Rob's Album of the Week

Artist: Bruce Cockburn
Album: Stealing Fire (1984)

When you first hear this album, you'll probably notice that you "know" a few songs --some continue to get airplay in stores today (I heard "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" at Oakland Mall several months ago). The next thing you'll say is, "Whoa, 80s!" The sound is very dated, I know, and musically, it's probably one of the weaker albums in Bruce Cockburn's prolific career. But some of the lyrics are dynamite, and there's a couple of lines that continue to inspire me even today.

For example, "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" (which really could be titled "Christians in a Dangerous Time" because the lovers he's talking about are those who serve others, presumably in faith). Check out this line:

"When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime --
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight --
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"

Man, I love that last line. It continues to inspire me to trust in God that "our work in the Lord is not in vain."

There's other great songs. "Maybe the Poet" is about how those with ideas, those who plead for our common humanity, are the ultimate revolutionaries. In a sense, as we can see from Revelation, the poet or in this case the apostle, shows us the true nature of dictators and what is really true. Here's the chorus:

"Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it"

"Peggy's Kitchen Wall" is somewhat lighthearted in its style, but its lyrics are very true to urban neighborhood life despite the fun chorus. This also was something of a popular song in its day.

The final three songs are his "Central America" trilogy. He was in Central America with Oxfam, a charity organization. He makes observations about the peoples' daily life in the face of political turmoil. "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" is a very well-known angry song in this group of songs. Bruce is something of a pacifist Christian, so this song caught people by surprise. But it's hard not to feel anger at the sight of precious souls being treated so callously by violent armies.

Here's Bruce's comment on all the politics in the album (thanks to brucecockburn.net):

"Some of them got a little nervous when I started talking about politics," he adds, "because you're not supposed to do that if you're a certain type of Christian -- especially if you're a songwriter. I got a lot of letters from people, especially after the album 'Stealing Fire,' and there were a lot of people in the Christian scene who found 'If I had a Rocket Launcher' very difficult. Because they weren't used to thinking about those things. "There were a lot of Christians who did understand it, the more liberal, for want of a better word, turn of mind," he points out. Nonetheless, "A lot of people wrote letters urging me, exhorting me, not to lose the way. At no point was I threatened with excommunication, but there was definitely a kind of standing back and going, 'What is this?' on the part of a lot of people."


-- from "The Social Commentaries of Bruce Cockburn" by J.D. Considine, Sun Pop Music Critic, Baltimore Sun, 18 March 1988. Submitted by Nigel Parry.

Pray for Norman

Just a reminder, Norman's surgery is tomorrow: Sept. 27. As I mentioned before, that's four surgeons and 12 - 16 hours. There is major reconstructive work that needs to be done, and that's also where we need to concentrate our prayer "firepower". The guys of the Spiritual Disciplines class have decided to fast for Norman; some are fasting today, some are fasting tomorrow. I would also urge you to fast for Norman if you can and use the time in prayer for him and his family. Pray that the skin that will be grafted onto his face will live and thrive with blood so that it can be restored.

And expect God to answer. He is faithful!

About those precious stones...

What significance are the twelve different stones that make up the foundation of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:19-20? In case you were wondering...

First of all, there are twelve. Remember, twelve is the number of God's people.

But as to the stones themselves... see Exodus 28:15-21. In that passage, God commands Moses to make a very special breastpiece for the High Priest of the people. That breastpiece has 12 stones - in 4 rows of 3. Each one represents one of the 12 tribes of Israel -- the number of God's people is complete.

I think this also reflects that God loves our diversity -- He created it! Then he gathers that diversity into 1 breastpiece, into 1 Ultimate Community, into 1 holy people that finds its UNITY as priests and kings -- in the worship of the One True God!

Very exciting.

(The stone in the picture is a carnelian, one of the 12 John sees...)

Update on Norman

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on Norman --

The date for his surgery is set: Sept. 27. Four surgeons; 12 - 16 hours. There is major reconstructive work that needs to be done, and that's also where we need to concentrate our prayer "firepower". Either the skin graft will work and carry the blood necessary to restore his face, or it won't, the skin will die, and Norman will have a hole there. He is still preparing himself mentally. Please pray for him and for the family at this time.

Rob's Album of the Week

Artist: Anouar Brahem
Album: Le Voyage de Sahar (2006)

Anouar Brahem is a Tunisian musician who plays the oud, which is the Arabic fretless lute. He's well grounded in the Arabic traditions, but currently he really loves improvising with Turkish and European musicians to create a kind of music that bridges East and West. It's a mixture of Middle East modes, free jazz, and chamber music; it's gorgeous, reflective, and spiritual.

On this album, his latest, he works with two French guys - one on piano and the other on accordion. Trust me, it works. This is "thinking" music for me.

Here's the link to Amazon, where you can hear sound samples.

