holy heteroclite:

Bono's renewal of baptismal vows , officiated by an unlikely pastor; Part 1 (thanks to Angela Pancella)

2026-06-04T08:56:36.342-07:00

Having been a fervent follower of U2 since 1980, upon hearing "I Will Follow" on the amazing WPLR New Haven (Thanks to St Stoneman) I did (follow)...

And having been a fervent follower of Jesus since Spring 1983..

..when I had the chance, just days after signing on to that second followership, to see/hear/experience U2 at the New Haven Coliseum--a concert that was so historic and Holy Spirited that the leitourgia had no name, and inevitably they later had to literally blow up the arena (watch it here!), as no act could possibly top U2 (or even their alarming opening act)...

I decided to follow both Jesus and the band (the worship band formerly known as the Hype) even more heartily..

As one with wholly/holy obsession with said band , and an unrepentant bibliophile, these three books are among my favorites...and I own a few...

thousand.

Scot Calhoun, who directs the U2 Conference, has edited and curated these three voluminous (and luminous) volumes. Academic books about U2, including one on religious impulse? Order them yesterday.

Exploring U2: Is This Rock and Roll? (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011)
U2 Above, Across, and Beyond: Interdisciplinary Assessments (Lexington Press, 2014)
U2 and the Religious Impulse: Take Me Higher (Bloomsbury, 2018)

Today the spotlight is on Angelia Pancella's chapter in the third volume, "U2 and the Religious Impulse.".

Part of an AI-created collage about me

Here's what hit me on a recent re-read of this loaded chapter (which helpfully interacts with my friend Tim Neufeld's seminal "Crystal Ballroom" Periscope community/communitas of U2 followers, see pp. 166-168). The chapter is titled “Like Faith Needs a Doubt”: U2 and the Theist/Nontheist Dialogue.

Oh, before you go any further, soundtrack this coming conversation about Angela's observations with an opening act/prelude: the classic interview excerpt of Bono on Gay Byrne's "The Meaning of Life"; you can watch it below. See you after the break. You might even sense the religious impulse to be baptized/renew your baptismal vows after viewing this short clip...which may be precisely the the point.

Part of an AI-created collage about me

The short section I have in mind starts at 1:55 (though do watch the first section as well, as Bono masterfully adopts/adapts the classic C.S. Lewis trilemma apologetic ( popularly called the "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" apologetic).

Wow.. I hear that hushed silence from you after the video ended.

When I show this clip in class, it inevitably happens, even from non U2 fans!

That short section has moved me for years, not just because it is a humble, diplomatic but direct confession of Christian faith from the singer, but this particular exchange has often given me the chills and holy hush; it always felt deeply mystical...even liturgical..in a way I could never quite put my finger on..

Until now, thanks to Angela, who says on p. 162:

A video of an interview of Bono with veteran Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne, from his program "The Meaning of Life," includes an exchange oddly echoing the renewal of baptismal vows that take place in some Christian churches at the Easter:

Bono: I find it hard to accept that all the millions and millions of lives, half the earth, for two thousand years, have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter. I just —I don't believe it.

Byrne:  So therefore it follows that you believe (Jesus] was divine.

Bono:  Yes.

Byrne: And therefore it follows that you believe that he rose physically from

Bono: Yes. I've no problem with miracles. (Laughs] I'm livingaround them. I am one.

Byrne: So when you pray, then, you pray to Jesus.

Bono:  The risen Jesus.

Byrne: And you believe that he made promises which will come true.

Bono: Yes . I do.

 -U2 and the Religious Impulse: Take Me Higher (Bloomsbury Studies in Religion and Popular Music), Scott Calhoun (Editor)

Ah, of course, As the aforementioned Tim once said about me, " Dave, you know what I like about you? You always push toward the unobvious! You are gifted at seeing what others miss."; I now pay that compliment  foward to Angela, for helping/empowering me to put language to what I felt. It was so obvious/unobvious . What a gift.

The simple call and response.   The rhythmic cadence.  The simple  but heartfelt "Yes" of Bono's answers the the questions of the host/inquisitive inquisitor/pastor Byrne. And even though the interviewer has been characterized as an agnostic/atheist, Byrne didn't see himself that way. He was more of a struggling Catholic.   Someone 

called him "a loyal if questioning Catholic  later in life."

