I was thinking the other day about the movie No Country For Old Men by the Coen Brothers. The film is dark and sometimes troubling in its depiction of fallen nature and I know, “Christians aren’t supposed to watch movies like this, right?!” (See Jim’s insightful thoughts from yesterday and what “Christians” far too often partake of in the media).

Quite often, when Christians are confronted with movies containing violence, language and depravity, they respond with something like Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8).

But I worry that what many Christians mean by referencing this verse is not what Paul had in mind when writing it. Many Christians mean that we should focus on things that are warm and fuzzy and “family friendly.” You know, “safe for the whole family” types of things. So, of course it stands to reason that a movie like No Country for Old Men, with its “gratuitous” violence is not suitable, because it shows a lot of violence.

And yet, according to the way in which many well-meaning Christians apply Philippians 4:8 to popular culture, it should stand to reason that we should not think upon the Cross of Christ. After all, the Cross is certainly not lovely or commendable. To this day it remains one of the most horrendous and gruesome forms of torture the world has ever known. It was brutal and played on humiliation throughout. Certainly this is not warm, fuzzy or “safe for the whole family,” is it? Or is it?

In reality, what seems to have happened is that many well-intentioned Christians have reduced the art of media discernment to simply asking what is appropriate for an eight-year old or what makes you feel “spiritual,” warm and fuzzy.

These thoughts prompt the question of whether or not it’s possible to be spurred on to considering holiness by a movie depicting depravity. Of course it is. Much of the point of the film is the pointless nature of depravity and that, when left to themselves, men degenerate into something we can barely understand. We lie to ourselves when we try to say things like “mankind is basically good” and films like this help to remind us of just what we’re capable of; what lurks inside each of us.

The film also holds out the lure of redemption. Throughout, you realize that there is nothing the characters can do to break the cycle in which they’ve found themselves. That’s much the point of salvation itself, isn’t it? We cannot and will not do it on our own (Romans 3), but God, being rich in the great mercy with which He loves us, made us alive, together with Christ (Ephesians 2).

I wonder just how much hope I would be able to have if the Gospel were really as tame as some would have us to believe and I am thankful that there are films such as this to remind me of its power. Regardless of the filmmakers’ intentions. I will indeed think about these things.

• Read Eyes Wide Open: Looking For God in Popular Culture by William Romanowski
• Read Cormac McCarthy

Recently, my 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter have been enjoying a special addition to our nightly bedtime routine. Thanks to their Grandma, we have a jumbo-sized canister of gourmet jelly beans…Jelly Bellies to be exact. Just before we do our Bible time and prayers, the kids ask Daddy to tell them a “jelly bean story,” which is just like any ol’ bedtime story except that the objects in the story present opportunities to slowly dole out jelly beans. For instance, the characters in the story might have a sudden thirst for root beer, which results in each child receiving a root beer flavored jelly bean. Likewise the characters might climb an orange tree, presenting the perfect juncture to pass out, you guessed it, orange jelly beans.

The first time we did a jelly bean story, I remember watching their little faces light up at every unexpected story and flavor twist. I savored the challenge of telling the story in a way that would keep them in rapt attention, never knowing when the next jelly bean would be handed out.

However, something changed after many weeks of jelly bean stories. The creativity and cohesiveness of my story-telling took a nose dive. You see, I was slowly starting to view the jelly bean story as a simple means of getting the bedtime routine kicked off so that I could get them quickly to bed. I would dispense the jelly beans in a slipshot manner, no longer taking the time to look for something delightful in the reaction of my children to a good story. Whether the story had any particular charm or flow made little difference to me after a long day. I think they’ve caught onto me, but at some base level, jelly beans are still an acceptable tradeoff.

Strangely enough, it took a conversation this week about books with my mother-in-law (their Grandma) to make me aware of my storytelling atrophy. She was recounting how some friends recommended a popular Christian work of fiction, saying “You just have to read it!” To her dismay, she found the book to be tedious with characters that could only be described as “one-dimensional”.

