Just a quick reminder for you to be thinking about your year-end list. What particularly impressed you this year, and what did not? Particularly, I want you to be thinking about how the Gospel has come to bear on all of the choices you make (hopefully it has!). I’m looking forward to browsing your lists!

The guidelines are simple:

• Please follow the guidelines.
• Please submit responses only for the listed categories.
• Please try to include at least a sentence or two on why you made each selection. This makes for a much more interesting read and it’s actually the whole point.
• Please return submissions (by e-mail) no later than: Saturday, December 23.
• Please include a small JPEG photo of yourself if possible, or a link to one if online.
• Please include your name, city and state of residence and a link if you are somewhere online.
• Please e-mail your list to me at kpita@yahoo.com.
• Please pass this on and get as many people as you can to participate!

Please submit responses for as many categories as you’d like, but don’t feel the need to answer for all the categories. For example, if you really don’t watch many movies, then don’t feel pressed to include selections for that category. Again, please try to include a short bit about why you made the selection you did; give us some insight as to why you think this is the year’s best.

The Categories (In no particular order):

Music:

• Album(s) of the Year - Must have been released in 2006, may be from any genre.
• Music “Find(s) of the Year” - Something that you “discovered” during 2006 but it may have been released any time. The key is that you first heard it this year.
• Song of the Year - Again, must have been released during 2006.
• Back Catalogue(s) of the Year - What artist did you discover this year and investigated further?
• Artist/Performer of the Year - What artist has impressed you the most during 2006?
• Misc. music thoughts for 2006.

Movies:

• Movie(s) of the Year - Must have been released in 2006.
• Movie “Find(s) of the Year” - Released any time, but you first saw it in 2006.
• Actor/Actress of the Year - Who has particularly impressed you this year?
• Misc. movie thoughts for 2006.

Reading:

• Book(s) of the Year - Must have been released in 2006 in any genre.
• Book “Find(s) of the Year” - published any time, but you first read it in 2006.
• Author of the Year - What author has made a particular impression on you or just made a huge impact in 2006 and why?
• Misc. reading thoughts for 2006.

Pop Culture:

• Person of the Year - You decide the criteria (most influence, etc.)
• Pop Culture Moment(s) Or Trend of the Year - What will 2006 be remembered for?
• Misc. cultural thoughts for 2006?

Faith:

• What theological Truth(s) has particularly “hit home” for you this past year?
• What have you been meditating on throughout the year?
• In what areas have you grown the most this year and why?
• Has any particular Scripture really impacted you this year?
• Misc. faith thoughts for 2006?

Misc.:

• This is where you can include anything you think I should have, thoughts about the Cardinals winning the World Series, what have you. Notice that I don’t have a “Sports” category, so if you do, it would go here.

Please e-mail submissions to me at kpita@yahoo.com no later than Saturday, December 23, 2006.

Each Friday I set aside some bandwidth to feature a poet (along with at least one poem) and a musical artist that makes at least one track available for free download. I do this because I poetry and music but also because I want to see Christians take the creative arts much more seriously. To that end, I try to feature a broad spectrum of both poetry and music (though most of the music is admittedly instrumental, but hey, it’s my blog and that’s what I listen to!). Some of the poetry is “Christian” and some of it isn’t, either way, Christians can be challenged to creatively use language for the glory of God. I also link to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, Alex Forrest and the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate.

Today’s featured poet is Ezra Pound (1885-1972). Pound grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, taught for a brief time but resolved to be a poet and moved to London in 1908. In 1912, Pound invented a school of poetry known as “Imagism,” the principles of which were defined as:

1. Direct treatment of the “thing,” whether subjective or objective.
2. To use absolutely no word that did not contribute to the presentation.
3. As regarding rythm: to compose in sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.

Today’s poems are one very and one fairly short: “In a Station of the Metro,” and “The Needle.”

In a Station of the Metro (1916)

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

The Needle (1912)

Come, or the stellar tide will slip away.
Eastward avoid the hour of its decline,
Now! for the needle trembles in my soul!

Here we have had our vantage, the good hour.
Here we have had our day, your day and mine.
Come now, before this power
That bears us up, shall turn against the pole.

Mock not the flood of stars, the thing’s to be.
O Love, come now, this land turns evil slowly.
The waves bore in, soon they bear away.

