Welcome to the Set4e.com blog!


"You perceive my thoughts from afar."
Psalm 139:2b


Obviously I don't need to blog for God to know what's on my mind! But I thought this format might be a good way to share my thoughts with you, for what they're worth. Which probably isn't much in the scheme of things, but perhaps you can glean something from these ramblings that will encouraging you or get you thinking about our God and our relationship with Him as worshipers.

I will warn you: no one has ever accused me of being concise, so don't expect Twitter or even Facebook-friendly updates here!


As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments at lee.mayhew@yahoo.com.


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Keep the faith,


Lee

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Metallica in Church?!!

Ultimate-Guitar.com is one of my favorite websites. It's a user-driven forum for posting tabs and chord charts for guitar and bass, and their database is enormous. When I'm looking for a chart or tab for a song, I'll find it on Ultimate-Guitar.com probably 8 out of 10 times, including praise and worship songs.

The site was initially started by metal guitarists for metal guitarists, but it's power was quickly recognized by players of all genres, and it's refreshing to find a Joe Satriani tab on the same site as a Chris Tomlin chord chart. Not that I could ever play the former, but it's good to know they are there. ;)

Another great feature of the site is that they comb the web for articles relevant to their primary audience (metal guitarists) and re-post them on their site, along with links to the original articles. These are often articles I would never see otherwise (the one I'm blogging about was in the Calgary Sun), and might be about upcoming albums, artist interviews, or obits for guitar legends that have passed away, etc.

One of the feature articles from 8/13 really caught my eye: "Pastor talks about 'The Day Metallica Came to Church.'" What a provocative title! I had to read it, and you should, too.

I also encourage you to view the video excerpt (below) from the pastor's (John Van Sloten, pastor of New Hope Church in Calgary) sermon, as well as read the PDF sample from his book.



At the core of what Rev. Sloten is saying in this sermon and in his book is that God can and does speak to us through our culture at large, or at least we can, by the Holy Spirit, find Spiritual truths in secular culture and its art forms, heavy metal music included. Sloten, a pastor of a Reformed Christian congregation, fully supports John Calvin's idea that "all truth is inspired by the Holy Spirit," whether or not those espousing the truth acknowledge it's source.

What's more, Van Sloten challenges believers to not ignore our secular culture or we risk missing its cries for help. Our world cries out for God, and we miss those cries as we fearfully turn a blind eye (after one last, contemptuous, self-righteous glare, of course) to anyone and anything outside of the church. God tells us through the Apostle John in his first Epistle that we are to be "in the world, but not of the world," but many of us have decided to not be in it either, if we can help it (1 John 2:15-17). I made this very point myself in one of my blog posts from back in July Sloten reminds us that Christ himself had no time for the self-righteous, hypocritical church establishment, but rather spent His time with those who most needed Him. Jesus states boldly in Mark 2, ""It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (verse 17).

The challenge here, of course, is to safely walk that fine line between being aware of our culture so we can hear and respond to its cries for help with the love and grace of Christ, and allowing ourselves to be led away from God and into temptation. It can be very easy to rationalize our participation in activities that we know are contrary to what God would want for us by saying, "I'm just getting understanding of our culture so I can minister more effectively."

Wayne Watson (I'm dating myself here, I know!) clearly understood this balancing act when he penned the lyrics for his 1988 song, "The Fine Line:"
There's a fine line
Between taking bread with a lost man
And being consumed by his way
While reaching out in love
Temptation's right at your door
Guard what you're thinking of
It's a fine line
When I hide my eyes
From the darkest of our life's insanity
From the worst of the world's profanity
I've gotta be careful
I don't miss anyone in need of me
It's a fine line--Oh yes, it's a fine line

We cannot follow Christ's example and be willing to reach out to a lost and hurting world and simultaneously ignore God's warnings elsewhere in Scripture. God tells us to "flee from sexual immorality," (1 Cor 6:18), and to fill our minds with "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...,excellent or praiseworthy" (Phil 4:8). This could be difficult to do while watching an R-rated movie to see if God has anything to say through it. You don't have to watch porn to understand that our world has twisted God's design for sexuality, or to understand that many people turn to sex for a feeling of affection and self-worth that only God and God-centered relationships (parent, spouse, etc.) can provide.

I have not read enough of Sloten's book to know whether or not he addresses this. I hope he does. But I absolutely intend to read the whole book, which will probably result in a few more posts.

