I don't understand the blues. The blues come from a world I don't live in. I've never been discriminated against because of my color; I've never lived in abject poverty; my kids don't cry all the time, and I have never felt in danger of my wife leaving me. These are tremendously common themes in the blues, especially the delta blues from the early 20th century. Singer after singer, from Robert Johnson to Lonnie Johnson belted out heartfelt songs bemoaning their unfaithful lovers (see Lonnie Johnson's song "She's Makin' Whoopee In Hell Tonight" for a good example). Nowadays, these themes have become somewhat of a cliche, but there was a time when these ideas were fresh, untried topics for musical exploration.
When I peruse the Mississippi Delta Blues singers, one bluesman who bucked these thematic trends in particular stands out to me. My first exposure to Blind Willie Johnson was his song "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine," which is a cautionary song/sermon about reading the Bible that's in your house before it's too late. (Technically Willie isn't a Delta singer because he was from Texas, but his music had a strong influence on the Delta bluesmen, and he is often, therefore, grouped in with the Delta bluesmen.) The two things which struck me were his sorrowful, shaky, deep, gravelly voice and his simple yet extraordinarily insightful lyrics:
I have a bible in my home,
I have a bible in my home
If I don't read it my soul be lost
And sister she taught me how to read,
sister she taught me how to read
If I don't read it my soul be lost, nobody's fault but mine
The biggest obstacle to listening to Blind Willie is simply one of linguistics; the man mumbles and roars, he growls and he whispers. He seemingly does everything he can to keep from being clearly heard by doing his best Tom Waits meets late-career Bob Dylan impression. For those who turn up the volume and listen closely, they will be richly rewarded by a dearth of God-glorifying lyrics and tremendous bottleneck guitar playing. Many consider him one of the greatest bottleneck guitarists of all time.
This man recorded only 30 songs between 1927 and 1929, but each and every one was unique and stood on its own as a testament to awesome theology and amazing, world-shaking musicianship. His songs have been covered by the White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews, Nick Cave, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and many others. Ry Cooder described Willie's song "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music." And yet for all of the acclaim Blind Willie now enjoys, in life things were not so great for Blind Willie. Legend has it, Willie was blinded at a young age when his stepmother threw lye in his face as revenge against Willie's father who beat her when he caught her cheating on him. Subsequently, Willie's father would leave him on street corners, begging for food and money in exchange for his songs.
Not a lot is known about Blind Willie, but what is known is that he was a preacher who operated The House of Prayer in Beaumont, Texas. In addition to preaching on street corners to whoever would listen, Willie would play his music for passersby, and it was in his songs that listeners could find some of the greatest sermons.
One song, in particular, recorded in 1929, is called "God Moves On The Water." In the song, Willie tells of the sailing and sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The continual refrain in the song is, "God moves, God moves, ah, and the people had to run and pray."
A.G. Smith, mighty man, built a boat that he couldn't understand
Named it a name of God in a tin, without a "c", Lord, he pulled it in
God moves, ah, God moves, God moves, ah, and the people had to run and pray
Willie seems to be saying that God caused the sinking of the great ship as judgment on mankind's hubris. But even if he is not saying that the sinking of the Titanic was a form of judgment, he is at least acknowledging that it happened by the will of God. A very haunting and sad song whose theme is betrayed by a furiously upbeat guitar part.
Willie's life ended almost as sadly as it began. In 1945, Willie's house burned to the ground. With no other place to live, he returned to the burned out ruins of his home, sleeping on his wet mattress until he died several weeks later from pneumonia. He was subsequently buried in an unmarked grave.
Willie committed his most deeply held hopes to his recordings. On one song, "Lord, I Just Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes," Willie recounts the source of many of his sorrows in life, but then he remembers the one hope he has in Jesus:
My mother, she's in glory, thank God I'm on my way
Father, he's gone too, and sister she could not stay
I'm trusting Him everyday, to bear my burdens away
'Cause I just can't keep from crying sometimes
Well, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
When my heart's full of sorrow and my eyes are filled with tears
Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
Rather than denying the reality or importance of sorrow in the Christian life, Willie acquiesces to the pain, accepting it and then turning it towards the creator, seeking his solace with God since he could find no comfort in this life.
