Resurrection Letters, Volume 2

I just wanted to write a little something about an album I just on iTunes. It's been out for over a year, but hey I'm a little behind the times.

It's Andrew Peterson's "Resurrection Letters, Volume 2." To answer the first, obvious question, this is from the liner notes: "These songs are bound together by the theme of resurrection in our lives and in the world around us. It wasn't until we were recording the album that I knew I wanted to tell a bigger story, and that this would be part two. Part one is Christ's resurrection, which made a way for ours; it was the turning point in the Great Story. I'm currently working on the songs that will comprise Resurrection Letters, Vol I." -A.P.

Now that that's out of the way, I will try to express how this poet has touched my life through this album. The beauty of his myriad poetic and musical tools is surpassed only by the message they convey. The message I've received so far from this album is this: "For better or worse, God is Love. What's more, he wants you to experience His love. Yes, you. No really, you!"

From the first lines ("Come broken and weary / Come battered and bruised / My Jesus makes all things new.") to the Celtic end of the album there is a humble acceptance of all who'd claim the love of God.

His clever rhyming schemes and his use of the natural percussive rhythm of the lyrics combine to bring a smile to my face. It's clear that these works were carefully and purposefully crafted.

My current favorite track is "Rocket" - but I'll probably over-play it and eventually pick a new favorite. Fortunately, there are plenty of gems from which to choose. Possible usurpers would be "Hosanna", "Love is a Good Thing" or "All You'll Ever Need."

I don't know what the motivation behind "Hosanna" was, but I'd like to speculate. The song sounds like something you'll hear in every contemporary Baptist church every Sunday morning: a happy-clappy, up-tempo praise song. The difference is in the verses' lyrics: "I have lied to everyone who trusts me. I have tried to fall when I could stand. I have only loved the ones who loved me. Hosanna!" The verses confess a lifestyle of sin and the chorus announces the triumph. Brilliant!

Please listen to "Love is a Good Thing." Even with the limited versions of love that I have experienced in my life, I found it throat-lumpingly true and beautiful.

This post is becoming too long, so I'll just leave you with the last line of "All You'll Ever Need": "The blood of Jesus, it is like the widow's oil: when it's all you have it's all you'll ever need."

Andrew, thank you for this album.

Community

Yesterday was honestly one of the best Sunday's I've had at Otter Creek in a while (I guess since Dr. Camp's last sermon). I thought Philip Duncan did a GREAT job - like, really good - at song selection and just helping to mold the service. I couldn't even sing all of "Blessed Be Your Name" because I was so choked up. The thing that got me the most was seeing Doug Sanders sing those words on the front row with his glasses off and his eyes closed. And then seeing that guy (I can't remember his name, but he's a doctor that sits front-and-center every Sunday) limp over to put his hands on Doug. Sheesh, I'm even tearing up just thinking about it right now.

Josh's message was terrific. And Danielle's testimony was incredibly powerful too.

The message made me think of this past week's episode of Community - have you been watching that show?

There is a scene between a middle-aged African-American lady (Shirley) and a late-20s blonde white girl (Britta: the pervasive love-interest character). Shirley had been doing crazy stuff all episode - she was way too passionate about Joel McHale's character doing something she perceived as offensive - though in the universe of the ethics of that show, it was completely within bounds. Turns out that she was just projecting her anger about what was going on in her life.

Shirley: "My ex-husband came by this morning and he asked for his ring back. It was his mother's and he wants to give it to his new girlfriend."
Britta: "Shirley, that sucks."
Shirley: [Talks about her feelings on the issue for a bit]
Britta: "I totally get that."
Shirley: "I feel better now."
Britta: "Let's go check on Annie."

The scene I'm talking about starts a little after the 13 minute mark. (It may get taken down at some point - if so, sorry)



This formula gets screwed up from the start SO often. In stead of saying "Shirley, that sucks," the response is often, "You're better off without him!" or "It's time to move on - let's find you a man!" or some other form of "Stop feeling sad!"
As we saw yesterday at Otter Creek, sad feelings are valid. In stead of, "It was God's Will" or something like that, it seemed like Danielle would've appreciated a "Danielle, that sucks" mixed in there. It seems like even in trying to "comfort" someone in grief, the confidante still tries to turn the attention on themselves sometimes - wanting to be remembered as the one who gave the great advice or something like that in stead of letting Shirley/Danielle just talk through the crap that they're feeling. Like most things in life, real issue that are messy probably won't get wrapped up as quickly or neatly as the TV conversation mentioned above, but it's a good framework for starting to walk with someone through their suffering.