I responded by sharing my theory that Christians sometimes have an unhealthy view of the arts as merely a vehicle for a gospel presentation; rejecting the pursuit of beauty or truth as a sufficient justification for creative work. In a word, it’s utilitarianism. Then it hit me. That’s exactly what I was doing with the jelly bean story by cheaply slapping together a story with the “required elements” (a.k.a. jelly beans) without regard for the drama or quality of the story. The humor of this realization was not lost on me, the guy who is always quick to notice the lackluster nature of much of what currently passes as “Christian” music or books, yet who had unwittingly assumed that same mentality in my storytelling.

In further consideration, it occurred to me that this tendency rears its ugly head in more places than just the arts. Though Jesus Christ, in his person and his story, should provoke infinite wonder, we somehow manage to reduce our thoughts about him to mere catch phrases. It’s as if we were offered the greatest feast ever cooked, yet could only manage to describe it as “pretty good” or “nice”. It happens as a parent speaks to a child, as an artist speaks to an audience, and even as a pastor preaches to a congregation.

Writer and playwright Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) wrote brilliantly about the irony of making Christ’s story dull in her essay “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged”:

This is the dogma we find so dull—this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero. If this is dull, then what, in Heaven’s name, is worthy to be called exciting? The people who [crucified] Christ, …to do them justice, [never] accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him “meek and mild,” and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale [clergy] and pious old ladies. To those who knew him, however, he in no way suggests a milk-and-water person; they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand.

Speaking later of the person of Jesus Christ, his incarnation, and his dying in the place of guilty sinners, Sayers notes:

Now, we may call that doctrine exhilarating, or we may call it devastating; we may call it revelation, or we may call it rubbish; but if we call it dull, then words have no meaning at all. That God should play the tyrant over man is a dismal story of unrelieved oppression; that man should play the tyrant over man is the usual dreary record of human futility; but that man should play the tyrant over God, find him a better man than himself, is an astonishing drama indeed. Any journalist, hearing of it for the first time, would recognize it as news; those who did hear it for the first time actually called it news, and good news at that; though we are likely to forget that the word Gospel ever meant anything so sensational.

I trust that Sayers’ words challenge the reader as much as they do me. They help me to think on the great drama of the gospel and the wonder of Christ that should be shared with others. That’s a tall order (to say the least) but merely retelling his story with worn-out slogans or religious-sounding words isn’t enough. Doing so would either give a dull impression of my God or send the message that I have a low view of my audience’s capacity to take in the story. No, such blandness would treat the audience like toddlers who are satisfied with a sugar buzz instead of the captivating story they deserve.

• Read Dorothy Sayers’ works including Creed or Chaos? Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster (Or, Why It Really Does Matter What You Believe)
• Read Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner
• Read A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship by Michael Horton
• Munch some Jelly Belly jelly beans (except for the nasty coffee-flavored ones)
• Listen to the White Horse Inn
• Do not forward this post to the American Dental Association

We took the boys yesterday to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. This was the boys’ first time to a museum, so over all they did pretty well. They got a little rowdy by the time they made it upstairs to see the Rothko, Newman and Klein work but we’re trying to expose them to art at an early age. I don’t typically use this space to post a lot of personal stuff, but I thought it might be fun to share some pictures from our trip. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the actual trip.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the aims of this blog is to explore the Gospel’s implications for and impact on all of life. Redemption is not just for the soul but the mind and the creative aspects of life. I regularly try to set aside some time and space each Friday to encourage the exploration of creativity. I try to do this by linking to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, along with the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate. In addition to that I have a regular rotation of poetry, visual art and music. The poets, artists and musicians in question may or may not be Christian. The main criteria is that they pursue their craft with excellence and in some way have encouraged me to think biblically about creativity. You may or may not initially see the connection. If not, please ask. Otherwise, enjoy.

Last Friday night, my wife and I, along with some friends, had the chance to go to the Modern Museum of Fort Worth for what they call “The Modern ‘Till Midnight.” They open the museum, obviously until midnight, but they also have bands play. We had the chance to see our good friend Doug Burr and also Peter and the Wolf. Other bands, including St. Vincent actually played, but those were the only two we actually saw. In addition, the museum featured the closing weekend of their exhibit of the amazing sculptures of Ron Mueck (featured here) along with paintings by Mark Rothko (featured here) and Barnett Newman. I was literally in awe to see paintings by Rothko and others. My wife was not quite as moved and is convinced that she could do the same quality of art. I’m not so sure, as much as I love her.

