To continue the Weeklings article, this is where the author breaks down the song:
First verse:
Goldenrod and the 4H stone
The things I brought you when I found out
You had cancer of the bone
The unusual and useless items hint at the narrator’s age—probably 12 or 13, on the cusp of puberty—when he finds out she has bone cancer.
Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car into the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry
The most cryptic passage in the song; chronologically, the last event that happens (see below).
In the morning, through the window shade
With the light pressed up against your shoulderblade
I could see what you were reading
He’s walking by her house. This tells us that they’re neighbors. The exact nature of her reading material is never revealed; it could be the Bible, or perhaps a love letter—something that was special to the two of them.
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth
The first line will be repeated several times throughout the song; this is its first appearance. There is the whiff of irony about its use, but its meaning is still unclear now. What is not unclear is how he feels about her: not just love, but romantic love, probably the first time he’s felt it.
Second verse:
Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens
We know she died on a Monday, because Casimir Pulaski Day is observed as a holiday in Illinois on the first Monday in March (see below). “Tuesday,” then, is a week before she died.
“Bible study” tells us that they are both religious Christians, and go to the same church. This and the proximity of their houses suggests that they’ve known each other for some time.
The line “nothing ever happens” not only tells us that the Bible study group has prayed for her on many occasions, but hints at the agnostic doubts that have begun to creep into the narrator’s mind.
I remember at Michael’s house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse
Michael is probably a friend, or perhaps the adult who leads the Bible study group. “You kissed my neck” reveals her feelings about the narrator—she loves him, too. “I almost touched your blouse” reinforces the suggestion in the first verse that the narrator is 12 or 13; any younger and he wouldn’t be trying for second base; any older and he wouldn’t mention it.
In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared
My guess is that “what we did that night” was spend the night together in her bed. Not in a sexual way; in a tender, supportive, hold-me-don’t-leave-me-alone way.
All the glory when you ran outside
With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you
Again, not so glorious. He screwed up. He tried to get a little further—he touched her blouse this time—and she didn’t like it. She tucked in her shirt for emphasis, but she didn’t bother with the shoes.
Then we have a break in the song, and a hauntingly simple, achingly beautiful trumpet takes the melody. This represents a change in her physical condition, and his emotional one.
Third verse:
Sunday night when I cleaned the house
I found the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of your mother
He’s in her house, not his. The hospice nurse is there (see below). Her father is with her. He’s making himself useful, tidying up, and comes across this special artifact. Her mother is not there, and the only way she wouldn’t be sitting with her dying daughter is if she were already dead. Death is no stranger to this house.
On the floor at the Great Divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom
It’s the moment of truth. They know it’s almost over. The “Great Divide” is what separates the living from the dead. He notices that his shirt is tucked in and his shoes are untied, as hers were when he took it too far, and that sets him off. He finally breaks down, in the bathroom, away from the bed.
In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head held low
And the cardinal hits the window
It’s the next day, Monday. She held on longer than expected. The presence of the nurse indicates a hospice situation. And no sooner does the girl die than a bird crashes into the window. Her window. The same one he used to look into.
In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing
He came into the room and saw her body. He thought she was still alive, but she wasn’t. She was gone.
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the evening in the window
Chronologically, this is a bit later, after the funeral probably. He’s reflecting on what has happened. The “complications” are his own feelings about God and religion. All that belief, all that prayer, and for what? God took her anyway. It’s not God’s face but his own that he sees in the mirror of the evening window. Message: he is alone in the world.
All the glory when He took our place
But He took my shoulders and He shook my face
And He takes and He takes and He takes
The first line—“when He took our place”—is shorthand for Jesus dying on the cross, sacrificing Himself so that we can all be saved. But the narrator is angry at Jesus, angry at God, for taking not only the love of his life, not only her mother, but also her father (“He takes” is repeated, crucially, three times).
Now the cryptic passage from the first verse makes more sense:
Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car into the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry
Her father spoke to the narrator, tried to explain himself (Had he denied her medical assistance for religious reasons? Was there some way that he felt responsible for what happened?), and then, tragically, “drove his car into the Navy Yard,” that is, off a bridge. He committed suicide. And the narrator has lost the entire beloved family.
As long as he lives in Illinois, the narrator will have no school or work on the day she died. The rest of the state will unknowingly observe her death. But the cruel irony is that she died on a day already reserved for a long-dead military man with an egergiously masculine name.
