For the most part, I find the Christmas season completely overwhelming. The one thing that gets me through it is music — but not usually on the “all-Christmas” radio stations. I prefer a bunch of scratched up CD’s from (gasp) almost twenty years ago.
My hands-down, number one, no contest, all-time favorite Christmas album ever is Handel’s Messiah – A Soulful Celebration, with the Boys Choir of Harlem, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, Tramaine Hawkins, Gladys Knight, Patti Austin, and Sounds of Blackness, just to name a few.
I’ve been listening to this since it came out in ’92. It’s probably not for Messiah purists, but I can’t help but think that Handel would somehow approve. This is “soul” music at its best – R&B, modern, hip-hop, rap, urban, black gospel. And when combined with the power of “The Messiah”, it’s pure heaven. Read more...
I don’t normally read a lot of biographies or autobiographies, but I recently finished two of the best memoirs I’ve ever read – Waiting for Snow in Havana and Learning to Die in Miami by Carlos Eire. Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 unaccompanied children airlifted out of Cuba in 1962 as part of Operation Pedro Pan.
The second book, despite the not-so-uplifting title, is an amazing story of not only death, but also of rebirth. For Eire, everything died – his childhood, his social status, his culture, his family unit. Everything. But this is his incredible account of being re-born, and it all ultimately centers around his journey of faith. Read more...
Growing up, I remember my grandparents telling me that music involving an electric guitar or drums was “the Devil’s music”. I also recall having a deck of cards that I had eagerly pulled out of a cereal box (back when we’d actually get prizes from our boxed breakfast) only to have it thrown away after being told that the Devil was in them.
Such was the life as a youth growing up in my church. I gained a healthy respect both for the good that God represented and conversely the evil that Satan represented. Heck, even one of the great prophets of the 80′s and 90′s recognized who was behind the evil in our world:
It was a kid I’ve been tutoring. Tony. He’s a senior in high school, and he’s failing Algebra II. He has to pass it in order to graduate. He wasn’t really asking for help — the school decided he needed it. He has decent grades in other classes, but a failing grade in this one course could really mess things up for him.
So I tried to do what I could within “the system”. Throughout the semester, the best I could do was to meet with him for fifteen minutes or so during lunch, and that just wasn’t enough.
The final exam was rapidly approaching, so I offered to meet him on a weekend. We agreed on a day and time to meet at the library. Read more...
In the spirit of Christmas, a thought recently struck me re: the birth of Jesus based on a link a friend sent me. Though we as Christians are often quick to communicate the true non-Santa meaning of the Dec 25th holiday, we often pose it as an event to commemorate the birth of Someone who was sent to die for us. While this is obviously not a bad thing to communicate, it led me to wonder – if Jesus had actually been crucified as a baby shortly after birth, would that impact our salvation in any way? Read more...
I wanted to post this on my Facebook account, but I noticed at the last minute that there were several references to “Social Justice” on the Burnside Writers Collective web site. Sadly, there are a number of my Facebook friends who will see that term and immediately associate it with “liberal socialism” and a host of other politically charged terms.
Maybe in 2011 I’ll start being bolder on Facebook, but for now material such as this will remain on my blog instead. (Much fewer people read this blog!)
This is a beautiful story. It’s sad that some will miss it. (Click on the link below).
I’m pleased to announce that I have now received a graduate degree. I am now a self-proclaimed “Donkey Fart Doctor of Theology”.
I worked hard for this!
Ye who smelt it, dealt it
Actually, I found this phrase in A Very Brief History of Eternity by Carlos Eire. In it, he quotes Thomas Muntzer (1488-1525), an early Reformation-era German theologian who apparently did not have nice things to say about Luther and other Reformers. (The book link above will take you to Google Books where you can read more about this in context… and maybe pick up a few more choice phrases to use the next time you’re stuck in traffic.)
Ah, the good ol’ days when people were creative. Read more...
First, a comment about this brief “series” of blog posts on Love:
Think “Star Wars”. Three films, and then you wait over twenty years for the next three. Yeah… I’m saying it could be a while before I try to tackle this topic again, and I might just leave you hanging.
This all started because I was getting tired of all of the “haters” out there in the world. It’s so frustrating to see how it impacts all of us almost daily. It’s very real. But it’s also something I could (in theory) wrap my head around and try to change. I can strive to “love” people with different political beliefs. I can somewhat successfully control my tongue (at least in public) and do a decent job of not bashing everyone I disagree with. Read more...
If you read my previous post on Love and bumper stickers, this is the not-so-long-awaited sequel. (Actually, I just had so much to say that it all wouldn’t fit neatly into one post.)
But the more I thought about bumper stickers, the more questions I had: Read more...
Aren’t we really just sporting the “team colors” like avid sports fans (or gang members)?
Do we honestly think that anything of real value can be expressed in a 12×3 inch piece of vinyl?
Are we so passive-aggressive that we have to relegate our most divisive thoughts to the backs of our vehicles, where the WORST that could happen is that you might get the finger?
I’m sure you’ve all seen the popular Coexist bumper sticker… you know, the one with all of the various religious symbols?
I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t think I know anyone personally who has that bumper sticker on their car. Maybe a teenager or two – my kids’ friends perhaps — but no one that I would call a close friend or even much of an acquaintance.
It’s nothing personal. It’s just that most of my friends don’t have any bumper stickers, except for the occasional “Terrific Kid Award” from the local Kiwanis Club, or maybe a subtle decal from a college or local high school sports team. In election years, a political sticker will make its way onto some cars, but even then usually just the name of the candidate — nothing “in your face”. (My kids are a different story… it seems that bumper stickers form a significant part of your identity in your early years of driving.)Read more...