 His genuine interest in Bono's responses are based on decades of friendship . I felt he was even rooting/praying for Bono to  confess in a very Christ-honoring and orthodox way.

At the funeral Mass for the late Gay Byrne on Friday, the principal celebrant, Fr Leonard Maloney SJ said those who knew the broadcaster well knew him as “a man of faith”.
In his homily at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin, the Jesuit provincial said Byrne’s faith was not the kind of faith that has all the answers. “It was the kind that asks all the questions. link

Bono's "yes" answers called to mind the many riffs and improvisations on the word I have heard over the years as a pastor officiating baptisms/ renewals. Sometimes it is said tearfully and barely audibly ; sometimes shouted as if from a rooftop.  A student of mine's recent response was   (video here)

But something about Bono's quiet, confident "yes' resonates with me...and I know it spoke to Gay Byrne like no  armtwisting evangelistic sermon could. 

"All the promises are yes," as  St Paul asserted . . A confession of faith in summative one-word microcosm.

"Let your yes be yes," as Jesus preached.

'Oddly echoing the renewal of baptismal vows," Angela so articulately commented.

Yes, that's what I had felt but had no language for.

Echoes are important.

Here  is one version of the renewal of baptism vows:

V. Do you reject Satan?
R. I do.
V. And all his works?
R. I do.
V. And all his empty promises?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
R. I do.
V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.
R. Amen.

link

YES? One can say more; but cannot say less.

Also, don't get me started on the two words in the sample ceremony above; and Bono's last and final answer, where it felt right to "say more" and add  only two words: "Yes..I do"

Wedding language. Covenant echoes.

When I heard my parents say to each other "Yes..I do" upon my asking them if they renews their wedding vows on their 50th? Sacramental. Priceless. Spiritual. 

They are still going strong as they near their seventieth.

May it be with all who we baptize, marry and speak to.

And interview about the meaning of life.

Amen,

"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

"In  his interview in ‘The Meaning of Life’  Gay said this to Martin Sheen: ‘Suppose it’s all true, and suppose you get to meet God at the pearly gates. What will you say to Him?’After hardly a pause, the seasoned actor said: ‘Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.’”
“Say no more,” Gay responded. 
“That’s a perfect ending.” link

Bonus :Here is the entire episode with complete Bono interview:

Set Theory: Bounded, Centered and Fuzzy

2026-04-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Eulogy for my Uncle Arden Hughes

2026-03-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

FAITH!

Just recently, a doctor was giving my Uncle Arden a cognitive assessment, and asked him to name a word that started with "F."

The letter "F".

I hear my Aunt Karen was slightly nervous about what Arden might say (:

I confess I was a bit nervous too when I first heard this story. (:

But of course, in that test, my good and godly uncle's soul and heart were revealed to be totally in tact and gloriously in tune, even if there had been "cognitive decline"..

He immediately blurted out his only possible answer, likely with that characteristic grin that you all would recognize, and are missing today:

"Faith!"

On Monday morning, just before 9 am, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus asked him the all-important question: "What is the password?"

"Faith!" he immediately and intuitively exclaimed. "Faith in You. Lord Jesus."

"Enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes,

Servant indeed. How he loved to serve:

In church.

His neighbors.

On mission trips to disaster zones, as you heard my cousin Scot recall..

Student athletes on his Indian Hills Community College bus

His family and friends.

You who are here.

Even me.

Even me when I didn't deserve it.

Among the stories that were told last night at our family dinner table was this one I myself told.

Even though it was told at The Fairfield Diner, it was like a family campfire as the memories and stories of Arden's long and loyal flowed.

Even the silence spoke well of him.

The story? I still have a cassette somewhere, that when I find it, I will cherish , and transfer to modern technology, as I think it may be the only recording I have of his voice.

It said, and I quote..

,,And in an appropriately authoritative voice

Circa 1970..

"Upstairs, now. All of you!"

What occasioned this reprimand from my good and godly uncle?

Arden's three young boys...plus my brother and me ..were

in our common grandparents' basement, and apparently there was a rowdy ruckus. We became too loud and the youngest of us (look at Todd) was crying for some reason.

With me being the oldest of us, and I confess, ringleader, instigator and author of much mischief in this cohort of five... along with my dear late cousin Mark, of course ..

