A pretty cool explanation of the meaning behind the lyrics of Mumford And Sons' song Sigh No More:

It's been almost 15 years since I had the great fortune to play the role of Signior Benedick in a regional theater production of "Much Ado About Nothing". But, when I heard the first line to "Sigh No More" ("Serve God, love me, and mend") I knew it immediately.

Many (but not all) of the lines to "Sigh No More" are taken directly from "Much Ado About Nothing" (MAAN)

If only one or two lines of the song were from MAAN, it could be considered "artistic license". But more than half of the lines are pretty much direct quotes from MAAN.

So, it makes sense to first know a little about the plot of the play. While there are several sub-plots, the primary story follows Benedick and Beatrice.

Benedick and Beatrice have known each other for many years. (Beatrice: "You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.")

Benedick, a veteran soldier, is an avowed bachelor ... as is Beatrice.

But, they are not just common acquaintances. There are hints of an earlier relationship between them ... one that did not end so well. Perhaps with infidelity on the part of Benedick:
DON PEDRO: Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
BEATRICE : Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it,
a double heart for his single one: marry, once before he won it of me
with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.

They have an obvious attraction to each other that all can see. However, they are constantly jibing and parrying with each other. There is a "merry war" between them.

Benedick starts the play railing against love: "I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none." And "I will live a bachelor."

As does Beatrice: "I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me."

Their friends and family conspire to make them fall in love with each other (or at least, to admit that they already ARE in love with each other) by simply letting each one know that the other secretly loves them.

It is while Benedick's friends are in the process of tricking him that Balthasar sings his song:
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never:
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

Benedick then "overhears" (by design) his friend's conversation that Beatrice loves him and she is too proud/frightened to tell him. His friends leave him to ponder this and he delivers a pretty great Shakespearean monologue with lines like:
"Love me! Why, it must be requited!"
"I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have
railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter?"

Beatrice's friends and family do the same thing to her ... and it works just as well:
"Benedick, love on; I will requite thee!"
"If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee to bind our loves up in a holy band"

Claudio (Benedick's friend) and Hero (Beatrice's cousin) are the young lovers in the play. They are engaged to be married. On the wedding day, Claudio arrives and essentially calls off the wedding, claiming that Hero has been unfaithful ... that he saw her the night before, at her window, with another man. This is all a choreographed ruse perpetrated by Don John, the "villain" of the play. (But nobody figures this out until later on).

Beatrice is heart-broken for her cousin, and angry that Claudio would defame Hero. Benedick attempts to comfort Beatrice and eventually confesses: "I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?" Beatrice then confesses that she loves Benedick, and things get really interesting ...

BEATRICE: You have stayed me in a happy hour: I was about to protest I loved you.
BENEDICK: And do it with all thy heart.
BEATRICE: I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
BENEDICK: Come, bid me do any thing for thee.
BEATRICE: Kill Claudio.

(As an aside here, that line above is one of the reasons why people are still performing this guy's plays 400 years after he died. "I love you", "Prove it ... kill your best friend")

Benedick tries to calm Beatrice down ... to explain that there must be some kind of mistake, that Claudio is not this evil person that he appears to be. Beatrice will hear nothing of it. She is angered that she even needs to ask someone else (a man) to take care of this for her: "O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace."

Eventually, her grief and emotion are too much for Benedick to bear and he agrees to fight his friend to the death.

Benedick challenges Claudio: "You are a villain; I jest not: I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare." (NOTE: Benedick is a much more seasoned warrior than Claudio and he will dispatch him quickly. Benedick and Claudio know this.)

Luckily, the world's dumbest town sheriff (Constable Dogberry) stumbles upon some of Don John's men bragging about the treachery they performed (framing Hero). Therefore, everyone discovers that Hero was not unfaithful after all.

Word of this discovery has not yet reached Benedick and Beatrice. He meets with Beatrice to confirm that he has challenged Claudio. They have a playful moment where they once again express love for each other. But there is a serious undertone as well ... Benedick knowing that he will have to deal with Claudio, and Beatrice knowing that her cousin Hero has taken ill from the stress and grief she feels. This all leads to the following exchange:
BENEDICK: ...how doth your cousin?
BEATRICE: Very ill.
BENEDICK: And how do you?
BEATRICE: Very ill too.
BENEDICK: Serve God, love me and mend.

