New Look and New Thoughts

While I am on christmas break, I was cruising around and decided to change the look of my blog. Unfortunately, all my links were erased. Blasted technology.

I stole a link off of monkey's blog, "propheteering". Interesting stuff.

Today I was reading T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" and found this:

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death?
There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

This thought of birth being filled with agony for them...I wonder if it was the waking up or realization of the new born king that built this agony, and then to return to your old life and see what was happening around them - it seems that the Magi were even more aware of this transformation. Of course this is poetry and everybody will have a different opinion except for the author.

Enjoy the Advent Season.

ron

Finally Done

...For now. I still have a year at TWU. Yep, a year from now, I will be trying to figure out where to go for a vacation, but for now I just break for the winter. Just finished a paper on the need for the prophetic voice in the contemporary church. Now I just study for a couple of finals and write a paper on the movie "big fish" and how it relates to apologetics and my life is on holiday.

Here is what I plan on doing on my break. A few of my friends wanted to start a group called "hot tub theology", but instead it kind of fell through. My plan is to take this group and start a "film theology" group for 6 weeks to see what it will look like. In this group we will read works of theologians and philosophers and then comparing them to movies and discussing this. I think that the movie is much like the modern day parable. the discussion group is not new by any means, but I think it may be fun.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
ron

~different thoughts~

***Warning: This may sound crazy and even heretical at times, but this is what I've been thinking about.***

I am writing a paper on Gay Marriage, arguing from the point that marriage in today's culture is not sacred, what with the ease of divorce and adultery in today's society, why shouldn't same sex marriage be allowed. THe funny thing is, though I think that SSM should be allowed, I would not perform a SSM if I was a religious leader of somekind. From my own moral standpoint, I see that it is wrong, but I am not going to condemn them for it. Pretty contradictory, huh? I guess I wonder, "what if marriage was viewed as a civil ceremony rather than a religious, would it then be okay?"

This is where I stand at a crossroad. Is SSM truly wrong? Christians quote scriptures from the Old Testament condemning gay relations, and then we can argue that Jesus brought a new covenant which erased the law of the old testament. ANd when Christians quote Paul in Romans 1:18-19; 22-23, what if paul is saying that you should either choose to be gay or not, but don't flounder between the lines (hot or cold, not luke warm). Be faithful to one person, not many.

Side note:
I began thinking about the Samaritan woman during this process. Here she was, viewed as a samaritan - only half of a human being. Sucked to be her, but isn't this how we view homosexuals today? What about the African Americans from the time of Slavery until only recently when we ended segregation (or at least attempted to). WHat about women? Since the beginning of time women have been oppressed by men, and only recently have had the hand that holds them down lightly lifted for them to breathe. I think that in about 50 years same sex marriage will be legal, the gay community will be more accepted by western culture, and instead of a lifestyle they will be viewed more as a minority.

ron

paper questions

I am getting ready to write a paper for my Apologetics class. I am thinking about writing about Apologetics seen as a literal apology rather than a defense of the faith. I was inspired by Donald Millers, "Blue Like Jazz" confessional tent he set up. My only thing is that this is my only resource. Does anybody have any suggestions?

ron

Top 5

Top 5 American Rock albums and runners up:
Almost all iconic rock bands are from europe or recorded their major alvums in Europe (even Hendrix). Here is a list of my top 5 american rock albums and the runners up after them.

1)Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley
-The album that started the movement.

2)Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan
-"Don't let anyone know that you don't own blonde on blonde!"

3)Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
-Quintessential Americana? After listening, I agree.

4)Nevermind - Nirvana
-If kurt cobain had lived, would Nirvana have been so influential? No, but this album began a new movement in rock itself. A classic and a monster.

5)Ramones - Ramones
-Tired of all the other music out there, these guys started their own genre. Genius.


The runners up:

The Doors - The Doors
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Hotel California - the Eagles
Harvest - Neil Young
Appetite for Destruction - Guns n' Roses

I Was Hit by a Car...

...and I live to tell about it. Yesterday as I was riding my bike home from Cornwall Church, coming down Northwest by the baptist and lutheran church, I was hit by a car who was trying to get on the road. The paramedics came, but I was alright. I just had a banged up knee. I was sitting there for about an hour or so with police and paramedics, answering questions and what not, and then I got on my bike and rode home. Seriously, it was crazy but I am okay. RIght now, I'm icing my knee and watching Magnum P.I.. Don't worry about me, but if you would like to know more, we can go for coffee and I will tell you about this latest adventure.

ron

The Kingdom of Heaven is like...

Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God with his parable of the Prodigal Son. I guess I never really noticed the part of the Son who was angry, because it really stuck out to me the other day. It was the part where he refers to the Prodigal as "your son" and the father comes back with the thought that "it is not his son in there, but your Brother".
There are always going to be people who I don't get along with or don't necessarily like, but Jesus calls us to love our neighbors. In Luke 6 he chooses his disciples and then goes straight into the blessings and woes and how we should treat each other then what we as christians should surround ourselves in (good fruit) and then how to live this life. As I read the Prodigal son I began to realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is not filled with God's children but my Christian brothers and sisters of whom I have no right to judge.

a post???

I haven't posted anything in a while, so I thought I would post this little nugget for all two of you who read this blog. It's a long one, but easy to read:

The Loving Church
With the question of relevance looming in the church, the question that stands is this: Is the worship service for reaching the seeker or feeding the believer? Worship is centered on Christians seeking their God with loving hearts, but Worship Evangelism can show the irreligious Christ’s love through the religious congregations actions, helping them understand and grow to know this God that they are seeing worshipped. Does the church have to cater their worship service solely to reach out with love to the seeker? Maybe instead they try to “keep it real” for the believers and not water down their traditions with a quick fix, or even try not to limit the service to the church building and extend worship outside the walls of the service. Looking at these three thoughts, enables a deeper exploration into the actions behind worship evangelism and who it is accommodating in the act of praising God.
“I can do all things through Christ who gives strength.” Here is an example of a Christian crutch of scripture which has helped Christians throughout history when dealing with the hard subjects of life. Christians believe this scripture to their Christian cores and give it away freely to each other as advice and an easy answer, but when it comes to the chance that they may offend the seeker by the way they are worshipping, they suddenly forget this verse. Christians have come to believe that God can speak to people through a donkey and a burning bush but cannot speak through their worship practices, and instead opt to show God’s love with consideration toward the seeker by not making them uncomfortable. In doing so, the church has set limitations on God and the way He can move in people’s lives and have forgotten that the measure of a true worshiper is not the length of historical tradition or the height of his hands above his head, but instead the depths of the love in his heart for the father.
If Christians truly believe that God can do anything, including move mountains, then it is time for them to take God out of the box. Christians have limited God in worship and thus returned to the thought of worshipping catering to them rather than God. Sally Morganthal reminds the church, in her book Worship Evangelism, that Christians should worship to witness because worship is witness, and that seekers can be changed through authentic corporate worship; therefore, the church does not have to water down the service in order to help seekers meet God. Instead, Christians need to extend God’s grace, because God does not want seekers to just see worship but He longs for them to become worshippers. When Christians come to worship, they acknowledge God’s presence, but must remember they do not come from “outside” where they live to “inside” where God lives, for God’s presence reaches beyond the walls of the church building.
The goal of Worship Evangelism isn’t exclusive worship services for believers only; it is a cry against attracting people with weakened worship, and instead building faith in the attendants through worship - it is a call for the church to be a church for the world’s sake; not entertaining or superficial but proclaiming the splendor of God, not the church’s feelings about Him. This is the chance to introduce the seeker to Christendom by teaching the language, habits and grammar of the church’s worship which requires faithfulness and reliance on God, rather than a dependence on the spectacle of the service. Worship is the work of believers; it is intriguing, even magnetic, to those who do not yet claim Jesus as Lord.
Christians need to remember that worship is an act for God done by the people and this is what they should focus on. There was the idea earlier about the thought of a God without limits but a common misnomer of the church is that they have limited their worship within the walls of the church. What about what Paul spoke about in the beginning of this paper in Romans 12:1 - offering ourselves as living sacrifices? Evangelism should be the work of all the people of the church, not the worship service; therefore, how will people know the Christian God if the church confines itself to the building without becoming proactive in society and sharing the love that Christ has for all his children?
Worship is thought to be for the spiritually hungry – people who are starving for truth. If the seeker has come to the church building seeking truth, then what right does the church have to deny them what they are looking for? Worshiping God without limitations places the congregation of worshippers on the same level – they are all at the foot of the cross together and none can boast of anything. By being on the same level, the seeker is able to learn from the example of the mature worshipper, and what God looks like in a Christian light.
The mega church has embraced this idea of worshipping on the same level, believer and non believer side by side, but in the process they have traded their theology for ideology. While attempting to be relevant to popular culture, the mega church has dropped the idea they still need to be counter cultural or as Marva Dawn had labeled it – alternative yet parallel to contemporary culture. Worship that entertains an audience instead of praising God is certainly contrary to this substantive purpose. Christians are called to be a body of people sent on a mission to speak into the culture, but in the process the contemporary church has adapted to it. With this loss of identity within the church through seeker services, not only is the church theology and doctrine weakened, but also the participant. By gaining identity, the Christian believer is able to share their faith more lovingly and boldly.
Most Christians do not share their faith because they feel that they are not skilled enough, they don’t have Christian friends, and they have been given a bad name by the sleazy preachers on TV. With these common excuses, among many, not to share our faith it is a wonder that Christians are called evangelists in the first place. Marva Dawn suggests that these excuses bring up the thought that “maybe we are religious consumers ourselves” – maybe Christians do not understand worship evangelism themselves. If a selfish, consumer filled church is all that the world sees, how will true Worship Evangelism ever happen? A better question to Worship Evangelism is this: If the “loving church” closed its doors and became a mini mall instead, would the world that once surrounded this church ever notice?