The treasure is ours, make we fast land with it.
Move we and take the tide, with its next favour,
Abide
Under some neutral force
Until this course turneth aside.

• Read Wikipedia’s Ezra Pound page
• Read Pound for yourself

Today’s musical artist is an Australian instrumental outfit known as The Necks. The trio is made up of piano, bass and drums and their music, though technically not confined to jazz has won numerous awards in that category. Their latest CD, The Chemist won Austrailian jazz album of the year. The Necks are what you might call an aquired taste. Their songs typically build a simple motif and repetition of patterns, which they then stretch out for up to an hour. Drawing much from minimalism, their albums tend to consist of one, hour-long track.

For the patient listener, the music is mesmerizing and beautiful in its complexity. For the impatient, well, it will be boring. Today’s featured download is a 25-minute live set from an Australian television appearance.

• Download the untitled live set from The Necks
• Listen to the Necks for yourself
• Visit The Necks official website

So, here’s where I share with you some of what caught my eye this past week:

Read a college music reporter’s thoughts on disagreeing with fans and the role of music criticism in which he comments: “The fans can enjoy it all they like, but there must be a sense of objectivity in music. I always use the example of a gorilla learning to paint. To a proud gorilla trainer, the gorilla’s painting of “The Mona Lisa” could be the greatest thing ever painted. But obviously, on an objective level, it doesn’t quite live up to anything Leonardo da Vinci ever did.”

Read Slate’s catalogue of violence that appear’s in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.

Watch as Slate debuts Bob Dylan’s new video for “Thunder on the Mountain” from his album Modern Times.

Read about some fraternity brothers suing to stop the DVD release of the “Borat” movie, saying that their appearance in the film has caused them: “ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community.”

Read an interesting joint-interview of Jeremy Enigk and mewithoutYou’s Aaron Weiss in which they talk about their faith.

Browse Playlist’s list of iPod accessories of the year.

Read the Penn Current’s interview with David Dye of NPR’s World Cafe in which he lists his top five favorite albums among other things.

Browse Amazon’s list of the best books of 2006.

Recommend the best band on Myspace to Rolling Stone.

Read about the Velvet Undergound flea market item purchased for 75 cents and sold for $155,401.

Read Rick Lowry’s article “The Madness of Jimmy Carter,” which begins: “Jimmy Carter brings a Christian perspective to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Unfortunately, it is the same Christian perspective as a drunken Mel Gibson, obsessed with heaping blame on the Jews.

Read Slate’s piece “Holocaust Denial No Joke.”

Read the American Spectator piece which calls the Nativity Story movie “the best thing of its kind that there’s been.”

Read this piece which laments the state of dolls for girls.

Read this Books and Culture article dealing with the overuse of PowerPoint.

Read this article which cites a study claiming that cow emissions are more harmful to the environment than car emissions.

Read the L.A. Times article about “Hip Hop Church.”

Read the Daily Reel’s piece which claims: “I don’t mean to get all hyperbolic on you, but Sufjan Stevens is the closest thing this generation has to a Brian Wilson. His ambition knows no bounds, his compositions are both esoteric and universal, his instrumentation is chaotic yet graceful, his attitude both incredibly optimistic and hopelessly heartbroken, and his influences are almost strictly Americana.”

Read Christianity Today’s piece which looks at the music industry’s practice of “re-releasing” albums and says “enough already!”

Browse Christianity Today’s list of 2006’s “Best ‘Christian’ Children Albums.”

Read the Pearcey piece that claims that a judge actually plagiarized his landmark ruling against Intelligent Design in the schools.

Read Al Mohler’s piece asking if America is a “Christian” nation.

As we lamented yesterday, there is a crisis in modern evangelicalism. Many professing Christians are living no differently from the rest of the world. How have we come to this point? What has caused this separation between what so many people say with their mouths as opposed to their live? Ronadl J. Sider offers some thoughts in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World? Sider claims that:

“Close to the center of the problem is a cluster of unbiblical ideas and practices that amount to what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “cheap grace.” Cheap grace results when we reduce the gospel to forgiveness of sins; limit salvation to personal fire insurance against hell; misunderstand persons as primarily souls; at best, grasp only half of what the Bible says about sin; embrace the individualism, materialism, and relativism of our current culture; lack a biblical understanding and practice of the church; and fail to teach a biblical worldview.”

