Austin singer/song writer Nate Navarro (formerly of Wide Awake) will be releasing his first solo album in the Fall. Broken Becomes Beautiful narrates the story of a sinner deeply acquainted with grace and the mission of God. Nate’s emotive, gritty lyrics push through the strings to remind us of an authentic and stirring faith, drawing us back the the simplicity of the gospel–we are more broken that we dare admit but in Jesus more accepted than we could ever imagine. Check out his MySpace page and stream some of his new songs.
Category: Gospel and Culture
Archaeological Stone: Gabriel's Revelation
UPDATE: Ben Witherington weighs in on the find.
The NY Times released an article today that discusses the impact of a new archaeological find, a large stone that bears hebrew script describing a messianic figure who would die and rise again three days later. If authentic, this will provide unique 1st C B.C. Jewish evidence for messianic death-resurrection:
A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
Ironically, Jewish scholars are saying this should shake the foundations of Christianity; however, it seems to me that in only strengthens the already Jewish-rooted faith:
“This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.”
It is unclear to me how this should shake the foundations of the Christian faith. After all, Jesus himself referred to the Jewish prophet Jonah’s experience of being in the belly of a whale for three days as a type of his own death-resurrection (Luke 11;29-32). Jesus called it the “sign of Jonah” which pointed to Jesus as something “greater than Jonah.”
Another Jewish reading:
“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”
The apostles claimed very similar things; however, in their account of Jesus death the connect Jesus death with redemption for Israel, through the forgiveness of sins, which was also extended to the Gentiles:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:36-38)
If this stone is authentic, then I see no reasons why Christians should be alarmed. Rather, it is further evidence of Augustine’s maxim: “The New is in the Old contained but the Old in the New explained.” What we need is a whole Bible theology, not just a Jewish or Christian reading, an Old versus New testament approach.
Urbanolatry: Repenting to Learn from the Country
Much has been made of the “City” of late. On the global scale, over half of the world’s population inhabits cities and urban migration is on the rise. Stateside, burgeoning New Urbanism coupled with a minority of urban-focused evangelicals is generating a growing interest in urban life. The new urban mantra is: “live, work, and play in the city.” Austin is on its way to creating this kind of downtown environment.
I am definitely for the city. I really enjoy living in the pulse of the city–the community, the culture, the crud. It is enlivening and alarming, a reminder that heaven has not yet quite become earth! It’s also a great opportunity to participate in renewing and redeeming the brokenness of the city. As pastor Austin City Life, I get to redemptively engage the peoples and cultures of Austin with a missionally-minded community. Yet, in all of this urban living, working, redeeming, and playing, I sense a certain city-olatry, the worship of the city. People love their cities, even to a fault. Certain evangelicals have become so city-focused that concern for rural areas is falling to the wayside. Some have even argued that the expansion of urban slums is a positive economic development (and maybe it is), but in all this urbanolatry we do well to pause and learn from the rural, from the culture of the country.
In his thoughtful essay on tobacco, Wendell Berry lists the benefits of tobacco production. Among them is the practice of “swapping work.” Tobacco, Berry points out, is a very “sociable crop,” one that calls upon the entire community for help in the setting, cutting, stripping and harvesting of tobacco. He comments:
At these times, neighbors helped each other in order to bring together the many hands that lightened work. Thus, these times of hardest work were also times of big meals and much talk, storytelling and laughter.
I was struck by what we can learn from this country culture, from tobacco harvesting outside city limits. In the city, especially among knowledge workers, when a workload increases community declines. People buckle into the cubicle or office for days, only to emerge an angry, tired mess. Berry recounts a community increase with hard work, more laughter and meals. Urban work deadlines bring about despair, less meals, less sleep, and less time at home with the family. Far from enriching community, urban work isolates individuals from co-workers and families.
It would appear that the city has much to learn from the country. Perhaps some repentance from urbanolatry is in order. A little humble pie for us urban dwellers and an opportunity to digest some rural wisdom, “work swapping” could take us a long way in cultivating community, in renewing the city.
Congress Investigating T.V. Evangelists
Finally, Congress is busting down on T.V. Evangelists that pimp the gospel for financial gain. Check out this video that covers the likes of Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn.