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are we willing?
The following is a section of transcript from a lecture by Ravi Zacharius delivered in 1995. (For those with iTunes, it is available for free as a podcast. Search: RZIM, and look for “The mystery of evil and the miracle of life”, which is a 3-part series). The lecture was on four existential struggles Ravi observes within a secular worldview. In the lecture, he challenges Christians in the room with the following questions and quote:
“Are you, as a Christian, willing to take that stand that is completely and radically different to anything else the world would consider plausible?
Physiologist Paul Vitz quotes a philosopher who says these painful words:
‘Today, religionists wonder why our youth have abandoned the churches, not wanting to realize that it is precisely because organized religion openly subscribed to a commercial, industrial hero system that is almost openly defunct. It so obviously denies reality and banishes sacredness with bureaucratic dedication. Men are treated as things and the world is pulled down to their size. The churches subscribe to these empty heroics of possession, display and manipulation.
I think that today Christianity is in trouble, not because its beliefs are dead, but because it does not offer its ideal of heroic sainthood as an immediate, personal one to be lived by believers. In a perverse way, the churches have turned their backs both on the miraculousness of Creation and the need to do something heroic in this world.’ Can you and I pray for God’s blessing on our children that He will make heroes out of them in His sight?… Can we be full people, weighty people, in the eyes of God? That’s what the word ‘glory’ means: ‘weightedness’, there’s not a hole in us there is something fulfilling.
Will the church be willing to be in contradistinction, in clear stark contrast to what the world lives by? ”
25
meet Taylor and Allison.
I wanted to introduce you to Taylor and Allison. They are SIM missionaries who are just beginning to raise their support. They are planning to go to Sudan in the same program we are. Taylor does video and media production and Allison is trained in community development.The awesome thing is…they live in Dallas! So, we have been able to start spending time with them. They are great! As many of you know, usually when you sign up for a missions committment, you don’t get to meet your team until you get to your field. It is a real blessing to get to know Taylor and Allison and start building our friendship already. They are a neat couple and even got married on the exact same day we did! Please be praying for the Martyn’s as they begin their fund raising and prepare to go to Sudan.
The other American couple that is going to Sudan with SIM is Eli and Bethany Fader. We have already met them as well and they are great! They are almost at full support and are hoping to leave for language school in Khartoum this April. You can check out their blog which I have linked to in my blogroll.
Interpersonal conflict between missionaries is a major cause of missionary attrition. Please begin praying, even now, for the emotion and spiritual bonding of our team! Thanks.
22
American dream (addendum)
I saw this article and wanted to include it just to make sure that I let these guys (Switchfoot) verify the meaning of their own songs.
In a recent article with Christianity Today, lead singer Jon Foreman was asked:
CT: “American Dream” on Oh! Gravity reprises some of your critiques of consumerism, which are also featured in fan favorites like “Company Car.” Is Christendom implicated in these warnings? How do you ward off the corrupting influence money can have along with success?”
Foreman: I’m implicating everyone, myself included. To think that you’re not susceptible to the lure of cold, hard cash and the advantages it buys us in this life is to be ridiculously foolish. I think that we’ve all fallen to our knees to many of the things that our nation has to offer. For me the grounding, the centering of my soul is something that comes in various forms, whether it’s in meditation or reading or even travel to foreign countries. There are a lot of ways that you can kind of loosen your grip on the American steering wheel, and those are the things that I find to be really healthy.
20
that ain’t my American dream…
I promise (I think) this is my last post regarding Switchfoot lyrics, but I wanted to make sure I highly recommend two songs off their latest album. Thanks to iTunes, you can just get these two songs if you don’t want to drop the $14 for the whole album. The songs I would highly recommend are: Awakening and American Dream.
These guys are just so refreshing musically and lyrically. Like Solomon, they understand the futility of chasing what our culture is begging us to chase. Awakening is a song that should be the anthem of every follower of Christ. It recognizes the fact that this world is not as it should be, but it embraces an intense purpose for being here. These guys cherish being alive, but reject culture’s calling to anesthetize themselves with comfort and ease. They sing, “I want to wake up kicking and screaming. I want to live like I know what I’m leaving. I want to know that my heart is still beating. Its beating. I’m bleeding.” They also capture the way my heart felt when I went to Africa two summers ago in the line: “These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere and in all my life I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so alive.” I can’t quite explain why we want to go to Africa, but when I was there working with the young leaders of the African church I just had this sense that I was doing what I was made to do.
American Dream is a straight forward rejection of what all of us are unconsciously pushed towards where “success is equated with excess and we’re fighting for the Beamer and Lexus”. They sing that they “want out of this machine” because “It doesn’t feel like freedom. I want to live and die for bigger things. I’m tired of fighting for just me. That ain’t my America. This ain’t my American dream.”
Below are the full lyrics for both songs. I have “Awakening” playing on my myspace. You can watch “American Dream” here. Also, check out this review of Switchfoot’s previous album.
Awakening
Face down with the LA curbside endings with the ones and zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight of a man-made sky,
but man-made never made our dreams collide,
Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain, we’re awakening!
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain, we’re awakening!
Maybe it’s called ambition, you’ve been talking in your sleep about a dream…
we’re awakening!!!
Last week found me living for nothing but deadlines,
With my dead beat sky but, this town doesn’t look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so alive!
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It’s beating,
I’m bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I’m leaving
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It’s beating… it’s beating…
I’m bleeding
American Dream
When success is equated with excess
The ambition for excess wrecks us
As top of the mind becomes the bottom line
When success is equated with excess
If your time ain’t been nothing for money
I start to feel really bad for you, honey
Maybe honey, put your money where your mouth’s been running
If your time ain’t been nothing but money.
I want out of this machine. It doesn’t feel like freedom.
This ain’t my American dream.
I want to live and die for bigger things.
I’m tired of fighting for just me
This ain’t my American dream.
When success is equated with excess
When we’re fighting for the Beamer, the Lexus
As the heart and soul breath in the company goals
Where success is equated with excess
‘Cause baby’s always talkin’ ’bout a ring
And talk has always been the cheapest thing
Is it true would you do what I want you to
If I show up with the right amount of bling?
Like a puppet on a monetary string
Maybe we’ve been caught singing
Red, white, blue, and green
But that ain’t my America,
That ain’t my American dream
18
Franklin Graham meets with Sudan president
Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, has met twice with Sudan’s president regarding Darfur, but also regarding the Gospel. Graham’s relief organization, Samaritan’s Purse is working in southern Sudan. Check out the full article. (Thanks, Andy)
