It seems that I've been having a lot of discussions about Christian music recently. I'm curious about others' thoughts. Here's a few to start...
- God created beauty. He invites us to be co-creators with him. Can we really afford to settle for mediocrity? So much contemporary Christian music seems to be based around the production of cookie-cutter music and lyrics, relying on the fact that we have the truth as an excuse for being lazy. Nothing about Christianity should be a second-rate substitution for something better, yet that's what Christian music can often be.
- What should our response be to musical mediocrity, especially in worship?
- There is a place for simplicity. What's the difference between mediocrity and simplicity?
- All truth is God's truth, so is there a need to distinguish between Christian and non-Christian music? If so, what defines each? Should Christian bands only sing about Christian things? Can non-Christian bands produce things of eternal value?
I'm sure there's some good thoughts out there...please share!!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
A gap in the deck
I have a funny reminder now of my sin, every day: a gap in our deck.
Anyone who meets me for about 10 minutes could probably tell you that I'm not patient. It comes out in my marriage, at work, with the dog, planning for our future -- pretty much everywhere. I just don't like being slow. I'm a perfectionist, but I'm also a get-it-checked-off-the-checklist-ist, and sometimes (OK, a lot), that part wins out.
When we were building the deck, Ryan and I were screwing in the last four or five boards. I was tired, ready to be done, to enjoy the fruit of our labor. We put a warped board down, and Ryan wanted to take the time to get it pushed up against the other board correctly. I didn't -- I just wanted to knock the screws in. So I whined, said surely it wouldn't be that bad, and just pretty much kept working.
To this day, I hate that gap. My perfectionism has now won out, and my impatience stares me in the face whenever I look at that gap. Luckily, I think it's hilarious (and so does Ryan), but it's there nonetheless. It reminded me of a sermon from September, after which I wrote:
"'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' The fruit (singular) of the Spirit is (singular)...nine things. Wait a minute. We expect, 'But the fruits of the Spirit are...' Here's how Darrin explained it -- fruit grows symmetrically. If we are not growing in ALL of those things, we are living in our personality, not in the Spirit. There is only one fruit of the Spirit, and it encompasses all those things that we identify individually."
Patience is my shriveled little fruit next to the rest, and I'm working on that one. And the gap in our deck is there to remind me.
Anyone who meets me for about 10 minutes could probably tell you that I'm not patient. It comes out in my marriage, at work, with the dog, planning for our future -- pretty much everywhere. I just don't like being slow. I'm a perfectionist, but I'm also a get-it-checked-off-the-checklist-ist, and sometimes (OK, a lot), that part wins out.
When we were building the deck, Ryan and I were screwing in the last four or five boards. I was tired, ready to be done, to enjoy the fruit of our labor. We put a warped board down, and Ryan wanted to take the time to get it pushed up against the other board correctly. I didn't -- I just wanted to knock the screws in. So I whined, said surely it wouldn't be that bad, and just pretty much kept working.
To this day, I hate that gap. My perfectionism has now won out, and my impatience stares me in the face whenever I look at that gap. Luckily, I think it's hilarious (and so does Ryan), but it's there nonetheless. It reminded me of a sermon from September, after which I wrote:
"'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' The fruit (singular) of the Spirit is (singular)...nine things. Wait a minute. We expect, 'But the fruits of the Spirit are...' Here's how Darrin explained it -- fruit grows symmetrically. If we are not growing in ALL of those things, we are living in our personality, not in the Spirit. There is only one fruit of the Spirit, and it encompasses all those things that we identify individually."
Patience is my shriveled little fruit next to the rest, and I'm working on that one. And the gap in our deck is there to remind me.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Obama wants to kill your grandma*
Thought we forgot about our blog, didya? We did, kinda. But we're back! We'll see if we do another disappearing act...
I'm not going to write about the actual politics of healthcare reform. I have mixed feelings about the specific proposal. What I do not have mixed feelings about, however, is that some kind of reform is needed.
We cannot, of course, completely absolve people of responsibility for their choices that may have led to them not be able to find or maintain a job. We cannot hold them blameless for decisions to use drugs, drop out of school, etc.