What's more, the final piece of the "Community" equation was "Let's go check on Annie." Annie was another character who was upset about something (comparatively trivial). Perhaps an important step in overcoming grief in her own life, Shirley needed to then go "check on" another member of their community.

Britta completely exemplifies a Christian example in this scene.

I'm not even going to apologize for using this cheesy cultural reference. There.


"One another" hits:

John 13:34 - "'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.'"

Romans 12:10 - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

Romans 15:7 - "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Ephesians 4:2 - "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

1 Thessalonians 5:11 - "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

1 Peter 3:8 - "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."

Inadvertent Volunteer Battle

Memphis. Sunday at lunch time. Cracker Barrel.

Our name was called, so we were the baby ducks following Mama Duck Hostess through the maze of tables. Suddenly she stops and we're just clogging up the aisles - apparently our table wasn't quite ready. Oops. I was feeling awkward - just standing there in the aisle - and I saw a rocking chair, so I sat down - mainly to get out of the way. Until then, I didn't see the man sitting in the other rocking chair - across the checker board from me. I had unwittingly challenged what appeared to be an octogenarian to a battle! He leaned over his folded up walker and accepted the challenge, "It's your move."
So, I picked up a checker and moved it. A twinkle appeared in his eyes - eyes that, by my estimation, have seen many days and many stories. "I'm not very good," he admitted. "Oh, uh, me neither," I said, unsuccessfully attempting to convey that I wasn't even sure of all the rules.
He corrected me when I tried to ignore a "jump" that I had to take. Eventually, it got down my two "kinged" pieces and his two "kinged" pieces plus one "non-kinged" piece. I was able to run down his "non-kinged" piece and he let out a frustrated monosyllabic disapproval of his own efforts. Then he looked up and said, "It's a draw. When you have two kings each, it's a draw game." "Oh, okay." I was undefeated!
We chatted for a few minutes: I told him I was from middle-Tennessee and he told me about a time he had visited Franklin - and that it was very nice. He then started talking about some Memphis-area politician, but I couldn't really hear him well because his voice wasn't strong enough to overpower the after-church crowd's volume. I got that his name was Lenny and then I went and joined my friends who had already ordered my pancakes and bacon for me.
After we finished eating, I noticed that Lenny was eating by himself. So, I went and patted him on the back and said that it was nice to meet him. He grabbed me by the arm and gave me a tourist tip:

"While you're here, you should visit the Forrest Memorial. You know who that is?"
"Yes."
"Well, it's very nice - you should pay it a visit. Did you know I was born on July 21st?"
"The 21st, you say?"
"You know what happened that day?"
"No sir, I don't."
"That's the day we started the war - the First Battle of Manassas. If General Forrest had gotten to Manassas, we would've won the war."
[Pause]
"Well, it was nice to meet you."

Just to complete the picture, about 75% of the patrons and employees that day were African-American.

I haven't done much fact-checking on his claim, but that's not really the point.
To say we're now a "post-racial" nation is, I think, naive and incorrect.

The week in review

This past weekend was filled with music. I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday arranging "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz for Vocal Union (6-piece a cappella). Then we rehearsed at my house both Monday and Tuesday. Why? Well, we had an audition in Atlanta on Wednesday for an "American Idol"-type show for a cappella groups called "Sing Off." It was a lot of work and kind of fun to do, though I don't recommend using Audacity for Windows if you're going to do much recording. Anyways, we went to the audition and we weren't what they were looking for, but it was neat to see the process. Another group from The Acappella Company also auditioned (Durant) and got a similar summary dismissal. I was really disappointed that night because I had poured a lot of time and effort into it (as had my fellow singers), but I think I'm over it now because I really didn't expect that we'd make it. However, I did have to miss Wicked - which I heard was awesome!

Last night, I went to McCreary's pub with Breton and had a great time getting some relationship advice. For some reason, it's different coming from him now that he's married.