Alanis was right yet again...

I went to a Leadership conference this past week expecting to hear dribble and non sense, but I left amazed and inspired to change the world. I was pleasantly amused by people who I don't really care for and people who I felt had nothing to say to the church. I laughed as every speaker was speaking straight into the heart of the church and it felt like nobody was listening. I felt that it was ironic at the same time because everything they were saying that the church (or buisnesses) should look at doing, a lot were not doing at all. I was inspired to think and pray. I prayed for future leaders who are being brought up int he church and current leaders who are hopefully going to begin investing. I prayed for God's guidance in my own direction. I hope that God will enable me to attend and work with a community that I will know and not a congregation which looks like a sea of unfamiliar faces which I currently work. I don't want to be famous, I just want to introduce peace into my community and spread it into the world.

pearl jam thoughts

I went to see Pearl Jam at the gorge this past month. It pretty much rocked. It was 103 degrees and the beauty of the Gorge defined God’s goodness as it always does. As the concert had started and the band played well into their set, I stood sweating amongst the hordes of people throughout the concert wondering what God will say to Pearl Jam’s lead singer, Eddie Vedder, when he dies. As he stood up on stage and performed in front of 20,000 people, he did not say anything about peace or love or joy although he did speak about wine a little. I was not expecting a Christian message by any means, but with the ears of 20,000 fans listening to his every word I had hoped for a mission of some sort for the droves of Pearl Jam allegiance to set out on after the concert.
This is where I began to think to myself, “Do we as Christ followers do this?” Are we using our influence as the church to speak into society? The church used to be the most influential part of society, speaking into what happens and why. Now it seems that the bride of Christ’s arms and legs have been cut off only to lie down and let the river of pop culture dictate where it will go.
Though we as cornwall church do not have the opportunity to speak into the lives of tens of thousands of people in a single night, we do have people around us that we can influence. People consistently look to the Christian life to see what we do or say, but it is up to us to pray that God will give us the words and actions that will properly speak into their lives and help them find what they are looking for. I pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us as worship leaders to reconnect the limbs of Christ’s body and speak into people’s lives leading them to hope and appreciation of the life they have been given and the life that God gave for them.

Ron, what have you been up to this summer?

Well, I have been busy with summer type activities. I have been running the middle school group at Ray of Hope - a camp for socially and financially challenged kids -, working at the church, and playing softball.

This past sunday I realized why I don't play in a church league. We played against a church, and in the midst of having our butts handed to us, they continually mocked and made jokes at my team. Needless to say, I was pissed. I joined a rec league so that I could meet people outside of the church and let them know that God loves them and the people of his church do also, but here we were playing a church team who were doing the exact opposite and all the "progress" (for lack of a better term) I made with my team being taken away. It sucked, because the people on my team don't go to church because most of them don't see God in the christians of this world...and so it continues. Deep inside, I wanted to go tell this team exactly what they were doing, but I didn't because I am a wussy with a p.

crap.

Tim Ansorge

Tim died on thursday morning at 1:25 a.m. after a year long battle with Melanoma. Sucky, but thinking about where he is is baffling to me. I was sitting in the funeral today wondering what he was doing today, and then I began wondering if there is even "time" in heaven. Is there lunch time in heaven? Is there a schedule of some kind? Is there sleep, because we all learn in sunday school that we get to do what we like most in heaven...sleep is mine.

Tim was a sarcastic, dry, hilarious, caring man of God. He loved his family and friends, and he loved Jesus. He made new musicians at cornwall church feel welcome and old ones feel like brothers and sisters. I will miss Tim. We had a lot of laughs together and a lot of tears. He truly lived by God's word, and embraced it with everything he had. He also knew the meaning of Hawaii's "spirit of Aloha", and continually lived by it in his interactions with strangers.

