I finally had a free moment to pick up Praise Habit again. I read a page before i had to put it down and think about how good it is. Here he's talking about Psalm 1.
"And to live in ways that twist and distort His creation brings death. Real death. Not just the redundant (none of us are getting out of here alive) burring of corpses, but the walking around kind that tastes of dust rather than the Maker's exhale of love. It is repulsive. It doesn't hold together. It is not the genesis-shape imagined for a human.
...Our cultural conditioning of Western nationalistic Christianity typically sends us headlong into pharisaical discussions of R-rated movies and cussing and drinking and smoking and the dangers of associating with heathen who do any of the previously mentioned activities. I am familiar with a copious quantity of people who do not participate in any of these activities yet walk around lifeless, as dead and intriguing as a pile of dirt."
I can remember sitting around as a younger child, being completely terrified of dying. I think we all have moments when we realize that we cannot, as humans in human bodies, comprehend death. Because you can't imagine yourself not existing. That's why Heaven is such an excellent thing. But as much as we're afraid of it, so many people really are dead. And more serious of a death than being physically dead.
That's what's incredible. People are walking around, breathing air and drinking water, and they're more dead than some of the people in your local cemetery. Literally, more dead. That isn't symbolism. People are literally dead. And we need to do something about that.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
On the Elderly
Old people are really cool. A good majority of them somewhere along the way stop caring about what people think about them, accept the fact that they're old, and are completely okay with saying everything that comes to their mind, with no censorship.
It's adorable.
The RCA worship band, accompanied by some of Russel Sage's gals and later by other kids from RCA played a set of 5 hymns at a nursing home yesterday.
I've never liked hymns.
I've also never liked nursing homes- as cool as old people are, i get a bit apprehensive when i'm surrounded by them on all sides.
But don't get me wrong, I liked playing. It was a good night, disregarding the lamp that I knocked over with my bass case, shattering a glass tabletop.
But what I couldn't get out of my head was this:
In 20 years, the people living in nursing homes will not want to have college students come to them playing hymns. The old people in nursing homes 20 years from now will be former Dead-Heads. Baby boomers. Unchurched and apathetic.
In fact, I think we were assuming a lot by playing hymns and praying at a nursing home. If it weren't for the fact that nursing home residents will welcome any kind of entertainment you throw at them, i would have expected someone to mention something. Buddy Holly may have been more their style.
But it underlined to me the growing rift between Christians and society.
For example, in the 1200s, the Church was the only thing holding western society together. By the 1800s there were plenty of people who had decided that it wasn't for them. Since world war II, it feels like american culture has been rapidly splitting away from the Church. And in response to that, we have created "Christian Subculture", the horrifying, impact-reducing, relevance-decreasing bombshelter that christians in churches the world over are encouraged to hide away in.
Don't get me wrong. Worship music is awesome. Its almost entirely the only thing i've listened to while in college- Hillsong and David Crowder. And christian bands in general are cool. But the rift between our separate cultures is too big for comfort. We've made ourselves freaks, uneducated and insensitive to the people around us.
I wish there were more bands like Switchfoot.
Jon Foreman writes songs from the perspective of a christian that force people to think, without being a part of that rift. Like you can actually address issues of faith without dragging people inside of the bomb shelter and talking about how nice the stuffy air is and how great the canned peas taste. I like that. I wish more people would do that. Paul took the Gospel to all the corners of the known world. We sit on it and spend our creativity presenting it to ourselves over and over again rather than bringing it to people who need it.
Do me a favor. If you're reading this on facebook, like it. I have no way of knowing how many people actually read these things.
It's adorable.
The RCA worship band, accompanied by some of Russel Sage's gals and later by other kids from RCA played a set of 5 hymns at a nursing home yesterday.
I've never liked hymns.
I've also never liked nursing homes- as cool as old people are, i get a bit apprehensive when i'm surrounded by them on all sides.
But don't get me wrong, I liked playing. It was a good night, disregarding the lamp that I knocked over with my bass case, shattering a glass tabletop.
But what I couldn't get out of my head was this:
In 20 years, the people living in nursing homes will not want to have college students come to them playing hymns. The old people in nursing homes 20 years from now will be former Dead-Heads. Baby boomers. Unchurched and apathetic.
In fact, I think we were assuming a lot by playing hymns and praying at a nursing home. If it weren't for the fact that nursing home residents will welcome any kind of entertainment you throw at them, i would have expected someone to mention something. Buddy Holly may have been more their style.
But it underlined to me the growing rift between Christians and society.
For example, in the 1200s, the Church was the only thing holding western society together. By the 1800s there were plenty of people who had decided that it wasn't for them. Since world war II, it feels like american culture has been rapidly splitting away from the Church. And in response to that, we have created "Christian Subculture", the horrifying, impact-reducing, relevance-decreasing bombshelter that christians in churches the world over are encouraged to hide away in.
