Beauty and the Gospel

Some of the time, I think the people who read these posts never finish them. So this one is quite short. There's an article about this subject in the July 2010 issue of Tabletalk.  The author may amuse, anger, or encourage you depending on your world and life view. Curious? Go to this link and check it out:

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/beauty-gospel/

I welcome your reactions in the comment box. You may want to email the author (me) with a personal comment, which is also okay. 

Getting our helmets on right

I noticed in Tabletalk (Ligonier's devotional journal) a reading from Ephesians 6:7. Here, Paul admonishes Christians to "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." For Roman soldiers, getting their helmets on right was critically important. With the helmet protecting the head and eyes --the nerve center of the body --battle had cognitive, intelligent goals.

I know this verse well enough, and usually relegate it to the 'spiritual readiness' motif found in this letter. But this morning I found something else to celebrate. Paul admonishes his readers to don their helmets in the same sentence as he advises us to take our sword --the Bible --right into battle. We have no vikings or celts to slaughter in this era. What we do have, I would argue, is the onslaught of intellectual frass that is regularly cranked from our culture's print, video, and audio media.

The Tabletalk article for September 21 notes that this helmet of salvation means that Christians arm themselves with certainty about our redemption, but it goes further. "Furthermore, it demonstrates that we will work to accomplish His purposes for the church, the firstfruits of God's redemption, in line with the instructions of the Lord." Here is a beginning. But I want to go deeper. God's supposed purposes include gospel transformation of the surrounding culture --which includes the arts.

So what does this mean for followers of Kulture Kafe? I believe our helmet is key to discerning the empty philosophies of Warren Buffet, or Lady GaGa, or any of the current icons of pop culture. And, if truth be told, it should likewise help us discern the often empty teaching of certain televangelists and pop psychiatrists. In the Word, we have the clear teaching of God's word on all the various items that we encounter daily --the economy, the education of children, the abuse of the internet for commercial and political gain.

I thank my wife for pointing me to another application from David Powlison in Seeing With New Eyes:


Learning the gaze of God, we come to weigh life aright. We discern good and evil, fair and foul, lovely and degraded....To think Christianly is 'to think God's thoughts after him.' ....Our glasses ae sometimes rosy, sometimes jaundiced, sometimes bluesy, sometimes mirrored on the inside of the lens. The madness in our hearts generates warped spectra. But God sees all things in bright, clear light --and this God is the straightener of crooked thoughts. He makes madmen sane.


The 'mind of Christ' is no mental list of theoretical doctrines.. His gaze brings with it ways of experiencing, patterns of appropriate reaction, and a game plan for engaging what he sees....When the Word became flesh, Jesus lived all God's communicable attributes on the human scale.


Take heart, all who create things of beauty. With Christ's redemption of your life, you inherit a helmet for the battle with ugliness and evil on all sides. Don it, straighten it, and keep the visor clear for the way ahead, because you will need it daily.

Review: James Marriott's Organ Recital

Several dozen listeners attended James Marriott's recital last Friday, even though Central Floridians seldom give up their Friday evenings for classical music. Maybe it was the promise of Marriott's decision to play several organ 'chestnuts.' Or maybe it was the now-familiar sound of Saint Andrew's newly installed Swartz organ of 70+ voices, which has been showcased before. This recital was one of the most memorable to date.


Marriott opened with Widor's clamorous Toccata from his Fifth Symphony. Despite a few nerves marring rhythmic clarity, it was an exciting rendition. The artist then directed the crowd through a hymn in which he improvised handily through multiple verses. His use of the organ as an orchestra through deft choice of stops and timing was remarkable.


Outside of the hymns, the organ selections included works of Bach, Reger, and Dan Locklair. Marriott delivered the selections with good taste and skill. It was Marriott's improvisations throughout the evening, however, that continuously arrested my attention. The highlight, variants on "A Mighty Fortress" with audience participation, gave evidence of the organists's true genius. 


When I think about how rare an occasion it was, and how few took advantage of it, I am reminded of C. S. Lewis's statement in The Weight of Glory, 

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. 

Those who did come, however, were treated to a delightful program. I welcome your responses to this review, especially if you are one of the faithful who came to the recital.

James Marriott Organ Recital Feb 26

James Marriott will give an organ recital on Friday, August 26. The 7:00 p.m. program is free to the public, presented through Saint Andrew's Arts Series*. I encourage you to come and meet the artist after the recital.

Mr. Marriott will play Bach's great Prelude and Fugue in D Major (BWV 532), easily one of Bach's most difficult works. In particular, you will hear rapid-fire scales played on the pedals, parts with TWO voices in the pedals, and a rhythmic, 'perpetual motion' fugue that ends in rippling arpeggio figures between hands and feet.

On the program also, Mr. Marriott plans to present 4 hymn events, complete with improvised or composed interludes that reflect the hymn texts; also Max Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia and Widor's Toccata from Symphony 5 will round out the evening. I recommend this program with enthusiasm.

Stand by for another Kafe gathering event.
--Dr. Terry Yount

*Saint Andrew's is located minutes from I-4, at the SR 46 exit north of Orlando. The address is 5525 Wayside Drive, Sanford, Florida 32771. 

Pop Culture Part 4: Forging a New Paradigm

Quiet Reflection is Not Enough

I relish those rare moments when, together, all of us – pop, crossover, classical, ethnic, ambient, commercial --work for transcendence. Art produced for quiet reflection may be superior to other forms, but it is not enough. 

