On the Origins of Lent by Tim LeCroy

Originally published here: https://pastortimlecroy.com/2013/02/20/on-the-origins-of-lent/

Every year as the season of Lent begins there are a variety of essays, articles, posts, and tweets about Lent and its observance. This season may be foreign to many people, whether they are Christians or not, so there are inevitably questions about what this season is and what it is for. If you are looking to learn more about the season of Lent, especially how it originated, you came to the right place.

Additionally, In the world I inhabit there are annual conversations about whether Lent should or shouldn’t be practiced since it is a Roman Catholic invention and Reformed Protestants should not engage in Roman Catholic practices. The problem with this line of thinking is that Lent is not a Roman Catholic invention. Lent is an ancient Christian practice whose roots trace back as far as we have historical evidence to trace them. Thus, rejecting Lent due to its associations with Roman Catholicism is faulty reasoning.

This post is a part of these ongoing discussions. In it I want to give some foundational information about the origins of Lent and also to put forth a certain argument for the practice of Lent by way of exploring its history. As I am a credentialed historical theologian, this historical theological exploration is both my specialty and my passion. Therefore in this post I would like to answer one question: What are the historical origins of Lent: how far back does the observance of Lent go, and what, if anything, can we say about ancient Lenten practices?

Lenten Origins Found in Holy Week

The origins of the season of Lent go as far back as the mid second century. While the 40 day penitential season cannot be traced further back than the early 4th c., that season developed from earlier, shorter, preparatory fasts that preceded Easter. In several sources, including the Didascalia Apostolorum, The Apostolic Tradition, and a Festal Letter by Dionysius of Alexandria, we find that there was a one, two, or six day preparatory fast leading up to Easter, depending on the time and location. This places the practice of preparatory fasting as early as the first half of the third century (200-250 AD). If these sources mention those seasons as established practices, then it seems safe to say that the origins of these practices would stretch further into the latter half of the second century, perhaps even further.

From Holy Week to Quadragesima

By the early 4th century, this six day preparatory fast had become Holy Week and the penitential period was extended to 40 days symbolizing the fasts of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. We see this in several prominent examples.

The first of these examples is St. Athanasius (c. 297-373 AD). Athanasius is an early church father who is held in high regard by all Christians. There are two main reasons for this respect. First of all, Athanasius is considered to be the champion of Nicene orthodoxy against the early heresy of Arianism, which taught that Jesus was not God but the highest of all created beings. Athanasius was present at the Council of Nicaea (from which we have been bequeathed the ancient and venerable Nicene Creed), and he continued to fight for the orthodox view of the Trinity and the deity of Christ throughout his life, suffering much on account of the faith including two separate exiles from his pastoral see.

The second reason we revere Athanasius is because of his famous 39th Festal Letter written to his parishioners in Alexandria in the year 367. This letter is precious to all Christians because this letter is the first articulation of the entire New Testament canon. This letter should be further appreciated by Protestants because in it he excluded as noncanonical the deuterocanonical books, which are commonly call the Apocrypha. For this reason, Athanasius is known to some as the Father of the Biblical Canon.

While the above two facts are widely known and celebrated, what is not commonly understood is that Athanasius was an ardent promoter of the adoption of the season of Lent. In his 2nd Festal Letter of 330 A.D., some 37 years before the more famous one just mentioned, Athanasius wrote this to his flock:

We begin the fast of forty days on the 13th of the month Phamenoth (Mar. 9). After we have given ourselves to fasting in continued succession, let us begin the holy Paschal week on the 18th of the month Pharmuthi (April 13). Then resting on the 23rd of the same month Pharmuthi (April 18), and keeping the feast afterwards on the first of the week, on the 24th (April 19), let us add to these the seven weeks of the great Pentecost, wholly rejoicing and exulting in Christ Jesus our Lord, through Whom to the Father be glory and dominion in the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.

Given this evidence, if one was so inclined one might make the argument that the observance of Lent was older than the completion of the biblical canon. While I personally would not go so far as to make this particular argument, I would point out that those who lay claim to Athanasius and his Festal letter as proof for the biblical canon might also take a look at an earlier letter of his that shows his support for keeping the 40 day fast of Lent. The fact that both the fine tuning of the canon and the development of the church year were occurring at the same exact time is notable.

While this quotation is a significant piece of historical evidence, we have to be careful not to overstate its reach. Though this quote reveals to us Athanasius’ desire for a 40 day fast preceding Easter we also find from later letters that this was a change of practice in Alexandria that he was attempting to introduce there. Yet from other sources, including his letter to Bishop Serapion, we find that at least by 340 AD the practice was more widespread. So it seems safe to say that the by the early to mid 4th century, the practice of observing a 40 day fast in preparation for Easter was becoming the norm.

