There and Back Again: Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have worked out their differences. I suppose that I will have to postpone my twelve hour Middle Earth movie marathon until 2012, which is the year after the second film based on “The Hobbit” will likely be released on DVD (or 2013 if an “extended” cut is produced).

What is going on with this song?

“40″

I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song

He set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and hear

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song

Of course, the first four lines come almost verbatim from Psalm 40. But the lion’s share of the emphasis turns on the repeated cry of longing, “How long to sing this song” (presumably the ‘new’ song). It is a longing that is reminiscent of Psalm 4, Psalm 6 and, perhaps more to the point, Isaiah 6 (and by extension, Isaiah 40, Isaiah’s second calling; though the expression does not appear there).

So I wonder is it:

1. “How long until I will be able to sing this new song?”
2. “How long until I will be able to sing this song unrestrained?”
3. “How long must I bear the agonizing tension of singing this song in a world that makes a mockery of the hope of renewal it points to?”

An astute U2 scholar would tell you that “40″ is the closing song from the War album and is a direct tie to the powerful anti-war opening track “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” the chorus of which echoes the same question: “How long, how long must we sing this song, how long, how long…” How much longer will we sing of civil war and “bodies strewn across the dead end streets?” Based on this fact alone, explanation number three seems to be the most appropriate in terms of Bono’s original intent.

However, as I mediate on the lyrics I find myself truthing about myself and asking a more poignant question: “How long will you, O Lord, put up with me? How long will I keep committing the same sins before your patience runs out? How long will I sing this new song before I get my just desserts?” While they are not necessarily the words on my lips, is this not the true expression of my heart? Do I not continually fall into a performance mentality when it comes to relating to God?

The truth is that I continually stumble and fall face first into the mud, but God picks me up, cleans me off and sets my feet upon firm ground. In microcosm my daily walk is reminiscent of the Israelites and their continual disobedience, but in spite of this the Lord fulfilled his promise to them (and to the nations) to provide true cleansing and restoration in Jesus Christ. “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them” (Neh 9:17). “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? [...] but I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13). How long? How long before I truly understand what it means to live by grace? As I discover daily the depths of my own depravity, I am slowly recognizing that God’s grace in Jesus Christ and Him crucified is far, far greater than I could ever imagine.

During the time of confession in yesterday’s service, in which God tunes the heart of his people through confession of their sin and unworthiness, our worship leader (who also happens to be my brother-in-law) quoted one of my favorite “spooky” Christmas songs. This makes it the second time Sufjan Stevens has been read from our church’s pulpit (the first being here).

Sing a carol to your mom
‘Cause she knows what’s goin’ on
And she knows if you’ve been bad or good
If you get what you deserve
To be graded on a curve
Oh you’ve got a lot of nerve

la la la la la la la la etc.

Sufjan’s It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad! will not win any awards for poetic beauty, but what you cannot see by reading the lyrics is the way in which the words are sung. While we sinners willingly admit that we deserve death, we often take God’s grace for granted and expect “to be graded on a curve.” Then we plug our ears and sing the chorus as if to say, “I can’t hear you! La la la la la …!”

And so as we prayed I was reminded of the following scripture …

If we way we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
– 1 John 1:8-10

… which in turn revealed how utterly addicted I am to my own glory, my own righteousness and my own special rules and regulations (that are, of course, looser than everyone else’s). Praise be to the God whose tuning fork shows things as they exist, silencing the “La la la’s” of my hardened heart and replacing my fiction with the fact that he will never turn away a sinner who comes to him in truth (cf Spurgeon).

For some time I have been intending to pick up Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. My wife, father-in-law, one brother-in-law and an English professor friend have all read and recommended the series–with certain caveats, of course. I am sure that by now you have heard about the controversy. One can hardly surf the Christian blogosphere (let alone the web in general) and not read something about Pullman and his atheist agenda. As the launch date of the movie adaptation of the first book in the series, The Golden Compass, came and went this weekend I managed to stumble across several good reviews. The first was Al Mohler’s The Golden Compass — A Briefing for Concerned Christians. My initial reaction to his piece was similar to that of fellow PCA guy, David Wayne, who wrote on JollyBlogger that Al Mohler Nails it on “The Golden Compass”. However, after a friend sent a link to Jeffrey Overstreet’s thought provoking review on Christianity Today (Fear Not the Compass) I would now describe Al’s Briefing… as a series of blows–some solid, some glancing. In other words, the nail was still hammered home, but it got bent and left surface dings along the way. Forgive me if this sounds harsh. I have never met Mr. Mohler, but I hear he is an honorable fellow and applaud the changes he has made at SBTS. However, those of us in reformed circles often filter things differently than the broader Bible belt culture in which we live. Perhaps it took seeing the local television news reports of people picketing at the Compass premiere, but there are certain elements in the article that remind me of the ways in which we Christians undermine what our good intentions try to protect.

I have to confess that I am slowly but increasingly becoming unsure of how to respond to the (persistent, pervasive, and burgeoning) paranoia borne of ignorant unbelief among professing Christian believers. The fact is that the Christian faith from the first days of its inception (for convenience’s sake I refer to Acts 2) has been intensely and passionately attacked (and, of course, we immediately think of Saul of Tarsus; and rightly so. But our faith compels us to follow that story through to the end, and answering the question [perhaps even with an air of gloating], “Who’s in charge now, Saul? Who’s the King now, Saul? Huh? Huh? C’mon, man; you’re so tough, you’re so big! Got anymore fight left in you? Huh? Cat got’cher tongue?” But, alas, we seem to only have confidence for such gloating at boxing matches, post-season football games and playground brawls; such real-world confidence seems out of place in the world of faith and religious practice).

In his review, Mohler writes:

So, what’s the problem?

This is not just any fantasy trilogy or film project. Philip Pullman has an agenda — an agenda about as subtle as an army tank. His agenda is nothing less than to expose what he believes is the tyranny of the Christian faith and the Christian church. His hatred of the biblical storyline is clear. He is an atheist whose most important literary project is intended to offer a moral narrative that will reverse the biblical account of the fall and provide a liberating mythology for a new secular age.

The great enemy of humanity in the three books … is the Christian church, identified as the evil Magisterium. The Magisterium, representing church authority, is afraid of human freedom and seeks to repress human sexuality.

The Magisterium uses the biblical narrative of the Fall and the doctrine of original sin to repress humanity. It is both violent and vile and it will stop at nothing to protect its own interests and to preserve its power.

Pullman’s attack on biblical Christianity is direct and undeniable.

So… Satan’s own attack on “biblical Christianity” continues to be direct and undeniable; from the days of the garden, Satan (who is no mere literary character if we are to believe the Biblical account) has had “an agenda about as subtle as an army tank [...] nothing less than the exposure of the tyranny of the Christian faith and the Christian church” (Echoes of the garden: “Did God REALLY say that? Whoa! Pretty heavy-handed and oppressive, don’t you think, Eve? I mean, c’mon; what sort of god would keep such goodies from you except a tyrant intent on oppressing and controlling you?! Take my advice and I will grant you all the delicious, savory wisdom that he is keeping from you.” — and the first lottery ticket was sold and the persistent promise has proven irresistible ever since.) (more…)

The Church of U2: No, this is not about butchering communion. J.R. simply speculates that many emergent leaders grew up listening to U2.