Sara Groves - Songs, Videos, Lyrics

Sara Groves Official Website

Sara Groves - Fireflies and Songs

"Fireflies And Songs"

Thirty years ago I was a little girl

riding in the back seat of the car
a woman sang you don't bring me flowers anymore
I felt a sadness in my little heart

we're looking for the music 
in the music box
tearing it to pieces
trying to find a song

I was drawn to you in ways I can't explain
we fought like crazy but I couldn't stay away
piled on expectations and lots of blame 
like we couldn't do it any other way 

we're looking for a firefly 
moving through the night
staring at the one place
swear it never lights

were you surprised our hearts were not like ticking clocks
with faces and hands easy to read
we both wished if only in the land of oz
longed for things we'd never really need

now we're standing in the kitchen
all pretense is gone
you kiss me on the shoulder
fireflies and song



Sara Groves - "Breath of Heaven"




"Breath of Heaven"

I have travelled many moonless nights,

Cold and weary with a babe inside,

And I wonder what I've done.

Holy Father you have come,

And chosen me now to carry your Son.

I am waiting in a silent prayer.

I am frightened by the load I bear.

In a world as cold as stone,

Must I walk this path alone?

Be with me now X2

Breath of Heaven,

Hold me together,

Be forever near me,

Breath of Heaven.

Breath of Heaven,

Lighten my darkness,

Pour over me your holiness,

For you are holy.

Breath of Heaven.

Do you wonder as you watch my face,

If a wiser one should have had my place,

But I offer all I am

For the mercy of your plan.

Help me be strong.

Help me be.
Help me.



He's always been faithful by Sara Groves




"He's Always Been Faithful"

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Morning by morning I wake up to find
The power and comfort of God's hand in mine
Season by season I watch Him, amazed
In awe of the mystery of His perfect ways
All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful to me

I can't remember a trial or a pain
He did not recycle to bring me gain
I can't remember one single regret
In serving God only, and trusting His hand
All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful to me

This is my anthem, this is my song
The theme of the stories I've heard for so long
God has been faithful, He will be again
His loving compassion, it knows no end
All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful, He's always been faithful
He's always been faithful to me



Hiding Place, by Sara Groves.wmv




"Hiding Place"

Early when the day is new
Before the stirring

I will come and talk to you
And confess the ways I am broken
To recall the words you've spoken
And to try to comprehend
The love you have for me

You are my hiding place
You fill my broken heart with songs
Songs of deliverance
You sing of how the weak are strong

You never meant for me to walk alone
You are always for me
As the truest lover of my soul
You hear my desperate calling
You have kept my feet from falling
And have set me on this rock on which I'm stand now

You are my hiding place
You fill my broken heart with songs
Songs of deliverance
You sing of how the weak are strong

And I believe you
For you've saved me from my darkness and my shame
And I believe you
For I hear your song of beauty (??-through the) pain

Sara Groves - Hello Lord

"Hello Lord"

Hello Lord, it's me your child

I have a few things on my mind
Right now I'm faced with big decisions
And I'm wondering if you have a minute, cuz
Right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up

I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I just can't hear you.

I don't doubt your sovereignty
I doubt my own ability to
Hear what you're saying
And to do the right thing
And I desperately want to do the right thing
But right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up

I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I just can't hear you.

And somewhere in the back of my mind
I think you are telling me to wait
And though patience has never been mine
Lord, I will wait to hear from you
Oh Lord, I'm waiting on you

Right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up

I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I think you're whispering

Sara Groves - Miracle (Official Music Video) - Music Video

"Miracle"

Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
Quiet our hearts for a little while

Things have been spoken
Shouldn't be said
Rattles around in our hearts and our heads

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let’s heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it's a miracle, it's a miracle

Things have been spoken
Shouldn't be said
Rattles around in our hearts and our heads

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let’s heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it’s a miracle, love is a miracle

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let’s heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it's a miracle

Let's say what we cannot say
Let’s see what we cannot not see
Let’s hear what we could not hear
Oh it’s a mystery, love is a mystery
Oh it's a miracle, it's a miracle
Let's be a miracle



Roll to the Middle

"Roll To The Middle"

We just had a World War III here in our kitchen
We both thought the meanest things
And then we both said them
We shot at each other till we lost amunition

This is how I know our love
This is when I feel it’s power
Here in the absence of it
This is my darkest hour
When both of us are hunkered down
And waiting for the truce

All the complicated wars
They end pretty simple
Here when the lights go down
We roll to the middle

No matter how my pride resists
No matter how this wall feels true
No matter how I can’t be sure
That you’re gonna roll in too
No matter what, no matter what
I’m going to reach for you



What I Thought I Wanted by Sara Groves




"What I Thought I Wanted"

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box

Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off
What he thought he wanted, what he got instead
Leaves him broken and grateful

I passed understanding a long, long time ago
And the simple home of systems and answers we all know
What I thought I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and somehow peaceful

I keep wanting you to be fair
But that’s not what you said
I want certain answers to these prayers
But that’s not what you said

When I get to heaven I’m gonna go find Job
I want to ask a few hard questions, I want to know what he knows
About what it is he wanted and what he got instead
How to be broken and faithful

What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted

Staring in the water like Aesop's foolish dog
I can’t help but reflect on what it was I almost lost
What it was I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and grateful

I’m broken and grateful
I want to be broken and grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful



This Journey is My Own - Sara Groves
[may play together as stereo]






"This Journey Is My Own"

When I stand before the Lord, I'll be standing alone

This journey is my own 

Still I want man's advice, and I need man's approval

This journey is my own 

Why would I want to live for man, and pay the highest price

What does it mean to gain a whole world, only to lose my life

So much of what I do is to make a good impression

This journey is my own 

And so much of what I say is to make myself look better

But this journey is my own 

And why would I want to live for man, and pay the highest price

And what does it mean to gain a whole world, only to lose my life

And I have never felt relief like I feel it right now

This journey is my own 

Cuz trying to please the world, it was breaking me down

It was breaking me down

And now I live and I breathe for an audience of one

Now I live and I breathe for an audience of one

Now I live and I breathe for an audience of one

Cuz I know this journey is my own

And why would I want to live for man, and pay the highest price

And what does it mean to gain a whole world, only to lose my life

And you can live for someone else, and it will only bring you pain

I can't even judge myself, only the Lord can say, 'Well done.'

Oh, this journey is my own

Sara Groves - All Right Here

"All Right Here"

It's every loss and every love

It's every blessing from above
Here I am, all added up
Oh, it's all right here

It's what I know, and what I'm guessing
Half truths, and full confessions
It's why I choose to learn my lessons
Oh, it's all right here

[Chorus]

And I'm not God, I'm a girl - I confess
That I don't have a sea of forgetfulness
No, it's all right here
It makes me stronger, it makes me wince
Makes me think twice when I pick my friends
Oh, it's all right here
It's all right here

It's caution and curiousity 
And it's all the things I never see
Welling up inside of me
Oh, it's all right here

It's what is best, and what is worse
It's how I see the universe
It's in every line and every verse
Oh, it's all right here

[Chorus]

Every heart has so much history
It's my favorite place to start
Sit down a while and share your narative with me
I'm not afraid of who you are

I'm all here, and you're all there
Some of this is unique, and some of it we share
Add it up and start from there
Well, it's all right here

[Chorus]

It's caution and curiousity
It's all the things I never see
Oh it's all right
It's what is best, and what is worse
It's how I see the universe
Oh it's all right, it's all right here
I'm all right here



Sara Groves - It Might be Hope




"It Might Be Hope"

You do your work the best that you can
You put one foot in front of the other 
Life comes in waves and makes it's demands 
You hold on as well as your able

You've been here for a long long time

Hope has a way of turning it's face to you 
Just when you least expect it 
You walk in a room 
You look out a window 
And something there leaves you breathless 
You say to yourself 
It's been a while since I felt this 
But it feels like it might be hope 

It's hard to recall what blew out the flame 
It's been dark since you can remember 
You talk it all through to find it a name 
As days go on by without number 

You've been here for a long long time 

Hope has a way of turning it's face to you 
Just when you least expect it 
You walk in a room 
You look out a window 
And something there leaves you breathless 
You say to yourself 
It's been a while since I felt this 
But it feels like it might be hope



Add to the Beauty - Sara Groves

"Add To The Beauty"

We come with beautiful secrets
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls
We come to every new morning
With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold

Redemption comes in strange place, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

It comes in small inspirations
It brings redemption to life and work
To our lives and our work

It comes in loving community
It comes in helping a soul find it's worth

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful
This is grace, an invitation

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out our best

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside



Sara Groves Rain

"Rain"

Call it what you will I call it rain
When troubles come and pat against my soul
Go in if you like, I will remain
And let the washing waters make me whole

Just when I’m sure that I can't bear the rain
A tiny leaf starts pushing through the ground
In a place where the ground was too dry to sustain it
A new tiny flower can be found

Once I was stuck I thought things would never change
As I watched a cloud pass through the sky
Right before my eyes it took a different shape
And I knew, so were the clouds in my own life

I see Him in the rain
I feel Him wash away
What I do not understand
So new life can spring up once again

The flowers come to show
that all that rain was helping me to grow

You Are the Sun

"You Are The Sun"

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to you

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to you

Shine on me with your light
Without you I'm a cold dark stone
Shine on me I have no light of my own
You are the sun, you are the sun, you are the sun
And I am the moon



Something Changed by Sara Groves

"Something Changed"

Something changed inside me broke wide open all spilled out
Till I had no doubt that something changed

Never would have believed it till I felt it in my own heart
In the deepest part the healing came

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine

Something so amazing in a heart so dark and dim
When a wall falls down and the light comes in

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine



Sara Groves performs "Eyes On The Prize"

"Eyes On The Prize"

Paul and Silas bound in jail
Got no money for to go their bail
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Paul and Silas thought they were lost
The dungeon shook and the chains fell off
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Freedom's name is mighty sweet
And one day soon we are gonna meet
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

I got my hand on the gospel plow
Won't take nothing for my journey now
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

The wait is slow, and we've so far to go
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

The wait is slow, and we've so far to go
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Only chain a man can stand
Is that chain of hand on hand
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Ain't no man on earth control
The weight of glory on a human soul.
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.

The wait is slow, and we've so far to go
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

The wait is slow, and we've so far to go
Keep your eyes on the prize [x3]

When you see a man walk free,
It makes you dream of jubilee.

When you see a child walk free,
It makes you dream of jubilee.

When you see a family free,
It makes you dream of jubilee.

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on



Sara Groves - When the Saints

"When The Saints"

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I can't let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
It all can overwhelm me
But when I think of all who've gone before and lived a faithful life
Their courage compels me

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying man's side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them



Heart Wide Open Like a Lake

"Like A Lake"

So much hurt and preservation

like a tendril round my soul
so much painful information
no clear way on how to hold it

when everything in me is tightening
curling in around this ache
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

standing at this waters edge
looking in at God's own heart
I've no idea where to begin
to swallow up the way things are

everything in me is drawing in
closing in around this pain
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

bring the wind and bring the thunder
bring the rain till I am tried
when it's over bring me stillness
let my face reflect the sky
and all the grace and all the wonder
of a peace that I can't fake
wide open like a lake

everything in me is tightening 
curling in around this ache
I am fighting to stay open
I am fighting to stay open
open open oh wide open 
open like a lake

Sara Groves - It's Going To Be Alright

"It's Going To Be Alright"

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

I can tell by your eyes that you're not getting any sleep
And you try to rise above it, but feel you're sinking in too deep
Oh, oh I believe, I believe that

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

I believe you'll outlive this pain in you heart
And you'll gain such a strength from what is tearing you apart
Oh, oh I believe I believe that

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

When some time has past us, and the story if retold
It will mirror the strength and the courage in your soul
Oh, oh, I believe I believe,

I believe
I believe

I did not come here to offer you cliche's
I will not pretend to know of all your pain
Just when you cannot, then I will hold out faith, for you

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Groves

Sara Groves (born Sara Lee Colbaugh, September 10, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian singer, record producer, and author.

Groves received her Bachelor of Science degree in history and English in 1994 from Evangel University, a private Christian university in Springfield, Missouri. Groves spent four years teaching high school in Rosemount, Minnesota before recording her first album, Past the Wishing, in 1998. Since then, she has released nine additional albums and appeared on several others. Groves has been nominated for three Dove Awards including New Artist of the Year in 2002 and Special Event Album of the Year 2003 by the Gospel Music Association. She was named one of the best Christian music artists of 2005 and the album, Add to the Beauty, was named Album of the Year for 2005 by CCM Magazine.

Sara Groves Official Website

Scot McKnight - Who Owns Bonhoeffer? Or, How to Take Sides in Theological Disputes

Who Owns Bonhoeffer?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/10/16/who-owns-bonhoeffer/

by Scot McKnight

Oct 16, 2014

Comments

Bonhoeffer Author  Andrew Root

I have been with a wide variety of theologians and pastors who love Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In fact, Bonhoeffer seems to be on every one’s side. Is there a “real” Bonhoeffer beyond the ownership? We might wonder where he’d locate himself in our theological spectrum but that’s speculation. Andrew Root, in his new book on Bonhoeffer, called Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together, sketches what Stephen Haynes called the “Bonhoeffer phenomenon.” That is, he sketched the various groups who thought they had ownership of that altogether interesting, if at times elusive, German theologian.

