8.30.07 :: Somebody else's words
Are you where you thought you would be?
So beautiful and only 23
Opposition rests in the hearts with no opportunity
It's not that we don't talk
It's just no one really listens and honesty fades
Like a politician who lost in the course
All smiles but no one remembers our namesWith downcast eyes
There's more to living than being aliveFrom "Alexithymia" - Anberlin
A more abundant life, anyone?
Going to watch The Bourne Ultimatum with Nausheen in the afternoon. I haven't seen her in 5 years! I'm excited. :o)
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8.28.07 :: Moozak
So yesterday I went to Blessings to pick up my sister from work, and came out with 2 tapes (yes, tapes) and 1 CD. The tapes were 25 cents each, so I thought, why not? I got Reality Check's debut album (sounds a lot like dcTalk... no wonder they were on Gotee!) and Hokus Pick's Bookaboom which I still have yet to listen to. And of course, I picked up Anberlin's Cities, which has so far been utterly amazing. It's some solid stuff, I tell ya!Today, Mae's Singularity arrived in my mailbox from SmartPunk. I forgot all the goodies they shoved in the envelope last time! This time, they packed in a 2-track sampler from Sound The Alarm (it was pretty generically punk-sounding) and 4 Relient K picks (from Jon, John, Matt, and M@). Random. But randomly good. :o) However, the Mae album is not their best effort. There are some catchy riffs and lines here and there, but overall, probably my least favourite album of theirs. Let me give it a bit more time, though. Works for Switchfoot albums.
I need me a new CD tower or shelf. Yeah.
In other news, Mae and Anberlin are performing at the Kool Haus on November 18, along with Motion City Soundtrack and Metro Station. Two of my favourite bands sharing the stage on one night? Hmm...
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8.27.07 :: The Irresistible Revolution: The aftermath
What an amazing book! Shane Claiborne is a man living a recklessly glorious life for Christ. It's hard not to be jealous of his lifestyle. I highly, highly, highly recommend it, especially if you want to be jolted into even a bilionth fraction of action he's engaged in.Here are some organizations he mentions in the book that I found rather interesting:
- Church Under the Bridge: This church exists under a bridge in Waco, Texas. It was started by a bunch of homeless people who wanted to worship God, and has grown. How cool is that?
- Geez Magazine: "Holy mischief in an age of fast faith" is their tagline
- Buy Nothing Christmas: Found this one while exploring Geez... comes complete with a Buy Nothing Catalogue!
- Make Affluence History: The coding's a little messed up on the site, but a great concept! Also from Geez.
- Global Exchange Store: Fair Trade and Socially Conscious Gifts... why not shop here instead?
- University of the Poor: Majors include art & culture, social work & social transformation, and theology, and there are even "courses" you can attend!
- Cred Jewellery: Them Brits are so on the ball... this is an ethical jewellery company
- The Simple Way: The organization co-founded by Shane Claiborne. One of their houses burnt down recently. Please pray for them.
One concept from the book that I found compelling was the need for "prophetic imagination" (I believe some other author actually came up with the term, but I'm too lazy to look it up). How can we convince others in our spiritually hungry but Christianity-hating society that God exists and interacts with us and that He can transform our lives for the better? I loved the creativity that people have in bringing down the kingdom of God as illustrated in the book. I did no justice to explaining the wonderful example of what happened on Wall Street to Ceci last night (it involved a lot of money being thrown around on Wall Street and people freely taking what they could find). But here's a site that does, thank goodness. Take a read.
Well, enough talk (or write). It's time to act.
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8.18.07.b :: Who I am likes who they are
Lovedrug is sweet. It's one of those bands that makes me want to write songs and make good music (has yet to happen this year... ugh). Reminiscent of Muse, definitely. I'm also told of Radiohead (I dunno... you fans have to judge for yourselves). I suppose I can't resist a boy on a piano (or a guitar) who can sing and write their own songs.Check out the following live performance for their song "Down Towards The Healing". Lyrics are below.
I want to make you happy but I've fallen, I'm sorry. I thought my wings could hold me up with angels, not demons. You don't know how cool you are to find the ways to love me without shame.
I want my life to be red with trees like autumn. I'd float away from evil and down towards the healing. So sad now we have become the children trapped in the mazes. I'd give my soul to the one who has the courage to find me and free me now.
If I run, I'll just become like all the faking lights, so let the thunders take me under and break my legs tonight.
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8.18.07.a :: Who I am hates who I've been
Not much excitement today. The family went to Anita and Ivan's wedding while I stayed home to clean my room and turn it into something more study appropriate. Also checked out some new tunes (Page France is on, Lovedrug up next), saved up a few sites from cards and pamphlets I picked up this summer (Micah Challenge, Toronto City Mission, Christians Against Poverty UK), tried to plunk out some new songs on the piano (yeah, I'm getting bored with the guitar), waiting for the family BBQ to start, procrastinating with Sunday school stuff. What's new?Skipped JOY yesterday. So much for responsibility. :oP A month away from everything sounds nice right about now.