This is an incredibly gentle, loving moment. And, it can be thought of as a sort of "emotional climax" for the play. Until now, all of the declarations of love and hate between Beatrice and Benedick were grand statements, sweeping gestures. Here it is simple, basic, perfect ... "I will protect you".

And amazingly, the very NEXT line of the play is delivered by a handmaiden who runs in to inform Beatrice and Benedick that: "...it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of all!"

So in the end, Claudio marries Hero and Benedick marries Beatrice. This is where Benedick says (to Claudio) "live unbruised" and also "we are friends".

Everyone rails at Benedick (the professed bachelor is now getting married).
He defends his position as best he can:
"In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any
purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout
at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing,
and this is my conclusion."

The play has been a journey for Benedick ... to understand the nature of love.
He is given several lengthy monologues on the subject and spends much time debating the nature of love and whether it really has a roll in his life. But, in the end, it is the moment when he says "Serve God, love me, and mend" where he realizes the simplicity of it. Love is impossible to describe. Impossible to understand. Impossible to control. Impossible to ignore. Love just IS. For man is a giddy thing.

Something to ponder

“Value yourself. The only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.” Leo Buscaglia

Heartbreaking.

YouTube has a lot of really dumb stuff on it. Mostly involving cats. :D (I watch anyways)

 But sometimes you see a Youtube video that shakes you to your very core. In the below video, a comedian talks about a tragic situation in his life that involved his two year old daughter. At the same time, he was being invited to the Tonight Show to be the comedian and then invited back because he did so well. So on one hand his professional life is booming - he's funny, he's moving up in the comedy world. On the other hand, his personal life is falling apart - his daughter is sick with cancer, he has medical bills to pay, his car is about to repossessed. So he talks about how his material started getting darker and darker due to what was going on in his life but his agent told him he needed to keep it light and funny because that's what people want to hear. It's a heartbreaking story. And it's hard to watch a man break down when he's supposed to be "entertaining" the audience. The audience is kind to him though, which makes things better.

 All of this reminded me of the ministry "profession." In a similar fashion, a minister who is up on stage, whether preaching or leading music or whatever, is supposed to keep it together. They are seen as the experts in God and how to live the Christian life, so their job is to reassure the congregation that it can be done, that all you need to do is follow these certain steps or read this certain Bible passage or sing these kind of songs, and everything will be just fine. Keep it light, keep things joyful, point to the blessings and the promises in the Bible.

We don't want to see the person up on stage struggling. We certainly don't want them to let us down by showing that they aren't perfect, that not everything in their life is peachy, that they wrestle with doubt, that bad things happen to them, that they don't have all the answers, that their prayers sometimes seem to fall on deaf ears, that their family members get cancer, that they have fights with their spouse, that they are tempted, that they take medication for depression, that some days they don't feel like praying, that they question their calling, that they have insecurities...that they are human. Is it any wonder that the pressures of acting like one has everything together all the time leads to an alarming number of ministers quitting their profession, leaving the church altogether? 

Just some thoughts rattling around in my brain. I don't have the answer. But I do know that I struggle with some of the above stuff. And I try not to let those things leak into what I do on Sunday mornings. But sometimes they do. And I think that it is as much my responsibility to not act like a superhuman Jesus Junior as it is for people to let me be who God has called me to be: a flawed human who is looking to Jesus for strength, hope, healing, and redemption.

You'd Be Surprised....

Hello there, neglected blog. Yikes it has been way too long. One of my favorite websites is called People Of The Second Chance. The founders of the site are Mike Foster, one of the founders of xxxchurch.com, and Jud Wilhite, pastor of Central Christian Church in Vegas (one of my favorite churches). I like the stories that are on this website. They remind me that we are not alone in our struggles. The things you do...the things I do...the things that those around us do...there are others doing the same thing. The secrets we keep buried, the past we keep hidden, the stuff we are presently facing - guess what? Someone is going through it too. And you may be surprised if you knew who they were. Which brings me to the latest one I read. It's called You'd Be Surprised and it is a reminder to me that one, I should stay away from the judging and condemning part of life that we fall so easily into, because you never know who you know who may be struggling, and two, it is really a bad idea if you do find yourself with a condemning attitude to tell someone who is with you, because they may be facing the same struggle you are condemning. A graphic I posted on my Facebook wall said it well: "Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a hard battle."