Lent in the Council of Nicaea

The prevalence of Lent by the mid-fourth century is supported by evidence from the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the church that laid down for all Christians the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. While the Council did not mandate the observance of Lent, it did acknowledge the existence of a 40 day preparatory liturgical season preceding Easter. In Canon 5 the council decreed that local synods should meet twice a year, “One before Lent (Greek: tessarakosta; Latin: quadragesima; literally: 40 days), so that all pettiness being set aside, the gift offered to God may be unblemished.” This piece of evidence seems significant, because it confirms that Athanasius’ practice was not isolated in 330AD. If the Nicene Fathers referred to Lent in their deliberations, it must have been a pretty widely accepted practice.

Thus, not only was Lent being developed at the same time as the finalizing of the biblical canon, we also find in that era the settling of the doctrine of the Trinity. Note that neither of these pillars, Trinity and Canon, are explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Yet both can be definitively said to be ancient determinations of the church, articulating what the scriptures had already clearly taught. Should the development of the Church Year also fall under that banner, a pillar of Christian practice laid down by the church in the 4th century as an articulation of clear biblical teaching? I would argue so.

Creed, Canon, and Church Year

In conclusion, what are we to take away from this historical evidence? I argue that we should take from it that Lent is a very ancient and universal practice of the Christian Church. Evidence for it is as ancient as evidence for the biblical canon and our most important statement of Trinitarian orthodoxy. Nevertheless, I am not arguing that keeping Lent is as important as the canon of the New Testament or the belief in the Trinity, and neither am I arguing that Lent is as old as these things. This is because Athanasius’ 39th Festal letter is not the origin of the biblical canon. This concept existed far before the year 367 and was held, evidently, by the first Christian disciples of the 1st century. Likewise, neither was the Trinity invented at the council of Nicaea. Trinitarian belief was a part of the Christian faith from it’s earliest days after the resurrection of Jesus. Lent is a 4th century creation. Yet, as we have seen, its roots go back into the second century and, as I have argued elsewhere, the church year itself has clear biblical justification.

Therefore, while the observance of Lent is not as ancient and venerable as the other two of the pillars of our faith it is nevertheless an ancient and respectable practice. Moreover, we see in Athanasius, the most prominent champion of both those pillars, an ardent champion and supporter of the adoption of Lent. If you hold St. Athanasius in high regard, consider this adjuration:

But I have further deemed it highly necessary and very urgent to make known to you that you should proclaim the fast of forty days to the brethren, and persuade them to fast; to the end that, while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing-stock, as the only people who do not fast, but take our pleasure in those days… But, O, our beloved, whether in this way or any other, exhort and teach them to fast forty days. For it is even a disgrace that when all the world does this, those alone who are in Egypt, instead of fasting, should find their pleasure.

This is part one of a series. Part two can be read here. Part three, here.

Sources: The Origins of the Liturgical Year, by Thomas J. Talley; The Second Festal Letter of Athanasius, accessed here; The 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius, accessed here; Athanasius’ April 340 letter to Serapion found in Les lettres festales de saint Athanase, edited by L. Lefort, pp 654-656; The Canons of the Council of Nicaea, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils by Norman P. Tanner.

Originally published here: https://pastortimlecroy.com/2013/02/20/on-the-origins-of-lent/

Music Resources for Lent

Music Resources for Lent, Part 1: Choral Music

My wife sometime accuses me of starting to prepare music for Lent and Holy Week the day after Christmas. She says that because it has been true more than once.

I had the opportunity to meet many musicians and artists at the Liturgy Collective conference last fall. So, this year I decided to get direct input from other musicians for music that they use in their churches that have become favorites for them. I was looking for service music, congregational songs and hymns, and choral music. I was hoping for some lesser-known pieces—both newly composed but also older pieces that were new to me.

The Liturgy Collective has graciously allowed me to share these discoveries in the hopes that it might be helpful to others as you pace through this coming season of reflection, repentance, submitting to the disciplines of grace, and spiritually preparing for the season of Easter.

 Since choral pieces take longer to prepare, I will start with various choir works that have been helpful in our context as well as suggestions from Samuel Metzger and Luke Brodine. These are a mixture of published choral works, public domain, and original. Where able to do so, I’ve included downloads for free use:
 

From Deep Distress and Troubled Thoughts, arr by Alice Parker
A well-suited Southern Harmony tune for choir that can work well with choirs of all sizes.

To Dust by Karen Marrolli
Very accessible and beautiful piece for Ash Wednesday or Lent. Incorporates the words of the Kyrie throughout and at the end.

At the Foot of the Cross by Susan and Lee Dengler

Very appropriate for Good Friday:

At the foot of the cross, there is sorrow.
At the foot of the cross, there is love,
Flowing down together in a river of salvation,
Covering all, covering all, covering all the world with grace.

