24
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Outstanding | NOISE: Grace watching something on TV }
If you haven’t watched 24 do not click on the following link, because this is a spoiler post.
My bad for posting the spoiler earlier. Hopefully moving it to an extended entry will save a few of you pain. Read the rest of this entry »
Customer Service
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Neat | ITUNES: “You Walked In The Room” – 77s }
I went to Splash to have my eyebrow piercing looked at because I have had an ongoing infection up in there. I walk in and the guy who pierced me (6 months ago) says “Hey! How are ya?”
OK, nice customer service, he remembers my face. Then he takes it up a notch:
“How are the kids? You have a bunch of them, right?”
“They are great.”
“You’re a pastor, right?”
“You have an amazing memory.”
“When you stop the drugs you get super brain power.”
So true.
Gay Worship
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Thoughtful | ITUNES: “Come on Eileen” – Dexy’s Midnight Runners }
My iTunes was spitting out a weird mix of music this morning. It put these two songs back to back (I will include a few lines of each):
“Your Love is Extravagent” by Darrell Evans
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship mmmm intimate
I find I’m moving to the rythyms of your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
“Madly” Steve Fee
I’m madly in love with You and I’m madly in love with You
As I was listening, I realized how gay these songs are. I remember someone (Mark Driscoll, maybe) once saying how a lot of worship music makes him think Christians have a thinly veiled homosexual relationship with Jesus.
Ironically, later on in the day I stumbled on this open letter to worship letters by Brian McLaren. He has some good stuff to say. Here are a few bits:
Too many of our lyrics are embarrassingly personalistic, about Jesus and me. Personal intimacy with God is such a wonderful step above a cold, abstract, wooden recitation of dogma. But it isn’t the whole story. In fact – this might shock you – it isn’t, in the emerging new postmodern world, necessarily the main point of the story. A popular worship song I’ve heard in many venues in the last few years (and which we sing at Cedar Ridge, where I pastor) says that worship is “all about You, Jesus,” but apart from that line, it really feels like worship, and Christianity in general, has become “all about me, me, me.” If you doubt what I’m saying, listen next time you’re singing in worship. It’s about how Jesus forgives me, embraces me, makes me feel his presence, strengthens me, forgives me, holds me close, touches me, revives me, etc., etc. Now this is all fine. But if an extraterrestrial outsider from Mars were to observe us, I think he would say either a) that these people are all mildly dysfunctional and need a lot of hug therapy (which is ironic, because they are among the most affluent in the world, having been blessed in every way more than any group in history), or b) that they don’t give a rip about the rest of the world, that their religion/spirituality makes them as selfish as any nonChristian, but just in spiritual things rather than material ones…
I should also mention songs of lament. The Bible is full of songs that wail, the blues but even bluer, songs that feel the agonizing distance between what we hope for and what we have, what we could be and what we are, what we believe and what we see and feel. The honesty is disturbing, and the songs of lament don’t always end with a happy HallmarkCard-Precious-Moments cliché to try to fix the pain. Sometimes I think we’re too happy: the only way to become happier is to become sadder, by feeling the pain of the chronically ill, the desperately poor, the mentally ill, the lonely, the aged and forgotten, the oppressed minority, the widow and orphan. This pain should find its way into song, and these songs should find their way into our churches. The bitter will make the sweet all the sweeter; without the bitter, the sweet can become cloying, and too many of our churches feel, I think, like Candyland. Is it too much to ask that we be more honest? Since doubt is part of our lives, since pain and waiting and as-yet unresolved disappointment are part of our lives, can’t these things be reflected in the songs of our communities? Doesn’t endless singing about celebration lose its vitality (and even its credibility) if we don’t also sing about the struggle?
Evangelism
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: On a roll | ITUNES: “Shifting Sand” – Caedmon’s Call }
Here’s a good thought from Jeremy’s blog:
Sometimes I think Satan tricks me into being legalistic in my thinking, and I can feel guilty about how I evangelise. Sometimes it feels as if evagelism can’t be artistic, creative and beautiful. I guess this is satan’s greatest deception. He seeks to wither the beauty of Christ by turning everything about him into a heap of dry and boring information that can only be given to someone else in a very routinized, old fashioned, and out of date manner. When we start to buy into these subtle deceptions, Christ is turned into someone who is lifeless, boring, and not real. It is only when we can experience the life and vibrant energy of Christ that people can see the true emotion that comes from a relationship with him. And this emotion, this passion, is what makes the bible more than words on a page, it is what makes the bible a life changing, powerful book. And this is what we should be bringing to the world.
I Can’t Resist
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Laughing | ITUNES: “Careless Whispers” – Wham }
OK, so going along with the other cat post, I just found this on another blog:
Barry Manilow
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Discoesque | ITUNES: “Copacabana” – Barry Manilow }
Alright, I have been outed. At Michael and Kali’s wedding reception, I let the cat out of the bag inadvertently.
Maybe it was the air of trust I had for my dear friends at the table. Maybe it was the ambience created by “T” from Tunes by T. Maybe it was watching Eric Craft moonwalk. Maybe it was the wine. I don’t know why I did it, but I outed myself.
I sang along to “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow. And I knew every word. There…it’s out there. I am a Barry Manilow fan.
When I was in college, I told my mom I liked Barry Manilow. She cried. She said, “couldn’t you just like country music?” And my mom hates country music.
“No, mom, no I can’t.”
Embedded Music
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Flavorful | ITUNES: “Tell Her Tonight” – Franz Ferdinand }
So we all have pet peaves. Here’s one of mine: music embedded in blogs.
I use bloglines to read my blogs. Very cool. But every once in awhile, I want to post a comment, so as I am reading blogs, I am popping up pages behind the one I am reading to comment on when I am done.
Every once in awhile, I will pop up a page that has embedded music. I usually don’t catch it for a few seconds. The song will start playing and making a mockery of what I am listening to in iTunes. Then, I have to go through each page and find the culprit. Arg.
Can you tell this just happened?
Cat
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Laughing | TIVO: Dane Cook on Comedy Central }
No offense to you cat lovers, but I found this mildly entertaining.
Vocation
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Great | ITUNES: “Vocation” – Steve Sommerlot }
Steve gave a great message this weekend at Riv. In fact, I think it is one of his best. He does a great job talking about “evangelism” and what it is and what it is not in the world we live in today.
I am going to post it on Riv’s site soon, but for now, you can download it here. It’s really worth giving a listen to.
USAmerica
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
{ MOOD: Great } NOISE: Steve Teaching }
Steve is teaching right now at Riv and he just quoted Mark Driscoll:
“Isn’t it odd that we are apparently becoming a nation of attractive people who sit at home alone at night with our pets, watching television shows about relationships and taking medication for the depression brought on by our loneliness?”
