The Church -- Chris Brown and Mack Brock

 

You can just about hear these two songwriters vocalizing their thoughts, and see in your mind’s eye the scene in which “The Church” was sung. Chris Brown and Mack Brock were part of the Elevation Church in Charlotte in 2010 (see the seal of Charlotte, NC here), and so their objective was to motivate the crowd that was before them. Was it a reaction like what some others experienced when a church was moved to action by potent words two millennia earlier? That event at which Peter and others witnessed the birth of the Christian church was unlike any event since then, and yet Chris and Mack must have felt that another fire needed to begin in Charlotte. What would one say to a crowd that needed or desired a spark? What would draw more seekers to a church, like a magnet drawing metal to itself, or a feast of exquisite food that wafts an irresistible odor among the hungry? That’s what Chris and Mack and the rest of their Elevation Worship friends were trying to prompt, a recognition by those who are on the outside that The Church has something they want, something they need.     

 

Chris and Mack offer no special insights into what prompted ‘The Church’, but their own lyrics and the album on which the song was premiered offer some food for thought. For the Honor was the name attached to the album that included the song about the church that the two songwriters were contemplating, so they must have thought that one way to esteem God was to be the kind of church that points to Him, to be who He intended His body to be. The early church of the 1^st Century A.D. had that mission in front of itself too, so how’d it respond? It’s not really a mystery today, if one just looks at what Luke recorded for us: Acts 2:42-47 spells it out. Listening to preaching and teaching, praying and eating together, and giving to those in need from their own resources – those were the responses of those few thousand inaugural church members. Chris and Mack could not have missed what is written in black and white, and so they emphasized some key things that stood out to them, things that relate to the world of the 21^st Century as clearly as they did to people of the 1^st Century A.D. They note that the world is ‘desperate’ today, as indeed it was centuries ago as well. Peter’s sermon convicted his hearers, and they knew they were in great need spiritually; just read Acts 2:37 -- When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” The church today still offers a solution (which begins by getting into Christ through baptism -- Acts 2:38), and that is what Chris and Mack illustrate with lyrics that include words like ‘hope’, ‘love’, ‘compassion’ and ‘mercy’ to a people that are seeking and ‘waiting for change’. And so, the church is called to ‘rise’ and get out in the ‘streets’ with this news. ‘Shine’ His love light, they coax. The church, His people, and what He offers is ‘real’, and still ‘alive’ and ‘active’.

 

So, just be what you sing, Chris and Mack and the rest of Elevation Worship were saying in ‘The Church’. And, the church today still takes it cues from what the church looked like so long ago. It shouldn’t really be that difficult to promote, should it? And yet, from what we read of Luke’s history, there wasn’t always a welcome mat laid out for the spreaders of the good news. The apostles did not flinch, even when arrests, beatings, scorn, and eventually martyrdom became part of their experience. They found, as honestly as we oftentimes do today, that there are doubters, and even hostile opponents that might resort to violence. There’s nothing to be done about those types of people, except to keep being the church; and, there are others who might not say so at first, but they can be touched, maybe with repeated attempts by you and me. The Spirit will move in people’s hearts, if they are willing. You and I are the ones throwing the seed around and giving it some water – as Paul and Apollos did (1 Corinthians 3:6) – but only our Sovereign can make the seed grow into belief and devotion. Chris and Mack have reminded us what the seed-spreading and watering looks like. If you’ve not seen that, it’s probably not too far away from your front door.   

 

 

Read about the musical group here: Elevation Worship - Wikipedia

 

See information about the seal of Charlotte here: File:New seal of Charlotte, North Carolina.svg - Wikimedia Commons…This file is in the public domain because official item legally exempt from copyright in its country of origin.

