Random Thursday for December 24, 2015

Unrelated remarks in no particular order

White Winter Hymnal.  I like this song, but I have no idea what it means.  Is was on the Pentatonix Christmas album, but is it a Christmas song?  According to Songfacts, it’s not supposed to mean anything.  Listen to the original song here.

“Lead singer and songwriter Robin Pecknold (from Daytrotter): “It’s lyrically fairly meaningless. As an introduction to the record, (this was intended to be the opening track on the album), we thought it would be nice to start it with a simple jam that’s focussed on singing – on the record it starts with a tongue-in-cheek harmony thing that we hoped would make people laugh or something but I think it just confuses them. This is my favorite song to play live, though singing it live is sometimes difficult because the lyrics are so vague. Weird how that works!”

Star Wars Episode 7, The Force Awakens.  People in my household are watching all the Star Wars movies in order (by episode number, not release date) to get ready for The Force Awakens.  Someone (I can’t find out who) pointed out you can forget Episode 1 and not lose any plot points.  I wonder if any of the newest movies will refer to Episodes 1-3, which were, IMHO, cinematic garbage.  I liked The Force Awakens.  It seems like the biggest spoiler for The Force Awakens is A New Hope.

Leonard Cohen:  “There’s a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.”

 

 

Random Thursday for December 17, 2015

Even though I call this Random Thursday and say “unrelated remarks in no particular order”, people still complain about how these posts are disjointed and don’t hang together.

definition of random

 

I hope that helps.  (Thanks to Merriam-Webster)

UNRELATED REMARKS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

As a member of the radical middle, I hoped the GOP would go so far to the right that they’d go right off the map.  I wasn’t prepared for how many were willing to go off the edge with them.

I have some new songs to share:

This is All Will Be Well by The Gabe Dixon Band.  Anyone who is working in ministry, either professionally or as a volunteer, will appreciate this song.  It rings true and helps me through the frustrating times.  Lyrics are courtesy of Google PlayClick this link to hear the song.

The new day dawns,
And I am practicing my purpose once again.
It is fresh and it is fruitful if I win but if I lose,
Oooooo I don’t know.
I will be tired but I will turn and I will go,
Only guessing til I get there then I’ll know,
Oh oh oh I will know.

 All the children walking home past the factories
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true,
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

 The winter’s cold,
But the snow still lightly settles on the trees.
And a mess is still a moment I can seize until I know,
That all will be well.
Even though sometimes this is hard to tell,
And the fight is just as frustrating as hell
All will be well.

 All the children walking home past the factories,
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

 Keep it up and don’t give up
And chase your dreams and you will find
All in time.

 All the children walking home past the factories
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true,
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

 All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

You can ask me how but only time will tell.

Adding some balance to your Christmas music playlist:  Jackson Browne’s The Rebel Jesus.  Here are the lyrics, courtesy of Lyrics FreakClick this link to hear the song.

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants’ windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
They’ll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all god’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by the prince of peace
And they call him by the savior
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber’s den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgement
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan

On the side of the rebel Jesus.

 

 

Random Thursday for September 3, 2015

Referring back to my blog Six Degrees of Adolf Hitler, I’m happy to read how Richard Parker chose not play the Hitler card in a recent column in the Dallas Morning News:  “To put Trump’s bad idea [deporting illegal immigrants] into perspective, no nation has experienced forced repatriation on the scale he proposes since 20th century Germany. No, nothing compares to the Holocaust, so I won’t try.”  (Richard Parker, “Trump’s bad immigration ideas are a good chance for true debate”, Dallas Morning News, 18 August 2015)

Back in class after a summer off, taking Intro to Worship.  One of the instructors said when you sing together in worship, you breathe together (since the music requires it), but it also synchronizes the congregations heartbeats and brainwaves.  You are truly united in song.

Check out this video of a youth group race.  It’s so cool.  I’m going to have to try this.

dawes and mumford

Great song of the week:  “When My Time Comes” by Dawes.  I’m late to the party on this one, as I usually am, but what a great song.  Check out this video with Dawes and Mumford and Sons.  Goosebumps.

(Image is “Dawes with Mumford and Sons” by Stacey Kizer on Flickr.  CC BY-NC 2.0.  A different venue than the video.)

Random Thursday for August 13, 2015

Once again, Random Thursday is on a Friday.

I wasn’t going to give Trump any more time, but then Mark Davis, someone I don’t agree with often, wrote this in the Dallas Morning News (Tuesday, August 11, 2015)

“Every once in awhile [sic], we all need an inner voice that says:  ‘I shouldn’t say that.  It’s over the line.’  If we ignore that voice and mouth off anyway and get roasted for it, we should not whine about political correctness.  Maybe we should look in the mirror and learn when to shut up.”

Someone else (not sure where I heard this) said, “The opposite of political correctness is not vulgarity.”

That’s enough of that.  Here’s a couple of great songs I want to pass along:

lucius

Two of Us on the Run by Lucius.  Here’s the video.

  • “There’s no race, there’s only a runner, put one foot in front of the other”
  • “And we’ll one day tell our story of how we made something of ourselves now”
  • I served communion at a worship service this week and the band sang this song.  As someone on the road to being a second career pastor, I thought about the story I’d tell one day.

Divisionary (Do the Right Thing) by Ages and Ages.  Here’s the video.

  • This song came about as the band went through a lot of changes:  the deaths of parents and birth of children.  Great chorus.
(Image is Lucius – Greek Theater – May 2, 2015 by starbright31 on Flickr.  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.  Starbright31 didn’t invite me to the show.)