Another musical mood...

I'm in one of those bizarre moods right now where the world's best music is presenting itself to me. Here is what's going through my speakers tonight:

The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?"
Morrissey's voice is one that has been stuck in my head since I was too young to pay attention to music. The Smiths disbanded when I was just a baby, but this song in particular has been a soundtrack of growing up. It seems like every film that has a song by the Smiths on its soundtrack becomes a favorite of mine. For coming straight out of the 80s, this actually has some depth and meaning while also being a song you can blast with the windows down on a sunny day.

Peaches, "Talk to Me"
I was first introduced to Peaches about 5 years ago-- a friend of mine sent me what she thought to be a hilarious song called "F*** the Pain Away". "Talk to Me" is her newest release, and it's really raw, crunchy and bass-n-drums punky. Enjoy.

Emilíana Torrini, "Nothing Brings Me Down"
This tune is by the lovely Emilíana Torrini, a great singer from Iceland. Yep. Iceland has given us more than just Björk! This song has a sort of ethereal quality that paralyzes and captures me. I have listened to this one over and over and over today. This video of the song is a really great live performance version.

Antony and the Johnsons, "You Are My Sister"
Despite having a voice that initially reminded me of... well... a smoky version of Tiny Tim, I really have grown to love Antony's voice and his form of dark cabaret music. There are songs that if I were to listen to them over and over, I'd end up in tears. I'm on listen #4 or 5 now, and should probably move on.

Wilco, "War on War"
Simply put, Wilco rocks my world. In many ways, Wilco (along with Dylan, Lucinda Williams and Ryan Adams) have been the soundtrack of my college and young adult life. How could you not LOVE this lyric: "You have to lose. You have to learn how to die if you want to be alive." Listen to this song. Love it, and then listen to all the Wilco you can!

Beastellabeast, "Final Mistake"
This is raw. Another crunchy, bass and drums heavy tune full of raw sexuality and musical experimentation. Beatrice Brown is a wild and gorgeous lead woman to this London-based band. This video gives her an almost Courtney Love/Tragically California essence, and yet she's just a musical maniac from across the pond. This song specifically reminds me a bit of my early days learning the bass and playing along with Les Claypool, Flea and Mike Gordon. I'm really hoping to hear more from Beastellabeast in the next few years. Fingers crossed... perhaps some of my friends in radio can start playing them?

That's all for now. It's been a great day of music.

Grab a mop, suckas.

Being a committed participant in society sometimes means that it's okay to get dirty-- it's a good thing to stand by your opinions and beliefs, and that is harder said than done.

You want something to be done? Pull up your bootstraps and get involved-- make change happen if you want to see it in your lifetime. It's not enough to sit and point fingers and be such a whiney nimrod.

Obama spoke in New York on October 20th of 2009. The following quote is just too good to not pass on. I don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat, or one of those fancy Republican tea-bag break-off folks who rambles on about civil liberties, our founding fathers and an ambiguous understanding of the Constitution... this is true of any situation in which we are confronted with a messy situation.

"We understand exactly who and what got us into this mess. Now, we don't mind cleaning it up. I'm grabbing my mop and my broom, and we're scrubbing the floors and trying to neaten things up. But don't just stand there and say "you're not holding the mop right". Don't just stand there and say "you're not mopping fast enough". Don't accuse me of having a "socialist mop". Instead of standing on the sidelines, why don't you grab a mop? Help us clean up this mess and get America back on track!"

Wipe your whiney tears and do something that matters.

Response from Pastor Walter Kallestad

At the end of September, I emailed Pastor Walter Kallestad of Community Church of Joy in Glendale, AZ to inquire about the theological and potentially political reasoning behind his church leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA recently made the decision to recognize and support the ordination of homosexual clergy into the ministry of the church. Some churches, such as CCOJ have decided that this is unacceptable and that the decision was made outside the fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

Read my original question to Walt here.

His brief (and ambiguously relevant) response came yesterday, the 8th of October.

Dear Ian - I encourage you to re read Genesis 1,2,3. God's created order has a perfect plan for marriage and family. For anyone to redesign God's desires and designs is just plain wrong. Since the fall God has sacrificed everything to reconcile and redeem ALL creation.

