It’s been a while…

I realize that it has been a while since I posted. There are a few people who read the blog regularly so I know I’ve kinda disappointed you. The truth is, I’ve been rethinking things. I went back and read a lot of the stuff I wrote and wanted to do a major overhaul. Of course, then I realized it’s just a blog! Due to a few classes that I took in my last year of university (*sigh*), I started thinking about the nature of ‘art’ and it’s role in our culture. I started to think more about Christianity’s relationship to culture. Christianity has a bit of a PR issue (a term that only our culture could appreciate) in western culture. Gone are the glory days of western domination.

Long story short, I decided to start a new blog. Soundtrack to My Thoughts was an experiment in writing for me. Some friends and strangers seemed to enjoy the stuff that I was writing about, so I guess I passed the test. My new blog is basically an expansion of this one. I like to explore cultural themes, especially when these themes are discussed through ‘art.’

It’s officially up and running, so check out High Thoughts on Low Art.

Jesus

Jesus is likely the most famous guy in history. Though Christians are the official followers of Jesus all the major religions seem to recognize him as somebody important. Even non-religious people like him. If you know a bit about Jesus then you’ll love this video. If you know nothing about him check it out anyway… I’m sure you’ll find something interesting.

The Death of Death.

Poetry used to freak me out. And it pretty much still does. I just don’t get it. I have had some really good professors that have helped me understand a few poems. Now I’ve got a lot more appreciation for poetry! I have stumbled across a few poems that I really like. They just have a way of taking topics that I already know about and describing them in interesting ways.

Death is something I’ve thought about a bit… ok quite a bit!

John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10 is an awesome poem about death. I’ve posted the text below and also a video of somebody reading the poem. The reading is a little freaky but he does a better job than I could!

Check out the lyrics and think about them a bit.

Holy Sonnet 10

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

 

Poem from www.poetryfoundation.org

I love this poem so much because I think it basically captures the Christian idea about death. John Donne was a Christian and so it’s no surprise that this poem reflects the ideas that it does. The odd thing is that Christians don’t always seem to think about death as Donne does.

Notice how Donne personalizes death. He talks to death as if it can actually hear him. It’s not that death is really a person, it just makes for a more interesting way to talk about it; or talk to it. I think Donne has a healthy view of death. The poem opens with him rebuking death. People are so afraid of death. Should death be proud? Is it a powerful enemy? Some have called it mighty and dreadful but that isn’t true. When death strikes it thinks that it has killed somebody. But according to Donne, it isn’t so.

How can Donne think this? Why aren’t dead people dead? Because though their bodies have died they still live on. Their souls have survived deaths ‘mighty’ blow. Of course Donne has a very Christian view of death. People don’t just disappear when they die. Dead Christians have hope beyond the grave.

Death is a slave. Isn’t that great? I love that line – Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men. Death has no real power of it’s own. It relies on chance and wars and murders to get the job done. In a sense it relies on the very people that it wants to kill to do the killing. Pathetic!

I find all this exciting to think about but it’s the last two lines that give me the chills.

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

For Christians death is but mere ’sleep.’ When we wake eternally there’ll be no more death. But how is this so? Because death will be dead. The death of death; that is like ultimate death.

Christians are quite confident about all this. We will wake eternally. Death will die. How could all this be true? How can it possibly be? The early Christian writings (the New Testament of the Bible) say that the death that Jesus died on the cross was actually a victory. A Victory!? Yeah, a Victory. Don’t get me wrong though. The early Christians weren’t creative enough to think this up on their own. When Jesus had been buried they thought that he was good as dead. He and all his followers were Jews so they had some sort of expectation of life after death but they didn’t expect what actually happened.

Jesus came back from the dead. Body and all! He made it clear (and the church has always thought) that though he was killed he actually won a victory for us. He overcame death and it’s power over us. Check out the gospel of John for an account of Jesus’ life and death… and life.

Here is a video of somebody reading Holy Sonnet 10.

Below are a few interesting quotes from Jesus’ friends.

• “For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’” (From 1 Corinthians 15 Written by Paul who met Jesus after Jesus had been raised from the dead)