How often have you heard the Gospel presented merely in terms of forgiveness of sins? While it is this, it is certainly more than this. Rarely do we hear about the drastic lifechange that accompanies this forgiveness. Rarely do we hear about the new birth accompanied by the new growth. We often hear only have of John 3:36 quoted: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” Yet the whole verse reads:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Notice that John not only mentions belief but obedience as part of salvation. Too many presentations of the Gospel focus on the benefit without the cost. They focus on the reward without noting the life-style change (repentance) that accompanies it. In other words, far too many presentations of the Gospel are deficient and may in fact, not be the entire Gospel. As Sider points out:

“If all there is to accepting the gospel is receiving the forgiveness of sins, one can accept the gospel, become a Christian, and then go on living the same adulterous, materialistic, racist life that one lived before. Salvation becomes, not a life-transforming experience that reorients every corner of life, but a one-way ticket to heaven, and one can live like hell until one gets there.”

In fact, this is far too often what we actually find. We must return to the two-fold truth of the Gospel. Not only is the Gospel justification, it is also sanctification and true justification always leads to sanctification. We cannot give credence to claims of salvation that are not accompanied by any significant life-changes. While our obedience does not merit anything before God, our lives are often our most powerful apologetics before others.

• Read The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like The Rest of the World? by Ronald J. Sider
• Read The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith by Alan Wolfe

The other day I wrote about the role of obedience and works in the Christian life. I’ve been meditating on that thought some as I’ve been reading Ronald J. Sider’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like The Rest of the World? In his first chapter, Sider spends considerable time and effort demonstrating that there is in fact a crisis in modern “Christianity.” That crisis has already been noted by unbelievers such as Alan Wolfe in his book The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith. Wolfe’s basic thesis is that the religious people of America don’t really live all that differently from anyone else. He says:

“the faithful in the United States are remarkably like everyone else. It is time for Americans to stop discussing a religion that no longer exists and to concentrate their attention on the one that flourishes all around them.”

One of the most powerful quotes of Wolfe’s book states:

“in every aspect of the religious life, American faith has met American culture - and American culture has triumphed. Whether or not the faithful ever were a people apart, they are so no longer.”

Sider actually quotes Wolfe but uses extensive statistical analysis to demonstrate that there is a wide disconnect between what many Christians say and how most professing Christians actually live. Framing the seriousness of the issue, Sider states:

“Scandalous behavior is rapidly destroying American Christianity. By their daily activity, most “Christians” regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate allegiance to money, sex and self-fulfillment.”

Lest we think that Sider is overstating his case, he provides significant statistical evidence that only 6 percent of evangelicals actually tithe. According to a 1999 Barna poll, the divorce rate among evangelicals is exactly the same as the national average. Two other studies claim that conservative Protestants are actually more likely to divorce than the average population. Nearly 88 percent of the young people taking the “True Love Waits” pledge engage in premarital sex. A 2001 Barna poll found that the rate of cohabitation (living with a member of the opposite gender without marriage) was only a little lower for born-again adults than the general public. Baptists and evangelical “were among the most likely groups to object to black neighbors and 20 percent of Southern Baptists objected to black neighbors.” The rate of physical abuse is not significantly lower among those claiming to be Christian.

Just in case we think that Sider is somehow brining in numbers from the past, the book was published only in 2005 and he extensively cites every claim (please refer to the book for those citations as my blog doesn’t do footnotes, sorry!). There is a crisis in the modern American church and it is very likely that the majority of people filling our pews (or stadium seats) every Sunday morning may not actually be saved.

While I know that such statements seem harsh to many, the verses that we considered the other day (John 14:15, James 2:14-16, Matthew 7:15-19, Matthew 22:34-40), coupled with verses such as 1 John 1:6 leave no doubt that the way most professing Christians live is absolutely not compatible with the picture Scripture paints of the new birth. In a day and age when so many struggle with assurance, so few are willing to examine their lives. Yet this is exactly what Scripture calls us to.

Far too many pastors and churches have elevated numbers to the ultimate consideration of “success” in ministry. Yet, the true question is how well we’re making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), not how many we’re making, but how well we’re making them. Our churches must foster community in such a sense that we actually know and care for one another. Only then can we truly know when someone is missing. One of the first signs of unrepentant sin is removal from fellowship, but far too many churches are more focused on the numbers than the faces.

