a coherent collection of random statements regarding God, words and tunes

More Random Notes From a Summer Vacation

Pretty much in the order they occur to me....

1) One thing that's been jumping in my face regularly the last few weeks during (due to?) this fast period, and from multiple sources, is the importance of "expectancy." Meaning, when we set aside time or things or whatever to actually give God something to work with in our lives, do we really expect that God is gonna show up?

So I've been working on developing that sense of expectancy lately. And at the same time, realizing how much "expectancy" doesn't bear resemblance to "expectations." Bring your own agenda, even with the best of intentions, and expect to be disappointed -- or at least to do more damage than good, and not least of all to yrself. And that's not just with God; that's life in general. Turn to God and say, "This is your gig, do what you will" (or the old-fashioned but still effective "not my will, but thine") and things have a tendency to fall into line easier, because they're left in the hands of someone who can draw a line correctly. And that's kind of where I'm at right now.

2)  Sort of on a similar note: Returning to tuneage yesterday after a few weeks (in this case while cruising the foothills with my youngest daughter, who's getting her license in November), it was actually a nice feeling to realize that I can finally retire that Divine Comedy album I'd ranted about a few months back. It's still arguably the best album of the decade, and "Perfect Lovesong" is.... well, a perfect love song, and one that still works well in my noticeably more lightened state... but fortunately I'm not in that trapped, angry, useless state I was lingering in earlier this year (and which most of Regeneration spoke to perfectly). So thanks again, Neil Hannon, and we'll no doubt meet again up somewhere down the road. Just not this part.

3) Still don't want to talk too much about work yet, but let's just say that my pastor buddies out there should be receiving an attachment in the next week or so. I've been working on an idea (encompassing a bunch of other ideas) near and dear to my heart, and suffice to say it's something I'm not currently seeing out there. Short version: It's a curriculum designed to help people get from disciples to disciplers, using an approach that's significantly more relational than "I tell you what to do/plug you into my slot," let alone the popular models of ministry out there that say, "Give people skills, and they'll develop character." Say what? Doing comes out of being (or at least should), and that's kind of my square one here.

My apologies if that was more cryptical than infomational -- a two-year curriculum that I'm still working through the details on doesn't boil down all that easily. Anyway, I'm going to be looking for feedback from those who might actually use such a thing before I present it here at work, so watch yr inboxes later this week. (Addendum: Yo phreak, yr e-mail bounced; give me something I can work with.)

4) And on the props-to-the-wife front: Marion's been accepted to another show, in Estes Park. She is once again pumped. September's going to be a busy month, what with all this newfound celebrity & artists' receptions and such. I'm adding her site(s) on the Links side too, while I'm thinking about it.

5) Oh yes, and since I currently can't post it elsewhere :

This week's rotation:

Bill Mallonee -- Locket Full of Moonlight
Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- Emerson, Lake & Palmer / Tarkus (yes, you read that right)
Bruce Cockburn -- Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws
French Frith Kaiser Thompson -- Live Love Larf Loaf
Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- Trilogy / Brain Salad Surgery (I can explain... no, really...)
The Waterboys -- Universal Hall
Sparks -- Lil' Beethoven

So, about that ELP stuff: Said youngest daughter (who is quite the British Invasion fan, especially The Kinks and The Who -- yes, Obi Wan has taught her well ) has been asking me a lot lately about what I was listening to when I was 16, so I took the trouble to download a bunch of ELP and Yes, and de-b.s.'d the former into what's actually a couple pretty good CDs.

Oh yes, and on that note (and since she'd heard some of their stuff while she was away on her missions trip) also downloaded my first rock-and-roll love as well. I.e., I spent last night sucking in the bombastic self-parodying viscerality that WAS Queen. I'm reminded that for all the credit Freddie Mercury deserved (and yes, all the pimpslapping too -- Jazz was so bad that I literally took it outside and shot it), Brian May was and is the real deal -- aside from being a true original on the guitar, there was a song or two of his nearly on every album that was b.s.-free and capable of ripping your heart out (let's just say that songs like "Some Day One Day" and "Long Away" have aged REALLY well).

