Brotherly Wisdom: Niebuhr on the Source of American Propserity
"From the [Puritans' days] to this it has remained one of the most difficult achievements for our nation to recognize the fortuitous and the providential element in our good fortune. If either moral pride or the spirit of rationalism tried to draw every element in an historic situation into rational coherence, and persuades us to draw a direct continuity between our good fortune and our virtue and skill, we will inevitably claim more for our contribution to our prosperity than the facts warrant." Reinold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History, p. 48.
I've often been impressed with the Christian double talk that refers to their material wealth as their "being blessed," but clings tightly to those resources as if they belonged to them...as if they earned them. Allow me illustrate. It's no mystery that my family lives on support from generous donors. What would my supporters think if I bought a Corvette? Whose money am I spending on that Corvette? Would it be more appropriate for one of my supporters to buy a Corvette? Why? Whose money are they spending?
Brotherly Wisdom
"The measure of church effectiveness has to be different than 'Do people like it?' and 'Are more people coming?' Radically different."
-Mike Holmes
Mike Holmes is neither the CNN anchor nor (as you might expect from this blog) the NT and patristics scholar from Bethel. He is my former ministry leader and mentor. I love this statement because too often "effectiveness" is evaluated on these bases, however, the question is begged, "What is the measure of church effectiveness?" And yet the language of effectiveness itself, I think, betrays a cultural bent. The church is seldom evaluated on the basis of what it is. Rather, the starting point always seems to be what it does (or should do). A lot of ink has been spilled as of late over the "purpose" of the church. Very little on the nature of the church. Is this valid?
Brotherly Wisdom
"...My peers and I were among the first ones to experience grade inflation, where we got A's for excavating our feelings and "doing our best" at calculus. We were among the first to be programmed for self-esteem, as we learned that having a pulse made us wonderfully special. For as long as we can remember, we've been destined for superstardom. Some of us have been prepped for elite schooling since before we could use the potty, and we've been on the traveling soccer teams before we knew not to touch the ball with our hands. We've been stuffed full of praise for mediocrity and had our foibles diagnosed away with hyphenated jargon and pop psychology.
It's no wonder we expect people to affirm us for everything, criticize us for nothing, and pay us for anything we want to do." -Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will
DeYoung nails it. If you haven't read this book, you should. In the age of the adultolescent DeYoung's advice is sage, and his voice should be heard amidst and above the pseudo-spiritual ramblings of some/many popular Christian authors.
I Love...
May through August might be slow blogging months, but you can get a good idea of what I'm up to by visiting eastiowa.org.
Brotherly Wisdom
"All performance is interpretation. All interpretation is highlighting." - Hans-Georg Gadamer Truth and Method p. 401
I vividly remember the class. The course was entitled "Issues in Theological Method." Dr. Kreider showed us this video:
[Scrapped it because I couldn't make it stop auto-playing...figure both of my readers have already seen it anyway. Otherwise, Youtube it: "NIN-Hurt"]
then he showed us this video:
He then leaned back in his chair slowly stroking his goatee and asked, "Was that the same song?" Silence ensued. You could tell by the smirk he was hiding behind his bearded grimace that there was a right answer and that he fully expected us to get it wrong. I decided whatever the first person said, I'd say the opposite. Don't remember what the right answer was, but I know what Gadamer would say. He'd say "Es ist das gleiche Lied." Which is German for "It's the same song." (Thank you, Babelfish) But he would go on (in German) to show how this is a perfect example of how each performance is another interpretation. Granted, Trent Resnor's interpretation at the Town Theatre in Kansas City may be very similar to his interpretation at the Paramount in Cedar Rapids, but they are different. (This was never more apparent than when James Taylor sang "Fire and Rain" on the 9/11 memorial special.) So, now allow me to sit back and stroke my baby's bottom chin and ask: What did Johnny highlight? What did Resnor highlight?
Fatherly Advice
"God does not delight in numbers! You count your tens of thousands, but God counts those who will be saved; you the immeasurable grains of sand, but I the vessels of election. Nothing is so magnificent in God's sight as a purified reason and a soul made perfect by the doctrines of truth. One cannot offer anything to God that is worthy of the one who created all things, from whom are all things and to whom are all things." Gregory of Nazianzus Oration 42.8
I've never been a "numbers guy." You know, the guy that sits in the vision-casting meeting and sets specific goals for numerical growth. I've known many of them (numbers guys), and as much as the need for numbers annoys me, I'm not totally immune to its seductive lure. This is the time of year when registrations start rolling in and I start sweating over whether or not we'll have enough campers this summer--a valid concern when the result of too few means we'd have to shut the dorrs on the few who come (not going to be the case this year). Gregory was given the awesome task of preaching the full deity of Jesus Christ in a city that was dominated by the opinion that while He was "divine," he was not of the "same nature" as the Father. That's a gross over-simplfication of perhaps the most significant theological debate in the Church's history. At the end of his time in Constantinople the tide had turned in his favor, and yet those who would agree with Gregory concerning the Son would not follow him down the biblical/logical path that considered the Spirit, too, as "of the same nature" as the Father. He was still in the minority. It is from this vantage point that Gregory looks back in confidence that the significance of his work in that (at one time) little congregation called Anastasia (Resurrection) was not determined by her size, nor would his work in the Council of Constantinople 381 be descredited even if the majority was against him. Perhaps confidence isn't the word for whatever it was Gregory felt at the time (he basically fled the scene...again). And yet no one in the bounds of orthodox Christianity reads the Creed ratified by that Council (Nicaea 381) to say anything other than that the Holy Spirit is of the same nature as the Father. Which it doesn't literally say...(But it does say it.) Score another one for the little guy.
Brotherly Wisdom
"In both legal and theological hermeneutics there is an essential tension between the fixed text on the one hand and, on the other the sense arrived at by applying it at the concrete moment of interpretation, either in judgment or in preaching. A law does not exist in order to be understood historically, but to be concretized in its legal validity by being interpreted. Similarly, the gospel does not exist to be understood as a merely historical document, but to be taken in such a way that it exercises its saving effect." Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, p. 307
Gadamer is reminiscing about a time when legal and theological hermeneutics were treated together. The benefit was that a text was not said to be "interpreted" until it had been applied to the readers current situation. This doesn't fit a culture where the pastor and the biblical scholar are two different people who got different degrees from different schools, or--at best--pursued two very different majors.
It's sad to say that our pastors have a lot to learn from our lawyers.
Brotherly Wisdom
"History does not belong to us, we belong to it." -Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method
Gadamer is speaking against an attitude toward history that sees it as an external object of research similar to scientific data. He suggests that only as a participant in history are we able to understand history. Imagine the implications this has for a view of Scripture. What if we forget an approach to Scripture that says, "read it like any other book" or "collect the facts, find out their meanings, and determine their significance," and instead view ourselves as living participants in the story itself?