But overall, I applaud Rev. Sloten's efforts here, and I agree with at least some of His points about finding God's truth in our culture at large, and often in very unlikely places. I also strongly believe that all of us individually and the Church as a whole need to do a better job of understanding secular culture and reaching out to people where they are, instead of cloistering ourselves inside our sanctuaries and waiting on the world to come walking through our doors. We'd be waiting a long time, I think, and what's more, I think deep down inside, many traditional church-goers would be quite content if the unwashed -- and unsaved -- masses never darkened the doors of the church at all. Heaven forbid anything upset the sterile, self-righteous status quo! :)

And who knows? Perhaps Sloten's sermon and book will help overcome the stigma surrounding heavy metal music. Certainly there's heavy metal music out there that any believer would want to avoid, but that can be said of just about every genre of popular music. Metal has a lot to offer. Many instrumental virtuosos ply their trade in the metal arena, and as Pastor Sloten and droves of metalheads around the world know very well, there is an emotional power and lyrical authenticity found in heavy metal that is hard to find elsewhere.

Rock on!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Vampires, Christians, and homosexuals. Oh my!

I've enjoyed Anne Rice's fiction (most of it) since I was a teenager. As a fan of speculative fiction in general, I am fascinated by the archetypes born out of genres like fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, and what they have to say about the human experience. Vampires are one of the earliest -- if not the original -- horror archetypes, and Anne Rice's romps through New Orleans and around the world with Louis, Lestat, Claudia, Armand, and others presented the literary vampire in a new, fresh light, updated for a modern audience all its modern anxieties and hang-ups.

I've often stated when debating the relative literary merits of these fringe genres that the human condition and experience is more easily exposed and examined in speculative fiction than it could ever be in more "realistic" works. Contrast is the key. A red object placed on a white background is immediately noticeable. It stands out because it contrasts with the background. Place it against a red background, and it is more difficult to discern. There is less contrast. The object is surrounded by things very much like itself.

I believe there is a similar effect in literature. When you take something familiar like another human being and place it against a backdrop that is entirely alien -- a fantasy world, an alien planet, or an alternate reality where the undead stalk the earth, to name a few examples -- the unique characteristics of that human being and its struggles and passions jump out at us from the page. We instantly recognize ourselves in the character because that which we understand is so starkly contrasted against that which we don't understand. By contrast (hee-hee), if we take that familiar human element and place it in a world much like our own, the contrast is lessened, and the humanity begins to blend it with the backdrop. The author has to work much harder to bring it back to the forefront.

I digress...but at least now you know I like Anne Rice's work and vampire fiction in general, and you have some idea as to why I like them.

If you read and enjoy enough of an author's work, you can't help to begin to feel connected, as if you have come to know the author -- if only a little -- through their work. As I read about the moral, physical, and spiritual struggles of Rice's vampire protagonists, I could not help but speculate how many of these elements were autobiographical. And since every work of fiction has autobiographical elements to one degree or another, it became clear to me that Mrs. Rice was struggling with her spiritual identity. Reading interviews and background pieces about her only served to confirm this.

So when back in 2005, Anne Rice published her novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and proclaimed her return to the Christian faith, I was overjoyed, much as I would be if a family member who had lost her faith found her way back to the fold. I was amazed and touched by the testimony included in the Author's Note (You can read it in its entirety via Amazon's reader by clicking here. Scroll to pages 305-322.), and any doubt I may have harbored regarding God's ability to reach the unreachable instantly evaporated. Later, when I read the second Christ the Lord novel, The Road to Cana, and Rice's memoir, Called out of Darkness, I was even more convinced that Rice's return to Christ was no mere whim or passing phase. This was a true and permanent reconciliation. Her heart had been wooed and won by Christ, and she was devoted to Him. What's more, she voiced her desire to devote her writing to Christ going forward, regardless of the career ramifications of such a decision. A brave statement, considering that those sympathetic to Christianity likely comprise only a small percentage of her loyal readership.

So when, on July 29th, 2010, Anne Rice made this statement on her public Facebook page, I was very interested and intrigued. And judging from the firestorm of responses across the Internet, so were a lot of other people:
For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

Wow. As a Christian, let me first say that I completely understand Mrs. Rice's decision, or at least the motivation behind it. Far be it from me to presume to fully understand the heart of Christ, but I think it is safe to say that few things grieve His heart more than the atrocities and sin committed in His name all over the world every day, and throughout history. I believe it is a poignant milestone in the Christian walk when one is able to separate Jesus Christ and the faith one places in Him from the actions and failings of those proclaiming to be his followers. I applaud and respect Mrs. Rice for being able to do just that, reaffirming her faith in Christ while simultaneously denouncing Christianity. It is a testament to how far God has brought her in her walk of faith.