Yes, this IS carl talking. Why do you ask?

Anyway, until next time. Maybe back to new music by then (and if so, probably Okkervil River & St. Vincent). Then again... remember, expectancy, not expectation.

Posted by: burninglight at 17:28 | link | comments (5)

Control-Alternate-Shift...

...but not "Delete."

Anyway, this unusually random halftime report has been brought to you by....

Wait -- halftime? I thought you were gonna be done with this fast thingy y'r doing on the 19th....

Well yeah, about that... let's start with the basic information first, and go from there....

First, the new services in town that our (personally) new church was starting up have been delayed a couple weeks. We knew the possibility existed (as the high-school auditorium we'll be meeting in is currently being renovated), but now it's official. The new start date for the "pre-services" is September 2nd (with the 16th being the "official" start date, which I think was already in place).

Thus, it's fitting to shift my spiritual prep time accordingly to reflect that. (It should be quite the Labor Day weekend, what with Marion's art show down in Denver starting that weekend as well.)

What does that mean specifically, in terms of the "fast thingy"? Largely, more of the same. For those who care, read on....

Keeping the "normal" fast stuff going, a no-brainer.

Music -- I came to the conclusion that I can prayerfully let myself off the hook on this one after the 19th (which I already committed to, after all), largely because I've been consciously making efforts to rediscover my prayer life. Especially after our men's group Saturday, it dawned on me that it's all too easy to feel convicted about something then walk away feeling all self-satisfied that you felt convicted about it without ever following through. So I spent my lunch time today getting back down to business, as it were -- and as I walked and prayed through the woods and quiet residential areas of west Loveland, it struck me that I hadn't done this regularly since my Lexis-Nexis days ('cause boy, I needed that -- but do I any less now? I mean, really?). And that the weather should be a whoooole lot more accomodating here than it was there. Not to mention the company has an actual prayer path around the premises (i.e., what the heck was I waiting for?)...

Anyway, it struck me that quiet, while useful (and less addictive), is no substitute for silence, which always has the potential for holiness within it. So I'm exchanging a short-term vow for a long-term habit on that one.  (And again, for the remainder of this week, doing both.)

Message boards -- Yeah, I'm'a keeping things here a while longer. I've already decided to ditch one board permanently -- a sports one from back on the East Coast that wasn't doing any favors for my spirit (and with the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry about to jump unusually ugly even for them, it's really not that tough a decision for a Mets/Rox fan to make. Unless you LIKE that much ugliness.   Me, I think I'm done with that kinda joyriding -- emphasis decidedly not on the "joy" -- and on more fronts than just this. On that note...).

As for the others -- which have always been both a blessing and a curse for the probably 8-9 years I've been on some form of them  -- I'll hold my tongue/judgment/whatever else (don't GO there, boy/girl-friends) 'til the 2nd. For now, suffice to say that it's hard to stay silent when y'r terminally churned up over stuff that's not even worthy of one's thought processes. So for all my buddies out there, the original offer stands -- e-mail me, or pop in here and if y'r IP doesn't start with 69.209 or 12.14 I'll actually read what you have to say and answer it.  

There's other stuff I could share -- let's just say that the "down time" has helped my productivity here at a time I really needed it, and that some longtime ideas that have obsessed me now and again are actually beginning to look like stuff with serious potential that (I think, anyway) the church desperately needs -- but it'd probably be better to wait until the 2nd when things have come to fuller fruition (or not).

In short, I'm doing fine. And maybe even better than fine.

So anyway, I'll seeeeee youuuuuu -- in Septeeeeeeeembeeerrrrrrrrrr....  (Unless, of course, you take the initiative first. )

Posted by: burninglight at 22:58 | link | comments