Bitter Journey

I thought this was a pretty neat interpretation of the Passion of Jesus, although the music is a little annoying.

check it out and I hope it helps you as you get ready for the Holy Week.

A Franciscan Blessing/Benediction

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor.

Amen.

Some Days You're The Hammer...

and some days, you're the nail.

Gotta feel bad for the goaltender on this one. Being scored on from 180 feet out makes for a tough day.

But honestly, who hasn't had days like this one?

Today's Reading From Reliving The Passion

Every year, I attempt to read through a book called Reliving The Passion by Walt Wangerin, Jr. It is supposed to coincide with the Lenten season, and it is truly a remarkable journey. The problem in the past has been because it was only in physical book form, at some point every year during this time, I would lose it.

Thankfully, there is now an e-book edition, so I can take it wherever I go and read it whenever I can.

Today's chapter is wonderful, so I thought I would share it. The scripture reading is Mark 14:1-9, where the woman took the jar of ointment and poured it over Jesus' hair.

--

Woman!

What a blessed contrast you make to the rulers in Jerusalem! They would preserve their power; you come with no power at all. They vaunt themselves; you have - except for one remarkable characteristic - no self at all.

What is your name that I might address my praise to you? I don't know. Where you someone's mother? I don't know. Were you old, bent by years of experience? Were you a prostitute? Or else praiseworthy for purity and virtue? Were you poor, the ointment and impossible expense for you? Or rich, with easy access to a hundred such flasks? I don't know. Mark never says. I know nothing about you save this: that you anointed the head of my Lord.

Ah, but that's enough to know! That deed alone is your identity, your entire being: your self. It memorializes you forever. "What she has done," says Jesus, "will be told in memory of her." Woman, now you are that deed, neither more or less than that deed. I marvel at you. I pray God that I might do - and therefore be - the same.

For what was your gesture? An act of pure love for Jesus particularly. It was an act so completely focused upon the Christ that not a dram of worldly benefit was gained thereby. Nothing could justify this spillage of some three hundred days' wages, except love alone. The rulers who sought to kill Jesus were motivated by a certain reasonable logic; but your prodigality appears altogether unreasonable - except for reasons of love. The disciples, in fact, were offended by an act that produced nothing, accomplished nothing, fed no poor, served no need. They reproached you as a wastrel.

They were offended by the absurd, an act devoted absolutely to love, to love alone.

But Jesus called it "beautiful."

Who else anointed our High Priest, as priests should surely be anointed in office? Who else anointed our King, the son of David? Who else anointed the body of our Savior for burial? No one but you. I don't know that you consciously recognized these offices of the Lord; but love instinctively sees the truth. Love enhances and names in truth. No one else anointed him and by that gesture declared him Messiah, the Christ. The act, therefore, was more than beautiful. It was rare and rich with meaning.

And since the act is all there is of you, since humility has reduced you to this single thing alone and now you are no more nor less than your love for the Lord, you yourself are beautiful and rare and rich with meaning.

You are the beauty of faithful loving.

To those who do not truly love, you will ever be ephemeral or else an offense, either a shadow or an idiot. To me you are a model. You gave up all; you became nothing at all save love for the Lord; and exactly so you are remembered. Here, "wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world," is love's monument!

You, nameless, anonymous, lovely indeed: thank you.

And so it begins...

my self-imposed moratorium on Facebook (except for posting stuff related to Miamisburg Christian Church and the Love146 Dayton task force). I am doing this, if you didn't read my last blog post, because I feel like Facebook has become an idol and I have spent way too much time and worry on it. I have let Facebook become an approval addiction.

There are a couple other reasons too. One is that I am attempting again to celebrate Lent. I am not Catholic, but I think out of all the Catholic traditions, it is one that I cherish. My recently deceased grandmother was Catholic, so this is a way to honor her as well. Plus, our leadership at MCC is trying to be the example by giving up something over the next forty days and praying for our church and our ministry expansion plan when we would normally be doing whatever we are giving up.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Personally, I am going through a book that I normally go through during Lent. It is called Reliving the Passion by Walt Wangerin Jr. (who also wrote my favorite allegory of Jesus called The Ragman). There are also some great resources through the YouVersion Bible app.