When Jesus Wept by William Billings
Effective but simple 4-part canon that can be utilized a number of ways including placing sections around the worship space.

When Jesus Wept/Come and Mourn with Me Awhile by Eleanor Daley
Traditional texts with new music perfect for Maundy Thursday.

All You Who Pass By and For These Things I Weep by Greg Wilbur
Very short pieces or responses for Maundy Thursday with texts from Lamentations 1.

Behold the Lamb of God by Healey Willan
A classic, accessible, and effective short piece for Lent and Holy Week.

Bread of the World with text by Reginald Heber and music by Greg Wilbur
Medium-length piece for communion or Lent.

This is the Night, Dear Friends by Peter Abelard and C.H.H. Parry
An older but perhaps lesser-known piece for Maundy Thursday with a newer translation.

Kyrie for 4-part choir with divisi by Greg Wilbur
A short work with close harmonies but simple vocal parts.

These next two could be sung by Congregation or Choir:

Father of Heaven, traditional German tune
I’ve use this at the beginning of a Good Friday service as a trinitarian start to the observance of the crucifixion.

Alone Thou Goest Forth, traditional with adjustments
I’ve used this traditional text and tune (Bangor) as both a congregational piece and with a choral arrangement with orchestrations. In both, I nudged the harmony to modal to more aptly fix the text.

And finally, better-known works arranged for choir.

 Is He Worthy by Andrew Peterson, arr. by Russell Mauldin

Rock of Ages by James Ward, arr by Lloyd Larson

I Know that My Redeemer Lives arr by Hal Hopson

 Hopefully these ideas will help with choral planning in this next season (or for next year!). We will look at some ideas for congregational hymns and songs next.

Music Resources for Lent, Part 2: Congregational Songs

One of my desires and hopes in talking with other music leaders was to discover newly composed music from other congregations. I am delighted to have found several songs and hymns which I hope to incorporate over time.

I am grateful to Rachel Wilhelm, Matt Mazzoni, Jacob Tilton, Nathan George, and Matthew Montgomery for pointing me towards, and suggesting, these following songs and hymns:

Though the World by Gina Tuck and Sherdonna Denholm
Both lyrically and musically, this is a gripping folk-ballad that focuses on the temptations of our idols and the work of redemption through the cross.

We Sing Thy Praise, Exalted Lamb with text by Joseph Hart and music by Jacob Tilton
Stately, reflective, and contemporary, you need to check this one out.

Lord, When We Sinned Against You by Peter Leach and Nathan Clark George
Approachable, folk-like melody with rich theological text.

Go to Dark Gethsemane with text by James Montgomery and music by Rachel Wilhelm
I am planning on introducing this one this year. A somber, mournful, and pointed text and setting that is effective for Lent or Holy Week.

Lord Jesus, Think on Me with text by Synesius of Cyrene to an adapted version of Southwell
I adapted this tune from the 16th c. to translate the melody into a more accessible form so that these wonderful words would once again breathe life.

Jesus, Blessed Lord and Savior in this newer setting works well as a communion piece or as a reflection for Holy Week.

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted (traditional version) is a classic hymn for Holy Week. In my context, I lowered the key to make it a bit darker in tone and removed some of the accidentals. When I use this for a Good Friday service, I often leave off verse 4 since Good Friday leaves us in the time between the death and resurrection of Christ.

In the previous post, I mentioned This is the Night, Dear Friends, Father of Heaven, and Alone Thou Goest Forth as hymns that could be done by choir or congregation. Matt Mazzoni suggested these lesser-known texts set to familiar melodies.

Psalm 32 from The Psalter 1912 sung to the Passion Chorale (“O Sacred Head”)

The Royal Banners Forward Go with text by Venatius H.C. Fortunatus sung to Hamburg, by Lowell Mason (“When I Survey”)

Speaking of When I Survey, Luke Brodine has a nice arrangement with a Celtic feel that might provide a nice variation in your context.

Next post we will look at some service music ideas and explore a few reasons why you should consider these types of short responses in your worship service.

 Music Resources for Lent, Part 3: Service Music

I realize that many churches may not use service music in their contexts. Firstly, let me share some reasons why you might want to incorporate these shorter sung responses.

1.     Since there is a dialogical component to worship, short service pieces allow for the congregation to respond to particular moments in prayerful unity.

2.     Short pieces can move the congregation to confession, communion, benediction, etc. in effective ways that weave into the flow of spoken and sung service components.

3.     Repeated liturgical musical pieces can provide anchors in the service seasonally, with a sermon series, or even a few weeks at a time.