Newman is today’s featured visual artist. Newman (1905-1970) was an American abstract artist. As a contemporary of Mark Rothko, Newman became known as one of the most prominent abstract painters though he was often underappreciated during his own lifetime. Many of this paintings featured fields of color separated by a thin stripe that he referred to as “the zip.” Although his paintings were abstract, he did give titles to many of them which hinted at themes he might be addressing. Many of this titles included Jewish and even Christian themes with titles such as “Abraham” and “Stations of the Cross.”

At the museum’s exhibit, there was a plague on the wall that said that Newman felt that “true” art had to be abstract because art is about “pure ideas.” An interesting concept that I’m not sure I agree with. What do you think? Today’s featured painting is “Concord” from 1949.

• Read Wikipedia’s Barnett Newman page
• Visit the Modern Museum of Fort Worth’s website

Today features quite a bit of music, hope you don’t mind. First up, we have a band building off of last week’s feature of Psalters. Playing off of that hippie vibe, this week’s band is a band that recently relocated from Fort Collins, CO to Portland, OR, called The Lighthouse Band (thanks blah blah). I don’t know much about the band other than that it seems to center around a husband and wife team. In keeping with Psalters, the band has many bongo moments reminiscent of Rusted Root and sometimes the Grateful Dead, all the while with a nice folk feel. I typically try to avoid linking to Myspace downloads because they’re usually poor quality, but that’s all I could find to link to, so that’s where these downloads come from. Enjoy.

• Visit the official Lighthouse Band website
• Visit the band’s Myspace page and download four free tracks

In honor of this week’s recent interview with Bill Mallonee (see here and here), I wanted to remind you that he’s offering two free albums right now on his website. One album, Summershine, is an outright free download, no registration, no purchase, no-nothing necessary. Granted, it’s a bit different from most of the other Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love releases, drawing heavily on Britpop influences, but don’t let that fool you, it’s a great album through and through.

The other release, Blister Soul was the fifth Vigilantes of Love album. Released in 1995, the album was alternately noisy and quiet, featuring quite a mix. This album is free when you purchase any other album from Bill’s site. All you have to do is e-mail your receipt in to get the free download code. This means that you can get three albums for the price of one! Come on people, it doesn’t get any better than that!

Lastly, in the Bill Mallonee camp, as you may or may not know, Bill encourages the taping and trading of his live shows. The primary stipulation is that you don’t sell or profit in any way from the recordings. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Live Music Archive, but it’s a great online resource for archiving live concerts. There was recently a new live concert uploaded from September 27, 2007 in Birmingham, AL at the UCF House. It’s a great quality show featuring a lot of great tracks with terrific performances. If you haven’t heard Bill’s recent live performances with Muriah, this is a great introduction.

• Visit Bill Mallonee’s official website
• Download Summershine
• Download Blister Soul
• Download Bill’s 09/27/07 Birmingham show

I realize that I have featured Doug Burr several times now, but believe me, it’s well worth it. If you don’t have his new release On Promenade, please get it, you won’t regret it. Lullabyes apparently recorded Burr’s set at the Modern ‘Till Midnight set the other night, so I wanted to pass that on for your listening pleasure. It’s not the full set from what I remember, but it’s still good.

• Visit Doug Burr’s official website
• Order on Promenade from Velvet Blue
• Download Slow Southern Home
• Download Graniteville
• Download Always Travel Light
• Download Thing About Trouble
• Download Last Promenade

One of the aims of this blog is to explore the Gospel’s implications for and impact on all of life. Redemption is not just for the soul but the mind and the creative aspects of life. I regularly try to set aside some time and space each Friday to encourage the exploration of creativity. I try to do this by linking to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, along with the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate. In addition to that I have a regular rotation of poetry, visual art and music. The poets, artists and musicians in question may or may not be Christian. The main criteria is that they pursue their craft with excellence and in some way have encouraged me to think biblically about creativity. You may or may not initially see the connection. If not, please ask. Otherwise, enjoy.

Things are a bit different today. You may have noticed, but the content of this Friday post shifts quite a bit but nearly always features featured music. That’s all we’re going to focus on today. I had planned on doing a “normal” post featuring poetry and some art as well but then I came across this new band, Psalters and saw that Colossians Three Sixteen favorite Doug Burr had posted some new content, so that’s our focus today: music, only good music.

