Lion and Lamb

A few weeks ago I wrote a song that many months, maybe even years in the making. Typically I am not much of lyricist, I pretty much stick to putting tunes to old hymn texts and poems. But I have had an idea for a song for at least several months, based on a concept that has impacted me for years.

I love the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, for many many reasons of course, but perhaps the most prominent, the characterization of Aslan the lion. He is the Christ figure of the story, and the way Lewis describes him is quite intriguing. At times he is a fierce warrior, king of his land, but in the story The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, he also takes on the role of sacrificial lamb. In one scene he lets out a loud resounding roar, but tin the next he may speak words of gentle comfort.

One of my favorite scenes from the book is when the four children who have traversed into this strange and magical land through a wardrobe are asking about Aslan. They are with some local Narnians and as they are describing Aslan one of the children asks if he is a man. The response come, now of course not he's a lion. The children become frightened and the youngest of the children then asks, "Is he safe?"

The answer she receives is, "No." Aslan is not safe, he is a lion. But then the natives confirm that Aslan is good, and he is king.

That speaks volumes to me about Jesus. The question, "Is Jesus safe?" does not have the answer we may like to give. He is not safe, he is a lion, with heavy paws and a dreadful roar. But we need for Jesus to be that lion, that reigns and rules with power and might over all things.

Of course Jesus is also the sacrificial lamb which takes away our sins by shedding his blood on the cross. We certainly need him to be that. But we must not stop there. We need Jesus to be both the lamb and the lion.

As I continue to wrestle through scripture, I've come to learn that it is full of paradoxes. It is full of truths that seem to opposite, but are both certainly true, and indeed must be true. This is another idea that is in that category, that Jesus can and must be both lion and lamb.

I wrote the song that follows with these ideas running through my mind and heart. i hope this post has been helpful, and that the song is encouraging and well received. The portion in italics is the chorus.

Jesus Son of God

Fully God and fully man

Both the lion and the lamb

O Lord how can it be?

Lamb of God without blemish

Slain for sinners on a tree

His precious blood poured out

Atonement for iniquity.

Jesus, silent lamb led to the slaughter

Jesus, lion with a dreadful roar

O how we need both

The lion and the lamb.

The lion of the tribe of Judah

Not safe at all but fully good

Reigning king over all things

Crowned with glory and honor.

Made the Passover lamb

To cleanse our hearts from sin.

Now there he sits on the throne

Keeping all our foes at bay.

Jesus Whispers

I thought of another hymn that I did not list as one that every time I sing it, tames my fears. Jesus Whispers is one of my favorite hymns, and is probably a lesser known hymn that many people probably don't know. Joseph Hart wrote the hymn; his most famous hymn was probably Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy. The chorus is just beautiful, it makes me smile and revel in the truth of the Gospel each time I sing it. I will post the entire hymn below for your edification, and see if maybe some of your fears are tamed by it as well.

Lamb of God we fall before Thee

Humbly trusting in Thy cross

That alone be all our glory

All things else are vain and loss.

Thee we own a perfect Savior

Only source of all that's good

Every grace and every favor

Come to us through Jesus' blood.

Jesus whispers this sweet sentence

"Son thy sins are all forgiven."

Faith He gives us to believe,

Hearing ears and seeing eyes.

When we live on Jesus' merits

Then we worship God aright,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Then we savingly unite.

Hear the whole conclusion of it,

Great or good whate're we call

God, or King, or Priest, or Prophet,

Jesus Christ is all in all.

Tame Your Fears

A brief announcement, before I actually get to the subject for this post. The music I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I recorded with some friends are up online. Go to www.noisetrade.com/the77s and you will be able to listen to full samples of the tracks, and download all of them. I'm truly excited and proud of these tracks, and especially grateful to my friends, James Wistrom, Josh Tatum, and Sydney Gibson, for lending their instruments, voices, and creativity to the project.

Now, here is the real meat of this post. I have been listening to this great brother duo band called Elliot Road. I found them on Noisetrade, and for the last month or so, I have been listening to their album Dust Covered Man almost non-stop. By the way, I would definitely recommend this duo to any and all of you. They do not claim to be Christian, nor do their songs indicate that they are, but their music is beautiful. Anyway, there is a line in one of their songs, Ode to those Less Fortunate, that I really like: "We'll sing old songs to tame our fears..."

