2.3.05
Funky Presbyter to Attend Funk-Free Presbytery Meeting
One of the things I appreciate most about my church's denomination is it's government. Presbyterian government is based on shared leadership. I enjoy seeing and speaking with other pastors and church leaders from throughout the region. We are able to pray for each other and encourage one another while we are together. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these presbytery meetings are 100% funk-free. So this weekend I must travel a great distance in order to conduct the business of being the church, and my funk is not much of an asset in these instances. While I will not be leaving my funk at home, I will be leaving it in the car during the meetings. I'll be sure to leave a window cracked. You know, so the funk can breathe.
What's Rocking the Reverend?
Here's a new weekly feature for you all entitled, "What's Rocking the Reverend". Feel free to let the rest of us know what's rocking you this week? We'd like to know.
Ray LaMontagne's recent release entitled "Trouble" has been rocking my world this week. He's got a scruffy, smokey voice that is eerily familiar, and yet I can not place it. All of these songs sound instantly like old favorites. This album could have been written 40 years ago, or yesterday and it wouldn't matter. It is a solid, soulful, well crafted album occupying that place between country and soul, blues and folk. Nothing groundbreaking here. It's not pushing any envelope or experimenting with some new technology. LaMontagne reminds me of the first time I heard Norah Jones in that it made me think, "here is a talented artist with nothing to prove, writing songs without pretension". Refreshing. Look for this guy's name come Grammy time next year.
Interview with Derek Webb
I know some of you are Derek Webb fans. Here is a link to a recent interview. The more I hear this guy talk, the more I like him. He's a trouble maker.
Click the link above to read an interview and then copy and paste the link below to listen to Derek speak about these and similar issues. You know, on second thought you probably shouldn't listen to him speak. Your head might explode.
http://www.tucollegelife.com/audio/derekaudio.html
Click the link above to read an interview and then copy and paste the link below to listen to Derek speak about these and similar issues. You know, on second thought you probably shouldn't listen to him speak. Your head might explode.
http://www.tucollegelife.com/audio/derekaudio.html
The Church Needs Bob Dylan
Here is an excellent article about Bob Dylan's great cultural influence and the Church's great need to listen and learn with humility. Read this if you are a Dylan fan. Read it twice if you aren't.
Mad at God?
Here's a relatively good article for those angry with God. It doesn't so much provide answers, it's not a polemic, it's just one guy's story of dealing with his anger at God and God's patience with his children. It's worth the 7 minutes. Click on the link above.
Time running out to be that guy
Time is running out to submit your entry for the Be This Guy competition of this week. Two more days and then the management at Funky Prebyterian will choose a winner. You could be the envy of all your friends. Scroll down and get to work. : )
1.3.05
mmm...beeeeer.
Right now, this very moment, I am imbibing my favorite adult beverage. It is called Spaten Optimater, a dark german beer from a brewery that has been at it since 1397. 1397! That's before the protestant reformation, or the invention of the printing press. That's a very long time to have been brewing beer. Must be why it's so yummy. I highly recommend. There is a place in St Louis where you can actually get it on tap. It's called the Schneidhorst Inn. I think its a Jewish place. joke people, it's a joke.
My wife bought it for me. Thanks, darlin'.
My wife bought it for me. Thanks, darlin'.
Across the street
When it's cold, people without homes tend to congregate in the alcove of an empty building across the street from my office. Sometimes I invite them in for coffee. Sometimes I offer to buy lunch. Sometimes I just go and talk with them. Sometimes I don't know what to do.
For a while I had these two friends, we'll call Jimmy and Johnny. They were from the street. They say that they're brothers, but after a few weeks they told me they were lying. I use to take them to lunch and they would occasionally come to church. Once I offered to put them up in a hotel for a couple of nights. It was cold and rainy and they had no where to go. Well, they could have gone to a shelter, but the shelter will only take sober people and Jimmy and Johnny weren't very good at staying sober. While at the hotel Jimmy and Johnny made long distance phone calls and watched adult movies on pay perview. It was expensive. It was charged to our account. What a metaphor. The next time I saw them they were defensive and embarassed about having taken advantage of our kindness. I was just disappointed. After that they didn't really want to come back to church or hang around much. I wish they would. Johnny use to play my guitar after the service was over, and Jimmy and I use to talk about wrestling (we were both high school grapplers). It has probably been six months since I've seen either one of them. I think they're ok. They've been at the street living thing for about 15 years now, if that part of their story is accurate. So they know just how much to do to get by, even though they aren't much interested in getting better. Another metaphor. Maybe they'll come around again when it warms up.