Don't get me wrong. Worship music is awesome. Its almost entirely the only thing i've listened to while in college- Hillsong and David Crowder. And christian bands in general are cool. But the rift between our separate cultures is too big for comfort. We've made ourselves freaks, uneducated and insensitive to the people around us.
I wish there were more bands like Switchfoot.
Jon Foreman writes songs from the perspective of a christian that force people to think, without being a part of that rift. Like you can actually address issues of faith without dragging people inside of the bomb shelter and talking about how nice the stuffy air is and how great the canned peas taste. I like that. I wish more people would do that. Paul took the Gospel to all the corners of the known world. We sit on it and spend our creativity presenting it to ourselves over and over again rather than bringing it to people who need it.
Do me a favor. If you're reading this on facebook, like it. I have no way of knowing how many people actually read these things.
Friday, February 12, 2010
On Unused
I went to EMPAC today to get a ticket for a show tomorrow. For those of you tuning in not on the RPI campus, EMPAC is the 220 million dollar building that is very cool and very unused. They tell us that they do research there, but then again, the RPI student union has to pay RPI for ice time for RPI's Div1 hocky team on RPI's own ice.
But here's the deal. The northern wall of EMPAC is 7 stories of glass showing a really cool staircase that goes from the bottom of the building to the top. The top is where the Box Office is, where you get tickets.
Except the box office is really just a wrap-around stainless steel desk.
And there's only one guy working it.
Empac is 7 stories of about 22,000 square feet.
You can walk around in the building all day, and unless there's a show going on, the only person that you'll ever see is that box office guy, staring at his iMac indefinitely.
EMPAC has employees. I'm going to guess maybe 10 or so full time workers.
They have really nice offices in the back. They're the guys that are in charge of programming, getting artists into the place, administrative and creative work.
But you walk inside the building, and there's simply an overwhelming sense of Space. Like you're surrounded by open-ness, you can look out the enormous window at Troy, everything is blue slate, glass, and stainless steel.
But it feels abandoned. Because there are no people in it that aren't shut away behind their locked suites in their nice offices.
I feel like the church has a lot of similarities to this.
Jesus paid much more than 220 million dollars for the church. He died. The guys that wrote the New Testament, most of them died for the church. Centuries of Saints died for the church.
But what are we doing with it?
Paying a single person to sit in the entree way waiting for a few sparse people to come buy tickets? Locking our pastors away in offices while we have theaters and auditoriums full of unused space? (think figuratively, not literally)
The Church is the greatest organization on the planet. We could at least do more than EMPAC with the resources we've been given.
But here's the deal. The northern wall of EMPAC is 7 stories of glass showing a really cool staircase that goes from the bottom of the building to the top. The top is where the Box Office is, where you get tickets.
Except the box office is really just a wrap-around stainless steel desk.
And there's only one guy working it.
Empac is 7 stories of about 22,000 square feet.
You can walk around in the building all day, and unless there's a show going on, the only person that you'll ever see is that box office guy, staring at his iMac indefinitely.
EMPAC has employees. I'm going to guess maybe 10 or so full time workers.
They have really nice offices in the back. They're the guys that are in charge of programming, getting artists into the place, administrative and creative work.
But you walk inside the building, and there's simply an overwhelming sense of Space. Like you're surrounded by open-ness, you can look out the enormous window at Troy, everything is blue slate, glass, and stainless steel.
But it feels abandoned. Because there are no people in it that aren't shut away behind their locked suites in their nice offices.
I feel like the church has a lot of similarities to this.
Jesus paid much more than 220 million dollars for the church. He died. The guys that wrote the New Testament, most of them died for the church. Centuries of Saints died for the church.
But what are we doing with it?
Paying a single person to sit in the entree way waiting for a few sparse people to come buy tickets? Locking our pastors away in offices while we have theaters and auditoriums full of unused space? (think figuratively, not literally)
The Church is the greatest organization on the planet. We could at least do more than EMPAC with the resources we've been given.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
On Stages
Its been a really long week.
By the looks of it, they're only going to be getting longer each time around. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm stressing a bit about where all the time I thought I had to do homework went. It just isn't there.
I watched a few snippets of a church conference this week. There was a lot of talk about home-based churches that are moving especially in california. cool stuff. But I still like Perry Noble's stance- that the church ought to have the most creativity, the best shows, the most captivating experiences, since we have the greatest message of all and we might as well back it up the way it should be.
That couldn't have been underlined more clearly than with The Who's performance at halftime less than an hour ago.
I spent all of the Halftime Report staring at the background behind the commentators trying to get a glimpse of the setup going on the field.
Greatest. Stage. Ever.
I feel like stadiums have always been one of the most difficult places to pull off a good looking stage, since you have people on every direction. A circle is a natural route to go, but an enormous curved LED screen with flash pots inside of it and media that complements its shape perfectly is absolutely phenomenal.
