"Beautiful Jesus"
Sep. 8th, 2011 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
At morning prayer this morning, we sang "Beautiful Jesus" (TNCH #44). I told FCS-Ian I wasn't a big fan -- that it's a "Jesus is my boyfriend" sort of a hymn. Afterward, Ian said he'd never heard the term "Jesus is my boyfriend" but that it certainly fit, that this song sounds a lot like something you would say to your lover. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but it's true.
I said that (and that this is because/indicative that I'm a Unitarian at heart) the word that primarily comes to mind for me for this hymn is "idolatrous." I said that the phrase "Jesus is my boyfriend" usually gets used to refer to contemporary praise music, but that I thought of it in this hymn because there's stuff about the beauty of Creation, and I'm into that, but then it's, "But Jesus is better -- he's prettier and he smells better." Ian laughed and said, "You're paraphrasing, but not by much."
I said I am pro-Jesus, but because of the work Jesus did in the world... Ian concurred.
Ian said the hymn is often titled "Fairest Lord Jesus" [warning for auto-play in that link] and that makes him think White and he was glad that at least we weren't singing something with the undertones of, "Jesus is the best because he's pretty -- and he's pretty mostly because he's White."
In thinking about the "Jesus is my boyfriend" trope, I thought of my best friend's love for Jesus and Her Church -- something I very much don't have.
When my best friend says, "Jesus is my Girlfriend," there's a lot going on with Incarnation and queer theology and body theology there.
So/and I'm hesitant to totally dismiss "I personally adore the person [pun intended] of Jesus."
Though I'm still uncomfortable with the adoration/worship of Jesus.
I'm not all that interested in worship/adoration of God of the, "Here, I will tell You how awesome You are," variety, period, because I don't think God needs ego-boosts (though I do think reminding ourselves of the goodness of God can be a valuable spiritual practice).
And -- perhaps ironically for someone who professes to be really uninterested in most social justice work -- I think God is happier when we are working to do God's Will in the world, to help embody the truth that "The kin-dom of God is at hand," than when we are just singing God's praises. (When you are in love with someone, you want to love what they love, right? You want to be passionate about the things they're passionate about. You want to work with them. You don't want to spend ALL of your time gushing at/about them. At least not once you're past the NRE stage.)
I said that (and that this is because/indicative that I'm a Unitarian at heart) the word that primarily comes to mind for me for this hymn is "idolatrous." I said that the phrase "Jesus is my boyfriend" usually gets used to refer to contemporary praise music, but that I thought of it in this hymn because there's stuff about the beauty of Creation, and I'm into that, but then it's, "But Jesus is better -- he's prettier and he smells better." Ian laughed and said, "You're paraphrasing, but not by much."
I said I am pro-Jesus, but because of the work Jesus did in the world... Ian concurred.
Ian said the hymn is often titled "Fairest Lord Jesus" [warning for auto-play in that link] and that makes him think White and he was glad that at least we weren't singing something with the undertones of, "Jesus is the best because he's pretty -- and he's pretty mostly because he's White."
In thinking about the "Jesus is my boyfriend" trope, I thought of my best friend's love for Jesus and Her Church -- something I very much don't have.
When my best friend says, "Jesus is my Girlfriend," there's a lot going on with Incarnation and queer theology and body theology there.
So/and I'm hesitant to totally dismiss "I personally adore the person [pun intended] of Jesus."
Though I'm still uncomfortable with the adoration/worship of Jesus.
I'm not all that interested in worship/adoration of God of the, "Here, I will tell You how awesome You are," variety, period, because I don't think God needs ego-boosts (though I do think reminding ourselves of the goodness of God can be a valuable spiritual practice).
And -- perhaps ironically for someone who professes to be really uninterested in most social justice work -- I think God is happier when we are working to do God's Will in the world, to help embody the truth that "The kin-dom of God is at hand," than when we are just singing God's praises. (When you are in love with someone, you want to love what they love, right? You want to be passionate about the things they're passionate about. You want to work with them. You don't want to spend ALL of your time gushing at/about them. At least not once you're past the NRE stage.)
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Date: 2011-09-08 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-08 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-08 07:32 pm (UTC)Well, no. But you still spend SOME time gushing at/about them. Maybe some people are restrained enough to keep from ever expressing their feelings for their beloved, but I'm not one of them. I feel that deep appreciation and affection welling up, and I want to express it. :-)
Anyway, I've reread this post a couple of times. (Your posts are so good at making me think and react, even if I don't always say so!) I guess the best way I can describe my reaction is by going back to the story of Martha and Mary. As you know, it's about how Martha is fluttering around, doing practical things to help Jesus out, and eventually she gets pissed off at her sister for just sitting and listening to what Jesus is actually saying. But Jesus corrects her: helping pragmatically is good, but so is enjoying the company the person you're doing it all for. I think it's true in our relationships with God, just as it's true in interpersonal relationships.
It's like when you're at a party hosted by someone you really like, and the host/ess is so busy bustling around to make sure the party goes well that you don't actually get to enjoy their company. I find I just want to grab their sleeve and say, "Stop. I appreciate what you're doing for me, but what I want right now is to be with you, to see you relaxing and delighting in our relationship."
I've done my fair share of criticizing "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs, mind you, but it's usually because they seem to trivialize the depth of the divine-human relationship. In "Beautiful Jesus," as with the more meditative Taize songs, I enjoy the way they encourage me to set aside all the Good Things I Should Be Doing and simply appreciate the beauty of God's presence. It's a beauty that, to me, goes far beyond "the work Jesus did in the world," just as my love for
All that said, worship is a highly YMMV subject. I adore hymns that present a literary, articulate evocation of the numinous ("Holy, Holy, Holy" comes to mind -- "casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea"). But I completely get that other people find different kinds of music or words (or none altogether) more meaningful.
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Date: 2011-09-09 02:38 am (UTC)*grins and blushes* Thanks!
> To me, "idolatrous" implies worship of a deity other than the true/appropriate one. Is Jesus an inappropriate subject of worship to you, or do I misunderstand you?
You are understanding correctly. My instinctive response [to Jesus-worship/adoration, at least in a lot of contexts] is, "But worship is only for God [even though it's largely not my thing even there, but anyway]" -- and then I remind myself that I am a part of a Trinitarian tradition.
There are lots of things about Jesus being God Incarnate that I find really powerful in a positive way ... but apparently my first reaction is to image Jesus as fully human and if fully divine then in a "lived a life wholly in tune with Divine Will" way (which is an understanding of Jesus which I *also* find really compelling -- my systematic theology, it contains multitudes, or something).
I want to say lots more about Christology, but I also want to not be [excessively] underslept tomorrow, so I'll wrap here for the moment.
Also: You make good points about the "gushing at the Beloved" thing, which I don't have responses to atm (see aforementioned bedtime).
Also, I support the resting in/appreciating God's Presence (though again, I don't associate that much with the Second Person of the Trinity -- yes, I am really bad at being Trinitarian). I don't get that vibe from lots of "Jesus/God You are so awesome" hymns, but it's definitely something useful for me to keep in mind as a more positive way to frame those hymns.
♥
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Date: 2011-09-08 10:17 pm (UTC)Oh my god, I've just figured it out!
THe scary evangelicals never get past NRE. They never figure out that their relationship with god needs to grow beyond just staring googoo eyed and going "boy you're shiny and awesome" over and over and over.
Best analogy ever.