4.     Singing together more effectively unites the congregation than listening or spoken responses.

5.     Service pieces can also encourage the congregation to sing introits, benedictions, and other responses in contexts where there is no choir or the choir sings seasonally.

6.     While one can use newly composed works, a verse or two from known songs can also be highly effective.

So despite the truth of #6, I’m going to mention a few newer service-type pieces for your perusal. I can save a list of familiar pieces that can be used in shorter forms for another time.

Rachel Wilhelm shared her settings of a Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Kyrie from Requiem. These could be sung by choir or congregation:

Holy (Sanctus) is a more contemplative setting.
Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) is somber but ends hopefully.
Lord, Have Mercy adds verse to the traditional text in a beautifully intense prayer of confession

I like fashion, I shared back with her my own settings of the Missa Brevis (Franklin Kyrie, Franklin Agnus Dei, Franklin Sanctus, and Franklin Gloria) which we use in various ways throughout the year. All four of these settings have linked melodic motifs and three employ antiphonal parts between men and women. Our congregation learned these quickly and have loved these as part of our liturgy.

Music Resources for Lent, Part 4: Cliff Notes Version and Highlights

If you only have a limited amount of time and just want the highlights from the entire article around Lent music resources, here they are in no particular order:

Congregational

Though the World by Gina Tuck and Sherdonna Denholm
Both lyrically and musically, this is a gripping folk-ballad that focuses on the temptations of our idols and the work of redemption through the cross.

Go to Dark Gethsemane with text by James Montgomery and music by Rachel Wilhelm
A somber, mournful, and pointed text and setting that is effective for Lent or Holy Week.

Lord Jesus, Think on Me with text by Synesius of Cyrene to an adapted version of Southwell
I adapted this tune from the 16th c. to translate the melody into a more accessible form so that these wonderful words would once again breathe life.

Jesus, Blessed Lord and Savior in this newer setting works well as a communion piece or as a reflection for Holy Week.

Alone Thou Goest Forth in this tonally modified version.

Choral

To Dust by Karen Marrolli
Very accessible and beautiful piece for Ash Wednesday or Lent.

At the Foot of the Cross by Susan and Lee Dengler
Very appropriate for Good Friday.

When Jesus Wept by William Billings
Effective but simple 4-part canon that can be utilized a number of ways.

Bread of the World with text by Reginald Heber and music by Greg Wilbur
Medium-length piece for communion or Lent.

Kyrie for 4-part choir with divisi by Greg Wilbur
A short work with close harmonies but simple vocal parts.  

In Defense of Lent by Greg Wilbur

This article was originally published here: https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/defense-lent

If we would live aright it must be by the contemplation of Christ’s death.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon

When Protestants think about spring holidays and festivities, we too often think only of Easter as an isolated Sunday that comes at some unexpected date that changes every year. The great High Holy Feast day of the Church thus pops in and out of the calendar with little preparation and fanfare. As such, it is quite possible to arrive at church one Sunday for Easter without any of the preparation that Lenten observance or Holy Week services could provide. 

C.S. Lewis declared, “Jesus has forced open a door that had been locked since the death of the first man.  He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death.  Everything is different because he has done so.”  Easter is a grand and glorious annual reminder of the cost of our sin and disobedience and the great glory, provision and victory of Christ. It is appropriate that if we celebrate Resurrection Day, we should do so wholly and with preparation.

The period of Lent extends from Ash Wednesday to Easter.  While on the calendar this period lasts forty-six days, Lent only officially lasts forty days since Sundays are not included.  All Sundays are essentially “mini Easters” and are exempt from this period defined by fasting and introspection, repentance and the pursuit of holiness.

The forty days of Lent are symbolic of the forty days spent by Christ in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.  Other instances of forty days in Scripture include the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai, the forty days and nights of rain during Noah’s flood, the forty days Elijah walked to Mount Horeb, and the forty years the Hebrews spent wandering in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

Is there Biblical warrant to keep seasons and feasts?  What would be the purpose in keeping Lent? How can Protestants prevent the observance of Shrovetide from becoming an abused and works oriented season?

Scripture enjoins us over and over to prepare our hearts and our lives for the Day of the Lord.  There is strong Biblical warrant for seasons of prayer and fasting.  There is a rhythm and flow that the Lord God established and wove into the lives of the Hebrews. These patterns provide markers, Ebenezers, and reminders of God’s great goodness in the story of history.  Great is His faithfulness and His love endures forever. 

What would prevent us as Protestants from embracing a season of repentance, holiness and preparation? Certainly the season of Lent has been abused as a time for flippant works-righteousness; however, this does not need to be the case. What could Lent look like from a Protestant perspective?