Brotherly Wisdom
"I guess that's what bothered me so much about the 'are they brothers?' (spoken of two adopted sons) question. There was almost a note of implied pity--as though, if they were biologically brothers, well, at least they'd have each other. The query seemed to be asking, 'Is this a real family or just a legal fiction?' The question seemed to render them orphans again...
Our adoption is about more than just belonging. Our adoption is about the day when the graves of this planet will be emptied, when the great assembly of Christ's church will be gathered before the Judgment Seat. On that day, the accusing principalities and powers will probably look once more at us--former murderers and fornicators and idolaters, formerly uncircumcised in flesh or in heart--and they may ask one more time,'So are they brothers?' The hope of adopted children like my sons--and like (you and) me--is that the voice that once thundered over the Jordan will respond, one last time, 'They are now.'"
-Russell D. Moore 'Adopted for Life' pp. 26 and 57
I Love...
...shopping for books.
In case you hadn't noticed I've begun to file my posts under three categories. I decided I should make this post fit one of those categories. I'm stocking the bookshelf in our camp bookstore and want some community input. Here's what I currently have on the shelves:
Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers (4 vols.) by Joey Allen
-The Gospel
-The Trinity
-The Mission
-The Scriptures
(This is quite the commentary on our little corner of Christianity: The Gospel and The Scriptures keep running out...The Trinity and The Mission are just not as popular)
Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham
Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
I Am Not but I Know I AM by Louie Giglio (I'm discontinuing this one...disappointed)
Desiring God by John Piper
Life as Vapor by John Piper
Finally Alive by John Piper
The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
Day by Day with the Church Fathers by Christopher Hudson
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
Death by Love by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson
Then we have the books I've already decided to add this year:
Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck
Dug Deep Down by Joshua Harris (This is our TAG Team book for the summer)
The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
Knowing God by JI Packer (This is in the #1 spot right now for the Summer staff study)
Comments? Suggestions?
Brotherly Wisdom
"The man who seeks to occupy himself with dogmatics and deliberately puts himself outside the Church would have to reckon with the fact that for him the object of dogmatics would be alien, and should not be surprised if after the first steps he could not find his bearings, or even did damage. Even in dogmatics familiarity with the subject must be there, and this really means familiarity with the life of the Church." -Karl Barth Dogmatics in Outline p. 10.
Theology as a (strictly) academic exercise is a contradiction. One cannot seek to know God and not be in relationship to His Son. This does not mean that theology cannot be done in academic contexts or to the greatest degree of erudition. It does mean that those in such contexts must always have in mind how their task of learning will be useful for the building up of the Body of Christ. They must pray with one of my favorite professors, "Lord be helpful to us, that we may be helpful to the Church."
Brotherly Wisdom
"Don't think you know a lot about the church just because you've read a bunch of contemporary books on church models and leadership." -Tyson Guthrie, New Found Kin
A bit of my own wisdom encouraging my brothers and sisters to look outside your own decade, century, yea, even millennium for information on what the Body of our Lord is. Because if you want to know how it's "done" you darn well better know what it "is." And the opinions of a few white 21st century Americans aren't going to paint you the clearest picture. But that's just the opinion of this white 21st century American.
I love...
...when truck-driver-looking men with beards bend over to smell the flowers in the Wal-mart bathroom.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Most people seem to assume it's God's job to love them. Of course God loves us. What else does he have to do? He is weak, small, and maybe even a little nerdy. He needs us. He pines for us. And if we pay him any attention--go to church, do a good deed, recycle, or maybe meditate while listening to soothing music--then we've done him a really big favor.
The love of God is wonderful news only when we understand his transcendence--when we tremble at his holiness, when we're awed by his perfection and power." -Joshua Harris Dug Deep Down p. 46.
Fatherly Advice
"For now full of what was in fact my punishment, I had begun to desire to seem wise. I did not mourn my ignorance, but rather was puffed up with knowledge. For where was that love which builds upon the foundation of humility, which is Jesus Christ? Or, when would these books teach me this?" -St. Augustine of Hippo Confessions 7.20.26
The books Augustine speaks of are the books of the (neo)Platonists--books he is grateful to have had knowledge of, but books he is even more grateful to have placed under the Holy Scriptures. I used to have this quote framed, setting on my bookshelf.
Fatherly Advice
"Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke Thee or to praise Thee, whether first to know Thee or call upon Thee. But who can invoke Thee, knowing Thee not? For he who knows Thee not may invoke Thee as another than Thou art.
It may be that we should invoke Thee in order that we may come to know Thee. But 'how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher?' Now, 'they shall praise the Lord who seek him,' for 'those who seek shall find him,' and finding him, shall praise him. I will seek Thee, O Lord, and call upon Thee. I call upon Thee, O Lord, in my faith, which Thou hast given me, which Thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of Thy Son, and through the ministry of Thy preacher." -St. Augustine of Hippo The Confessions 1.1.2
Brotherly Wisdom
"The acute sense of the inadequacy of words explains why Augustine at the beginning of the Confessions experiences difficulty in finding any way of addressing God intelligibly, or speaking about God correctly. The answer to the question he finds in the reception of Scripture in the Christian community. The Bible consists of words, human indeed but for the believing community a gift of God so that within the sign there is also the divine reality..." --Henry Chadwick, "Introduction" to The Confessions p. 22.
The believing community receives the Word of God as a gift. A gift. A treasure. In it they find everything necessary for life and godliness. God has spoken and it is sufficient. It pains me to see so many today claiming to be part of this same believing community who are apparently dissatisfied with the Word of God. To say that God has spoken seems so "limiting." They want to say He speaks to them internally and privately. Now, that definitely sounds more exciting, more romantic. But think for a second about what they are saying about God's Word. (Without putting words in their mouths) I hear them saying, "Sure the Bible is useful for teaching, reproof, training in righteousness, etc, but I need more." It seems to me that Paul's concern in the context of that great passage on Holy Scripture is exactly our need for more. He warns "evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and been convinced of. Because you know those from whom you learned it." (2 Tim 3:13-14) The main difference between Paul's opponents and what he is asking his readers (us) to be is continuance in what has been received. This is why he assures us in vs 16 that the Scriptures are sufficient. They are enough. Eat them. Listen to them. Dwell on them day and night. In the words of Ron Heine, "Inhabit them."
Fatherly Advice
"The same thing appears in the nature and design of the sacraments,
which God hath appointed. God, considering our frame, hath not only
appointed that we should be told of the great things of the gospel, and
of the redemption of Christ, and instructed in them by his word; but
also that they should be, as it were, exhibited to our view, in
sensible representations, in the sacraments, the more to affect us with
them." -Jonathan Edwards The Religious Affections 1.2.9
Edwards wants to point out God's design in worship is to have physical actions which engage the mind and the affections. "Affect" or "affections" are Edwards words for the inclinations of our will. The opposite of being "affected" is being indifferent.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Jonathan Edwards, as a defender of the Great Awakening, always insisted that a living spirituality was the one indispensible thing. Yet Edwards also realized how vital it was to struggle toward distinctly Christian views of the world. To him there was no antithesis between heartfelt devotion and the most recondite labors of the mind." -Mark Noll Scandal of the Evangelical Mind p. 77.
