A Hip-Hop Look at the Atonement

I have been listening to an artist named Shai Linne this week.  I didn’t know much about Linne, but an elder at my church recommended a CD of his entitled The Atonement.  I have a history of disliking rap in general, but I was introduced some time ago to a rapper who attended Boyce College, Flame, who has an amazing knack for bringing the gospel in clarity to a genre that has forever been associated with violence, sex, and self, so I decided to follow my elders advice and I checked out The Atonement and was blown away.  Mark Dever said about The Atonement, “I love words.  The complexity of the rhyming is dazzling…It is more theologically dense than any other music I’ve heard”  The theology that is found in this one CD is deeper and greater than you will be able to find in the entire discography of many Christian artists.  That is not to say that other Christian artists are not glorifying God through their music, but there is something to be said about an artist who can skillfully take the deep things of God and put them in a format that can be understood by the average Joe.

The Atonement is a work of art.  One of my favorite tracks on the album is “School Daze.”  Taken at face value, the song is from the perspective of Shai as he walks through a school and witnesses the deterioration of morals as he sees students smoking pot, the physical deterioration of the actual school building, and classrooms that are out of control.  But as the song continues, it is clear that this school is worse than even the worst school one could find in the US:

Looked in the courtyard, saw some burning crosses

Interrupted, I heard curses tossed from the nurse’s office

I’m not sure what developed there

But heard something about students on welfare denied health care

Many of the girls were already impregnated

Cafeteria segregated, people separated

In fact it was legislated- most could not compete

And sadly, only the rich kids got to eat

The poor kids and orphans were tossed the smallest portions…

What Shai is doing here is creating a microcosm–a miniature world.  In other words, this school represents the world and the students and their actions represent the various ways man has sinned and destroyed the world around them by their actions.

Another song on the album that is particularly intriguing is “Were You There?”  This song is simply amazing.  It takes you straight to the Garden of Gethsemane and gives you a front row seat to Christ’s agonizing trip to the cross.  The last three lines of the song are:  ”An angry mob who’s yelling out “crucify” / The way we treat the Lord of glory is debased and it’s foul / Ashamed, I bow because I see my face in the crowd.”  In this song we are not only given a front row seat to the cross, we are implicated as those who willingly crucified Christ:

We zoom in the lens on Christ’s agony on the garden

Doomed for His friends- His tragedy for our pardon

Foreseeing the Father’s cup of wrath- it has Him stifled and weak

He’s sweating blood with His disciples asleep

The Prince of Peace knows the beef shall increase

Since the thief approaches with the soldiers and the chief priests

His arrest is not just- neither is the trial

While Jesus is being treated foul, he sees Peter’s denial

He’s sent to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate

The violence of humanity at its finest

So now He stands before the crowd doomed to die

An angry mob who’s yelling out “crucify”

The way we treat the Lord of glory is debased and it’s foul

Ashamed, I bow because I see my face in the crowd

I highly encourage you to purchase this CD.  It is a wonderful listen, especially during this season of Lent as we approach Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.  If you’re interested in hearing directly from Shai Linne about the genre of rap mixing with Christian lyrics, I would suggest that you listen to this 9Marks interview with Mark Dever.  The interview is about an hour and is worth the time you’ll take to hear it.

So what do you think about Christian rap?  Is rap a proper genre for theology and Christian thought?  Why or why not?  Does the beat of rap music lend itself to sensuality, or is it a valid form?  How does form (rhythm, instruments, etc.) affect us?

Time Travel Back To the ’80s…

We have a new social networking tool at Sojourn Community Church called The City. Think of The City as Facebook for the church, but instead of having random people from all over the world as your friends, the friends on this site are your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who attend your local church.  Some technologically gifted folks at Mark Driscoll’s church, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA, came up with the idea and engineered the program.