This poor little girl, recipient of goldenrod and the 4H stone, the love of the narrator’s life, will forever be associated with, and overshadowed by, the cold and manly Casimir Pulaski.
--------
I love how this author explains the song. And the song is typical Sufjan: trying to make sense of tragedy and heartache. Of love and sacrifice.
When I look in my own life, I have a hard time understanding, just as Sufjan does with his last line of the song, why "God" takes and takes and takes. Especially when it comes to some of us. Why is it that some people go through life with no problems whatsoever - sure, their parents day of old age, but that's to be expected - but others have tragedy after heartbreak after heartache after suffering? I've never heard any explanation that is satisfying; no encouragement that has really been a salve on my own life wounds.
Perhaps I need to find my own obscure city holiday and write a song that weaves my own personal story with the story of the hero that holiday celebrates. It might not help me completely understand, but maybe it can help me through some of the questions.
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
In Celebration of Casimir Pulaski Day (Part One)
If you know me, you know how much I love Sufjan Stevens. I said at the beginning of this year that my favorite album of last year was "Carrie And Lowell" by him. For me, not only was the music stunning (and I'm thankful that he has gotten back to his more eclectic folky roots), but the lyrics were very cathartic for me in trying to get through the grief over my brother's death. One thing I love about Sufjan and his music is how through some of his songs I have learned new things. Also, if you know me, you know that I love knowledge. I love to know things. And thankfully I mostly remember what I learn. Especially if it's useless trivia, haha. One of my favorite albums of all time is "Come On and Feel the Illinoise" by Sufjan, and my favorite song of that album refers to a very obscure holiday that people in Chicago apparently celebrate, called Casimir Pulaski Day.
Now Casimir Pulaski day was yesterday, and I was all set to write about it yesterday, but I forgot. (Although I can remember trivia, I have a hard time remembering what I'm supposed to do every day.) This song about the holiday is interesting to me, not only because I love the music, but because Sufjan talks about a childhood friend who he had some kind of romantic relationship with, who died on bone cancer later on in life. Here's the song, in case you haven't heard it and wanted to:
I was looking up what some of the lyrics meant, and came across this interesting tidbit about it.
- The best (and best-known) Pulaski Day tribute comes from one-time Chicagoan Sufjan Stevens. On his album Illinois, Stevens used “Casimir Pulaski Day” to remember both the holiday and his friend, who’d been battling bone cancer. With lines like, “In the morning / In the winter shade / On the first of March / On the holiday / I thought I saw you breathing,” Stevens manages to make the somewhat boisterous but potentially icy holiday lushly reverent, something that’s not all that surprising knowing both Stevens’ history and the track’s tone.
Though Stevens repeatedly extols “all the glory that the Lord has made,” he ends the song instead possibly questioning God’s intentions, especially after his friend’s death on the track’s titular holiday. Though part of life is death, Stevens still struggles with God when, as he puts it, “He takes and he takes and he takes.” Listeners feel his pain acutely, especially as the song slides into Illinois’ next track, the instrumental, “To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament.”
Like the holiday itself, “Casimir Pulaski Day” is about remembrance—even if, years later, we might not even be sure what we’re paying tribute to anymore.
The Weeklings have an even better tribute to the song: (Come on Feel the) Illinoise, the second installment in his proposed-but-as-yet-unfinished Fifty States Project, is, for my money, the best album made in the oughts. At turns lush and spare, it features the soaring“Chicago” (the best song of the decade, it says here), the frantic “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts,” the 5/4-time title track, and the devastatingly beautiful “Casimir Pulaski Day,” known in our house as, simply, “Sad Song.”
The Weeds incident was not the first example of Stevens’ power. When my son was two, he was having a tantrum, as two-year-olds will. As he screamed and complained, “Casimir Pulaski Day” came on the iPod. He immediately stopped crying, as if a button had been switched off on his back, and walked to the speakers, listening intently, spellbound by the music. “This is a sad song,” I told him. “Sad Song,” he repeated. And so it has remained.
I’ve listened to “Sad Song” hundreds if not thousands of times. I don’t mean I had it on while I was driving, or in the background with friends over; I’ve listened to it. I hummed the trumpet part to my daughter the night she was born. I’ve sung it to her and my son as a lullaby countless times, and each time, as I sing lyrics I know by heart, some new flash of insight hits me. It’s a song that never fails to move me.