You might ask which Brother's Wisdom is this, Jonathan Edwards' or Mark Noll's? History, as little as we like to admit, is always biased. Noll is not offering us an objective account of the demeanor of a Christian figure. He is holding Edwards up as an example of the Evangelical ideal. He even tells us in this quote those specific qualities that make him so venerable. Edwards becomes a vehicle for Noll to communicate the need for Evangelicalism to recapture the vision for critically thinking coupled with hearty devotion.
Fatherly Advice
"Gracious light of the holy glory
of the holy, blessed,
immortal, and heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ!
Having come to the setting of the sun,
seeing the evening light,
we hymn the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit of God.
Worthy are you at all times
to be praised with holy voices
Son of God, the giver of life.
Therfore the world glorifies you."
-A Greek Evening Hymn
(Everett Fersuson, Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, pp. 149-150)
Brotherly Wisdom
"Sometimes we say and do the silliest things, but one of the silliest things we could possibly imagine, is that somehow within us naturally there dwells, apart from grace, the possibility of being authentically and truly pious." -D. Jeffrey Bingham, The Possibility of Piety (Sermon delivered at Redeemer Church)
Fatherly Advice
Think for a moment, and ask yourself if the business of the world could be carried on without the figure of the cross. The sea cannot be crossed unless the sign of victory--the mast--remains unharmed. Without it there is no ploughing: neither diggers nor mechanics can do their work without tools of this shape. The human figure is distinguished from that of brute beasts solely by having an upright posture and the ability to extend the arms; and also by the nose through which the creature gets his breath, which is set at right angles to the brow, and displays just the shape of the cross. It was said of the prophet, "The breath before your face is the Lord Christ." (Lam. 4:20) --Justin Martyr Apologia 1.55.
Fatherly Advice
"We can be lifted up toward the Most High only if the Lord who lifts up the humble has stooped down to what is below. That is whay the soul that rises toward the things that are above asks the help of the Transcendent One and begs him to descend from His majesty in order to become accessible to those who are below." -Gregory of Nyssa Homily 10 on the Song of Songs
I prefer the early Christian vision of the nearness of God. Not that God is innately "near" or "approachable," but that the One who is essentially Transcendent will, when we humbly beg Him, stoop to help us.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Once again hear Jesus' words in John 14:13: 'Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify your friend if a stranger came to see you? Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, 'Friend, please lift me up...please put my glasse on for me.' And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind." -John Piper Desiring God p. 160
A professor in seminary defined prayer as "a symbol of complete dependence on God." I think this is a very helpful explanation of why a sovereign God--who's desires for us are clearly better than our desires for ourselves--whould instruct us to pray...so that we would learn and teach that we are helpless and our Father in heaven is strong and kind.
Fatherly Advice
"We are always together with one another. And for all the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all things through his Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district." -Justin Martyr Apology 1, 67.1-3, 7
Brotherly Wisdom
"The heart is also deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to entire areas of sin in our lives. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures, or to think that mental assent to the Word of God is the same as obedience." -Jerry Bridges The Pursuit of Holiness p. 64
So if my heart really is "deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9), wouldn't it be just like it to pretend to be the Spirit talking to me?
Fatherly Advice
"Therefore, O Lord, who grants to faith understanding, grant to me ... that I may understand that You are, as we believe; and also that You are what we believe You to be." Anslem of Canterbury Devotions 2
Reading Tozer's quote below brought this prayer to mind. (Not that Anslem just "comes to mind," it just fits.)
Brotherly Wisdom
"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...For this reason the gravest question before the church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his heart conceives God to be like...Before the Christian church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, "What is God like?" and goes on from there." -A.W.Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy pp. 9-12
Or as Dr. Bingham would paraphrase, "The most important thought you think is the thought you think about God, because it effects every other thought that you think and everything that you do."
Brotherly Wisdom
"A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light...The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity ('mere Christianity' as Baxter calls it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can only be acquired from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between." -C.S. Lewis Introduction to On the Incarnation by St Athanasius of Alexandria
Notice I have logged Lewis' quotes, not under "Fatherly Advice," but "Brotherly Wisdom." We might be tempted in our love affair with the new, to call Lewis' books "old books." However, what Lewis means by old books is not 20 year old books, but 2000 year old books. This quote comes from an introduction to a "book" written in the 4th Century AD.
Fatherly Advice
"But for searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the Word." -St. Athanasius of Alexandria On the Incarnation 57
So, if Athanasius is right, the best interpreter of the word of God is not the un-invested, "objective" academe with all of the tools of historical research and grammatical insight, but the devout follower of the Word of God Himself, about Whom the word of God testifies.
Brotherly Wisdom
"For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand." -C.S. Lewis Introduction to On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria
Fatherly Advice
"Truly He is that light which illuminates the whole understanding of those who are capable of receiving truth, as is said in the thirty-sixth Psalm, 'In Your light we shall see light.' For what other light of God can be named, in which any one sees light, save an influence of God, by which a man, being enlightened, either thoroughly sees the truth of all things, or comes to know God Himself, who is called the truth? Such is the meaning of the expression, 'In Your light we shall see light;' i.e., in Your word and wisdom which is Your Son, in Himself we shall see You the Father." -Origen De Principiis 1.1.1
Harvest
This morning as I walked to the office I heard what sounded like combines in the fields. The things are really loud, but surprisingly, the sound is refreshing. In my college days I used to drive a fair stretch of Highway 13 in Eastern Iowa. It was usually late on a Sunday afternoon that I was heading back to school. The low-hanging sun would cast an amber hue on the earth which made the fields look like gold. The combines would throw huge clouds of dust and chaff behind them which would mellow the suns beams that much more. The Scriptures use the metaphor of a field in two different ways. Jesus uses it to demonstrate that there are many people who have been prepared to receive His teaching. Now His disciples just need to go out and get 'em. Paul's image is similar, but in this case the preparation isn't to receive Christ, but to be made complete in Him. One points to the first-fruits. The other to the harvest in its fullness. The point in Jesus' illustration is the need for work on the part of the "farmers." Paul's point is specifically to downplay the role of the farmers, and to point to their completely dependence on God to cause growth. Either way, harvest is a beautiful picture of hope fulfilled. Much planning, tilling, planting, fertilizing, and waiting has been done. All of this expects a completion. The process finds its worth in the produce. For the farmer, grain. For the believer, communion with God Himself, whether through the down-payment of, or through the full inheritance of the Holy Spirit's indwelling.
Fatherly Advice
"Q: I've an issue, world, to bring up with you. Who are you, and
whence, teach first, and whither do you roll?
