Thoughts on Community

Community is a necessary element of the body of Christ. It's true or God wouldn't call his people "a body."Webster defines community as a group of people having common interests. Is that really all it is? Is that all there is to it? Some would say the idea of Christian Community was born out of the text in Acts 2:42, which states: All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Yes these people have common interests, but there seems to be something far beyond a common interest pulling all these people together don't you think? Webster defines family as this: Two or more people who share goals and values, have long term commitments to one another and reside usually in the same dwelling place. The idea of family takes community several steps further and makes it all mean so much more. There is this feeling or should be a feeling of togetherness. There should be no limit to this togetherness. Christ was an example to us. An example is a component of something much bigger, so shouldn't our Communities mirror a smaller example of love within our midst? I believe that smaller example is our own families that we grow up in. Even Jesus was put within the loving confines of a family before he started his ministry. Our communities should mirror our families. Just as God looks at the heart of a man, this togetherness trascends past beliefs, skin color, culture, hate, and the like. I believe that community is much more than an idea that we read about or a theory that can be deduced from reading scripture. First of all togetherness entails that there is something beyond people just meeting together. There is one word that ties the idea of family and community together. Both words are synonmous with this one word. That word is people. Just as the church in Acts took the love they learned from Christ and applied it to one another we are called to do the same. It's not just writing on paper it truly happened amongst real people. The account in Acts is there to spur us on to the same goal. We all have people in our lives. When we all come together and show love for those that we love the action speaks volumes about who we are as individuals and who we are as a people. Love is what brings people together. Just as Love is an action so is community. The most important ingredient in a Christian Community beyond love is intention. Someone who truly loves another is intentional in meeting with and getting to know that person. Just as one hand washes another love and intention must both be present in a relevant community of Christ. Community at its best will resemble the love and support that a great family will exude.
I have the great pleasure of living in the midst of family such as this. A family comprised of those related and unrelated. A family of believers and nonbelievers, rich and poor, and young and old. Those are the ones that support me, love me, and enstill within me a strength and peace that transcend all understanding. People are the very breath of God within my life and I thank the Lord everyday for the beautiful, amazing people I'm honored to share my life with. You all know who you are, and I love you very much.

Creativity in Popular Music

I know I'm going to upset a few people with this next statement. Aside from all the critical success, huge album sales, and legions of fans I believe Kurt Cobain did a disservice to music. Since Nirvana landed in the scene in the early 90's with Smells like Teen Spirit everyone has had the perception that if music isn't personal, heartfelt, and wrought with emotion then it isn't any good. I'll be the first to admit that I enjoy honest songwriting that bares the soul of the artist and discloses to the listener sometimes the most raw and vulnerable details of an arist's life. One thing however, is left out of that equation. Creativity. Pre- 90's there were musicians singing personal things and getting praise for it, but the best bands found a way to write about those things cloaked in ornate and imaginative story lines and themes in their music. Led Zeppelin sang of Celtic lore and mythological subject, but there was always an element of emotion woven throughout their songs. The Eagles as well sang these huge opus songs, but at their core taught listeners about themselves through fueling their imaginations and inviting them to dig deeper into the context of their songs.

Within the post- grunge explosion is their an artist like those bands of old that entertained and taught with their creativity and identified something in their craft that went beyond the songs, music, and the members of the band in our midst. I believe there is one such band. In 2001 there was a mini explosion in the music world that pointed this time mainly to the East Coast and gained maybe a third of the buzz that grunge did. It was called Emo. While bands like Jimmy Eat World got plugged Emo, bands that were accepted in the Emo culture were bands that molded elements of punk, hardcore, and pop. While most bands in the genre were singing about broken relationships, their longings for sex/personal intimacy, or how they just didn't fit in, there was a group of guys from New York that were pushing the envelope of the emo revolution.

Coheed and Cambria were bending the rules of the genre while drawing on the creativity used by bands like Led Zeppelin and the Eagles. Coheed's first album, "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" fit nicely into the Emo crowd with its high energy brand of abrasive and visceral rock blended with the extremely high pitched and shrill voice of Claudio, their lead singer. Upon looking closer to that album I realized there was something there that set this band apart from the others they were getting booked with. Their songs were filled with stories of nameless women getting raped, back- alley high crimes, voyages of conflicted characters. Within these stories they begged their listeners to explore qualities of the human condition through their grandiose tales of adventure, pain, and triumph.

