I was having a conversation about "brokeback mountain" today with a couple girls in the collegium today. One of the girls told me that she refused to see it, for the obvious reasons.... its a movie about two gay cowboys. which is understandable. i would have said the same thing 5 years ago (before bible school messed me up).
and so, i made a strong case for the movie. the movie captures certain human emotions that the christian church has disregarded in the past. even the churches that are actually "talking about" this issue. somewhere in the bible it says (and i'm a loser for not knowing where it is/ likely taking it out of context) ;
"if my people don't praise me, the rocks will cry out".
this is a generalized statement but the church, for the most part, does not explore deep and painful human emotions, as much as it seeks for a constant escape from those emotions in favor of a happier life experience.
movies, music, and other facets of communication are speaking about humanity, and realizing things about being human that most "Christians" will not realize. These days God isn't just found in churches, Christian book stores, or praying everyday. God is found in the fringes, in the dark places we are afraid to talk about.
God is found in the places where we don't think He belongs. One more point- if you read the books of Paul, you won't get the sense that following Christ is easy. Its a tough go. To really follow Christ is to be human.
And I think its really humbling lesson, being that sometimes it hurts being human.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
concerts and cute girls
I spent a good portion of my day putting together this indie book of poems (which is being created by microsoft word, and being printed at Staples. thus, indie). I feel really drained of new thought now. I feel very unpoetic.
If I had a car (if I only had a car, do do do, do do do do... wizard of oz?) i would drive to some new places, and get some new stories. all my old pictures and poems are starting to lose effect.
meh. whatever. it'll happen. the other portion of my day has been spent thinking about a girl... who goes to my school. I'm pretty much a complete wuss, and i'm too afraid to ask her out.
I am lame.
I resolve to write better poems, that are not about "home" or "coffee" or "tea" in any way soon. I should start writing about walks, travels, difficulties along the way... as soon as I take some walks.
Well, i took a walk today, during an unsuccessful attempt to get my passport... grr. thats another story.
I resolve, also, to go for a walk with said girl... and actually be a man! by be a man, i mean walk beside her instead of two feet ahead (my downfall of last night. oh. i haven't told you that story yet. i took her to see City and Colour last night... well, technically she took me, because i'm carless... after the show we stumbled awkwardly through the crowd, and i walked somewhat ahead instead of right beside. ah! I am not a man). looking back its kind of funny. kind of.
so many more details. lets talk.
after that said walk. by the way, my house really feels like christmas right now. i love it.
talk to you later.
If I had a car (if I only had a car, do do do, do do do do... wizard of oz?) i would drive to some new places, and get some new stories. all my old pictures and poems are starting to lose effect.
meh. whatever. it'll happen. the other portion of my day has been spent thinking about a girl... who goes to my school. I'm pretty much a complete wuss, and i'm too afraid to ask her out.
I am lame.
I resolve to write better poems, that are not about "home" or "coffee" or "tea" in any way soon. I should start writing about walks, travels, difficulties along the way... as soon as I take some walks.
Well, i took a walk today, during an unsuccessful attempt to get my passport... grr. thats another story.
I resolve, also, to go for a walk with said girl... and actually be a man! by be a man, i mean walk beside her instead of two feet ahead (my downfall of last night. oh. i haven't told you that story yet. i took her to see City and Colour last night... well, technically she took me, because i'm carless... after the show we stumbled awkwardly through the crowd, and i walked somewhat ahead instead of right beside. ah! I am not a man). looking back its kind of funny. kind of.
so many more details. lets talk.
after that said walk. by the way, my house really feels like christmas right now. i love it.
talk to you later.
Monday, September 17, 2007
simple as that.
People often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
from Mere Christianity
This is a pretty well-known bit of literature...but I just love it.
And I just love C.S. Lewis.
And I just love that the God we follow is so clever.
from Mere Christianity
This is a pretty well-known bit of literature...but I just love it.
And I just love C.S. Lewis.