The framers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism were well aware of not only man’s sin nature in transgressing the laws of God but also of the proclivity to not do those things to which He has called us. Sins of omission and commission. As they put it, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” It is that lack of conformity to the law of God that we most easily excuse and dismiss. After all, today I have not murdered anyone, used the name of God in vain, committed adultery, stolen property, etc. so I must be doing okay with the commandments. Again and again we are reminded that we may tithe our mint and dill and cumin but that we have neglected the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness (humility).

So in this time of Lent, what shall I give up to remind me of my fallen state and my need for forgiveness as I seek to become more holy? Chocolate? TV and mass media? How often do we try to affect holiness by screwing up our resolve, making promises, and trying to make it under our own power? To be sure, there is a place and call for fasting—from food, from situations, from elements of the world.

However, as Thomas Chalmers reminds us in his sermon, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” the rooting out of the sinful elements of the world is best accomplished by replacing that desire with something more powerful and desirable—the Gospel. Holiness is not just turning away from wickedness but rather it is the ontological declaration of righteousness in Christ manifested, and growing through, the disciplines of grace as a new affection. You can never replace something with nothing.

With that in mind, we can approach Lent by not being enamored by the idea of giving things up for Lent as much as adding on the disciplines of grace—prayer, fasting, meditating on the Word of God, gifts of mercy, the sacraments, the communion of the saints.

Thomas Chalmers also wrote:
“In bygone days when God’s covenant people sought to strengthen their piety, to sharpen their effectual intercessions, and give passion to their supplications, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When intent upon seeking the Lord God’s guidance in difficult after-times, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they were wont to express grief—whether over the consequences of their own sins or the sins of others—they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they sought deliverance or protection in times of trouble, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they desired to express repentance, covenant renewal, and a return to the fold of faith, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. Such is the call upon all who would name the Name of Jesus. Such is the ordinary Christian life.”

Clement of Alexandria wrote that, “For the sake of each of us He laid down His life—worth no less than the universe.  He demands of us in return our lives for the sake of each other.” As such, a Protestant observance of Lent should be a time of spiritual renewal and holiness as well as the overflow of faith in the good works for which we have been prepared. While in some ways Lent may appear as an artificial or extra-Biblical obligation, this is more a matter of perception rather than reality. As natural procrastinators, a declared season of repentance, examination and spiritual disciplines actually encourages us to do that which Scripture already enjoins us to do. As we lead towards Resurrection Day, preparation for Easter seems a natural and appropriate concern.  It is for this reason that Lent proceeds Easter—to provide this season and at this particular time. This is no artificial time of works righteousness, but rather a serious attempt to provide encouragement for spiritual disciplines and holiness.

It is with this mindset that we can readily embrace the season of Lent. As such, our celebration of Easter will be all the more glorious, intentional and momentous. May the Lord shape our affections in such a manner that we have fewer things in our lives from which to abstain!

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

—Martin Luther

Worship Leaders as Guardians of the Sacred Imagination

The following is transcribed from a talk given in Nashville, TN on October 2021 at the Liturgy Collective, where David was addressing how the work of worship leaders connects to the hope needed in our world today. First published on the Goldenwood website.

David Kim: What I want to do this morning is to take a step back and ask all of us, what are we doing as worship leaders? Do we even matter for our church and more than that, for our greater society? Because I think before we begin to understand what it is that God is calling us towards, you have to answer that question, “Does my work ultimately matter to God?” And I don’t mean that in a generic way, but I mean it in a very specific way—that you’d have clarity that your work matters to God in that it affects the larger world around you. Because sometimes as people who work in a church, we can feel like a hired hand and oftentimes, instead of being able to see the larger calling that God has given to us, we feel like a cog in a machine—undervalued and not really understood in what it is that we are trying to release into the world. So this morning I want to be able to help us take a step back and understand why your calling matters, not only in the context of the church, but what I want to argue this morning is that your ministry, your work, matters to our larger society, especially given where we are today. And so until we begin to understand how we as worship leaders can impact the larger society around us, I think our vision of our calling is going to be a little bit too small.

Where we are in our society right now, whatever news channel you turn on, there’s not a lot of optimism regarding our future. And I think people also don’t necessarily feel a great deal of agency right now, because they see a lot of institutions that they used to put their faith in—whether it’s government, whether it’s big companies, whether it’s the church—their faith in the ability of these organizations or companies or sectors to create change is waning. So we’re entering into a certain kind of danger zone, a bit of a downward spiral.

What I want to present to you is an exhortation to understand that as worship leaders, you have the ability to begin to move people toward a sense of hope about the future and a sense of agency that they can be part of creating change in this world. From a societal health perspective, from a sense of God’s calling upon our lives as a church to be salt and light in our society, to be a leavening influence in our world—this is such a key part of how we can begin to bring this greater blessing into the world around us. That instead of the myopia of seeing our work and our calling as being about how many people we can bless in this service, or how many people we can draw into our church, we need to begin to expand where we are as a society and see the calling that God gives His people to know the gospel empowers people towards great hope. And how are you going to do that? It’s by expanding the imagination of the people around us.

