Ep 66: A Weird Parody

0:00 Well, good morning, I'm Daniel Dalp and this is for your Sunday morning drive. The short podcast with the goal of providing some motivation, Dr. and encouragement on your way to worship and helping you recenter your mind on those spiritual things on a hectic Sunday morning. We are brought to you by the Ministry League network of podcasts. As always, you can check out the great resources that Ministry League provides free of charge, both through ministryleague.com and their app. I do hope your morning is going well. It is my prayer that you we're having a wonderful day, whether this is on a Sunday or whenever you listen to the show. And I sincerely appreciate you tuning in whenever you have the opportunity. And I hope you enjoy today's episode. It's admittedly a little bit more light hearted than some of the ones I've recorded recently, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

0:47 Let's go ahead and get the show on the road. This is episode 66, a weird parody. Let's go to church. My wife and I recently went and saw a concert. And it wasn't just any concert, mind you. No, dear listener. The star of the show for this evening of musical delight was none other than the wickedly talented, industry revered lyrical genius and quite possibly the most gifted musical mind of our age. Yes, yes, you guessed it, the one, the only Weird Al Yankovic. Now, if you aren't familiar with his body of work, I highly recommend him.

1:41 You see, his specialty is parody songs. He's known for delightful parodies such as eBay, Ode to a Superhero, and Amish Paradise. And I've been a big fan of Mr. Yankovic since I was in middle school, much to my parents chagrin. I remember them being bewildered that I could recount every lyric of an 11 minute song like Albuquerque, but couldn't for the life of me remember the formulas that I needed to succeed in algebra or calculus. Well, say la vie. And I think the reason I was always fascinated by Weird Al music is because it took something that was popular, something that maybe took itself a little too seriously, and he made it his own. A true parody, albeit much more lighthearted.

2:23 You see, the skeleton of the original work was still there in music and rhythm and in essence, but it came out the other side of his creative process, a wholly different work. Gangster's Paradise became Amish Paradise, I'm Bad became I'm Fat. Piano Man became Ode to a Superhero and so on and so forth. Now hang in there. There is a spiritual connection here somewhere. You see, parody is all well and good for things like music. In fact, it's probably a habit that many of us have. Have you ever, for humor's sake, change the words to a song just to make someone crack a smile? You see, you took something original and you made it your own. And that's all well and good.

3:05 But now the spiritual and the sobering connection. Do we sometimes make a parody of God? Let me explain. Do we tend to worship and lift up our own preconceived notions about who God is and what He wants rather than the reality of how He presents Himself to us? Do we do this in place of scriptural truth? Do we have a tendency to turn the latest spiritual sounding jargon or social influence buzzwords and lift those up as tenets of doctrine rather than going back to the basic instructions of God breathed inspired scripture? You see, we need to take God seriously. We need to seek to know the God of the Bible, not to focus on and Revere our own silly little caricature of him.

3:51 For instance, in the sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 1722 through 25, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and he said, Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all aspects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore what you worship and ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

4:34 Are we like those people in Athens who worshipped in ignorance a parody of the one true God? What does this look like for us today? Well, maybe we say things like God is love, and that's true, but we fail to also recognize His justice and His wrath and His grace and His Holiness and all the other aspects of His nature. Do we cherry pick? Friends, my encouragement to you today is to get to know God on His terms, according to the way He describes Himself in Scripture. Don't let Him be unknown to you. Don't just assume that you know Him and what His Scripture says. Read it for yourselves. Discover it. Worship the true God because you have to admit that worshipping, seeking and serving a parody of God rather than the genuine and all sovereign monarch of the universe.

5:23 That's a little bit risky and it's more than just a little bit weird. Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours. And don't forget you can always share your responses to our discussion questions or your thoughts about each episode at for your Sunday morning dr.com. Our discussion questions for this week are do we know God? Do we know know what His Word says about him? What are some preconceived ideas about God or the Bible that you've had to cast aside in the face of truth, and how has that helped you grow as a Christian?