matt's thoughts

I have been chosen!

2010-09-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Becky and I have moved to Chicago in order for me to do a year of "Lutheran studies" at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [LSTC] Then after that will be a yearlong internship and, God-willing, ordination. In the meantime, me and six other students have been chosen to write on a blog that will be advertised to prospective students, for them to get a feel for life here at LSTC. So if you want to get a 'taste' of my life here in Chicago, check out the blog!

http://tasteandseelstc.blogspot.com

Switchfoot's Hello Hurricane

2009-11-30T10:55:00.001-08:00

It's been interesting to see the mainstream music community's views on Switchfoot change over time since 2003's breakthrough album The Beautiful Letdown. At that time, it seemed most reviewers figured the band to be a one-time crossover hit wonder with "Meant to Live," and didn't bother to explore the rest of this 'Christian band's' music too fully. Those same critics may have been a bit surprised by the hit "Stars" off of the band's follow up, Nothing is Sound, but they still didn't take the band too seriously.

Then when Oh Gravity! hit shelves in late 2006, the lack of an overpowering lead single forced critics to give the entire album a listen. Across the board, those reviewers were pleasantly surprised by what they found. That disc, combined with lead singer/guitarist Jon Foreman's solo albums released last year, have led many in the mainstream music community to see what those of us who have been listening to the band since 1997's The Legend of Chin have known all along: Switchfoot is a group of immensely creative musicians, and Jon Foreman is one of the most talented and prolific songwriters of our generation.

And now comes the highly anticipated Hello Hurricane, the first album since hitting it big that Switchfoot has made without record label executives peering over their shoulders. Musically, this album continues in the direction Oh Gravity! started them on. Gone is the pristine production and mixing of John Fields, who oversaw the recording of Beautiful Letdown and Nothing is Sound (the latter takes it to the extreme--the first couple tracks are some of the cleanest rock ever recorded). The result is a sound that betrays any accusation that Switchfoot is overly careful and calculative--this is simply a band having the time of their life playing music they love.

But while Gravity has a very natural, free-flowing feel, Hurricane wrestles a bit more. Nearly every song has its own style, making the album feel a bit disjointed at times. The first five tracks alone give you the delayed guitars and soaring chorus of classic U2 ("Needle and Haystack Life"), a ballad Christian radio will love ("Your Love is a Song"), and a mid-tempo retro 80's track ("Enough to Let Me Go"), broken up by two of Switchfoot's most aggressive tracks yet, lead singles "Mess of Me" and "The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)." Here's the thing that makes it work, though: it's all really good. What excites me most is the classic rock flavorings more evident here than any of the band's previous work. "Free" and "Bullet Soul" sound like they could have been written in the early 70's.

Lyrically, there are two dominant and interconnected themes on the record. First, Foreman feels stuck, bound by his own sinful nature and the trappings of culture to live in a world he knows is far less than ideal. While this is certainly familiar territory for him, he pushes out toward facets of this not previously explored, like racism ("The Sound") and our culture's fragmentary tendency to prescribe a drug for any perceived problem ("Mess of Me").

Second, he is convinced of the overwhelming power of love to overcome. "The Sound," co-named for racial reconciliation and community development advocate John M. Perkins, is a case-study in this theme. The love Foreman is singing of (and of which Perkins writes) is not the sentimental, I-wish-we-could-all-get-along kind, but the subversive kind that loves in the face of hate and refuses to participate in its violence. Foreman sings, "John Perkins said it right...Love is the final fight...let it rise above, rise above...there is no sound...louder than love!" This theme is repeated later in "Bullet Soul": "Love is the one true innovation...Love is the only art."