We must be much about the practice of self-examination, turning our lives over like a precious jewel, examining from every angle. Yet we must be careful not to elevate our own standards as the means of measuring growth. When we do that, we will always look better than we actually are. Instead, we must continually gaze into the mirror of the Word, judging ourselves in light of God’s Word. We must bathe our every thought in prayer, we must be willing to let people know our lives and speak into them when there are issues we might not see.

Far too many professing Christians treat Christianity as an accompaniment, something we can take on or off depending upon how the mood strikes us. Instead, the Scriptures present it as a miraculous new birth, the dead literally coming to life (Ephesians 2:1-8, etc.). Far too many people don’t live like they’re saved because they don’t understand salvation in the first place. Scripture portrays it as a miraculous work of God brining new life. When a baby does not grow, we have grave concerns. We ought to have those same concerns when professing Christians show no growth.

Drawing from Jesus’ imagery in Matthew 7:15-19, we must remember that we all bear fruit and that fruit tells much more than we would like about the state of our hearts. What does your fruit say about your faith? It certainly says something.

• Read The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like The Rest of the World? by Ronald J. Sider
• Read The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith by Alan Wolfe

In his aptly titled book How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler makes the observation that, while the best-selling books in America are typically non-fiction, most of us learn to read based on fiction. Therefore, there is a disconnect between the way most of us are taught to read and actually read. The issue of reading becomes even cloudier for many Christians, who, for whatever reason, refuse to read most fiction.

While there has always been the “Christian Fiction” subgenre, for the most part, many of these books suffer from the same philosophical and artistic defects that much “Christian” music does. The method seems to be to simply take the storylines and ideas of the “secular” culture, sanitize the content and republish it as a “safe” alternative to what’s “out there” in the rest of the world.

While there have been exceptions (J.R.R Tolkein, C.S. Lewis and Flannery O’Connor as possibly the most notable), Christians rarely get involved in the pursuit (either writing or reading) artistically challenging fiction. The plight of Christians in literature is quite similar to those in music. In music, specific (explicitly “Christian”) content has been made the sole determining factor. Therefore, with content (a specific message which much be communicated) driving everything, far too often, actual creativity is sacrificed. Much the same may be said for the way many Christians view reading; we’ve come to expect our art with a bit of propaganda. If it’s not didactic or polemical, many Christians feel it’s simply not worth their time.

Yet, we listen to music because, at some level, we find a connection there. It speaks about our circumstances (love or breakup), it helps us channel powerful thoughts and emotions (protest music) and yet it challenges us creatively. Fiction can play the same role. In fiction, we are often presented with scenarios that simply do not fit in non-fiction writing and yet fit with life as we actually know it. We are drawn into worlds and characters that may resemble our own situation, or may captivate us because they are so far removed from our own circumstances. There is a sense in which we are able to connect with a work of fiction that is not present in non-fiction. While we may feel quite passionately about the topic of a non-fiction book, this is rarely the same kind of almost unexplainable connection we can feel with fiction.

And yet fiction can be just as, if not more powerful at teaching and making points than it’s “true,” non-fiction counterpart. By placing concepts in real-life scenarios, it is actually possible to make a point more forcefully than merely arguing logical nuances. Fiction helps us to remember that many of the points that we so often debate involve real people with real problems (while, hopefully, employing vivid language!) and require real solutions.

For example, I’ve been reading Squat by Taylor Field. Squats are abandoned buildings taken over by otherwise homeless people. Since these people are living illegally, they live in a world where calling the police for help is often out of the question. The streets develop their own laws. Field’s work tells the story of a squatter named Squid and a predicament he finds himself in. Field develops his characters well, allowing just enough “real-life” detail while not over-painting. For example, the way Squid bites his thumbs and wrings his shirt when he is nervous. These details are not overdone and immediately draw the reader in to Squid’s life. By making his points in a fictional setting, Field is able to engage the reader at a level many non-fiction works simply never do.

Field has been a minister in inner city New York since 1986. As such, I’m sure that Field has many passionate opinions about the way the church cares, or fails to care for the poor in our country. Yet rather than write a logical argument about the issues at hand, Field has done something more powerful, he has told us a story. In doing so, Field is not only able to engage our minds but our hearts.