And I just love that the God we follow is so clever.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Intro to Now
I hope you all don't think I'm completely obnoxious, goin' to town posting on here so much...but maybe I'm so used to spending this time of year on assignments that I feel compelled to "submit" things in some fashion? Besides, I know for a fact the rest of you are going to be all caught up in having to actually do so for school, so consider this my "gift" to you--brief distractions from your homework that are entirely rhetorical (and maybe even hopefully a breath of fresh air or something)!
Today's selection comes to us from one spectacularly brilliant fellow named Dick Staub. I read his Too Christian, Too Pagan: How to Love the World Without Falling For It a couple times for some youth culture classes and really loved it. He's a rad old dude who has a passion for bringing faith and culture together and helping them understand and complement each other. Another freaking amazing book I read in a similar vein was Fearless Faith: Living Beyond the Walls of Safe Christianity by John Fischer. I highly recommend both of 'em!
I just started in on Staub's latest:
The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto For Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite.
I've only read the introduction so far, but I'm psyched for it. It's cool to hear the wisdom of a guy a generation ahead and see how things are already on the move...changing..shifting...to create fertile soil for new things that old souls are praying for. It's sad to me that a whole generation has had to live through such a cultural and spiritual famine (and that their children have been raised up into the barren landscape of it). But it's awesome that their prayers are being answered and we can feel it happening within our young hearts--the curiosity and the call, the hunger and thirst for a righteousness and a mission that's been hibernating beneath a heap of misdirection all these years.
So yeah. I just wanted to share some of Mister Staub's words from the Intro here! I hope he doesn't mind! :)
In this intellectually and aesthetically impoverished age of Christianity-Lite, it is heartening to remember that for centuries, Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic, and spiritual contributions to society. Bach, Mendelssohn, Dante, Dostoevsky, Newton, Pascal, and Rembrandt are but a few who personified the rich tradition of faith, producing the highest and best work, motivated by a desire to glorify God and offered in service of others for the enrichment of our common environment: culture. These were culturally savvy Christians--serious about the centrality of faith in their lives, savvy about both faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two. Their calling was to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who came into the world as a loving, transforming presence. They transformed culture by fulfilling their roles as creators of culture, as communicators in culture, and, at times, as countercultural influencers who operated like aliens in a foreign land.
...
Lewis...and Tolkien...passed from the scene when they were needed most--during an era of global cultural devolution characterized by the rising influence of popular culture and the declining influence of Christianity. Their generation of thoughtful creatives, whose work was built on a solid foundation of spiritual depth, intellectual rigor, and creative excellence and was therefore influential in the broader culture, was succeeded by a generation of Christians who were content to withdraw from culture, do combat with it, or, worse yet, build an imitative, intellectually and aesthetically vacuous parallel culture.
...
I have concluded that both pupular culture and Christian faith are mired in intellectual superficiality and artistic mediocrity, the result of seeds sown in the 1960s that are now deeply rooted and in full bloom. The hopeful new spiritual era promised by the pervasive, powerful popular culture created by my generation in the 1960s has produced, for the most part, an unsatisfying, mindless, soulless, and spiritually delusional popular culture today.
The same may also be said of American Christianity. Since the 1960s, many conservative Christians have sought comfort in a protective cocoon, circling the wagons to keep the "good people" inside and the "bad people" out, only occasionally venturing out of the cocoon to do combat with the wider culture. They view popular culture as a threat because it conveys beliefs, values, and behaviors antithetical to faith, and they wish not to enrich culture by actively participating in it but rather to isolate themselves from culture or to prevail in culture through the political process.
Furthermore, it is my position that the evangelical movement, which from its earliest days chose not to withdraw from culture but rather to influence it, has instead been more influenced by the culture than influential in it...Today, evangelicalism is the fastest-growing and, arguably, the most influential Christian movement in America. The press describes evangelicals as a large and powerful voting bloc; a marketing niche that purchases billions of dollars' worth of books, music, and other commercial products; and a burgeoning distribution network of megachurches, colleges, publishers, and broadcasters. But when did you last hear evangelicals described as an intellectual and artistic force in the broader culture?