I may or may not have raised up enough of a ruckus to make very young Todd cry for help..

.,,from the only one who could save him.

And that one; his dad, my uncle's , voice was captured forever, as for some reason, I had the foresight to record all this on a tape reorder for posterity as we all dutifully headed up the stairs.

What I remember is how diplomatic and gracious he was, was his command to us, as the "all of us" meant "Even you...especially you, David!" He treated me as one of his own. (:

On Monday morning March 3, 2026 , just before 9 am, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa,=, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus spoke to him..in a voice not stern and reprimanding at all, but one as inviting, infused with grace and radical forgiveness...and more joy than you can you can imagine .. spoken to Arden ...and any other people of faith who transitioned into eternity at that time ..the all-important request:

"Upstairs!

Now.

All of you!..

And enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said something like that to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes Monday morning

But I did grow up and turn out alright. I even ..despite the odds, became a Christian and later , even a pastor.

And I am longer ornery...much.

Arden's mother Frances, as many of you know was a prayer warrior, and often sensed things from the Lord. She said he always knew that one of her five grandsons..,the same lively lot from the aforementioned basement would be called to ministry.

As you might guess , I was the long shot.

But as some of you might also know, she had heart problems ,and in the natural scheme of things, should have passed long before she did.

But she held on. Surely for many reasons. And many of those reasons are surely in the room.

But one reason was,...she knew .. And she knew I was the long shot

But the week she received news that I would starting seminary, and preparing for the ministry, she had the peace to let go and transition into the presence of Jesus.

And Arden and Karen continued to take up the torch and pray for me.

Lord knows I needed it.

And I stand here in this place today, with cold chills and warm peace as I remember as if it were yesterday what my good and godly Uncle Arden , the servant, said as his rascally nephew from California preached at his Iowa family's church, the Selma United Methodist Church not long after .'

He greeted me at the door;

no, before I reached the door::

"I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own so,"

And he smiled that characteristic smile that you would instantly recognize; the smile that brought you here today,

On Monday morning, just before 9 A.M, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus looked at him in love and said something like "I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son, ,In fact, you are my son. Enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said this to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes.

So these three quotes from my Uncle Arden--

"Faith"
"Upstairs , now all of you!:
"I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son":

--are three random and simple. and simply profound reminders to remember and celebreate his servant heart and always timely words.

Maybe some of you know Arden lived to play "The Farming Game" on Christmas Day.

This is board game, created by a farmer, to simulate ..and I quote the creator "the challenges and difficulties inherent in running a farm."

As I said, he loved to play this on Christmas Day..

...until , as Todd recounted yesterday, "one year the tornadoes destroyed his apple orchard."

Arden had the gift of holy tenacity, ruthless persisiteverance , patience and grace...and that word again, FAITH.

He knew "the challenges and difficulties of running a farm.," And a family. And a life on this imperfect earth.

Some of you farmers have had tornadoes destroy your crops.

But as Arden would argue, that does not ruin your life..

Or your Christmas .

I hear echoes here of the encouraging words of St Paul, in Arden's favorite Book:

"Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this calling ,we do not lose heart.,,'

But we have this treasure in fragile jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. " (2 Corinthians 4)

This is the man we honor, who did that, and encourages us to do the same,

This is also the good and godly man and servant who once insisted on driving the family back through the fast food drive-through , as the cashier had undercharged him...

..wait for it..

..By ten cents!!

Upright, honest, good and godly servant..

He would encourage you to do and be the same.

Some of you do know, or won't be surprised to know, that Arden was of course one of the key people at The Selma Church who insisted that the $25,000 in cash found buried on church property be given away in mission and charity. That's another story for another day; but a story all of you who knew Arden can easily believe.

Ten cents or \twenty five thousand dollars...it all belongs to the Lord.

This is the good and godly man who also did the following, which you may not know,

In the 60s, Arden decided his family would adopt for a summer a young child in an exchange program from of all places.., a place very different from the one you see outside the window here... inner city Chicago.

Imagine a kid from inner city Chicago being immersed in rural southeastern Iowa in the 60s .. shepherded by a farmer who knew "the challenges and difficulties inherent in running a farm. A farmer named Arden Hughes .

And a kid named Mitchell who in a way fit right

in with the other five boys you have heard about.