For a while I had these two friends, we'll call Jimmy and Johnny. They were from the street. They say that they're brothers, but after a few weeks they told me they were lying. I use to take them to lunch and they would occasionally come to church. Once I offered to put them up in a hotel for a couple of nights. It was cold and rainy and they had no where to go. Well, they could have gone to a shelter, but the shelter will only take sober people and Jimmy and Johnny weren't very good at staying sober. While at the hotel Jimmy and Johnny made long distance phone calls and watched adult movies on pay perview. It was expensive. It was charged to our account. What a metaphor. The next time I saw them they were defensive and embarassed about having taken advantage of our kindness. I was just disappointed. After that they didn't really want to come back to church or hang around much. I wish they would. Johnny use to play my guitar after the service was over, and Jimmy and I use to talk about wrestling (we were both high school grapplers). It has probably been six months since I've seen either one of them. I think they're ok. They've been at the street living thing for about 15 years now, if that part of their story is accurate. So they know just how much to do to get by, even though they aren't much interested in getting better. Another metaphor. Maybe they'll come around again when it warms up.
An Elephant Rides a Bicycle
Today marks the one year anniversary of our birth as a mission church. It has been an eventful year. It has been rich and rewarding and difficult and God continues to be faithful. It has felt many times like wrestling an octopus, or like we are an elephant riding a bicycle, making forward progress, yet ever so slowly, teetering and tottering, yet remaining suprisingly upright. We can feel the hand of our father on the back of the seat. We can hear his footsteps as he runs along side. Now little boys and girls eventually learn to balance themselves, and to pedal smoothly and swiftly down cul de sacs and side streets. Not so with elephants. We are not at all aerodynamic. Balance is not our gift. We do nothing swiftly or smoothly. Should our father ever remove his hand from the seat, we would surely crash. But he will not. That is his grace. We never out grow our need of it. In fact, the bigger this elephant gets, the more we'll need his steadying hand. Let's all pray for more grace for another year.
Local Church Implements New Evangelism Program
Jesus loves you. Now feel the might of my double reverse flying death slam!
25.2.05
If it weren't for her, who would...
give me kisses?
bake the cookies?
make little greggies?
tell me when I'm being an ass?
forgive me for being an ass?
wear the dresses?
wear the army boots?
let me pretend to wear the pants?
wear the nose ring?
make me feel like superman?
be my kryptonite?
tell me good night?
elbow me when I snore?
shake me awake when I yell in my sleep?
complain about all my socks under the covers?
pretend not to laugh at my jokes?
balance the check book?
tell me when it's time to retire a favorite shirt?
listen to my stories?
support my decisions?
show me mercy?
be patient?
alphabetize teh cd's?
point out my misspellings?
draw attention to my odor production?
shave the back of my head?
insist that I trim my eyebrows?
teach my sons to listen?
to learn?
to laugh?
to love?
use the pink shaving cream in the shower?
smell like sugar cookies?
bat eyelashes?
floss... like ten times a day?
learn my favorite beer?
bring home my favorite beer?
remind me to bring home the tupperware?
order a bean burritto w/ sour cream, no onion?
return the library books?
let me replay the same guitar solo 10x in a row on the car stereo?
listen to me rant about the latest wilco album?
wait with me in the freezing cold for an over the rhine concert?
wait with me in the sizzling heat for an over the rhine concert?
tell me from the other room to come to bed when it's late and I'm typing on the computer?
Coming, honey.
Good night.
bake the cookies?
make little greggies?
tell me when I'm being an ass?
forgive me for being an ass?
wear the dresses?
wear the army boots?
let me pretend to wear the pants?
wear the nose ring?
make me feel like superman?
be my kryptonite?
tell me good night?
elbow me when I snore?
shake me awake when I yell in my sleep?
complain about all my socks under the covers?
pretend not to laugh at my jokes?
balance the check book?
tell me when it's time to retire a favorite shirt?
listen to my stories?
support my decisions?
show me mercy?
be patient?
alphabetize teh cd's?
point out my misspellings?
draw attention to my odor production?
shave the back of my head?
insist that I trim my eyebrows?
teach my sons to listen?
to learn?
to laugh?
to love?
use the pink shaving cream in the shower?
smell like sugar cookies?
bat eyelashes?
floss... like ten times a day?
learn my favorite beer?
bring home my favorite beer?
remind me to bring home the tupperware?
order a bean burritto w/ sour cream, no onion?
return the library books?
let me replay the same guitar solo 10x in a row on the car stereo?
listen to me rant about the latest wilco album?
wait with me in the freezing cold for an over the rhine concert?
wait with me in the sizzling heat for an over the rhine concert?
tell me from the other room to come to bed when it's late and I'm typing on the computer?
Coming, honey.
Good night.
Be This Guy.
