{"id":34416,"date":"2016-04-25T06:19:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T10:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=34416"},"modified":"2016-04-25T06:19:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T10:19:19","slug":"a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html","title":{"rendered":"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in particular those who wished they could have been there but were unable to. My notes and an outline of the service follow below the videos.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers, Part 2\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RRGEfCDKuoo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nOrder of Service \u2013 Crooked Creek Baptist Church \u2013 April 24th<\/sup>, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAnnouncements and Call to Worship<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nHymn: \u201cO Sacred Head Now Wounded\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflection 1: Preambles to the Psalms; Is all music sacred?; music and transcendence<\/u><\/p>\nReason for choice of starting hymn: it is probably thought of as \u201csacred music\u201d par excellence. It even has \u201csacred\u201d right there in the title. And yet the melody, composed by Hans Leo Hassler and published in 1601, was first connected with a secular love song, the title of which was \u201cMein G\u2019m\u00fct ist mir verwirret von einer Jungfrau zart.\u201d For those who don\u2019t know German, that means \u201cA young girl has confused all my thoughts and feelings.\u201d<\/p>\nThe arrangement of the tune in our hymnals comes from none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. And that is worth highlighting, because Bach is the classic example of a Christian involved in music in a way that transcends any artificial divide between sacred and secular. All his music \u2013 whether instrumental, sacred, or a work like his cantata about coffee \u2013 are widely appreciated by people around the world, and not just within churches, because Bach didn\u2019t focus exclusively on making \u201cChristian music,\u201d but focused on making great music, and as a result, his testimony as a Christian is a powerful one. Perhaps he was influenced by Martin Luther, who said that a Christian shoemaker\u2019s testimony is not that they put Bible verses on their products, but that they make them of the highest quality.<\/p>\nWe\u2019ll return to the theme of Christians as light in the world of so-called \u201csecular\u201d music after our next song. But for now, I want to highlight that the setting of sacred words to tunes used for non-sacred purposes is at least as old as the Psalms. The musical instructions that precede a number of Psalms in the Bible mention tunes or perhaps styles of well-known songs, that were mentioned to indicate what the Psalms ought to sound like. The NIV makes this clear by explaining that phrases like \u201cTo Do Not Destroy\u201d and \u201cTo Lillies\u201d mean \u201cTo the tune of \u2018Do Not Destroy\u2019\u201d and \u201cTo the tune of \u2018Lillies\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\nI am not trying to make the case that no music is sacred. On the contrary, I am more inclined to make the opposite case and argue that all<\/em> music is sacred. Music takes vibrations in the physical world and combines them in ways that we perceive as beautiful. And so music by definition points towards transcendence, towards the fact that there is more to life that what one perspective can do justice to. And since music is a pointer towards God, it makes sense to use music \u2013 any music \u2013 as an opportunity to talk about one\u2019s faith and the things that are important to us.<\/p>\nSacred music, inasmuch as the words are concerned, can be a strange thing. \u201cO Sacred Head Now Wounded\u201d has at least 11 verses. I hope you\u2019ll forgive that we didn\u2019t sing all of them, and that this next song is likewise based on only part of a Psalm\u2026<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nU2, \u201c40\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflection 2:\u00a0 Psalm 40:1-3 (Christians as Light in the [Music] World)<\/u><\/p>\nBach is not the only Christian to have had an impact not only in churches but on the musical world as a whole. That last song is simply called \u201c40,\u201d and the lyrics are drawn from Psalm 40 (hence the name). The song is by an Irish band called U2, who have been more open about their Christian faith than a great many musicians. Because they simply make rock music, and not music that can be pigeonholed as Christian<\/em> rock, some Christians have viewed the band unfavorably, and have even questioned their faith. But the involvement \u2013 in particular of the lead singer who goes by the nickname Bono \u2013 in visible ways in global action seeking social and economic justice, defending the poor and marginalized in ways that the Bible calls us to, are a powerful testimony. They are putting their money where their mouth is. One megachurch pastor described his experience of going to listen to Bono speak by saying, \u201cI went in wondering if U2 were Christians, and I came out wondering if I was one.\u201d<\/p>\nThroughout the history of Christianity, there have been individuals who took the lead in interacting with the culture in which they found themselves \u2013 interacting not just with the philosophers and thinkers but with the artists and other aspects of their society. They have always been criticized from both sides. Because being light in the world involves taking risks \u2013 being different both from those around you who prefer darkness, but also being different from those who prefer to keep the light huddled safely in a community of light, far away from where the darkness is. I thank God for the courage of musicians like Bach and Bono, and for the impact their testimony has had and continues to have.