Unfriend Yourself.

I was in Colorado the past few days because my grandmother passed away early Saturday morning. She was 89 years old and was pretty active right up until about a year ago. A couple of weeks ago, she fell in her bathroom and was on the floor for three days before someone figured out something was wrong. They got her to the hospital in time to save her which was great but then through tests found out she had the worst stage of stomach cancer. I tried to get out in time to see her before she died, but to no avail.

On the flight out to Colorado, I started reading a short little e-book called Unfriend Yourself. Basically it talked about the perils and dangers of social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and how although they are great tools for relationships, they are sadly becoming the end-all for a lot of people are are replacing face-to-face relationships and such. Here are a few quotes I found were really interesting:

"It seems that, while I truly believed I was becoming a part of these people's lives on Facebook, I wasn't. Many of the people 'I got to know' on Facebook are little more than acquaintances now and weren't much more during our first semester. Today, all of those with whom I'd shared my life via social media are not my friends. They were never the people intimately involved in my life, despite the things I told them online."

"In essence, Facebook's agenda is for us to broadcast ourselves (notably the YouTube tagline), to talk about what we're doing and what we like...Facebook is a digital opportunity for us to self-present through status updates, photos, and "likes."

"We present-or promote-ourselves in such a way to cause people to think of us in a certain way. When I log on to Facebook, I find that I want to put my best foot forward; as a result I find myself bending the truth and skirting circumstance, ever so slightly, to offer to my 'friends' the best part of myself, the part of me that is the coolest, the funniest."

"Facebook has a tendency to inflame a condition we already have: thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think."

"I am not the center of the universe, and the funny thing my friend's cat just did is not all that important. Sure, there is a laugh to be had, but ever so subtly we have come to believe that everything about me matters, when it truly doesn't. Boasting, self-promotion, and self-construction are dangerous habits of the mind and heart."

"Quality time with friends used to be spent over coffee or dinner. Now more and more of our community life is managed digitally. Some studies show that most people communicate more online than they do offline."

"Unlike a network, which is built on communication, community is built on communion. 'Too often we applaud technologies that enable us to exchange information (communication) without attending to those means of sharing that build intimacy and deepen our communion with God and with each other.' Communication is easy. A simple text is communication, but it is not communion. A wall post is communication, but it is not communion."

"Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice." (WOW - read that again)

"Technologies, and the ideas and media they produce, have a curious power over us. Did you know that 'Facebook addiction' is searched online 350 times more than 'cigarette addiction'? Many people who are regular social media users have a difficult time being away from their profiles for too long."

"Facebook is a great tool for supplementing and augmenting relationships, much in the same way fish oil is a great tool for supplementing our diets. However, many of us are replacing the main courses of our lives - in-the-flesh, face-to-face time with friends and family - with supplemental wall posts and tweets."

The author of the book says that one of the ways we can stay grounded and to not let social media be our only social activity is tough: to unplug from all social media for three days. In fact, this book has three chapters and his advice is to do one chapter each day that you are away from Facebook, Twitter and the like. And I am taking him up on the challenge. Why?

Because like many, I have let Facebook and other social media sites take over my life. When I was reading Unfriend Yourself, there were so many times when I felt he was talking directly to me. It's amazing how my mood can go up and down based on how many people like a comment I make or a link that I share. I think for me the pinnacle of silliness on my part came when I posted about my grandmother passing and then proceeding to notice which of my friends said something and which didn't and honestly debating whether I would just delete all the friends who didn't say something or at least post something passive-aggressive on there about those who didn't say anything.

OK - I may have been a little hurt. But let's have some perspective here. A lot of people don't check their Facebook news feed incessantly. I do. And now that I have the Facebook app for my iPhone and for my iPad, it is so much easier to do so. Perhaps some people decided to say something in person. It doesn't matter. The point is - I am letting social media become (and this is tough to even write the word) an idol. Social Media like Facebook make us feel more important than we probably should think we are. When we reach 200 friends...300 friends...1000 friends - we feel like superstars. When someone retweets one of our tweets (or in my case, when one of my tweet news stories is featured in someone's abolitionist daily news feed), we feel like someone thinks we are important.