...
early intellectual and cultural aspirations of evangelicals have...largely given way to a pop Christianity that mirrors and sometimes exceeds the superficiality of popular culture.
...
The Christian community has degenerated into an intellectually and artistically anemic subculture, and the general population is consuming an unsatisfying blend of mindless, soulless, spiritually delusional entertainment. We are caught between a popular culture attempting to build art without God and a religious culture that believes in a God disinterested in art.
...
Michael Stipe...adds,"We are floundering more--culturally, politically, spiritually--than I can imagine anyone has been in several centuries. It's hard to imagine that so many people are confused about who they are, what their dreams, hopes and aspirations and desires are--and who's pulling the strings."
...
Walker Percy observed,"You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing."
...
the rediscovery of our common lineage as humans created in the image of God and made to glow with God's presence...evidence of God's presence and transforming work in an individual's life is revealed in the culture produced by that person.
...
Evaluated by that standard, both today's culture and the Christian subculture operating within it reflect a spiritual, intellectual, artistic, relational, and moral impoverishment.
...
I do believe that there is hope, and I believe that the next generation is poised to embrace a deeper faith and create a richer culture.
...
Such radically fully human people, aglow with God's presence, will create a culture, counter culture, and communicate a better way of life in culture.
I've been assaulting young people all year with the breaking news that they don't have to ship off to bible college to become a pastor or a missionary in order to minister...so thank you Jamison, for making musics! and Adam for writing life! and Karl for taking care of people! and Graeme for pursuing creative solutions! and Nanc' for being a wreckless adventurer! ('cause I know you're reading this ;)
I love and respect you guys a lot, and appreciate your support and action in our quest to bring Love to life!
Let's do this thing.
<3
Today's selection comes to us from one spectacularly brilliant fellow named Dick Staub. I read his Too Christian, Too Pagan: How to Love the World Without Falling For It a couple times for some youth culture classes and really loved it. He's a rad old dude who has a passion for bringing faith and culture together and helping them understand and complement each other. Another freaking amazing book I read in a similar vein was Fearless Faith: Living Beyond the Walls of Safe Christianity by John Fischer. I highly recommend both of 'em!
I just started in on Staub's latest:
The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto For Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite.
I've only read the introduction so far, but I'm psyched for it. It's cool to hear the wisdom of a guy a generation ahead and see how things are already on the move...changing..shifting...to create fertile soil for new things that old souls are praying for. It's sad to me that a whole generation has had to live through such a cultural and spiritual famine (and that their children have been raised up into the barren landscape of it). But it's awesome that their prayers are being answered and we can feel it happening within our young hearts--the curiosity and the call, the hunger and thirst for a righteousness and a mission that's been hibernating beneath a heap of misdirection all these years.
So yeah. I just wanted to share some of Mister Staub's words from the Intro here! I hope he doesn't mind! :)
In this intellectually and aesthetically impoverished age of Christianity-Lite, it is heartening to remember that for centuries, Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic, and spiritual contributions to society. Bach, Mendelssohn, Dante, Dostoevsky, Newton, Pascal, and Rembrandt are but a few who personified the rich tradition of faith, producing the highest and best work, motivated by a desire to glorify God and offered in service of others for the enrichment of our common environment: culture. These were culturally savvy Christians--serious about the centrality of faith in their lives, savvy about both faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two. Their calling was to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who came into the world as a loving, transforming presence. They transformed culture by fulfilling their roles as creators of culture, as communicators in culture, and, at times, as countercultural influencers who operated like aliens in a foreign land.
...