The only qualm I have has to do with the first theme, and it's more of a question than an actual qualm. Multiple times throughout the album, Foreman seems to be singing of being stuck inside the "cage" of his body. This idea is certainly borrowed from the apostle Paul's writings in the New Testament, but I fear they reflect a common misunderstanding of those writings. In the second verse of "Mess of Me," Foreman appears to be lamenting that our essential selves are stuck in our sinful nature (exactly what Paul was saying). In "Free," however, when he sings "Inside this shell there's a prison cell," or in "Red Eyes" when he sings, "All of my days are spent within this skin; within this cage that I'm in," he's a bit too close for my comfort to the body-soul dualism of Greek and Enlightenment philosophy. I know this may be a bit too complex an issue to try and distill from rock lyrics, but it's such a dominant theme on the album--I wish I could have a conversation with Jon to find out what his perspectives are.

In short, where else do you expect to be than in your own skin? The orthodox Christian belief about afterlife, contrary to popular opinion, has always been in the resurrection of the body. We're not just souls caged inside of a body that one day we'll escape from. I am my body. My body is me. I can not be separated from it. One day are bodies will be made perfect, Paul writes, but our 'souls' aren't going anywhere. The soul is not a substantive object. It doesn't exist somewhere inside our body - it's a metaphor for our essential selves.

Alright, enough of that for now. This is a CD review (a long one, I know), and the CD is a good one. I would give you the highlights, but I would have to name at least 8 or 9 songs. I've yet to hear a song written by Jon Foreman that was uninteresting, and Hello Hurricane contains no exceptions. Right now my favorites are "Your Love is a Song" and "The Sound," but ask me next week and they might be different.

Acoustic Show Friday

2009-11-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note for those of you in the Thousand Oaks area - I'm playing a solo acoustic show at the Starbucks at Ventu and Hillcrest (the one I work at) in Newbury Park this Friday (Nov 20). I'll get going around 7:30 and probably play until 8:45 or so. It's been a while since I've played some of my own stuff with the band, so I decided it's time I go out and play on my own a bit. The address: 587 N Ventu Park Rd (next to Ralph's). Come stop by and hang out!

I know it's been a while since I posted...more to come soon!

Sermon Audio

2009-08-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a link for the audio of the message I gave last Saturday at church. It's actually the audio for more of the service--so skip ahead to about 4:20 if you just want to hear the sermon. You can stream it or download it.

http://www.ascensionlutheran-church.org/pages/podcast.htm

-matt

The Scandalous Savior: John 6:56-69

2009-08-26T11:00:00.001-07:00

A couple people have asked me if I could post a summary of the message I gave at church last Saturday night. At some point I'll obtain the audio and post it here, but for now here's a (hopefully) little summary. This is obviously a paraphrase of ideas, not the actual words I used.

The sermon was on the text of John 6:56-69. Our church generally (though not always) follows the Revised Common Lectionary, and this was the gospel text for last Sunday. The text (NRSV) follows, but I suggest grabbing a Bible so you can follow the different places in the text that I reference without having to scroll back up.

⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.⁶⁵And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” ⁶⁶Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

This is the fifth straight week we are in John 6, and in preparation I got to wondering why the makers of the lectionary would have us spend five weeks in this chapter. Perhaps they figured it would take pastors and preachers five weeks to explain this somewhat difficult text! But really, I think it's because this text really contains the heart of the Christian life; the core of what it really means to be a Christian.

John 6 is a turning point in John's gospel. Up until this point, following Jesus has been a relatively easy thing to do. He's the "cool new prophet" of Israel. Earlier in this chapter he fed thousands of people with one kid's lunch. He's already healed some people that were on the brink of death. So if you follow Jesus around, you'll see some pretty cool stuff - rumor has it he's even the life of the party. He even turned water into wine at a wedding!

But Jesus' message in the synagogue at Capernaum changes everything. He said, "In order to be my follower you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Earlier, in 6:30, the people want more signs - more proof that Jesus has come from God. But instead of offering more signs, Jesus offers himself. This is a difficult teaching for the people that hear it, and many of them turn and walk away at this point. It's no longer cool to follow Jesus. And before long, people are going to be trying to kill him.

