rwren

Kindred Soul-Singer

July 3, 2013 rwrenLeave a comment

I had the privilege of meeting my musical inspiration last weekend in Carrolton, Texas. It was not in a smoke and lights filled arena, but rather a modest church setting with a handful of devoted followers. I’m sure Mr. Duncan would have preferred a bigger crowd to play to, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I was honored to get the rare opportunity to not only meet my “mentor”, but to hang out with him for a few minutes and tell him how much I appreciated his ministry and how it inspires me to this day. I’ve been a fan since 1985 and 15 albums later, I find myself to be a kindred spirit as i get to know more about him. The lyrics of one of his signature songs, “Mr. Bailey has a Daughter” are reminiscent of my own past… I can’t help but share some of the parallels.

According to the song, Bryan tells his autobiography of a “lower middle class American preacher’s kid” whose dad pastored a small Pentecostal church

(mine was the story of a lower middle class American music director’s kid from a small baptist church)

Bryan was “born on Saturday and in church on Sunday and he guarantees he was never late because mom was the organ player and the Sunday school teacher, while he took up the offering –they would always make him give it back”

(myself? I was born on Friday, and most likely in church a week from Sunday, and we were never late because I was the piano player who played DURING the offering)

He goes on… “Like most people, over the years. I got used to sayin’ and doin’ all the right things, whether I believed it or not….Cause if I didn’t I had the largest gathering of elderly ladies ever to act upon their moral obligation to report everything I ever said or did.”

(me? …ditto…my Mema was the primo elderly lady who set me straight)

Then Bryan has an epiphany of sorts… “So, you can understand why I loved goin’ to the youth conventions, ’cause it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt there were girls goin’ to church who were under sixty-five years of age. And suddenly there she was, fourth row back, on the left, in the choir, the absolute dream of every kid ever to seek permission to borrow the family car!”

That choir loft dream was Mr. Bailey’s daughter, and likewise for me there were monthly youth rallies and my own version of Mr. Bailey’s daughter.

I’ve learned a few other things about Bryan recently. He went to Bible college, as did I. Rumor has it he might have even sung a little “southern gospel”, as did I. It seems we both left our southern gospel roots to explore other music styles. He became a recording artist, and I eventually became a worship leader. Oh, and we both play the keys, and just enough of the guitar to say “I play the guitar”.

I’ve followed Bryan’s career from vinyl (I have one he signed when I met him at the since defunct Joshua’s Christian store in the early 90’s) to cassettes, to CDs, and to digital downloads. I could never had predicted 20 years ago that Bryan’s entire discography would eventually be on my person at all times! (Some day, my dream is to play a music set with Bryan, and if you’re reading this Bryan – I’ll be your econo-band anytime you need me). I’ve stuck with him during his leaner years, and his personal struggles which he has been so transparent about over the past decade. I not only admire his talent of prolific songwriting, but am soberly appreciative of the genuine life experiences which mark these remarkable labor-fruits. Indeed, in this day of praise and worship emphasis, Bryan Duncan is true to his musical roots and more importantly to the One who planted him in the funky-bluesy-soulful soil of the past few decades. I’m grateful for his talent, his authenticity, and his faithfulness to his God. Most of all, I’m inspired as Bryan Duncan never ceases to cultivate the gifts he’s been given in the life he’s been given by the God who has Bryan where he wants him. Planted. Rooted. Fruit-bearing. Blooming all over!

If you’re late to the game, please do yourself a favor and obtain Bryan’s latest album, Conversations. You can order a CD or download it here. Enjoy!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/july-conversations

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bryanduncan1

Dad of Steel

June 16, 2013 rwrenLeave a comment

The smoke-permeated backyard patio is the “Fortress of Solitude” for the hero known as “Dad”. In fact, nothing says “dad” like the smells of charcoal, fire, and frankfurters. Whereas the kitchen is a mom’s castle and all peasants are banished from her space (until it’s time to load the dishwasher) the grilling area is the original man-cave where the resident dad attempts to perfect his craft. For years, he toils in the heat, one Texas summer after another in pursuit of the holiest grail of them all, the steak or burger cooked to perfection. He employs all the resources he is afforded but often finds frustration in the coals that won’t light up without a gallon of jet fuel poured on them. Eventually he gives in to the propane which seems a flawless technique, only to learn the 15.00 lesson of failing to shut the valve on the tank. Indeed, grilling is his kryptonite.

