Assurance...

"Christianity promises many things. It promises above all else peace and joy in believing. It promises freedom from judgement, hence from fear. It promises joy in the present because the future is secured. It does not, however, promise exemption from sorrow and pain."

Paul Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us?

Fighting the Law... and Losing

So, it's winter and I'm depressed. This happens every year. I hate the cold weather, and this year has been especially cold, by Charleston standards anyway.

Many of you in the Northeast are sneering about now. Thinking, "That Southern boy has it great! Complaining about temperatures in the 40's and 50's -- Where does he get off?!"
You have a point. Nevertheless, I'm depressed. And it's not just the weather, I guess. Life sort of sucks. Not much going my way, in MY opinion.

So, like I seem to do every winter, I'm listening to music a lot. Some of you who know me may be thinking.... Chris Knight, Ryan Adams, The Frames. Hell no. That would just make me more depressed.

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Finnish Disco, Romans 7 and Ryan Adams

So, what do a 1970's Finnish disco instruction video and Romans 7 have in common? Answer: Ryan Adam's Halloweenhead!

This music video (as awesomely clever as it is) sort of masks what the great songwriter of our time, Ryan Adams, has to say about the human condition.

For those of you unfamiliar with with his art, Adams is usually described as an "alt-country" guy, a sort of mix between punk, rock and roll, blues, bluegrass and country - although in my opinion, his particular style transcends genre. Alt-country stuff also usually has some attitude (warning: this particular song includes a little vulgarity).

But, what cannot be missed in the songs of Ryan Adams, as is apparent in this particular selection, is the heartfelt angst that the songwriter feels over his inability, on his own terms, to direct his heart and mind to that which is good. Instead he finds himself with a "Halloweenhead", full of tricks and treats, visiting, or at least wanting to visit, the places where "junkies meet". In short, he finds himself in a similar place as that which the Apostle describes in Romans 7. That is, wanting to do right, but instead doing wrong.

We as Christians often find ourselves in this place. Who will deliver us from our "Halloweenhead'?

Thanks be to God, there is One...

Lyrics for Halloweenhead can be found here.

Metamemory

A few thoughts from our good friend Mike Burton:

Last week, Aaron likened the Roman Catholic practice of offering indulgences to similar practices in Evangelical circles such as exhorting people to read the Bible more or carve out additional devotional time etc. He went on to talk about how they are simply different approaches to dealing with the "lingering effects of sin". Aaron also observed that indulgences are for believers, not for those "outside the fold".

This reminded me of something that has been on my mind lately. We hear a lot of talk in churches about "spiritual maturity". But to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what that term means. The best I can tell is that it has a lot to do with morality and self control and discipline and that sort of thing.

Well, the other day while reading in my Educational Psychology textbook about metamemory (a type of metacognition that focuses on memory and memory processes) I came across this:

Preschool children have an inflated opinion of their memory abilities. For example, in one study, a majority of preschool children predicted that they would be able to recall all ten items in a list of ten items. When tested, none of the young children managed this feat. As they move through the elementary school years, children give more realistic evaluations of their memory skills.

As the children grew older, or matured, they became more aware of their limitations, or what they were truly capable of accomplishing. It occurred to me that the same is true on a spiritual level. That is, perhaps spiritual maturity begins with the realization that we aren't as "in control" as we once thought we were.