Conflation

While perusing through my usual schedule of friends’ blogs, I came upon a post on Alex’s that got me reading an article by Hans Madueme. I usually don’t read articles as they tend to be much longer than the standard one or two paragraph blurbs on people’s blogs, but this one’s really good. Here’s an excerpt:

info @ the P.Pole 07.19.07

This is the big 500th post! Woo! Thank you! Thank you! This place couldn’t have come this far if it weren’t for you (or me, I suppose).

Last night’s LoaH didn’t really go as great as I’d have hoped but I suppose it can’t be helped. Anyway, I still think it was alright (it could’ve been better… or could it?). The amps never came (in time) and I assume they are probably going to arrive between now and next week (right when we’re done “needing” them). I guess it’s probably best though, that we didn’t get new bass and guitar amps to play with in the rain. I think we did what we were decided on doing. I just hope we’ve got some better weather foreknown for us in the weeks/Wednesday evenings to come.

Sermon Junky: Taize’s not for me

My dear Pastor Arthur (now Reverend), God bless him, has taken to doing “taize” (pronounced “TI-zee” I think) style services for mostly scattered and sporadic occasions. Lately, however, it seems as if we’ve been having more and more of these very mellow and very different services at TJCAC and I’m not too sure I think this is a good thing.

Homecoming

It’s almost been two weeks (actually exactly two weeks including today) since Moyee and Herman (and the rest of the STM @ Longlac Team) left meaning that they will be momentarily home if my calculations are correct. I can’t wait until they get back because then I can book Moyee for some day to go have lunch.
Speaking of food, I’m about to head downtown with a couple friends to get stuff and eat. We decided to “just hang out” but I’ve also got to check out Coast Mountain Sports for a nice water bottle and take them to Burrito Boyz (yeah, the place is actually named with a zedzorz). I’ve been sans water bottle (and burrito too) for the past many months and it’s about time my old one got replaced.
I’ve gone through a few in my time but my last one was definitely my favourite one (so far). I got it at TC two years back, oddly enough. I think I downed all the water and then, because my backpack’s bottle pocket is shallow (funny/plug line: “There’s more to you than meets the eye…” – Sam, Transformers the Movie) it fell out. Being empty, I didn’t feel the tiny difference and thanks to my ear buds I didn’t hear it fall either (“Oh when she breaks your bottle falls down and makes a sound you’ll never hear her your damn bottle falling and making a sound!” – Howie Day, She Says). Oh well, it’s not a big loss. There will always be other bottles… but not many TC bottles. Sigh. I’m hopeful in the slimness and curves of Nalgenes to more than make up for the minor loss. Photos to come if I’m successful in my search.

Domestic Violence

Psalm 55 : 9-14, 19-21

9 Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.
12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God.
[...]
19 God, who is enthroned forever,
will hear them and afflict them—
Selah
men who never change their ways
and have no fear of God.
20 My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
21 His speech is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this (i.e. disputes within church walls) for the last little while and I honestly don’t know what to do, or whether what I’ve already done or said was correct. To my rescue comes this passage brought randomly to my attention as I searched for passages on a completely different topic on BibleGateway.
I’m one of the most confrontational people I know and if you don’t think so, you’re wrong. Even though it’s generally accepted that we, as adult members of a civilized and modern society, ought to settle disputes in a manner as diplomatic and courteous as possible, meaning that people like me are generally labeled “inconsiderate” or “insensitive”. But I think sometimes (not always, for sure) certain subjects require a certain degree of “I think you’ve got it all wrong on this one” — even more so within Christian-à-Christian relationships.
This, of course, is because within the community we call the Body of Christ we are to fellowship with one another through the Spirit. We ought to be able to encourage as well as criticize, teach as well as rebuke, and share as well as disagree with one another all in a loving and God-fearing manner. We ought to be able to confront one another and not have to beat around the bush with nice words or flattery to get our point across. That kind of tactic (i.e. excessive tact, ironically) is dangerously close to manipulation if you ask me. Sure, it might work for people outside and inside the Body but it’s not something a godly person should stand for (v. 21). Convincing and persuading others to an opinion treated as objective truth would go along with this too.
It’s a tragedy when conflicts break out in the “Outside World” but when it happens within the walls of a congregation, it’s a shame. The psalmist here is archaic-ranting about just this all-too-common phenomenon: infighting between people of God. Really, we (you and I both, along with the rest of Jaffray) should do better if we remember why exactly we gather and why we do the things we do. Well, we could change our ways, or we could end up like those who don’t (v. 19). Aside: I don’t think we do enough threatening (to match Biblical content levels) within our walls.