Three views of Bonhoeffer (plus one):

1. The Revolutionaries: “They pounced on certain phrases and thoughts in Bonhoeffer to support their own position. Most particularly, Bonhoeffer’s conception of “religionless Christianity” caught their attention, making Bonhoeffer the face of radical (anti-)Christianity. Haynes states, “For radicals Bonhoeffer is a ‘seer’—a man born out of time who perceived the future with uncanny prescience” (13).

When I was a college student Bonhoeffer and radical revolution was the name of the game, and I had more than one associate wonder aloud to me if Bonhoeffer did not become an atheist. I found myself amazed people would think like that of him. As a student I read his The Cost of Discipleship (now called more accurately Discipleship) and so the atheism theory jarred me. As a senior, however, I read The Letters and Papers from Prison and began to wonder what he was talking about when he spoke of “religionless Christianity” and “the world come of age.” So, this is one reading of Bonhoeffer: this view, I understand, is now advocated by Peter Rollins. (Root says this of Rollins’ view: “Perhaps the most popular of these is Peter Rollins, who so deeply misreads Bonhoeffer along these lines that he admits disdain for the earlier historical and intellectual elements of Bonhoeffer’s thought.” [13 n. 3])

The Bonhoeffer of Discipleship and Life Together is something Bonhoeffer himself abandoned; they were the early Bonhoeffer.

2. The Liberals: “This group was enamored with Bonhoeffer’s attention to social justice, exploring particularly Bonhoeffer’s resistance to National Socialism and his advocacy for the Jews. But, Haynes explains, these historical realities are not the central biographical lens through which they see Bonhoeffer. They instead draw on the themes of resistance, themes of resistance, advocacy, and the call for justice, centered on Bonhoeffer’s experience in New York City, and particularly in Harlem in 1930-31″ (14).

Root knows Bonhoeffer has roots in German Protestant liberalism; he was a student of Harnack, not to ignore also a family friend. But Root is right to point out that Bonhoeffer broke with liberalism as a student at liberal-theology-Berlin when he discovered Barth, and Seeberg his mentor at Berlin knew the tensions with Barth/Bonhoeffer at Berlin. Barth’s target of criticism was Berlin! And Bonhoeffer found Union Theol Seminary’s theology severely lacking. It was all justice and activism.

3. The Conservatives: If the revolutionaries like Letters and Papers from Prison, and the Liberals his spirituality in Negro spirituals, the conservatives have fastened onto his Discipleship and Life Together. “Bonhoeffer is a hero for conservatives because he not only spoke boldly of following Jesus but also did so—into the hands of his executor” (17). None other than [James?] Dobson saw in Bonhoeffer a path for evangelicals in the public sector.

Metaxas follows this line. Here is what Root says of Metaxas: “… which I find so flawed and earnest to paint Bonhoeffer as a conservative (not possessing the openness of Bethge’s work) that I cannot follow him in any way, for to do so would be to foreclose on one of the above interpretations” (18 n. 13).

4. Plus One: Root pursues Bonhoeffer not so much through his precise theological location on the spectrum but through his pastoral theology, and in particular, he traces Bonhoeffer through the lens of his youth ministry theological turn. I hope you read this book — it’s a good one on how pastoral theology is done.

Root is convinced readers of Bonhoeffer have ignored approaching him through the lens of his pastoral ministry to youth.

---

Addendum

At Relevancy22 we follow each of the trends listed above with a Christian "common sense realism" that might be applied to each group's grasp of the truth as they wish to see it and purvey it. Similar to a cluster of blind scientists trying to describe an elephant - one thinking the animal is all nose, the other all hide, and the third large ears, missing the animal itself, so too Bonhoeffer is drawn upon in this way by all parties involved.

So that, when coming to Radical Theology, we will admit to that aspect of Christianity that can (and should be) religionless realizing that our cultures can never attain this aspect, only aspire within its religions and denominations.

That when coming to Liberal Christianity we should pay attention to liberal scholarship's observations and statements of the Bible as scholars in their own right of academia just so long as they don't loose the tradition of the historic orthodox Christian faith in Christ Jesus. An orthodox faith which we here at Relevancy22 have intentionally been elevating and re-describing within today's postmodern, post-Christian contexts. Contexts that neither deny Jesus nor refuse to listen to the newer discoveries and observations made of the Christian faith and its religious foundations. A difficult tightrope to walk... but nonetheless we walk it without collapsing into a loss of faith in the God who loves. And loves us through His Son as the ultimate expression of His grace and truth.

And finally, when coming to conservative Christianity - one which this writer here (myself) has been birthed within and from - we seek its truths. But also wish to display its foibles, its bad theology, and fallacious dogmas. We would do the historic Christian faith no justice if we were not to examine all its foundations, its philosophies, its directions and bearing, lest we loose that precious faith itself to the false prophets of our day. Whether they be in the pulpits of the church or at the dais of the university lecture rooms. All who pretend to examine Jesus must proclaim Him Lord and King, Savior and God. Suffering Servant and loving Humanitarian.

Jesus is the conundrum of faith even as He can be all things to Radicals, Liberals, or Conservatives. Each group, each direction, each organization of thought has its own philosophical and religious lenses through which it chooses to see Jesus and the Christian faith. No less we here at Relevancy22 using a combination of all the above approaches without losing sight of the Lord's calling to be the mustard seed, the new wine, the lost coin of the Kingdom realm. Even the found faith of our days and times, years and appointments.

We wish to rupture the faith of the land. To disturb it, stir it, apply it, and re-examine it at every level of our thought and being, actions and attitudes. Even as the Lord Himself did during the times of His ministry to the lost generations of both believers and unbelievers alike. So be ye then salt, and light, and new wine, in the name of the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

R.E. Slater

October 16, 2014

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Taking Sides in Theological Disputes

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/10/13/taking-sides-in-theological-disputes/

by Scot McKnight

Oct 13, 2014

Comments

Every generation has its theological disputes. Some are much more significant than others, though some suggest that each of the debates concerns the most essential elements of the faith. Which translation to use is not as important as the Trinity but some of the voices in the former debate suggest apocalyptic doom if we get it wrong.

Rudolf Bultmann (see my post here) famously advanced his theories about de-mythologizing the New Testament because of the advances in science and technology, and one of his more famous lines was that one can’t believe in spirits and demons and use the radio. He saw himself stripping the NT of those mythological elements that prevented moderns from believing the more essential core of the gospel. And he pressed forward an existentialist gospel in Lutheran terms. From the decade of WWII and throughout most of his career Bultmann heard from, faced, and responded back to his many critics, including many established Lutheran pastors in the Confessing Church. [note: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (DB) was a Lutheran pastor during Bultmann's era. - re slater]

Taking sides was part of the theological dispute about Bultmann.