2003 saw the release of their highly anticipated follow up "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3." Releases from some bands demand a certain amount of listening and shelf life in order for a listener to appreciate what the artist has created. Keeping Secrets was certainly one of those releases for me. After falling in love with Second Stage I was ready for more of the same. What I found was a departure from the darker indie sound of Second Stage. Keeping Secrets embodied more of a structured form of song writing with repetitive bridges and catchy choruses. To the untrained ear it would seem that Coheed was selling out and trying to get played on the radio, with overtly catchier songs and a more radio friendly sound. There was also moments where they would reintroduce parts from songs from the previous album, but they wouldn't actually play those songs. To say the least, I was confused, I just didn't get it. I decided that I didn't like the album and I put it back on the shelf. Little did I know that my mind would change a year later.

Apart from my disappointment Keeping Secrets went gold and I once again decided to purchase their '05 follow-up "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV- Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness." After one listen I wasn't sure. After two, three, and four I was still undecided and after five I began to notice something. I noticed that they were doing something that went beyond creating an album that would stand on its own. They were creating once again a lush story line, but they were also mixing elements of their two previous albums and adding them with new elements to create a unique amalgamation of blue grass, grand arena rock, and heartfelt ballads. Just like a good story teller changes tone and verbal style Coheed changed the elements of their craft to emphasize different story lines and characters. The more I listened the deeper I was taken into the album. I would lose track of time while listening and then I would shelve it. Every now and then I would get songs from the album stuck in my head and I would pull it out again and would once again enjoy so much. Every time I would listen I would notice something new. Whether it was the countless tempo changes, the mixing of first album lyrics with second album music, the recycling of themes throughout the entire album, and the incredible use of flashback. What they were doing was both unprecedented and brilliant they had created three albums that built off one another. I was so lost in euphoria over the third album that I got out the other two albums and would listen to them in order. I had never been so awestruck by a single band or album like I was with Coheed and Good Apollo. As much as I always wanted to believe, Coheed had shown me that the worth of an album went far beyond slick production, catchy guitar riffs, and heart felt lyrics. An album is a creation just like anything else and nothing impresses and humbles me more than seeing a group so concerned with what they create that they focus so much energy on making it so complex and worth while for everyone who partakes. Music is one thing that allows different people to come together to appreciate one thing. No one has done this better in recent years than Coheed and Cambria.

Tried and true

If you've been reading my blogs for awhile you're probably aware that their content is of somewhat a serious nature. I hope they appear as well thoughtout and inciteful, because I really do feel that the purpose for writing is to share personal thoughts and lessons learned throughout life. Why else would God give us the ability to think critically. However the thoughts don't always have to be quite so weighted and serious. That being said I would like to explain my passion for music and a band that I've loved for a long time.

I've always been a huge music fan, because it has the ability to translate thought and emotion into a language that's much easier for me to discern. However, it wasn't until my junior year in high school that I discovered the joy of hearing an entire album on CD. I soon however, realized I had a problem. Since I had been listening to only country music since I was eight years old I wanted to make up for lost time and spent entirely too much on cd's. Unfortuately I signed up for one of those monthly cd clubs and quickly dropped what started as hundreds of dollars every month on music. Soon I learned how to control my spending habits , but I've spent over $3,000 on CD's to date. When I got into college I realized that I could by CD's used, which meant I could still buy good CD's for a fraction of the price.

I only tell you this, because it was in my freshman year at a used CD store that I found a copy of the "Clumsy" album by Our Lady Peace who I had heard good things about and this particular album had come out to good reviews three years earlier. I had heard two songs from the album on the radio and liked them, but what awaited me on the album affected me deeply. The album was personal, but seemed to be more vulnerable than most, describing specific events in life and the feelings that come with them. All of these thoughts were played on the backdrop of a single present theme, hope. The hope on this album encouraged and perplexed me because in each of their songs I saw this light at the end of the tunnel, but I also saw this inner struggle that kept the writer from the end of the tunnel. I now realize that in order to reach the end of that tunnel we have to actively seek the reason we are kept from that light that dangles in the distance. That's what made "Clumsy" such a powerful album and Our Lady Peace interpereted that point in ones life in such a realistic way. This album started my love affair with this band that I continue to respect and admire today.

Then on my birthday in 2001 they came out with a new album entitled "Spiritual Machines." This album will always be one of my favorite albums of all time. The theme was based on a Ray Kurzweil novel of the same name. The book and the album both talk about the possibility of machines one day taking over the world. What makes this so brilliant is that the music didn't lose it's introspective and emotional core that the band had become masters at. Once again the album harbored a powerful hope that said that even in the most difficult and improbable circumstance we still have hope.

