerie and gasoline

In evangelical circles, there is something exciting and foreign about the Holy Spirit. There is a sense of adventure related to it, because we are somewhat unfamiliar with it, but we know that underneath that name there is a whole world of unexplored beauty and mystery waiting for us. It is intriguing and we are drawn towards it.

We know that beneath the title "Holy Spirit" there is something beautiful that we want to be made familiar with.

lingerie

Maybe not a perfect metaphor, but interesting to use in the title of this blog.

I have had conversations with others in the past where I have talked about how we have tried to make the church "sexy"

we use mood lighting, emotionally manipulating music and instruments, messages that are catered to congregational desires, cool graphics and videos, and attractive and well dressed people leading all of this in order to appeal to the culture.

Sexy.

I think we have done something similar with the Holy Spirit, but in doing so we have limited the Spirits ability to work in us and through us.

God is huge and unfathomable, and the way he works cannot be fully understood by man. By the power of His Spirit we receive gifts to use to his glory; prophecy, tongues, wisdom, words of knowledge, miraculous healing, signs and wonders. etc...

but...

We have romanticized this to the point it has become like a mystical fairytale, and in doing so we have limited the work of God in our lives and told ourselves that the Spirit only does these things for certain people. The "real spiritual" ones. This is a lie.

and...

in doing so we have forgotten what the significance of being a new creation in Christ and the implications and significance of this. We have forgotten our identity.

remember.. if you have accepted Christ as Savior, you have accepted everything that comes with that, including the Spirit He promised to you.

We have become enamored by the lingerie itself and it has become a barrier for us that we just cannot get past.

The lingerie is not as important as what's under it.

what is under it is for us.

man.. this is possibly the weirdest metaphor I have ever used... I'm going to keep writing though, I think it makes sense.

So... we should not hold at a distance the very Spirit that has been given to us. It is wonderful, it is beautiful, it is for all who accept Christ as Savior.

Get past the lingerie and accept what has been given to you.

gasoline

The other thing that I see happen with the Holy Spirit is that people will recognize it as important and ask for it without knowing why or what that means... which is ok

but

it is kind of like asking for gasoline because you know it is important and something to ask for. So you do.

Ok, you have gasoline... now what? It just sits in that nice red plastic waiting to be used.

What if I told you that you could put that gasoline into a car and it would allow the engine to run. Sweet!

but...

Simply knowing this information will not make the car run.. you must actually put the gasoline into the car, turn the key, and.. miracle of miracles.. it runs.

The Spirit of God being placed in us serves many purposes... but we must allow for those things to happen in our lives by taking steps of faith.

1 Corinthians 12 talks practically about a bunch of these things...

here is a summary...

The manifestations of the Spirit are all for the common good, but look different...

manifestations include

the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing spirits, speaking in different kinds of tongues, interpreting tongues.. and all these pieces work together for the sake of Christ.

we know what the spirit can do... and that we have been given that spirit, let us take steps of faith in allowing the spirit to do the work of Christ in us and through us.

so... what are our steps forward?

Let us look past the lingerie, accept what has been given to us, use the gasoline, and step out in faith in order to bring glory to God.

peace.