I don't think that this song or this line really has to do with why I love it, but this is why I love it. Those of who are regulars of the blog or who know me, know I am a bit of a hymn nerd. When I hear that line in the song I think of singing the great hymns of the faith, and how they really do function that way for me so often. There is a feeling of comfort and peace that accompanies the singing of hymns for me, and I truly cherish it.

Whether it's just the practice of singing them, you know, the feeling of tradition and comfortability in singing them; or truly pondering the rich meaning found in the text, I feel like my fears are tamed. It brings to mind a wonderful, and I think an underrated line from the hymn Amazing Grace, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." John Newton captures a wonderful paradox of the Christian life, that we are to fear God, but in doing so all our fears are relieved, or tamed.

For me, I can remember times when singing a hymn truly was what my soul needed, it was the means that God gave me to be refreshed and to calm my soul. I remember one time, I was on a trip to Romania when I was a freshman in high school. Before I left, my church prayed over me and sang one of my favorite hymns, Be Thou My Vision. The first couple days of my trip weren't going so well. The flight wasn't great, the hotel was not what I expected, and we walked what seemed like forever to church that Sunday. To make the walk worse, I was wearing new shoes which were uncomfortable and were somehow scraping the back of my heel causing pain. Then the church service was in Romanian, but graciously God put a kind older Romanian woman who spoke English next to me who translated things for me.

We were singing, and I didn't know any of the songs. Then they began singing a song the tune of which I recognized but it took me a minute to figure it out. It hit me that the tune was that of Be Thou My Vision, and as we started singing, the kind woman began translating for me. I looked at her and said, I know this one! I sang the hymn in English as everyone around me sang it in Romanian, and it was one of the most wonderful worship experiences I have ever had. That song was exactly what I needed to refocus and fix my attitude towards this trip, and it gave me such peace.

That doesn't happen every week, but there are some hymns that every time I sing them, I am filled with peace because of the richness that is enclosed in those texts. Just to name a few, Let us Love and Sing and Wonder, Depth of Mercy, And Can it Be, Jesus Lover of my Soul, Dear Refuge of my Weary Soul, and of course When I Survey the Wondrous Cross are all that way for me.

The beauty of it is, while the singing of the songs does tame our fears in some sense, in truth it is Jesus, the one the hymns proclaim, that charms our fears by giving us peace and comfort from the sorrows of sin and death. The hymn writers so beautifully portray Jesus in their poems of grace, that all our fears are tamed by the glory and majesty of the Savior. Revel in your Savior, by reading His Word and praying in His name, and also by singing old songs to tame your fears.

Resolutions

I have been thinking about New Year's resolutions for a while, for the obvious reason that it is that time of year. But I have never been one to really make resolutions for the new year, because it has become a trite cliche, that really means nothing anyway. Plus, the resolutions that people usually make are merely outward things like exercising, eating healthier, or quitting smoking. While there is nothing wrong with resolving to get healthier and stop bad habits, the tradition of doing it for the new year is just an excuse to procrastinate doing it. They should start quitting in June when they thought they should, but instead they put it off so that they can psych themselves up for the task.

With that being said, I also have to take notice of the practice of many in church history to make resolutions. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield both regularly made resolutions to do certain things, or take on or put off certain behaviors. This leads me to think of course that there is something to resolutions. Now there is no indication that these men made resolutions at new years of course, in fact the indication is that they made these resolutions are far more regular basis.

But when you think about it, it really does make sense to make resolutions at the end of the year. It's perhaps the best time to take stock of your life and consider how you need to improve and reform yourself. It's not the only time for sure, but it does make sense to take advantage of a natural time like the end of year to make some resolutions. They may be some of those physical outward things like getting healthy, but for the Christian, I don't think our resolutions should stop there.

The resolutions of the Christian should regard the spiritual disciplines. We should take stock of our spiritual lives and see if there are things we are neglecting to do as followers of Christ. Are we taking the time to read our bibles and pray every day? Are we sharing our faith with others? These are some of the questions we need to ask and the things we need to resolve to be more faithful in. The need for obedience in the Christian life is essential. Obedience comes through an affection for the Lord, and being resolved to be obedient to His command for our lives.