Now that you know what The City is, let me get to the heart of this post.  I was reading through comments others had made on The City‘s main page when I came across a reflection on favorite Christian songs of days gone by.  Members were encouraged to tell of their favorite Christian songs from their youth, and there was great response.  Some posted songs like the Newsboys’ Shine or D.C. Talk’s Jesus Freak.  Others went further back and recalled Michael W. Smith’s Friends are Friends Forever or Ray Boltz’s Watch the Lamb.  But for me one song trumped the rest.  So I did a google search, browsed some youtube videos, and found what I believe to be the crowning jewel of Christian music popularity in the ’80s.  So, with much anticipation I give you–Carmen’s The Champion, a live performance for your viewing pleasure. (Two words of warning: First, the first minute-and-a-half of the following video is Carmen thanking fifty different people, so you might want to start a bit into the video; and, second, you will want to keep your eyes open for the ’80s clothing the audience is decked out in…classic!)

Tim Keller on John 2:1-11 — “Lord of the Wine”

I stumbled across a sermon by Tim Keller entitled “Lord of the Wine.”  For those of you not familiar with Tim Keller, he is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  He is an amazing thinker, writer, and preacher.  Keller’s diaconate ministry is the standard for those  working in the US.  His understanding of the Gospel is deep and his theology of the city is unparalleled.  I was trying to better grasp the depth and breadth of the gospel when I came across a series of sermons he did at Redeemer on the Gospel (You can find the sermons on Redeemer’s website under the church’s Core Values page, and I can vouch that each sermon on the page is worth your time and energy to hear).

The Lord of the Wine explores Jesus’ first miracle at Cana.  I am reluctant to give more explanation than this other than to encourage you to download the sermon and listen to it.  It changed my understanding of this miracle.  Here are a few of the questions that Keller addresses:

• Why is Jesus’ first miracle so — lackluster?  Why start your ministry and perform your first miracle to prevent a social fopah (not enough wine)?
• Why does Jesus answer his mother so harshly when she simply asks for his help?
• Why does Jesus have such a strange answer in response to his mother’s request for help?  It seems as if his mind is somewhere else…

This sermon changed how I thought about Jesus’ introduction to ministry.  What are your thoughts?

Sufjan Stevens: The Transfiguration

Below are two videos of a song done by an artist I have recently discovered.  Sufjan Stevens is an amazing musician.  His lyrics are always thought-provoking, and he understands the simplicity and complexity of musical undertones and the power music can give to words.  The following videos feature the same song, The Transfiguration, taken from the albumSeven Swans. The first video is simply the song as it is played on the album against the backdrop of the album cover, while the second video is Sufjan performing live.  And, yes, he is wearing wings.  To be honest, I’m not sure why he wears wings or if anyone really knows why he does this (if you do know, feel free to leave a post to clear up my ignorance).  But he does.  And it works for him.  I encourage you to look beyond the wings and to hear the lyrics.  I am posting them below the videos.  What do you think?  Good?  Bad?  Interesting?  If you want more, you can buy Seven Swans on amazon.com.  To find out more about Sufjan, you can visit Asthmatic Kitty Records, you can check out the Sufjan fan site entitled All Good Naysayers, or you can visit Sufjan’s myspace page.

Lyrics to The Transfiguration :
When he took the three disciples
to the mountainside to pray,
his countenance was modified, his clothing was aflame.
Two men appeared: Moses and Elijah came;
they were at his side.
The prophecy, the legislation spoke of whenever he would die.

Then there came a word
of what he should accomplish on the day.
Then Peter spoke, to make of them a tabernacle place.
A cloud appeared in glory as an accolade.
They fell on the ground.
A voice arrived, the voice of God,
the face of God, covered in a cloud.

What he said to them,
the voice of God: the most beloved son.
Consider what he says to you, consider what’s to come.
The prophecy was put to death,
was put to death, and so will the Son.
And keep your word, disguise the vision till the time has come.

Lost in the cloud, a voice: Have no fear! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Turn your ear!
Lost in the cloud, a voice: Lamb of God! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Son of God!

Contemplating Lent

Here’s a video I found online that creatively imagines Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness.  This video is very moving in its simplicity and as I have watched it in the past few days it has moved me to worship.  I hope it does the same for you.