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nPrayer<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflection 3:\u00a0 Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 (Skepticism and Faith in Song)<\/p>\nI confess that in my teenage years, soon after coming to a personal faith, I didn\u2019t know what to make of Ecclesiastes. \u201cAll is vanity\u201d? \u201cEat drink and be merry\u201d? \u201cDon\u2019t be too righteous\u201d? Surely whoever included this in the Bible made a mistake, I thought. But such reactions reflect a superficial faith, one that thinks asking hard questions, and giving voice to doubt, is always an attack on faith, whereas sometimes it can be an expression<\/em> of faith.<\/p>\nThere is a song that actually uses the exact words found earlier in the chapter that the reading was from. We won\u2019t be singing that song today, but if you express your disappointment to us after the service, we might include it sometime in the future. I am talking about the song \u201cTurn, Turn, Turn\u201d by the Byrds. It is a famous song, and the words of the title \u2013 \u201cturn turn turn\u201d \u2013 are the only words in the song that are not straight out of the Bible, out of Ecclesiastes chapter 3.<\/p>\nEcclesiastes is an example of what is known as Wisdom literature. It approaches life and approaches God differently than other kinds of literature in the Bible. If you read a book like Deuteronomy, it makes its argument by appealing to what God is supposed to have revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai. If you read Isaiah or Jeremiah you get words prefaced by \u201cthus says the LORD.\u201d But how do you communicate with those who don\u2019t accept your authority as a prophet, or the authority of a text that is supposed to record a covenant between God and a particular nation? The only way to do it is to start with things that you share in common, to talk about the observable world and human experience, and to make that the basis of your conversation.<\/p>\nWisdom literature often resonates with seekers, with those who don\u2019t simply accept things on authority for the very reason that they know that there can be false as well as true prophets, and so the seeker after truth must test everything. And sometimes the recognition that we are but dust, that the things of this world are transitory, leads people to engage in a spiritual quest.<\/p>\nOne such seeker is a man by the name of Kerry Livgren, who tried out a number of different religious traditions before converting to Christianity. Livgren expressed some interesting thoughts about music in his autobiography <a href=\"http:\/\/www.numavox.com\/seeds.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Seeds of Change<\/a><\/em>. He wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Though we as Christians have a mandate to be skillful and creative, and Scripture affirms that we should sing unto the Lord a new song, we rarely hear anything truly new. The atmosphere of Christian radio is so limited as to be almost stifling. Not only is it as highly formatted as its secular counterpart, but in most cases, the artist must conform to some sort of spiritual criteria\u2013someone\u2019s definition of what makes his or her music acceptable Christian music. It\u2019s a strange irony indeed that finds lyrics with the most profound truth coupled with the most unchallenging sort of muzak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe name \u201cKerry Livgren\u201d may not be familiar to some of you. But the band of which he was a founding member and dominant songwriter \u2013 the band Kansas<\/em> \u2013 should be familiar to most of you. Here is a famous song from his phase as a seeker, one that resonates with a theme found in Ecclesiastes and in the psalms. It\u2019s called \u201cDust in the Wind.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nKansas, \u201cDust in the Wind\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nOffertory Prayer<\/p>\nOffertory Music: \u201cBe Still My Soul\u201d<\/em> (Finlandia<\/em>)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflection 4:\u00a0 Acts 17:24-28 (As Your Own Poets Have Said)<\/p>\nThe offertory music was not a break from the theme of what might be called \u201csecular\u201d music in today\u2019s service. The melody is known to some of us as \u201cWe Rest on Thee, Our Shield and Our Defender.\u201d In the hymnal this church uses, the words are different, and the title is \u201cBe Still My Soul.\u201d The composer of the melody is Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and it comes from a nationalistic work called \u201cFinlandia.\u201d<\/p>\nMost Christians are OK with secular music<\/em>, and might agree with me that no music is inherently secular. But what about words that are secular? There, we actually have just as clear evidence, if not indeed clearer evidence, than we do for the use of already-existing melodies in the Psalms. In Acts 17, Paul explicitly quotes from Greek poets. What you might not realize, though, unless you actually find the works Paul is quoting from and read more of them, is that he was quoting what Greek poets had said about Zeus<\/em>. Paul knew that he could not simply quote the Jewish scriptures at people for whom those Scriptures hold no authority. Paul recognized that there was truth in poems that would be familiar to his audience, and he used that poetry as a bridge, as a starting point for sharing his own faith with them.<\/p>\nThis brings us, in a sense, to the heart of the message that is the overarching theme of today\u2019s service. Songs like the ones we are singing today can be a bridge for communicating our faith with others. But in order to be able to do that, we need to be ready to recognize that, just as we are not always right as Christians, others are not always wrong. In our frail humanity, as we seek to give voice to our views and values, and others do the same, we can find that we have points of contact which can be starting points for conversations.