Ok, boys and girls, in an effort to provide a more interactive blog for my readers, I've decided to begin a new, weekly feature. It's called "Be This Guy". Here's how it works. Each week I will post a new photo of some random person whose photo I find on the web or wherever. Then you guys will write the guy's life story in first person. Who are you? What is your name? your career? Your story? Be creative. Have fun. Here's your chance to contribute. To leave a comment you'll have to register with blogspot. Then the management at funky presbyterian will select a winner of the week. So for our first time around I submit to you the photo of a distinguished, bearded gent. Yay! This will be fun.
On Trypticals
Read about this work by Cliff Mc Reynolds and see others in the digital galleries and exhibits at CIVA's website. Click on the link titled Christians in the visual arts.
Holy Cow! (small town dad raises big city kids)
Here's a picture of Jack and a cow. I like this picture. It was a fun day at the Great Darke County Fair and Jack had never been that close to a cow before. It was a very big deal. I was raised in a small town in rural Ohio and it always surprises me when Jack says things that remind me I'm raising city kids, now. He was absolutely flabbergasted when Charity and I explained that when we were kids we only went to the shopping mall once every three months or so. He was stunned. Like we had been subject to some kind of strange ritualistic abuse or something. I remember when we were at the Great Darke County Fair he asked where all the African American people were. We thought that was a good question to ask. It's just a different kind of childhood to be raised as a city kid. The kind where cows are a big deal, I guess.
We oughta forge ourselves a new kind of life. You know, greater diversity, fewer malls, more cows. That sounds nice. Come to think of it, that sounds like a pretty accurate description of Heaven. Thy kingdom come. Amen.
We oughta forge ourselves a new kind of life. You know, greater diversity, fewer malls, more cows. That sounds nice. Come to think of it, that sounds like a pretty accurate description of Heaven. Thy kingdom come. Amen.
Speaking In Indy
Sunday morning I am speaking at a church in Indianapolis. Redeemer in downtown Indy is one of my all time favorite churches in the world. They are great folks, with a great story and were very instrumental in my call to church planting, even though they don't really know that. Anyway, we're taking the whole family and a good friend of ours got us a great rate on a room at the Westin, so we're staying in style. (Jack has never stayed in a hotel before. We'll be sure to jump on the beds). I'm speaking on a parable from Luke sunday morning and then high-tailing it back to Columbus to speak at grace central Sunday evening. Should be a good day.
24.2.05
On Being A Fork
Recently I read a prayer of Jim Elliot (that's him in the picture), "Lord, make me a crisis man. Let me not be a milepost on a single road, but make me a fork that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me". These words struck me. If we are fulfilling our calling as followers of Christ, if we are speaking the gospel and living like its true, people around us will inevitibly be brought to a place of crisis. We will become to the people around us a fork in the road, where they are confronted with the Christ within us. Even if we are as gentle and compassionate and gracious as possible, the moment will surely come when the friend chooses a road. Often we try to soften or avoid this crisis moment at all costs. It is awkward and there is always the risk of offending and alienating our friends. A Chrsitian must be exceedingly cautious to ensure that the crisis is caused by Christ in us and NOT by us! There is enough to cause offense in the gospel we believe. We ought not add to the offense with our big mouths or our boorish attitudes. But if Christ in us causes crisis then so be it. The hard part comes when we are rejected along with Christ and the friend chooses to leave us behind. That's tough to deal with, but its what we are called to in this life. Here's a relevant text from the New Testament:
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
Christ was a fork in the road. Let us be as well.
(To read more about Jim Elliot's story check this out: http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b4jelliot6ra.htm
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
Christ was a fork in the road. Let us be as well.
(To read more about Jim Elliot's story check this out: http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b4jelliot6ra.htm
22.2.05
So Spooky It's Beautiful
There are times when one encounters a work of art so amazingly beautiful, it's spooky. I think for instance of a handful of songs by Over the Rhine, the guitar solo in u2's "Love is Blindness", a painting or two by Edward Hopper, and several by Caravaggio. These are works that are so beautiful it is spooky. I have recently experienced the inverse of this phenomena. While in Los Angeles I purchased an album by Wovenhand, a side project of David Eugene Edwards, the lead singer of a moderately known gothic-folk act called 16 Horsepower. (That's right, I said "gothic-folk"). Wovenhand's 2004 release entitled "Consider the Birds" is so spooky, it's downright beautiful. I venture to guess you have not encountered a work of staggering spiritual profundity like "Consider the Birds" in a long time. Edwards, like his label mate Sufjan Stevens, is a believer making excellent and creative music for all discerning listeners, not for Christian rock listeners. And yet the struggle of faith breaks through the music with startling clarity.
