Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog

The single most viewed post on this blog so far has been “Jesus, I’m NOT in Love with You.” As of this writing, it’s had over 8000 views.

In that post, I engage in a little criticism of a certain trend in contemporary Christian music. So, in the spirit of “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness,” I happily recommend a new album by Canadian singer Jon Buller and two of his musical friends. It’s “The Hymn Project” and it’s a simple setting of a dozen or so great hymns and songs for three male voices and a guitar or two.

Here’s the solid gold list: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less - Come Thou Fount - All Creatures of our God and King - Blessed Assurance - Great is Thy Faithfulness - The Old Rugged Cross - Trust and Obey - It Is Well With My Soul - My Jesus I Love Thee - Jesus, Priceless Treasure - Jesus Loves Even Me - I’d Rather Have Jesus - His Eye is on the Sparrow.

I had the privilege of teaming up with Jon, his band, and his group “Hear the Music Ministries” at a worship seminar they held in Winnipeg a few years ago. The highlight for me was borrowing a guitar from Jon and doing my best Eric Clapton impression in a blues his band generously played behind me. Confident as I am that no one actually mistook me for Mr. Clapton—or even for a decent amateur player, which I wish I were—it was nonetheless a blast.

Happily for this album, however, Jon and his friends are much better than decent amateurs, and their beautiful and imaginative vocals and guitars give new life to these fine expressions of worship.

Here’s what I wrote to endorse the album on Jon’s website:

In The Hymn Project, we find what we badly need to find: skillful music and rich lyrics that can fill in the empty spaces left by so many of today’s thin praise songs. What a high standard is set by these deceptively simple arrangements of classic hymns! Older Christians will rejoice to hear these good old hymns refreshed; middle-aged types (such as I) will be inspired by these clear declarations of the gospel; and younger listeners will perhaps finally realize why so many of us miss “the old songs.” This really is an album for everyone.

Now, I’m all for new music and not simply the recycling of the old, no matter how worthy the result. But some old stuff needs to be part of our repertoire of praise, too, and this album proves it. I bought twenty of them to give away over the next year to friends and family. Check it out: It’ll do you good!

Normally this blog attends to matters mainly of the mind and spirit. But mind, spirit, and body all are honoured at my favourite restaurant in this foodie town, The Pear Tree, located just over the Vancouver/Burnaby border on Hastings at Gilmore.

My beloved and I have been enjoying The Pear Tree since shortly after its opening, when we moved here ten years ago and found this gem just a few blocks from our house. Chef Scott Yeager has gone from strength to strength in the kitchen, last year receiving 7th Place honours at the international Bocuse d’Or competition in France as Canadian team captain. (He is coach of this year’s team.)

Appetizers, if I may say so, are Scott’s speciality. His frothy lobster “cappuccino” is the finest lobster dish I have ever had, and his scallops are simply the best anywhere. Main dishes are reliably tasty and inventive, without ever being weird–so reliable, in fact, that I routinely order food from Scott that I would rarely order anywhere else–and there is always a high-value table d’hôte option. Desserts are superb. (Kari and I usually have the lemon and chocolate desserts, respectively, although occasionally she walks on the wild side and has the extraordinary crème brulée).

Wife Stephanie runs the front of the house, and is as good at her job as Scott is at his. The service is simply flawless. Always appearing right when you need them, the staff come and go in friendly silence. No grandstanding, no ingratiating chit-chat to push up the tip, they leave you free to enjoy your dining mates while supplying every need before you quite realize you have it.

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I don’t easily find books for spiritual reading. So I’m always glad when someone recommends a book that he or she has found helpful.

One such book I’ve just finished is a collection of sermons by the late James S. Stewart, formerly the Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at Edinburgh University (the post now held by a friend of mine, Larry Hurtado). The publishing arm of Regent College recently released a reprint of this fine anthology, Walking with God, edited by Gordon Grant.

Stewart has been lauded by many fine preachers, including such disparate pulpiteers as Lloyd John Ogilvie (former chaplain to the U.S. Senate), Gardner Taylor (dean of African-American preachers), and William Willimon (former chaplain to Duke University and now a Methodist bishop). His sermons are couched in the elegant language of a bygone generation, replete with aphorisms from his wide reading in classical and British literature (I would say “English literature,” but he was a Scot, and quoted Robbie Burns as often as Shakespeare, it seems). His messages are always directed to both piety and practice, and I have found many a passage to be provocative–whether to compunction or to comfort.

Herewith a bouquet of quotations plucked from these pages:

“We think of ourselves–ourselves who get so worried, so hectic with life’s load of care; who carry our fever with us, and wince at pin-pricks, and get flurried and fussy and nervous, and can’t relax; who feel that everything is getting on top of us, and life is too much for us, and quite lose our interior peace. There is no real remedy for that condition but this–a closer walk with God” (16-17).

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