Lewis...and Tolkien...passed from the scene when they were needed most--during an era of global cultural devolution characterized by the rising influence of popular culture and the declining influence of Christianity. Their generation of thoughtful creatives, whose work was built on a solid foundation of spiritual depth, intellectual rigor, and creative excellence and was therefore influential in the broader culture, was succeeded by a generation of Christians who were content to withdraw from culture, do combat with it, or, worse yet, build an imitative, intellectually and aesthetically vacuous parallel culture.
...
I have concluded that both pupular culture and Christian faith are mired in intellectual superficiality and artistic mediocrity, the result of seeds sown in the 1960s that are now deeply rooted and in full bloom. The hopeful new spiritual era promised by the pervasive, powerful popular culture created by my generation in the 1960s has produced, for the most part, an unsatisfying, mindless, soulless, and spiritually delusional popular culture today.
The same may also be said of American Christianity. Since the 1960s, many conservative Christians have sought comfort in a protective cocoon, circling the wagons to keep the "good people" inside and the "bad people" out, only occasionally venturing out of the cocoon to do combat with the wider culture. They view popular culture as a threat because it conveys beliefs, values, and behaviors antithetical to faith, and they wish not to enrich culture by actively participating in it but rather to isolate themselves from culture or to prevail in culture through the political process.
Furthermore, it is my position that the evangelical movement, which from its earliest days chose not to withdraw from culture but rather to influence it, has instead been more influenced by the culture than influential in it...Today, evangelicalism is the fastest-growing and, arguably, the most influential Christian movement in America. The press describes evangelicals as a large and powerful voting bloc; a marketing niche that purchases billions of dollars' worth of books, music, and other commercial products; and a burgeoning distribution network of megachurches, colleges, publishers, and broadcasters. But when did you last hear evangelicals described as an intellectual and artistic force in the broader culture?
...
early intellectual and cultural aspirations of evangelicals have...largely given way to a pop Christianity that mirrors and sometimes exceeds the superficiality of popular culture.
...
The Christian community has degenerated into an intellectually and artistically anemic subculture, and the general population is consuming an unsatisfying blend of mindless, soulless, spiritually delusional entertainment. We are caught between a popular culture attempting to build art without God and a religious culture that believes in a God disinterested in art.
...
Michael Stipe...adds,"We are floundering more--culturally, politically, spiritually--than I can imagine anyone has been in several centuries. It's hard to imagine that so many people are confused about who they are, what their dreams, hopes and aspirations and desires are--and who's pulling the strings."
...
Walker Percy observed,"You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing."
...
the rediscovery of our common lineage as humans created in the image of God and made to glow with God's presence...evidence of God's presence and transforming work in an individual's life is revealed in the culture produced by that person.
...
Evaluated by that standard, both today's culture and the Christian subculture operating within it reflect a spiritual, intellectual, artistic, relational, and moral impoverishment.
...
I do believe that there is hope, and I believe that the next generation is poised to embrace a deeper faith and create a richer culture.
...
Such radically fully human people, aglow with God's presence, will create a culture, counter culture, and communicate a better way of life in culture.
I've been assaulting young people all year with the breaking news that they don't have to ship off to bible college to become a pastor or a missionary in order to minister...so thank you Jamison, for making musics! and Adam for writing life! and Karl for taking care of people! and Graeme for pursuing creative solutions! and Nanc' for being a wreckless adventurer! ('cause I know you're reading this ;)
I love and respect you guys a lot, and appreciate your support and action in our quest to bring Love to life!
Let's do this thing.
<3
Monday, September 10, 2007
cbc radio
over the summer i switched over from always having a cd in my car stereo to having it tuned to cbc radio. i love the variety of things that happen on that station--one morning it will be some bland dialogue about weeds...that evening it will be a woman recounting a time she was trapped in an underground cave for days in a narrative...the next night piano concertos...
last week as i meandered across town to pick up a coffee before work i listened to two women discussing preserves (eg: canned fruit) and i kid you not--they sounded exactly like that old snl skit. i could just picture their grandmotherly applique sweaters and mouse-brown mom haircuts as they cracked impressively lame jokes in sedated tones.
