When we don't give thanks...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving of 2010, and in an attempt to actually take traditions seriously, and develop a richness in celebrating holidays, I'm jotting down a few ponderings on Thanksgiving.

This year I've been struck by how many references I've noticed on TV, on blogs, etc., about Thanksgiving being an awkward holiday for families. For example, take Conan O'Brien, who says via Twitter,

Instead of making anyone travel for Thanksgiving, this year the O'Brien's will have tense, silent meal over Skype.

That's sad. Of course Conan means to be funny; but, his tweet is funny because so many American families lack richness and genuineness in their celebration of Thanksgiving (and Christmas, etc). Many do go on observing holidays with their loved ones because they're supposed to, even in the midst of turmoil. How many of us have pretended everything is OK while we sit down to a holiday mean with our families, when of course there are unresolved conflicts between some or all of us?

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul speaks to this very issue, in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 1:18-21 he says,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [...] So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened (emphasis added).

Scripture seems to tell us, then, that God's wrath is revealed in this world, against those who fail to give thanks to God. Thanks for what? The text seems to imply thanksgiving for everything. God is the giver and sustainer of every blessing, and even when God takes away blessing, we have Him (which means we actually still have everything). Our miseries and troubles, Scripture seems to tell us, come because we don't actually give thanks to Whom it is due, which is especially clear in the lives of those who don't believe the Gospel.

So Thanksgiving, then, is a great time to be together as family, for the purpose of giving thanks to God for how richly He blesses us. We absolutely have reason for an attitude of thankfulness. And even if our lives are fraught with trouble, we can give thanks if we know God, because in His presence is "fullness of joy," and at His right hand "are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).

Alice Dancing Under the Gallows

Watch this trailer for "Alice Dancing Under the Gallows."

This short film is really a trailer for what looks like a really compelling documentary coming out next year. It's about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world. What looks to add an extra intriguing element to the film, is the music - Alice is an amazing pianist, and speaks quite a bit (even in the trailer) about the power of music. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

Here are some things I found exceptionally compelling in the trailer:

1. Alice's thoughts about Beethoven. He has always been my favorite composer, and Alice expresses my own reasons why, in ways I don't think I could have. She says that Beethoven's music is so much more than melody - there's so much fullness in it that goes deeper than simple melody. She says his music is "intensive," and "phenomenal."

2. Alice's genuine love for people. Alice comments that she loves people: that she loves getting to know people, and loves hearing about people's lives. This was convicting for me - how much to I genuinely just love getting involved in the lives of people?

3. Alice's comment that music is god (with which I disagree). She says that music can give a person hope, can transport them away from a hopeless circumstance, can give life to a soul. However, I do agree with some of this - music is powerful, and I believe God created music to affect and stir our souls in some of these ways. Overall, what Alice says is a testament to how powerful music can be; though music is not god, God created it to powerfully stir our affections for Him.

4. The role that music played in the lives of those in the Nazi concentration camps. One of Alice's friends comments that in their hopeful attitude, that music fed, they were "dancing under the gallows." Music gave joy to them in the midst of the hopelessness, which leads me to think about the singing of a church. When we sing as the redeemed body of Christ, music can affect us this way. Our affections can be stirred with the hopeful truths of Scripture, and our hearts and minds can unite as we joyfully praise and worship our Savior through song.

Good Books: Criteria

I read this article today by Fred Sanders, a professor at Biola University. It's a pretty neat article, with some simple, but thought-provoking points on what makes a "good" book. I like reading articles like this from time to time, because they remind me why it's good and important to have a couple books going at any given time. Plus, the colder Fall/Winter weather makes for good book-reading time.

The article: "What makes a good book?"

Page CXVI

I love old hymns of the church, and I'm a big fan of learning and writing new arrangements to old hymns. I really believe, as C.S. Lewis talked about, that something is not better just because it's new. Many of the classic hymns express rich, sound Biblical truth in timeless ways, and I love that there is a recent trend in returning to some of our classic church music.

Page CXVI is a project by a group of musicians to rework some of the old hymns, infusing them into more contemporary arrangements. They give the hymns new, semi indie/rock and indi/folk sounds. Check them out - they do a pretty good job. They've also offered free downloads of their EPs a few different times. Good stuff.

Visit their website here to learn about the project, purchase their records, etc .

Part of the formula for good hymn writing:

I recently read this interview in Worship Leader Magazine (a publication I don't always agree with). This piece is particularly good, though; it's an interview with Keith Getty, co-writer (with Stuart Townend) of the modern hymn "In Christ Alone." It is funny to me that the article focuses on "In Christ Alone" (which I love, by the way), as if it's Getty's greatest achievement as a songwriter. He does, however, have several other very well-known works, written more recently than "In Christ Alone," and he has a pretty big body of really good work that almost totally goes unmentioned here. This makes the focus of some of the interview seem a bit dated if you're familiar with Getty's work at all. But Getty's comments are very timely and insightful, and transcend beyond the questions of Worship Leader Magazine.

