Tag Archives: music
Top 10 Albums of 2012
Hard to believe that it is *that* time of year again, but here we are closing out 2012 and with it comes the attempt to tier the music that has overwhelmed (and at times underwhelmed) our hearts and souls these past 12 months. It has been a year with some surprises to be sure – from the horse dancing glee of Psy with “Gangnam Style” to the recent (so-called) reunion of Nirvana … There’s more to read here.
U2 and Bonhoeffer’s cantus firmus: why we need music in our theology
In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, he develops an amazing reflection on the power of music to shape and transform theology. Given that I just finished a book on pop music and that I think most naturally in metaphors and similes (perhaps one of the reasons why parables of Jesus always made sense to me and the Epistles of Paul leave me generally dry and parched) Bonhoeffer’s … There’s more to read here.
Top albums of 2011
Choosing favorite songs is like friendship - sometimes it just comes down to who you sit next to in class, bump into while crossing the street, who you spend time with over a cup of coffee or pour your heart out to in the times of despair as well as times of elation. As much as Pandora is trying to figure out my musical genome and Amazon tries to tell me … There’s more to read here.
R.E.M. R.I.P. – It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I feel fine.
Music fans across the blogosphere posted and reposted the news that longtime Athens, Georgia band R.E.M. had decided, in their words, to “call it a day” and disband for the foreseeable future. As Michael Stipe said on their website:
A wise man once said–’the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk
3 Things U2 has that the Church needs: Life after Emergent and the “Iron Maypole” movements
“What can I give back to God for the blessings he poured out on me? What can I give back to God for the blessings he poured out on me? I lift high the Cup of Salvation as a toast to our Father To follow through on a promise I made to you from the heart…”
– Bono’s intro to “Where the Streets Have No Name”, U2 in Boston, Elevation
Bruce Springsteen, the Pisgah View, and letting the young become our leaders
In Deuteronomy 3, Moses is allowed to view the Promised Land but not allowed to cross the River Jordan, being told by God that his descendants will eventually enter the land:
“Go to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him,
Holy Saturday: Following Job beyond a Heretical Praise Song
Passion week thrusts us into a realm of uncertainty amidst the certainty of Christ that should unsettle us to our very core. As we sit now before both an empty cross and a tomb now filled with our Savior – is it right to wonder where this is all leading? To ask what is going to happen now? Sure, many Christians know how the story ends (SPOILER ALERT!) and the fact … There’s more to read here.
Maundy Thursday – The empty cup, Annie Dillard, and stumbling into the Garden with U2
The world of Scripture is a world of “limited good.” That is, everything that exists is perceived to exist in limited amounts, in amounts that cannot be augmented without depriving others. As we come to this point in Holy Week, we come against the limits of our lives and the limits of what is around us. After weeks of fasting and doing without, coming into Holy Week is often a … There’s more to read here.
Lenten music: Bonhoeffer, Dead Poet’s Society and the gift of being an alternative song
I wanted to share a portion of a letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer written to his friend Eberhard Bethge while Bonhoeffer was in prison. Taproot Theatre is currently showing a marvelous dramatization of Bonhoeffer’s last days called “The Beams are Creaking” and it led me to re-read his Letters and Papers from Prison. Given that I just finished a book on pop music and that I think most naturally in … There’s more to read here.
CCM as Lenten practice: Finding Larry Norman in the desert
Lent is a season of justice – it is a season of deep reconciliation, of bare bones truth-telling, a redirecting of hungers and longings that have gone astray, but it is essentially a season of justice. As I will tell students as we enter Ash Wednesday that they are called to remember along with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:19 that they too will “return to the ground from which they … There’s more to read here.