Bonhoeffer took sides and his position can be found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (English) 16. I’d like to trot out what DB said to illustrate in this post three things: first, that the Bonhoeffer many embrace is not the full Bonhoeffer (he was not only Barthian but in some ways Bultmannian) and, second, that the only way to know Bonhoeffer is to read him — not read about him in biographies. Third, it is nearly impossible not to take sides (unless one ignores an issue).

About a year ago I did a series on Mark Thiessen Nation’s book Bonhoeffer the Assassin? (here and here) in which he argues Bonhoeffer sustained his pacifism even during the war year all the way to his death. At the time I said I wanted to reconsider the so-called shift (or in Nation’s case, non-shift) in Bonhoeffer’s thinking but to do so I’d have to read Ethics again and Letters and Papers from Prison again, and along with that the correspondence in his last few years (which can be found in DBW 16). More of this at another time.

In that volume (DBW 16) I encountered his observations about the Bultmann controversy among the Confessing Church pastors. To professor-journal editor Ernst Wolf, 24 March 1942, Bonhoeffer said this:

I take great pleasure in the new Bultmann volume. The intellectual honesty of his work never ceases to impress me. Apparently Dilschneider recently disparaged you [Wolf] and Bultmann quite stupidly here at the Berlin pastors’ meeting; and, as I was told, the meeting came within a hair’s breadth of sending you a protest against Bultmann’s theology! And from Berliners, of all people! I would like to know if any of them has actually worked through the commentary on John
. This arrogance, which flourishes here—under the influence of several blowhards, I think—is a real scandal for the Confessing Church.

Barth took sides, too. One of the leading opponents of Bultmann’s work was Hans Asmussen, and Barth sized it up on 12 May in a letter to Otto Salomon:

From the same letter we became aware of the repercussions of the most recent Bultmann furor. It saddened me as well; but should the “pious Hans” truly desire to burn him at the stake over this, I would most likely join the other side. Oh, if only our dear friends in the Confessing Church would leave all that and would finally begin to rack their brains, five minutes before midnight, whether there is anything, anything, they could do to deal with the inexorable coming disaster! The demythologized New Testament is truly only the dotting of an i, that is, in comparison with all that the Germans have done and daily continue to do in the occupied regions, stirring up a cloud of wrath. But I am afraid that all their eyes are still closed and behind them they are only dreaming, dreaming….

Bonhoeffer, too, took sides in these terms:

Now as to Bultmann: I belong to those who welcomed his writing— not because I agree with it. I regret the twofold approach it takes (the arguments deriving from John 1:14 and from the radio should not be mixed together; I do consider even the latter to be a valid argument, but the distinction should be clearer) —in this regard perhaps I have remained Harnack’s student to this day. To put it bluntly: Bultmann has let the cat out of the bag, not only for himself but for a great many people (the liberal cat out of the confessional bag), and in this I rejoice. He has dared to say what many repress in themselves (here I include myself) without having overcome it. He thereby has rendered a service to intellectual integrity and honesty. Many brothers oppose him with a hypocritical faith that I find deadly. Now an account must be given. I would like to speak with Bultmann about this and open myself to the fresh air that comes from him. But then the window has to be shut again. Otherwise the susceptible will too easily catch a cold.

If you see Bultmann, please give him my greetings— Tell him that I would like to see him, and how I see these things. (To Winfried Krause, 25 July 1942.)

On the 13th of September, in a letter to Ernst Wolf, he said something similar:

As I hear from Marburg, the Council of Brethren there is presently in the midst of deciding about the expulsion of Bultmann from the Confessing Church! These theological hypocrites, so works-righteous! Were it actually to come to expulsion, the matter would have to go to the Conference of Regional Councils of Brethren. If the same thing happened here, I think I would have to have myself expelled as well, not because I agree with Bultmann, but because I consider the others’ attitude by far more dangerous than Bultmann’s.

Leaving Behind "Left Behind"

Leaving Behind “Left Behind”

Source Link

by Roger Olson

[Illustrations, links, videos added by R.E. Slater]

October 15, 2014

Comments

I haven’t seen the new movie starring Nicholas Cage and don’t intend to, so this is not a movie review. Instead, I intend to respond to the whole phenomenon of what I call “rapture fever” that has gripped segments of American society for the past fifty years.

I grew up in a home and church that fervently believed in the “rapture”—the premillennial, pre-tribulational, departure of God’s true people from the earth by Christ to be with him in Paradise during a seven year period of the wrath of God poured out on the earth and the rise and domination of the “Antichrist.” Most of the people in my home church and denomination owned a Scofield Reference Bible whose footnotes included this eschatological vision. Many also owned books by Clarence Larkin, a major promoter of it. I remember being taken to “Prophecy Conferences” where Larkin’s “biblical timelines” ending with the rapture, the tribulation, and the millennial reign of Christ on earth were posted up around the auditorium or sanctuary. (This was before overhead projectors [to say nothing of PowerPoint]!)

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A bible timeline by Clarence Larkin from his book, Dispensational Truth

We were caught up in rapture fever long before ninety-five percent of Americans knew what “rapture” meant (in this sense). I remember asking God to “tarry longer” (postpone the rapture) until I could get married and enjoy sex. Every boy in every similar church did the same! I heard numerous sermons and Sunday School lessons about the “imminent return of the Lord” which, in our context, always meant the imminence of the rapture that would come “like a thief in the night.” The point was that we should be ready at all times, because even carnal Christians were likely to be “left behind” to endure the horrors of the “Great Tribulation.”

Jesus Returns for His Holy Church

This belief (which we considered [certain] knowledge) was our secret; it belonged to us. We knew that attempting to explain it to non-Christians (including nominal Christian church members of “mainline churches”) was like throwing pearls before swine. They would never be able to understand it and they would scoff at it.

Then came the Cuban Missile Crisis, talk of a “European Union” and a single world government and currency, and technologies that would make placing the “mark of the beast” on people’s forearms or foreheads invisible to all but those with that technology. And, of course, Israel’s Six-Day War. How well I remember watching television during those frightening years of the 1960s and thinking of the imminent rapture. I didn’t enter a movie theater until I was twenty because my spiritual mentors warned me that people in movie theaters would be left behind when Jesus returned to gather his true and faithful people to himself to escape the Tribulation.

Seeds of doubt about the rapture were planted in my mind by a book that was supposed to offer biblical and theological support for it—Things to Come by dispensationalist theologian Dwight Pentecost. I read it when I was nineteen or twenty and sensed something was wrong. Why would it take hundreds of pages of convoluted exegesis and argument to establish something so simple? I thought the book’s case for the “secret rapture” was weak and yet it was supposed to be the most scholarly case for it yet published!

