Vancouver in the spring. Having my longboard with me has paid off tremendously.
My intent with this project was to illustrate the grandeur of Hong Kong that most people would never get to see.
Well, you definitely succeeded. This is spectacular.
Roger Lundin on his class, “Modern Literature and the Question of Belief” for Regent Summer School 2013:
In classic narratives of conversion and faith, doubt historically has often been represented as a phase that someone goes through before coming to faith — or as a crisis that leads to faith. But what we’ve come to understand in the last 150 years or so is that doubt is internalized itself within the experience of faith. And I think for so many of us adult life involves knowing that we once and felt and thought differently, and had a feeling of magical wholeness that we’ve lost. You become aware of yourself as a conflicted, self-conscious individual, a sexual being, and a being bound towards death. Narrative can help us by giving us the capacity to find in the record of the past — specifically in God’s faithfulness in the past — grounds for hope for the future.
I took a course similar to this one last year and was astounded by the power of literature to articulate the experiences which I had seen day in and day out in my work as a youth pastor. While I’m not taking Lundin’s course this summer, I sorely wish that I could.
Ladies and gentlemen: The (aforementioned) Dog Beach.
R.A. The Rugged Man feat. Talib Kweli – ‘Learn Truth’
Speaking of the diverse topics of hip hop…
Seriously, can you think of any other genre of music which can speak to these realities with such blunt, direct force? I don’t doubt that it’s possible, but this artform and its history are a gift.
NPR: Let me rephrase then, because I want to know what you think are the preoccupations of hip-hop these days? What are the things that you think the music is speaking to?
Kweli: As far as mainstream hip-hop? Molly. Sex, drugs. We’re in our rock ‘n’ roll phase, you know? Sex, drugs and party, party, party. That’s where it’s at in the mainstream. But you’d be fooled if you only got your hip-hop from the mainstream. One of the biggest hip-hop artists in the country right now is Macklemore, who doesn’t do anything like that. Macklemore seems like he’s coming from a sort of white, or suburban perspective, whereas I was coming from more of an inner-city perspective.
But the things that move people are not just found in the mainstream culture. So when we talk about hip-hop in general, hip-hop is preoccupied with life. You could find a hip-hop song dealing with any subject matter, but the stuff that’s being promoted and marketed and the corporations are spending major money on is the decadent stuff, which is mostly about drug use and sex. That’s why people get a skewed perspective of hip-hop. Hip-hop fans themselves aren’t even listening to that stuff. Most hip-hop fans aren’t listening to mainstream hip-hop. It’s people from other walks of life and genres who don’t have anything invested in hip-hop, who are pop listeners or who listen to whatever’s trendy, that are driving that. But when that stuff is not trendy anymore, you’ll start to see clearer what the subject matters of hip-hop are and how diverse they are.
Talib Kweli on Mainstream Hip-Hop and Honoring the Old School
I’m amazed at how much this man has influenced my musical and sociological sensibilities over the past decade. I’m posting this in honour of his new album, Prisoner of Conscious, which was just released yesterday.
Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss, 130.
I have often thought this to be true and envied those friends of mine who seem called to art, rather than to (explicit) pastoral ministry. You guys are luckier than you know.
(via ayjay)
Sarah’s Ode
I spent the last few days at my friend’s place in order to write my paper (he’s got exceptionally good air and sunlight in his home). Yesterday morning, I woke up to the following message from my wife:
There were four days of peace reigning across all corners of 3290, and on the fifth day a bulbous eight legged thing broke the solitude. The maiden was in a hurry but fearlessness, and the lack of an overexcited young knight distilled in her a killer instinct and a quickness in dexterity. In one fell swoop the wretched creature lay quivering on an envelope and with another deft whack, it was all over. With her enemy’s white juices dripping from her weapon, the heroine emerged victorious and undefeated.
But she had to catch her bus so off she ran unable to celebrate her latest conquest.
For visual evidence, see this post. In the meantime, I better go wash that slipper.
My commentary on the phrases “καὶ Ἰησοῦ βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευχομένου” (“and when Jesus had been baptized and was praying”) and “Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα” (“You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased”), for my exegesis paper on Luke 3:21–22.
My God — I never imagined that I would be writing sentences like these in my life.
On Change
It’s strange how quickly the circumstances of our lives can change.
Two years ago I was coming toward the end of my tenure at a church, completely burned out, depleted, and frayed.
Today I just finished my last small group meeting for a class called Soul of Ministry, and I feel reconstituted, reframed, and filled with hope.
There is still a long way to go. But I have been through death — seen it, looked it in the eye — and by God’s grace I am still here, in some new mode of life whose origins I cannot too easily place, much less call my own.
I guess this is what they call “resurrection.”