Start a Fire -- Jason Harrison and Darrin Sasser

 

They began with a modest goal, and then their collective experiment and experience just went to another place for this pair and the musical endeavor that they and their friends spawned. They were all from Houston, Texas (see the flag of Houston here), and what Darrin Sasser and Jason Harrison and some of the others said with lyrics may have grown from something they had found in the pages of a bible. They would not have needed to study too many times to find someone who said “Start a Fire”, either physically or metaphorically – perhaps it was actually God from whom they derived this inspiration. Maybe it was something about the way Abraham was supposed to offer Isaac (Genesis 22), or was it the way that Moses first encountered God (Exodus 3), or jumping ahead many centuries, was it the way the Apostles were equipped for their mission to the world after Jesus ascended (Acts 2)? In all these, some fire was God’s method for communicating or carrying out His purpose for those following Him. Want to be with God, or involved in His plan? Get ready with the fire. That seemed to be what Jason and Darrin saw.

 

Jason and Darrin haven’t shared specifically what inspired the fire about which they wrote, but one can make an educated guess at what happened generally around the end of the 20^th Century (in or about 1998-99) in Houston. They were a group of guys who wanted to help advance a bible study, especially for teenagers and college age young adults, with the music that they offered to provide. It wasn’t just for a few months, but for six years that this effort endured, offering these fellows, who eventually named their group Among Thorns, the opportunity to hone their skills and really capture a vision for something broader. Their own group’s name and the ‘Start a Fire’ song they wrote could have emerged from the pages of one or more of those study times. Many fires in scripture (as already mentioned) could have been the focus of what they read and discussed together. As for the name they chose for themselves – Among Thorns – we’d really have to quiz them to see exactly what they were thinking, but could it have been an allusion to the parable in which Jesus spoke about His word being sown, and unfortunately choked, among thorns (Matthew 13)? One could imagine a group of young people trying to live for God, and yet finding so many daily urgencies and distractions that challenged their aspirations. Their group’s biography mentions that they felt God had been preparing them for ministry in music in those six years, but Darrin indicated that none of them had really thought initially about worship ministry as a calling. Their desires had to change so that they could become His tools. Perhaps some other things had to be burned away in a fire, even some thorns that they and the bible study group had discussed, before that purpose toward which they felt God was directing them could be realized. Some of their lyrics say ‘burn away the dross’, and so one can hear their thoughts emerge from the music they wrote, and as they considered their group’s name.

 

Fire is a dangerous thing. Just read all of the 430 ways that the word occurs in the bible’s pages (in the English Standard Version), and it’s just part of fire’s nature that it was used to destroy or frighten or capture the attention of people that God wanted to direct. So, starting one is not usually part of a casual attitude, although one might be started in order to provide warmth and so that food can be cooked. Jesus’s cousin John the Baptizer said he was preaching in order to usher in the One who would baptize with fire (Matthew 3:11). We can be reasonably sure that Jason and Darrin were thinking of a fire that ushers in a new way, and not one just to make them feel comfortable and well-fed. Sometimes things need to be upended, so that a better, fresher growth can begin; a forest fire is like that oftentimes. God is like that, as Darrin noted in his own thoughts about Among Thorns and their purpose – that He was ‘cut(ting) and prun(ing)’ during those six years of a bible study that Darrin, Jason, and their friends helped facilitate. Six years might seem like a lengthy time for trimming, but is it really? Moses went through a period like that for decades. And so might you and I, if we’ll let Him.       

 

 

 

See a profile of the group Among Thorns Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday

 

This site indicates the year of the album (1998) on which the song appears, and the group (Among Thorns) that sang it: Among Thorns - Start A Fire lyrics | Musixmatch

 

Some biographic information on the group: Among Thorns Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | Discogs

 

See information on the picture of Houston’s flag here: File:Flag of Houston, Texas.svg - Wikimedia Commons…This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1930, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation. This image might not be in the public domain outside of the United States; this especially applies in the countries and areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada, Mainland China (not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. The creator and year of publication are essential information and must be provided. See Wikipedia:Public domain and Wikipedia:Copyrights for more details.