The problem?
Pete Townsend is 64. His days of rock and roll are over. All those guys looked like frail grandparents at a college reunion, enjoying their 12 minutes in the middle of the Sun Life Stadium.
We have the most excellent stage and lighting plot celebrating a bunch of old guys way past their prime who are celebrating football, beer, and wings.
we can do better. It would be my dream to be directly involved with something better than that. But seriously. Jesus >>> football. We make a big deal and throw parties to watch two teams of professionals, neither of whom we particularly cared for during the regular season, and then don't see anything wrong with merely showing up to church on sunday morning. Where's Jesus' circular screen-around-a-stage? Where are his lasers and his Showguns? And by golly, where are His fireworks and His flash pots?
If we did church like that every sunday, the entire state of new hampshire would, at the very least, be really really interested in what was going on.
By the looks of it, they're only going to be getting longer each time around. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm stressing a bit about where all the time I thought I had to do homework went. It just isn't there.
I watched a few snippets of a church conference this week. There was a lot of talk about home-based churches that are moving especially in california. cool stuff. But I still like Perry Noble's stance- that the church ought to have the most creativity, the best shows, the most captivating experiences, since we have the greatest message of all and we might as well back it up the way it should be.
That couldn't have been underlined more clearly than with The Who's performance at halftime less than an hour ago.
I spent all of the Halftime Report staring at the background behind the commentators trying to get a glimpse of the setup going on the field.
Greatest. Stage. Ever.
I feel like stadiums have always been one of the most difficult places to pull off a good looking stage, since you have people on every direction. A circle is a natural route to go, but an enormous curved LED screen with flash pots inside of it and media that complements its shape perfectly is absolutely phenomenal.
The problem?
Pete Townsend is 64. His days of rock and roll are over. All those guys looked like frail grandparents at a college reunion, enjoying their 12 minutes in the middle of the Sun Life Stadium.
We have the most excellent stage and lighting plot celebrating a bunch of old guys way past their prime who are celebrating football, beer, and wings.
we can do better. It would be my dream to be directly involved with something better than that. But seriously. Jesus >>> football. We make a big deal and throw parties to watch two teams of professionals, neither of whom we particularly cared for during the regular season, and then don't see anything wrong with merely showing up to church on sunday morning. Where's Jesus' circular screen-around-a-stage? Where are his lasers and his Showguns? And by golly, where are His fireworks and His flash pots?
If we did church like that every sunday, the entire state of new hampshire would, at the very least, be really really interested in what was going on.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
On Praise Habit
I'm starting to read a book by David Crowder, "Praise Habit".
My brother got it for me for Christmas this year.
It is excellent.
I know this because after reading the introduction I couldn't stop smiling because he expressed everything I've ever wanted to say about eastern religion and its relationship to Christianity so perfectly.
Here's an excerpt:
"The consequences of this discovery were huge. If He was in a sandwich, where else could He be found? Every moment was becoming holy. Nothing was nonspiritual. This was habitual praise- a perpetually sacred acknowledgment of the Giver of every good thing. A relentless embracing of good and a discarding of bad with an awareness of the one who in the beginning spoke those life-affirming words."
-David Crowder
Then last night I read Psalm 148. It goes as follows:
"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children.
Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones- the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!"
It seems to gel well with what Crowder was talking about. The idea that "Nothing was nonspiritual" has always been something that i've thought about. When i've learned about eastern religion it seemed to go along the same lines- that holiness, that truth is everywhere, in everything. Which is the right idea, just a pivotally wrong focus. God can be found in everything, because he made everything. You can find praise in absolutely everything you do, everything you look at, everything you think about. And when that happens, you're probably in a good place.
My brother got it for me for Christmas this year.
It is excellent.
I know this because after reading the introduction I couldn't stop smiling because he expressed everything I've ever wanted to say about eastern religion and its relationship to Christianity so perfectly.
Here's an excerpt:
"The consequences of this discovery were huge. If He was in a sandwich, where else could He be found? Every moment was becoming holy. Nothing was nonspiritual. This was habitual praise- a perpetually sacred acknowledgment of the Giver of every good thing. A relentless embracing of good and a discarding of bad with an awareness of the one who in the beginning spoke those life-affirming words."
-David Crowder
Then last night I read Psalm 148. It goes as follows:
"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children.
Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones- the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!"
It seems to gel well with what Crowder was talking about. The idea that "Nothing was nonspiritual" has always been something that i've thought about. When i've learned about eastern religion it seemed to go along the same lines- that holiness, that truth is everywhere, in everything. Which is the right idea, just a pivotally wrong focus. God can be found in everything, because he made everything. You can find praise in absolutely everything you do, everything you look at, everything you think about. And when that happens, you're probably in a good place.
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