I was honored to sing at his funeral today, but more so, I was amazed to see old relationships begin to be rekindled. It never ceases to amaze me how in the midst of pain and hurt, God still shows up and is able to show us how he will continue to work in these times. Tim had us play a song at his funeral, which he asked me a year ago to sing, called "Who says you can't go home" - a duet with Bon Jovi and Sugarland. I walked in and asked Mike, our worship pastor, if he thought that this might be Tim's final joke on us by getting us to play a country song (which most of the peopel on stage dislike). I'll always remember Tim and I'm going to miss him, but I know that I'm going to see him again some day.

Crazy

I met with a friend of mine who is dying of cancer. Basically, he came back home to die. We talked about music, family, and "old times" that we've spent together. It was a good time, but so weird because he and I both know that he's going to die soon. He's scared, but excited.

It is a strange thought that we always say that we are "going to be with the Lord", but we also know that he is near always. My friend kept telling me that he feels so near to God and so close to God. Do we say this to reassure ourselves? Maybe there is a peace that falls on us when we know that we are dying.

Please pray for my friend, that GOd will ease his pain and that he will know that he is loved by his God, his family and his friends.

ron

quick thought

I've been thinking about the church and their priorities. It seems that we as the church have forgotten taht Jesus told us to First love God and then our neighbors as the most important things for us to do. Ultimately, the great commandment has been flipped and traded with the great commission, so instead of first meeting and knowing our neighbor, we are instantly trying to convert them with weak theology and weak stewardship. That's all I can write at this time, but I wanted to let you know that, like Pink, I'm not dead and thinking about you.

ron

Listening to: Hank Williams III. Sounds a lot like his grandpa and not at all like his dad...awesome.

...

Worship – what worship has developed into confuses me. It is the thought that worship is only done on Sundays that has become funny and cliché. How this thought of worshipping only inside the walls of the church in the form of singing and sermon on the weekends is beyond me. Could it be due in part to our individualistic culture and the loss of community in today’s church? The thought that we are only worshipping on Sundays is an argument we’ve all probably heard before, and yet we seem to be doing nothing about it. I wanted to share the idea of a visionary leader who worships God with everything that he/she has (Mark 12:30), what a true visionary looks like, and how they will have an impact on the church culture.

At Cornwall Church we sing and play a song by Todd Agnew, called Romans 12:1, which was written directly from a letter addressed to the Romans in which the Apostle Paul made the urging plea for people to “offer bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God”, calling it our “spiritual act of worship”. Calling people to no longer conform to the world, Paul asks for a renewal of our minds and to witness transformation within ourselves. Only then will we find God’s will – “his good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-3). Once we have found God’s will in our lives, we must not keep it for ourselves, for we are called to let our light shine before others (Matthew 5:14-16) and proclaim repentance and forgiveness and to be witnesses (Luke 24:44-49).

Here is where the idea of a visionary leader takes place. A visionary leader is not someone who boldly faces the future in order to see what God is doing in the church. Instead, a visionary worship leader looks to history to see what God has done in order to build the future. Whether looking at their personal history or the church’s history, a visionary is able to teach and aid others with worship in a variety of ways, beyond Sunday morning or Saturday night, creating the spiritual worship as Paul had mentioned.

My hope is that we will consider our worship of God in a more serious light beyond ourselves, and so I wanted to leave us with these questions: What are we learning either historically or personally and how are we applying it to our personal worship of God and/or aiding others to live a life as described in Romans 12:1? Also, are we looking behind us in order to teach others, or are we simply facing forward waiting for somebody else to show us God’s will?

Peace,
Ron

"creative" planning

I went to a creative planning meeting for my church yesterday and somebody asked me what my initial thought was of the meeting. "I have just wasted two hours and ten minutes of my life", I replied, "I want them back."

ron

Easter Thoughts

Another easter has come and gone, and the church continues to dupe the unchurched into a message which instead of telling the truths of Jesus, tells them of their stupidity for not believing in Jesus and asks them to join their club. I get so sad when we are consistantly reminded of how "christmas and easter are the two biggest holidays in which the non churched come to church" and we are asked to bring our non churched friends to church so that we can reach out and share the good news of the risen christ, only to have them hate us because they waste an hour of their sunday being lectured to.
At my church we do this thing called "one life" - a person that you are inviting to church because they need to be saved. "Be praying for your one life", "Make sure you are thinking about your one life and inviting them" - both common christianese thrown around my church around this time of year. The thing is, I don't invite anyone, because I don't want to invite them only to feel like an asshole for inviting them to a lecture on why they should believe in Christ. Shoot, I could do that! Why don't they pay me money as their offering and I'll let them into my church for the sexy people...

