Always Just Beneath the Dawn

There, now I've used both my blog title and by domain name as titles for posts. I'm so bad at thinking of titles...

"Every day I was with you in the temple courts and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour - when darkness reigns." - Luke 22:53

I know a lot of people, myself included, have a fascination with dark things. Gothic literature is interesting stuff. Darker movies are so much more intense. Depressing music is just so moving.

Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this in small quantities. But it is good to remember that letting dark thoughts rule your mind all the time just isn't good for you. If you're depressed you're likely to despair and hope becomes so hard to believe in. If you're obsessed with darkness it's hard to find joy.

Thankfully even in the dark good things start happening. What time could possibly have been blacker than right after the crucifixion? And yet:

"Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate he asked for Jesus' body." - Luke 23:50-51

Joseph of Arimathea came forward, a little belated perhaps, but right when he needed to. Right at the hardest time possible to start believing, in the middle of the dark.

Thankfully, not having to personally live through those three days, we know that all darkness must eventually end.

Darkness can't perceive the light

Though lightlessness has chilled us numb.

And though its wings may cloud the skies

The dark shall never overcome.

Light of the world,

Your love has never failed.

The Hypocritical Post

The hypocritical post. It's judging you. Feel the judge.

Actually, that's not what this is about. I'm not going to write about hypocrisy. That would, of course, be hypocritical.

Instead I'm going to write about something that I've noticed in other people that could use some improving. I could also use some improving in the same area. That makes this quite a hypocritical post.

It's hard to exactly pinpoint what to call this problem I've been seeing. I guess it's kind of an intolerance of anything that you view as less spiritual than your own preferences. That's a wide area. It also falls into the category of things in Romans 14. Don't bother looking it up, I'll summarize.

That's the chapter that talks about not eating meat or not drinking wine if it will cause your brother to stumble. The reason it would cause your brother to stumble is because your brother has weaker faith and you'd be leading him astray by doing something if he can't understand why it's all right to do it.

So what I'm seeing are some weird ways that people do this.

1. Praise music This is possibly the number one thing I hear people complain about in church. Whether it's people who don't like modern music or people who simply can't stand hymns, everyone objects to one or the other in some way. I personally am slowly but surely developing a vendetta against a lot of praise music. I happen to like hymns because they're more prone to having really really meaningful lyrics. Don't get me wrong, I love so much praise music and it moves me more often than hymns do. Also, hymns can be preeeeetty shallow too. But the point here is that, as annoying as it is to put up with music that you don't like, guess what? Someone else is getting something out of it. I mean, I won't mention any names but I know someone who absolutely loves the responsive readings in hymnals and gets more out of those than out of music.

2. Christian movies I made sure to bring this one up because this is one I'm completely guilty of. I don't like them. I like Amazing Grace. I like Veggie Tales. That really might be it. It's just that in my honest opinion there isn't too much out there in the Christian film industry that isn't unbearably cheesy (like cheese on pizza. ... whoops, relapse...). But I do know that the majority of people I know love these movies and find them inspiring. Or something to that effect. I'll try to curb my dislike.

3. Devotionals/Bible Studies Maybe I am just restricting myself to hypocrisy I'm guilty of. Sorry guys, confession day for Elizabeth. There are very few devotional books I've read that I've gotten much out of. Short of Chesterton or Lewis. I also often have difficulty in large Bible studies because I just get sidetracked when no one will answer obvious questions. It's no one's fault, I'm just an impatient human being and have been in waaaaay too many Sunday schools.

So on the surface what this actually looks like is "A List of things Elizabeth Finds Annoying But Other People Appreciate." That would look like I was trying to seem a little holier than thou. "I don't get anything out of these things because I'm so much more spiritual than you."

Goodness, no!

It really makes me a lot less spiritual. God had a hand in making both the deep praise songs and the shallow hymns. He certainly had a hand in making those Christian movies come about and kept an eye on the authors creating the Bible studies. If I can find inspiration in fog and spiderwebs shouldn't I be able to find something new about God in even the things that seem shallow to me?

Here's kind of what brought this on, I'll give you one of those overly familiar verses:

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Most little kids I know don't object because I don't use the right version of the Bible or sing "I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N" rather than "Father Abraham." (If you're that little kid you're obnoxious. Don't take it personally. I was probably that little kid.) But also, key word: Humble. It's probably about time to start humbling myself and not think "Why is this guy teaching us a lesson we could learn in fifth grade Sunday school?" and start thinking "Why is God sending me this lesson?" He does have a lot better grasp of my maturity level, after all.