this morning i engaged an old call-in man who extolled the virtues of renting instead of owning. he thought it was wasteful and ridiculous to be old and live in a house and simply sit on a hefty pension.
yesterday i had the ol' post-church-brunch experience i've come to love with my parents and my uncle rod. i am moving to kelowna and uncle used to live there, so naturally dad (the taker-carer) had enlisted him to tell me every tiny bit of information he could think of about the place, and naturally uncle rod (the likes-to-demonstrate-vast-knowledge guy) piped up with about a zillion "tips." i guess most people would love that, but i was kind of looking forward to just going somewhere i know nothing about and figuring it all out when i got there.
i try to avoid "reviews" of what a story or a book or a movie or a person or a song or a place is "about," because i like to just experience it anew--with no expectations or preconceived notions (i don't even like movie trailers very much). i mean usually, i think people's preconceived notions are bullshit anyways. so my favorite part of the conversation yesterday had to be uncle rod's synopsis of a certain park in the city.
it began promising enough (i don't mind general/objective facts so much)--"it is a place that a lot of homeless folks hang out." of course immediately in my insides that sparks excitement and intrigue, because i remember how wonderful and interesting and kind all the homeless folks i've ever encountered have been (even the most obnoxious and drunk ones are more pleasant or at least alive than the oblivious and socially crippled suburbanites i attempt to talk to daily)...and of course immediately in everyone-else-at-the-table's insides it sparks wary insta-judgement that in turn sparks generalized comments involving "staying away from there" and several socially assigned adjectives like "sketchy" and "dangerous" and whatever else you could think of to describe characters who are written off simply by their lot in life. you know. those things parents of young ladies say that they don't necessarily mean as judgemental and unloving, but more as warnings not to hang out in the dark in city parks.
obviously i'm not going to have a campout by myself or something, and i understand smalltown mentalities and parental protectiveness...but i can't help but marvel at the way we all have become subconsciously obsessed with the preservation of ourselves.
my parents are really sweet people, but i get confused by the way they want my brother and i to "be okay." i get confused by the way the church wants its congregants to "be okay." the obsession with preservation is so ridiculously obvious in our culture (oil of olay/botox/extreme makeover/"adultlescents"/wars/arms caches/insurance/rrsps...) ... but i feel like the church kind of talks around it. like we love to hear stories of crazy faith and daring adventures and all while we're in our padded pews perusing the bulletin's paragraph about a new security system which will ensure the protection of the expensive new sound system, and deciding which restaurant to go to after...which is nothing new, everone gripes about this...but really when it comes down to it, safety is for some reason more appealing than faith. we sit safely on our savings as though we can somehow carry them with us. no one seems very interested in spending their life.
everyone looks at me like i'm crazy these days too, after they ask if i've got a job out in b.c. waiting for me. apparently wandering is so last new testament. (must be a new faux-duct-tape version come out since my generic niv that bases paul in a two-story with an suv and a sweet home church gig.) ummm...does anyone remember that the guy made a living making tents? and did ministry on his own time and dime? i just never really got this whole paid-pastoral-precooked perspective.
in the end, each day will be taken care of. and i'd be more "comfortable" on my deathbed with an empty account than a thousand things heaped beneath me.
last week as i meandered across town to pick up a coffee before work i listened to two women discussing preserves (eg: canned fruit) and i kid you not--they sounded exactly like that old snl skit. i could just picture their grandmotherly applique sweaters and mouse-brown mom haircuts as they cracked impressively lame jokes in sedated tones.
this morning i engaged an old call-in man who extolled the virtues of renting instead of owning. he thought it was wasteful and ridiculous to be old and live in a house and simply sit on a hefty pension.
yesterday i had the ol' post-church-brunch experience i've come to love with my parents and my uncle rod. i am moving to kelowna and uncle used to live there, so naturally dad (the taker-carer) had enlisted him to tell me every tiny bit of information he could think of about the place, and naturally uncle rod (the likes-to-demonstrate-vast-knowledge guy) piped up with about a zillion "tips." i guess most people would love that, but i was kind of looking forward to just going somewhere i know nothing about and figuring it all out when i got there.