Why are Jesus words so difficult? Well, they're strange for us today, even when we can hear them through the lens of the bread and wine of communion. But here, Jesus is speaking to Jewish people with strict dietary laws. They couldn't even eat meat with blood in it! And here Jesus asks them to drink his blood and eat his flesh? And this teaching would have legs - a few years later the early Christians would be accused of cannibalism. But even if the people can get past the strangeness of his words and call them metaphor, he's committing a worse offense - he is dangerously close to claiming to be the source of life - God himself.

Editor's note: this is getting long already, I'm gonna try to skip parts to shorten in a bit...

Take a look at Jesus' response to the complaint that his teaching is difficult: "Does this offend you?" The word translated 'offend' is a form of the Greek word skandalon, from which we derive english words like scandal and scandalous. It literally means "stumbling block,", which recalls Isaiah 8, which prophesies, "he will be a stone that makes them stumble...and a rock that makes them fall."

Coming to Jesus always causes us to stumble, because we were always expecting something different. The Jewish people learned very quickly that Jesus was not what they were expecting in a Messiah. The religious leaders saw his words as offensive from the beginning. In Mark 3, Jesus' family comes out to take him away, thinking he's gone crazy. In Matthew 11, even the John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for the Messiah, wondered whether Jesus really was the one who was to come, sending word to him from prison. Jesus is never what we expect.

In the present text, there are two groups of people. Many 'disciples' walk away (v66) - the scandal of Jesus is teaching is too much to bear. But 'the twelve', represented by Peter, profess faith in the face of this hard teaching. Later, of course, they too would stumble, abandoning and denying Jesus as he is led away to die. We, like Peter would do eventually, also try to tell God what is best, consciously or not. We're still looking for signs. And Jesus still offers himself.

The question is not whether you will stumble - you will. The ways of God are not our ways. The question is what happens after you stumble over something unexpected. Will you be like the many who leave, staying firm in your own expectation of how things are supposed to go? Or will you be like the few who, tripping over Jesus, allow your expectations to be broken so that Jesus can rebuild them?

Thanks be to God, it doesn't depend on us. That's the gospel. That's the good news in this story. If it did, we would all walk away. But the good news that it is God who calls us, draws us, and allows us to follow his ways is sprinkled all over this text. Verse 65 is the most obvious--no one can come to Jesus unless it is granted by the Father. But it is also in v63 (flesh vs. Spirit) and v70.

What causes you to stumble? Is there something in your life causing a crisis of faith? Whatever it is, let it go, and fall into the arms of Jesus. You don't have to have it all figured out. In fact, if you think you do, that's when you know you're in trouble. You're holding on to your own expectations so tight that when you stumble over something unexpected, you'll be falling onto that rock instead of into the arms of Jesus. Sometimes you have to give up faith in order to gain it - faith in yourself, in your own ideas of how things are supposed to go. And Surrender into a deeper commitment with Christ, a deeper trust in Him.

Peter says, "Yeah your teaching is difficult, but where else are we gonna go? We have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God" The word "believe" is a form of the Greek word pisteau, and commonly means "to believe; to have faith in, to trust." But another meaning, and the one I like best in this context, is "to be committed to". The text mentions that Jesus knew who would betray him, and pisteau can be seen here as the opposite of betrayal - total commitment. In effect, Peter is saying, "We have come to being committed to you and knowing that you are the Holy One of God."

So how do we surrender into this deeper commitment to Christ, this deeper trusting relationship? Jesus has already told us in v56: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." Here in this verse is the core of the Christian life: Word and Sacrament. "Word and Sacrament" is not boring church-speak, it is the dynamic, living presence of Jesus. Jesus wants to get inside of us, and the two ways he does that is through our ears - through hearing the Word - and through our mouths - through the receiving of his body and blood through the bread and wine at communion.

In John 1, Jesus is called the Word. Here he says that in order to be his follower, we must eat his flesh. We must consume theWord of God. In a Jewish worldview, blood is the seat of life. That's why they weren't allowed to eat meat with blood in it - that would be taking in the life of another being. But here Jesus, says, "I want to be your very lifesource." In drinking his blood, Jesus is asking us to make the deepest-level commitment possible.

