I'll try to be careful here… but there really isn't a way to balance this out. I think I need to just come right out and say: The exegesis displayed here is just plain awful. 

All our worship music reflects our theology, doesn’t it… I mean- it’s impossible to write songs about God that come from some generic, theology-free zone.

So- from the Reformed Tradition: something great and something… less so.

The Church, from Derek Webb
”
I have come with one purpose
to capture for myself a bride
by my life she is lovely
by my death she’s justified

I have always been her husband
though many lovers she has known
so with water i will wash her
and by my word alone

So when you hear the sound of the water
you will know you’re not alone

Chorus:
‘Cause I haven’t come for only you
but for my people to pursue
you cannot care for me with no regard for her
if you love me you will love the church

I have long pursued her
as a harlot and a whore
but she will feast upon me
she will drink and thirst no more

So when you taste my flesh and my blood
you will know you’re not alone

Chorus:
There is none that can replace her
though there are many who will try
and though some may be her bridesmaids
they can never be my bride”

Nice… Technically not worship music- the words are written from Christ’s perspective (through a Reformed lens of limited atonement) rather than TO Him.. but still worshipful.

And now for something completely different…

Awhile ago I noticed the title of a song that showed up in numerous Mars Hill worship sets: “Destructor“
Some have accused Evergreen worship of being a little too down beat, but man- this one takes the cake. But it’s not the dirge-like tone that really puts it in the “awful” category. It’s the words…

“From the¬†¬†¬†¬†¬† first time you flooded the earth
          AbM7        Eb                                         Cm
        To the          last time You burned off the curse
          AbM7       Eb                                      Cm
        To the          way that You hated Your Son
            AbM7      Eb                                  Intro x2
        When You   hung all the sins of the world

Pre-Chorus    Cm    AbM7     Eb               Cm    AbM7     Eb
        Holy, Holy,     Holy, Holy, Holy,  Holy,    Holy

Chorus    Cm               AbM7                    Eb
        Heaven will disappear with a roar
                Cm       AbM7                        Eb
        The host of God will come to destroy
        Cm        AbM7              Eb
        Sin is a declaration of war
        Cm          AbM7               Eb                              Intro x2
¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† God will have his glory one way or another”

Yeah? Whether it’s using a lightening strike as an icon of God (yes, wrath is a characteristic of God, but a derivative one wholly dependent on His love- God is not a dualistic balance of love and wrath. He’s wrathful BECAUSE He loves… but that’s another discussion) or positing that the Father hated the Son at some point… This all just seems out of balance. Yes, God will come to destroy sin, but again, as a derivative of healing the world, recreating everything and setting things right. It’s not as though God is creative and destructive in equal parts either… “Destructor”???

I think those guys up in Seattle need a bit more sun!

Dustin has some thoughts as well…

Oh my… From the Wittenburg Door

Driscoll Reaches New Spiritual Level, Kicks His Own Ass
07/01/2008

By Jesse Benjamin

Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, took a
dramatic stand against girly men at a Pastor’s Conference in Houston
last week.

The conference, called “re:tool and re:load,” previously billed as
“jesus 2.0,” featured speakers from around the country with the stated
focus of “Making the Gospel and Missiology Relevant to Post Modern
Culture.” Speaking at the last session of the conference, Driscoll
focused his three-and-a-half-hour talk on the need for pastors to be
more alpha.

“The problem with our churches today is that the lead pastor is some
sissy boy who wears cardigan sweaters, has The Carpenters dialed in on
his iPod, gets his hair cut at a salon instead of a barber shop, hasn’t
been to an Ultimate Fighting match, works out on an elliptical machine
instead of going to isolated regions of Russia like in Rocky IV in order to harvest lumber with his teeth, and generally swishes around like Jack from Three’s Company whenever Mr. Roper was around.”

Pacing the stage in a vaguely threatening manner, Driscoll focused
on Biblical examples. “Jesus and Paul were serious dudes. They had
teeth missing. Jesus was a carpenter, Paul was in prison. These guys
didn’t eat tofu dogs and bean sprouts. They didn’t play tennis. If
there were trucks back in their times, they would have been doing
driveway lube jobs on a Saturday afternoon. Same thing with King David.
Yeah, he might have played a lyre, but he slaughtered thousands of
guys.”

The 300 pastors from around the country roared with approval, even
though many of them had heard the same labored formulations at previous
conferences called “reGeneration” and “resurge and reform.”

Read the rest here

To be honest, I had assumed that after being publicly set straight by those who were there, working at the conference, actually handing out the "banned" DVD’s, Mark Driscoll’s blog post would be deleted, changed or at least updated.

No dice.

What gives?

Jon- what’s going on?

Why is Mark’s blog assertion that his video was "banned" (not to mention the overstatement about what Bill Hybels actually said from the stage) allowed to stand without revision or further comment when those who were there, actually handing out the videos have said things like this:

“Let me set the record straight about this once and for all. I was a
volunteer at the conference and worked with Scott from Acts 29 all week
on the logistics of handling the video out. We also had 1800 Acts 29
brochures that did not arrive in time to be put in the bags at the
beginning of the conference. As the conference was winding down we made
a decision to hand the videos and brochures out via tables and
volunteers at the 3 main doors and not each door to the sanctuary. We
just did not have the people to do this nor was it feasible due to exit
strategy. In no way, and I know first hand as I was in on the
conversation, was their EVER any discussion by anyone associated with
the conference that I know of NOT to hand out the video due to Bill
Hybels remarks. What was quoted above IS THE QUOTE he said. You will be
able to see for yourself when the main session videos are available on
the conference website.”
These rumors about the video being pulled from being given out are
just NOT true. I know first hand what happened and now the record
should be straight.“

Seriously- this is a matter of integrity… What gives?

I won’t comment much on the recent dust-up over Driscoll’s video at the 2007 National New Churches Convention.

I will say this, though. I realize that for Mars Hill Church in Seattle, women in elder/pastoral ministry  (or more precisely, not being in elder/pastoral ministry) is in the "closed hand" of issues/doctrines not up for questioning or reconsidering, as opposed to the "open hand" of things over which Mars Hill people can disagree without disengaging. I get that.

I also get that the last time we were together, I heard Mark say specifically that when it comes to relationships/fellowship outside of Mars Hill, women in ministry is an "open hand issue."

What I don’t get is Mark’s tone-deafness when speaking to a huge group of people that
he knows are all over the map on this issue, including a number of women pastors and church planters. I realize he has his opinions. Boy, does he.
I also know he’s smart… and I really don’t want to believe that Mark would intentionally poke a stick into a bee hive every few months just to draw some attention. I really don’t.

So we’re going to go with option 2- He forgets that in terms of relationship with other churches and the Body of Christ as a whole, he’s trying to see this issue as an open hand thing about which good Christian people can disagree. And in forgetting, he speaks with perhaps less grace, less care than he should to people who he knows feel very strongly and very differently than him about the issue. In fact, the more he talks about this issue, the more he pushes and pounds it, the more that open hand feels like a closed fist.

And so when someone like Bill Hybels pushes back ever so gently, he really should listen.

Andrew Jones has the whole story here, including some corrections to Mark’s take on the story from others who were there.

And the iMonk has the real rebuke to Mark, about one line from this short video that is getting less attention than the whole general issue, a line which I hope was spoken in haste and wothout thought.

Mark’s a good guy- but he’s tacking further and further to the right. His Jesus is becoming more and more like an ultimate fighter and less and less like the Prince of Peace and that’s disturbing. Mark seems also to be making less and less room for any but a certain type of masculinity, and any but a certain type of relating between men and women, and that too is disturbing.

Here’s another video that’s been making the rounds, as sort of a response. I just want it to be known that the picture of the pastor’s wife who HASN’T "let herself go" that comes directly after Mark’s quote in the video is a picture of my awesome wife Amy (whose birthday is today!). How she got in there, I don’t know… But glad we could contribute!

And then just for, uh… "fun", for the ladies, here’s the real deal on women (please do NOT watch this if you have high blood pressure)

Not a ton to report, other than that it was good, pleasant, intentional… I think Mark was being nice to be nice, and I think he was being nice to be nice to someone who regularly holds a tiny match up to his increasingly large feet, if you know what I mean.

He sprinkled a little pastoral dust, and to be honest with you, it worked. I can see that those who actually get Mark as their pastor (as opposed to Mark as simply their teacher) are lucky people.

It’s good for us to be in the same room as and converse with those we occasionally criticize… it forces us to see the human with feelings rather than the target.

And I’m not just talking about me and Mark.