Songs of Remembrance

This is a post I have been meaning to write for more than a month, so, it's a little overdue ... but, I've been working on it, so I'm going to write it.  :)  As the GCF (InterVarsity at W&L) head worship leader this year, I tried to expose the community to a lot of different types of worship, from different cultural styles to different levels of volume and pace, to worshipping God for different reasons.  One type of worship that we discussed was giving praise to God for what He has done in the past, recognizing that He still works that way today and praying for His help for the present and the future.  This type of worship stresses God's faithfulness and grace to His people, reminding them of His character and His past actions, and assuring them that His grace and mercy and love and holiness remain today, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This type of song/prayer is found ALL OVER the Bible, most notably in places such as Miriam and Moses' song of deliverance after the Red Sea, songs in Judges, David's psalms and also songs recorded in 1 Samuel, Mary's prayer (still prayed in churches today as the Magnificat!) after learning that she would be the mother of Jesus, and Zechariah's prayer (also prayed in churches today as the Benedictus).  Some psalms for blessings and remembrance are 18, 30, 34, 40, 68, 77, 78, 92, 100, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 113, 116, 118, 124, 126, 129, and 146.

Are you seeing my point?  This is a big deal in Scripture.  Remembering what God has done reminds us of His character and His nature, yet we don't often do that in today's churches.  A big part of that has to do with the fact that many people don't read the Bible, so they literally don't know what God has done in the past, and they don't consider the work of God in their own lives.  I didn't want GCF worship to be like that, but the problem is, because of this fact, sometimes using songs of remembrance can be difficult because people don't know WHAT the songs are referring them to.

Two songs that come to mind along this vein are "Your Grace Is Enough" by Chris Tomlin and "Days of Elijah" by Robin Mark.  Both excellent and fantastic songs.  "Your Grace is Enough" is much easier to understand, but there is a lot of imagery used there, and the bridge asks God to, "Remember Your people, remember Your children, remember Your promise," just as He has done in the past.  However, it's "Days of Elijah" that requires a little more explanation.  We started singing this song at GCF in May and it holds a special place in my heart because it's been very important to my home church in Northern Virginia, The Falls Church.  While we were introducing it in GCF, I thought it would be cool to go through the song and find scripture references for the stories it refers to ... I didn't anticipate that this would take so much time!  But it was well worth the effort.  So, here are my notes from that venture.

"Days of Elijah"

These are the days of Elijah, declaring the Word of the Lord

• 1 Kings 12-16 string of evil kings after Solomon's death
• 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2 Elijah declares God's law to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in hope of repentance; Elijah also prays intensely and prophesies destruction
• See esp. 18:16-19:21
• Days of declaring truth to a people following idols of their own making, and calling them to see the glory and power of God

And these are the days of your servant Moses, righteousness being restored

• Exodus and Numbers for Moses' life
• Leviticus and Deuteronomy for the Law
• Expressly chosen by God to lead God's people, despite his failures and weaknesses
• Expressly chosen by God to bring law to the people and show them how to be holy
• Days of remember God's holiness and our inadequacy without Him and His saving grace

And though these are days of great trials, of famine and darkness and sword, still we are the voice in the desert crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

• Refers to the struggles of God's people throughout Scripture
• See especially the psalms
• Direct reference to John the Baptist, found in Matt 3, 11, 14; Mark 1, 6; Luke 1, 3, 7, 9; John 1
• This is the whole idea, even though this world is hard, we're here to declare who God is and tell of His saving grace through Jesus Christ
• This is a proclamation of the Messiah

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds, shining like the sun, at the trumpet's call

• Matt 26:64, Mark 14:62, Luke 22:66-71 Jesus' declaration of being the Messiah before the Sanhedrin, when He used these words almost exactly
• Revelation 1:7-18, 19:11-8 He's coming back!  description of this

Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, and out of Zion's hill salvation comes

• Jubilee = Leviticus 25, a year of rest every 50 years in which there is liberty for all, servants and slaves are set free, land is at rest, debts are cancelled, there is a redistribution of wealth --> remember that you, too, were once a slave, and all that you have comes from God
• Zion is another name for Jerusalem

These are the days of Ezekiel, the dry bones becoming as flesh

• Ezekiel 36-37 prophecy of breathing life into what is dead, trading the heart of stone for a heart of flesh
• This is about restoration! you're far away, repent and have life
• Hope for the day when we will look to God alone as king

And these are the days of Your servant David, rebuilding a temple of praise

• Judges - 1 Samuel Israel in a cycle of sin and repentance, falling away and disobedience; worst offense is when they ask for a king in 1 Samuel 8
• 1 Samuel 16 - 1 Kings 2: 12 David's story: from anointing to death, David worshipped the Lord with his entire being, but he also messed up in big ways; yet God still chose to do work through Him and for his line to be in the lineage of His Son
• David inspires Israel to worship, though God calls his son, Solomon, to be the one who actually builds His temple

And these are the days of the harvest, the fields are white in the world, and we are the laborers in Your vineyard, declaring the Word of the Lord!