But we also cannot expect people who are in vastly different situations from the beginning to have the same options we do. I look at the people United Way helps, the people Ryan is seeing in counseling, the people our church serves in the Tower Grove neighborhood. These are people for whom joining a gang was a more feasible option for survival than staying in school; these are people where, if they had even one parent at home regularly (and not just a sibling or grandparent or aunt), it was unusual.
It's unbelievably cold and selfish for us who are relatively rich (as in, we can pay our bills and still buy food), white, college-educated and who have been in a stable family to say that hey, we have healthcare through our job, and if someone else doesn't, that's their own fault. "There but for the grace of God go I" -- how often we forget that.
Four stories -- all true -- of people who don't have health insurance:
- A guy who I met at the homeless park a block from where I work. He lived in New Orleans, moved here after his house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina to live with his cousin -- until he found out his cousin was dealing drugs. He had a job by then, moved out into his own place, then lost his fairly stable, mid-level job. He lost his apartment because he lost his job, then lost his car, and now can't find a job because he doesn't have reliable transportation.
- A family with three daughters (two in college, one in a private school). The husband had worked at the same place for 20 years as a business analyst. The wife had worked in higher education for about 15 years. They lost their jobs in the same week due to downsizing at both companies.
- A woman who has multiple severe mental health diagnoses due to abuse throughout her childhood and no availability to counseling until now. She's been unable to effectively function or build relationships, much less hold a job.
- Kenneth Gladney. His story is ironic, to say the least. He's a Republican who got beat up at the town hall meeting here (note -- yes, I feel bad for him). But, "Brown [his lawyer] finished by telling the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was recently laid off and has no health insurance."
Again, I am NOT condemning or condoning the health care bill as it currently stands. What I am saying is that if we are going to love our neighbors as ourselves, we MUST realize that something has to change in the availability of equal healthcare.
*I stole that title from Salon.com. Let's clarify, though -- death panels do not exist in the bill. It says that Medicare would have to pay for consultations between patients and doctors on end-of-life decisions, which it currently doesn't cover. They are not mandatory, either.
I'm not going to write about the actual politics of healthcare reform. I have mixed feelings about the specific proposal. What I do not have mixed feelings about, however, is that some kind of reform is needed.
We cannot, of course, completely absolve people of responsibility for their choices that may have led to them not be able to find or maintain a job. We cannot hold them blameless for decisions to use drugs, drop out of school, etc.
But we also cannot expect people who are in vastly different situations from the beginning to have the same options we do. I look at the people United Way helps, the people Ryan is seeing in counseling, the people our church serves in the Tower Grove neighborhood. These are people for whom joining a gang was a more feasible option for survival than staying in school; these are people where, if they had even one parent at home regularly (and not just a sibling or grandparent or aunt), it was unusual.
It's unbelievably cold and selfish for us who are relatively rich (as in, we can pay our bills and still buy food), white, college-educated and who have been in a stable family to say that hey, we have healthcare through our job, and if someone else doesn't, that's their own fault. "There but for the grace of God go I" -- how often we forget that.
Four stories -- all true -- of people who don't have health insurance:
- A guy who I met at the homeless park a block from where I work. He lived in New Orleans, moved here after his house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina to live with his cousin -- until he found out his cousin was dealing drugs. He had a job by then, moved out into his own place, then lost his fairly stable, mid-level job. He lost his apartment because he lost his job, then lost his car, and now can't find a job because he doesn't have reliable transportation.
- A family with three daughters (two in college, one in a private school). The husband had worked at the same place for 20 years as a business analyst. The wife had worked in higher education for about 15 years. They lost their jobs in the same week due to downsizing at both companies.
- A woman who has multiple severe mental health diagnoses due to abuse throughout her childhood and no availability to counseling until now. She's been unable to effectively function or build relationships, much less hold a job.
- Kenneth Gladney. His story is ironic, to say the least. He's a Republican who got beat up at the town hall meeting here (note -- yes, I feel bad for him). But, "Brown [his lawyer] finished by telling the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was recently laid off and has no health insurance."
Again, I am NOT condemning or condoning the health care bill as it currently stands. What I am saying is that if we are going to love our neighbors as ourselves, we MUST realize that something has to change in the availability of equal healthcare.
*I stole that title from Salon.com. Let's clarify, though -- death panels do not exist in the bill. It says that Medicare would have to pay for consultations between patients and doctors on end-of-life decisions, which it currently doesn't cover. They are not mandatory, either.
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