Still, we face the threat of ending up as background to an increasingly hostile working environment. It seems to me, we must resist the impulse merely to coexist. We are, after all, artistic partners. Though we may differ in medium and constituency, we may refuse to surrender to the barbarians at the gate. Their concept of what art is about is flatly more dollar-based than aesthetic-based. Though often faced with compromising aesthetic merit for economic survival, we can survive together. 

The Simple Solution

This brings me to a counter-cultural paradigm for artists. We writers, painters, musicians --all of us --will be more effective in solidarity with each other as messengers of beauty in all its manifestations, than in conflict. 

Why We Must Change

You may wonder how long we must endure aesthetically weak art in every genre. The short answer is, we are the ones standing in the way of cultural change. Transcendence may need to take a back seat to solidarity with other artists. To make matters worse, pastors and theologians quickly take sides in the culture and worship wars, making peace with our collaborators more difficult. Is it possible that God wants solidarity, not only between Christian artists but between theologians and armchair critics? Perhaps then, and only then, postmodern people, whose tendency is to reduce all art to a baseline of utility and mood management, may be surprised at our mutual appreciation for beauty across traditional divides like style.

 The challenge for us all in the West* (especially in the Christian West) is to remain open to various cultural expressions, but never give away the farm to mediocrity. Artists of every kind, who are steadfastly pursuing, teaching, advocating, and creating their best work will continue to rise above mere mediocrity. Hopefully, in the process, we will together produce timeless works for this age and generations ahead. 

Terry Yount

[this is the 4th in a series of posts]

*There is an exciting body of work being produced in the East, the Third World, and around the globe. This article concentrates on the currently troubled and divided industrial cultures in Europe and North America who have replaced their rich cultural heritage for what some pundits have termed 'a mess of pottage.' 

Pop Culture, Part 3

Contentment, Banjos, and Taste

Johann Sebastian Bach

I was groomed to be a participant in the professional music scene.  I was trained to be a competitive, contest-winning musician in the rarified atmosphere of a School of Music (Eastman). Because of all the exposure to musical perfection on CDs and in concert with conductors like Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Robert Shaw, David Zinman, and Pinchas Zuckermann, I had become an elitist. But like the man said, 'we all change.' 

Bela Fleck

It really dawned on me at a Bela Fleck concert. Fleck is a largely self-taught banjo player, jazz musician and crossover artist who defies description. His playing is technically pure. His musicality is infectious. He plays a mix of styles, from Bluegrass to Bach. And he enjoys playing with college students in a jazz ensemble. I was sold. 

Andrew Yount

 It also happened as I watched my son, a touring, professional rock guitarist, become a musical 'artist' in his realm. It was no small concern of mine that he played entirely by ear as a young musician. Hearing him play today -- virtuosic, compelling, and completely natural --is convincing. I am sold. 


Yes, my elitism prevents me from truly appreciating Twisted Sister, the guy named Prince, and elevator music.  Compromise with what may appear to be mediocre irritates every true artist. But contentment with a different form of music, for those of us who know from experience, is a means to a greater end. 

Being content, however, is never a retreat from lavishing beauty on others. As well,  there is refreshment as artists connect with transcendent beauty.  For example, listening to Mozart's "Voi che sapete" (from The Marriage of Figaro), I am completely refueled for a trip to the mall that plays sappy saxophone music all day.  You may say, and you are right, that I am an elitist in that preference. 

Wynton Marsalis

To be honest, however, there are times when some popular music is a dose of reality. I am reminded that my taste in music is quite narrow. My pop culture colleagues, many of whom I respect for their popular preferences, may ignore the Vivaldi concerto emanating from speakers in the sandwich shop.  But we can both enjoy Bela Fleck offering a banjo version of a Bach “Sarabande.” And when Wynton Marsalis tosses off Haydn’s trumpet concerto with the same ease as a Dizzie Gillespie original, we are all properly impressed.


So, why can't we all just get along? 


[more to come]

Pop Culture: Part 2

Wedding Woes

Weddings are occasions in which the bride (and her mother sometimes) is determined to avoid tradition. Some may even want to rock the family boat. In the end, most couples gravitate to the same sentimental fare almost every bride and groom chooses. 

In walks the wedding organist, that breed of musician that bristles when a bride announces "we've decided we're only going to use the organ for the marches." What that means is, she is going to turn the pre-nuptial music into one of 2 things: 

1. a showcase of her favorite amateur musician friends picking at guitars, singing karaoke songs,   or --- her music major sister-in-law playing piano, singing, and trying not to crease the poof in her bridesmaid's dress.
2. completely canned wedding tracks (yes, you can purchase canned nuptial music) oozing through monitors up front while the bridal party processes, almost in step with the pervasive rock backbeat and edgy pop vocals.

I am a survivor. As the organist, I often have to endure 20 minutes of the above, then when the bride appears, make a quick transition to the bridal processional. When a bride insists on doing the almost banal processional from The Sound of Music, I am not inclined to argue its aesthetic merit against, say, Jeremiah Clarke’s Prince of Denmark’s March. 

Lo, after many weddings over decades, I have learned to keep my musical mouth shut. By compromising, I deny my personal taste, and make a friend or two. At least that's what I hope keeping quiet will do. Somehow, no matter how nicely I acquiesce to the family's preferences, I always feel like a phony. How could they be so aesthetically malformed? How did this culture show up, after all their 'exposure' to high art on PBS? 

[more to come]