I know that New Year's resolutions are often times thought of in a bad light, but don't dismiss them too quickly. Take time to think about what in your walk with Christ could be improved, how you could be more like Jesus. The reality is that we all need to be resolved to follow Christ; if we're not, we won't follow Him. If we are not following Jesus then who or what are we following? Resolve yourself this year to be growing in maturity, being transformed into the likeness of Him, who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light,

The Weight of Christmas

Before I get to what this post is really about, I am excited to say that some friends and I recorded some songs together this week. It began as a Christmas project, and blossomed into a hodge-podge, or as we are going to title our little CD, a melting pot of songs with no real theme. It was really just for fun, it had been too long since we had all played together. I had a great time doing, I would say we, but I suppose I can't truly speak for everyone. We are going to compile them and put them online in the next couple of weeks, hopefully people will download them and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Now here is your regularly scheduled program. It's my favorite time of the year yet again! I love Christmas time for many of the same reasons most people do: time with family, snow, picking out the perfect gift for people, and of course getting the some wonderful gifts yourself. I have yet to delight myself in family time, that begins tomorrow night! No snow yet which is depressing, my shopping is complete, and I trust my friends and loved ones got the perfect gift for me.

Now obviously I left out one very important reason that Christmas is my favorite time of year. This is the season for celebrating God becoming man in the form of Jesus Christ, the "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing." I think Christmas is just as sweet and joyous for me as Easter, as it should be. Both are imminently important and they need to be given their proper due.

I had the opportunity to preach a couple of weeks ago on Colossians 1:15-23, perhaps the loftiest passage in all the New Testament. Familiar to most, Paul exalts Jesus as the preeminent being in all creation, Lord of all things, and He makes peace by the blood of His cross. The passage is not about the incarnation of Jesus, but it made me take a deeper and different look at the glorious event of Jesus' becoming Emanuel. It dawned on me, not for the first time, but perhaps for the first time with real weight, that this creator, sustainer, preeminent, peacemaker is the same as the man who came to earth to a poor Jewish family in a lowly stable.

Again that is no new revelation at all, but how often do we stop and think about that at Christmas. Too often I find myself just reading a familiar story and singing great old songs (which I love of course) that we only get to sing for a month, and the weight of the incarnation gets lost. It's easy enough for this to get lost in the culture that ignores Jesus altogether and focuses it's attention on the materialistic realm of gift-giving/getting. How dare we lose it even in the midst of our celebrations with our church families and in our family traditions on Christmas Eve/Christmas day!

Of course we need to read the story given to us, and of course we need to sing the great hymns and carols passed down to us through history, but is that where we stop? Shouldn't we be thinking more deeply on the wonderful mystery of that story? Aren't those hymns supposed to foster in us a deeper affection and understanding of the event, not just make us feel good because they're familiar to us? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding yes, but we must devote the time and energy to mine the treasures that are stashed away in the doctrine of the incarnation.

I am as guilty as any for not being more careful to truly revel in the coming of Jesus, and then as an extension, to the day when he will come again to make all things right. The truth that God became man should cause us to be baffled, amazed, humbled, and thankful. The truth that Jesus will come again should cause us to be fearful, amazed, humbled, and watchful. While these two events are different on many levels, the former signals the latter, and in between these two points we have the event that makes both of these events mean something: the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.

The celebration of Christmas should not be all about the manger, we must come to the cross. The incredible thing about the incarnation is that God became man, and that is taken even further when you add in the fact that the God-man came to die for sinners. We can read the story of Jesus' birth, and like His mother Mary, ponder all these things in our hearts, knowing that through Him we are cleansed of all sin. We can sing and rejoice this Christmas season because we are redeemed, forgiven of all our transgressions, because God came to dwell amongst us and die for us.

We can sing with confidence, "O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!" We can, "Sing praises to our heavenly Lord, who hath made heaven and earth of naught, and with His blood, mankind hath bought!" We can ask with faith, "By thine own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit raise us to Thy glorious throne."

Enjoy the Christmas season, I sure plan to! Delight yourself in family and friends, presents and eventually the white snow. But don't let this wonderful season pass you by without taking a good hard look at the baby we read and sing about, and consider what He has done for us, for you.

