I suppose it’s about time that I take a shot at writing again since I haven’t done so in a couple of weeks….sorry about that, you all know how busy life can get.
Two big things happened since I last posted about donating my hair to Locks of Love: 1) We have a new pastor and 2) I started my last semester of classes.
Continue reading “Hello World”
Glory be. Somebody’s actually gone and done it! Best Christian short story I’ve read in a long time, and it’s Sci-fi. Go read The Promise.
To write Christian music, particularly worship music, requires two things: A good musician and a good knowledge of scripture. The best Christian music will have the highest levels of both. The trouble, of course, is getting them both together. A good theologian, but a poor musician, will create good theological texts, set to bald, tepid, irritating music. Just as bad, a great musician who hasn’t taken the time to thoroughly inform himself of who God is and what he wants, will produce great music that is, by varying degrees, less than Christian.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Continue reading “Christian Music”
Ok, so here’s the deal: Valerie and I are getting on in years, and… No, the problem is that we’re getting settled. We’re counting the cost and determining what kind of lifestyle it’s going to take for us to see everything through in New England that we need to do.
Both of us need to get places. Debt levels are pretty high, and they show every sign of getting higher. Valerie has one semester left of classes before she needs to be working full time. This semester is scheduled so that she can look for real work starting in January, but at the same time, little part-time public health work opportunities keep popping up that look very appealing. The problem is getting to them.
I on the other hand have just accepted a part time position at CBD. Continue reading “Should I buy a Vespa?”
[Seth Godin:](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/08/marketing_moral.html)
> I have no standing to sit here and tell you that it’s wrong for you to market cigarettes or SUVs, vodka or other habit-forming drugs. What we do need to realize, though, is that it’s our choice and our responsibility. As marketers, we have the power to change things, and the way we use that power is our responsibility–not the market’s, not our boss’s. Ours.
If you don’t get why this is important, you need to realize that the task of Christian evangelism is essentially a task of marketing.
We are currently in Massillon, Ohio, visiting with Valerie’s aunt and uncle, and it has been a lovely experience. We decided to skip town for a week and these were the nearest relatives who were willing to put us up. Valerie’s aunt Cindy owns a beauty salon called Chrysalis, and is the perpetrator of Valerie’s new haircut. She’s one of the best hairdressers I have ever met. (Incidentally, she cut my hair before our wedding, saying “we want it to look like you got this cut two weeks ago…”) Valerie’s uncle Dean owns a Christian bookstore, [The Light](http://myspace.com/thelightcbam).
Er, sort of. Continue reading “The Valerie and Kyle Show”
There are no statues in God’s house. Nor are there any paintings. No, all the art is in bas relief. Continue reading “More on Community”
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the purpose and importance of the church. I’ve been coming to the conclusion that modern individualism has caused us to totally misunderstand its purpose.
Most western Christians seem to think that their purpose in life, once they are part of the church, is to improve in Christian maturity and holiness until they die. Thus you get sayings like, “this life is just a practice run,” or “this life is just preparation for the next.” With this understanding, the purpose of the church is to help us, as individuals, grow in our Christian walk. The purpose of everything is my personal testimony when I die and go to heaven.
I’m coming around to the position that this is entirely backwards from what Christ intended. Continue reading “Community”
Well, I did it. My hair is gone. Continue reading “Locks of Love”
Anthony Esolen, who writes for [Touchstone Magazine](http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2006/08/man_of_god.html), has a post up promoting the ideal that ministers should set themselves apart from the common man.
> Ministers who want to be jus’ folks should take heed. God has singled you out, you men of God. I accept the priesthood of all believers; but I think that God has marked you with the sign of Melchizedek in a way that he has not marked me. Then do not try to efface that sign. I suppose it is a burden to you. Does it leave splinters in your shoulder? Does it bow your back and make your legs tremble for weariness? You cannot have expected otherwise. But it does not matter whether you would prefer to be my pal, the buddy at the card table, somebody just like me. You are no longer just like me. Pals I already have, and plenty. I don’t need any more of them. I need you: the spiritual father, the minister, the man of God.
I’m not sure what to make of this kind of perspective. Esolen is from a very different tradition than I am, and it’s doubtful that I’ll ever be wearing robes and clerical collars, but this “clothes make the man” sort of argument has some intrigue to it for me. Continue reading “The Appeal of the Clerical Collar”
neumatikos 