Some stuff.

Check this out. Apparently for several years there have been things called “podcasts”. People have mentioned them, but no one has really bothered to try and convey just how awesome they are. The other day, rather by accident I downloaded a podcast from the BBC News in Spanish. They have one every day. Frikkin’ sweet. Earlier today I ended up exploring other options and downloaded several sermons, and a bunch of classical music as well. I protest quietly the fact that no one told me about this. When I came down the stairs into the kitchen to convey my excitement the people said, “welcome to three years ago.” Well shoot. I had no idea.

I choked twice on beverages today. Milk and rootbeer. On one of the occasions the thing that got me was someone saying “Shuttlecock flap” it was a subtitle from a newspaper article I read around dinner time. Shuttlecock…tee hee.

The sun was out the other day. I got really giddy and happy about it. It’s odd. I don’t notice how much I miss the sun until it’s out there. Then it’s suddenly exactly what I needed and want to spend every waking moment out of doors.

There’s this song that we sang at chapel called “Days of Elijah”. Part of the words go “Here he comes, ridin’ on the clouds…” and then there’s a bit where we sing “It’s the year of jubilee.” Both of those things are sung in this super pumped up voice as though these are great things. It gets you into the song, until you start thinking about the words.

First of all singing about “ridin’ on the clouds” is a reference to Jesus’ second coming as described by Daniel. The second coming of Christ is not hailed in the bible with huge shouts of joy. It’s a scary thing. When you read the gospels the message regarding it is to “stay awake, because it will come like a thief in the night” It explodes out of nowhere and you’d better be ready. The day of judgement isn’t something to sing about in a super chipper way.

Secondly, when we sing about the “year of jubilee” we are talking about both a 7 year and a 50 year cycle in ancient Israel in which debts are canceled and wealth (in the form of land) is redistributed. If we sing that it’s the year of jubilee and we are North American Christians who don’t happen to be giving our money away at the time when we sing…then I submit that we are in fact missing the point and ought to be wondering if we can really sing the words in their full extent and mean them.

In summary, I feel that pumping a song full of imagery from the bible is good. However, it doesn’t strike me as quite so good when all of the imagery is out of place with the song’s tune and/or is in direct contradiction to what we are in fact doing.

Other than that nothing too big to report I’m afraid. Life goes pretty well. I am learning to live in grace more. That means that I am not playing my own judge and deciding when I am worth forgiveness and when I am not. It also means that I experience this strange sense of disconnectedness in which I am not quite sure how to orient myself in a strangely measuring-bar free sort of existence. I like it better than the alternative.