A couple of hoorays! for the weekend…
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I enjoy stumbling around muxtape — sometimes, it’s the very particular, focused muxtapes (early 90s straightedge, anyone?) while, at other times, it’s the really random ones (?).
I was very happy to find this neat little muxtape search engine — muxseek. Harnessing the power of muxseek, I was able to find a couple of Rodan tracks. Three cheers for Louisville!
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At the gracious invitation of Jim Hancock and Marko, this week I was able to sit in on (and, hopefully, contribute something meaningful to) a small gathering to put some framework to the Big Room gatherings at DCLA 09.
It was a joy and privilege to sit with such a talented, experienced group of youth ministry veterans, thinkers and leaders. Being able to dive into, as Marko put it, the stories of God and the story of God for two days together was life-giving and life-stirring.
While I’m still wrapping my head around terms like liminality and perichoresis, it was a pleasure to sweep through the broad narrative of Scripture and imagine ourselves and thousands of students, somehow, in the midst of God’s story, along for the ride and, mysteriously, called to participate in the mission of God in the world. For a nice summary of this gathering, you can check out Marko’s post dcla big room.
On a side note, Marko accused me of blogging too infrequently (although I suspect many readers have just cried out, No! Please!). Perhaps these couple of intensive days will kickstart my thinking (or, if I’m lucky, my heart).
Apparently, Noel Gallagher of the once somewhat famous band Oasis was upset that the part owner of the soon to be Brooklyn Nets was chosen to headline the annual Glastonbury Festival this summer.
In what turned out to be a quick object lesson for Noel in not getting into a war of words with someone who basically built his name brand in such battles, Jay-Z opened his Glastonbury set with a scathing “cover” of Wonderwall, the song for which Oasis is best known. Stereogum tells more of this sordid tale here (with comments!).
I’m not a big Hova fan, but he is a big-time performer. Plus, the AC/DC workover of 99 Problems is pretty fun.
At the risk of simply turning headsparks* into a Jason Evans quote machine, I am feeling the resonance of these words more & more these days:
Ironic to some possibly, punk rock kept my spirituality alive over the years
I’m feeling church a lot more like an indie band driving a beater van for a short tour of neighboring states rather than some A&R guy looking to sign the next big thing for some pyrotechnic arena blowout (if that makes any sense at all).
I think I’m just glad that Jason went with me to see Jaguar Love recently. Despite my wife’s merciless teasing over my giddiness at seeing shows with Jason, it’s so much more fun to catch a show with a friend. While we could have done without some of the borderline Black Crowesish organ breakdowns, it did my heart good to relax, watch the show and then hang out for a bit with J.
So said one of our elementary students after the senior pastor’s wife spoke to him about his aggressive behavior here at church.
Now, I’m not one of those law & order, Footloose types who believes that rule-keeping is the way to inherit eternal life. I’m wondering, though, about how this student came to this conclusion. Did his parents sit him down and say to him, “Son, you must do well in school and you must obey the rules there. Don’t even think about crossing the line at home. Same goes for when we’re out in public. But, happy day when Sunday arrives, because you can totally lose it when you get to church. Seriously, go nuts when you get to the church building.”
I wish that statement were uttered in a positive way. I can do whatever I want here — I can exercise passion, creativity and joy when I’m here! I can worship God with gladness and sincerity, I can dream of ways to partner with friends here in participating in God’s work in the world, I can have fun with others in ways that are not aggressive, mean and/or inappropriate.
One day…
headsparks* 