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| In general, music schools have annual honors recitals. They are highly auditioned recitals showcasing the talent from all parts of the department: vocalists, pianists and instrumentalists. Your performance teacher has to endorse you before you can even consider auditioning, and it wasn't until a few weeks ago that my voice teacher decided to endorse me. If I make it, I get the prestige of performing in front of the school of music with the other auditioned musicians on Monday evening.
Last night, the department held the auditions, and only five vocalists from the school of music made the recital: one soprano, one mezzo-soprano, one tenor and two baritones. I am one of them.
I'm beyond elated. | | |
| My friend Rory maintains a vibrant and though-provoking blog. I'm copy/pasting his last blog from rorytyer.com because he eloquently demonstrates the problem of euphamisms and double-talk when presidential hopefuls reach out to "evangelicals". I have a problem when any person recognizes Christianity as a voting block. But then maybe the problem lies on the side of the Church. At any rate, this is a long post, but I hope you persevere.
Obamafuscating the truth.
As part of his effort to reach out to religious conservatives, especially those within the black community, Barack Obama has “kicked off a series of local outreach gospel concerts,” the first one having happened last Friday in Charleston. A Grammy-award winning gospel artist named Donnie McClurkin is one of the singers scheduled to appear with Obama at one of these concerts, which will take place over the next three weeks. Unfortunately for Obama, McClurkin is a self-proclaimed ex-homosexual, and, according to CNN, “is on record as saying homosexuality is a choice, and that he was ‘once involved with those desires and those thoughts’ but was able to get past them through prayer.” The announcement that McClurkin was a part of the lineup drew fast and angry criticism from the gay community, with AmericaBlog.com’s John Aravosis leading the charge. Aravosis said (among other things) that this move is Obama “sucking up to anti-gay bigots.”
When the Obama campaign heard about this, of course, they quickly moved to do some damage control, scheduling a conference call between Obama and Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. In a statement released Wednesday, Solomonese said:
“I spoke with Sen. Barack Obama today and expressed to him our community’s disappointment for his decision to continue to remain associated with Rev. McClurkin, an anti-gay preacher who states the need to ‘break the curse of homosexuality.’ There is no gospel in Donnie McClurkin’s message for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. That’s a message that certainly doesn’t belong on any Presidential candidate’s stage.”
In what appears to be more damage control, during the conference call Obama told Solomonese that an openly gay South Carolina pastor named Andy Sidden will be appearing at the same event as McClurkin. Obama also issued a statement saying, “I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin’s views and will continue to fight for these rights as president of the United States.” He also stressed the need to continue fighting “homophobia” in the black religious community.
I think that Obama needs to make up his mind and quit playing word-games. There are no serious, thinking, evangelical (or otherwise) Christians whose understanding that homosexuality is a sin should be called “homophobia”. Homophobia is an unnatural fear or distaste for homosexuals, resulting in exclusion, condemnation, and discrimination on the basis of any number of criteria. That’s quite simply not equal to the evangelical Christian understanding that homosexuality is a sin. Paul lists homosexuality alongside many other sins in 1 Cor. 6:9-11, giving it no special emphasis and following this with the declaration that “This is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Have homosexuals become pariah in some evangelical Christian churches? Yes - to the shame of those churches. They are simply not practicing Scripture correctly.
To equate a biblical view of homosexuality with “homophobia” is unfortunate and demonstrates that when Obama speaks about unity he is often really speaking about liberalism. Am I throwing ‘liberal’ around as an insult? No - but there is a problem when Biblical texts are simply ignored. On the scholarly side of things many efforts have been made to explain away texts such as these, or to demonstrate why they don’t apply, but what results is an inconsistent hermeneutic that strangely looks as though it has been twisted to fit someone’s ideological grid. That is, at least, when people wrestle with this question at all. Many people, I think, are content to simply not think about it, and the Bible becomes an irrelevant cultural relic, having nothing important to say about right and wrong, justice, or daily decision making.
It’s ironic to me that some aides within the Obama campaign told CNN that “they believe Obama is a candidate of real, transformational change, and that uproars like the McClurkin controversy are necessary speed bumps on the road to bringing people with opposing viewpoints together to air their differences.” Real, transformational change - but not involving homosexuality, because then you’re hateful and pandering to the bigots. The simple, though perhaps often misunderstood and misapplied truth, is that the Bible teaches that homosexual activity is just as sinful as extramarital heterosexual activity. I understand the Bible to be God’s word, and thus authoritative in some sense. But this does not make me a bigot, because I refuse to ever view someone through the lens of their sin, and I refuse to ever treat someone with disrespect, disdain, or discrimination. I stand on the shoulders of some of the most brilliant men and women to ever study and apply biblical truth, and I stand on the personal example of Jesus himself, who dealt with people in the most just and loving way anyone could ever deal with people.