I am not saying that Facebook is inherently bad for everyone. It just is for me. So...I'm taking some steps to try and get rid of this idol. I'm not going to delete my Facebook account or anything that drastic. I am going to give up Facebook for Lent, which starts really soon (Wednesday, February 22 to be exact). Now, I still have to post some things for my task force, and I still need to post some things for my church - but for the most part I am going to stay off Facebook, as in check it every five minutes, until Easter. If you happen to have a birthday between February 22 and April 8, my birthday wishes for you will be on Tuesday, February 21 and I am sorry for not wishing you a wonderful birthday on the actual date of your birth.

We'll see how this goes. I'm a little nervous. What am I going to do with all this free time? :D

Exciting Opportunity

So...this has been brewing for quite some time, but I feel like it's finally time to let the proverbial cat out of the proverbial bag. Love146 - the organization that I and some people in the Dayton area partner in to help fight child sex slavery - has invited me and Elizabeth, one of the other co-founders of the task force, to go on a Partner trip with them this year to go to Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines. We will be visiting some of the places that Love146 works with in both prevention and aftercare. What an amazing opportunity!

But I'm afraid.

I'm not afraid of the trip itself. I think it's going to be incredible.

I'm a little afraid of all the shots I will need to get. And those shots I need to get need to start soon. But that's not the main reason I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that this trip will change me in such a way that I will never be the same again.

And I know that is probably a good thing, but let's be honest. The things I will see, the people I will meet, and the experiences I will have will change me. And I'm afraid that once I go on this trip, I will never be able to go back. And I don't mean coming back to the USA. I just mean that once you're faced with all that heartbreak and the actual issue that you've been wrapping your head around and talking about and fighting for the last few years is no longer off in a remote country but that you are actually face-to-face with girls who have been sold, who have been held against their will, who now have a chance to rehabilitate their lives and be restored to who they were before all this mess - it will no longer be an issue. It will be my issue and I will stop at nothing to end child sex slavery in my lifetime.

And for that I'm afraid. Because that means things will have to change. And that I will actually have to...no, that's not right. I will be compelled at all cost to fight with everything I have to see this through to the end.

If you could pray for me and for this trip, I would greatly appreciate it.

Swan Song.

David Crowder's that is. Not mine! Heck, no. I have a lot of stuff to still say in this blog. When I can find the time. :D

The David Crowder Band released their final CD yesterday. 34 songs! A few of them are the typical Crowder fillers, although as opposed to what other bands do sometimes, these fillers feel like they belong on this album.

It's always sad when a band that you really like says their goodbyes. In this case, it is doubly sad because their debut big-label release Can You Hear Us? was released the same time I became worship minister for the very first time (I had done youth ministry for the eight years prior). So in a sense, I feel like I've been following David Crowder's worship music the entire time I've been doing worship music as a worship minister. Over the years, I've used several of his songs in worship services, although the last few years their songs have gotten so progressive (read: amazing) that they are hard to imitate with a amateur worship leader and an amateur band.

I thought I would do a top ten list of my favorite songs of David Crowder to pay my respects to this great band. By the way, I got to meet Crowder one time at a conference. Straight-up nice guy. Here's my list:

10. Every song that wasn't David Crowder's but felt like his.

- this would include Like A Lion (Daniel Bashta), O God, Where Are You Now (Sufjan Stevens), How He Loves (John Mark McMillan), Obsession (Deliriou5) and Thank You For Hearing Me (Sinead O'Connor). Even though he didn't write these songs, they are amazing.

9. Let Me Feel You Shine (Give Us Rest)

8. Sometimes (Passion/Give Us Rest)

7. Never Let Go/Remedy (Remedy)

- yeah I'm cheating again. But I feel these two songs are flip sides of each other.

6. Our Love Is Loud (Can You Hear Us?)

5. SMS (Shine) (Church Music)

4. No One Like You (Illuminate)

3. Only You (Illuminate)

2. All I Can Say (All I Can Say)

1. Stars (Illuminate)

Pretty good list, I think. I guess you can say that my favorite album of his would be Illuminate, since 3 of my top 4 are from that album. And if you asked me today, I would say yes. But tomorrow I might say A Collision, Friday Church Music, etc. David Crowder has created a great body of work, a great tapestry and I'm thankful for his contribution to worship music and music in general.