The Word is the voice of God, and the Sacraments of baptism and communion are his presence. To read the Word is to hear God’s voice, and to participate in the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion is to be filled with the very life of God. So when you stumble over something unexpected that doesn’t fit with your idea of what it means to walk with God, don’t hold onto your expectations so tight that you fall onto them. Instead, surrender. Fall into the arms of Jesus, and fall into the arms of grace, a grace communicated and experienced through God’s life-giving Word and through the dynamic, powerful Sacraments.

Rob Bell/Revelation

2009-08-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

I found a video of a message very similar to the one Rob Bell gave the first time I heard him speak, at a Youth Specialties conference in 2003. This is at Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago that same year.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1465663627958239828

This is why I enjoy listening to Rob Bell.

Preaching

2009-08-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm preaching at our church next Saturday night. If anyone wants to make the trip up, we'll get together afterwards. 6:00pm @ Ascension Lutheran in Thousand Oaks (www.alcto.org)

2009 ELCA Youth Gathering

2009-08-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

So the destination of this little excursion Becky and I recently took with the youth group from our church was the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. This was the second such national gathering for which I have helped chaperone a group, the prior being the 2006 Gathering in San Antonio.

There were definitely many great things happening during the event, not the least of which was the fact that over 36,000 youth and their adult leaders went out into the community and served during the course of the week. Past youth gatherings have included opportunities for service projects, but this time service was made the focus of the entire event. The theme of the gathering was "Jesus Justice Jazz", with particular stress being placed on the "Justice" aspect. I am very grateful that I am part of a church body that places such emphasis on justice, as this is something Christians have been known to lose sight of from time to time - especially in the modern era. And I believe that when we lose sight of justice, we lose sight of biblical faith. In scripture, God is constantly calling his people toward justice in caring for the poor--for those that have not. One could argue that the entirety of the law in the Hebrew scriptures orients a person toward care for those who don't have the resources to care for themselves, whether it is because they are poor, widowed, foreign, or otherwise disadvantaged. And in the gospels, Jesus extends this orientation of generosity as far as possible to those whom society looked down upon the most - prostitutes, tax collectors, and the like. So when we allow anything to get in the way of caring for those who are disadvantaged among us - whether by their own doing or that of society - we are not following Jesus. All this to say how much I value the Youth Gathering's focus on justice and the living out of justice.

However, there was something missing at the gathering, an omission that greatly concerns me. Scripture. The Bible. How, you ask, could a national gathering of over 36,000 Lutheran Christians be missing the very thing that should stand as the core of their identity? I was asking myself the same thing. But it's true. Sure, the Gathering had a theme verse (a portion of Philippians 2) that flashed on the side screens before every mass gathering in the Superdome, but never once did I hear it mentioned from the stage. Some of the speakers (whom the Gathering directors have no control over once they hand them a microphone) mentioned passages from the Bible, but there was no way in which scripture was built in to the gathering. Three years ago in San Antonio, they at least had a bible study led by a young pastor each day in the dome. Now, I recognize that the focus of this gathering was different; that the amount of mass gatherings were cut down in order to enable us to get out into the city and surrounding area and "get our hands dirty." But is that a good reason to leave scripture out of these gatherings?

Friday was our day to attend workshops, so I took the opportunity to attend a wide sampling of them to see how scripture was being utilized and studied in this area. What I'm about to say may sound harsh, and is definitely sobering. In an afternoon spent sampling workshops, I witnessed nothing that indicated I was attending a gathering of Christians. Good people with a concern for peace and justice in the world? Definitely. But a people who gather around a book we call the word of God, which points to the Word, God's son Jesus? Nope. I'm not saying opportunities to run into scripture didn't exist. I'm only saying that I spent an entire afternoon looking for them, and did not find them.