“Casimir Pulaski Day,” the seventh track on the Illinoise, concerns a young man’s memory of the week leading up to the death of his dearest friend. It is unquestionably the best song ever written about a 12-year-old girl dying of bone cancer. There is an adolescent and artless quality to the lyrics. There is no metaphor, no fancy fifty-cent words, no coherent structure. The story itself is poorly told; we must assemble and organize the traces of the narrator’s memory to deduce what happened. The music underscores this simplicity: the same four chords repeated over and over, uncluttered arrangement, none of the swirling synthesizers and female chorales and abrupt shifts in dynamics that characterize “Chicago” and “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts.” But it is this very artlessness that makes the song so moving.
“Casimir Pulaski Day” is artless in the way that The Catcher in the Rye is artless, its simplicity belying the thematic complexity lurking beneath the juvenile surface. This is a song about grief, about coping with the loss of a loved one, and, deeper still, about reconciling that death with the existence of a just and benevolent God, in Whom the narrator has grown up believing. On closer inspection, there is a distinct design to the lyrics. The repetition of key words—night, face, morning, glory, window, shoulder—suggests a sestina and hints at the larger story. The vignettes remembered by the narrator—the futile night at the Bible study, the kiss at Michael’s house, meeting her father at the top of the stairs, and so forth—are not chronological, but seem to come to the narrator as he speaks.
(this is part one)
I was looking up what some of the lyrics meant, and came across this interesting tidbit about it.
- The best (and best-known) Pulaski Day tribute comes from one-time Chicagoan Sufjan Stevens. On his album Illinois, Stevens used “Casimir Pulaski Day” to remember both the holiday and his friend, who’d been battling bone cancer. With lines like, “In the morning / In the winter shade / On the first of March / On the holiday / I thought I saw you breathing,” Stevens manages to make the somewhat boisterous but potentially icy holiday lushly reverent, something that’s not all that surprising knowing both Stevens’ history and the track’s tone.
Though Stevens repeatedly extols “all the glory that the Lord has made,” he ends the song instead possibly questioning God’s intentions, especially after his friend’s death on the track’s titular holiday. Though part of life is death, Stevens still struggles with God when, as he puts it, “He takes and he takes and he takes.” Listeners feel his pain acutely, especially as the song slides into Illinois’ next track, the instrumental, “To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament.”
Like the holiday itself, “Casimir Pulaski Day” is about remembrance—even if, years later, we might not even be sure what we’re paying tribute to anymore.
The Weeklings have an even better tribute to the song: (Come on Feel the) Illinoise, the second installment in his proposed-but-as-yet-unfinished Fifty States Project, is, for my money, the best album made in the oughts. At turns lush and spare, it features the soaring“Chicago” (the best song of the decade, it says here), the frantic “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts,” the 5/4-time title track, and the devastatingly beautiful “Casimir Pulaski Day,” known in our house as, simply, “Sad Song.”
The Weeds incident was not the first example of Stevens’ power. When my son was two, he was having a tantrum, as two-year-olds will. As he screamed and complained, “Casimir Pulaski Day” came on the iPod. He immediately stopped crying, as if a button had been switched off on his back, and walked to the speakers, listening intently, spellbound by the music. “This is a sad song,” I told him. “Sad Song,” he repeated. And so it has remained.
I’ve listened to “Sad Song” hundreds if not thousands of times. I don’t mean I had it on while I was driving, or in the background with friends over; I’ve listened to it. I hummed the trumpet part to my daughter the night she was born. I’ve sung it to her and my son as a lullaby countless times, and each time, as I sing lyrics I know by heart, some new flash of insight hits me. It’s a song that never fails to move me.
“Casimir Pulaski Day,” the seventh track on the Illinoise, concerns a young man’s memory of the week leading up to the death of his dearest friend. It is unquestionably the best song ever written about a 12-year-old girl dying of bone cancer. There is an adolescent and artless quality to the lyrics. There is no metaphor, no fancy fifty-cent words, no coherent structure. The story itself is poorly told; we must assemble and organize the traces of the narrator’s memory to deduce what happened. The music underscores this simplicity: the same four chords repeated over and over, uncluttered arrangement, none of the swirling synthesizers and female chorales and abrupt shifts in dynamics that characterize “Chicago” and “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts.” But it is this very artlessness that makes the song so moving.