After work today, we leave for Snyder, TX. I'm usually over-the-top in my insults toward Texas (mainly to annoy my Texan friends), but I'm really looking forward to this trip. I always love a road trip and this one definitely qualifies. Estimated travel time to get to Snyder by bus: 17 or 18 hours. Sweet!
On our way back, we'll sing in Memphis on Sunday night, then back to work on Monday.
I believe over the next 2 months, we have 2 weekends off. I LOVE it!

Currently reading:
Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp - I'm at about 80% right now and can tell you I will read this book multiple times and so should you!

Want to read:
When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris - I might need something a little lighter after Dr. Camp
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Don Miller - he's the author of at least two books in my Y2K-America-Bible

Cool links from the week:
Michael Jackson Medley
Vocal Union on Twitter
Shuffletime - only if you want to waste a lot of time. (I ordered the Mystery box)

This I Believe

There's a series on NPR from time to time called "This I believe." It's very interesting to hear these passionate people proclaim their beliefs - I highly recommend it.

The following is NOT an entry from that program, but perhaps it should be. It is a prepared message by Dr. Lee Camp (yes, again) which was delivered this past Wednesday at a worship service at Otter Creek.

I've transcribed the whole thing (300-ish words), but here's a link to the audio. Again, I claim all typos and bad punctuation as my own.

"I believe in God the Father and Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit and the holy catholic church. Which is all to say, I believe in the Creed. I believe God is love - a love greater than my self-condemnation, greater than my lusts and greed and ambition, greater than armies and terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. I believe God is nearer than my very breath, knows me better than I know myself and desires good for me beyond anything pride or ambition could ever devise.
"I believe there are no tears more bitter than those that precede repentance, grieving the loss of our old ways. I believe that detoxing from the old man is a hard and narrow road, like grieving the death of an old friend who has kept us company for many lonely days.
"I believe there are no tears sweeter than those that come spontaneously while sitting on the porch alone early in the morning years later when one realizes how good God has been, and kind and merciful, keeping me from pits of death which would swallow me whole.
"Which is to say that the day comes when in grieving the loss of the old, we learn that we have been grieving the loss of but an illusion, a lie. And that what we thought was our friend was in fact our mortal enemy. And then, deep laughter swallows up the tears. And then one is free to live.
"I believe that I am like the demon-possessed man, set free from his bondage and sent home to tell how wonderful are the works of God.
"I believe the fact of my freedom does not mean the old man has left me. He is always there, looking over my shoulder, seeking always to engage me in pleasant conversation, offering me poisons which taste and smell, at least at first, like good wine.
"I believe the world desperately needs people set free from fear - fear of shame and isolation, free from the fear of prison and the fear of social stigma, free to love, to speak the truth, to share all things needful, free to sing and laugh and to tell good stories.
"And I believe that God is good. I have tasted and I have seen. And I love this Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though so poorly do I love. But I do.
"Amen."

Neither Conservative Nor Liberal

Yesterday, Dr. Lee Camp presented a sermon at the Otter Creek Church of Christ (where I'm a member). Here is a portion of that sermon. I transcribed it, so if there are any typos or bad punctuation, that's my fault.

Here's a link to the audio of the whole sermon.

"[W]e need to be a church, it seems to me, that is neither right nor left. Neither conservative nor liberal.
"We do not need to be a conservative church because we know that the status quo of the world does not need to be conserved. For the status quo and conventional wisdom often opposes the will of God. We cannot be a conservative church for there will be, even this hour, even today, there will be somewhere in the world, lots of places in the world in which a mother grieves the death of a starving child or one more child that dies of diarrhea because they didn't have clean water. We cannot be a conservative church that seeks to preserve that status quo. We cannot be a conservative church because today in Nashville there will be another young girl who sells herself to some more empty and broken man, himself. We cannot be a conservative church because there are still young men and young women who are sent off to wage war. We cannot be a conservative church because bullets still tear through inner-city homes. We have nothing at stake in conserving any of that. We cannot find our identity in being a conservative church because we don't want to preserve the margin, the gap between rich and poor. We don't want the continued marginalization of women. We don't want an idolatrous trust in swords and tanks and weapons of mass destruction. We do not wish to be conservative as such. Only until the Kingdom of God has come, in its fullness, can we ever be conservative as such.
"And yet. We cannot be a liberal church. We cannot be a liberal church that plays these games because we know that the way, THE truth, THE life has already come in the midst of human history. We know that THE way, THE truth and THE life has granted us all things needed unto life and godliness. We cannot be a liberal church because we have something better than tolerance: we have hospitality. The world doesn't need more tolerance; the world needs more hospitality. The world needs more people who will sit down at the table with people who have no one to sit down at the table with, and eat meals with them, to break bread with them, to drink wine with them, to share with them the goodness and the wisdom of God. We cannot be a liberal church because secularism will not save the world. Rather than humanizing the world in all of its arrogant conceit, secularism has simply taught us to demonize the other. Secularism has taught us how to slaughter the unborn and to slaughter men, women and children with an industrialized efficiency never dreamed of in the history of the world.
"We cannot be a conservative church because the Kingdom of God has not come. We cannot be a liberal church because we've been given the Way, the Truth and the Life in Jesus of Nazareth. We've been given this incredible calling to be the Body of Christ."