<\/p>\nWhat about lyrics where you cannot tell if they are secular or religious, Christian or pagan? Christian music sometimes receives complaints that the words are not clearly distinguishable from those of \u201cworldly\u201d love songs, treating God as a divine boyfriend. But the same can be said of songs from outside the church. The first song I ever sang as a solo in this church was \u201cYou Raise Me Up\u201d and it can be understood as a prayer, or as a love song. That was intentional. And the same is true of this next song, which is also one that we included in a service once before. The song is by Peter Gabriel, and was written so that it could be a prayer or a love song. We offer it today as a prayer. But we also offer it today as an example of the way you can turn on the radio and find something to talk about with others with whom you might share your faith, if only you knew how to start the conversation. Here is a starting point for a conversation: \u201cIn Your Eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nPeter Gabriel, \u201cIn Your Eyes\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflection 5:\u00a0 Psalm 22:1-2 (The Lost Tradition of Lamentation)<\/p>\nSometimes the church has something precious that it has preserved which those outside desperately need. But sometimes we as the church have forgotten something. And sometimes by interacting with others, we are reminded of things that we have been neglecting.<\/p>\nNow, to be fair, I am not depicting Dennis De Young (who wrote the next song we\u2019re going to sing) as an example of someone \u201coutside the church.\u201d He is a devout Catholic (and for fans of Broadway musicals, you may know him for his performance as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar). But the song<\/em> itself is one that was released on a secular album and is heard on secular radio. And yet the song is in essence a lament. It is a heartfelt cry to God from someone who recognizes that, as the people that we look up to fail, it can shake our faith.<\/p>\nYou can look through our hymnal carefully, and you will not find much in the way of laments, and certainly nothing like the proportion that one finds in the Book of Psalms in the Bible. The lament is not simply something for the \u201cOld Testament.\u201d Jesus himself is depicted in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew as reciting Psalm 22 on the cross. If we pretend that we do not face doubts and uncertainties, and thus have no need of laments, we\u2019re not only not being honest with ourselves and with God. We are claiming to have no need of something that, according to the New Testament, Jesus himself needed. And so I hope you enjoy this song, by the band Styx, which is a prayer asking God to \u201cshow me the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nStyx, \u201cShow Me The Way\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe last song this morning brings us back to where we started, albeit in a more recent version. We started with sacred words to a secular tune. Some words to hymns were written with no particular tune in mind. A famous example is \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d \u00a0It appeared without a tune, and was first printed alongside a tune that is never heard today, \u201cHephzibah.\u201d It eventually came to be connected with an American folk tune (often called \u201cNew Britain\u201d). It fit so well that that tune today is simply thought of as \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d If there is a lesson in all this, it is that our faith is not something fragile that we need to keep isolated from the dangers of other music lest it become tainted. The powerful words that John Newton composed were not made less powerful or sacred when they came to be associated with that folk melody. On the contrary, the melody was made sacred. That doesn\u2019t always happen. And I am quite sure it will not happen with the music that will accompany Amazing Grace today. But Amazing Grace is in what is known as common meter, and it fits a lot of different tunes. Here it is to the tune of \u201cHouse of the Rising Sun.\u201d<\/p>\nWhen the words are done, I will go to the back of the church to greet those who leave. But the band will not stop playing right away, because we have been having so much fun offering these songs here this morning. Music is but one of the things that people in this church are passionate about. Find what you are passionate about, and figure out how it connects to your faith, and see what happens as you talk about your passion with others.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cAmazing Grace\u201d (to the tune of \u201cHouse of the Rising Sun\u201d)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nGo in peace, with a new song in your hearts, to love and serve God.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in particular those who wished they could have been there but were unable to. My notes and an outline of the service follow below the videos. Order of Service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":34418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[634,2311,5778,6057,8996,9600,10501,12004,13064],"class_list":["post-34416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-animals","tag-crooked-creek-baptist-church","tag-johann-sebastian-bach","tag-kansas","tag-peter-gabriel","tag-progressive-rock","tag-rock","tag-styx","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html\",\"name\":\"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers","description":"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers","og_description":"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00","author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html","name":"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-25T10:19:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"The service yesterday, featuring rock music, went well, I thought.\u00a0It was recorded, and so I thought I would share it for those who may be interested, in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/04\/a-service-of-sacred-music-and-rock-prayers.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Service of Sacred Music and Rock Prayers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}