Song of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis) – Simeon

 

²⁹ “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; ³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation ³¹that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

 

You could say it was Simeon’s exclamation, and not just the mark one might make at the end of a sentence. This one was worth a whole life’s wait. (See here the 19^th Century artwork Simeon the Righteous by Aleksey Yegorov.) The story of Joseph, Mary and their unique son Jesus began before He was even born, and four songs marked this unique occasion. Three other songs had already been sung because of events surrounding Jesus and his relatives. The first one was Mary’s song called the Magnificat (Glorifies, in Latin) when she visited her aged relative Elizabeth, and the baby inside Elizabeth rejoiced because he recognized Jesus even when He was still in the womb; the second one was the song of Zechariah (Elizabeth’s husband) and was called Benedictus (Praise Be, in Latin) and celebrated his son John the Baptist’s role as a prophet heralding/announcing the Messiah’s coming ministry and salvation; the third was the song Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest, in Latin), which was the angels’ song announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds; and the fourth was the song sung by this old man named Simeon. All four of those songs are in the first 2 chapters of Luke.

 

Joseph and Mary, though poor commoners, were doing what the Jewish law dictated, but also what the angel had told them to do, and they named the baby Jesus (Luke 1:31/Matthew 1:21; Jesus is the Greek form of the name that means Joshua [the Lord saves]). They traveled the five or six miles or so from Bethlehem north to Jerusalem to do what was required. Three distinct Jewish legal requirements they performed after naming Him were these: first, they had Him circumcised (the eighth day after birth, according to the law [Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3); second, they waited until 40 days after Jesus’ birth (so, 33 days more), so that Mary could make an offering at the temple for her purification (Leviticus 12:4); and third, they had to offer Jesus, as the firstborn son, as a dedication to the Lord – what is known still today as Pidyon Haben (redemption of the firstborn son) – according to the ancient law (Exodus 13:2,12-15; Numbers 18:15-16). It was probably just before this Pidyon Haben that Joseph and Mary encountered the man named Simeon. Simeon was apparently a ‘devout’ man (Luke 2:25) whom the Spirit had moved to come into the temple courts (verses 26-27).  And he said something that he must have been wanting to say his whole life – that this baby was the source of salvation for all. That’s very important, because it is so strikingly reminiscent of what the prophet Isaiah had said about a servant centuries earlier (see Isaiah passages – 42:6 and 49:6). To be clear, Isaiah wasn’t necessarily looking ahead to a Messiah, but this Simeon was looking backward to what Isaiah had said, and through the Spirit that moved him, projected that that servant who would be a light and offer salvation for the Gentiles, and would be a glory to the Jews, would in fact be this baby he was holding. When Simeon said he was satisfied that he could now be dismissed and feel at peace, would it be too much of a stretch to say he was singing his own funeral’s song? What a way to conclude one’s life, not with a dirge, but with an exclamation of utter delight! Nunc Dimittis (in Latin) – Lord, you now dismiss!

 

 After Simeon had sung his song, Joseph and Mary marveled at what he’d said (verse 33) – very similar to Mary’s treasuring up things in her heart (verse 19) earlier, on the night Jesus was born. But then, Simeon told them some things that must have made them cringe, too – that Jesus was to be a source of clashes and controversy, and some heartache for them too (verses 34-35). Aren’t all children, even occasionally, sources of some anguish for parents? Where would an exceptional child from God rank on that heartache spectrum? An old prophetess named Anna, who stayed at the temple all the time, also was moved by Jesus’ presence, and told others about the redemption of the city. And so, no parents in history had more to ponder, nor felt more responsibility for a child in their care, than those two from Nazareth.

 

The above story details are all obtained via the NIV Study Bible and notes for the Luke 2 account of this episode.

 

See a well-done, pretty moving rendition of Simeon’s Exclamation here: Nunc Dimittis by Peter Wilkinson

 

See information on the artwork here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yegorov-Simeon_the_Righteous.jpg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.