Sepulchre Explained

O Blessed body! Whither art thou thrown?

No lodging for thee, but a cold hard stone?

So many hearts on earth, and yet not one

Receive thee?

Sure there is room within our hearts good store ;

For they can lodge transgressions by the score :

Thousands of toys dwell there, yet out of door

They leave thee.

But that which shows them large, shows them unfit.

What ever sin did this pure rock commit,

Which holds thee now ? Who hath indicted it

Of murder ?

Where our hard hearts have took up stones to brain thee,

And missing this, most falsely did arraign thee ;

Only these stones in quiet entertain thee,

And order.

And as of old, the law by heav’nly art,

Was writ in stone ; so thou, which also art

The letter of the word, find’st no fit heart

To hold thee.

Yet do we still persist as we began,

And so should perish, but that nothing can

Though it be cold, hard, foul, from loving man

Withhold thee.

I realize that I posted this poem yesterday, but I also realize that this poem may not be completely understood just upon reading it, and I would hate for someone to read it and disregard it, or not like it, because they don't understand it.

The poem plays on the idea of our hearts being like the tomb that held Jesus. The blessed body referenced is Jesus' body, and the poet wonders why His body must dwell in the cold stone of a tomb.

It is demonstrated that there is plenty of room in our hearts to lodge Him, but they are filled with thousands of toys. Toys refers to our sins, the things that we do and love more than Jesus. Then Herbert says that the very thing that shows them to be large, is also the thing that shows that they don't deserve to have Jesus.

We are then accused of picking up stones to kill Jesus, and putting him through a false and phony trial. Of course these things bring to mind the accounts of the Gospels. Then there is yet another idea introduced related to the stone, the tablets which the law was written on in Exodus. The law does not find a heart fit to hold Jesus. The law only shows that every heart is completely unfit to house the Lord Jesus.

The poem ends with the declaration that though our hearts are cold, hard and foul, He will not withhold Himself from us. What grace that displays! We, in no way deserve or even actually want to have Jesus dwell with us, but He comes and does so, for our good and His glory!

Sepulchre

Yesterday I went into one of my professor's, Dr. Orrick, office to play him a song. I had told him several weeks ago that I had written a tune to a poem by George Herbert called Sepulchre. Upon hearing this he told me that he has tried on several occasions to compose a tune for this same text but has been unsuccessful. So he asked me to come play my tune.

I did so, as he sat up on his desk chair, listening intently to me. When I finished he sat back and said that it was quite good. He gave a pointer on how to make it better, which I completely agreed with, and actually thought of the same correction myself, but didn't change it.

He asked me if I could make a recording of it and give him a chord chart for the song, so he could learn it well.

No to fill in some background to this story to hopefully help provide some meaning here. First of all, Dr. Orrick is one of, if not the, foremost scholar on George Herbert poetry, so he knows his poetry well. Secondly, he is also a good musician and tunesmith himself, so his inability to compose a tune is surprising. Also with this in view, him liking my tune means, somehow my tune captured the essence of the poem and is pleasant to the ear. And he didn't just say, "It's good, have a good day." He asked me to record it so he could really learn the melody and benefit from it in the future.

Beyond all this, as I have posted previously, I think Dr. Orrick is one of the best men I know. I have a great deal of respect for him so his opinion means a great deal more than most people.

I want to post the poem that I set to music, enjoy the text, it is a beautiful text.

O Blessed body! Whither art thou thrown? No lodging for thee, but a cold hard stone? So many hearts on earth, and yet not one Receive thee? Sure there is room within our hearts good store ; For they can lodge transgressions by the score : Thousands of toys dwell there, yet out of door They leave thee. But that which shows them large, shows them unfit. What ever sin did this pure rock commit, Which holds thee now ? Who hath indicted it Of murder ? Where our hard hearts have took up stones to brain thee, And missing this, most falsely did arraign thee ; Only these stones in quiet entertain thee, And order. And as of old, the law by heav’nly art, Was writ in stone ; so thou, which also art The letter of the word, find’st no fit heart To hold thee. Yet do we still persist as we began, And so should perish, but that nothing can Though it be cold, hard, foul, from loving man Withhold thee.