I want to present to you my thesis for this morning, it is that worship leaders are guardians of the sacred imagination, worship leaders are guardians of the sacred imagination. I want to unpack that, I want to unpack each word, because each word carries a lot of meaning. And I want to show you very clearly that this is not just you influencing the people that sit in your pews, but this is you influencing the larger world around you, changing the way that we think as a society from one of pessimism—that I have no ability to change this world that seems to be going in a bad direction—to one of hope—enlivening a people who feel not only a sense of agency but who are excited to go about their day to day life sensing that “I can create the kind of change that creates the future I am hoping for.” And to see how the worship time becomes a critical part of this.

So let me first start with this idea of the imagination, and imagination focuses on your calling as artists. As worship leaders, you are artists. And as we think about the work that sociologists have helped us understand—this is drawing from the work of Matt Stackhouse in his four volume book, God and Globalization—as sociologists have studied societies all over the world, they have found five basic spheres that constitute every enduring society. The first sphere is family. The second is the economic sphere. The third is the governmental sphere. The fourth is the art sphere. And the fifth is the sphere of religion. Every enduring society has these kind of basic building blocks; I call these sometimes the anatomy of a civil society or a healthy society.

And let me quickly go through this, that, as you think about a very basic or primitive society, you have families nurturing and caring for each other, and these families need to be able to survive. And so if you are a farmer, you look to your neighbor and your neighbor is a hunter, and you begin to create a very basic system of barter and exchange. I’ll give you wheat if you give me meat, and we all should do better as a result. That’s the start of a very basic economic structure. But invariably there are disagreements. The next season comes, and while I promised my neighbor a certain amount of wheat, I’m not able to actually make good on my promise. Yet I ate all the meat he gave me so I’m kind of, I’m kind of screwed at that moment; I’m fearing for my life. But if you have a governmental structure, I can go to a community elder and the elder says, “Okay, David, you didn’t make good on your promise but if you promise next season to give twice the amount, then we’ll have your neighbor promise not to kill you,” and I say, “I can live with that.” And I’m happy, I’m going home and I start to whistle a song, because I’m just so happy. This thing we call the arts, this music that I’m intuitively making comes out of me, flows out of us as human beings.

In that very basic and simple example, you can kind of see how these spheres begin to develop over time, and I would argue that this is the same expression of what we see God do in Genesis 1 in creation. Drawing upon the work of Bruce Waltke, he helps us understand the framework of the six days of creation where we see God creating these realms, these structures, within which creation is able to flourish. We as human beings do the same thing; we create structures—structures of family, economic structures, governmental structures, and structures of the arts—so that humanity can flourish all the more. And typically in every enduring society there’s some kind of religion that really shapes the way each of these spheres develop over time.

Why I bring this up is because I think people underestimate the critical importance of the arts. When you look at our society and times get tough, where does the funding always get cut? The arts, right. But sociologists have made clear that artists are a critical part to the health of any society.  There’s a lot of work that’s been done on this—Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of the Creative Class, K-Pop: the Rise of the Korean Music Industry—there are so many books that have shown that artists are actually the ones who allow so many of these other spheres to flourish. Can you imagine your household during this pandemic without Netflix? Think about that, like what…I mean, I guess there would be a lot of good things you could also be doing— [laughter]

When we think then of these spheres, each sphere in some way tangibly manifests an invisible reality. And that invisible reality—let’s call it essence—this essence is the defining aspect of that sphere, without which that particular sphere would cease to exist. So in the sphere of the family, nurture is its essence. A family that does not nurture its kids or one another will not survive very long. An economy that does not afford opportunity for its people will not stand very long. A government that does not exercise justice for its people will probably be overthrown in a matter of time, and religion that does not have true worship at the heart of it is a dead religion. And the essence of the arts is imagination. It’s bringing to life something that has yet to become tangibly evidenced in the world. Some people define the arts as seeing the unseen.

Each of these essences begins to affect the other spheres, meaning when you have families who know how to nurture their family well, that inevitably bleeds into the workplace, right? Because as you learn about sacrifice, about keeping a child alive, for example, you begin to develop certain virtues, certain capacities, certain aspects that then bleed into the ways you work with your co-workers. A certain humanity begins to flow in, full of empathy and understanding, as a result of what happens in the sphere of the home life.

