At the start
He was there, He was there
In the end
He’ll be there, He’ll be there
And after all
Our hands have wrought
He forgives

Oh, the glory of it all
Is He came here
For the rescue of us all
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, the glory of it all

All is lost
Find Him there, Find Him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there
And after all
Falls apart
He repairs, He repairs

Oh, the glory of it all
Is He came here
For the rescue of us all
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, He is here
With redemption from the fall
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, the glory of it all

After night
Comes a light
Dawn is here
Dawn is here
It’s a new day, a new day
Oh, everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same

Oh, the glory of it all
Is You came here
For the rescue of us all
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, You are here
With redemption for us all
That we may live
For the glory of it all
Oh, the glory of it all

Oh, everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be same

I was thinking about it today, and I believe this is one of the most confused, potentially damaging songs that Christians use in corporate worship.

Why?  It’s teaching bad theology.  The bridge and the chorus are from the Bible (though a bit out of context, perhaps), but the verse certainly isn’t:

I’m trading my sorrow
I’m trading my shame
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I’m trading my sickness
I’m trading my pain
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord

For some reason the author got caught up in the word “trading”.  Trading has very clear connotations – I have something, you have something, and we trade.  Thus, I get what you had and you get what I had.

Look how that works here: I trade with God, giving him my sorrow and He gives me His joy.  In one sense, using one narrow definition of “give”, that works.  And perhaps the song is trying to point to that with the words “laying it down” – I trust God to deal with my sorrows, and trust Him to give me joy.

But that requires too much inference and interpretation.  There is a more simpler, more blatant meaning, that we all know is false but are constantly hoping is true because we don’t know how to handle it. The song is telling us that  sorrow and joy are mutually exclusive.  You get rid of sorrow, and you’ll get a lot of Joy.  More than that, you need to get rid of sorrow to get joy.

WRONG!

America doesn’t know how to suffer.  We don’t know how to deal with being pressed and persecuted and struck down.  We barely know the meaning of sorrow.  But, did you know it’s something that the Bible says you should cultivate at times?

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. – Romans 12:15

You will ALWAYS know someone who is mourning, just as you will ALWAYS know someone who is rejoicing.  See the implication Paul is drawing?  Not only is it possible to be rejoicing and mourning at the same time, but we should always be both rejoicing and mourning!

Paul helps us by making this more clear.  In 2 Corinthians 6:10 he describes himself as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”  And that is key.

We go through life trying to avoid sorrow, avoid pain, avoid sickness, avoid shame, when the Bible doesn’t call us to any of those.  The NORMAL Christian life is meant to be one filled with suffering for the sake of the Gospel.  Second Timothy 3:12 tells us that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  As the song says, we are blessed beyond the curse, for God’s promise will endure… and this is one promise, that does lead to blessing, that will endure!  “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” says Matthew 5:11.

We flee sorrow, pain, suffering, persecution… and we flee blessing.  And we flee Jesus, because He is the ultimate blessing.

Why do we keep singing it?  To borrow a phrase from a friend, CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) like this can give us “shameless emotional rides”.  We like the rhyme, and the rhythm, and the “Yes Lord!” chorus is upbeat and exciting.  But songs are not just noise – they are words, and words communicate truth… or lies.  And humans believe them.  And that belief affects our living, and we become unable to have either joy or sorrow in their proper form.

Joy is not happiness in sorrowlessness.  Joy is happiness in God!

-Ben

1. Song Length – Hip Hop tends to have very long verses.  With a lot of words, you can communicate a lot of information.  In the case of Christian Hip Hop, it is communicating true information (TRUTH) about the person and work of Jesus and our relationship to Him.
2. Beat - Hip Hop tends to have driving, regular beats.  Beats like this aid in memorization.  Couple this with long verses that contain truth and you can memorize a lot of good stuff just by listening to it.
3. The Artists - they generally have theological training at the college or seminary level (The Ambassador is actually a pastor in Philly and has an M.Div from Dallas)
4. Song Content - they are very explicitly theological, meaning they teach about and talk about God.  They are evangelistic, explaining salvation to nonchristians.  They are a great example of contextualization (at its best, I dare say).  They are discipling, encouraging Christians to grow in their faith.  They are sending, encouraging Christians to reach out and eventually GO on missions.