Lord, in my time of dyin', don't want nobody to cry
All I want you to do, is take me when I die
Well, well, well, so I can die easy
Well, well, well, well, well, well, so I can die easy
Jesus goin' make up
Jesus goin' make up
Jesus goin' make my dyin' bed
As we approach the next decade, many bloggers are commenting about resolutions. Of the many posts I have read, the best is by Burk Parsons over at the Ligonier blog called "Resolved by the Grace of God." This article is great because of its simple and brief yet profound approach to this issue. Here is the concluding paragraph before the resolves.
We recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Tim Keller about his newest book Counterfeit God’s: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex and Power and the Only Hope that Matters. In this book Dr. Keller argues that all sin is, in some sense, idolatry. He points out that all humans were created to worship and serve the true and living God. If they are not worshiping the true God they will always put something or someone in His place. In this interview we asked Dr. Keller questions about this new book. You can find the interview here. We hope you enjoy this episode of Christ the Center.
I understand that the concept of social justice is a concept which has been used to bring those in the broader Christian community in line with more redistributive political agendas. I want to avoid, for the moment, the question of whether the government's policy of playing Robin Hood is virtuous or vicious and instead deal with the abusive terminology involved in using a phrase like "social justice."
So then, if the terminology were honestly used, what would social justice look like? Well, frankly, it would look like the opposite of what those advocating the current definition of "social justice" say it is. In a society practicing true or literal Social Justice, each would receive according to the labor of their hands, whether that is much or little. However, the concept of "social justice" as it is pushed today reflects the opposite sentiment. It says that people should receive mercy at the hands of society, and receive goods which they did not produce or earn. There may be merits or demerits to this, but what I am simply pointing out is that the proposed policies and terminology are at odds.
Dr. Guy Waters was recently interviewed on his chapter in Risking the Truth titled, "A Debtor to Mercy Alone." This new book has an interesting layout in that it is set up like an interview. The author is asked a series of questions and then gives a response. This gives the book a more conversational feel. The audio of this interview can be found here (do not worry when you hear the people speaking Spanish, the interview was done on a Spanish speaking radio station). The interview also covers the Federal Vision and the New Perspective(s) on Paul. Dr. Waters takes a balanced and even handed approach to both of these movements in the interview, which should be commended.
Dan Wallace has a new post about his time and experience at this year's annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. After an introduction, he mainly focuses in on the attitude of some (if not most) at SBL toward Evangelicals, you know those crazy people who actually think the Bible is recording real history. His conclusion is right on point and hits the target square in the middle.
In part 3 of our series of letters interacting with Wizard, he raises a question regarding prayer. As always, my response to Wizard (and hopefully some interaction) follows in the comments section. The following was written to us by Wizard:
I don't understand the blues. The blues come from a world I don't live in. I've never been discriminated against because of my color; I've never lived in abject poverty; my kids don't cry all the time, and I have never felt in danger of my wife leaving me. These are tremendously common themes in the blues, especially the delta blues from the early 20th century. Singer after singer, from Robert Johnson to Lonnie Johnson belted out heartfelt songs bemoaning their unfaithful lovers (see Lonnie Johnson's song "She's Makin' Whoopee In Hell Tonight" for a good example). Nowadays, these themes have become somewhat of a cliche, but there was a time when these ideas were fresh, untried topics for musical exploration.
This man recorded only 30 songs between 1927 and 1929, but each and every one was unique and stood on its own as a testament to awesome theology and amazing, world-shaking musicianship. His songs have been covered by the White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews, Nick Cave, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and many others. Ry Cooder described Willie's song "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music." And yet for all of the acclaim Blind Willie now enjoys, in life things were not so great for Blind Willie. Legend has it, Willie was blinded at a young age when his stepmother threw lye in his face as revenge against Willie's father who beat her when he caught her cheating on him. Subsequently, Willie's father would leave him on street corners, begging for food and money in exchange for his songs.
