~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