Prayer

Great prayer meeting tonight.

Something I read last night came to mind again at the start of the prayer meeting. Martin Luther wrote about the Canaanite woman's story. (See Matthew 15:21-28 if you can't quite remember the story.)

Here's what Luther says about this story, and why it's in the Bible:

"This is written for our comfort and instruction that we may know how deeply God hides his grace from us and that we must not think of him according to our ideas and feeling, but only according to his Word. Here we see that though Christ speaks harshly he does not give a final judgment, an absolute 'no'... The 'no' sounds stronger than the 'yes,' but nevertheless ther was more there of 'yes' than of 'no', a pure 'yes', deep and secret."

"This shows the state of our heart when sore pressed. Christ in this story behaves the way the heart feels, for it thinks the answer is 'no' when in reality it is not. Therefore the heart must turn away from its feeling and lay hold of the deep, secret 'yes' under the 'no', with firm faith in God's Word, as did this woman." (emphasis is mine)

from The Book of Jesus, edited by Calvin Miller, page 278 ($10 at Barnes 7 Noble; what a deal!)

I'm still processing this. I can't help but feel Luther's right, but it's still hard for me to comprehend. God truly does act in mysterious but wonderful ways.

Jury Duty Tomorrow

Hi everyone,

Well, tomorrow is Jury Duty for me. Luckily it's the district court here in Royal Oak, so I'll walk to it. If it's anything like my two Chicago experiences, I'll go there wait for a few hours, do some reading and writing, and go home. A good chance to get some work done!

However, just one of these times I'd like to actually be picked and serve on a jury. I'd like to see and be part of the process!

Probably won't happen.

Anybody got any good jury duty stories?

UPDATE at 11:56 AM, 9/13:

The defendant was charged with domestic violence, second offense and at the last minute, decided to plead "no contest", which means no need for a jury trial. So we were dismissed at 10:10 or so.

I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted to be part of the process, but also happy because I've got stuff to do!

ThinkChristian: Genesis is different

One of the neatest Christian blogs is ThinkChristian.net. They've got a number of contributors over there who must surf a lot and find all sorts of inspiring or thought-provoking things.

Anyways, they have a recent blog entry called "Genesis is different". It is a link over to a guy who briefly compares the creation account in Genesis with other ancient creation stories, and the differences are important. The main thing the author brings out is that Genesis doesn't exalt any one particular race or city, as most ancient creation accounts seem to do.

This reminds me of what Craig Smith, a Native American Christian who now witnesses to other Native Americans, likes to tell people. He tells people that he's from the Ojibwa tribe, the name of his tribe means "THE people". His wife is Navajo and Navajo (in that language) means "THE people". And apparently almost every tribe's name for themselves means that. A natural human tendency is to glorify our tribe.

But again we see God's truth reflected in Genesis: a creation story that glorifies nobody -- except God Himself.

He alone is worthy.

Rob's Album of the Week

Let me know how this feature works out... if nobody wants to hear about what I listen to, I'll can this... but I thought about sharing what I'm listening to. As most of you know, I'm a big music fan, and I love sharing my music with others.

Artist: Delirious?
Album: The Mission Bell (2005)

Delirious? is one of the few Christian artists I really enjoy. Most Christian music is pretty cookie-cutter with predictable ballad-type music and straightforward (and often shallow) lyrics. That stuff I can't listen to, but Delirious? has gone beyond and makes real music, with their own definite, intense sound. Frankly, they can hold their own with U2, but they'll never get the same huge audience because their lyrics are explicitly "Jesus freak" Christian -- which is a great thing.

Delirious? started out as a church's worship band in England during the early 90s, and some of their songs have become worship music standards, for example, "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever", "What a Friend I've Found", and "Did you feel the mountains tremble?" You can catch most of these 'classics' on a double album, "The Cutting Edge".

Since that time, though, they've been making rock records and have gotten quite popular in Great Britain even among non-Christians. "The Mission Bell" is their latest effort. I've heard it said that it has a Coldplay sound. I don't know them; what I do know is that this is an 'in your face' Christian album. "Solid Rock" takes the old hymn and gives it a great new spin. "All This Time" is an intense song about keeping the faith despite public pressure. "Paint the Town Red" is a mission song about our mission as believers. "Take Off My Shoes" is about experiencing the immediate presence of God -- are you ready ofr that? Our hearts will be both purified and excited beyond our imagination on that day we see Him.

Listen to it loud!

Update schedule

Hi everyone,

I didn't get to follow up my thoughts last week the next day... and now I think I've forgotten some. I wrote down some notes though.

I'm posting here to let you know that the sermon should be at the Archive by Wednesday (around noon) of every week. I also hope to post on this blog daily, perhaps around lunch time would be best.

Please enjoy this picture of wonderful waves as summer turns to fall...