And similarly, when the arts flourish, the imagination enters into all these other spheres and allows other areas of society to flourish. So for example, in the economic sphere—I don’t know how many of you are in finance, but one of the real wealth-generating concepts in the West has been applying imagination to how we think about capital. The development of ETFs, for example, the stock market as a whole, and more recently NFTs—non-fungible tokens—these are things that are expanding opportunity. How is that happening? It’s because there’s imagination that’s fueling it and as a result, these other fields begin to flourish.

So I wanted to take this first part to show you that the imagination is critical to the flourishing of our society. When imagination begins to atrophy, society begins to wane. And that’s why the work of artists is so important, and why it’s especially important for us, as a church, to begin to uphold artists and say that they are not a kind of ancillary benefit we have, but rather these are people we need to nurture and encourage and strengthen because they play such a critical role in our society.

We now take a step into the realm of the sacred. Why do I call you guardians of the sacred imagination? Because the imagination is not only for the flourishing of our society, the imagination is critical to the very gospel itself, because our salvation is by faith and faith alone—sola fide. And Hebrews teaches us that faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see, so faith without imagination does not exist because imagination enables you to see the unseen. This is the work of the gospel. The gospel is aligning your mind and your heart to the unseen realities that surround us every day, and a sacred imagination is one that has been received as a gift of the Holy Spirit who is now inspiring us to see something new in our lives and in the world around us. No eye has seen, no ear has heard the things that God has planned for His people. And then Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2 that it is through the Spirit that we now have the mind of Christ.

Let me just ask you this question, think about your future in 10 years. Imagine where you will be. Take about 30 seconds to do that, to imagine your future in 2031. What neurobiologists show us that’s interesting is that when you think about the future, the part of your brain that lights up is your past. There’s something about our biology that even when we think about the future, we have to access the past. We have no way of thinking about the future apart from the things that we have lived in our own lives, and so if you’ve had a pretty good life, you actually can imagine a pretty great future. But for those of us who have experienced trauma, what trauma does is it hardens that pathway. It says what you’ve known is the only thing that’s going to happen in the future, and trauma begins to undercut our ability to imagine other scenarios, other possibilities. For some of us, when we try to think about the future, because of past trauma we can’t. We don’t want to think about the future; we’re just trying to get through living day-to-day. But into that sad reality, here’s what the gospel does, it says: I will put my Spirit in you, and that Spirit will give you the very mind of Christ. You will have access to what no eye can see and no ear can hear. You will be able to see and hear and experience things that are literally from the future.

The beautiful passage of Isaiah 60 is all about that, a people in exile who have lost hope. All of a sudden God is saying, I’m going to speak to you a different imagination, something that is so far from your current experience of losing all that is familiar to you—your home, the things that you were used to growing up with and would call your culture, your people—these things have been slowly and very dramatically taken away. And into that reality God began to speak of a future that is to come, and it began to paint a different imagination for them: kings are bringing their treasures into this home.

Today, where is it that this sacred imagination gets cultivated? Where do people get a chance to access the reality that Christ has paid for? Christ has come, He has risen, and what? He is coming again. I think sometimes we focus so much on the reality that Christ has come and died and risen, which obviously is so foundational, but where we are right now in redemptive history is that we are looking forward to that last bit: Christ is coming again! He will return! And until our imagination begins to soak that in, what will reign in our lives are the things that we have experienced in our past. And sadly more and more, especially given the past 18 months, a lot of that will be the trauma of being separated.

I think we all understand the mental health statistics that are endemic in our world right now. And to imagine 10 years from now as we play this out, what we have experienced the past 18 months, how is that going to affect the psychology, the mental health of the entire world? Here is an opportunity for the church—just like God did throughout all the prophets—to say, in the midst of this horror, in the tragedy of exile, I am going to give you these amazing visions. Your young men will have visions, your old men will have dreams, and you’re going to be able to witness something of which no one has ever conceived.

Where is it in our society that people have the time and the space to be able to ponder anew what the Almighty will do? To be able to witness something because the Spirit of God is speaking to you something that you cannot see with your eyes, something that you can’t hear audibly, something that hits and pierces your heart so powerfully that tears stream down your face without you even recognizing what is happening? To be able to move from the left side of your brain that understands these propositional truths (to harken back to what Curt Thompson was saying), and then move to the right side because you are now beginning to perceive the truth and the beauty of what the gospel is presenting to us. And our whole bodies begin to light up, because we now understand that God is doing something new! That despite what we have experienced, there is a message of hope that the church has been entrusted with.

And this brings me to my final point: you are all guardians, you’re guardians. What’s a guardian? A guardian is a steward, someone who is entrusted with something precious. Think of guardians of children. You don’t own them. These aren’t yours, but you are entrusted with something so precious. And God’s calling is for you to be guardians of this trust—to echo the language of Paul to Timothy—to guard the trust of what the gospel has done, to begin to foster the sacred imagination of your people so that when they think about their work, when they think about going back to their job on Monday morning, when they think about the state of our society, that they would not go back to the lived experience of the past, but that they instead begin to live into the future, because the Holy Spirit is enabling them to see and hear and perceive.