Here are some clips from recent reviews:
so utterly soulful and important. It's everything music should be. You don't need to agree with Edwards' spiritual bent, or even understand what he's on about. This music is passionate, pure and heartfelt and disturbingly personal. Thus it's more important than 90 percent of the music that gets made these days. - From KQED.com
he sings the way Jonathan Edwards preached in his famous sermons of the 1730s – voice low, rarely making eye contact, but with the furious conviction that none of us have a moment to waste.- Dusted Magazine
In the swampy gypsy bayou of "To Make A Ring" Edwards beseeches nonbelievers to realize that "judgment is not avoided by your unbelief/ Your lack of fear/ Nor by your prayers to any little idol here...The lord will not be mocked/ Not by you or me." Gathering a gale force, the track ends with a hermetic sing-a-long around a burning maypole: "We will weave our voice, we will weave our voice together and sing forever round the throne." So, if like me you don't believe in God, then why listen? Well, because unlike empty teen angst or bitchy navel gazing, Edwards has a certified message and even with the spikes and thorns and judgments his work emerges from a compelling, otherworldly mindset.
As our country turns further towards the conservative right, it makes sense to some to be suspicious of religiosity but from my atheistic vantage, Consider the Birds is pleasingly scabrous and utterly apocalyptic. Instead of peppering his work with brief/sappy/peachy references, Edwards unleashes a torrent. Accordingly, religion aside, Consider the Birds should please any and all fans of bleak testimonials and Valley-of-Darkness soundscapes. If you really do fear Godly cooties, block out Edwards lyrics (pretend he's speaking in undecipherable tongues or talking to his girlfriend) and instead take a walk along brittle pine needles with these dark melodies, virtuosic screeches, and that humid overbearingness of his stately vocalizations. - Pitchforkmedia.com
“I’m just singing from first-hand experience of how wretched people are. And I don’t need to go any further than myself,†says Edwards of his body of work, formed first as the lead vocalist and main songwriter behind Appalachian goth-folk outfit 16 Horsepower and now the center of his solo project, the more experimental Woven Hand. “I don’t have to point my finger at anybody else, because there is no need.†In so doing, Edwards, like Cash, creates a world rendered in stark black and white, peopled with characters that murder and steal and frantically try to stay one step ahead of the judgment they know is trailing them. As with Cash, Edwards uses his personal frailties and deep Christian faith to make unsettling comments on the human condition that are designed for a purpose startlingly out of step with the majority of contemporary entertainment: Edwards aims to make his listener uncomfortable. - from an interview in Paste magazine
Here are some clips from recent reviews:
so utterly soulful and important. It's everything music should be. You don't need to agree with Edwards' spiritual bent, or even understand what he's on about. This music is passionate, pure and heartfelt and disturbingly personal. Thus it's more important than 90 percent of the music that gets made these days. - From KQED.com
he sings the way Jonathan Edwards preached in his famous sermons of the 1730s – voice low, rarely making eye contact, but with the furious conviction that none of us have a moment to waste.- Dusted Magazine
In the swampy gypsy bayou of "To Make A Ring" Edwards beseeches nonbelievers to realize that "judgment is not avoided by your unbelief/ Your lack of fear/ Nor by your prayers to any little idol here...The lord will not be mocked/ Not by you or me." Gathering a gale force, the track ends with a hermetic sing-a-long around a burning maypole: "We will weave our voice, we will weave our voice together and sing forever round the throne." So, if like me you don't believe in God, then why listen? Well, because unlike empty teen angst or bitchy navel gazing, Edwards has a certified message and even with the spikes and thorns and judgments his work emerges from a compelling, otherworldly mindset.
As our country turns further towards the conservative right, it makes sense to some to be suspicious of religiosity but from my atheistic vantage, Consider the Birds is pleasingly scabrous and utterly apocalyptic. Instead of peppering his work with brief/sappy/peachy references, Edwards unleashes a torrent. Accordingly, religion aside, Consider the Birds should please any and all fans of bleak testimonials and Valley-of-Darkness soundscapes. If you really do fear Godly cooties, block out Edwards lyrics (pretend he's speaking in undecipherable tongues or talking to his girlfriend) and instead take a walk along brittle pine needles with these dark melodies, virtuosic screeches, and that humid overbearingness of his stately vocalizations. - Pitchforkmedia.com
“I’m just singing from first-hand experience of how wretched people are. And I don’t need to go any further than myself,†says Edwards of his body of work, formed first as the lead vocalist and main songwriter behind Appalachian goth-folk outfit 16 Horsepower and now the center of his solo project, the more experimental Woven Hand. “I don’t have to point my finger at anybody else, because there is no need.†In so doing, Edwards, like Cash, creates a world rendered in stark black and white, peopled with characters that murder and steal and frantically try to stay one step ahead of the judgment they know is trailing them. As with Cash, Edwards uses his personal frailties and deep Christian faith to make unsettling comments on the human condition that are designed for a purpose startlingly out of step with the majority of contemporary entertainment: Edwards aims to make his listener uncomfortable. - from an interview in Paste magazine
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