And how do you revolve me, like a wheel that carries an ant?
A: Where I'm from I don't know, but I know it's from God.
And I roll towards something greater. But I don't turn you round.
But it's you, unworldly one, who act violently towards me.
Q: How then do you stand solid, whilst I'm unsteady?
A: I am something external, and what's the advantage of that?
But the things you want to do, you can do them, if you want.
Q: Well and good; but external things, who can bear them?
A: Why, is there something wrong?
Matter here is for the sake of the salvation of the good.
Q: Then the cause of you is someone greater?
A: You've got it."
-Gregory of Nazianzus A Conversation With the World
I have a collection of Gregory's poems translated by Peter Gilbert. I think he does an excellent job translating, not just the words, but the art as well.
This particular poem may seem strange unless you know that Gregory's preference was to be left alone in his study, "on the mountain," contemplating God and self. ("external things, who can bear them?") It was his understanding of the Church that constantly drew him out of the mountains and into the pulpit, into the Council, or out to the poor.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Among born-again adults, there was a 44% rise in those who gave nothing last year. Compared to 1999, the mean per capita donation to churches dropped by 19 percent in 2000. One-third of born-again adults said they tithed in 2000, but a comparison of their actual giving and household incomes reveals that only one-eighth did so." -Barna Research Update 2001, cited in Randy Alcorn The Treasure Principle
Since this update things have remained a little more constant. Evangelicals lead the way in giving...a whopping 24% of evangelicals gave 10% or more in 2007. Now, these are "evangelicals"--those who by definition believe and affirm the gospel. You know, the one where God gives His Only-Begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sin, and who lavishly pours out the Holy Spirit on His Church as a down-payment. 24% of us gave that God 10% or more of our resources. Good job guys!
Fatherly Advice
"For He didn't shave off any bit of godhead, and still he saved me, stooping as a doctor over my foul-smelling passions. He was a man, but God. David's offspring, but Adam's Maker. A bearer of flesh, but, even so, beyond all body. From a mother, but she's a virgin. Comprehensible, but immeasurable." -Gregory of Nazianzus De Filio
Gregory goes on for a page listing a human quality in tandem with it's divine counterpart. Litanies like this can be found throughout Gregory's writings. He loved to highlight the mystery--even paradox--of the incarnation.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Each generation of Christians is tempted to see its way of worship, its way of ministry, its way of doing spirituality as the most biblical or practical. History reminds us that our generation is not the only one that has ever lived the Christian life. We are Christians within a company of Christians, both present and past, both living on earth and with the Lord. History helps keep us from becoming infatuated with ourselves. History nurtures the godly virtue of humility." -D. Jeffrey Bingham Pocket History of the Church p.11.
Why the Name?
Some of you may be wondering what's with the name of my blog. It is from a song. Here it is:
In your manger cold
Fingers feel like stone
Mama wraps her shawl around your skin
Finally find your rest
On your mother’s breast
Mother of God Mother of Man
So sleep now my friend
Warm with the love of your kin
The love of your new found kin
Adam’s day is done
The two in the One
Father wraps the Son around our skin
So sing now my friends
Warm with the love of your kin
The love of your new found kin
The song is about the Incarnation. The beautiful truth that God unites humanity to himself by uniting His nature and human nature in the person of His Son. Suddenly God is not far off, but "with us." The Son, eternally existing with the Father and the Spirit, suddenly finds Himself in a new family. "Remaining what He was (divine), He became what He was not (human)." On the flip side, humanity suddenly has a new kin. But this relationship is not automatic. Now there is an "old man" and a "new man." To be "in Christ" is to be a part of this "new humanity." We are "included in Christ" when we hear the word of truth, the gospel, and believe it. Just makes you wanna sing, don't it?
Neato!
Jon referred to this in a comment below. I thought it was worth posting for this simple reason:
In this video you will see four men all of whom have advanced degrees, who are articulate in their reasoning and speech, and who are pastors. These men have said "Theology, thinking, and reasoning are important, not just for me, not just for my professors, not just for seminary students, but for all of the flock of God."
Fatherly Advice
"For when the thing that we love is near us, it is a matter of course that it should bring delight with it. And if you pass beyond this delight, and make it a means to that which you are permanently to rest in, you are using it, and it is an abuse of language to say that you enjoy it. But if you cling to it, and rest in it, finding your happiness complete in it, then you may be truly and properly said to enjoy it. And this we must never do except in the case of the Blessed Trinity, who is the Supreme and Unchangeable Good." -Augustine On Christian Doctrine 1.33
My paraphrase: "When you love something, it gives you joy. But if that joy is simply a means to a greater, more permanent joy, then you're not "enjoying" it per se, you're using it. But if you cling to it, and rest in it, enjoying it for what it is--not what it leads to, then you really are enjoying it. And this we must never do except in the case of the Blessed Trinity, who is the Supreme and Unchangeable Good."
God is to be enjoyed. Everything/Everyone else is to be used.
Brotherly Wisdom
"God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.
God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need. It's not so we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give--generously.
When God provides more money we often think, This is a blessing. Well, yes, but it would be just as scriptural to think, This is a test." -Randy Alcorn The Treasure Principle p.75
Fatherly Advice
For the way of all those who see is single and upward, illumined by the heavenly light, but the ways of those who do not see are many, dark and divergent; the one leads to the kingdom of heaven, uniting man to God, while the others lead down to death, separating man from God.
-Irenaeus of Lyons On the Apostolic Preaching
I love the language of salvation, not as an everlasting living in a place (heaven), but an eternal union with God. It is also interesting that he claims that the primary distinction between Christianity and all other "ways" is that our way is singular...this apparent rigidity would seem at variance with presentations of the faith that call for us to "flex" or "repaint" our faith to fit new and emerging cultures.
Brotherly Wisdom
"The Church is not simply an institution. She is a "mode of existence," a way of being. The mystery of the Church, even in its institutional dimension, is deeply bound to the being of man, to the being of the world and to the very being of God." -John D. Zizioulas Being as Communion p. 15.
This quote seems to be a stumbling block, both for those with a disdain for anything institutional in the Church, and for those who would view the Church as merely a social club or spiritualized corporation.
Brotherly Wisdom
"Prayer is God's appointed way to fullness of joy because it is the vent of the inward burnings of our heart for Christ. If we had no vent, if we could not commune with Him in response to His Word, we would be miserable indeed." -John Piper Desiring God p. 176
This, alongside "Fatherly Advice" (a daily post of patristic insight), will become a regular quote by a contemporary author. Warning: May contain numerous Piper quotes.
Fatherly Advice
I know we are as though making a great voyage on a raft,
or hastening towards the starry sky upon small wings,
when, with such poems, mind has moved to exhibit the Godhead
(which transcends the power of heavenly beings to worship as is due),
or the great Godhead's statutes, and the universe's helm.