Shine on You Crazy Diamonds

Has it really been 16 years to the day since the death of Kurt Cobain? I don't like to throw around the word "genius", but I really think that Kurt Cobain was pretty close. He fronted a musical revolution filled with slackers, inspired millions of kids (including this one) to play guitar, and hearing his music today you can hear his influence on other songwriters. Like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain died before we could hear what he could actually accomplish or see him fall completely on his face instead of shooting it off with a shotgun.

R.I.P. Kurt.



PS- Layne Staley from Alice in Chains died four years ago around this time. His actual time of death is approximated to today because his body was dead for two weeks before it was discovered.

Mars Hill - Ballard

I went to a service at Mars Hill this week as an experience for one of my worship classes at TWU. They are one of the fastest growing churches in the nation right now and are led by Mark Driscoll. Before I went to the church, I wrote down some thoughts as to what I thought the church service and congregation would look like so if this looks like a critique, unfortunately right now it is. This is just so I can begin my paper, but I wanted to share what I thought with you and also that my predictions of waht to expect before I got there were pretty accurate.

Mars Hill is an Mega Church which appeals mainly to sarcastic, artistic students who are looking for some help as they are on spiritual journey searching for some kind of truth. THough Mars Hill helps students find their way through this, it is a very cold church. Nobody seems friendly, the music is loud (am I getting old?!?), their is no eye contact from the stage - the list goes on and on. When I first walked in, I sat for an hour in thier foyer and nobody said hello or anything; not even the people at the information kiosk!

THe message was filled with sarcasm and talked poorly about other religions and other philosophies - Islam, Mormons, and New Age - and called them stupid; even making a joke that he was "sweating like Mike Tyson in a spelling bee" and when not a lot of people laughed he said that he thought that joke would get "a few more laughs than that". He also talked about how if he wasn't a christian, he would turn the church into a strip club, drink a lot and jump the walls of the playboy mansion - which I didn't think was offensive, but he kept dwelling on this point for at least ten minutes too long. I thought that the most ironic part of his sermon was when he told us that "never follow a white guy from the midwest who says he has a religion (mormons)", and later gave us the history of Mars Hill and told us how he started Mars Hill from 12 people in his home and had grown it to thousands and they were adding a new venue in west Seattle. The direct correlations were somewhat humorous.

There is a pressing for theology in the church, which I did like. It was evident in his talk as his sermon revolved around christ's death, his ressurection, and his eventual return and what will happen afterwards; not your normal mega church seeker sensitive message material. The church also has a film theology club where they watch movies and search for the correlations within the movie and christian theology. Also in the Mars Hill monthly magazine, there was an article about Martin Luther which said to me that this church pressed education amongst the people. But it was ironic how this church had zero participation from teh congregation. As the many books that I want to write ten years too late said, "welcome to the new reformation".

The one thing that I applaude Mars Hill for is that they know their audience. THey know who they are talking to and they are relevant with their talks...but I think that's about all that I could applaud them for.

ron

This Weeks Soundtrack

U2-How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Counting Crows-Recovering the Satelites
Busta Rhymes-When Disaster Strikes
Jars of Clay-Redemption Songs
Stone Temple Pilots-Purple
Patsy Cline-Heartaches
Prince-THe B-sides (Disc 3)
The INN-Empty I Come

Communion Thoughts

I just finished a paper on Luther and his hymns. I think the thing about Luther that is ammusing is the view of the reformation in the sense that the worship and liturgies of the church were all taken away from the people and instead performed at the altar by the ministers and the choir.

While researching and reading, I laughed at the correlation of the church today and how we are in desperate need for a reformation of some kind within our church. The services are very performance oriented in churches who have the money to buy cool backgrounds for their powerpoint slides, and the services in churches who don't have money to buy all the bells and whistles strive to meet the standards of excellence that the bigger brother across town had set up.

I laugh earlier, but it makes me sad and upset that people's minds work in these ways to bring the worship to a point where somebody can come to church and talk of the "great worship" instead of meeting or experiencing God. Even at mid-week "communion" services, people are more moved by the music than a stirring of God in their thoughts and hearts. These services had also become a show. Once going in with the purest intentions possible, now instead of worshipping God through rememberance we look at setlists and service orders and try to figure out where we can place the taking of the elements of which this service was intended for in the first place instead of revolving everything around the communion itself.