He didn't usually get mistaken for Arden and Karen's natural son...he was a

bouncy

bouyant

beautiful

black kid.

But Arden and Karen of course took Mitchell in as one of their own,

Wherever Mitchell is to this day, I am guessing he remembers with a gleam in his eye my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes.

FAITH.

That was one of the last words he said on earth, as you remember.

And it was likely the first word he said in heaven, as I suggested

And what I really and heartfully suggest at this moment, is that if you desire to honor my good and godly uncle l and his long and loyal legacy

I commend faith..

Faith in Jesus that leads to a life of service,'

Return that ten cents, or $25,000.

And remember to remember when we get to the graveside at Iowaville Cemetery, where many of my family have

headstones...as will many of you, by the way. .

Remember:

He is not really there.

Upstairs...all of you,

Those with faith in Jesus, those who have already heard the words that Arden heard on a Monday morning that began 44 miles from here, and ended in a place we can only imagine; words that we find spoken by Jesus in Matthew 25:23; words that I pray resonate and reverberate in your soul as they did so deeply in my good and godly uncle:

"Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy prepared....

The joy prepared..

. ...for you,"

'Fraught with references to things like blood, God and the cosmos..,putting all this pain and wonder into words" : "Kingfisher" by Prawn

2025-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

I find this album , "Kingfisher" (Hmm.. I wonder if the band has read Eugene Peterson? )
by Prawn great and God-haunted...

and largely lament

about holding onto faith (or not)

through the raw repressed grief of losing one’s (the singer’s) father years ago …

..or in the language of one lyric :

“ clarity in ambiguity”.

Nautical imagery is used effectively throughout.

Baroque ? post-rock? punk? neo-emo? prog? math-rock ? They’ve been called them all, and they are all partly right and largely misleading.

"Fraught with references to things like blood, God and the cosmos..,putting all this pain and wonder into words" Headsup..sometimes the words are F words..

I hear the album has been re-released by the band

Prawn · Kingfisher

as the double album it was originally intended to be.

------

Some helpful reviews (emphases mine)

From Punk News:

Prawn have always been one of those ensembles whose musical spread shimmered as a sound on the cusp of greatness. Their knack for rendering such organic, sincere tones in their storytelling while mixing up tenacious emo—based tunes really laid the groundwork for personal and emotive connection. Amid their dramatic commentary, they managed to come off instinctive in their sonic direction and as a band that really wasn't a copy of any other. Even better, their output helped build them as an entity that isn't anything too groundbreaking but still one that's hard to imitate. 2012's Ships and a split with Joie De Vivre earlier this year compound these points and it's a pleasure to share the relief and joy that Kingfisher brings. It's indescribable at times because it feels like a huge payoff for years of hard work. And rightfully so. A lot of folks immediately jump to bands like The Hotelier, Evan Weiss' projects and so many others in the field of contemporary (dare I say modern) emo but Prawn lay down a fitting statement here as to why they're ready to roll with the juggernauts.

The record is one that skirts around many sounds. You get a sense of the full range of the band and it's sure to surprise even their most loyal backers. The tight musicianship around Kingfisher assembles like a puzzle. The composition swings from melodic lulls and introspective themes to mid—tempo jangly hooks to ramped—up mathy sections —— all contributing to a strong sense of indie/post—rock diversity. Dynamic's the word I'm looking for. "Scud Running" opens with subtle horns (paying homage to the founding fathers of the genre in the '90s) while wailing around vocally like a juiced—up Arcade Fire.

The horns become more prominent on "Thalassa" later on down the line to really signify that while tribute will be paid to older generations of emo, Prawn's all about showing the new direction of themselves and of course, the genre. These are prime examples of the duality explored on Kingfisher which give deeper clarity and insight into the band's shift from twinkly, slow jams to pacier strings of melody. The loud, distorted sprawls layered over a much more focused front line further build a more complete and robust set of tracks. The dual vocals really feel assertive too which gives the album that extra kick. It's a more fleshed out Prawn this time around and that's something fans have clamored for for a while.