Beyond that, they actually are pretty good musically.  A comment from my friend Ayan:

Ayan: btw i listened to the song u posted a whilte ago
“were you there”
twas good
christina hip hop is actually good
its also wayy too good to be considered hip hop
or christian music

Some artists to check out:

• The Ambassador
• Lecrae
• 116 Clique <– a group
• The Cross Movement <–

And if you’re interested in checking out a concert, see Lukas from DG’s blog post about The Unashamed Tour.

Last but not least, some Youtube clips:

-Ben

Does it have to start with a broken heart
Broken dreams and bleeding parts
We were young and world was clear
Young ambition disappears
I swore it would never come to this
The average, the obvious

I’m still discontented down here
I’m so discontented

If we only got one try
If we’ve only got one life
If time was never on our side
Before I die I want to burn out bright

A year ago, that discontentment started to hit me. Sure, I was enjoying my tech-company internship, writing useful code for real projects, doing what I had dreamed of for years. But it lacked… something. Meaning, purpose, vision, ambition, excitement.

Don’t get me wrong – God calls some people to do just the kind of work I was doing. For some people, it can be the most meaningful, God-glorifying, Christ-displaying thing they can do. But for me, it was Ben-glorifying and money-exalting. It made me look good, and it made me comfortable and secure. And by God’s grace, He began stirring in my heart discontentment with what I was doing. I liked what I was doing, but I began dreaming of so much MORE.

God began giving me a vision of Him and a passion for Him that seemed to demand something different from me. Last semester in Crusade our theme was “Made To Worship” – we looked at how orthodoxy (right knowledge of God) leads to orthopraxy (right actions) and doxology (worship of God). That is, to appropriately worship something (ie, God), you need to know it. We drew the theme from a combination of two verses:

Let us press on to know the Lord. – Hosea 6:3

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. – Psalm 96:4

In order to properly worship God, we need to know Him first. How can we praise Him for His various attributes, or for the things He has done, if we don’t actually know about them? Yes, some things about God are meant to remain a mystery, but much has been revealed to us through the Bible, and as Christians we should search them out.

And so as that sort of became my theme (pair of) verses – “Let us press on to know the Lord, for He is great and greatly to be praised” – this sort of became my theme song.

Before I die I want to burn out bright.

Not bright by shining, as if I had any inherent worth or glory to be displayed, but bright by reflecting – reflecting God’s glory and his greatness, so that others can perhaps catch a glimpse of who He is and how satisfying He is.

Not burn out by foolishly working myself to death and exhaustion, but burn out in the active sense of the word – go out burning, go out working – not go out napping (or golfing or sea-shell collecting).

And all of this is with the knowledge that it is by God’s grace that I am alive today, and, if it is His will, I might not be alive tomorrow – death could come at any moment.

So the brightness and the burning needs to start now, because I could die at any moment.

So what does this mean for me? I’m not completely sure yet. I have some ideas. I have some desires. I think I know where I might like to be in a year, if the Lord wills, and where I might like to be in 5. And, of course, I have some ideas about 40 and 50 years down the road. Pray for me as I try to discern what I should be doing and when.

But in the here and now, there is work to be done – Christians and nonchristians at Cornell who need to be told about and reminded what Jesus has done for them – what He died to save them from and save them for. There are ongoing administrative and technical details to be worked out. There are friendships to be cultivated and relationships to be redeemed. But most importantly, there is more of God to taste and see and know. There is always more, and whatever context/situation I am in, that will be my primary pursuit. Know God more, see more of His glory, and respond – that’s worship.

And so that’s what this blog is, really – a little glimpse into my pursuit of all these things. Expect a lot of little posts, pointing you to what I’m reading or listening to or thinking about. And, of course, expect longer musings about various subjects. I’ll try to keep the emo and whining to a minimum – after all, I’m not a 14-year-old girl. Hopefully I’ll make you think, and provoke questions (feel free to ask in the comments or email me).

-Ben