Sittin here with me and mine All wrapped up in a bottle of wine Little we can do... we gonna see it through somehow So... now are you ready to go, my lady? All wrapped up in the firelight Don't rock bottom, just listen Just slow down
Sittin here with me and mine All wrapped up in a bottle of wine Little we can do... we gonna see it through somehow So... now are you ready to go, my lady? All wrapped up in the firelight Don't rock bottom, just listen Just slow down
My/ our collective purpose has been on my mind lately. It is so incredibly natural and easy to live without much regard for a higher being and His will and purpose for our life. Sports/ school/ friends/ family/ and anything else in the world you can think of can make us (temporarily, at least) forget what we are doing here. At this point in my life, maybe my biggest worry is what God's will is (more specifically) for me in the future. That is totally the wrong way to think about things but it is difficult not to do so. I too often wonder what my life will look like in 3,5,10 years. What are we called to do? Matthew 28: 19-20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." This says, to me anyway, that we need to build relationships with people while here in our mortal life.
Side note: I often wonder if my somewhat passive approach to evangelizing is the best thing for this purpose. Should I be actively seeking out people to tell about Jesus? I am certainly less comfortable with that approach, especially in today's uber-socially-networked/informed-highly-jaded world in which Christians manage to mar Christ's name so much. I have always tried to build deeper relationships with fewer people but I wonder about this issue often.
Anyway, Godly relationship-building has come to the forefront of my mind lately as what I should be focusing on. As far as the future, who knows exactly what is in store? Not us or me, that's for sure. But we do know that we should not spend our time worrying about things that are in God's hands (read: EVERYTHING). Another illustration of our purpose, John 12:23-26 "Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me' "If we spend our time focused on our problems, we will not die to our earthly life, and will not produce seeds. We must follow Jesus blindly in surrender.
What better way to close this point off than with a good ol' Grateful Dead song?
I told Althea I was feeling lost Lacking in some direction Althea told me upon scrutiny my back might need protection ...
Can't talk to me without talking to you We're guilty of the same old thing Talking a lot about less and less And forgetting the love we bring
As I listened to the Daraja Children's Choir sing at church this morning, I wondered why Americans in general are so enthralled by sugarcoated, uninspired things. No offense intended to the choir, as I rather enjoyed their 1st piece, an (to my semi-trained ears) authentic Kenyan spiritual song, and thought that the kids sounded great. However, the entire rest of the program consisted of Americanized pop/worship, with the emphasis no longer even on the choir, but the adult mentor/leader with his generic "soul" voice. The choreography that pervaded the show was also bothersome to me. I don't need to be entertained to worship. This is a trend (don't know if that's a fair term) that really irks me, the totally fake dancing/swaying/clapping that music ministers like to introduce to give the music an immediate emotional impact; but to me it just underscores the lifeless performance usually given to music performed in church. Forgive me for my callousness to whatever "Christian" music is....going to listen to the crickets chirping God's harmony outside right now...
Here is what many people (erroneously) consider to be the original example of modal improvisational music. In this song, I find inspiration for how I try to live my life- that is, keeping my focus in the right areas and taking things as they come. Let me explain a little. This newly invented "modal" style featured a fundamental shift in the way jazz was approached. Instead of complicated chordal changes, which effectively limited the number of scales the soloist could use to improvise with, the new approach was more minimalistic. The songs on this album (Miles Davis- "Kind of Blue") were very simple, with only a few chord changes that never strayed too far from the tonal center of the song, but this gave the musicians much more freedom when choosing notes in their improvisations, putting an increased emphasis on collaborative listening and choosing notes that sounded "right" within the context of what the other musicians were playing at the time. You might think this made the music boring (and I'm sure some jazz enthusiasts do not like modal jazz as much as other, more complex types) but in my opinion, this simplified approach is much more interesting and emotional. A mode is simply a scale (ie Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do). However, this scale can be rearranged (ie Mi Fa So La Te Do Re Mi) to create dramatic changes in mood (there is certainly more to it than that but I am not a musical theory expert by any means). You can hear an example of this at 3:55 when Coltrane changes modes and creates a more wistful atmosphere for about 12 seconds. Before this modal approach, the complex chord changes kept these note choices to a minimum, and the emphasis was placed more on virtuosity rather than beauty created in the moment in my opinion. This approach gives us valuable insights into life. Instead of letting the complexities/activities of life distract us from what is important (the "tonal center", or God, family, etc) it is more productive to use this center as a guiding force in our "note" choices. This ultimately gives us more freedom in our choices in our own lives, much like is referenced here:
Galatians 5:1 "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
The "yoke of slavery" here is analagous to complex chord changes in music, or the choices we make to take us away from our true focus in life.
Another parallel I draw from this music is how the spontaneously created collective improvisation is a also useful approach for our lives. I believe it is important that we are able to adapt to the world around us, yet many people simply do not choose to do this, instead keeping tunnel vision on their own day-to-day problems, prejudices, and opinions. Instead of playing the best solo that we can, while blocking out everything else, why don't we listen to the other players and create something unique and spontaneous? The recent earthquake in Haiti brought out what I consider to be an embarrassing example of this closed minded way of thinking. Pat Robertson implied on his show "700 Club" that the Haitian people are cursed because of a pact with the devil they made 200 years ago. To be clear, I do not claim to know God's designs for things, but I do know that it was hurtful to the cause of Christianity for him to make these comments. He should have been listening to the cries of the hurting people in Haiti and focusing on loving them and showing them Christ, rather than his selfish attitude of blame and scorn. To his credit, his company CBN did donate time and money to the relief efforts, but his comments drew the ire of people in Haiti (not to mention the rest of the world), hurting the chances that these efforts could be used to open people's hearts and minds to Christ.
Hope you enjoy the video, it is a watermark performance in the history of jazz.