“Casimir Pulaski Day” is artless in the way that The Catcher in the Rye is artless, its simplicity belying the thematic complexity lurking beneath the juvenile surface. This is a song about grief, about coping with the loss of a loved one, and, deeper still, about reconciling that death with the existence of a just and benevolent God, in Whom the narrator has grown up believing. On closer inspection, there is a distinct design to the lyrics. The repetition of key words—night, face, morning, glory, window, shoulder—suggests a sestina and hints at the larger story. The vignettes remembered by the narrator—the futile night at the Bible study, the kiss at Michael’s house, meeting her father at the top of the stairs, and so forth—are not chronological, but seem to come to the narrator as he speaks.
(this is part one)
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Linkin Park's In The End through movies
Yeah, it's been awhile again but I'm going to try and update this blog more often. I mean I only have a few posts since 2012 so it shouldn't be too hard haha. Anyway, I thought this was an amazing achievement: taking the song "In The End" by Linkin Park and recreating it using quotes from movies. 183 movies to be exact. Check it out!
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Is Your Christianity Americanized?
So.....I don't want to get in trouble for posting my opinion on hot button issues on Facebook, so I've decided to start blogging again. That way you can choose to read or not read what I have to say, whereas on Facebook, you can.....choose to read or not read what I have to say. Hmmm.
Anyway, Benjamin Corey has been hitting it out of the park lately on his Formerly Fundie blog - you have to read his take this week on Franklin Graham - and today he posted about Christianity in America for the most part just being a nationalistic religion with little resemblance to the movement that Jesus and his followers started.
Even if you disagree with his premise, it will definitely make you think. You can find it here:
Sunday, November 04, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Something to ponder
“Value yourself. The only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.” Leo Buscaglia
Friday, September 21, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
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."
Thursday, March 29, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, March 02, 2012
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?
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?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, February 17, 2012
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
Sunday, January 22, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Top 10 Albums of 2011: #1
#1: Cool Hand Luke - Of Man
Concept albums are hard to come by these days. And generally that's a good thing: most of the time, concept albums are bloated, self-indulgent albums that fail due to at least two reasons: (1) most of the time, even a double album doesn't give us enough time for us to fall in love with the characters or the plot of a concept album. It's hard enough for a movie to do so - to have only ten songs to develop a concept leaves a lot of holes; and (2) usually at some point of a concept album, the music just isn't dramatic and compelling enough to hold our interest.
Cool Hand Luke has been a favorite band of mine since I first heard their album "The Fires Of Life". And when I heard that they were disbanding for good, I was a little sad because really good music by Christians is hard to come by sometimes. Plus - besides The Juliana Theory, Cool Hand Luke was really the only band in the last decade who was making music that I would like to make if I was in a band.
Of Man tells the story of Jesus' final days: from the Last Supper, through the trials and crucifixion up to when he ascended to heaven. This story is told through the perspective of the people in His life and who witnessed the Passion of His final week. Cool Hand Luke through music and lyrics recreates this well-known story so vividly that I can almost see it happening in my mind as I listen to these songs. Each song is so well-crafted, so haunting, that it has honestly changed me. And that is what the number one album each year should do: change you.
It is a dark retelling which isn't for everyone. Perhaps though because it is the same story we have heard a thousand times, that this version will be compelling for some people because it is different. I will miss Cool Hand Luke but am thankful that their final album is truly their masterpiece: hypnotic, mesmerizing, brutally honest, compelling, life-changing, ambitious, and hopeful.
Standout singles: all of them, but especially Are You Coming, His Eyes, Two Versions
The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #2
#3: Gungor - Ghosts Upon The Earth
A lot of creative types - myself included - have latched onto Gungor as the "band that will save worship music from its bloated self-indulgent mediocrity." With David Crowder stepping down after ten years of writing creative, thought-provoking worship tunes, we need another band to rise to the challenge, and Gungor is that band. After their last release "Beautiful Things," I thought Michael Gungor and company had reached its limit of creativity and out of the box musical composition, but I was wrong because Ghosts Upon The Earth surpasses its predecessor.
Upon first listen I was honestly a little disappointed, because I felt the music was that disjointed and that different. It was like this band had decided to balance the worship music scale by stepping as far away from the stuff you hear on K-Love as possible, and it unnerved me to tell the truth. But the more I listened to this CD, the more I began to appreciate the lengths that Gungor was willing to go to give a gift worth giving to God with this music. Even the song that unnerved me the most, "Wake Up O Sleeper" has become my favorite song on the album, because I love how it takes what seems to be disjointed acoustic instrument playing, adds some poignant lyrics and a sweet melody and melds it into a beautiful song. It's almost like they decided to take the idea of the song Beautiful Things and express the same idea musically.