Obama’s whole “faith and family” thrust troubles me. He is attempting to play down very real ideological or worldview differences between people, as though “ideology” is always something negative, in the name of a ‘unity’ that cannot - and should not - exist. The article mentions Obama’s efforts to reach out to churchgoing conservatives in general, citing an appearance at an unnamed evangelical church in Greenville and his supposed “casual familiarity with Christian vocabulary” per this remark: “I am confident that we can create a kingdom right here on earth.”
But a kingdom must have a king. Who will rule this kingdom you’d like to build, Obama? And what kind of a kingdom do you think we should build? Jesus spent much of his ministry teaching about the Kingdom - is this the one you’re speaking of? Then you should make sure you’ve understood the whole story. It was not Jesus’ mission to tear down the differences between people - though, as Paul says, in Christ, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female” (Gal. 3:28). In the gospel of John, Jesus’ mission is to “testify about the light” (Jn 1:7), so that he could give, to all who believe in him, the right to become children of God (1:12). The kingdom Jesus taught about is a Kingdom he will rule. His Kingdom began breaking into history with the event of his resurrection, and will eventually and finally be established one day, and all injustice will be wiped away; but it is only those who accept his Kingship who now begin to participate and will ultimately live in the Kingdom.
I’m not sure that anyone will be hearing words like those from Barack Obama’s lips any time soon. And thus I will remain suspect - of his rhetoric, of his motives, and of his ability to really articulate a political stance that manages to create unity out of so many divergent viewpoints. Promoting sociopolitical and theological liberalism in the name of unity may work well for a while, but as this CNN article demonstrates, it will eventually begin to unravel, and those who are discerning will see past the words and find that there is nothing of substance to actually stand on.
Postscript: One of the reasons I am so frustrated by Obama’s campaign is because they throw around phrases like “transformative change” while denying that it can or should take place in certain situations - namely, homosexual lifestyles. Exodus Internatonal is one organization that believes otherwise. They’ve got many good resources and events, as well as a response to the Obama-McClurkin situation. | | |
| Another great day in the vocal performance major life. My voice teacher is allowing me to audition for the honors recital. In other news... At work today (grading music theory), I told my boss that I'd be happy to teach a class for him in his absence. eeessh. That was an awkward silence.
UNTIL HE AGREED WITH ME! "I think that's a GREAT idea. It'll give you lots of experience teaching. Let me give you the dates I'll be out of town..."
Awesome. Chad Somers, Music Enthusiast Extraordionaire. | | |
| We had an awesome morning at Redeemer. I'm attending this class called Gospel Transformation, and it's changing the way I view the Christian life. Most of our discussions stem from the fact that so many Christians have, at the very least, a general understanding of the Gospel and Christ's work, but exhibit a remarkable lack of hope, joy, love and peace that should accompany the Christian life. Today our discussion led (like so many do) to the understanding that the Christian growth comes through God working in our lives rather than in our ability to have daily quiet times. Spending time in Scripture is good, but when it becomes the end rather than the means to draw us nearer to God, it leads to embitterment.
For me, a disconnect exists between my beliefs and my life. Do I believe the Gospel? Of course. Do I always have faith? No. That's not to say I doubt the Christian life; without a doubt, I believe in the doctrines of Christianity, but I don't think anyone has faith 100% of the time. That lack of faith produces odious fruits in my life: greed, pride, envy, selfishness, hate. I think you'll find it in your own life, too. It all derives from that disconnect. If I truly understood and believed the Gospel rather than knowing it, I would exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. But, I don't. And either do you.
The other day, I had a great day. I had experienced a breakthrough in my vocal work, my voice teacher hugged me out of excitement and began training me as an advanced, specialized voice, but the day ended with me going to sleep (and waking up) in one of the worse moods I've had all year. Why is that? Because my pride took over. I (subtly) began to believe that I provided myself with purpose and fulfillment. I slipped into the notion that I am important, now that I have an advanced voice status. Of course, this example is extremely exaggerated. I never actually thought those things, but my actions proved differently. Essentially, I rejected the Gospel. No thank you, Jesus Christ, I can find my own fulfillment in life. Through music and arrogance. Deceit! How could I think it?
If only I would have remembered the Gospel! God transforming the spiritually bankrupt, the broken, the tired into creatures full of life, purpose and meaning! And the road back to faith isn't marked by more prayer or more Scripture. Those only leads to embitterment. Rather the road led by God. Only He can produce the lasting change in our hearts. The Gospel is the most powerful and transforming force in the universe through which, we become loving, joyfull, humble and most importantly, like Christ--the fruits of a life marked by the acceptance only found in the Gospel rather than through the obligation of a quiet time. | | |
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