1970 saw the publication of the book that took our arcane doctrine of the rapture public: The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. This was the height of the Jesus People Movement, too, and nearly all Jesus People believed fervently in the rapture. I remember wondering if it was really a good idea to publish a popular book for public consumption about the rapture. It made me uneasy.

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For $4.95 you too can know the Prophetic End Times of Mankind

1971/1972 saw two events where I was present at Ground Zero (or nearly so) (of the public rapture fever that still persists). In 1971 I attended the Tri-State Youth for Christ rally in Evansville, Indiana. Larry Norman sang his new song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” and electrified the audience. In 1972 I attended the world premier of the movie “A Thief in the Night.” (The premier was held at Hoyt Sherman Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa.)

Larry Norman, I wish we'd all been ready




A Thief in the Night 1972 Full [Movie]

Those events and ones like them (Lindsey’s book, Norman’s song, the movie) launched what I call “public rapture fever.” The imminent secret rapture was no longer a secret; it was “out there” for everyone to know about—whether they believed in it or not. As millions rushed to believe in it (or at least be entertained by the idea), including many who showed no signs of being evangelical Christians, I gradually left it behind.

But by leaving rapture fever and a belief in a “pre-trib” rapture behind was not solely, or even primarily, due to the doctrine’s vulgarization by its Christian popularizers. While attending a fundamentalist Christian college I began to wonder about the biblical and traditional basis for several beliefs taught by my spiritual mentors. Search as I might, I could not find clear biblical evidence for them as doctrines (that is, as more than opinions) and they seemed to have gone unnoticed by even the church fathers closest to the apostles themselves (e.g., Irenaeus). But, alas, when I attempted to mention my doubts to my teachers and spiritual mentors (pastors, evangelists) I was shamed for even asking such obviously unspiritual questions.

Finally, while attending an evangelical Baptist seminary, I discovered one could be a “God-fearing, Bible-believing, Jesus-loving” evangelical Christian and not believe in those sectarian doctrines. One was the “pre-trib” rapture. One evangelical biblical scholar who guided me in shaking off that doctrine was Robert Gundry, long-time New Testament professor at Westmont College, an evangelical Christian liberal arts institution in California. His book The Church and the Tribulation (1973) confirmed my suspicion that the doctrine of a secret, pre-trib rapture of Christians was both unbiblical and against the best of even evangelical tradition. Dave MacPherson’s The Incredible Cover-Up (1975) convinced me that the whole idea originated in some prophecies given in England and Scotland in the mid-19th century. While in seminary I read books about eschatology by the dean of evangelical New Testament scholarship George Eldon Ladd that convinced me of the truth of “historic premillennialism” or what some call “post-trib rapture” (in which no “rapture” as that is interpreted by Lindsey, et al. happens).

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One of the most surprising things that has happened during my lifetime is the explosion of entertainment centering around the old “secret, pre-trib rapture” myth beginning, I suppose, with the Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHaye {and Jerry Jenkins] and the movies based on them. Many non-Christians have jumped on that bandwagon for the sheer entertainment of it. I suppose they regard it as little more than another dystopian futuristic fable. Well, in my opinion, that’s how it’s presented there. What I keep waiting for is a book or movie (or both) depicting the millennium which is, of course, the denouement of the wider eschatology onto which “rapturism” has been grafted. But, I conclude, that wouldn’t make for very good entertainment for people fascinated with evil and horror.

- Roger

P.S. For you who are interested in reading a good book that lays out the premillennial alternative to pre-trib rapturism, I recommend A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to “Left Behind” Eschatology edited by Craig Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung (BakerAcademic, 2009).

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END TIMES ESCHATOLOGIES

CHARTS, TIMELINES, WARNINGS

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continue within this series -

Historic Premillenialism v. Rapture Theologies

Leaving Behind "Left Behind"

Of Blood Moons & Prophecy: "What Kind of God Leaves People Behind?"

Kingdom Theology (Stay & Work) vs. Rapture Theology (Wait & Leave)

Is "Left Behind" Really A Christian Movie? (podcast)

Why the Rapture isn’t Biblical… And Why it Matters

Debunking "Left Behind" Theology - Resources for Shaping A "Raptureless" Theology



or continue to -

Index to past articles on Kingdom Eschatology

Of Blood Moons & Prophecy: "What Kind of God Leaves People Behind?"

The question of God's judgment upon a world of sin and woe has come up once again with the release of the latest Evangelical Christian film, Left Behind, asking the value that God has placed upon human life in these terrible times of unholiness, wickedness, and evil.

Time-and-again the bible reader reads within the ancient scriptures of a future judgment to come upon the wicked of the earth before a God who no longer will tolerate the evils of mankind. Who will reap the earth, wiping it clean of all its sin, gathering all sinners into the fierce wine press of his wrath that will spare none, causing all to perish as He once had done during the days of Noah's Great Flood.

Causing all who live during this time of wrath and judgment to be filled with fear-and-dread before the Holy One of Israel who sends forth His bloody angels to reap from the lands of the living its terrible wages of sin and injustice. So that on that day of Great Armageddon and Despair, shall even the great devil himself, fallen Lucifer of the heavens, with his demon minions, be cast into the great and terrible Lake of Fire. Emptying even hell itself on that final day of Judgment. A day like no other. A day described in the Bible as the Day of the Lord.

Thus is the Day of the Lord pictured by many readers of the Bible. A Day of Judgment and Woe. Of a Divine Justice come to reap freely and willfully over the unjust lands of the living. A Day where none escape its sickles of death and demise. Where all mankind will know the awful wrath of the Lord as prophesied by His holy prophets crying out for retribution and mercy.

But, there is a catch... as the movie Left Behind has so prominently shown... that those children of the Lord who have repented of their sins and live in a manner as pleasing this God of wrath will escape the divine judgment on that final day. That God's people will be redeemed from evil's deaths and harms, toils and fears. That the very church of God itself will be taken up (raptured) into the heavens above to witness God's judgment from the safety of His grace and protection.

Even so, this was my firm belief as taught from within its sacred time-hallowed halls of Christian liturgy, song, theologies, and tradition. That the gospel of salvation which I had learned was one where both body and soul will be spared some future day of wrathful judgment - if not in this life, than in the next to come, when death will no longer have dominion over my sinful soul protected by the blood of Jesus.

No less was my understanding of biblical prophecy with its dire warnings to repent and believe. To cling to the heavenly God above whose loving care and protection of His obedient children is the dearest desire of His heart.

And thus was my reading of the Bible of its rich metaphorical language and poetry of an ancient people filled with superstition and doubt. Who marveled at the works of God in their lives in fearful awe and mystery. Who like the church today, sought for a powerful God come to reap the world in His divine wrath and judgment, that had misplaced His gospel of peace and grace through Christ Jesus His Son. God of very God. Eternal Lord over all heavenly lords and earthly kings. Mankind's Redeemer who had come as God's unblemished lamb and Holy High Priest, and there took that same divine wrath and judgment of God upon Himself for all humanity for all time as even to ourselves this day.