Throughout the years, he visits other worlds whose resident dads grill their own super-burgers. He takes what he learns from them, but his results are an accumulation of hockey puck patties and ones shaped like the state of Louisiana. Fortunately, he knows he can always fall back on his signature dish, the fail-safe, the hot dog. Franks are forgiving as they cook evenly and quickly. He can feed 10 people for roughly 3 bucks without the fear of sending them to the hospital. Of course, he’s not invulnerable. There’s always the possibility of clumsily tipping over the grill and watching 16 franks fall to their deaths as hot coals rain down upon them. Though Dad escapes 3rd degree burns, his heart is singed. He groans in agony if for a moment, shakes his head in self-blame, but shakes it off altogether. There’s no time to cry! People are arriving and another fire must be started! Replacement franks must be secured! Another 3 bucks must be spent! Our hero must rise from the ashes of coal and processed meat and come to the rescue! “To the Dad-mobile!..the store….back to the Dad-mobile, and back to the fortress!……must feed the hungry…must grill!”

The answer to a lie

April 26, 2013 rwrenLeave a comment

In “Mere Christianity”, C.S. Lewis takes us to the Garden of Eden and the place in history where mankind fell from God’s grace. It was at this point where, as the Genesis 3 narrative goes, the Serpent (Satan) enters the scene and delivers the great lie. As Lewis explains, “What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’ – could set up on their own as if they had created themselves – be their own masters – invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God.” In summary it was a belief that God wasn’t good enough (even though good is derivative of His name), and that God could not be trusted to determine what was good for them. The Hebrew word for God in Genesis 1 is Elohim which describes Him as the Creator and Judge of all things. In fact, this name makes perfect sense as we read the rhythmic words in Genesis 1 at the end of each creation day, “and God saw that it was good”. In other words, God judged His creation to be good. Later, in Genesis 2, God even judges what is “not good” – the fact that man is alone – and this results in the creation of woman. Subsequently, he joins them in holy matrimony and sanctions the first marriage, and in doing so, demonstrates what he judges to be good.

Defamation to Destruction

Essentially, Satan defamed the very name of God – Elohim – the creator and judge of all – and portrayed God as incompetent in determining what is good for his creation. (I believe this is why the Bible puts great emphasis on the name of the Lord.) And “Out of that hopeless attempt (to be god), Lewis continues, “has come nearly all that we call human history- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery -the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

God had instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and it was this simple command they failed to obey because they believed the lie. When we examine their disobedience, there is a human tendency to become pragmatic here. We might be tempted to think that the tree in the “midst of the garden” was inherently dangerous – that it had some sort of magical powers -and that God was issuing a warning against it. We should resist this temptation in order to see what’s happening here. God had put the first humans to the test by allowing the Serpent to tempt them, but He wasn’t testing their ability to obey, He was testing their belief! They heard the lie, believed it, and disobeyed and this cycle has continued “ad nauseam” throughout human history. Today we still listen to the Serpent’s two-lies-in-one solution for a God who doesn’t know what’s good for his creation, is for us to manufacture our own happiness by enticing us to focus on our inherent goodness. This futile endeavor began as a bite of fruit, but it is far more complex now. This self-help is played out over and over in every aspect. Rather than believe what God said about the goodness of his creation and how he designed it to function, we have believed we are good on our own and we know best about how things should work. James 1:14-15 describes this cycle in this way. “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” In short, we follow our desires – what appears to us as “good” – instead of believing what God has created and judged to be good. When James wrote this, he might well have been thinking about Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” The Genesis 3 narrative continues on to show how Eve trusted her own desires above God’s Word which in turn led to the sin resulting in death not only for her, but for all of mankind. You can see this played out not only throughout all of scripture, but in any history textbook, newspaper, or news website. We see the sins (attempts at securing our own happiness),and we could never name them all here. In reality, every sin is symptomatic of the sin-disease which is at its root is unbelief in the very Name of God/His goodness. There are many band-aids for the wounds in our society such as self-help, self-esteem, increased education, increased legislation, better ideals, or better politicians. But the cure is not born of our ingenuity. The answer comes from outside of our depraved self-righteous wills. It stands to reason that if our problems began with a lie about God, the only solution is to turn back the lie with the truth.

The Answer

God, our perfect all-knowing, all-powerful, creator and judge of all good things condescended from lofty heights of unfathomable beauty to become one of us. He was born in a barn with dirty animals, lived a sinless life obedient to the Father to the point of death. There is no other image which better refutes the lie of the Serpent than that of a crucified Elohim. When the Christ is seen hanging from a Roman crucifix, blood flowing from his sinless body, and the pure injustice of it all causes the Father to turn his back from the spectacle, it’s the greatest statement of finality and truth the world has ever witnessed. This Answer was here before we dared pose the question. We are here because of it and designed to live by it. Believing anything else will not bring happiness. It can only lead us to ruin. Lewis says, “Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it it not there. There is no such thing.”

That’s an answer we can all live by.