Blessed are you, O Lord, for you have not chosen to put my judgment in others’ hands, nor even in mine, but have reserved that for your own, and you’ve freed me from me, and from needing to sit in judgment on myself (which judgment, forced from my own intellect, could be nothing less than condemnation)—but you have reserved me to your mercy, because you love me more than I can love myself.
—Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), A prayer within her defense of her right, even as a woman, to debate theology.
via

here’s a little play list i put together for today, some of the songs have meaning, others i just felt like listening to…

1. Flight Test – The Flaming Lips
2. I’m Amazed – My Morning Jacket
3. It’s A Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads
4. Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
5. Light & Day / Reach For The Sun – The Polyphonic Spree
6. Five Get Over Excited – The Housemartins [Reminds me of the year I spent in Hull, where this band was from]
7. Waiting For The Great Leap Forward – Billy Bragg
8. Steve’s Hammer (For Pete) – Steve Earle
9. One Thing Real – Dan Bern [Story on Dan here]
10. You! Me! Dancing! – Los Campesinos!
11. Love Shack – The B-52’s [Cosmic Thing came out shortly before I turned 16 and started driving, it’s one of those tapes that I’d drive around listening to again and again]
12. Common People – Pulp
13. So What’cha Want – The Beastie Boys
14. U-Mass – The Pixies [When I was doing college radio one of my favorite combination of songs was the cold end on “So What’cha Want” and that great guitar into to “U-Mass”, I usually ran a tight board so it worked well (at least in my opinion)]
15. Waiting Room – Fugazi [Another song I associate with college radio]
16. Indian Summer – Luna [I really do enjoy music released in this decade, I guess I’m just choosing not to listen to much of it today]
17. Section 26: We Crawl – The Polyphonic Spree
18. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Petra Haden [Just because when Petra does these a capella covers they are so entertaining]
19. Tables And Chairs – Andrew Bird [“There will be snacks…”]
20. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M.
21. We’re Going to Be Friends – The White Stripes
22. Without A Trace – Soul Asylum [Soul Asylum was the first rock concert I attended, Vic Chesnutt opened]
23. Stratford-On-Guy – Liz Phair
24. U2 – Negativland [“I know it’s around here somewhere, but I still have found it…”]
25. Rainbow Connection – Willie Nelson
26. Von – Sigur Ros
27. King James Version – Billy Bragg [A very good song, but I especially love the first line, “He was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in”]
28. Hoover Dam – Blue Sugar
29. Stay Positive – The Hold Steady
30. Thou Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip [This is a song I know I shouldn’t enjoy, but I do]
31. Thursday – Morphine
32. Another Sunny Day – Belle & Sebastian
33. All In Good Time – Pierce Pettis
34. One More Circle – Peter Mayer
35. Thank You Friends – Big Star

Rock over London. Rock on Chicago. Weaties, breakfast of champions.
-m

neither one of us is sure on the exact date, but i believe today marks the tenth anniversary of a certain toga party, that took place in evanston. it was at this party that i told my friend, abby about my interest in a friend of hers – beautiful, young woman from michigan. as the evening progressed, i found out she had a similar interest in me.

on that particular night we kissed for the first time, and have been kissing ever since. thank you, amy, for ten amazing years of laughter and love.

Mike Slaughter has some thoughts on the church as discipleship vs. cruise ship here.
And I love this idea from Small Ritural (via Jordon Cooper) here.

Seth Godin has some great thoughts on dealing with difficult (but not stupid) people here.

jim wallis has some great thoughts on palin’s comments about community organizers here.

this past week some fellow ministry-types organized our first family camp for ministry professionals. jeff and bridget have a great summary, and maybe i’ll get to posting some thoughts of my own (in addition to acting on a few other ideas that i’ve brought away from the week), but in the meantime, here is a little reflection i put together from the week:

emmaus echoes
resound in my soul

companions –
conversing
contemplating
considering
all that had happened
sharing stories
and memories
of miracles and of the messiah
of blessings and of the betrayal
of companions and the cross

a couple of Christ-followers
talking, walking,
retreating, returning
receiving,
welcoming
a stranger in their midst
(but one they know so well)
revealed
in the sharing of story
in the breaking of bread

emmaus echoes
resound in my soul
knowing Christ still comes
in campfire conversations
and beach-side beauty
in mealtime memories
both shared
and being made

christ still comes
sometimes without realization
as strangers become friends
as companions
laugh, talk
complain, cry

christ still comes
and community is formed
in this humble
grace-filled gathering
where love reigns supreme

emmaus echoes
resound in my soul
as the children played
were not our hearts burning within us?
as the preachers preached
were not our hearts burning within us?
as good food fed our bodies,
and conversation fed our souls
were not our hearts burning within us?

emmaus echoes
resound in my soul
and I am thankful
for Christ-like community
extended,
encountered,
experienced
each and every day.

as i was getting ready to put up some new stuff here, i realized that i never finished the rest of the story related to the iowa trip.

at the beginning of the week, clint and courtney talked about going to this community “variety show” that was about the flood. to be honest i wasn’t expecting much, i figured there would be some nice, local talent, but nothing spectacular. thursday night comes and we arrive at this beautiful outdoor setting. we arrived just a few minutes before the performance was to start, so i grabbed a program and found a seat near the back.

a man behind me starts playing guitar and singing. and i start thinking to myself, “hey, that voice sort of sounds familiar…” the singer starts to move – now his back is to me.

i think some more “hey, they guy is trying really hard to sound like dan bern.” followed by another thought, “why would that guy be imitating dan bern?!”

then slowly the gears start to turn. “you know, dan bern, grew up in eastern iowa… but that can’t really be…” i quickly start to page through the program i’d been handed, and there i see it – “music by dan bern.”

now i fully understand this means nothing to most of you who read (or have otherwise stumbled upon) this blog (even those who might share similar tastes in music), dan isn’t a well known talent, but i’ve been enjoying his music for the better part of ten years (maybe more), he’s someone i’ve always hoped to see perform live, but never had the opportunity to… and there is is – standing and singing – 15 feet in front of my face – in a completely unexpected venue or set of circumstances. so at this point, i basically start to freak out. my jaw has literally dropped open. and for the next couple hours i am in total musical bliss.

after the show (thanks to some prodding from clint) i go up to dan, shake his hand, my voice jumps a octive and i babble like a fool; and he was very gracious. (actually wil wheaton wrote a great post a couple weeks ago that basically captures my mental state during this exchange, and eric’s imitation about what i’d be like meeting shane claiborne was pretty much dead on to this encounter).

anyway, it was a great way to cap off an amazing week. thanks clint and courtney for making this happen.

(p.s. in case you’re now interested in dan’s music, here’s a sample, but i’ll offer a general warning, for the most part dan’s music isn’t recommended for those who are easily offended – though this particular song is safe).