However, long years have past and an impressionable youth has matured to realize that Christian theologies built of wrath and judgment do not reveal the God of light and love made weak for our sakes so that we may become whole, healed, restored. That such theologies too easily condemn those different from our faith rather than embrace those differences within the larger mosaic of a global Christianity that may be more unlike us than like us.

Decades later I now wish to see a Christian faith that understands the Day of the Lord as not just a future time in history but an everyday time in the here-and-now. A Day that is always present with us both in its love and its judgments. That continues despite the evil that rules so that love, forgiveness, and forbearance may be evidenced and displayed. Even as bigotry, pride, and greed are everywhere present so too must truth, justice, and avocation for the downtrodden, despised, and outcasts. These are the Days of the Lord.

That this Day of the Lord is an everyday Day which has come to every one of us to confront our sin and wickedness with God's good gifts of the Spirit who offers peace and healing upon the torn lands of our hearts, our families, our broken lives, abuses, and failings.

That Christian teachings of blood moons and future judgment are fictitious and unhelpful to those of the church who wish to "dig in and get their hands dirty" with the remnants of mankind grieving in sorrow at the wickedness of our own refusal to help. To be God's hands and feet for those crying out for protection and justice from the evil of their day.

That Christian prophecies voicing unwavering certainty over future events are built upon fanciful imaginations and not divine intent nor biblical truth. Such charlatans teach of closed futures with closed certainty against a biblical future that is never closed and certain only in that it will be redeemed. Even as the planner plans without knowing its future course, so does the Divine Planner speak redemption into the course of time's future.

That Christian prophecies which teach we must wait on the sidelines anxiously praying always for God's judgment to come are untrue, unwise, and profoundly denounced by Jesus Himself in the very narratives of the Gospels.

That our "biblical timelines, charts, and teachings" are more the imaginations of our heart unwilling to translate the bible faithfully, factually, and relevantly. Preferring to live in the metaphors and superstitions of our religious hearts than seeing the wonder and awe of the Lord everyday we wake up and every night we go to bed.

That we don't need a God of wrath and power but a God of love and weakness. A God who is bigger than the fears of our trembling hearts. Who is strong when we are weak like He is. Who are humble, kind, wise, and thoughtful. Who do not force heavenly truths upon others but who lives out God's truth in service, sacrifice, and selflessness.

These are the harder the commands. The more difficult commands. They are not the kinds of commands that give immediate solutions to deep problems. But like yeast leaven through the routines of life so that one day the small and insignificant mustard seed might displace the towering trees and craggy mountains in its wake. That it takes a church committed to staying in this world of sin and woe and not one that wants to leave it so quickly - or so dismissively - to blood moons and prophetic omens of doom.

Will there be a time of judgment? Yes, even as there has been past times of judgment. Think of Rome, the barbarous hordes, the crusades, the genocides throughout the earth from then until now. All the earth is in turmoil because of God's great gift of volitional free will that He has bestowed upon mankind.

Will there be a time when all the world must be judged by fire even as it was by water? To the degree that the biblical flood was limited regionally as a cataclysmic event in the lives of those ancient peoples along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers then even now does the earth experience nature's own turmoils and troubles. To live on this earth is no guarantee to live without hurricane and tornado, tsunami or earthquake, fire or calamity.

Does God send the wind and the fire? Yeah, He is its creator.

Does God control the wind and the fire? Nay, verily, He does not. He goeth where it will go even as we do in our very own lives.

Does God send us to do evil and sin? Nay, He does not.

Is God responsible for our evil and sin? Nay, He is not. We are free will creatures even as we live in a volitional (indeterminate) creation filled with chaos and disorder. No less is sin's effect upon mankind's free willed heart to do right or to do wrong.

So where is this God of creation and of mankind? He is here with us in all events.

Is God helpless to save? Perhaps He is, given the measure of volition He has endowed creation and mankind. But perhaps, given the volition of creation and mankind He is not.

Will evil be allowed to stand? Perhaps, given the responsibility He has placed upon mankind to do His will. To observe His command to love one another. To seek and to save and to help.To not oppress nor take the lives of others.

How will the End Times end? Let us assume for argument's sake that we are now, and have always been, in the End Times.

How will they end? It's really up to you. The kind of theology you preach. The kind of beliefs you allow to live in the midst of your heart. The kind of actions you teach and use. The kinds of hopes and fears you allow to be embraced by your words and deeds.

For myself, I believe in a God who will never leave anyone behind. Who will do all that He can to preserve and protect all the children of men. Not only those of faith but those of non-faith. Who seeks the lost lambs of life that none are forgotten nor neglected against the evils of our day.

I believe in a God who loves first and judges second. Who judges as He must but who seeks to embrace mankind within His atoning love every moment of our existence. Whose gospel is one of peace and goodwill. Whose ethic is to go out and love all. Even our enemies. And that the church is to make every effort in observing these commands as it can.

I believe in a God who is both strong and weak. Strong to save, weak before the decrees of His Word to allow us the freedoms of our hearts however evil or wicked. Who stands before the winds and commands its courses even as the winds on their own behalf go where they go in the chaos of their constitutions. This too is the decree of God.

And finally, whether we deem our time on earth as before the Day of the Lord, or as living in the End Times of His Judgment and Grace, to know that Christ is our Savior, God's Word our light, God's Spirit our Advocate and Counselor. To not be so foolish as to place our words into God's holy Word. Nor our ideas and superstitions upon the covers His speech. To be sound-hearted, common-sensed, and filled with fear and wonder at the mysteries of God in His daily commune and communication with His creation. Even mankind.

I don't believe in a God who leaves people behind. I don't believe in an evil God who sends calamity upon His children. I don't believe in thinking that my future is closed except as it is portended in the salvation of our Lord who will bring redemption to mankind by the fury and might of His own will.

R.E. Slater

October 8, 2014

"From springtime to harvest to the following springtime season, year-after-year,

season-after-season, all is the Day of the Lord. From the Passover of our Lord's

atonement to the gathering in of our fragile souls as His earthly tabernacles (cf, sukkot)

we each live under God's grace and protection all the days of our lives." - R.E. Slater




continue within this series -

Historic Premillenialism v. Rapture Theologies

Leaving Behind "Left Behind"

Of Blood Moons & Prophecy: "What Kind of God Leaves People Behind?"