A couple examples: I walked into a "self-guided" learning experience called "Peace One Day" with the following description: "In this center you will explore images of peace that are found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible." Sounds scriptural enough. I couldn't find a a single mention of scripture in the entire room. There were opportunities to make origami peace doves, to write on a peace wall, and do a few other activities that hippies might have done in the '60s, but no mention of God or the Bible.

I attended a workshop (one that actually had a leader) called "Level Playing Field" intended to open our eyes to "different experiences of privilege and oppression." The workshop consisted of a game in which participants took a step forwards or backwards based on their answers to various questions regarding economic status, race, and experiences of prejudice." We were then asked about how we experienced this game. At no time were we encouraged or instructed to "discern what God is calling you to do to level the playing field," as the description indicated we would.

Another self-guided workshop was "It's Not Easy Being Green," accompanied by this description: "In this center you will think about biblical concepts of the relationship between the church and environment." The room contained a pile of paper and other trash surrounded by tables filled with students' creations made from said trash. But no evidence of any guidance by "biblical concepts."

I don't doubt that the planners of the workshops, and the directors of the gathering in general, had good intentions. But unfortunately the following through of these intentions was less than adequate. Others in my group had similar experiences.

This is a problem. As I've said, a focus on Justice is great. But if we forget who we are in the process, we may as well just join a non-profit organization with no religious affiliation. We have nothing different to offer. And if we encourage our youth to participate in justice but fail to ground that service in the truth of scripture in an event of such magnitude, that is effectively what we have done.

N'awlens

2009-08-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

New Orleans is a cool city. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. And if you go, find a way to invest yourself into a community while you're there, whether painting a house, volunteering at the Ashe Community Center in Central City, or anything else you might find. The people in New Orleans are amazing, and this is a way to truly get to know a few of them.

Becky and I just spent two weeks on "tour" with the high school youth from our church, driving on a school bus to New Orleans and back. The ELCA (Lutheran) National Youth Gathering was in New Orleans, and a big focus of the Gathering this year was service--this involved over 36,000 youth going out and volunteering in the community over the course of three days. Our group ended up at the community center mentioned above, and we got to participate in the ongoing revitalization of the central city neighborhood near downtown.

Speaking of downtown, what a fun city New Orleans is. I have to admit, after Katrina--having never been to New Orleans--I was one of those people thinking, "are we sure we want to rebuild a city that is pretty much built on swampland below sea level in the middle of hurricane territory?" But now, having been there, I realize that besides being completely unrealistic, the idea of not rebuilding is culturally irresponsible. There is so much of worth here. And I'm not talking about Bourbon Street. Proceed there at your own risk (although you will find a lot of good music there if you can handle the rest). The rest of the French Quarter is indicative of the rich history of the city in general. Such a fun place to walk around, and not completely overrun by tourism in the way many of the most beloved parts of American cities have been. And again, the people are amazing. Walk into any shop, any bar, and the people will make you feel like you've lived there your whole life--even if you talk like a Yankee (and a Californian is a Yankee).

More on the trip later - just wanted to say a bit about New Orleans for now.

Golf

2009-07-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

I got a two. As in, it took me a grand total of two shots to get the ball in the little hole on a golf course. This made me happy. :)

This occurred yesterday, when I decided to "hit the links" for a while on my day off. Had a lot of fun because I was actually hitting some nice shots. Now I'm not a great golfer by any stretch of the imagination. I'm okay with the irons, and I usually do okay around the green, but I've never been able to hit a driver (or any wood, really) with any consistency. And rarely if ever do I feel like I am getting lucky on a golf course. But yesterday I was actually half-way decent--hitting some good shots, and getting some lucky bounces! Granted, I never pulled out my driver because I was on a par 3 course, but still. I even hit a green from 196 yards away within 10 feet of the pin! Unfortunately the putt rimmed out, or that would have been my best hole of all time. But I certainly can't complain about a par.