- Gregory of Nazianzus Poem 1.1.1 De Patre
Gregory always begins his lengthier discussions of God by showing how inadequate we are for the task of discussing God. In his Theological Orations he goes on for pages about the mysteries of the natural world. The point being, "If we don't get this stuff, from this fallen world, why do we think we know so much about God?" In this introduction to a poem about God, he draws a picture of a tiny raft (the human mind) that can barely support the weight of it's own helm (the universe). Good stuff.
Shed Project
You can see here that I basically extended the deck and put the shed on the extended deck.
Had to paint as I went because it sits inches from the house.
It got dark.
A Depressing Time of Year
I remember last year feeling this same feeling coming off a high-energy, fun summer, and looking head-long into a long, cold off-season. Of course, this is the nature of camping ministry, but being prepared for it in no way lessens the burn. I miss the sounds of TAG Team downstairs doing dishes (yes, you can normally hear them upstairs). I miss the hype before chapel, and the energy we try to sustain throughout. I miss the quiet lull of cabin time and the roar of activities in the afternoon. By way of consolation, our fall schedule is filling fast--a welcome change from last year.
Thanksgiving...Puritan Style
I've recently been asked to lead worship at my church for the Sundays before and after Thanksgiving. Naturally I was asked to select songs about giving thanks. I consulted the topical index in the back of my collection of Isaac Watts hymns, and it had only one hymn listed.
How can I sink with such a prop
As my eternal God
Who bears the earth's huge pillars up
And spreads the heavens abroad?
How can I die while Jesus lives
Who rose and left the dead?
Pardon and grace my soul receives
From mine exalted Head.
All that I am and all I have
Shall be for ever thine
Whate'er my duty bids me give
My cheerful hands resign
Yet if I might make some reserve
And duty did not call
I love my God with zeal so great
That I should give him all
It seems Isaac simply had very little to say about the things God had given him. That is, Watts sees in God Himself more than his meager soul could ever begin to thank. And until God is duly thanked, His gifts must wait.
Gorgeous
We took some pictures on the camp tire swing (known to most as the Puke-o-whirl). Before Ben arrived, I snapped a few of my bride...gorgeous.
On Promenade
As I've pondered throughout the months returning to my neglected, starving, dying blog I resolved to make my grand return a review of On Promenade. Now it should be stated that I planned my return much closer to the release date in October of 2007. The factors that have prevented this review have been fear--fear of the responsibility of maintaining regular posting habits--and shame--embarrassment that my last post still has me writing my thesis. (For those curious, I finished.) Perhaps a third deterrent is the daunting task of putting into words the rushing current of emotion and thought that overwhelm the album's unsuspecting listener. But here goes.
There I sat in the small music venue in Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX. The crowd was small but loyal. Of the seven in the crowd, two faces were familiar--regulars at this venue. This particular show is a "songwriters-in-the-round,"--a song-swap between three artists. The second in the trio, Doug Burr, is my reason for attendance. He sits in a chair heaving a jumbo-body Larrivee onto his knee. The cedar top on this enormous guitar delivers a boomy, bassy sound as the songwriter begins a slow country strum accenting the bass note. The lyrics tell of a girl watching trains roll through town wishing she could hop one and leave town. One particular night a "black train" picks up speed and barrels toward a town of sleeping citizens. The lyrics move to a refrain of warning--"Wake up baby a train is coming..." We in the audience can feel it picking up steam as Dougs strumming picks up speed and intensity. Just when Burr is screaming and guitar strings teeter on the verge of snapping the beat quickly dies...(as do the citizens of Graniteville?) The ending is left open and the audience left speechless. Prior to that moment I had been a fan, but that song made me a believer. From that point I hounded Doug after shows, "When is a new album coming out?" "Will it have Graniteville on it?"
A career change and a move meant I caught fewer Doug Burr performances but the anticipation grew for an album wherein Graniteville would be showcased. When Doug pre-released four songs on his myspace page I knew this album would be more than just Graniteville + other songs. Still that fear that you get when you sit to watch a comedy and you fear the only five funny scenes were already shown in the over-played preview began to set in. A year later when the album came out all fears ceased. This time I found myself in another small venue, this time packed with eager fans--the CD release show. I bought my copy early in the night. Clutching it and toying with it throughout the show. If Graniteville was stirring in a solo act it quaked with a full band. "Whippoorwill" was haunting but hopeful. "In the Garden" was driving and despondent. When the night was over I maintained a quick pace to my car, parked on a dark backstreet off Lower Greenville, my fingernails finding the seams in the cellophane and peeling it off impatiently. I popped it in the player in my car and, as it is my habit to listen to an album start to finish at least 5 times before I skip to songs I like, I started at the beginning.
Slow Southern Home is an ideal opener. Doug's vocals invite the listener into the story. The drone of the organ beckoning the same. This 11 song story begins with the story-tellers dream of an "ancient house," his "slow southern home." The idyllic language allows the listener to insert his/her own idea of home into this "dream." From here Doug moves into a droned-bass fingerpicking slightly more optimistic in its tone, but as soon as we find "gold in the hills" we are assured that "there is a darkness hanging o'er the West here in the land of progress." Whether the West is Gold Rush California or the New World America's, the optimism is misplaced. Nevertheless the song ends with a playful chorus of shakers and Doug's alyrical crooning. The third track is none other than Graniteville. Burr's version of fire-and-brimstone, this song is an allegory for sin and it's consequences. Whippoorwill at the same time praises the Whippoorwill for her song and bemoans her audiences ability to sing a song in every language. He covets the bird's "song and it's reason to sing." He wishes he could "call to you/You? from the tops of these trees, and when the winter comes we'd flap our wings and leave." The end of the song finds the singer asking his companions to lay aside their voices and instruments presumably due to the relative inadequacy of their songs to do what the Whippoorwill does. The next two songs are linked musically and thematically. The first is a letter from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo wherein he speaks of "love even unreturned." The hum of the electric guitar and Wurlitzer bridge the seam between "How Can the Lark" and "Should've Known"--an "I told you so" to the grandson of Theo Van Gogh, killed for his film exposing Muslim abuses of women, who should've learned the bloody lessons of his great-uncle. You may get the sense from my description and from the above artwork of the ominous character holding a guitar in a darkened wood, that this is a dark album. On the whole your senses are not failing you, but music can do strange things to the senses. Burr can drag you through the slough because he is ever keeping before you the golden meadow on the other side. "In the Garden" is a perfect example. One might suspect Doug is following up his gospel concept album, "The Sickle and the Sheaves" with his own arrangement of the 20th Century hymn. On the contrary the slightly distorted, bassy intro is consummated with the opening line, "Devils thorns and gears, Been that way for years." One's mind quickly shifts from the garden where "He walks with me and He talks with me" to something cold, harsh, and industrial. In the background, Burr suggests, you can "hear somebody laughing." Burr is less than comforting when he confesses, "I have a sinking feeling it gets worse, worse before better better." However, as he finishes the last chorus which is meant to build into the bridge, the instruments are backed out slightly and the lyrics take center stage as Burr observes, "I hear somebody weeping in the garden." The biblical imagery has moved from Eden to Gethsemane. The laughing serpent is replaced by a weeping Savior. This theme is repeated in "Thing About Trouble." Hear the listener is placed in a river gorge. The beauty around her is deceiving and she is encouraged instead to keep moving ahead, waiting for "the day." Despair and hope sway and spin as one, but ruin gives way to resurrection as the listener is assure that a flood is coming, but that "everything that sinks one day it will rise, eyes, tooth, and tongue." "Last Promenade" is one of the most beautifully arranged songs on the album, opening with pert and airy fingerpicking which quickly falls among the steady hums of the organ and accordion. The imagery is thick and elusive, and whatever the details may signify, what begins as a party is crashed and left to the dogs and the singer is left standing on a promenade with no ticket as a train barrels by. "Always Travel Light" is the proverbial "you can't take it with you" warning delivered, as promised, with the lightest touch. The last song of the album moves in slow with steel guitar and organ gently lulling. Burr's vocal sound downcast as he sings of a figure "dressed in white moving through the dark." As bleak as the song may feel the message remains hopeful as the closing line claims, "I have cut you, I have kissed you, Blood runs down, runs downhill."
Without the prospect of a Slow Southern Home, I wonder if anyone would bear with Burr the wallows of tragedy, love lost, and gardens overrun with thorns. Would you wade the slough with no portension of golden meadows? And yet, Burr does not leave us in thorny Eden, or deceptively beautiful gorges. He takes us to Gethsemane, he tells us of the coming flood. He brings us to Golgotha where we lay dead or dying at the foot of a hill, blood flowing from the crags of the rocks over our wounded flesh. There sunken eyes, broken teeth, crooked tongues find the promise, the hope, of resurrection. There everything that sinks is to one day rise.
Thesis Update
I just got the readers copy of my rough draft back last week. When you hand in your two copies, one goes to your two readers who mark it for content and form, and one copy goes to a PhD student whose sole task it is to mark for form. However, when your readers are Bingham and Kreider, your readers will no doubt mark way more on form than your form reader. The results were encouraging. I have a lot of form to correct, but very little content. Yea! Almost done!
Caution: Chunks May Be Blown
Sometimes I see things that make me nauseated. This video is a case in point.
Sufjan's a Stinkin' Genius
Sufjan Stevens is a creative genius. His latest venture is a Christmas song contest. Here's the scoop: His fans write and record a Christmas song, send it to him, and the one he likes the most wins. The grand prize is a song swap. He gets the rights to your song, but he then writes a Christmas song just for you, and you get the rights to it. Granted, he's going to get more money for your song than you will for his, but art isn't about money, it's about saying, "Sufjan picked my song, chumps!!"
I just entered a song I wrote last year about this time. Needless to say, we needn't expect to see "Sleep Now" on any upcoming Sufjan Stevens projects.
Jon, what have you done to me?
Have you ever had one of those dreams from which you awaken thrilled because you've just received great news only to find out it was the deceptive product of your subconscious?
Some background:
As I've worked on my thesis I've received a great deal of insight and encouragement from my friend Jon Kever, who has recently completed the rigorous process. In his retelling of his own story he related a dream he had had wherein he received a scathing review from Dr. Kreider telling him he had too may footnotes.
Last night I dreamed that upon reading my first two chapters, Dr. Bingham, excited to be in the presence of true genius, replied that he loved the work, but that his only improvement would be that I use the word "is" in its various forms more often in my footnotes. His explanation was that this would somehow make the footnotes (to be) more gender inclusive.
Needless to say this was a huge relief...a sense of relief that would be irreparably rent asunder by the bone-chilling sound of the alarm clock.
Jon, what have you done to me?
Memories
I write this from one of my favorite places in the world--camp. I've found that "camp" has special meaning to everyone whether you grew up going to a woodsy retreat with log style cabins, ziplines, and go carts; or your camp was a patch of rolling grass-covered hills cut into the rich agricultural lanscape of middle America. Regardless of the amenities, camp is a place full of tradition and strong relationships. As I write, people are walking through this assembly room planing how to "get back" at others who have pulled a prank on them. A male staff member walks by with his hair up in braids. Nicknames abound and the sound of screaming kids seems almost like white noise filling the air creating that perfect(?) camp ambience. Ahhh. It's good to be back.
A Sad State of Affairs
This blog has hit rock bottom. It's been idle so long all of the comments were deleted. And, no this is not a promise to redeem it. I can promise no such thing. All I can do is mourn it's sorry condition, and hope for a better future.
Psalm 139 and Birth Control
A coworker and friend of mine, whose anonymity I shall maintain, has raised some interesting questions about the normative usage of Psalm 139 in arguments against abortion--that if they are true would they not also preclude birth control. I left my gut-shot answers, but the guy's got me thinking. They are some good questions. I'm most interested in the historical viewpoint on the subject. Check him out.
A Post From Nowhere
I can't make any promises about the future of this blog, but I thought I needed a new post. Funny my last post should be on my philosophy of youth ministry as I am now officially broken off from any formal ministry to youth. Sure I have Chuck Swindoll practically begging me to run his youth program, but I'm just not feeling "called" to do so. Having said all that, I registered for my last semester of classes the other day. Here they are:
History of the Charismatic Movements in America
Systematic Theology Colloquium
Intertestamental History
Academic Ministries Internship
Fun, fun, fun. I'll start work on my thesis in the Spring as well, so if anybody has any ideas for a topic, let me know.
Philosophy of Youth Ministry
I'm currently in the process of applying for a position as Youth Pastor. As such I decided I should write down my philosophy of ministry. Here's what I came up with off the top of my head. What do you think?
Youth Ministry is the dispensation of time, energy, and funds not available to parents to aid them in the discipleship of their young adult.
Discipleship is the reproductive relay of spiritual growth from one member of the body of Christ to another (2 Tim. 2:1-2).
Spiritual growth/maturity consists in an increase in the clarity/degree of their reflection of God’s glory. God’s glory is reflected in:
-The human being’s innate but marred imprint of God’s image.
-The human being’s actions which (by common grace) are consistent with God’s nature.
-The believer’s union with Christ, the Image of God.
-The believer’s knowledge of God’s nature.
-The believer’s enjoyment of God’s nature.
-The believer’s actions which (by grace) are consistent with God’s nature.
The Youth Pastor aids in spiritual growth by:
-Displaying God’s nature in his/her actions.
-Displaying God’s nature in his/her teaching of God’s word.
-Displaying a heart-felt enjoyment of the nature of God.
-Accountability toward actions that reflect God’s character.
-Accountability toward study of God’s nature.
The Youth Pastor employs the following means to do the above:
-Personal time of devotion
-Personal discipleship (Being discipled)
-Rapport
-Personal testimony
-Personal counseling
-Corporate teaching
-Corporate worship (music, Lord’s Supper, giving, etc.)
Ojeda's
Yesterday was my birthday, so, with my choice of any restaurant in the DFW metroplex, I chose the amazing Ojeda's. Now, for convenience' sake we went to Big Ben Ojeda's in Plano, which is still awesome, but it seems like you loose something in the atmosphere. (Pictured is the one on Maple--much more Latin part of town.) If anybody out there hasn't been, you need to go. It's the best Mexican in town (in my humble, white opinion). Actually, when Bill Clinton came to town it was recommended to him and they still have a blue table cloth with a sour cream stain on it to prove it (just in case).
Separated at Birth?
William Wallace*
John Eldredge*William Wallace portrait courtesy of Ransomed Heart Ministries and Adobe Photoshop.
You Supply the Caption
here's how this works. i post a picture that begs to be mocked, and you, the reader, come up with possible captions. for example, if i were you (the reader) and you were me (the post...man?) and had posted the above picture i might suggest, "liberal vampires invade local skinhead rally--skinheads get resourceful," or "jurers at cheney hunting accident trial asked for sentencing--jury responds with above gesture."
tom waits (cont'd)
in the words of my friend and waits-mentor "tom waits deserves more than one comment." well, he just may deserve more than one post, too. therefore i dedicate this post to his early stuff. waits' early stuff is quite possibly the most enjoyable music i listen to. the island years are like musical vegetables. one has to acquire the taste before the nutritional benefits can be fully enjoyed. the early years, while not quite musical candy, are rather enjoyable. it is the cereal of the musical world. rare is the moment when i wouldn't enjoy a bowl of cereal--and not the fruit loops or cocoa pebbles junk--i thoroughly enjoy a good bowl of wheaties, quaker toasted oatmeal, or crunchy corn bran. so, the greatness of tom waits early stuff is it takes no getting used to, no learning curve. it's pleasant to the ears and yet offers substance and excites development and growth in its hearer. it was a time when...
life was full of roses
poetry and prose and
[tom waits], all i had was you and all you had was me
there was no tomorrow
we packed away our sorrow
and we saved it for a rainy day
tom waits
this is tom waits. what a weird guy, but man what an artist. i really hadn't heard much of him until one jon kever recommended his debut album "closing time." after buying it, it soon became one of my favorites. then i got "beautiful maladies." what an apt title. his voice is horrible, i was like, "he's not even trying to sound good." but i knew he was an artistic force to be reckoned with, so i listened. it only took two times through the album to see the beauty in the maladies.
couple dating
so there's couples and they date each other and it's not like when you date in high school, but it is, cause you like each other...
...just go read my brother's blog.
pilotdrift
i was in a staff meeting at my church the other day and i'd mentioned my love of music. one of our staff members told me about his future son-in-law from texarkana who is in a band called "pilotdrift." he gave me their website and i checked it out. it sounded great--radiohead, the arcade fire, queen--at least those are the closest equivelents in my musical library (i don't actually own any queen). then i picked up the latest copy of paste magazine and on a page called "4 bands to watch" there they are, pilotdrift. i felt so on the cutting edge. because i heard of them one whole day before reading about them in paste i feel like i can say, "you need to watch these guys, they're gonna be big."
more new music
i should also mention the following new music i obtained over the christmas break:
johnny cash- american iv: the man comes around
-it was about time. obviuosly good stuff.
the arcade fire- funeral
-the album art is worth the price of the album, granted i got it used on amazon.
havalina rail co.- space, love, and bullfighting
-a havalina classic
danielson famile- tridanielson (alpha)
-number one in a two-part series. some seriously weird stuff, but entertaining.
the royal blue- where only love has gone (ep)
-this is a good year for me and female vocals. we'd had a falling out somewhere along the way, and between karin berquist, emmylou harris, and kristin leigh they've been redeemed.*
*please note this is in no way an attack on the female gender or their vocal cords. any statements made about their redemption reflect niether an over-realized eschatology nor an inherent sinfulness of female vocals en toto.
new music
i got a few cd's for christmas most of which i highly recommend, and a few that are growing on me:
1.damien jurado- where shall you take me?
-quickly becoming one of my favorite cds. excellent, excellent, excellent! a dark inclusio with plenty of indy-folksie relief between.
2.over the rhine- drunkard's prayer
-loving the laid-back alt-pop sound--somewhat more country than their past stuff.
3.ben lee- something to remember me by
-his debut album. acoustic british indy pop. i'd heard it back in 97 when it was released and have considered buying it ever since. so glad i finally got it.
4.emmylou harris- wrecking ball
-falls under the category of growing on me, but is doing so quickly. contains her priceless cover of dylan's "every grain of sand."
5.tom waits- beautiful maladies the island years
-i had "mule variations" in my hands and the guy at cd world said they'd just got a used copy of this one in. (apparently the island years are a significant period in waits' career...so now i can sound artsy with such phrases as, "hey this stuff kind of sounds like waits' island years" or "yeah, waits' early stuff was good, but man, those island years...") i've only yet listened to the first few songs, so more to come on this one.
album update
i finished and handed in my album. 13 songs. 6 instruments (3 of which are different kinds of shakers). i plan on revisiting it here and there throughout the year to clean up vocals, add various instruments, etc. the album had a title, but it was extremely lame, and i lack the self confidence to ever use it again, so i scrapped it.
reading week
so, reading week is a wonderful invention, although i'm a little upset i'm missing ets this year. i'm still a member, so i got the conference schedule and i've been parousing it the past few days...i don't know why i do that to myself. the theme is "christianity in the early centuries," good thing i'm not interested in that topic.
myspace
i just set up a myspace blog. it's got four of my songs on it. i'll try to rotate the songs periodically. the recordings are pretty rough, at least that's my excuse.
here's the url:
may i recommend...
i was so excited to read this book i picked it up before i was done with the one assinged before it. i wasn't disappointed. i'm only half done with it, but unless it takes a nose dive, i recommend this book to any Christian who is an artist. notice i didn't say "Christian artist." the book is expressly for those Christians who want to contribute to culture, not the Christian subculture. the guy is a journalist and a poet, but he writes music reviews and interviews musicians, so the two most prominent arts highlighted in the book are literature and music, but all the arts are in mind in the writing of the book. he's also associated with squint entertainment who gave waterdeep their first contract, so at least he hangs with people who know true art.
music
i just realized i don't have a link to havalina. this ought not be so. they are a great band. i really only have one album, and that's because it's free on their website, but i saw them at cornerstone a few years back and have been a fan ever since.
in their words: "havalina, not unlike most of our influences, is about change and various forms of wrecking pop music." gotta love that.