A "Do Whatever the Hell I Want" Badge

I went and saw Transformers the Movie today with Allen at the Famous Players/Cineplex at… I don’t know exactly, but I think it was around Yonge and something to the north. Anyway, it turned out to be a rather good movie for someone who is a fan (but not hardcore fan) of the stuff. Al had lukewarm thoughts about it all but that’s because he was more of the die hard fan. Anyway, I didn’t do anything else much today except go home afterwards and just relax in the comfort and the companionship of my trusty radiation bombarding computer set up. I chowed down on a few Bagel Bites and they weren’t half bad so I’ll have the other ones tomorrow for lunch. I’m still looking forward to practices for LoaH and retreat this Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Speaking of movies, I got around to watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week and there’s something about Emma Watson’s look that I just can’t place. She’s definitely not ugly or anything, but I just can’t decide conclusively whether she’s got a delicately amiable or ever so slightly annoying face. I mean, her character’s hair (I’m not even going to attempt spelling the actual name for you off of memory) Hermione is, by nature, quite a put-off, what with being long-ish and frizzy. But the rest of her (as in the way she looks, acts, and speaks) doesn’t really bug me all that much (I’d always imagined her character Hermione to be a real know-it-all while reading the book). At least, that’s how I felt until near the middle or so of the Goblet of Fire. That one shot of her all dressed up for the ball settled it for me: not annoying looking.
I also spent a good chunk of my evening listening to a lecture/workshop given by John Piper about living by faith in future grace. I regret to say that I had been slightly distracted while listening for the latter half of the message so I didn’t catch all the little gritty bits as I normally like doing but the general gist was quite stirring to say the least. I’m not even going to attempt paraphrasing or summarizing the message. If you’ve got the longing and craving for it, check it out for yourself here (whereas the larger set of links and pages of his work can be found here). It’s cool stuff to me, but in random bursts at best. Too much of a good thing (in this case, over-saturation with new ideas on divine matters) too fast is probably not the best–cramming such things all at once proves to be a bad way to really reflect, consider, discern, and internalize well and properly.

God’s Jackpot

I don’t mean to associate God with gambling or anything but today’s date is exactly all made up of sevens — 07.07.07 — and I think it’s also strangely fitting to have my 490th post on such a day (490 = 7 x 70 of course). Seeing as how seven is supposedly God’s number, I figured today would be a holy jackpot of sorts… I don’t really have anything specific I want to talk about so I suppose I’ll write about my comings and goings of late.
As mentioned before, I decided to write about one Clive Staples Lewis for a pretty big paper. To date, I’ve read all of “The Magician’s Nephew” and approximately thirty-four pages of “The Pilgrim’s Regress” which is a bit of strange book to say the least. It’s not a novel or narrative per se. It is sort of like an allegorical story but on crack where everything is very obviously representative of something else, and dabbling heavily in Christian and Biblical themes. It’s a slower read than “The Magician’s Nephew” — the likes of which I thoroughly enjoyed, mind you.
After reading just the first book of “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, I’ve grown quite fond of Lewis’ writing style and quirky humour. I’m beginning to understand why he’s so admired by so many people. It has something to do, I think, with his almost childlike demeanor in viewing, constructing, and describing his ideas.
Anyway, this coming week is looking packed with LoaH and Summer Retreat practices and I’m quite looking forward to them. IMO the best part about serving in a musical capacity is the practice and fellowship time I get to have with my peers/teammates. I mean, playing and actually leading is exhilarating too, but I don’t really take more joy in that part than one should (since it’s leading and not soaking that I’m supposed to be doing). LoaH songs are sounding pretty good for the most part after our intense practice the other day — Eric (vocals and guitar), Stephen (drums), Adwin (electric guitar), and I (bass) practiced without Melissa Kwan (second vocals) this Thursday morning for three hours. Retreat worship is also looking pretty good so far, but that is to be expected with the competent leadership of mainly Katherine and Gabriel. I think playing my bass in these kinds of settings is pretty much the best part of my summers nowadays. With no job (part-time or otherwise) in sight, I’m going to make playing my summer (pre)occupation for this year pretty much.
My aunt and uncle (Monique and Jock respectively) are over from the states with their young son, Philip. Before you go “Haha, sucker!” because of the addition of an extra young’un (my sister + Philip = 2 little and potentially annoying kids) in my vicinity, I want to sneer at you because with Philip here, my sister is officially sleeping over for the duration of their trip. And with them (my aunt, uncle, and cousin) staying with my grandparents, I am virtually un-childbearing. This means I can do all the things I couldn’t do at home (with my sister around) before, like leave my stuff out without fear of annihilation and play with my more dangerous toys (like my totally hot Zippo and… I don’t have any other violent toys actually). Of course, this liberation comes at the price of having my aunt and uncle randomly coming over to borrow my wireless Internets… That leads to me thinking “GTFO my Internets before I telegib you.” but saying “Hi, welcome! Feel free to use it as you please.”

FWD: You’re going to die a lonely, painful death if you don’t foward this to everyone and eat dirt and…

I don’t know why but I got the sudden urge to hate on forwarded messages during the car ride home tonight. I’m not going to rant (I promise I’ll keep it short this time). I’m just going to ask you (all of you, there are now no exceptions or special favourites to be excused) to never ever pass along one of those “Read this or you will have 70 years of bad luck” type emails to me (as if I expect to live to be +80 anyway). I hate them. I never pass them along and I never read them. If you send one to me, you’re basically condemning me to whatever the hell is promised inside that email as a warning against ignoring it because I intend on and will succeed in ignoring the damnable thing. With the number of “Read this only if you have time for God” emails I’ve passed up, I probably need to convert to Roman Catholicism and buy an eternity load of indulgences to get my condemned self out of purgatory. It seems I might have offended some people with that last remark so my work here is done for tonight.

PS: Really, don’t send me them, unless you want to be goatse‘d. Trust me, you don’t want to get goatse‘d. I never was but that doesn’t mean I’ve never thought of passing it along.

Light on a Hill v. 2.0 Beta Release

Here at TJCAC co. we like to treat our environment nicely by holding weekly get-togethers and treating our neighbors to some free food, live music, and car washes (saying that reminds me of that Canadian Tire commercial with the man pressure stripping the paint off of his car). We’ve even got arts and crafts for the little ones. Last year, we managed to come out and have a pretty sweet showing every Wednesday evening/night (starting at seven o’ clock or so) and so we’re going for the same thing again this year.
So this has been my shameless plug for LoaH 2007 and if you are at all interested in having something to do on Hump Day evenings (other than what you’d normally have planned for Hump Day) then come out and have a burger.
Note: TJCAC can be found at 9950 Sheppard, just east of Meadowvale. It’s a giant red bricked building (that looks every bit the church with its high top and chiseled orange steps…) after an open field of nothing. You can’t miss it.

What I’ve Done

Linkin Park, although not being very blatantly religious, does manage to sound so very often. Have at the title for a listen.

In this farewell, there’s no blood,
There’s no alibi, ‘cause I’ve drawn regret
From the truth of a thousand lies.

So let mercy come and wash away…
What I’ve done.

I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become.
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done.

Put to rest what you thought of me.
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty.

For what I’ve done, I start again.
And whatever pain may come…
Today this ends.
I’m forgiving what I’ve done.

What I’ve done,
Forgiving what I’ve done.
- Linkin Park, What I’ve Done