I am the crisis
I am the bitter end
I'm gonna gun this down
I am divided
I am the razor edge
There is no easy nowSon of sorrow, staring down forever with an aching view
Disenchanted, let's go down together with the fatal woundThis is the real thing
No rubber bullets now
This is the final bow
My breath avoids me
My chest is in my head
My stomach's upside downSon of sorrow, staring down forever with an aching view
Disenchanted, let's go down together with the fatal wound
With the fatal wound
With the fatal wound"The Fatal Wound" - Switchfoot
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8.11.07 :: Culpability, and other fluff
It's another hot summer's day, and all the windows are open, allowing some of the drifting wind to come through. Can't help but hear Niette's voice warn "global warming!" Or, more correctly, it's the voice of a speaker she heard at Logos' Gospel Camp sometime ago. So the air conditioner stays off, until someone in the house breaks.
Except the hot air is overheating my brain. Can't seem to put together the lesson on humility well at all. I copped out some on the lesson. Sorry guys. At least it'll be short, and we can all break loose from our seats and do something appropriate for summer time, like hang out with friends, rush out to various softball games, or take a nice, long, afternoon nap.
Doing all this stuff in the summer has really had me thinking about issues of culpability (according to dictionary.com, "deserving blame or censure; blameworthy"). The word really stuck in my head after Henry shared about the kids' pre-fabbed Sunday school material, and how the writers made it all lame (yes, the word we settled on) by using words that had the same beginning later for various lesson themes. Culpability, as Henry explained, is linked with responsibility. And responsibility is one thing that I've noticed people tend to avoid. At all costs. Just like last night, when us JOY kiddies were figuring out exactly what we were helping FMD with, one person exclaimed (not directly to us), "don't ask me. I'm not in charge." And I remember in the CrossPoint planning meetings (and every other committee I've been on, I suppose), how we all skillfully shifted responsibility of various tasks around to each other (and mainly to people not present!). Oh, and this one time I was at Ikea, I was fiddling around with a spatula and, well, broke it. And what did I do but put it back in the bin and walk away? Yes, I'm unresponsible, just like the rest of us.
I've been reflecting a lot about our responsibility to the things I do. It's not something we enjoy - unless, of course, we're being praised for it. Do I really own what I'm doing? Stand up still when people are blaming me for wrongs? Stay still when others are running away from something we all committed to at the beginning? Not blow up when things aren't going the way I imagined? "I would take a bullet for you," sings Mat Kearney. I'm still not sure if I would do such a thing for God, let alone for anyone else.
And with everything else, I have no answers. And it's not exactly a common or popular topic of discussion when hanging out with friends or around the dinner table. Sometimes I wonder if other people think about these things?
Anyway, I'll just listen to more Seven Swans and contemplate some more, as is my usual custom. On a random note, all the words in the CD booklet are entirely handwritten!
If I am alive this time next year, will I have arrived in time to share?
Mine is about as good this far
I'm still applied to what You are
And I am joining all my thoughts to You
And I'm preparing every part for YouI heard from the trees a great parade
And I heard from the hills a band was made
Will I be invited to the sound?
Will I be a part of what You've made?
And I am throwing all my thoughts away
And I'm destroying every bet I've made
And I am joining all my thoughts to You
And I'm preparing every part for You"All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands" - Sufjan Stevens
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8.7.07 :: It's been a while
Here's the sort of obligatory August update to archive the July stuff. It's already August. That's a little nuts.I've got Sufjan Stevens serenading me off his Seven Swans album. Very mellow and very lovely. I love the banjo (or at least I think it's a banjo) on "The Dress Looks Nice On You". He's a great instrumentalist!
Been thinking a lot on my impact in society, on how I'm living a transformed and tranformational life, on how I'm a Christ follower. I'm absorbing lots from the October 2006 issue of Christianity Today, Al Hsu's The Suburban Christian, Mike Mason's Practicing the Presence of People, and Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution. Lots of thought-provoking material, and lots of feelings "man, I'm so far behind!" I think what I need to do is figure out my "theology". Exactly what do I believe? Maybe I should stop reading. But then, I'm heading to seminary soon (i.e. information overload). I pray God will help me find my way.
Oh yes, and CrossPoint has come and gone. It was alright. I really enjoyed the intergenerational discussion groups, and I'd love to see this carried back into our daily activities at church. However, I am audacious enough to ask, what's the point of these large church gatherings away? Send your thoughts my way.