Golf is a crazy, frustrating game. And yet strangely addicting. Just when you're ready to give up, it teases you just enough to make you come back thinking you can string together some good shots and play a nice round next time. I've come to the conclusion that the pros are the ones who, after hitting a bad shot, can actually figure out what they did wrong in their swing. I cannot. I can hit two shots in a row and swear I swung the exact same way each time. But one goes nice and straight while the other slices into the next fairway. Or pulls into the trees. And yet I have the likely illusory hope that someday, if I actually practiced enough, I could be a good golfer.

That's definitely not happening anytime soon though. Golf is expensive!

Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love"

2009-07-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

From time to time I will post my thoughts on some [relatively] new music that captures my interest for one reason or another. The subject of today's post is worship leader Chris Tomlin's latest album, "Hello Love." Those of you who are into modern worship, or attend a church that worships in virtually any contemporary style, have undoubtedly sung songs that Tomlin has written or recorded. Every album that Tomlin has released thus far has yielded worship anthems sung across the country and even around the world.

The first two tracks on "Hello Love," Sing Sing Sing and Jesus Messiah will undoubtedly be two more Tomlin songs that will (and already have) find their way into many churches. In classic Tomlin style, the simple melodies and straightforward lyrics in these songs make them easily adaptable for any worship team. Next comes You Lifted Me Out, a rock anthem that seems meant to be this album's Let God Arise (the unlikely hit off Tomlin's last effort, "See the Morning"). But as is often the case, the copy doesn't quite live up to the original.

The real gems of the present album are God of this City and I Will Rise. These songs display the theological thoughtfulness and biblical faith that I wish were evidenced in more modern worship songs. There are many worship songs--and this goes for both contemporary and ancient styles, that are what could be referred to as 'praise vomit.' Surely the best kind of vomit, but vomit nonetheless. While these songs surely express heartfelt worship, I think it would be beneficial to the church if we were a bit more thoughtful and discerning regarding the lyrics we sing. Language we use in worship, both spoken and sung, shapes the way we picture God and our faith. If we continue to use the same thoughtless, unconnected platitudes in worship, the content of our faith will be reflective of that. I digress. More on this another time. The point is that these two songs (GotC & IWR) possess a theological weight that the earlier songs lack.

God of this City, which was originally written and recorded by the Irish band Bluetree, is a song that reflects the ideas of the missional church. If you haven't been to seminary or read much ecclesiology lately, that might not mean much to you. Basically, the concept of 'missional church' is that the church is always in a state of mission--it is the church's identity. We never reach a state of Christendom, or get to a point where we say, "we've done it--we have completed our task." The church that ceases to welcome the stranger or reach out to those in need has ceased to be the church, and begun being a social club. God of this City celebrates this identity, motivating us to get out into the world, where God is already at work: "Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city..." While Bluetree's original recording of the song might be more interesting, Tomlin here offers an Americanized mainstream version.

Tomlin's own I Will Rise takes its cue from the book of Revelation, which contains the clearest scriptural picture of what worship will look like in the Kingdom of God. Having recently spent five months working with children who have cancer and other long-term or terminal illnesses, this song is especially poignant for me. The chorus, "I will rise when He calls my name/no more crying, no more pain/I will rise on eagles' wings/before my God fall on my knees and rise" is enough to bring me to tears. The verses are equally powerful, and will no doubt bring to mind some of the most powerful hymns you might have sung growing up. The song finally culminates in a rousing bridge that will certainly have faithful people raising their hands wherever it is sung. And if you can't tell already, I love this song.

Following that song is Love, which standing on its own brings to mind one of those cheesy '80s world hunger fundraiser all-star recordings, complete with an African children's choir. Taken in the context of the album, however, it can be accepted as a joyful expression of Kingdom unity. All accept for the regretful bridge lyric, "love is the answer/love will find a way," which has me giggling the first time I hear it, then shaking my head when it is repeated.