For example, one of the most powerful lines in the story has also become its tagline: “We live in a squat. We don’t know squat. We don’t have squat. We don’t do squat. We don’t give a squat. People say we’re not worth squat.” In a few powerful lines, Field has captured the sentiments of many who cling to these exact feelings. Rather than engage in removed dialogues about the self-perception of the poor and its relationship to their status, Field powerfully confronts us with the fact that real people live behind our abstract discussions and one of the things we are called to do as Christians is care for the poor (Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15, Psalm 12:5, Proverbs 14:21, Matthew 19:21, etc.).

Yet Field is quick to remind us that these issues are much more complicated than we would like to believe. One of the characters, known simply as “Unc” becomes the mouthpiece of much of the confusion surrounding the church’s position regarding the poor. In one conversation with a volunteer working in the neighborhood, Unc asks a series of probing questions:

“Do you think that other hardworking people should start work at six in the morning so that we can have that chance to sleep through the morning? Do you think it is good that kindhearted churches like this one give food to people like me so that I can read all day and have money for drinks? Did you know that because there are several mission-type churches here in this neighborhood, people come from all over because they can stay in an abandoned building for free, get free meals with people like you serving them, then spend taxpayers money for crank?”

These words, coming from a man biting the very hand feeding him are more powerful and thought-provoking than most non-fiction accounts could ever be. By placing them into a fictional, well-developed context, Field gives a brief insight into the many hours of real-life wrestling behind them. Knowing the context in which he ministers, Field has made a point without having to explain his point. Field has succeeded in reminding why, in the right hands, fiction can be so powerful.

• Read How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
• Read Squat by Taylor Field
• Read Flannery O’Connor
• Read J.R.R. Tolkein
• Read C.S. Lewis
• Visit the Squat book blog

Many so-called societies involve an “initiation” process. These often involve some list of things that the participant has to complete in order to earn merit, to prove that they belong in the club too. Sadly, many view Christianity in much the same light, as if there is a big list of things to do or not do, and once we complete the list then we’ve somehow earned God’s favor. But this is a misconception of the relationship between blessing and obedience.

Our obedience, though required, does not merit anything before God. Instead, it is evidence that God is at work in us. The faith that obeys is itself a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9, etc.). Obedience will never product faith, but true faith will always produce obedience. Jesus clearly says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15) and James says that faith without works is dead; it is not biblical faith, it is not saving faith (James 2:14-16). In other words, it is not enough to say that we love Christ, it is not enough that we claim Him as our Lord, we must live as though we love Him.

When we love someone, we want to do things for them, we want to please them, we want to serve them. What is your attitude about biblical obedience? Do you do things begrudgingly (if at all?), or do you do them with joy and a heart that wants to please God? Jesus uses the imagery of trees and their fruit to describe this scenario:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 7:15-19):

How do you know a tree? By its fruit. An orange tree does not produce apples. How do you know a tree’s health? By its fruit. Jesus says that “a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit.” Jesus doesn’t mean that a believer will never sin. Instead, he means that sin and disobedience will be uncharacteristic for the believer. When you go and grab an apple from that tree and you wipe it on your shirt and take that first bite, you’re not surprised when it’s a good apple: that’s what you expect. You’re surprised when you get a bad apple because that’s not the norm and it’s not expected. What is the norm for your life? Good fruit or bad?

In a day and age when so many people struggle with assurance of salvation, so few are willing to examine their lives. But this is exactly what Scripture calls us to do. But in doing so, we must strive to keep the proper balance and flow. As we’ve stated, obedience cannot produce faith. Yet biblical faith will produce obedience, it is a fruit, not a merit. But we cannot claim faith without also performing obedience. The truest test of our faith is our life. We are developing life-long testimonies that are powerful indicators of the true state of our hearts.

We must be cautious about erecting lists of do’s and don’ts and measuring our obedience by our own standards. Whenever we create lists, we more often look for what we want rather than what God wants. Remember that Jesus summarized the entire Law as “love of God and love for others” (Matthew 22:34-40) and we need not make it any more difficult than it already is.

Obedience is not optional for the believer. It is the fruit of the work of God in us.

• Read The Doctrine of Justification by James Buchanan
• Read Practical Religion by J.C. Ryle