Blessings,

Walt

This just stinks of ambiguity and misconception.

I believe what he meant by "Genesis 1,2,3" is actually Genesis 2: 24... again, what I would call "sound byte" scripture: a single sentence taken out of context found in a book full of diverse and conflicting ideas.

Furthermore, I asked for an explanation based on the teachings of Jesus, the very guy we Christians claim to follow, and all I got was a suggestion to read the first three chapters of the old testament? Really?? Jesus was merely a twinkle in God's eye at that point!

So, dear readers and committed participants, here's my question to you:

• What do you think about this issue and decision from a personal belief perspective (regardless of your faith background)?
• What would your response to this perfunctory message be? What questions would you ask at this point?
• As a participant in culture-- theological, popular, political-- what does his response actually say in regard to my initial set of questions? Does this give us any insight into how or why we should justify turning our backs to people who are simply biologically different than me?

I look forward to responding, and will post my return as soon as it is composed. Chime in with your questions if you'd like them addressed in my retort.

A letter to Pastor Walter Kallestad of Community Church of Joy

Recently, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to recognize gay marriage and allow the ordination of homosexuals in committed relationships. There are a certain number of small thinkers who have made a stink of this, and a noisy minority of ELCA churches are talking about leaving the church, claiming the ELCA's recent decisions to extend a Godly love to all as a main reason for their divorce from the synod.

One such church, Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Arizona has recently decided that a divorce would suit their congregation rather than trying to learn how to love.

Is nothing sacred any more?!

Here is a letter I just sent to Pastor Kallestad. I look forward to his response.

--------------------------------------------

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Good evening, Pastor Kallestad,

I just read the unfortunate news about Community Church of Joy's decision to divorce from the ELCA. I appreciate the attempts at an explanation on the church's website, but am left confused, as most of the scripture used as a tool of human justification was used without much consideration of context.

Regardless, I would love to hear a more candid, real explanation from you if you're willing to engage in such conversation. I read your quote from the ELCA News Service, "There is such a different direction that the ELCA has chosen, a path they're traveling on, and we really believe that it just was not consistent to where God has called us. And so we're parting".

After having read the three documents released on your website, my question stems from my understanding of the ELCA's direction and of what Jesus actually said himself in Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

As a people of faith, how could I even begin to use any secondary scripture to justify turning my back on people who are different than myself? Does this Godly love Jesus refers to only stretch to fellow Christians and to the state of Israel? Is this love applicable to only heterosexual sinners? I understand there is such a thing as "sound byte" scripture (Romans 1:27 for example) which, when used alone, is used to explain the sin in what is considered "unnatural" according to popular human culture.

But even in that case, the biblical and historical context reveals a deeper message. See Romans 2:1:

Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. Heterosexuals, homosexuals, blacks, whites, hispanics, jews, christians, muslims... we're all sinners. And yet, God loves us all just the same, whether we like it or not. There is nothing any of us can do to escape this love, grace and forgiveness.

Please help clarify this issue if you can. I would much rather have respect for the thought behind this conversation and divorce (er... "God's calling") than be left wondering why Christian culture in America feels like we can justify bigotry and angry politics with a loose, misunderstood scripture.

Blessings to you and the people of CCOJ,

Ian McConnell

Minneapolis, MN

ian.mcconnell@comcast.net

On Bob Collins' "Lutherans step back from the edge"

Woody Harrelson cracks me up

Apparently Woody Harrelson is being sued by a TMZ photographer for damaging his primary camera and pushing him in the face at La Guardia airport on Wednesday evening. He had just arrived back in New York with his daughter after wrapping up the filming of "Zombieland", his latest project.

Besides the obvious discussion about the paparazzo's respect of the privacy of celebrities and their families, Harrelson's statement about the situation, found in this CNN article, is particularly hilarious and TOTALLY worth talking about: 

"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland', in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character. With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie."

My love for Woody has just grown exponentially. That is awesome.

This speaks for itself... AMERICA!

This sticker is faded, just like the idea behind it.

xoxo,

a "saved" american.