Amen.

Wish I had it on video

This morning I was driving on 440 East. Traffic was moving significantly more slowly than usual because of the rain. Understandable. Up ahead I saw that there were a few cars off the sides of the road - maybe a fender bender. Traffic slows for rubber necking, of course. Then. I saw a car - maybe two or three cars in front of me swerve off the left side of the road. Huh. Then the driver got out before the car stopped moving. Huh. He proceeded to run with the car as it swerved back into traffic - probably going 6-8 mph at this point. Evidently, we were going down a slight hill because the car picked up speed, but Mr. Driver did not. There was an unmanned car careening down the road at about 10-15 mph. Obviously, we all stopped to watch for a number of reasons. Eventually, the car swerved off to the right and struck a road sign. Mr. Driver catches up with the (now wrecked) car and calmly pulls out his cell phone. Perhaps I should've stopped to see if I could help, but I didn't. There were probably a half-dozen other cars already stopped right there anyways - not sure why.

Weird start to the day.

P.S. I tried to fit this into a 140-character twitter post. Wasn't happening.

Music

I love playing guitar. Not like I love baseball or love going to the pub. It is a romantic love - like being in love. On my way home from work, I daydream about playing - I can't wait to get there. When I'm finally there - just me and my inanimate friend making music together - I feel less lonely - like the angels are gathering to watch another creation. Love and music (and probably other things I haven't experienced) are like that - there's something entirely "otherly" about them that is a beneficial addiction. I really can't get enough.

At work...

This just happened:
Coworker sits across a cubic-hall from me.

Coworker: "Hey [boss], I got an extra sausage biscuit. Do you want it?"

Boss: "No thanks."

Coworker (to the whole department): "Hey! Does anyone want a sausage biscuit?"

[Pause]

Me: "Sure, I'll take it!"

Coworker (mumbled to boss): "You sure?"

Boss: "Yeah."

Then I get the biscuit.

Does that seem weird or am I just paranoid?

Funny to me

Last night I was hanging out with some friends. One young lady was telling a guy (who happens to be African-American) about a restaurant she recently visited: "Yeah, it's called Cuisine of India."

I said, "Actually, it's call Queen of India, she just translated it into ebonics for you."

That was really funny to me... and nobody else.

Surrounded

I just thought of a metaphor. I know metaphors are really overused these days, but every once in a while they're useful. I'm not sure this one fits in that category or not, but I wanted to jot it down anyways.

Being a Christian in this world is like being on second base. (By "this world", I don't mean 21st century America - I mean on Earth, post-Easter, pre-second-coming.) Follow me on this one. On second base, you are surrounded by the opponent. You're in peril, but you're "safe". You can't get too comfortable because you haven't reached your goal - you're waiting for something to happen so you can go home.

Yes, kinda cheesy, but anything that involves baseball and Christianity grabs my eye.

This weekend

Such a contrast!
I wish I had written some of this stuff down before I slept, but I'll do my best to remember what I can.
I attended three churches this weekend with my "band" (Vocal Union) and the opinions expressed here are completely my own and should no way be construed to be shared by other band-members. So there's your caveat.

