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On Cellular RingTones and the Commodification of Worship?? Have you noticed the latest ring-tone offerings for your cellular phones? Well maybe it's not the latest offering-- but it's the latest i've actually noticed: Worship Songs. You can get short renditions of popular worship songs now for your ringtone-- at a cost.
On the one hand you can get the marvelous tones of "Juicy" by Pretty Ricky or for $2.49, your phone can ring to the tone of Mercy Me's "I can only imagine."
When I first saw worship songs among the ring tone offerings of my cell phone service I must admit, I cringed. I immediately went into my self-righteous, angry, indignant prophet channeling mode. After all, this takes "pimping the merch" to a whole new low. It's one thing for CCM "Contemporary Christian Music" to work the retail racks, but come on, to commodify worship is another thing entirely. On I could go. . . . . and have.
But then I began to consider another angle. Shouldn't Chris Tomlin be an alternative to Ludicrous for my cell phone ring tone? I mean, what does music do? Precisely. More than we will ever know. As the legendary country singer, Clint Black, once sang in "State of Mind,"
"Ain't it funny how a melody can bring back a memory,
take you to another place in time
completely change your state of mind."
Music has the power to "completely change your state of mind," because music freights memory. Like no other medium, music dials us into the story-line of our life and more deeply immerses us in the plot. And as stories go, there is a virtual tournament of narratives out there. And though we know that "our story" wins in the end, it should be clear to us, at least in this culture, that our story is not presently winning.
Maybe it's because our music isn't making it to the streets. Maybe our music is too locked up in the sanctuary.
If I'm reading Deuteronomy 6 rightly, the proper effect of worship is to order all of life as an inescapable cathedral constantly reminding us of the glorious goodness of God.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
In this spirit, might we fairly say, "Get them as ring-tones on your cellular phones?"
If the ever-present ringing of my cell phone can serve the Story of God by restoring my "state of mind," then why not? If we are going to cultivate the "same mind in us as was in Christ Jesus" (see Philippians 2) it's going to require a bit more mind-full-ness in us. . . . . . more creativity and innovation as worship leaders and designers to worship God in the seamless-ness between sanctuary and streets. posted by John David Walt | at 1/23/2007 09:37:00 AM | 11 comments
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Check this out This morning at breakfast, we somehow got off on the topic of who loves what. Anhow, it was making the round something like this:
Me: What does Mary Kathryn love?
Group: Squishy things!
Me: And what does Lily love?
Group: Baby Dolls and blankies!
Me: And what does David ove?
Group: Legos!
Me: And what does Samuel love?
Group: Molly! (the dog)
Me: And what does Daddy love? (me)
Mary Kathryn: The Bible!
(Dad puffs up a bit, looks over at Mom and does some inner boasting)
(pregnant pause)
Me: And what does Mommy love?
Mary Kathryn: Us!
ouch! sometimes when you win, you lose. posted by John David Walt | at 1/21/2007 08:46:00 PM | 5 comments
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
American Idol-atry back in full swing I caught the last bit of American Idol tonight. Any Idol-aters out there this season? It reminded me all at once why I both love and hate the show. It, too, plays into the Hero paradigm quite profoundly, exposing the core value of American culture: FAME. The deep irony is the way people will completely and utterly humiliate themself and subjec themselves to despairing humiliation for the sake of 30 seconds of so-called Fame.
It's why I'm loading this book into the FARMStrong reading que.
For those of you who are new to the FARM, I want to link back to a couple of posts I made in the last season of American Idol where I tried to create some dialogue to understand what is going on back stage in this television phenomenon. You can read those here and I can't manage to find the other more fun post on how American Idol perfectly demonstrates dysfunctionality in a family system. I'll keep looking. posted by John David Walt | at 1/17/2007 10:10:00 PM | 8 comments
KingdomTide Media Piece now available (i.e. Passion 07) Several of you from my "Let What We do in here fill the STreets out there" session at Passion 07 requested a way of seeing the media piece I used in the session called KingdomTide. You can find it HERE.
As mentioned the song used is Matt Maher's Isaiah 61, which should be accessible on ITunes. Omar Al-Rikabi,presently blogging from the Middle East, is the media artist who put the piece together. The painting of Jesus crucified is the work of a local artist, Kevin Sparks. Special thanks to Chad Brooks, who made the U-Tube hookup.
The big idea is KingdomTide, which I don't have time to explain at this moment. You can get a bit more understanding by visiting this site and reading the links on the left hand sidebar.
We've got permissions to use the song by Matt Maher. It's a little trickier with the news footage. I'm claiming educational usage exception to the copyright laws. We're not selling this resource-- simply using it to feature the news in a the more hopeful frame of the Kingdom of God. posted by John David Walt | at 1/17/2007 09:12:00 AM | 2 comments
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
I just can't do this anymore. . . . . ????
Yes FARMStrongers-- it looks like my assessment is on target so far. As JP says in the comments below for the last post-- something is going on in Jack Bauer. This is a different Jack Bauer. At one of the twenty-seven climax moments of last nights double feature, Jack Bauer, in a moment of painful agony, literally gave up and in tears cried out, "I just can't do this anymore." This is not the vernacular of a hero. This smells like the makings of a saint. Why? He demonstrated vulnerability in his weakness. And this wasn't the first sign of it. In the four hour season premiere, we saw several indications of this "new" spirit in Jack. Perhaps coming into touch with one's weakness is the beginning of the path of the making of a saint. The other interesting feature is how prominently they are drawing attention to Jack's scars. He appears to be a broken man. Something happened in that Chinese prison which I suspect we will see flashed-back at key moments in the season.
He is moving from superhero to saint. Samuel Wells, in one of his books, begins to contrast the paradigm of the hero with that of the saint. I am continuing to work out that contrast in my thinking. Check it out:
HERO
Larger than Life
Central actor
Celebrated for Valor
Qualified by strengths
Archetype: Soldier
Covets Public Commendation
Fears Failure
Enshrined in a Hall of Fame
SAINT
Small
Hidden actor
Celebrated for Faith
Chosen for weaknesses
Archetype: Martyr
Eschews Public Recognition for Hidden Reward
Embraces Failure
Eternally lives in a Communion
The Hero is a Greek idea. The Saint is a Hebrew idea.
I happened on our six year old, David, playing with action figures the other day to discover this one:
And doesn't this tell the story. We love heroes-- superheroes. In my judgment evangelicalism has wholeheartedly and uncritically adopted the hero figure at the costly expense of forming saints. Heroes trade on the currency of fame. In like fashion, we tend to want to build our movements around famous faces. We trade on the celebrity of our leaders-- only we baptize it for God's purposes.
And this brings us to the Epiphany tie in. I'm in the throes of another epiphany-- discovering the obvious again. The BIG idea is this: In Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our God became small. . . . . an infant no less. Maybe that's what I love about that picture above. Jesus is small. He just doesn't fit into the superhero build. He's real though. And he's risen from the dead. Think about it. In Jesus of Nazareth, God not only became small. He hid himself. Here was God, hiding himself in the frame of a Jewish peasant. . . . in the form of a servant. Jesus loved to be hidden, eschewing fame and even imploring others to keep his work a secret. And he humbled himself and became obedient to death. . . . even death on a cross. . . . embracing the apparent failure in the form of the cross. . . . and yet the true martyr. On the hillside called Golgotha outside the once great city of Jerusalem, hidden between two thieves, our God reveals the nature of his glory. Then hidden like a tiny mustard seed in the ground, He rises again to show us the nature of his sovereignty. Small and hidden. . . . glorious and sovereign. . . . how great is our God?
Of course, Jack Bauer will likely never embrace his weakness. It will probably only amount to a "moment" of weakness to be overcome by the sheer will of his superhuman powers. Why? Because there is no God in this story. Well, there is a god. His name is Jack Bauer. And in the end, he won't be a saint. He'll just be a more plausible version of superman. Without the Living God, this is the only storyline the writers can pull off.
The last time I checked the score on the New Testament-- Saints got 64 mentions. Heroes got none. posted by John David Walt | at 1/16/2007 09:45:00 PM | 5 comments
Monday, January 15, 2007
It's Time!!!!
Yes. . . . He's Back. . . . The indefatigueable Jack Bauer is back. . . . from the dead, no less. 24, like no other tv show, made it's season premiere both last night and tonight in two two-hour installments. What a show. Jack Bauer is rising into truly messianic status from hour one this season. And from hour one this year, it looks like they are taking a different tack. Is the Hero paradigm being discarded for the Martyr move. One thing is sure-- Jack Bauer is being used to reveal to us the secret of life. It's the one all the martyrs have shown us through the ages. Francis perhaps said it most succinctly: "The Secret to Life is to die before you die." The secret of the invincibility of Jack Bauer is this: he's already dead.
What is it about this show that is different from other shows? lets talk about it. posted by John David Walt | at 1/15/2007 11:23:00 AM | 8 comments
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Reading Together Start with these texts-- some really strong ones. Note the mysterious connections.
Now for the daily WISDOM.
Here's Sunday's Reading
Here's Monday's. posted by John David Walt | at 1/14/2007 06:22:00 PM | 1 comments
Saturday, January 13, 2007
AN EPIPHANY TEXT FOR US TO READ TOGETHER I'm blogging here this month as well in case you are interested. Check out this invitation to Read Scripture Together and join me." posted by John David Walt | at 1/13/2007 03:53:00 PM | 0 comments
the Heavens declare the Glory of God. the skies proclaim the work of his hands. . . . . Where we left off-- what does this kind of faith sharing look like? If you haven't read the prior post it would help to better understand this one.
These days of Epiphany are signaled by the mysterious quest of a band of kings to find the "one born King of the Jews." They are universally referred to as "wise" Kings. At the end of their star-gazing journey they found the very wisdom of God. They found the child peasant King living in hidden obscurity and they presented treasure and bowed down in worship. This must have been a startling epiphany for them. . . . . what a different type of kingship. They were searching for a quite unique King-- one signaled by the very heavens above-- and they found a quite unique King. There were no marks of royalty. . . . no signs of status. There was a poor child in a no-name, nowhere'sville town. And somehow they had eyes to see what they were looking at and they presented their treasures and they worshipped him. They saw the quite hidden obvious.
The star was God's way of revealing himself to pagan astrologers. Now what's fascinating about this story is that that the ones who were trusted with God's most obvious revelation-- the Torah and the Prophets-- (a.k.a. the B.I.B.L.E.) apparently didn't bother to make the six mile trek from Jerusalem to Bethlehem after being alerted. This is another example of why it is so dangerous to be a religion scholar. Pagans walk half way across the planet following a star in search of a king prophesied about in the bible and the bible scholars won't walk to the next town over. Ironically, as the stories of Epiphany unfold, we behold this poor, young, hidden boy king instructing these selfsame scholars in the Temple. Incidentally, as the story of the Passion unfolds we watch as this obscure, Galilean peasant prophet regularly excoriates these so-called "Teachers of Israel" and finally, forcibly drives them out of the house of God.
Even as I write, I get carried away with the way this story unfolds and I forget where I am going. And isn't that the beauty of it? I'm not driving. I'm not sure what relevant point I'm trying to forcibly extract from the story. I'm forgetting about where my blog post was headed and not by trying harder to forget but by becoming captured and consumed by where this story is going. I'm following this God and epiphanies are breaking forth all around me like shooting stars. All of a sudden I've got more respect for pagans-- even astrologers-- and I find myself pondering how to invite them into the journey. Or maybe this is the real epiphany. . . . . how I might enter into their journey?
Fascinating. . . . THE Epiphany of which the Season of Epiphany speaks isn't some epiphany they (the kings) had. It's the Epiphany we get by watching them: This king is not just for the House of Israel. This king is for the whole world-- indeed, the whole cosmos. The first epiphany of the cosmic kingly identity of this child king hidden in small town poverty is revealed through the quest of pagan kings following a star.
What on earth are the implications of this? posted by John David Walt | at 1/13/2007 10:25:00 AM | 1 comments
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Another late breaking Epiphany I'm having an Epiphany. . . . and given that we are living in the days of the season of THE EPIPHANY that's an even better thing. You know what an epiphany is. . . . . . it's when you finally see what you've been looking at for so long. . . . . the breaking in of the hidden obvious.
This one has to do with the meaning of "to share one's faith." I have always seen this notion approached from a propositional perspective. In other words, to share one's faith means roughly to tell someone some important information about God or to tell them something that God has done for you. And I in no way want to diminish the importance of sharing important information about God. Certainly it is important.
But what if sharing one's faith has more of the feel of inviting someone into a meal or inviting someone on a trip with you? It's not so much about information as it is about inviting someone into a Life. Is the Christian Gospel a religious formula to communicate. . . . a plan to map out. . . . or a Divine Mystery to welcome others into? Is it all of the above?
Ben Witherington, in his sermon in chapel yesterday shared a media clip of Jesus' encounter with his disciples at Caesarea Phillipi when he asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" In response to Peter's historic confession, Jesus responded, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Abba in Heaven." Flesh and blood are not capable of revelation and yet we approach "sharing our faith" as though they were. At best we think of it as a two part deal-- we get out the information and God is responsible for confirming the truth of it. But isn't there something to be said about the mysterious radiance of the presence of Christ in a person as the secret of faith sharing. He invites persons to follow Himself through companionship with us. Our vocation consists in inviting people to come with us-- inside of our peculiar lives-- into the living, breathing Story of God--in which the mystery of Revelation can break forth into Epiphany.
Think of it like a movie. You saw a movie that changed your life and you can't stop talking about it. But just telling me about it isn't going to make me see it. In other words, for me to hear about what you saw won't get it done. Take me to the movie. Then the possibility exists for me to see what you saw. This is how I am thinking about the Christian Year. It's like a movie, an ongoing, epic narrative story unfolding before our very eyes. Only it's not flat on a screen. It's three dimensional and multi-sensory and radically communal. It's a completely immersive world. It's a living, breathing memory that beckons to be remembered through mystical reenactment, sharing a common life of peculiar practices and through the extravagant hospitality of welcoming others into this path of beholding and becoming, following after the God who was and is and is to come.
I know-- this is getting long. I'll stop here and work part 2 into the next post. What does this kind of faith sharing look like? posted by John David Walt | at 1/11/2007 10:13:00 PM | 9 comments
Friday, January 05, 2007
Breakout FYI Some of you who attended the session I taught at Passion 07 "Let what we do in here fill the streets out there," have requested to see the diagram I put on the screen near the end of the presentation. Here are a couple of those slides for you. Hopefully more to come.
posted by John David Walt | at 1/05/2007 01:33:00 PM
| 18 comments
Today...