The rest of the album is more of the solid, if not spectacular, Tomlin-led worship we've become accustomed to. Praise the Father, Praise the Son is a beautiful hymn that includes a female harmony that I wouldn't mind hearing more of throughout the album. God Almighty contains the coolest intro I have heard in some time, but for me, the rest of the song doesn't quite live up to the hype that it creates. Not a bad song, but by the time the intro comes back at the end you've forgotten you were listening to the same song. With Me sounds like it belongs on a Hillsong United album, which is not a bad thing. Exalted (Yahweh) is another song that takes its cue from the worship of Revelation, and could easily find its way into a worship set for a service that included a text from this book.

Overall, another solid album of worship from Tomlin. While it might not spawn the worldwide worship anthems the way "Arriving" did, and won't change the landscape of modern worship the way "Not to Us" did, there are definitely some worthwhile listens for the corporate worship leader.

FREE poiesis music

2009-07-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

You can now get my band's music for free (or pay whatever you like) from NoiseTrade. As of right now you can download our latest album, We Could Be Free. It's an acoustic (or "unplugged") album we recorded last year. Enjoy! Just click how you want to download it on the right side of this page. I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Happy 4th of July!

Vino

2009-07-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

Becky and I had the good fortune to do a bit of wine tasting today in Solvang. We were both able to get corresponding days off, and traveling the 90 minutes or so up to Santa Barbara wine country has become one of our favorite 'holiday' things to do. This time we decided to explore Solvang a bit while tasting, as a few wineries have tasting rooms in town. If you ever happen to visit Solvang yourself on a weeknight, keep this in mind: most things close up around 4 or 5! Gets pretty quiet after that.

Anyways, it was a very nice afternoon. We were able to find a fairly cheap bottle from one of our favorite wineries in the area (Andrew Murray), and discovered a new favorite (at least for me), Mandolina, which is a part of Lewis and Lewellen Vineyards. Would have loved to have hit up L&L's tasting room as well, but alas, it was too late.

BTW, if you prefer beer over wine and find yourself in Solvang, be sure to check out Firestone Brewery/Restaurant in nearby Buellton. Good stuff as well.

Any memorable wines or wine tasting experiences?

Gradulation

2009-06-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

I have graduated seminary! At least I think I have. I don't have a degree in hand (or on wall) yet, but I believe I have completed all of the requirements. I now have a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary (highly recommended if you've ever felt a little more liberal than your conservative surroundings or a little more conservative than your liberal surroundings).

For the past five months, I interned as a chaplain at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in order to complete requirements for my degree, as well as for future ordination. It was, as you might guess, an amazing and challenging experience, which can be briefly summarized in this way: I know I do not want to be a chaplain, but I do feel like I am becoming a pastor.

What's next, you might ask? Well, Becky and I plan on living here in Thousand Oaks for another year or so before moving to Chicago, where I will be doing my "Lutheran year" for ordination in the Lutheran church. For now, I am back to working at Starbucks (Ventu Park & Hillcrest in Newbury Park - come and visit) close to full time, while also continuing my job as coordinator of the contemporary worship service (11:00 Sunday) at Ascension Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks (www.alcto.org), as well as various musical endeavors (www.myspace.com/poiesis). Becky is working as a bank teller at Chase Bank (formerly Washington Mutual) in Westlake Village, and also continuing as director of some of the children's and teen choirs at Ascension.

Hooray for summer!

Welcome

2009-06-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog. I have created this space as part of an effort to live life with more intentionality. I have the tendency at times, as many of us do, to float through life like Lamar Odom can float through a basketball game. I would like to take more time to reflect on moments of significance, which I already do at times - but this will give me to opportunity to do so publicly (and intentionally). And that's where you come in!

So please, respond at will. I would love for you to respond to something and anything I write. Like, seriously. Just respond. That way it won't feel like I'm just talking to myself. I do enough of that already without having to type it out. I know you have thoughts in that brain of yours. You can even respond to this introduction if you like.

By the way, if you couldn't tell already, this post represents the very beginning of my blog. So if you are completely fascinated with my wit and must read every thought that proceeds from my mind, you have reached the end. :) You must now go elsewhere. A couple suggestions: