Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:57:44 -0600

Uh, I need to be catechized, and he needs to be re-catechized, if you ask me. Looking for the right pastor to do it. You're a bit of a commute since we're in the mitten. (Michigan)

Don't let the absence of the "right pastor" slow you down. Catechesis is an at-home activity. Start by learning that catechism by heart (pray the catechism), get yourselves one of those nifty reader's editions of the Book of Concord. CPH has some awesome resources these days. Do your daily readings like your daily workout, and you're on your way to becoming a true Ortho-Babe and Ortho-Dude!

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Andrew — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:26:34 -0600

Hmmm...that "me ring" is really throwing a wrench into my plans here. But let's be honest...that song is a much bigger issue. The "Jesus is my boyfriend" stuff is just missing the point, and all that repetition is making me dizzy. One need not be an old rocker hippie late-bloomer to give it thumbs down. Ugh. Cancel my flight to Dallas.

Re: Higher Things Sings!

Orianna Laun — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:31:03 -0600

Anybody won't sing "tired old hymns" when they are led in a tired old way. I noticed that the musicians at Higher Things does not see them as "tired old hymns"; consequently they are led as fresh and new and sung with similar gusto. All in perspective.
I love all sorts of hymns, and it's greater to sing them with people who love to sing them, not look upon them as drudgery.

Re: Loaves and Fishes

Andrew — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:57:53 -0600

The coincidence is uncanny. I thought about this a bit and came to a conclusion. We tend to see things we want to see, which explains why Roman Catholics are know to congregate around apparent images of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

What's so cool about this image, aside from the timing of the discovery, is that as Lutheran Christians we are trained to see Jesus, and more specifically a Jesus hidden under the bread, who fed the 5000 plus 2000 years ago and feeds us now weekly with His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins, life and salvation. It's amazing how He is able to multiple this bread every Sunday across the planet!

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Jen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:12:25 -0600

Uh, I need to be catechized, and he needs to be re-catechized, if you ask me. Looking for the right pastor to do it. You're a bit of a commute since we're in the mitten. (Michigan)

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:04:16 -0600

Jen - I inadvertently overwrote my comment on your comment box, ala Paul McCain. We give everyone free say around here at Blogosphere. I hope you straightened out your husband vis-a-vis the catechism. Real men can recite the catechism in their sleep while doing 100 one-handed pushups.

Now back to my brilliant analysis of the Kari Jobe song....

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Jen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:46:51 -0600

Sorry, Jen. Didn't mean to pull a McCain on you.

Here's what I intended to do:

I'm an ortho-babe, but I'm married. hehehe My husband didn't do anything to woo me to Lutheranism, yet here I am. God is a far better spirit-wooer.

But I'll bet you you married an ortho- (ie real) man.

huh? He was WELS, but he had since forgotten his catechism. What does McCain have to do with this? You lost me.

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:41:58 -0600

Ah yes, the ambiguous left hand ring finger. Some girls like to slip on a "me ring" there, just to keep the wolves at bay. It helps with the "come hither" / "keep away" dynamic which we used to call a "tease."

But never mind all that. Kari Jobe is what, about 24 years old or so? You middle-aged guys best remember that she could be your youngest daughter! (Yet another problem with the Praise Babe.)

Let's get your eyes off the singer, if possible, and your ears tuned to the song. The featured song is a classic power chord praise song (I counted four chords, but I might have missed one.) I give the melody a 2 out of 10 point singability scale; it's mostly girl rocker improv and does not follow the text nor does it do anything to interpret it. The text is loosely based on Revelation 4-5 (and I emphasize "loosely"). The words are hard to understand (which is why they need a projection screen) so here they are for your discerning analysis:

VERSE 1 & 2

Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Holy, holy is He
Sing a new song to Him Who sits on Heaven's mercy seat

(Repeat)

Comment: The song consistently misses the numerology and typology of the Revelation. God is thrice-holy, not twice holy. In the Revelation, the first "worthy" is sung to God in His tri-unity (Rev 4:8); the second is sung to the Father (Rev 4:11) as Creator; and the third to Christ as the conquering slain Lamb (Rev 5:12). The image of the "mercy seat" is not in the Revelation, where the "throne" stands for the Father.

CHORUS

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything, and I will adore You

Comment: In the Revelation, the thrice-holy (got it right here) is sung to God in His triunity, not to Christ as King of Kings. There is a confusion of Essence and Person here, but hey, that trinitarian theology has tripped up lots of folks. A hint of the "Jesus as boyfriend" kicks in with the non-biblical "you are my everything, I will adore You."

VERSE 3

Clothed in rainbows of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
To You, the only wise King
CHORUS

Comment: In the Revelation, this is God in His undivided Essence or perhaps the Father, depending on how you read it, but decidedly not the Son in His Person. The 5-fold "blessing, honor, strength, glory, and power" misses the 7-fold doxology (7 being a divine number) ascribed to Christ (Rev 5:13).

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything, and I will adore You

Comment: See above, I'm not repeating myself, even if the song monotonously repeats itself.

VERSE 4
Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mys- tery

Comment: Interesting allusions here. "Breath" and "living water" are symbols of the Holy Spirit, not the Name of Jesus. "Power" alone is not terribly good news, whereas Jesus' name means "YHWH is salvation." Lacking here is the power exerted to save from sin and death. Lacking also is any notion of sin and death from which we are saved.

CHORUS

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything, and I will adore You

(Repeat)

Comment: As I said, there will be no repetitions from me, though that won't stop this song. Zzzzzzzz.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything, and I will adore You

Comment: The songwriter seems to have run out of steam, so we just repeat the first verse, repetition being the mother of all learning, provided something is said the first time around.

Let's see what of Rev 4 and 5 is missing from this song based on Revelation 4 and 5: The four weird "living ones" representing the whole creation, the 24 elders (OT/NT Israel), myriads of angels, BLOOD, death ransom, atonement, priesthood, kingdom. There's enough there for at least another non-repetitive verse, don't you think?

All in all, another generic power chord praise song using biblical words and phrases but missing biblical themes, symbols, and typologies from a book (the Revelation) that is entirely symbolic and typological. It completely misses the dynamic tension of God in the unity of His Essence and God in trinity of Persons, with the strong image of the Father and the Son. To hear this song, it's all about Jesus, even though He doesn't make His appearance until Rev 5.

Sorry, but thumbs down, even from this old rocker hippie, late-Boomer. I've heard better. Try John Michael Talbot.

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Stan Slonkosky — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:15:01 -0600

Yeah...any pastorly/shepardly advice on how I can swing down there and bring her back a Lutheran??

Before you do that, you might want to determine what kind of ring that is on the ring finger of her left hand. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FObjd5wrgZ8 (about 3.5 minutes in).

Re: A Belly Full of Greeks

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:37:52 -0600

Sorry, Jen. Didn't mean to pull a McCain on you.

Here's what I intended to do:

I'm an ortho-babe, but I'm married. hehehe My husband didn't do anything to woo me to Lutheranism, yet here I am. God is a far better spirit-wooer.

But I'll bet you you married an ortho- (ie real) man.