i try to avoid "reviews" of what a story or a book or a movie or a person or a song or a place is "about," because i like to just experience it anew--with no expectations or preconceived notions (i don't even like movie trailers very much). i mean usually, i think people's preconceived notions are bullshit anyways. so my favorite part of the conversation yesterday had to be uncle rod's synopsis of a certain park in the city.
it began promising enough (i don't mind general/objective facts so much)--"it is a place that a lot of homeless folks hang out." of course immediately in my insides that sparks excitement and intrigue, because i remember how wonderful and interesting and kind all the homeless folks i've ever encountered have been (even the most obnoxious and drunk ones are more pleasant or at least alive than the oblivious and socially crippled suburbanites i attempt to talk to daily)...and of course immediately in everyone-else-at-the-table's insides it sparks wary insta-judgement that in turn sparks generalized comments involving "staying away from there" and several socially assigned adjectives like "sketchy" and "dangerous" and whatever else you could think of to describe characters who are written off simply by their lot in life. you know. those things parents of young ladies say that they don't necessarily mean as judgemental and unloving, but more as warnings not to hang out in the dark in city parks.
obviously i'm not going to have a campout by myself or something, and i understand smalltown mentalities and parental protectiveness...but i can't help but marvel at the way we all have become subconsciously obsessed with the preservation of ourselves.
my parents are really sweet people, but i get confused by the way they want my brother and i to "be okay." i get confused by the way the church wants its congregants to "be okay." the obsession with preservation is so ridiculously obvious in our culture (oil of olay/botox/extreme makeover/"adultlescents"/wars/arms caches/insurance/rrsps...) ... but i feel like the church kind of talks around it. like we love to hear stories of crazy faith and daring adventures and all while we're in our padded pews perusing the bulletin's paragraph about a new security system which will ensure the protection of the expensive new sound system, and deciding which restaurant to go to after...which is nothing new, everone gripes about this...but really when it comes down to it, safety is for some reason more appealing than faith. we sit safely on our savings as though we can somehow carry them with us. no one seems very interested in spending their life.
everyone looks at me like i'm crazy these days too, after they ask if i've got a job out in b.c. waiting for me. apparently wandering is so last new testament. (must be a new faux-duct-tape version come out since my generic niv that bases paul in a two-story with an suv and a sweet home church gig.) ummm...does anyone remember that the guy made a living making tents? and did ministry on his own time and dime? i just never really got this whole paid-pastoral-precooked perspective.
in the end, each day will be taken care of. and i'd be more "comfortable" on my deathbed with an empty account than a thousand things heaped beneath me.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
only the good stories
Hey Hey.
I just wrote this long, inconsistent, rant about the environment, ro try and convince MCC that it would be good idea to send me to new york, to talk about the environment.
And now i kind of feel like a jerk. So. i'm going to unwind a bit.
I'm sitting at my school's cafeteria, facing the big window and the cashier. just 10 or so hours ago i was sitting on the grass on the other side of that window, watching folk music with friends. And, there is that weird aroma of french fries cooking in the kitchen, and mint from the chapstick on the table beside me.
Hm. I wonder, why isn't life like this all the time? simple? me, and some people i know, spent a good five months piecing a concert together, just for the sake of capturing this sort of moment.
Call it, the grace of time- the time of planning gives equally the time to take a couple deep breaths, and try life out in different ways than before. We, as people, are not unlike the seasons- we have to change...often. if we stay the same, or if we try and live life with the exact same recurrent routine, it will wreck us. and not in a good way.
i would rather be wrecked by falling in love with someone, sharing a kiss on a cold august night...rather than be wrecked by being too careful, or by trying to force the hand of life to provide profound moments. some things just take more careful work, more sincerity, more honesty...and frankly, more patience.
life has seasons, and what matters isn't trying to make the seasons stay a certain temperature. neither is it about trying to re-live the same moments twice, hoping that the second moment will feel better than the first. what really matters is carefully piecing together conversations, concerts, and cups of coffee (aka, moments of grace), and learning to take deep breaths after the moment you got to have with these things is past.
to answer my question, the reason life isn't like this all the time - simple- it that it would just get boring after awhile.
more later, y'all.