I almost put this album as number one because it is so ambitious, so audacious in fact - but #1 to me seems to be even more ambitious if not as musically compelling.
Standout singles: Wake Up Sleeper, Brother Moon, This Is Not The End
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #4 and #3
#4: Jason Gray - A Way To See In The Dark
I feel like Jason Gray has taken a look into my own life and written songs that either perfectly describe how I'm feeling/have felt, or that have been written to encourage me to find hope in those times when you feel like giving up, using lines such as: "After awhile in the dark your eyes will adjust/In the shadows you will find a hand you can trust."
Brutally honest and raw, the songs on Jason Gray's 2011 release vacillate between Gray's own admission of his struggle with fear and pain, and reminding us all that we have a God who can not only help us in the darkness, that he came into our darkness to be the Light of the World. I had the opportunity to hear Jason Gray speak and sing on Andrew Peterson's "Behold The Lamb Of God" Christmas tour, and it gave me a little glimpse into the man behind these songs. As for the music, it's really good too, alternating between soft acoustic numbers and rousing full-band anthems. This is a CD I find myself returning to time and time again, one of the reasons being that his song "Without Running Away" has become one of my life songs, because it really describes the way I feel a lot of the time.
Standout singles: Without Running Away, Remind Me Who I Am, Nothing Is Wasted
#3: Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
I have been waiting since Coldplay released "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" for an album that excited me about the band as much as that one did. X&Y was a mixed bag, no doubt; Viva La Vida had some incredible tunes and much ambition, but felt a little disjointed as a whole album. Heck, even one of the songs on that album felt like an amalgam of three different songs.
I listened to Mylo Xyloto on repeat pretty much the whole time I was in Dallas for a technology convention. Each song on this album is rather amazing and contributes to the album as a whole. Whereas their last CD emphasized death, this CD to me is a vision of what Chris Martin and company feel about life after death: heaven, the afterlife, paradise - whatever you want to call it - these songs offer a definite opinion.
The addition of electronica courtesy of Brian Eno has polarized fans on this album. However, as someone who loved U2's last CD No Line On The Horizon, I love this addition and believe it adds to what Coldplay is trying to achieve on this CD. Even the Rhianna guest spot on Princess Of China - something I would normally not appreciate, because I am not a fan - works.
Standout singles: Paradise, Us Against The World, U.F.O.
The Top Ten Albums of 2011: #6 and #5
#6: The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
It seems like this CD has been out forever, but it was released in 2011. I first heard this duo - made up of John Paul White and Joy Williams, two Nashville singer-songwriters who came together during a writing session (and the rest is of course history) - when I downloaded their two song Christmas EP for free last year. (If you haven't downloaded free music from NoiseTrade, I would suggest doing so. I have found many bands/artists that are under the radar before they make it big.) I was immediately intrigued by the intricate yet soft acoustic guitar, and the incredible harmonies that come out of these two people. Then I got their "Live at Eddie's Attic" (also free on NoiseTrade) and was blown away. White and Williams get mistaken as married often; they are that comfortable with each other on and off stage.
Barton Hollow is a wonderful CD. You may have heard the haunting piano song "Poison and Wine" on several TV shows this past year, or perhaps you saw them perform "Barton Hollow" on Conan or another talk show. I'm not sure there has been a more critically lauded musical act this year than The Civil Wars. They definitely deserve it, because this CD is amazing.
Standout singles: Barton Hollow, Poison and Wine, 20 Years
#5: The City Harmonic - I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home)
You may not have heard of The City Harmonic. It's a shame because this up-and-coming worship band has put out two of the best worship CDs of the past several years. Their first one, which was a six-song EP, was an incredible collection of piano-driven tunes, amazing melodies, and soaring background vocals. You may have heard their biggest hit so far, called "Manifesto" which is basically the Apostle's Creed plus the Lord's Prayer put to a driving beat. (Here's the video)
I thought it would be hard to top their EP, but I was wrong. Their full-length debut album is incredible. Taking the idea of Martin Luther King, Jr's speech "I Have A Dream", The City Harmonic expands on it and takes it to the next level through song. There is not a single song on here that I skip - and that is saying a lot, because there aren't very many albums that I can say that of. If you like piano-driven rock music a la The Fray or older Coldplay put to great worship lyrics, look no further than The City Harmonic.
Are you amazed that all this adulation is for an album I have as #5? That tells you how much I like the top 4 albums.
Standout singles: Yours, Mountaintop, Wake Me Up
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