Monday Morning Music Ministry

1-13-25

What will bring this country together or, at least as symbols, bring our ex-presidents together? The easiest answer to that is funerals, whether of world leaders or late members of their own “club.”

So it was a rare sight and maybe a hopeful hopeful sign when five Chief Executives gathered in the National Cathedral for the funeral of Jimmy Carter. Even the “shade” of Gerald Ford was there as his son read a eulogy that Carter asked him to write in the eventuality that Ford would cross the Finish Line first.

Carter had become something of a non-person in his long retirement. From the first day of his “ex” status, he seldom was interviewed about events of the day; seldom visited the White House or Congressional offices; seldom, if ever, consulted on policy even by Democrats once on his team. This was partly due to his generally disastrous record over four eyes, and the enormity of his electoral shellacking. Despite the best intentions and limited effects of the Carter Center and his endless books, Carter’s frank assessments of Israel – as an Apartheid nation engaging in human rights crimes – turned him into a type of political leper in Big Media and in politics. “Unclean!!!”

Those matters were predictably glossed over in the state funeral. Eulogists spoke of his background as a peanut farmer (he actually managed a peanut warehouse) and as a “nuclear physicist” (he actually was a sailor on a nuclear – or as he pronounced it, “nucular” – submarine). But he was also lauded as a humanitarian, someone who toiled against poverty and disease, and who created many federal agencies and programs, appointing women and racial minorities to staff them and court vacancies.

Also, people remember Habitat For Humanity. Although the organization scarcely was named by eulogists at the funeral, the public saw, through the decades, Jimmy Carter hammering boards and carrying wood. It has been said because of these good works that Jimmy might have been the Best Ex-President America ever had.

Carter’s famous Sunday School classes were mentioned too. Indeed he frequently quoted the Bible in his public life, and cited Scripture as having informed his principles.

At the funeral there were hymns, an organ accompanied by an orchestral ensemble, and a choir. The National Cathedral arranges such services along High Episcopal lines, far from the Southern Baptist church he attended most of his life; and even more distant from the liberal Baptist church he moved to in his last years. But the eulogies, testimonies, remembrances, and anecdotes frequently referred to Carter’s faith.

However, the ultimate display of his character, and the impression he wished to make on the American public and on posterity was different; a betrayal of the manufactured persona. We are left with the evidence that his famous positions might have been, instead, pandering. Was his faith a faux faith? Was his ultimate commitment to Christ, or to Contemporary Culture?

The very last song that was performed at the funeral – and, remember, he choreographed and scripted the entire event, from members of his clan speaking, to former political rivals, to, yes, the music – was not a hymn of faith. Neither was it an emotional Gospel song. Nothing from the rural evangelical church or a Black spiritual that might have spoken to the masses; perhaps touched peoples’ souls; maybe even led someone to Christ.

Rather strangely, it was arranged that country-music singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood would sing a duet. Their presence was not out of place in itself, but they were asked to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” –

Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us; Above us, only sky.

Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for; And no religion, too….

Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger; A brotherhood of man….

You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, And the world will live as one.

These are the words that were the last to echo through the National Cathedral, and on millions of screens and radios. It was, in a very real sense, his last words to his countrymen, to people around the world, to history. Not any of his quotations that could have been read during the service. But… Imagine no heaven; imagine no religion; no countries (or borders?); nothing worth dying for? This Hymn to Hypocrisy was, in the end, Jimmy Carter’s anthem, his life’s theme song?

The church of Jesus Christ has suffered, and survived, uncountable attacks for 2000 years. Heresies, false doctrines, error, corruption, errancies, biased interpretations, secularism, liberal philosophies, relativism… Very little is new after 2000 years – least of all the bedrock Truth of the Gospel. Likewise the attempts, sincere or otherwise, to make Christian Doctrine conform to the World’s views. Among dozens of other positions that were contrary to Scripture, Carter denied the “exclusivity” of Christ — that Jesus Himself said that no one would enter Heaven except through belief in Him. Carter’s “Christian faith” seems to have been nothing more than that of a friendly volunteer worker who wanted to pick and choose his own definitions, and reject the Bible’s clear standards.

God did not establish His commandments and covenants according to what might be popular or convenient with His children. Jesus did not share His messages and then test their acceptance according to the latest opinions, positive or negative, among His people. Christ has followers, not focus groups. And, surely, Jesus did not respect Scripture but then sing for His people to “imagine” that there was no religion, or Heaven. Imagine… that Jesus did not think anything was worth dying for. He died for us, Jimmy; you too.

… but not so you could tell the world that you had a better Way than Jesus Christ preached.