(after i dispose of my crappy rant).
-Adam
I just wrote this long, inconsistent, rant about the environment, ro try and convince MCC that it would be good idea to send me to new york, to talk about the environment.
And now i kind of feel like a jerk. So. i'm going to unwind a bit.
I'm sitting at my school's cafeteria, facing the big window and the cashier. just 10 or so hours ago i was sitting on the grass on the other side of that window, watching folk music with friends. And, there is that weird aroma of french fries cooking in the kitchen, and mint from the chapstick on the table beside me.
Hm. I wonder, why isn't life like this all the time? simple? me, and some people i know, spent a good five months piecing a concert together, just for the sake of capturing this sort of moment.
Call it, the grace of time- the time of planning gives equally the time to take a couple deep breaths, and try life out in different ways than before. We, as people, are not unlike the seasons- we have to change...often. if we stay the same, or if we try and live life with the exact same recurrent routine, it will wreck us. and not in a good way.
i would rather be wrecked by falling in love with someone, sharing a kiss on a cold august night...rather than be wrecked by being too careful, or by trying to force the hand of life to provide profound moments. some things just take more careful work, more sincerity, more honesty...and frankly, more patience.
life has seasons, and what matters isn't trying to make the seasons stay a certain temperature. neither is it about trying to re-live the same moments twice, hoping that the second moment will feel better than the first. what really matters is carefully piecing together conversations, concerts, and cups of coffee (aka, moments of grace), and learning to take deep breaths after the moment you got to have with these things is past.
to answer my question, the reason life isn't like this all the time - simple- it that it would just get boring after awhile.
more later, y'all.
(after i dispose of my crappy rant).
-Adam
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
016//art
here's something to mull over:
(thought copyright credited to dave vanderWHAT!)
when you create, and you leave it as something just between you and your art, it is meaningless. art only begins to have meaning when it is communicated to an audience, as long as it isn't to yourself. when this communication takes place, it is an event. think about it: when God created life, he didn't keep it to himself, but rather he involved us and himself in it. creation was an event, as it should be now. the communicating of an artist to an audience should be an event, and within that communication, there should be something to say. why create something that only serves as a tool to fuel your own needs. why not create something for the world, just as God created life for us.
(thought copyright credited to dave vanderWHAT!)
when you create, and you leave it as something just between you and your art, it is meaningless. art only begins to have meaning when it is communicated to an audience, as long as it isn't to yourself. when this communication takes place, it is an event. think about it: when God created life, he didn't keep it to himself, but rather he involved us and himself in it. creation was an event, as it should be now. the communicating of an artist to an audience should be an event, and within that communication, there should be something to say. why create something that only serves as a tool to fuel your own needs. why not create something for the world, just as God created life for us.
the now and the not yet
One of the only distinct things I remember from my first year of bible college is this crazy silly professor, Dr. Knudtson, going on and on in gospels class about "the now and the not yet." I'm a sucker for a paradox, so this description of the Kingdom seduced me big time.
I just finished The Irresistible Revolution and was thrilled to see one of my very most favorite verses on one of the last pages...
[ INTERJECTION
Dear Graeme and Jamison, Here is my official review of the book:
"Excitingly eerie. Every other page seemed to pull a direct quote out of my own mouth and/or notebook and affirm that I am as ridiculous as everyone makes me feel...and that I wouldn't have it any other way. Seriously creeped me out. La-la-loved it. Perfect timing."]
