Renewed Minds
by Patrick Odum
“Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
What’s your favorite funeral song?
A survey taken by researchers for the Bereavement Register and released this past Monday indicated that 51% of people ask for a specific song be played at their funeral, and that 79 percent have talked with family and friends about possible song choices. Of the 5,000 people surveyed, the following songs make up the Top Ten of the Dearly Departed:
1) "Goodbye My Lover" - James Blunt
2) "Angels" - Robbie Williams
3) "I've Had The Time Of My Life" - Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley.
4) "Wind Beneath My Wings" - Bette Midler
5) "Pie Jesu" - Requiem
6) "Candle In The Wind" - Elton John
7) "With Or Without You" - U2
8) "Tears In Heaven" - Eric Clapton
9) "Every Breath You Take - The Police
10) "Unchained Melody" - Righteous Brothers
Notice anything about that list? The first thing to catch my eye was that there are no hymns or spirituals or other “churchy” songs among the favorites. No “Amazing Grace”? No “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”? Even more striking to me is the fact that there are very few explicitly spiritual songs on the list at all. “Angels,” maybe. “Tears in Heaven.” “With Or Without You,” if you really use your imagination and stretch the definition of “spiritual.” But even the ones that have some sort of vaguely spiritual content don’t really get that content from Christian sources. It’s more a pop spirituality along the lines of “don’t cry, we’ll all be angels when we die.” Not to be dismissive, but sentiments like that are hardly solid enough to stand on when you’re burying someone you love.
Look at that list again and consider what the songs on it say about death. Consider what they offer a grieving widow, a devastated parent, a hurting friend. People miss the dead after they’re gone. (You don’t say?) Life is as fragile and short as, say, a flickering candle’s flame. Some of the songs provide a way for those who are grieving to express what their loved one meant to them. Some look forward to a vague hope of a day when there won’t be tears any longer. Some actually seem to suggest that the dead will be watching the living, like paranormal stalkers. And then, of course, there’s the dubious comfort provided by a terrible song from a bad movie that comforts mourners with the reassurance of, “Hey, cheer up! I’ve had the time of my life.”
Two other songs that made the Top Twenty really illustrate what I’m talking about: Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” and Irene Cara’s “Fame (I Wanna Live Forever).” Perfect choices for a world that denies the reality of death. Funeral songs about living forever.
Now, if any of these songs are on the short list for your funeral, don’t let me discourage you. My point really isn’t to be critical of the songs on the list as much as it is to simply make an observation about the apparent attitudes toward death that they betray. Death is to be denied; either its reality, or its finality, or the grief it brings. The songs that made the list share a common focus on living for today, having the time of your life, and going on to an unknown but hopefully even better life beyond this one. Maybe it’s most telling that of the Top Ten, only four or five actually have anything to do with dying. These attitudes toward death are a perfect illustration that there should be some differences between the way believers in Jesus think and the way those who don’t believe think.
But we need to be reminded of that sometimes, don’t we? We need reminding from time to time that we aren’t to fit into the mold of the world around us, but that are minds are to be renewed, our thinking redirected. It’s just so easy to slip into values, mindsets and attitudes that we see and hear every day in our offices, schools, neighborhoods – sometimes even in our homes and churches. It’s usually unconscious, and that’s just the point. Paul wants us to be conscious of the way we’re thinking. An exercise like the one we just dead with the funeral songs can helpful for just that reason; it can help bring to light some areas in which our minds should work differently than the minds of our friends and neighbors and colleagues who claim no faith in Jesus.
Make no mistake, it’s not that we’re smarter or better. It’s not that our minds are superior. The Holy Spirit renews our minds. (See 1 Corinthians 2:10b-16) It’s God’s work in us, carried out by Jesus Christ, and there is no room for us to feel pride. It is ours simply to allow the renewal that God accomplishes in us to control our thinking to an increasing degree.
What that will mean, basically, is that we must be careful to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:5) We must be careful to “set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) In order for the renewal of our minds accomplished by the Holy Spirit be real in our lives, we must be disciplined in our thinking. Our thoughts, our attitudes, our values, our aspirations – everything that’s a part of what makes up our minds – has to be evaluated in light of what we know of Jesus and the gospel. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus….” (Philippians 2:5, NRSV) That doesn’t happen by accident. It demands that our minds be disciplined by prayer, worship, service, and the word of God. It demands immersion in the life of the church and the conscious rejection of whatever tends to nudge our minds back toward worldly ways of thinking. It’s not something accomplished once, for all time, until we are glorified with Christ. It’s about daily choices, and having the self-awareness to be conscious of the ways we think.
That’s it, really – making sure that our thoughts aren’t unruly tenants that we allow to roam unsupervised through our minds. They are to be scrutinized and evaluated, brought before the light of the Holy Spirit to be renewed and transformed. Our thoughts are to turn toward Christ as a plant toward the sun, and his attitudes are to be reflected in ours.
And in case you were wondering: “Because He Lives,” please. OK – and maybe U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” If there’s time.
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Patrick Odum lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Laura and son, Joshua. He is one of the ministers at Northwest Church of Christ, and an avid Heartlight fan. He enjoys writing and maintains a website of his work called Faith Web.
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version TNIV (r), Copyright (c) 2005 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.