We started the weekend at a very welcoming Baptist Church in Erin, Tennessee. They were friendly, they fed us and had a very nice building. The room we changed clothes in was about 134 degrees, but we weren't in there very long. As we started the concert, I was surprised by how responsive the crowd was. They were very energetic - even clapping in the middle of some songs when they were particularly moved. There were many "Amen!"s and "Yes Lord!"s. There was one physically handicapped gentleman in the front row who was particularly vocal - I was told he drove from North Carolina (about 6 hours) to get there! And he lead the chorus of enthusiasm. There's no way to say this without sounding racist, but it was a white congregation - and that made it a bit more surprising. Regardless of race, we love singing for these kinds of folks: those who give lots of good feedback. We sang about 8 or 9 songs and then took a scheduled break for the preacher to get up in front a take a "love offering." (See the note at the end of this post if you want to know what that means.)
He eventually got to the love offering, but Pavlov took over first: the preacher was standing in front of a crowd, so naturally he preached; and apparently, homosexuality was on his mind. He spoke for about 10 minutes or so, bringing out some old rally-cries I hadn't heard in a while: "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" or "There's no such thing as a gay Christian!" and also some new ones I hadn't heard before: "I'm so homophobic, I won't even buy homogenized milk!" These were said with great pride and conviction - and were met with a response I had experienced only minutes before to messages like "No matter what we believe, what we think or think we know, the world will never see, unless Jesus' love we show." I still don't know what prompted this particular topic, but he was loud and proud.
I was extremely uncomfortable because the vibe of the message was one of hate; rallying the troops for battle against the gays. Regardless of your stance on gay-marriage or homosexuality in the church, etc, this sermon was the opposite of a Christian message because of the hate it conveyed and encouraged. Apparently he had made people uncomfortable before because he addressed this: "When you speak truth, people get uncomfortable!" That's true, but the converse isn't: (if people are uncomfortable, you're speaking truth). I guess I'm homophobic-phobic.

The next morning we worshiped with the "Church in Paris" (in Paris, TN). The color of their words, actions (and skin) was completely different from what we experienced the night before. The message we heard was one of faith, community, acceptance, encouragement and love. There was a collection taken for some medical bills that a family had recently incurred - $240 - put in a envelope and given to the wife of a man who had developed cancer. The worship was wonderful (with a really bad sound system), the generosity was astounding (with only a few people - who live in an economically disadvantaged town), the love was overwhelming. I kept thinking "I want some more of that!" - and I'd have to think that a non-Christian visitor would think similarly. I can't imagine anyone thinking that at the first church.

This is not intended to be a post about homosexuality or gay-marriage, but rather a church's response to the issue. Regardless of your opinion, please approach the issue with love and respect. The only people Jesus got mad at were those who were using his Father's name or place of worship incorrectly. He tried to correct those who were living immoral lives, but to do this he chose to use love and conversation instead of rhyming propaganda. Seriously, wwjd.


Note at the end: Okay, a lot of times, we'll sing for a church in exchange for an "honorarium" - which is a set amount of money to cover the cost of gas, food, and also so we can save up for the (all too frequent) bus-repair needs and also paying for the recording that we do. As the singers, we also get paid a little for our time after those other things are taken care of. When a church can't afford to do that, we'll sometimes work out what's called a "love-offering" concert - where there's just a collection taken up for our expenses.

The difference between Bush and Obama

Experience and education breed cynicism. In Bush, we perceived a man who displayed few mannerisms which are associated with the elite and educated. For this he was chided. In Obama, we perceive a man who displays many mannerisms which are associated withe the elite and educated. For this he is chided. At similar points in their respective presidential campaigns, they both have made calls for Americans and particularly politicians to embrace virtue and throw off partisan politics. Certainly both men are very politically aware, but I don't believe that sermon was insincere by either. I believe both truly want(ed) to embrace a unified, single-minded, virtuous goal for the country. The difference comes from the context in which that impetus is found. One expects naiveté from the grammatically incorrect and the simple-minded, so when you hear them speak of virtue, it is easily dismissed. One expects cynicism from the educated and the elite, so when you hear them speak of virtue, it garners more attention. The fact that we are being called to virtue by one who is, assumedly, well-versed and wise gives his words a different hue (no pun intended).
Perhaps with experience, he will shrink from his assertion: "...we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake." So far, it seems he has not. We'll see how long that lasts.