And isn’t that the hope of the gospel? That we have the mind of Christ? That built into us and into the neurobiology within us we have been given a very different spirit—there is a Spirit that is giving our synapses a different pathway, a different opportunity to be able to think about our future with hope. To know that the lion and the lamb will lie down together. That these walls of hostility will be broken down. That the diversity and the treasures of the nations—nations that will stay intact—they will all bring their native treasures into New Jerusalem. And that there is a city whose streets are made of clear gold, and whose trees bear leaves for the healing of the nations.

You know, moving from the city to the suburbs in the last couple of years myself, I have grown in appreciation for what that passage in Revelation 21 with the trees whose leaves are for the healing of the nations is all about. I kind of saw that as almost a mystical reality, like what’s in those leaves that is injecting some kind of chemical or something into the city and bringing this healing? [laughs] And literally, it’s just a tree doing what trees are meant to do, to glorify God! When I moved back to the suburbs, after living in the city for a number of years, just the presence of trees doing what they do faithfully year in and year out, putting on new leaves, creating safety and refuge and beauty, changing colors as their true colors come out in the fall, and then dying again. That cycle brings a sense of healing. That’s New Jerusalem! Where all of creation will do what it was created to do, to glorify God, where all of our eyes now see! Faith has become sight.

And all this beauty that the New Testament harkens to from the prophetic texts, that is what we have to enrapture the minds of our people with and to give them the time, the space to allow the Spirit to speak to them. As guardians, that’s the trust that you have to be able to take within you every week—to know that this is the opportunity for the Spirit to speak into the lives of His people, this is the opportunity for the Shepherd to show them that He wants to shepherd His people. He wants to give them life-giving words that take them out of the trauma of the past and move them into the hope of the future, and to experience how that past trauma can be uniquely used by him to access a greater vision of that glorious and beautiful future. To see how the trauma has become the very pathway to seeing that greater beauty.

I remember when I first started to lead worship, the pastor told me, “Don’t lead with your guitar, David.” And I know a lot of you know what that means; we like to hide behind the guitar, there’s a certain safety having that guitar in front of us, especially if you don’t feel as competent in other areas of your ability, the guitar sometimes becomes a shield for you, and you learn how to lead, either through your guitar or through your voice, or through your music. What I am exhorting all of us together here this morning is not to lead with those things; lead with the Holy Spirit, because it’s the Holy Spirit who wants to give His people a different imagination! You can’t give people a different imagination—we’re caught up in our world—but we have the Spirit of God.

That was Paul’s message to the church in Corinth, so filled with division, so filled with strife, so filled with immorality that his message to them in the very beginning was that he did not come with power. He came with the Spirit. So as you lead, allow the Spirit to give to His people the mind of Christ. And that requires in a very practical way, time. Time for people to engage their imagination! So that instead of sitting in the pews almost in a passive way, you’re asking them, you’re prompting them, you’re inspiring them to actually activate this thing, this faculty that we call the imagination! You’re saying: Bring that here, because the Spirit of God needs to fill that! In the same way the Spirit of God has to fill our minds and our hearts and our emotions and sanctify all these things, He also has to sanctify and fill our imagination, because that’s the thing that will take a society from waning into one of flourishing and prosperity.

How do we begin to cultivate that? How does Scripture, and the beautiful prompts of Scripture and the beautiful lyrics of the songs that we have sung over the course of these past two days, how do we give people a little bit of space? How do we get people not lost in the mechanics of the music or in the presentation? How does that all go into the background? In the same way that a powerful technology is one that goes to the background, how is it that your music somehow fades to the background, so that what people don’t even think about are the particular notes, or what was done right or wrong, and rather what comes to the foreground is, I am hearing the voice of my shepherd. I’m hearing not only His voice, but there’s a song that I’m beginning to hear, the song He sings over me, that song He is placing within me, a New Song. How do you allow people then to bring that New Song into the world when they go back on Monday? Because God cares about the world that they’re going to enter into on Monday, whether it’s agriculture, finance, law, hospitality, business, education… All of these industries need new vision.

One of the things that I’ve been saying a lot and encouraging other people to say, especially during this time is, “Something new is happening!” And as guardians, to lead toward this— For people to wake up on Monday morning and say to themselves, “Something new is happening!” is so different from feeling that grind, that drudgery, that dread of, “Not this again and again!” But to be able to say in that same context, “God has placed a new song in my heart, and so I go in this morning with this conviction to begin to live into that new reality and allow the kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven.”