prayer and fasting for kenya

hi.

this is an email i got from bill today. you may have received it yourself, but i thought i'd post it here today:


I just chatted with Ken Oloo, a friend in Kenya. Like many Kenyans he is feeling hopeless today, as another MP has been murdered and things do not look to be improving. He is obviously wondering where his hope will come from.

I told him that Kenya has good friends around the world (particularly in North Carolina :-) ) and that this is not a repeat of Rwanda where nobody noticed until it was too late. We don't know exactly what to do, but we are very aware of what is happening. They are not abandoned.

I was surprised that he found that small expression of concern to be so encouraging.

Kenyan churches are calling for days of fasting and prayer, and Ken and I wondered, as a larger expression of concern, friendship, and intercession, if we here would join them on Monday. I told him I would do my best to spread the word at CHBC, Emmaus Way, and Chatham, and he would do the same at Mavuno, MDT, Nairobi Chapel, etc.

So please spread the word wherever you are, in NC, Georgia, Wisconsin, California, Long Island, DC; join with Kenya in a day of fasting and prayer on Monday.

Please put this on your church's prayer chains, announce it to your congregations, talk about it wherever you are, make Facebook pages, etc.

Perhaps like many of you, I am not always certain of the purpose of prayer. I don't know what God does with them, if anything at all. It's hard to say how it works or even if our criteria for success is the same as His. Fasting is even more of a mystery. But I can see that Kenya needs a miracle and I am not too proud to ask for one... or at least I'll put my pride aside for one day.

landmarks, pt. 2

hi.

let's go back even further. here are a couple three-composition sequences that loom large in the landscape of western music:

ludwig van beethoven:
missa solemnis (1822)/the "diabelli" variations (1823)/symphony no. 9 (1824)

gustav mahler:
symphony no. 8 (1907)/das lied von der erde (1908-09)/symphony no. 9 (1909)

dang, those guys could write.

landmarks

hi.

i submit that the two greatest three-release sequences in the history of recorded music are:

the beatles:
rubber soul (1965)/revolver (1966)/sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band (1967)

radiohead:
the bends (1995)/ok computer (1997)/kid a (2000)

this submission is no real stretch, of course, but i welcome your comments/additions!

who needs rain

hi.

i am so excited that it's raining. we've needed it. i mean -- we have really neeeeeded it: they haven't let me water my lawn for months! now maybe i can!! YAY, GOD!!!!




[never mind the millions of people who are dying because they have not a clean drop to drink...]

"deep thoughts" by nat handey

hi.

you know how many pastors would look at most televangelists and think they're lame, inauthentic, money-hungry, and not all that good at preaching in the first place? do you think "real" chefs and cooks at five-star new york restaurants think the same thing about rachael ray or emeril lagasse?

just a thought (deep or not).

god bless yohe, ahrens, and dorough

hi.

a question for those born between 1967 and 1975*: why, when the boys and i watched their (our) newly-acquired schoolhouse rock DVD today, did tears come to my eyes? it was weird, but something i couldn't help.

*specifically, perhaps, if you were born in 1970 on either 10 march or 21 april.

true conversations, part 1

hi.

here is the transcript of an exchange last night between rachel and caleb:

caleb: mom, is "the grinch" in the bible?
rachel: no, it's not a story in the bible.
caleb: they should put it in the bible.
rachel: why?
caleb: god doesn't want us to take away christmas and that's what the grinch was doing.

the letter U

hi. three months, one week, and two days later....


i like the letter U. the letter U can symbolize many things:

- it's one way we can avoid expending too much energy as we email or chat with someone, but still effectively communicate in the second person: e.g., "i luv u" & "c u latr".

- it's how we can abbreviate the word university, as in "howard u.", or "UNC", or my alma mater, "wassamatta u."

- it's the 21st letter of the alphabet, helpful in spelling words such as umbrella, undulate, vacuum, and most importantly, untumultuous**.

- it's a picture of a change in direction, as in u-turn.

i like that last symbol, especially in this time of advent, as we consider the trajectory this world was on 2000 years ago. god sent his incarnation, and we all have the opportunity to accept this gift of love and repent, which mr. webster tells us means "to turn from sin and change one's mind". now, i don't look at the actions of my life and think, "dang...i really need to stop all these horrible things I'm doing and be a better person." frankly, i'm not sure god looks at our lives and demands that of us either. but he does want our hearts to turn to and our eyes to be fixed on him.

may it be.


** - this is the only word in the english language that contains five (5) u's.

"but the fruit of the spirit is....anxiety??!!"

hi.

no. it's not anxiety. but even in doing life in the spirit* i find, especially during this time of year, that's what is occupying the driver's seat. why?! i don't know. so i pray for my family and friends -- and heck, i'll even throw you the reader in there! -- that this anxiety and stress would somehow be turned into the spiritual fruits of (especially) love, joy, and peace.

love - that it would inhabit all our relationships and interactions: those closest to us as well as those we don't even know
joy - that we would go about even the most mundane events of our day with its perspective
peace - that it would wholly undergird us, especially knowing that most things are in Someone Else's control

yes.

*NOTE - i was gonna write "trying to do life in the spirit", but true spirit-life has nothing to do with "trying".

fired?

hi.

one hears sometimes of pastors and ministers (not to mention congressmen, CEO's, educators...) being terminated for a single act of indiscretion. perhaps it is right that they are.

but if i were to go to my church's elder board and say, "hey, i've been really inattentive and terse with my family recently", or "i've found myself lately looking too closely at all sorts of hot women", or "i am having some serious struggles with assigning too much value to material wealth and 'things' -- and i've got the credit card bills to prove it", would i be asked to resign? probably not. why?

is it live, or...

hi.

music is my life. you don't have to know me that well to know that well. i love to perform it, talk about it, listen to it, write it, recommend it, worship through it, see others play it, delight in others' enjoyment of it.

but what is music? seems like a silly question, right? is it the piece of paper with little black dots on it handed to you at choir practice? is it the cd you throw into the car stereo? is it the 0's and 1's dancing their way from your iPod to your earbuds?

i submit that these are all mere representations of music. (this is not a novel concept.) music is organic. it is alive. beethoven copied down what he wanted his fifth symphony to sound like, but in essence each performance of it, each interpretation, is a brand new creation. the studio wizardry that went into the making of revolver and sgt. pepper produced some unbelievable stuff, but i'm sure those guys would even agree that they are but snapshots, and that in many ways 30th january 1969 yielded a truer musical moment. it's also why jazz is jazz; the idiom's very nature is one of letting the music happen right now. kind of blue would have been a muuuuch different record (and the purpose defeated) if miles & co. had laid down the tunes in more than one pass.

you musicians out there have probably participated in an impromptu jam session at some point in your "careers". 'member that? you probably do, because it was such a moment! some of my most creative musical nuggets have come via extemporaneous singing or playing. it's magical. by both performer and listener, music is best experienced live. we must heed the words of a wise sage: "you gotta lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go (whoa)..." mmmm -- i can taste mom's spaghetti right now.

gotta go. got rehearsal tonight. can't wait.

[by the way, best live show i've ever been to: indigo girls @ war memorial auditorium, greensboro, nc - 23rd june 2005.]