We live in a fallen world populated by fallen people. A true Christ-follower (a much better term than "Christian", in my opinion) is redeemed by the shed blood of Christ, has hope of life eternal through the resurrection, and is empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit here on earth. But despite all of this, there is a sinful nature that, though weaker than the Spirit placed in us, is constantly battling for attention, seeking out weak spots, and waiting to capitalize on our complacency. Even the most mature, stalwart believers struggle with this. The Apostle Paul felt this internal struggle acutely, as we read in this passage from Romans 7:
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Organized Christianity, by definition, means putting a lot of people -- along with those sinful natures, suppressed to varying degrees -- together. There are bound to be clashes, and there are bound to be decisions made out of sinful motivations. There is bound to be hurt.

And yet God's Word commands us to meet together (Hebrews 10:25). You can read the Bible from cover to cover to and see that the Church as an organized body is established by God, and later affirmed by Christ, who is, according to Scripture, the head of the Church (1 Cor 11, Eph 4 and 5, Col 2, and others). And yet Christ reserved his most fearsome ire for the hypocrisies of so-called church "leaders", and for practices permitted by the church that defiled God's house (see accounts in Matt 12, 16, Mark 11, John 2). Anne Rice's frustration and disgust with the Church was shared by Jesus Himself to a degree, and yet He still is the head of the Church, the divine bridegroom who loves his wayward bride, the Church, and seeks to woo her back to Himself.

I believe that this is why we see Christ at His most tender and forgiving when he encounters "wayward" women. We read accounts of Christ with the prostitute about to be stoned, the woman who "wastes" the precious oil to anoint Christ's feet, and the adulterous Samaritan woman at the well, and we see incredible tenderness, understanding, and grace. Perhaps in these moments when the human Christ was encountering these human women, the Divine Christ was seeing shadows of his Divine, wayward bride, the Church, and responded with the love and grace He has extended to her since the dawn of time.

We are told to keep meeting together. To stay in community. To serve and worship corporately, as well as in our families and alone. God has, does, and always will work mightily through the Church as a body.

Perhaps the most poignant and convicting words that Christ has for us regarding our attitudes about our fellow Christians are these from John 13:35: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If we cannot love our fellow Christians, how will a hurting world know who we are? And how can we love our fellow Christians, if we are apart from them?

The Apostle Paul, and the Disciple Peter, the patriarchs of the Church, expound further upon this admonition of Christ. In Romans, Paul says "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves" (12:10), and in Ephesians he says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

Peter writes in 1 Peter, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart" (verse 22). And later in chapter 3, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble" (verse 8).

These guys knew what the church was like! They were establishing groups of believers all over the known world. We would not need Scripture to tell us over and over again to be humble, gentle, patient, loving, and to "bear with one another" if Christ, Paul, and Peter didn't all understand that it would be tough!

This is why Jesus, when asked by Peter how many times you should forgive someone who wrongs you, said "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!" (Matthew 18:22) He knew our capacity to forgive others would be put to the test, because humans beings fail. Human beings hurt one another. And we hurt the heart of God. But God forgives, and so should we. Make no mistake, He holds us accountable and desires, deserves, and ultimately will have our obedience one way or another. And sin has consequences the He will allow run their course in our lives. But He forgives, and He commands us to forgive and continue to be devoted to one another.
It is my hope and prayer that Mrs. Rice will be able to temper the understandable anger and disgust she has voiced regarding organized Christianity enough to forgive where it is needed, and to not remove herself from a community of believers. It doesn't have to be in a church building or belong to a denomination. But I believe that fellowship, community, and corporate worship are vital components of following Christ. For the Bride of Christ has a body made of many parts (1 Cor 12), and I believe that the fullness of the love of the Bridegroom can only be experienced to the fullest as a part of the Bride, the Church.

It's hard. In my walk with Christ over the years, I have been both the offender who made others want to leave the Church, and the offended who wanted to leave. But by His Grace, God is teaching me the importance of the Church and what it means to be a part of it, warts and all. And more importantly, He has given me glimpses of what He desires to do in and through His Church to reach a hurting world.

He has reached out to me in the midst of my pain. And he reached out to Anne Rice in the midst of her pain, and called her out of darkness. I think Mrs. Rice would agree that if He can reach people like us, He can reach anyone.

So that's the vampires and Christians, but what about the homosexuals? Well...

This is already a very long post, so that part will have to wait until the next post. Check back in a couple of days!