And then, we also make communion such a personal thing by seperating the bread for people so that they can go off in a corner and hide as they consume Christ. When I think Communion, I think community. Something that we experience together - same bread, same cup. This is my traditional fascination coming out in me, but I think that it is something that could be practiced whether in a church of 20 or 2000. Christ said "eat me" and "have a drink on me" in rememberance of him. But he told all of his disciples and they did it together, not individually.

I did this in one of my classes, where we served communion to each other instead of our prof giving us the elements. It was crazy having the person on my left, who wasn't a pastor by title, giving the elements to me and taking them, and then turning to my right and giving the elements to that person. So on and so on throughout the room hearing the words, "The Body and Blood of CHrist for you...". Imagine hearing this 20-100+ times in your congregation's communion service rather than hearing the band playing, "amazing love", "the wonderous cross", or "insert cliche communion song here". Surreal yet awkward. Counter Cultural - the way we christians are supposed to be.

Music I'm listening to: This week I've decided to select a bunch of CD's and listen to them throughout the week. Here is my week's list.

Joss Stone - Soul Sessions
Television - Marquee Moon
Ben Harper - Live from Mars (Disc 2)
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
Chris Issak - Baja Sessions
Lyfe Jennings - Lyfe 268-192
The Cure - Galore (The Singles 1987-1997)

Song Lyrics

Here are some lyrics from a song that I wrote for my CD that I'm working on. Originally I wanted to title it "whore", but instead I put the date.


1.25.01

Do you remember how they were living
Or how they used to walk
Do you remember all the love they shared
Or how they used to talk
Do you remember them walking fearless
Or how they used to act
Do you remember her reckless abandon
thinking he'd take her back

But now all her friends are laughing
And same goes for her enemies
"Why did you leave me?" she asks
"Why am I alone"

So now she sits in misery
Weeping buckets of tears
Now she sits without a soul
Or a soul to care for her
She feels so cheap and worthless
She groans and turns in shame
She longs for others just to feel her
and to feel her pain

And now all her friends are laughing
Same goes for her enemies
"Why did you leave me?" she asks
"Why am I alone"

Oh, oh, oh
How empty she's become
Oh, oh, oh
She was once on top of the world
Once the queen of the ball
Now a slave to the world
Once chosen by him
Now she's an ordinary girl

And now all her friends are laughing
Same goes for her enemies
"Why did you leave me?" she asks
"Why am I alone"


This is actually a lament out of Eugene Peterson's Message remix (first half of the bible, 25th book, first chapter - or Lamentations 1). I wrote another song out of Lamentations. I found lamentations easy to write out of because it is full of heartbreak and questioning and bitching and complaining (that's some blaine talk for you), but in the end people eventually remember that God is good and he is holy. Through all of the crap that we go through, God is still sovereign...this is something that I think we forget as Christians and choose instead to whore ourselves out and live the way we want. Why not, sometimes it feels good to be bad, right? But then we find ourselves in the same position as Jerusalem: Now all of our friends are laughing and same goes for our enemies. "Why did you leave me?" we ask.
"Why am I alone?".

Blaine Damaged

My friend Kurt has a new blog that you should check out. Kurt and I attended TWU summer classes last year, but I feel like I've known him for my whole life (Cable Guy reference anybody?). He is a Young life guy for Northern county here in Whatcom county and and resides in Birch Bay, Wa (Everyone thinks he lives in Blaine, but Birch Bay is not Blaine). Kurt also has an amazing discussion on our theology as compared to the beer we drink that was written on March 22nd that you should check out.
Below is a clip taken from an article from my hometowns paper, the Northern Light in Blaine Wa, in which the city council is trying to decide what bricks to use as they are constructing a boardwalk in hopes of attracting more tourists to teh town. "Liebert", which means lover in german, is the mayor of Blaine and my old high school history teacher.


"Council member Charlie Hawkins suggested to Ely perhaps it was a job better suited for his wife. Liebert, however, added it will be difficult to please everybody. “Contemplate all you want. Once it goes on, someone will be bitching about it,” Liebert said."

I think that:

1. what the blaine city council is forgetting is that you cant polish a turd

2. I also think that the funniest part is that the paper printed it word for word. It shows the class of Blaine. You stay classy borderites.

and

3. Blaine High School Football rules!

random thoughts

I've realized that I am growing old. I'm only 29 but, as I posted earlier, I threw my back out and even today I am having troubles with it. I may as well throw in the towel and start using those rascal scooters when I go grocery shopping...actually, that would be pretty cool.