Rougher cuts like "First As Tragedy, Second As Farce" add even more indie flavor with their grainy, garage vibe to dirty the production a bit. It strikes a good balance with the calmer, polished gems such as "Old Souls" to further show how varied Prawn wanted the album to be. It's a very smart shake—up as no track comes off as repetitive. Bits and pieces do throw the listener back to stuff like older Park, Into.It.Over.It and one of the newer bands in the field, Donor, but overall, it feels like this is the album to distinguish Prawn from everyone else. "Halcyon Days" has a nice little progressive/experimental overlay to it which really brings forth the intricacy of the album. One that's more guitar driven than anything Prawn's ever done but still, one that doesn't compromise their character despite batting out of their cages. It's a great finale to round up affairs. Fookin' Prawn —— distinct, a bit more aggressive yet still holding true to their core ideals. Don't let this slip by. link

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From Spectrum Culture:

The first notes on Kingfisher make this whole affair more of an invitation than a record. Those guitar twinkles are so friendly, so human, they function like a friend opening the door for you to a surprise party. Prawn’s existence is something of a surprise. Who would’ve thought 2014 would bring about an emo revival so wide-sweeping that a group like this could overhaul what that genre’s come to mean while still functioning within all its nostalgic and keepable confines? After years of cynicism, Kingfisher is yet another signature on the petition that we should let music do what it does best: make us feel.

If the emo designation scares you off, you shouldn’t be afraid. There’s no sign of Fall Out Boy’s sonics here. If Broken Social Scene were a little more heart-on-their-sleeve and a little less cryptic, you can imagine them coming through the airwaves like Prawn does here. Prawn hails from Topshelf Records and this may be the revivalist label’s best sampler yet. The band cuts out most of what can make emo inaccessible to the average listener. The vocals can get a bit yelpy, but there aren’t any potentially off-putting screeches to be found. The guitars ride the balance between mopey and chaotic, always keeping a level of engaging, upbeat melancholy going from start to finish.

Great music usually functions within a particular structure while bringing in different influences to remodel that structure from within. It’s this methodology that allowed bands like Talking Heads and artists like Elvis Costello to be called punk in their day when they went against the grain of what was common to the genre. Some bands have the letter of the law, others have the spirit. When it comes to emo, Prawn is the latter.

Bands like the Hotelier and Modern Baseball are putting out records that offer teary-eyed pop-punk on a platter more silver than it’s been in years, but there’s no redecoration involved. In no way are their efforts cookie-cutter nor are they particularly different from what’s come before. They’ve studied the architectural style of their forebears and are building the same sorts of livable houses they did.

Prawn erected Kingfisher on the same foundation as their contemporaries but with different tools. There are moments when it sounds as epic as post-rock and others where it sounds as stripped-down as house-show punk. But even if there are many different rooms to explore here, Prawn still knows the rules. Flourishes only mean anything in relation to cohesion. Somehow, even when they sound like Explosions in the Sky meets American Football, that cohesion is present in spades.

The record is fraught with references to things like blood, God and the cosmos. Perhaps the reason records like this are making a comeback is simply because we need them. Detachment can only take you so far before you start looking inward and outward for answers. Kingfisher isn’t the answer to any of our existential crises but it’s a welcome assurance there are other people out there asking the same kinds of bleeding-heart, sensitive questions. The only difference between us and Prawn is they’re way, way better at playing their guitars and putting all this pain and wonder into words. link

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From Property of Zach:

Some things are so aesthetically pleasing they can only be consumed in small quantities over long periods of time for fear of overloading one’s senses and reaching a state of shock. For example, there’s a reason I tend to reserve eating chocolate mousse pie only around my birthday – if I were to gorge myself on its rich and heavenly textures I would reach a comatose state in little over a week. New Jersey emo all-stars Prawn and their latest LP, Kingfisher, are a perfect representation of this phenomenon; there is only so much perfectly crafted and richly produced emo music my brain can handle before it implodes upon itself.

Prawn have been quietly tossing pebbles into the pond that is the recent Emo Revival, creating subtle ripples here and there, but Kingfisher is no pebble. Rather, Kingfisher is the boulder shooting out waves in every direction, and the album appropriately begins with “Scud Running,” whose nautical metaphors seem to be a staple in the wheelhouse of guitarist/vocalist Tony Clark. Clark cuts to the bone with lyrics such as: “The sails are slashed, we’re fucked for sure. I’m waiting for the breakers. If there’s a light from that beacon I can count the distance in this thick hazy pea soup fog,” whose distinct imagery provide a haunting and vivid portrayal of love on the rocks.

