Why Em and Gwyd Will Love the American South

So, I've come up with a little theory about why I think my Aussie friends Em and Gwyd are going to love the American South. Incidentally, this theory also helps explain why I loved Tasmania so much.

Both Tassie and Kentucky:

• have profound, and often unappreciated, natural beauty
• are looked down upon by the "cooler" parts of the country
• have a whole set of jokes directed toward them -- jokes relating to inbreeding, ignorance, etc. (Seriously, name one thing you know about Kentucky that's not a) the movie Elizabethtown or b) about hillbillies marrying their cousins)
• have a sort of homey, mellow coolness all their own
• have a legit, growing indie music/art scene

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. We'll see if my theory is correct.

Grrrrrrr...

The story of my life involves one rather irritating theme, and it goes a little something like this:

1. I like something that might seem a bit odd.
2. I am too timid to like it openly, and nobody understands when I DO confess that I like it.
3. EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE starts liking that same thing, and then I look like a joiner, a poser, a groupie.
4. That thing I liked loses its charm because it a) gets copied, b) gets dumbed-down because of its popularity, or c) becomes so ubiquitous that starts to be sickening, like eating too much sugar.

GEEKS. Three or four years ago, there weren't t-shirts in every teenybopper store that said "I Heart Geeks." There wasn't sitcom about socially awkward nerds befriending their hotcha neighbor. There wasn't a reality show pairing geeks and models. That skinny intellectual hipster look was only to be found in Williamsburg, NYC.

WHATEVER, PEOPLE. I LOVED NERDS BEFORE THEY WERE COOL. ARGH!

From "The Knowledge of the Holy"

"The mind looks backward in time till the dim past vanishes, then turns and looks into the future till thought and imagination collapses from exhaustion: and God is at both points, unaffected by either."

-- A.W. Tozer

Random, and Taking Bets

OK, so I'm currently taking bets on how soon some trendy seeker-sensitive church will tweak the Pussycat Dolls' new single "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" and turn it into "Oh Lord! (You Are My Destiny)" It has SO much of that cheesy-romantic language common to CCM "Jesus is my boyfriend" pop worship music.

Over/under on two months?

I'm on Spring Break this week. It's awesome. I'm catching up on my sleep, getting some projects finished, tidying my house for my guests who will be here on April 1, working on grades (a little), hanging out with friends... pretty good week so far.

I've also updated my other blog, the foodie/frugality one with a post about homemade cleaners, a links roundup for some great thrifty recipes, and a step-by-step guide to making your own yogurt!

Sorry the posting here has been so scarce. I just haven't had the time to post on a lot of theology stuff, and I'm mostly theologied out because of a series of great conversations I've been having with a friend (you know who you are...). I hope to get some more consistency here -- or at least to write a bunch of stuff this week and schedule some future posts!

Thoughts on Congregational Church Music

If you haven't visited Sojourn's music blog, you need to do a couple things. First, repent. Second, get over there. And third, as penance, post a link on Facebook, email links to everyone you know who is even vaguely connected to music ministry in churches, and go back to the site every Wednesday for the next ten weeks.

Bobby Gilles, one of Sojourn's lyricists and the blog's moderator, is going to be posting a series of short videos every Wednesday -- videos of a round-table discussion with Mike Cosper, Sojourn's worship/arts pastor, Chip Stam, founder of the SBTS school of church music and worship, and Harold Best, a well-known author and the former dean of Wheaton college, best known for his books Unceasing Worship and Music Through the Eyes of Faith.

This week's video clip is all about congregational music -- ranging from style questions to thoughts on tradition. Check it out!