I finished recording some scratch tracks this week. Now I listen to them and the other songs I recorded last year and figure out what I want to do with them. It's kind of scary though because if I record a CD of some kind, then I will have to play out again. Hopefully that won't mean waiting until 2:00 am to get paid for a show that no one went to, but it probably does. I'll begin recording in June.

My NCAA bracket is going well. My small group does one every year, and last year I won lunch. THis year I hope to repeat because I am a hungry man...a hungry old man.

Currently studying about Martin Luther and his writing hymns. Before the reformation, the worship was a show for the people and was non-participatory. Martin Luther wrote hymns to help bring worship back to the people so that they could worship God and worship would be for God instead of for the people. I have 10 pages to write about this, and then 10 pages to write about Jesuit missions. fun.

peace,
ron

listening to: Bedouin Soundclash. A reggae band from Toronto. You should listen to them because they make me smile. It makes me long for the sun to come out at about 70 degrees in the mid morning. then I can wear shorts again.

What has Ron been doing...

Well...

I've been hating school. I'm in a couple classes that are some real snoozers as I keep saying throughout this semesters blogs, but I have one instructor who is really a cool guy. Dr. Klassen is an old guy, but the kind of person that you know you can learn from. Usually anybody who talks about when he saw Karl Barth lecture is a) really old and b) really cool.

I've been working out. Yes, I've been pumping the iron. Actually it's all a ploy so that I can lose weight. I have lost about 15 pounds and have thrown my back out. If I believed in Karma, I would think that this was because of all of the fat jokes I make about myself and others.

I'm addicted to Lost. Cynthia and I began watching season one on DVD and we cant stop. We're almost finished, but I don't want it to end.

I'm amused by myspace. Yes, I have a myspace. I think that the people who are really into it are very funny though (the people who take the time to photograph themselves making kissy faces at the camera or without their shirts on). It has been cool though, because I have found people from school who have myspaces and have been able to try and catch up with them. Also, people who want to "add" you as a friend but don't know you are pathetic.

I'm writing a few songs. Tomorrow, 3/13, I will be recording and beginning toward a full length album. it should be fun.


That's it for right now. School is out for summer in the middle of April. that's cool. THen I can get drunk and dance on campus.

ron

I'm ruined

I continually tell monkey that school is ruining me. When I hear talks, the "red light keeps coming on in my head as people take scriptures out of text, or don't even use them. I hate it, because I want to just come to church and be told the best way to live my life is through jesus and serving him. Isn't that what church was intended to be for our generation?

All sarcasm aside, I really do hate this dilema. Oh well, I'll just continue to be critical and have my wife rebuke me for it.

ron

Listening to: I have a version of the worship song "Blessed be Your Name" in my head set to John Mayer's "Love Song for No One". From teh bridge to the end, it goes into a Reggae feel. It is incessant in my head...that and Madonna's song that she did on the Grammy's last night. I won't leave me alone!!!

~I'm In A Postmodern State of Mind~

You could say I lost my faith in science and progress
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church
You could say I lost my sense of direction
You could say all of this and worse but

If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do

Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world
You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV
You could say I lost my belief in our politicians
They all seemed like game show hosts to me

If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do

I could be lost inside their lies
Without a trace
But everytime I close my eyes
I see your face

Never saw no miracle of science
That didn't go from a blessing to a curse
Never saw no military solution
That didn't end up as something worse but
Let me say this first

If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do

** Just a quick though: I read these words yesterday, and though the song is an ode to his wife, I think that the words Sting wrote really touch a nerve in most people in the world today whether they are christian or not. As society has been in this postmodern movement of the church since around the birth of the industrial revolution, shortly after the civil war, people are finally beginning to question what they are being told. This song questions the church, democracy, the military, and science but after all is said and done, the only faith that we can hold on to is You. Not Sting's wife, but God. I truly believe that this is one of the many ways that the postmodern church feels, and also one of the reasons why there is a tension between the modern and postmodern church.

One more thing about postmodernist thought and then I'll step off of my pomo soapbox. Leonard Sweet said that "We don't need a modern church, and we don't need a postmodern church - what we need is a biblical church". Someday, I believe that the baby boomers of the modern church and GenX on down to the Millenial kids will be able to get along in a church that is filled with Community oriented culture rather than an individualistic mind, Filled with the mystery of GOd, rich in theology, and speaks in many different and diverse languages including the language of the cognitive and the affective. Now we have to figure out how to get there. Another thing: who are we (GenX) going to fight with in the future because we don't like where the church is headed and where is that?