Today’s first featured music comes from Psalters (an outfit I was recently introduced to in the comments-section of this very blog, thanks Billy!). The band is apparently part of a PA Christian collective known as The Simple Way which offers community outreach, and from what I can tell, communal living.

Describing the music of Psalters is difficult. Picture a hippie drum circle with some Jewish (almost a Klezmer influence) and Asian influences, some samples, some Tom Waits and the blues, some chanting and lots Scripture, all the while looking a bit like Peter Pan’s “lost boys” and you begin to get an idea of what this band does. I can’t help but think of a Rusted Root comparison, which for me, is a good thing but for you may not be. I have yet to see them live, but I hear the show is fantastic, which I can imagine. My wife thinks they sometimes sound a bit angry and at least one friend doesn’t care for their sound, but I dig them quite a bit. On their website, the band describes their mission as:

“we are the cry of the exodus.
there is no home for us here.
we are a nomadic tribe of psalters,
walking in the footsteps of ancients past
to the far corners of the present,
united as one voice against the
oppression within and without.
one more echo in the eternal song of our
First Love, our Hope, our Pillar of Fire.”

As part of their “Manifesto,” (don’t you wish more bands had manifestos?), they state: “As followers of El Elyon , the Suffering Servant, we seek not to make music for music’s sake, but for God’s sake; through His Grace, for His Glory.” While obviously influenced by Jewish roots and OT imagery, the band also clearly points to Christ as the fulfillment of that imagery. The band claims to to model the approach of the Psalters, or the OT Temple musicians, except with Christian content.

The draw heavily on the imagery of leprosy, which might make some feel uncomfortable, but which is surely Scriptural. When afflicted with leprosy, it is not just that body parts fall off, it is that they lose their feeling, their senses and then, but to repeated injury, along with the decay itself, is when they fall off. The band preaches a message that much of the American church too, has “lost its senses,” a message which many certainly need to hear.

In addition to making several tracks available for free download on their website the band has two entire albums available for free download from the Potter Street Records website (registration is required).

• Visit the official Psalters website
• Visit the band’s Myspace page
• Download “Turn Me ‘Round (Slave Song)”
• Download “The Lord’s Prayer”
• Download “El Elyon” (live)
• Download “We Are All Lepers Here” from the US vs US album
• Download “Banner” from the US vs US album
• Download “Home For Refugees” from the US vs US album
• Download “Hosana” from the Divine Liturgy album
• Download their 2004 album US vs US for free (registration required)
• Download their 2006 album The Divine Liturgy of the Wretched Exiles for free (registration required)
• Watch some live clips of the band from 05/25/08
• Watch a live version of “The Lord’s Prayer”

Next, as I mentioned, Doug Burr has posted some new content over on his website that I wanted to pass along. My wife and I first came across Burr’s music when he opened for Bill Mallonee (formerly of the Vigilantes of Love). We were quite impressed to say the least. I immediately bought his independent release Sickle and the Sheaves. Since then, Burr has released his label-debut, a collaborative effort from Velvet Blue and Spune, called On Promenade. It is one of my top three favorite albums of the year so far. If you don’t love this album, I’m guess it’s because you haven’t heard it yet. Burr writes subtle yet powerful songs dripping with heartache and upheld by faith.

Spune has the track “In the Garden” available for free. I believe this is only available for a limited time, so grab it now, you won’t be disappointed. In the late summer, Burr appeared on HDnet’s True Music with Katie Daryl and he has made the video of that episode available on his website. It’s a short show, but he appears last, after Deerhunter and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, both of which are interesting, but you’ll have to scroll towards the end if you’re just interested in Burr. And last, he has posted a live performance of “Whippoorwill” live at Monk’s. Enjoy.