update on the album
today i wrote the fourth song for my class project, so all the writing's done and the album's ready to compile, i have 14 songs total already rough-recorded, and a couple more that could work on the album, but that i didn't like as much.
how to work the system
between school and youth ministry i find little time to sit down with my guitar and write these days. thus i find myself jumping at every chance to write songs for "creative projects" in classes. so far i've written three songs for credit and added two verses to existing songs for class. but this semester i've outdone myself. i'm taking a class from dr. kreider (theological studies prof.) called issues in theological method. its a class on cultural exegesis (obtaining general revelation about God through His image born in the culture--that is in those members of the culture who bear His image). one of the assignments is an album review. you listen to an album and write a paper on how it demonstrates the metanarrative--creation, fall, re-creation. well, instead of reviewing an album, i'll be writing one. i have to write at least 4 new songs for it, but i can compile from songs written in the past. the compilation must be done in community, which i'm actually looking forward to. that way all the songs i wrote with a pre-opined position on the album may perhaps be given a better--really, a more spiritual--placement.
pseudo-parenthood
as dog owners my wife and i make every effort to abstain from the cheesy language of calling our dog "our baby," referring to each other as "mommy" and "daddy," etc. so far we've been successful, but it's hard to avoid such connections when you go to puppy training class. last night my wife and i were at one such event. there we sat on the floor indian-style (is that term still pc?) with our dog running around playing with other dogs talking to the young couples who own those dogs about all the travails of raising a puppy. there was the look of disdain on the owners whose dogs were out of control, and the envy of those owners whose dogs would probably have pulled every last one of us out of the building in case of a fire...and then dressed our wounds. yeah, there's no doubt that owning a puppy is nothing like parenting, but it's hard to ignore the similarities.
genre nazi's
it seems like the younger part of my generation (gen y as the generation nazi's would call them) have a fascination with assigning musical genres. i noticed this in talking about music with some of them, but it never bothered me until i was playing my brit pop/rock playlist from my ipod and was criticized that it was really more of a stadium rock playlist. (please note that the title of my playlist does not exclude stadium rock) he then began to assign each artist in the playlist their own genre. this phenomenon is no surprise to me. despite what people say-everyone wants a label. they want to be seen as preppy or alternative or country. however, all the alternative kids don't want to be lumped together, so there's emo, screamo, hardcore, punk, alt-punk, pre-punk, post-punk, mid-punk and pre-wrath-punk. i particularly like the prefix "alt" see that way i can listen to artists like kasey chambers and buddy miller and yet avoid the whole cowboy boots/big belt buckle image, cause i'm not country--no, no--i'm "alt-country." i wondered why the visual arts have escaped this trend. why is there not alt-cubism? or post-dali-brit-surrealism?
youth ministry
this sunday i have a meeting for parents of high schoolers to explain our ministries to them. this whole thing makes me very nervous. in fact i've rarely been in the presence of youth's parents when i didn't feel like my every breath was being scrutinized. sometimes i feel like i'm going to be talking to the parents and one of them is just going to stand up and start hurling insults at me about my inability to make their kids good. there's probably some serious psychological deficiency or trauma that causes this. maybe some part of my brain's development was stunted, maybe i was weaned too early, maybe my mom should have used a different fabric softener on my blankets when i was a baby.
saturday
i love saturdays. this saturday was the first normal one my wife and i have had since we moved. we slept in until 9:30, my wife watched her gillmore girls season one dvds, i sat on our patio, played my music, and worked on sunday school (rom. 7:14-25)(and for those who care i'm taking the position that paul is speaking of his present christian experience). tonight we're going to watch a movie with some friends. i love saturdays.
tiny red death
the other day i noticed a stinging sensation on my foot. i looked down to see a fire ant digging its stinger out of my foot. i said something like "ouch, dang it!" and went on my way. later that night we were unloading some furniture and i noticed the palms of my hands itching. i also felt a tightness in my chest. my inner ear itched, but when i went to itch it the canal was all swollen. i went to the mirror to see a white face with bright red lining my eyes, nose, and mouth. we went to the er, got a benadryl iv, went home, and i slept like a baby. turns out i'm allergic to fire ants.
anniversary
the 11th was sarah and my 4th anniversary. we're going out of town labor day weekend to celebrate.
i'm a big fan of my wife. i mean, i'm not going to talk about how i stare at her when she sleeps or anything, but i don't know what i would do without her. i think the thing i love most about marriage is when you can't remember what it was like to not be married. even my memories of life before i met sarah seem to have her pasted in somehow. i love you, babe.
John
this is john. he's on staff with ywam (youth with a mission) in new orleans. he's an open theist. we had some interesting conversations. he's a typical evangelical, and a good picture of where evangelicalism is heading if it doesn't learn to respect what the church has historically believed. spurgeon once said (something like), "how can one think so highly of what the Holy Spirit teaches them, but think so little of what He has taught others before them?" he has a website: forever grasping the first picture you see is very telling. the subtitle on his writing on the trinity is indicative of his theological methodology. luckily, he just ends up sounding like gregory of nyssa, so he's in good company.
moving sucks
we're finally moved in to our new place. we took five trips with a two-door explorer pulling a little enclosed trailer--but we didn't spend any money. let me tell everyone out there, never do that. even if you're moving into the house next door rent the big uhaul, load it all at once and unload it all at once. i was so sick of moving by the end of it all i was taking family heirlooms and chucking them carelessly into the trailer.
our new puppy
this is piper. she's quite possibly the cutest thing on this earth. but then there's the incessant urination.
back in town
sheesh. i've been running like a french soldier this whole summer. i just had back to back trips to new orleans and louisville. now i'm back in town, but so is my brother with his youth group from iowa. they're staying in our youth building, so needless to say i won't get much done this week. the problem with this is we're moving this week. so you'll say something like "wow, that's a busy week." and to that i'll say something like, "oh, yeah and we just got a puppy." more to come...
mac
i'm making a slide show on imovie on the church's mac mini, and i've come to the conclusion that every youth minister must own a macintosh computer. unless of course you don't care about the salvation of teenage souls. in which case a pc will suffice.
A Picture of Ireland
This seems kind of stereotypical of Ireland with the green and the rocks and everything, but i found that all of the stereotypes of ireland are true. They really do like guiness a lot. It really is very green. The cars really are very small and very ugly. And everyone has red hair with amish-style beards and wears green suits with buckles on their shoes.
A Good Read
"The climax of God's happiness is the delight He takes in the echoes of His excellence in the praises of His people." -Piper
I'm reading Desiring God this summer with the guys on my youth group's student leadership team. It's my third time through it, and I just want to say, "You need to read this book." That's all, you just need to read it. Don't like Piper? You need to read it. Already read it? You need to read it. Just randomly happened upon this blog and know nothing about Christianity or spirituality? You need to read it. Hiking in the Himalayas with nothing but a tent, some food, and a sherpa named Fo Shu? You need to read it.