In many news stories and TV clips ex-President Jimmy was seen in overalls, “workin’ on a building.” That is the title of a rural Gospel song by the Carter Family (no relation), but I just wish, after four years of his presidency and after watching his good works (and I love H4H), then sitting through the whole funeral service, that he had committed himself to all the lyrics:

I’m a working on building; I’m a working on building; I’m a working on building For my Lord, for my Lord.

It’s a Holy Ghost building; It’s a Holy Ghost building; It’s a Holy Ghost building For my Lord, for my Lord.

If I was a liar I tell you what I would do: I’d quit my lying and work on a building too.

If I was a preacher I tell you what I’d do: I’d keep on preaching and work on a building too.

Imagine that.

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This is a Sister Rosetta Tharpe song sung by my friend Linda Gail Lewis (Jerry Lee’s little sister):

Click: Strange Things Happening Every Day

9-20-21

A message from your friendly neighborhood Christian Curmudgeon. Actually, I am risible about some aspects, many aspects, of corporate worship these days, but it is not related to my being a reactionary about many other things. “Reactionary” might be too strong; but I have been called a moon-calf, a fuddy-duddy, a jabbernowl. Perhaps with justice, but I must first grab a dictionary.

I honestly (and earnestly) think that many forms of contemporary worship divert the focus from God and the Christian message, all in the name of – here we go – “relevance,” “inclusion,” “being welcoming,” “attracting youth,” and so forth.

The Italians have a phrase that I remember hearing, or rather I remember the meaning which is very wise. I think it was something like “Per andare avanti, guarda indietro,” and its meaning is, “Before moving forward, one needs to look back.” That is: remember; build on the past; respect your heritage. Further, using another Italian word, “ritorno” can be a palliative. That is: return to values before you lose what is valuable; preserve what carried you to a good place.

Can these stern prescriptions apply to worship and music in the contemporary church? Yes, and applicable to many, many larger aspects of life these days.

You don’t have to be a mossback to recognize that our world is spinning out of control. Specifically I mean “our” world of Western Civilization — Post-Christianity, secularized and hedonist, materialist and moral-relativist. Whether virtually worshiping “science” or finding value in no-values, our world thinks it has found the formula for success in the pursuit of happiness.

We seem to believe that every generation, every society, every belief system in all of human history had it wrong. Contemporary society has figured it out, it tells us: the best religion is no religion; the best standards are no standards. “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man.” The theme song for a generation was really a funeral dirge of self-deception.

Somewhere along the way, their karma ran over our dogma.

Our puppet-masters dance more madly with each other, inspiring the suicidal, incestuous, relentlessly aimless “life” we are forced to live amidst the ruins of religion, order, respect, reverence, law, and learning.

And what of my original choleric indictment of church worship? A minor factor? I don’t believe the trends and modes in Christendom today are peripheral, but are squarely indicative of a rudderless society. Indeed, the general drift in contemporary churches – thank God, not all: I acknowledge that – are mirrors of what afflicts our “civilization.”

So I will address my thoughts to malignant trends in many churches today.

*The mad rush to “run” more and more people into pews is an admission that churches don’t believe the sweet Salvation message is sufficient.

*The transformation of music and “doing” church to be “contemporary” and “relevant” tells those who hunger for Eternal Truth that fads of the moment are what really matter to the clergy.

*Many churches act as if traditional hymns are illegal and printed hymnbooks and prayer books are toxic. Except for the (rare) great old hymns, who knows the words or can sing more than those new songs’ seven words repeated 11 times?

*Performances on stages, with worshipers as mere audiences, now are substitutes for congregational participation.

*Hosts challenge people to smile and grin and yell Good Morning – “Louder! I can’t hear you!” – when in fact some people seek church in order to weep and seek God and listen for Him.

*I am not against instruments other than organs and pianos, but many people leave church services more in love with guitar riffs than with Jesus Christ.

*I have seen uncountable youth pastors, in their 30s and 40s, wearing cargo pants, sporting tattoos, and dying their hair in order to relate to their Middle Schoolers. Kids today don’t need idiot adults pretending to be kids who have classmates and friends already. What kids need are Christian adults to be role models.

*Sin frequently is not addressed in many contemporary Christian churches. To ignore our sin nature and the stain of sin in our life is to deny what Jesus came to defeat, and the Holy Spirit sent to empower our resistance.

*Do we know the prayers of the church any more? The Commandments? The Creeds that summarize our faith? Do we know the distinctives of our denominations, or do differences make no difference? Really?

*Finally, how many American Christians are taught about the history of the church, about the defense of the faith – from schisms within, or from periodic Muslim invasions over 1500 years? How many of us know about, and take inspiration from, the martyrs who died for their faith?

… I believe if we don’t know about all the martyrs who died for the Faith, we surely will die for our lack of faith.

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Click: The Old Rugged Cross

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5sBd-VWMYvo%3Ft%3D2s