• Visit Doug Burr’s official website
• Read my review of On Promenade
• Read my interview with Doug Burr
• Download the track “In The Garden” from On Promenade
• Watch the True Music with Katie Daryl episode featuring Doug Burr
• Watch the live performance of “Whippoorwill”
• Watch the video for “Slow Southern Home”

One of the aims of this blog is to explore the Gospel’s implications for and impact on all of life. Redemption is not just for the soul but the mind and the creative aspects of life. I regularly try to set aside some time and space each Friday to encourage the exploration of creativity. I try to do this by linking to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, along with the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate. In addition to that I have a regular rotation of poetry, visual art and music. The poets, artists and musicians in question may or may not be Christian. The main criteria is that they pursue their craft with excellence and in some way have encouraged me to think biblically about creativity. You may or may not initially see the connection. If not, please ask. Otherwise, enjoy. No visual art today, just focusing on poetry and music.

It looks like another Friday of just music (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I have some citations of some poems and art but I haven’t had time to track them down yet, so today we’re just going to have some music. Today’s featured music comes from “Finnish psych folk masters” Paavoharju. The band released the stunning full-length “Yha Hamaraaa” on the Finnish Fonal label. It wasn’t much longer than six months or so after that that the band released a free EP through the Miashmah label called the “Tuote-akatemia/Unien Savonlinna EP.”

The band’s music is not for everyone, but then again, that’s part of the charm. The album ranges from almost straight rock numbers to street noise collages with whispered vocals. Instruments fade in and out, sometimes within the same song. Reviewing the band’s full-length release, Stylus said:

Paavorharju supposedly derives from a group of born-again Christians in the Finnish hinterlands making music to soundtrack their religious rediscovery. If I sound skeptical, it’s due to a snobbish reluctance to admit that a work of such nuance and grandeur was produced by born-again Christians.

Interesting that Stylus reserves the right to infer (or is it imply?) that nothing startlingly creative can come from born-again Christians. I’m not sure they’d get away with so openly slandering just about any other group, but there it is. In a list of things that are “good to know” about the band on the band’s website, #10 says: “We believe in King Messiah Jesus our Righteous Branch coming from David.” But don’t expect any rollicking trips down CCM-lane. The music is often sparse and the lyrics are not in English. They mix and match and combine elements of ancient hymns, trip hop, electronica and English folk to an interesting mix of, as Stylus notes, “nuance and grandeur.” Enjoy

• Download the track “Nuo Maisemat”
• Download the track “Kuljin Kauas (Lepovaunu 2005 live)”
• Download the track “Tavataan 12-7-2004 4″
• Download the track “Mitä Sinä Et Ole”
• Download the track “Pépé”
• Download the track “Tartu Tähän Hetkeen”
• Download the track “Salatut Käyvät Julki”
• Download the whole thing as a ZIP file
• Stream the entire EP
• Visit the band’s official website
• Purchase the band’s full-length release Yha-Hamaraa
• Download the EP from Archive.org

One of the aims of this blog is to explore the Gospel’s implications for and impact on all of life. Redemption is not just for the soul but the mind and the creative aspects of life. I regularly try to set aside some time and space each Friday to encourage the exploration of creativity. I try to do this by linking to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, along with the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate. In addition to that I have a regular rotation of poetry, visual art and music. The poets, artists and musicians in question may or may not be Christian. The main criteria is that they pursue their craft with excellence and in some way have encouraged me to think biblically about creativity. You may or may not initially see the connection. If not, please ask. Otherwise, enjoy. No visual art today, just focusing on poetry and music.

Today’s featured poem is “Death Be Not Proud” by Jacobean poet and preacher John Donne (1572-1631). I have been meditating on this poem for a couple of days now. One of the plenary sessions I went to at the annual NANC Conference was about ministering to the dying and bereaved by David Powlison. This poem was mentioned and I remembered studying it in college, where I was very close to having a double-major in Public Relations and English Literature. Why I didn’t go the extra semesters and get the Literature degree is beyond me now, but hindsight is always more clear, isn’t it? Enjoy:

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

• Read Wikipedia’s page dedicated to John Donne
• Read John Donne for yourself

This week’s musical offering comes from the “collaborative project of Otto Totland (Deaf Center / Type Records) and Huw Roberts (Serein).” Both men are pianists, so that plays heavily in this free release. Their self-titled EP is a nice electro-acoustic release exploring the balance between ambient electronica, folk-tronic and acoustic instrumental folk music. Very pretty stuff.

• Visit the download page
• Download the entire release for yourself as a ZIP file