ROn

Listening to: Simon and Garfunkel.Bridge over troubled water- THere is just something about listening to vinyl that I love. I think that it's the crackle of the record while it is playing. I love Paul Simon's poetry in all of his songs, but I think that Garfunkel was a tool. A big, high pitched singing, money sucking, afroed tool

In order to understand greatness...

one must start at the beginning

Oh Boy-

My classes are some snoozers. Reformation Europe is very boring, and so is Religion in Canada. I bought my books online, and haven't recieved them yet, so I am behind on my readings. Argh. I can't wait until late febuary, because then I will have a break from school work...but I'll probably be working on papers.

I bought a couple books the other day at school: A hymn book, and "War and Christian Ethics". Both of them for $1.50 canadian, which equals out to about 1.25 in US. I felt good as I screwed the man over once again. HAHAHA, I am so clever. I also got a "Book of Common Prayer" in a downtown used book store. It was pretty cool.

I also visited the Brendan Center, which is a Christian Non Profit here in BHam, which stands against Social Injustice and has a library of Christian history and theology books. Monkey, seriously, we need to go there so you can see the books. This place is tucked away in bellingham, past the soapbox, and right across the hall from teh Democratic office here in Btown.

That's about all that's happening as of late

ron

Theme album of the day: Justin Timberlake: Justified
Book I am reading: Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross...snore

What I Did During My Break

School started this week. I don't know if I will enjoy it too much. the classes are a lot harder than I anticipated, but it was only the first day, so we'll see how we do. Here is a funny happening: I compared prices of the books at the school store, and then went online and found the same books used. If I bought them at the store, I would spend $88 more. I want to stab somebody in the throat.

Some of you may be wondering (all two of you), "what has brownie been up too these days?" Let me give you a run down:

I wrote a few songs -
I wrote a few new songs about people. That's all I'm going to say. I'm going to be recording soon with Chris Cochran, and deciding how this CD thing will work or if it even will work.

I read a few books -
David Crowders "Praise Habit" - If you like the style of Don Miller (Blue like Jazz, Searching for God knows what) then this book is a very simple read about developing a praise habit of your own, and a look at david crowders everyday life.

AW Tozer's "What ever happened to worship?" - I've said it before and I'll say it again, though Tozer is quite heady at times and speaks like he is speaking in and often quotes the King James Bible, he speaks with the tongue of a prophet that could speak into anybody's life today, and will speak into their life 20 years from now, and further down the road for many generations to come.

THe Message Remix - Went through the psalms. Since David Crowder quoted out of this text, I thought that I should read them for myself.

Body for Life - yes, cynthia and I jumped on the wagon, but we did it before the new year after we engorged ourselves stupid on christmas day.

CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity" - Very heady. I don't really remember anything that I read. I'll read it again someday. Maybe if somebody reminded me of one of the points, I would be able to dialogue, but right now I don't know.

I listened to few CD's, records, and tapes.
My listenings included the following:
Fall Out Boy, Lyfe Jennings "Lyfe 268-192", Paul Simon's "Graceland" (One of the best albums I listened to during the break), Sting "The Dream of Blue Turtles (Vinyl)...seriously, What Sting did on this album, Dave Matthews is doing 20 years later..., the Cars (Vinyl), Waylon Jennings (Vinyl), Matisyahu "Shake off the dust...Arise", Israel Kamakawiwo'ole "Facing Future", Lots of Prince Tapes including "sign o the times" "Alphabet Street" "Prince (1979)" "Controversy" amongst them all, Prince's "Purple Rain" (back to CD), THe Beatles "rubber soul", Neil Diamond "the essential Neil Diamond", Kanye West "the college dropout" and "Late registration", "Billy Joel's Greatest hits volumes I and II", Lauryn Hill "the miseducation of Lauryn Hill", Assorted Johnny Cash, and different Worship CD's including, Hillsong, Israel Houghton, Darlene Zschech, Wow Compilations, David Crowder. Believe me, there are a lot more that I can't think of right now.

I decided things that I want to do to grow musically:
While reading Praise Habit I've come to the conclusion that I want to learn about Country music. I'm talking about the old stuff starting with Hank Jr. and Willie Nelson and going from there. I don't know a lot about this genre, but if I figure if you like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings then you will probably like the other stuff that comes from this genre. And besides, didn't Hank Jr. write the theme to the Dukes of Hazzard? It can't be that bad then!

Also, in the new year, I want to have a theme album for each day that I set out upon. This is music that I am going to study and like or learn to like. This is my new years goal: to listen to about 150-300 albums and learn about them.

That's what I did during my break

ron

Currently my theme album is "rubber Soul" by the Beatles