Kingdom Theology (Stay & Work) vs. Rapture Theology (Wait & Leave)

Is "Left Behind" Really A Christian Movie? (podcast)

Why the Rapture isn’t Biblical… And Why it Matters

Debunking "Left Behind" Theology - Resources for Shaping A "Raptureless" Theology



or continue to -

Index to past articles on Kingdom Eschatology

Personal Health - The Power of Sleep

Photo-Illustration by Timothy Goodman for TIME

The Power of Sleep

http://time.com/3326565/the-power-of-sleep/

by Alice Park

September 11, 2014

New research shows a good night's rest isn't a luxury -

it's critical for your brain and for your health

When our heads hit the pillow every night, we tend to think we’re surrendering. Not just to exhaustion, though there is that. We’re also surrendering our mind, taking leave of our focus on sensory cues, like noise and smell and blinking lights. It’s as if we’re powering ourselves down like we do the electronics at our bedside–going idle for a while, only to spring back into action when the alarm blasts hours later.

That’s what we think is happening. But as scientists are now revealing, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

In fact, when the lights go out, our brains start working–but in an altogether different way than when we’re awake. At night, a legion of neurons springs into action, and like any well-trained platoon, the cells work in perfect synchrony, pulsing with electrical signals that wash over the brain with a soothing, hypnotic flow. Meanwhile, data processors sort through the reams of information that flooded the brain all day at a pace too overwhelming to handle in real time. The brain also runs checks on itself to ensure that the exquisite balance of hormones, enzymes and proteins isn’t too far off-kilter. And all the while, cleaners follow in close pursuit to sweep out the toxic detritus that the brain doesn’t need and which can cause all kinds of problems if it builds up.

This, scientists are just now learning, is the brain on sleep. It’s nature’s panacea, more powerful than any drug in its ability to restore and rejuvenate the human brain and body. Getting the recommended seven to eight hours each night can improve concentration, sharpen planning and memory skills and maintain the fat-burning systems that regulate our weight. If every one of us slept as much as we’re supposed to, we’d all be lighter, less prone to developing Type 2 diabetes and most likely better equipped to battle depression and anxiety. We might even lower our risk of Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and cancer.

The trouble is, sleep works only if we get enough of it. While plenty of pills can knock us out, none so far can replicate all of sleep’s benefits, despite decades’ worth of attempts in high-tech pharmaceutical labs.

Which is why, after long treating rest as a good-if-you-can-get-it obligation, scientists are making the case that it matters much more than we think. They’re not alone in sounding the alarm. With up to 70 million of us not getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers insufficient sleep a public-health epidemic. In fact, experts argue, sleep is emerging as so potent a factor in better health that we need a societal shift–and policies to support it–to make sleep a nonnegotiable priority.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SKIMPING

Despite how great we feel after a night’s rest–and putting aside what we now know about sleep’s importance–we stubbornly refuse to swallow our medicine, pushing off bedtime and thinking that feeling a little drowsy during the day is an annoying but harmless consequence. It’s not. Nearly 40% of adults have nodded off unintentionally during the day in the past month, and 5% have done so while driving. Insomnia or interrupted sleep nearly doubles the chances that workers will call in sick. And half of Americans say their uneven sleep makes it harder to concentrate on tasks.

Those poor sleep habits are trickling down to the next generation: 45% of teens don’t sleep the recommended nine hours on school nights, leading 25% of them to report falling asleep in class at least once a week, according to a National Sleep Foundation survey. It’s a serious enough problem that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently endorsed the idea of starting middle and high schools later to allow for more adolescent shut-eye.

Health experts have been concerned about our sleep-deprived ways for some time, but the new insights about the role sleep plays in our overall health have brought an urgency to the message. Sleep, the experts are recognizing, is the only time the brain has to catch its breath. If it doesn’t, it may drown in its own biological debris–everything from toxic free radicals produced by hard-working fuel cells to spent molecules that have outlived their usefulness.

“We all want to push the system, to get the most out of our lives, and sleep gets in the way,” says Dr. Sigrid Veasey, a leading sleep researcher and a professor of medicine at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “But we need to know how far we can really push that system and get away with it.”

Veasey is learning that brain cells that don’t get their needed break every night are like overworked employees on consecutive double shifts–eventually, they collapse. Working with mice, she found that neurons that fire constantly to keep the brain alert spew out toxic free radicals as a by-product of making energy. During sleep, they produce antioxidants that mop up these potential poisons. But even after short periods of sleep loss, “the cells are working hard but cannot make enough antioxidants, so they progressively build up free radicals and some of the neurons die off.” Once those brain cells are gone, they’re gone for good.

After several weeks of restricted sleep, says Veasey, the mice she studied–whose brains are considered a good proxy for human brains in lab research–“are more likely to be sleepy when they are supposed to be active and have more difficulty consolidating [the benefits of] sleep during their sleep period.”

It’s the same thing that happens in aging brains, she says, as nerve cells get less efficient at clearing away their garbage. “The real question is: What are we doing to our brains if we don’t get enough sleep? If we chronically sleep-deprive ourselves, are we really aging our brains?” she asks. Ultimately, the research suggests, it’s possible that a sleep-deprived brain belonging to a teen or a 20-year-old will start to look like that of a much older person.

“Chronic sleep restriction is a stress on the body,” says Dr. Peter Liu, professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and L.A. Biomedical Research Institute. And the cause of that sleep deprivation doesn’t always originate in family strife, financial concerns or job-related problems. The way we live now–checking our phones every minute, hyperscheduling our days or our kids’ days, not taking time to relax without a screen in front of our faces–contributes to a regular flow of stress hormones like cortisol, and all that artificial light and screen time is disrupting our internal clocks. Simply put, our bodies don’t know when to go to sleep naturally anymore.

This is why researchers hope their new discoveries will change once and for all the way we think about–and prioritize–those 40 winks.

GARBAGEMEN FOR YOUR BRAIN

“I was nervous when I went to my first sleep conference,” says Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, the chatty and inquisitive co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester. “I was not trained in sleep, and I came to it from the outside.” In fact, as a busy mother and career woman, she saw sleep the way most of us probably do: as a bother. “Every single night, I wanted to accomplish more and enjoy time with my family, and I was annoyed to have to go to bed.”

Because she’s a neuroscientist, however, Nedergaard was inclined to ask a seemingly basic question: Why do our brains need sleep at all? There are two competing evolutionary theories. One is that sleeping organisms are immobile and therefore less likely to be easy targets, so perhaps sleep provided some protection from prey. The time slumbering, however, took away from time spent finding food and reproducing. Another points out that sleeping organisms are oblivious to creeping predators, making them ripe for attack. Since both theories seem to put us at a disadvantage, Nedergaard thought there had to be some other reason the brain needs those hours offline.

All organs in the body use energy, and in the process, they spew out waste. Most take care of their garbage with an efficient local system, recruiting immune cells like macrophages to gobble up the garbage and break it down or linking up to the network of vessels that make up the lymph system, the body’s drainage pipes.