The interview touches on Getty's mindset behind writing good, congregational worship music, and what continues to influences his creativity as a songwriter in this particular "genre" (if you can call hymns a genre). I found his thoughts really compelling and really encouraging. The following are three of my favorite quotes from the interview:

"My melodies tend to be heavily influenced by Irish music, and the Irish melodic style is essentially congregational. Although Irish music isn't particularly spectacular compared to say, African rhythm or to the unusual tones of Chinese music, or even the sophistication of much contemporary music, it has tremendous strength in its ability to be experienced and sung by large groups of people - whether in our homes, schools, or even at a sports match. It can be sung with or without instrumental accompaniment. I think the underlying sense of lilting pathos in Celtic melodies (which can also be heard in our speaking voices and is tied closely to our history) also helps the songs tell a story with all its raw emotion and passion. All Irish music centers on stories, whether of love or war or of people and places."

"I think it's of huge importance to us as worship leaders in preparation and in reviewing Sunday services to ask ourselves these two questions: What were the words we put into our congregations' mouths, minds, and memories? And how well did our congregation sing? Our role is simply to be an accompaniment to them as they sing."

"I also encourage lyricists to read beautiful poetry. Consider the fact that almost 20 percent of the story of Scripture is told through poetry. This speaks to the power of words. And to the enduring power of beauty. And perhaps most of all to the unending creative potential the story of the gospel releases in each of us."

Read: "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper

I just finished reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I put off reading this book for a few years, as several people told me I really should read it. I thought it would be a summary of much of what I've read in some of Piper's longer works, e.g. Desiring God, Future Grace, etc. My expectations were immediately shattered, however. This little book is an amazingly passionate call and reminder to prize Jesus Christ above all else, and in doing so, be ready to gladly risk worldly pleasure and comfort for the glorious cause of Christ's kingdom. Forgive me if I sound too Piper-esque in my writing there - if I've been reading Piper for any extended period of time I start to think, talk and write like he does. The only problem is that accidentally sounding like Piper doesn't make someone as smart as he is. Oh well.

Among the things I appreciate about John Piper, is the honesty in his writing. A place in the book that really stands out for me is where he acknowledges that once his position at Bethlehem Baptist church in Minnesota is no longer the most effective post for him in the Gospel cause, he will leave and do the thing God has for him then. I want to have the same wartime mindset, where I strive to find the most effective place in the cause, where God has gifted me and enabled me to do the most good, with the most joy. There I must do my best to live, and as Piper says, I risk wasting my life if I do not live there.

The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. ~ John Piper

Why I enjoy reading Shakespeare

I wrote the following today for an online class I'm taking to renew my ACSI teaching credential. The class deals with teaching and reading Shakespeare with young adults. I thought I would post some of my writing assignments as I go, when they deal with a good topic. The following is a free response, answering the questions, "What have been your past experiences with Shakespeare, why do you think it is important to teach Shakespeare in high school literature classes, and What do you hope to gain from the course?" I'm looking forward to the class, as it looks like it's going to be helpful.

I've always had a love for Shakespeare. Even as a younger student in school, reading Shakespeare's plays have always been intriguing for me, albeit difficult at times. I think it's always been the uniqueness of his stories, and the mystery we experience as we decipher his language, that have been so appealing to me. I also really enjoy when a story completely immerses the reader in its atmosphere, and Shakespeare's plays do this like few other works. Who hasn't felt the eerie foreboding of the foggy Scottish moors in Macbeth, or the terror in the castle on the night of Duncan's murder?

As a graduated English major, and as a teacher of literature, I still feel that way about Shakespeare by and large. I also appreciate the richness of the early-modern English now more than I ever did. I still remember my Shakespeare prof. from college telling us that good old Will (as she affectionately called the Bard), wrote his plays when there weren't any grammar books or dictionaries to guide his use of language. Without Shakespeare, perhaps we would all be speaking French, instead of reciting Hamlet's beautifully tragic lines in English. That would be different, sure; but it's hard to imagine our favorite pieces of Shakespeare's text written any other way.

I really do believe teaching Shakespeare is important to continue in our classrooms. Just because something is old doesn't make it irrelevant (as Mary Ellen Dakin argues in the introduction of our class text), and Shakespeare's plots connect in so many ways with mankind in our present day that we would be mistaken if we thought we must abandon his work for something more "novel." C.S. Lewis wrote about the tyranny of novelty, and I have to echo his opinion that some of the richest, and most relevant (and correct) observations about life come from the classic authors.

Shakespeare's language, as Dakin mentions, can also serve as a great leveler in our classrooms. Students come into our literature classes from widely varied backgrounds (culturally and socially); varied home lives, talents and academic abilities. When we open a play by Shakespeare, there is a definite sense in which we are all "in it together." We must all decipher and decode his sometimes-archaic language, and determine what his stories have to say to us.

In my last 4 years teaching high school literature and composition, I've taught several plays, for a few different grade levels. For 9th - 12th grades (all of which I've taught at one point or another at our private school), we have read Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. And I do realize that those are all tragedies. Hopefully my classes over the past years haven't experienced tragedy in our reading of them.

Overall, Shakespeare remains at the top of my list of favorite authors, in all of his complexity and mystery. I really do hope to gain some new, fresh ideas for how to bring students along in discovering the good in reading him.