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -- Heb. 11:1
I tried to make Kim watch King Arthur last night (to no avail). Vange and I made up our own parallel medieval existence once (we're kind of reckless nerds). There's just something mysteriously appealing about the idea of a kingdom and a king and all the adventure that goes along with it. No good fairy tales take place in shopping malls or the dim glow of a computer screen.
It's difficult for me to take people who don't believe in magic seriously. I like logic well enough, but it's just very shallow. I like the idea of a place like heaven waiting far away, but it's just very lazy. The world is not a waiting room. If that were the case, we'd all be Sleeping Beauty. Nope, we are the prince! Our earthly years, our nows, are the ages of adventure we spend serving our magical King...
So get out there and kiss some slumbering maidens, 'cause we could definitely use more lively folks in this story of ours!
I just finished The Irresistible Revolution and was thrilled to see one of my very most favorite verses on one of the last pages...
[ INTERJECTION
Dear Graeme and Jamison, Here is my official review of the book:
"Excitingly eerie. Every other page seemed to pull a direct quote out of my own mouth and/or notebook and affirm that I am as ridiculous as everyone makes me feel...and that I wouldn't have it any other way. Seriously creeped me out. La-la-loved it. Perfect timing."]
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -- Heb. 11:1
I tried to make Kim watch King Arthur last night (to no avail). Vange and I made up our own parallel medieval existence once (we're kind of reckless nerds). There's just something mysteriously appealing about the idea of a kingdom and a king and all the adventure that goes along with it. No good fairy tales take place in shopping malls or the dim glow of a computer screen.
It's difficult for me to take people who don't believe in magic seriously. I like logic well enough, but it's just very shallow. I like the idea of a place like heaven waiting far away, but it's just very lazy. The world is not a waiting room. If that were the case, we'd all be Sleeping Beauty. Nope, we are the prince! Our earthly years, our nows, are the ages of adventure we spend serving our magical King...
So get out there and kiss some slumbering maidens, 'cause we could definitely use more lively folks in this story of ours!
Monday, September 3, 2007
(BTS)
hey thanks, adam! that was a nice listen and those fellows seem very sincere. i like sincere folks, most especially in september.
so guys--back to school huh!?
all my dear boys, venturing back into the land of books and complicated discussions and challenges...i couldn't be more excited for you! i hope you will find time here and there to share some of these among one another here in our funny little meeting place :)
alas, your big sis' (for the first fall in 18 years) won't be joining the back-to-schoolers... (but there are enough books and people and blank pages in the world to keep her aggressively curious nature nourished!) ah, i am talking in third person...does it make me sound smart? mahah. (don't worry, i'm not.) (smart, that is. i'm a faker.) the most memorable thing i learned in college was "the more you learn, the less you know." i don't know if that's an actual quote from someone, but i think it's definitely a gem we all realize is sparkling uncomfortably in our core at some point along the journey.
one precious thought i do know is an "actual quote," however--and that is irresistible (as your wiser, elder sister ;) for me to share--is this:
"Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society." ---Jacques Ellul
happy havoc, my friends!
so guys--back to school huh!?
all my dear boys, venturing back into the land of books and complicated discussions and challenges...i couldn't be more excited for you! i hope you will find time here and there to share some of these among one another here in our funny little meeting place :)
alas, your big sis' (for the first fall in 18 years) won't be joining the back-to-schoolers... (but there are enough books and people and blank pages in the world to keep her aggressively curious nature nourished!) ah, i am talking in third person...does it make me sound smart? mahah. (don't worry, i'm not.) (smart, that is. i'm a faker.) the most memorable thing i learned in college was "the more you learn, the less you know." i don't know if that's an actual quote from someone, but i think it's definitely a gem we all realize is sparkling uncomfortably in our core at some point along the journey.
one precious thought i do know is an "actual quote," however--and that is irresistible (as your wiser, elder sister ;) for me to share--is this:
"Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society." ---Jacques Ellul
happy havoc, my friends!
...I know my frame of mind
thought i would post a good video, to break the weird September feeling. have some fun.
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