• Matt 9:35-10, Matt 13, Matt 28:16-20, Luke 10 the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few, go out and prepare the fields for harvest
• Idea in Scripture that there will be a harvest at the end of time (Rev 14) and those who believe will be gathered but those who don't will be trampled
• God's people are those who take His message to the world

Back to the chorus:

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds

Shining like the sun at the trumpet's call

Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee

And out of Zion's hill salvation comes

So, this song requires a good deal of explanation!  but it's really about God's redemptive power throughout history, and how He continues to work today, and as His children, we have a role in that redemptive history.  Pretty cool stuff.  :)

Obviously, this is NOT a complete listing of all scriptures that could go along with these lines from the song, but it's an attempt to get you started if you want to examine this song further.  I'd love to hear other things you find, too!

PGD-I2: It's a small, small world

Sorry to keep you waiting, here is my second installment of Post-Graduate Discoveries.  I will hereby mark these posts thus: PGD-I# (Post-Graduate Discoveries - Installment #).  My first discovery, entitled "Just say hello" can be read two posts down.  Now, on to the new discovery.

I have come to realize that no matter where I move, even if I know absolutely nobody there, I will find people connected to other people that I know.  This is partially because I tend to gravitate toward Christian circles, and really, gravitating toward community like that makes the world even smaller.  But at the same time, I still manage to meet people who know other people that I know.

Take Marty, for example; W&M's InterVarsity staff member.  We were introduced by a mutual friend, and IV itself is a tight organization, but he knows two of the pastors at my family's church in Northern Virginia.  He also knows one of my sister's sorority sisters from IV Greek Conference, and he's introduced me to four or five people now who I'm becoming friends with.  Granted, he's a really connected guy, but he's an example of what I'm describing.  Several of the people he wanted to introduce me to ended up being in my education classes, which was great, though a little awkward to say, "Hi, I'm Abri, Marty told me I should meet you."  :)  At least it's a conversation starter.

Another example of this is just finding commonalities with people.  My mother says that I could talk to a brick wall and it would talk back.  Now, I doubt that that is the case, but I do tend to find things in common with pretty much everyone I meet -- very useful tool for rush.  Part of that is just because I've lived all over the country and have family all over the country, and, really, all over the world.  But, again, it just makes you realize that the world is small.

One cool thing about having moved so much is that I get to know all kinds of people and experience lots of different perspectives.  I know that no matter where I go, I will get linked in with people both like me and completely unlike me, and that I will be able to find community.  Part of that is being a Christian, but it's also about being human.  We all have more in common than we would care to admit sometimes.

It's a small world after all.

Stuff Christians Like

Okay, so Bobby was the one who referred me to this site, through his blog, but I just can't resist not including the link to it here, too.  For your reading pleasure, here is a link to Stuff Christians Like, a blog about, well, stuff that Christians like.  For example, Frisbee is God's favorite sport.  And goldfish crackers are His favorite food.  There is also a score sheet for the metrosexual scale of worship leaders (the blog author scored a 35), a score sheet for the effectiveness of your prayers based on people's reactions to them, the fact that Christians never sing all the verses of hymns (unless you're Methodist, Anglican, or Presbyterian ... yay for British denominations), a ton of entries about Vacation Bible School (VBS), and PowerPoint as a worship tool.

Basically, it's a sarcastic, satirical blog that is noting absurd trends in modern Christianity.  And it's also pointing people to the truth of the gospel, God, and Jesus.

And it's just plain funny!

Post-Graduate Discoveries, Installment 1: Just say hello

Well, I have been out in the Real World for a little more than a week, officially, and have been making numerous discoveries.  I thought about putting all of them into a single post, but then I realized that it would be a very long post.  So I decided to start a series.  This is hereby the first installment in my post-graduate discoveries series, entitled "Just say hello."  Not all of my posts will be about graduate school, more generic discoveries about the Real World, but this one has a grad school element.  :)

So I have apparently been living in a safe, little bubble for the past four years.  A bubble known as Lexington, Virginia.  A bubble where people greet you in the grocery store parking lot, walking down Main Street, and waiting in line for the ATM.  A bubble where I can chat with my grocer, bank teller, or cafe server because that's just the way the town is.  People talk to each other, even if they've never met.  Of course, chances are, you've seen each other in the past.  It's not that big of a town.

The point is, I've gotten used to saying hi to people and being greeted in return.  Apparently the Real World is not like this.  Who knew?  Now, I'm not completely naive.  I am from Northern Virginia and the Silicon Valley, after all.  I had always lived in metropolitan areas before I moved to my safe, little bubble nestled in the Shenandoah Valley.  This discovery is not one that shocks me, but it IS one that saddens me.

Why?  Because it's nice to get a smile and a hello when I'm walking from my classroom to get coffee with a friend.  Having a brief conversation with the person who is selling me my lunch or helping me make a deposit warms my heart and gives me a little lift to my spirits.  I really think that if people would just smile at each other and say hello, there would be fewer crimes.  I really do.  I remember conducting an informal experiment of my own when I was working at a recreational center as the front desk person just smiling and greeting people all day and watching how their entire demeaner changed.

W&L has a speaking tradition, and I love it.  I wish that there was a speaking tradition everywhere.  For my part, I'm greeting people when I walk by them anyway.  ;)  So my encouragement to you, dear readers, is to be a rebel.  Just say hello, and make someone's day.