Just when I thought the ship had sailed and the sun had set on the Our Lady Peace glory days they released a new album in Oct of '05 entitled "Healthy in Paranoid Times." As I put the CD in I realized no real departure from the sound that made them great in the past, but what really caught my attention was the song booklet that came with the album. The first thing I noticed was there were no lyrics, no credits, no thank yous, just a list. A list? yeah a list. A list that included things that went on during the recording of the album.

1165 days were needed to record healthy in paranoid times
Within these 1165 days...
43 songs were written and recorded
220 Hours were spent flying on airplanes
10 Different studios were used
2000 hours were spent both discussing and playing music
6000 gigabytes of hard drive storage was needed for recording
58 packages of guitar strings were used
11000 dollars was spent on food for the band

All of these seem very ordinary and unassuming, but what followed was truly a contrast from the previously mentioned items.

30 active wars were fought across the globe
Iraq was invaded for a second time
9.8 million people died from AIDS
19.2 million people had cosmetic surgery in North America
2000 american soldiers died in Iraq
300,000 civilians died in Darfur
2 million were displaced in Darfur

The rest of the list and the songs on the album no longer focused on a longing for better days, but emphasized an importance in the now and for today. All around us we see issues and problems in our surroundings, whether it be our town, state, country, or world. The question that the album left me with was: What are you going to do about it? There's nothing wrong with hope. It is good, but when all we ever do is wait to one day be happy I believe there's a flaw. Jesus even challenged the apostles to go forth with all they had learned and experienced to deliver a life changing message of hope. We should all have HOPE that what we're DOING has purpose. Healthy in Paranoid Times is the perfect mix of living in the now and hoping that actions taken will one day open the eyes and hearts of people involved in present day situations.
While some thoughts are presented in secular mediums, God still has power to bring good out of it. I'm not certain of the faith or belief system of the band members in Our Lady Peace, but they have always been an inspiration to me. As scripture encourages us to analyze EVERYTHING and keep what is good, I believe that this includes popular thoughts and art of our day. If that means using lyrics from one of my favorite bands to inspire and encourage others I don't think that is so far from Jesus's ministry and Paul's methods in spreading the gospel. May you seek God in everything and may you be encouraged and inspired by the most unlikliest of sources.

all this trouble...over an apple?

So lately I have been thinking on the idea of mortality. Not only the fact that it's real, but it's origins, and how we approach it as beings who will one day face the inevitable end to our days in this life. First of all death first originates in the 2nd chapter of Genesis.
Genesis 2:15-17 states The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him. "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die."
I assume all that are reading this account are aware that Adam and Eve were eventually deceived by the serpent and they ate from the very tree that God told them not to, thus predetermining everyone to a life that would end in death. Now I'm just a little confused about why they chose to eat the apple. Aside from God warning them not to eat it, which by the way, immediately makes anything more attractive, apparently even death. However I'm not convinced that even that warning could even make an apple that attractive. An apple? I mean seriously, I could understand if God told them not to eat from the tree and there was nice, thick, juicy steak hanging from the branches of the tree. But, an apple? Who would list an apple as their favorite snack, it is no one's favorite snack.
All kidding aside, death is a part of life. Everyone is predestined to face it and succumb to an end whether it be sooner or later, it will come. Just like anything else we all have a choice in the matter when we are confronted with the reality of death. We can be totally self- centered and angry about it or we can simply accept it and be ready to go at any time.
In the first scenario, I believe we're all products of a society that looks negatively on death, and for good reason, next to everything else we experience it fails to measure up. Let's be honest for a second. Death is inevitable, so why be bitter about something you have no control over. Not to mention that's incredibly self- centered, when were called to be beyond ourselves and love others in this life. What good is a life if it's lived for individual purposes. We're called to expand the kingdom through our relationships with others, so why would we spend our numbered scared and bitter about the last few. Wouldn't be more becoming and more in line with the teachings of Jesus if we would spend our last day just like we did our first. Wouldn't we open more eyes if we continued to be giving, upbeat, and pour into the lives of those around us instead of feeling as if you were owed more days by God.
For the second scenario, it's not meant to sound morbid. Being ready to die simply means that you're a realist. You understand that death is a reality, not a setback. The minute we came into this world we were born into death. It's simply the period at the end of the sentence of our lives. So death shouldn't negatively curb our attitude towards life, but since the period is inevitable what do you want the sentence to say before the punctuation. Life is a gift, not an obligation. God does not owe us anything, as a matter of fact he could snub us out if he wanted, so why be mad at a God who holds your future in his hands? In other words it's a lose, lose situation.
I urge everyone to approach life as an adventure and an opportunity to see God within his own community of believers. Within the commandments Jesus said the two most important were to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. So in closing, love,live, and with life to the full may you not regret going into that long good night.