The brain is a tremendous consumer of energy, but it’s not blanketed in lymph vessels. So how does it get rid of its trash? “If the brain is not functioning optimally, you’re dead evolutionarily, so there must be an advantage to exporting the garbage to a less critical organ like the liver to take care of it,” says Nedergaard.

Indeed, that’s what her research shows. She found that an army of previously ignored cells in the brain, called glial cells, turn into a massive pump when the body sleeps. During the day, glial cells are the unsung personal assistants of the brain. They cannot conduct electrical impulses like other neurons, but they support them as they send signals zipping along nerve networks to register a smell here and an emotion there. For decades, they were dismissed by neuroscientists because they weren’t the actual drivers of neural connections.

But Nedergaard found in clinical trials on mice that glial cells change as soon as organisms fall asleep. The difference between the waking and sleeping brain is dramatic. When the brain is awake, it resembles a busy airport, swelling with the cumulative activity of individual messages traveling from one neuron to another. The activity inflates the size of brain cells until they take up 86% of the brain’s volume.

When daylight wanes and we eventually fall asleep, however, those glial cells kick into action, slowing the brain’s electrical activity to about a third of its peak frequency. During those first stages of sleep, called non-REM (rapid eye movement), the firing becomes more synchronized rather than haphazard. The repetitive cycle lulls the nerves into a state of quiet, so in the next stage, known as REM, the firing becomes almost nonexistent. The brain continues to toggle back and forth between non-REM and REM sleep throughout the night, once every hour and a half.

At the same time, the sleeping brain’s cells shrink, making more room for the brain and spinal cord’s fluid to slosh back and forth between them. “It’s like a dishwasher that keeps flushing through to wash the dirt away,” says Nedergaard. This cleansing also occurs in the brain when we are awake, but it’s reduced by about 15%, since the glial cells have less fluid space to work with when the neurons expand.

This means that when we don’t get enough sleep, the glial cells aren’t as efficient at clearing the brain’s garbage. That may push certain degenerative brain disorders that are typical of later life to appear much earlier.

Both Nedergaard’s and Veasey’s work also hint at why older brains are more prone to developing Alzheimer’s, which is caused by a buildup of amyloid protein that isn’t cleared quickly enough.

“There is much less flow to clear away things in the aging brain,” says Nedergaard. “The garbage system picks up every three weeks instead of every week.” And like any growing pile of trash, the molecular garbage starts to affect nearby healthy cells, interfering with their ability to form and recall memories or plan even the simplest tasks.

The consequences of deprived sleep, says Dr. Mary Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, are “scary, really scary.”

RIGHTSIZING YOUR SLEEP

All this isn’t actually so alarming, since there’s a simple fix that can stop this nerve die-off and slow the brain’s accelerated ride toward aging. What’s needed, says Carskadon, is a rebranding of sleep that strips away any hint of its being on the sidelines of our health.

As it is, sleep is so undervalued that getting by on fewer hours has become a badge of honor. Plus, we live in a culture that caters to the late-nighter, from 24-hour grocery stores to online shopping sites that never close. It’s no surprise, then, that more than half of American adults don’t get the recommended seven to nine hours of shut-eye every night.

Whether or not we can catch up on sleep–on the weekend, say–is a hotly debated topic among sleep researchers; the latest evidence suggests that while it isn’t ideal, it might help. When Liu, the UCLA sleep researcher and professor of medicine, brought chronically sleep-restricted people into the lab for a weekend of sleep during which they logged about 10 hours per night, they showed improvements in the ability of insulin to process blood sugar. That suggests that catch-up sleep may undo some but not all of the damage that sleep deprivation causes, which is encouraging given how many adults don’t get the hours they need each night. Still, Liu isn’t ready to endorse the habit of sleeping less and making up for it later. “It’s like telling people you only need to eat healthy during the weekends, but during the week you can eat whatever you like,” he says. “It’s not the right health message.”

Sleeping pills, while helpful for some, are not necessarily a silver bullet either. “A sleeping pill will target one area of the brain, but there’s never going to be a perfect sleeping pill, because you couldn’t really replicate the different chemicals moving in and out of different parts of the brain to go through the different stages of sleep,” says Dr. Nancy Collop, director of the Emory University Sleep Center. Still, for the 4% of Americans who rely on prescription sleep aids, the slumber they get with the help of a pill is better than not sleeping at all or getting interrupted sleep. At this point, it’s not clear whether the brain completes the same crucial housekeeping duties during medicated sleep as it does during natural sleep, and the long-term effects on the brain of relying on sleeping pills aren’t known either.

Making things trickier is the fact that we are unaware of the toll sleep deprivation takes on us. Studies consistently show that people who sleep less than eight hours a night don’t perform as well on concentration and memory tests but report feeling no deficits in their thinking skills. That just perpetuates the tendency to dismiss sleep and its critical role in everything from our mental faculties to our metabolic health.

The ideal is to reset the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, a matter of training our bodies to sleep similar amounts every night and wake up at roughly the same time each day. An even better way to rediscover our natural cycle is to get as much exposure to natural light as possible during the day, while limiting how much indoor lighting, including from computer and television screens, we see at night. And of course, the best way to accomplish that is by making those seven to nine hours of sleep a must–not a luxury.

“I am now looking at and thinking of sleep as an ‘environmental exposure,'” says Brown University’s Carskadon–which means we should look at sleep similarly to how we view air-pollution exposure, secondhand smoke or toxins in our drinking water. If she and other researchers have their way, checking up on sleep would be a routine part of any physical exam, and doctors would ask about our sleep habits in the same way they query us about diet, stress, exercise, our sex life, our eyesight–you name it. And if we aren’t sleeping enough, they might prescribe a change, just as they would for any other bad health habit.

Some physicians are already taking the initiative, but no prescription works unless we actually take it. If our work schedule cuts into our sleep time, we need to make the sleep we get count by avoiding naps and exercising when we can during the day; feeling tired will get us to fall asleep sooner. If we need help dozing off, gentle exercises or yoga-type stretching can also help. Creating a sleep ritual can make sleep something we look forward to rather than something we feel obligated to do, so we’re more likely to get our allotted time instead of skipping it. A favorite book, a warm bath or other ways to get drowsy might prompt us to actually look forward to unwinding at the end of the day.

Given what scientists are learning about how much the body–and especially the brain–needs a solid and consistent amount of sleep, in-the-know doctors aren’t waiting for more studies to prove what we as a species know intuitively: that cheating ourselves of sleep is depriving us from taking advantage of one of nature’s most powerful drugs.

“We now know that there is a lasting price to pay for sleep loss,” says Veasey. “We used to think that if you don’t sleep enough, you can sleep more and you’ll be fine tomorrow. We now know if you push the system enough, that’s simply not true.”