...Comes up to a Guy, in a Superman Suit...Runs Through Him with a Broadsword!
So say the Mountain Goats - one of my favourite bands in all of existence. They are heading over from the North Carolina to our wet and windy shores for only 2 gigs in October. And I'm going! I'm gloating here... you may not realise this, if you haven't yet discovered them, but this is a gloat.
But, true to the spirit of the blog, there is a spiritual angle to this. The Mountain Goats' new album is called "The Life of the World to Come." Sound familiar? That's it there, at the end of the Nicene Creed. But not content with leaving it as a subtext, John Darnielle has namede very song on the album simply with a Bible reference. No this is not some hipster gesture - the songs are woven with meanings of the passages.
If you want to know more, then there is an amazing interview with the lead singer on pitchfork. In it, he's incredibly candid about his relationship with Church and faith, saying "Seriously, I get weak in the knees when we go into the Apostles' Creed. I think it's the greatest thing." Well worth a read.
In the meantime, if you haven't yet heard the Mountain Goats, fire up Spotify, or whatever it is you use to listen to music, get hold of Tallahassee, The Sunset Tree or... well, anything by The Mountain Goats and listen to it. Then, when you're finished, listen to it again - it usually takes a little investment to get the most out of their music.
Apparently, this album has leaked onto the net already... I have been well-behaved and chosen not to listen to it. But by its very existence, it may have found its way to the top of my list of scripturally inspired secular albums. Up there with Plague Songs and... well... I guess Slow Train Coming at a push. Anyone got any better suggestions? Comments please!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wonder against Wonder
So, some of you (especially those of you who were at Greenbelt) may be interested to see this article on Apprising Ministries about the whole festival. It's critical of the inclusivity demonstrated by the various groups representing at #GB09, mostly those that are "LGBT friendly", but also the "ecumenical and... counter-reformation" ideas knocking round (I'm sure there were people who complained about Martin Luther on the grounds that he was 'counter-papal').
And, about halfway down the page, what's that? The blurb about Ambient Wonder, which I wrote with my own fair keyboard. Tempted though I am to write something scathing/witty/deconstructive as a response, my "inclusive Christianity" (I often worry what an 'exclusive Christianity' would look like) leaves me inclined to consider the writers of 'Apprising Ministries' my brothers and sisters in Christ... and bickering within the body of Christ is rarely helpful.
In fact, this whole scenario has caused me to reflect. It's made me consider the power of one voice. In the past, the preacher had Authority. And he found his authority in Learning, or Tradition, or his particular interpretation of Scripture. Before the reformation, there was only one Authority on earth, and that was the Roman Catholic Church (well, for most British folk anyway).
Imagine you're a 17th century guy. You've got a family, and a plot of land to work, and some of those stupid trousers that seemed to make sense back then. One day you're told that you're no longer Catholic, but that your faith will be more or less unchanged in all other respects. You'll probably go 'oh, alright', and carry on much as before. Then, a few years later, the head of state/church decides to flirt with some protestant theology. I say 'flirt'... you'll be killed if you don't go along with it... So you go along with it - after all, what they're saying kind of makes sense, and you've never been given a chance to read the Bible for yourself anyway (you can't readin English, let alone latin).
And then, a few years after that, a new monarch decides that, no, we're climbing back up the candle to Anglo-Catholicism again, and that anything else is punishable by burning... you're going to be getting a bit fed up with this idea of one person claiming to have 'authority', and wonder if your own views aren't just as valid. That's probably why so many denominations started springing up.
Fast forward to now, and I express some ideas on a website. Ideas that I may not have held a few years ago, and almost certainly will be a bit embarrassed by in a decade's time. Meanwhile, thousands of other bloggers express other views in a similar manner. Some of them disagree with me. It's not that I don't believe what I say - I believe it wholeheartedly, passionately, and honestly. But I accept that I'm on a journey, and one that has taken me places I never expected in the past, and one that contains a whole bunch of unknown in the future. Isn't that exciting?
So when another website openly criticises words that I've written (words that were, admittedly, a little theologically flimsy... but deliberately referred to 'Meditation' 'Sprituality' and 'Daily Lives' within the context of Christianity), it's not so much that they're criticising my beliefs (criticise away!); it's more that it's flattering it's that they deem them significant enough to criticise at all... as if someone, somewhere is treating the words I say with Authority. But they'd be wrong. I have no more authority than the next blogger. Only One Person wields complete authority. I'm just trying to get a little closer to Him.
And, about halfway down the page, what's that? The blurb about Ambient Wonder, which I wrote with my own fair keyboard. Tempted though I am to write something scathing/witty/deconstructive as a response, my "inclusive Christianity" (I often worry what an 'exclusive Christianity' would look like) leaves me inclined to consider the writers of 'Apprising Ministries' my brothers and sisters in Christ... and bickering within the body of Christ is rarely helpful.
In fact, this whole scenario has caused me to reflect. It's made me consider the power of one voice. In the past, the preacher had Authority. And he found his authority in Learning, or Tradition, or his particular interpretation of Scripture. Before the reformation, there was only one Authority on earth, and that was the Roman Catholic Church (well, for most British folk anyway).
Imagine you're a 17th century guy. You've got a family, and a plot of land to work, and some of those stupid trousers that seemed to make sense back then. One day you're told that you're no longer Catholic, but that your faith will be more or less unchanged in all other respects. You'll probably go 'oh, alright', and carry on much as before. Then, a few years later, the head of state/church decides to flirt with some protestant theology. I say 'flirt'... you'll be killed if you don't go along with it... So you go along with it - after all, what they're saying kind of makes sense, and you've never been given a chance to read the Bible for yourself anyway (you can't readin English, let alone latin).
And then, a few years after that, a new monarch decides that, no, we're climbing back up the candle to Anglo-Catholicism again, and that anything else is punishable by burning... you're going to be getting a bit fed up with this idea of one person claiming to have 'authority', and wonder if your own views aren't just as valid. That's probably why so many denominations started springing up.
Fast forward to now, and I express some ideas on a website. Ideas that I may not have held a few years ago, and almost certainly will be a bit embarrassed by in a decade's time. Meanwhile, thousands of other bloggers express other views in a similar manner. Some of them disagree with me. It's not that I don't believe what I say - I believe it wholeheartedly, passionately, and honestly. But I accept that I'm on a journey, and one that has taken me places I never expected in the past, and one that contains a whole bunch of unknown in the future. Isn't that exciting?
So when another website openly criticises words that I've written (words that were, admittedly, a little theologically flimsy... but deliberately referred to 'Meditation' 'Sprituality' and 'Daily Lives' within the context of Christianity), it's not so much that they're criticising my beliefs (criticise away!); it's more that it's flattering it's that they deem them significant enough to criticise at all... as if someone, somewhere is treating the words I say with Authority. But they'd be wrong. I have no more authority than the next blogger. Only One Person wields complete authority. I'm just trying to get a little closer to Him.
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