This week: 13 things you want to do this summer.
(last Sunday’s sermon is here)
We become what we love–so say the wise.
And looking at my life, it becomes clear:
I’m shaped by wealth, praise, comfort, compromise,
And fame, not joy and truth I should hold dear.
I want to be a servant, to desire
To follow Jesus even to the cross;
I want to lead for glory, to inspire,
To be adored, no matter what the cost.
This is the conflict, isn’t it, of all
Of us that want to go to love and serve:
We hear and try to obey separate calls,
And from the narrow road we turn and swerve.
And in the wreck, all we know how to do
Is cry out: Help us fall in love with You.
This week: In honor of summer and 90 degree weather being right around the corner, 13 things you do to stay cool.
(Sermon from last Sunday here.)
There are no famous farmers, or not many.
Most plow and plant their fields quietly.
They wait for rain, they wait for growth, with plenty
Of work that mostly goes by silently.
And harvests come and go–some bad, some good,
Some profitable, full of healthy fruit;
Some others, despite all your sweat and blood,
Are thin and dry, the crops all turned to loot
For drought and ravens. All the same,
The farmers get no glory for their toil.
They plant the seeds, and wages are their gain,
But much depends on time and sun and soil.
So let them pray, and let them watch and trust,
Despite abundance, plenty, famine, dust.
So what is it all for
if you say all the correct things
like a contestant
on the universe’s biggest quiz show
teeth white and blank
clothes neat but not freakishly so
is all this an attempt
to distract us from the cracks
in your surface
one more layer of paint
because it doesn’t matter
when the light shines on it
we can see all your broken places
if God picked you up
only to drop you
would you shatter like
a porcelain doll
so we could all see how
hollow you are inside
but sure
keep pushing your own button
and repeat the same phrases
with your tin-can computer chip voice
over and over again
don’t think we don’t notice
this week: things that you’re working on right now (if you can come up with that many).
this week: 13 seasonal/situational musical preferences. you’ll see what i mean in a second.
1. early spring (especially during Lent): Sufjan Stevens, the Noah and the Whale album The First Days of Spring, Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, Nickel Creek
2. later spring: Punch Brothers (“Julep” is especially nice), Jon Foreman’s Spring and Summer EPs, the Frames, late Decemberists
3. summer (which in Houston lasts until mid-October): ’60s rock and pop and r&b, ’90s Christian ska, hip-hop and rap, salsa, early Decemberists, gospel (throwbacks to mission trips in high school), Switchfoot
4. later summer: all of the above, plus jazz and indie rock
5. mid-October until Thanksgiving: Andrew Peterson, Caedmon’s Call, Damien Rice, The Oh Hellos, early Coldplay, Ben Folds Five
6. Thanksgiving until Christmas: George Winston, The Oh Hellos’ Christmas EP, Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God on repeat
7. post-Christmas: Lots of classical choral music (I don’t know why, but midwinter seems appropriate for it)
8. Sunday mornings: All Sons & Daughters, Sojourn Music, John Coltrane, Sandra McCracken, my church’s Spotify playlist of all the songs we’re rotating through
9. cleaning: Broadway cast recordings make everything better
10. presidential election season: Over the Rhine’s “If a Song Could Be President” ad infinitum
11. road trips: U2’s Joshua Tree, Paul Simon’s Graceland, Wilco, Nina Simone, Dave Brubeck, old mix CDs from college
12. in the morning: not music, but NPR’s Up First podcast, always
13. in the afternoon, while trying to get over the 3:00 slump: any and all music from the ’90s