However, Prawn’s strengths do not lie simply in Clark’s poetic virtuoso, but also in the musical aptitude of him and his bandmates. Prawn is a group where every member could easily shine as the star of a common band and Kingfisher highlights these diverse, yet concerted talents, to a T. From the sparkling guitar-work of Clark and Andrew Vilchez on “Dialect Of” that shoots out of speakers and into headphones like moonbeams on a foggy spring night, to Jamie Houghton’s immaculate drum beats on both “Glass, Irony” and “Runner’s Body,” Kingfisher is a true musician’s album.

Not only do Kingfisher’s ten tracks succeed independent of each other, but the record is also so cohesive that it becomes almost fluid, as each song comes off as a logical and natural extension of the last. Songs and chords crash into each other like the very breakers that Clark references in the album’s opening track, while each delicately placed guitar note feels like the first drops of a summer shower. On Kingfisher, Prawn create an emotionally poignant atmosphere that feels like another world and the experience of listening to the record is certainly otherworldly, as each track draws you further into a place of serene rest that is akin to nirvana.

The defining moment of this nirvana occurs just two tracks in during “First as Tragedy, Second as Farce,” which epitomizes the hectic, yet beautiful catharsis that Prawn have been brewing since 2007. Each chord in this truly epic track ffeels like a scream unleashed over the rooftops of a city that is truly invested in the hopes, dreams, and fears of the listener. “First as Tragedy, Second as Farce” is not just a release, but both a letting go and a coming together.

Prawn may not be the most hyped band coming out of the emo revival, but they are easily one of the most talented and Kingfisher is the most complete album I have heard in what seems like ages. The production is superb, the content is crisp, and the record is focused in a way that feels as sharp as a switchblade. With Kingfisher,Prawn are latching their hooks into listeners and I, for one, am looking forward to having them drag me out to sea. link

From Get Alternative:

Prawn’s new album Kingfisher is not a complete departure from what the band has put out in the past, as they clearly draw and incorporate influences from previous releases to expand and improve their sound. However, the album presents the listener with a new, refreshing, and energizing Prawn sound. Kingfisher is a compilation of ten thumping, bumping, and “sing along until you lose your voice” type of ambitious rock songs, that are much more direct and straightforward than anything they’ve released prior.

Most notably, the opening two songs on the album “Scud Running” and “First as Tragedy, Second as Farce” are a strong indication of the newfound sound. Ringing, technical musicianship previously associated with Prawn takes the back seat for thick, loud guitar work used to assemble memorable choruses filled with pleasantly repetitive lyrics that you’ll be reciting in your head until you spin the album once more.

As excellent as the first two tracks are, this isn’t to say that the album is free of a few minor missteps. Perhaps one of the weaknesses of the album is that it is too cohesive. Surprisingly, some of the slower songs on Kingfisher are a bit too consistent. While I am fond of giving the listener some breathing room, and a chance to collect his or her thoughts after a climatic point within the album, some of the breaks during the album were a bit too safe.

Not to take anything away from the band though, as these thoughts could be attributed to the notion that a handful of songs throughout the album are so unbelievably outstanding, that the feeling of being let down afterwards would only be a natural. “Dialect Of”, “Glass, Irony”, and “Thalassa” are three signature products of Kingfisher. These three songs fall closer to the experimental side of Kingfisher when viewing the album as a whole.

As alluded to previously, each song has its own signature sing along moment. The primarily bass driven song “Dialect Of” features the line “You’ve gone foreign now” in one of the bulkiest, and most boisterous points on Kingfisher. Intricate drum patterns and faint rhythms accentuate the beginning of “Glass, Irony” only for the song to take a deep breath before it explodes into a chorus that lets Tony Clark’s raspy, soft voice let out in mildly pleading manner “Let’s keep swimming to our bodies”. Finally, ‘Thalassa” strikes near the end of the album with heavy drums and thunderous horns, elevating the song as an undeniable stand out track on the album. Not to be outdone lyrically though, as it also includes one of the most puzzling and thought provoking one-liners in quite some time “I’m glad you found clarity in ambiguity”.

Kingfisher is an album that is challenging to put into perspective. Cutting right to the chase, the album is extraordinary at its highest peaks. On the contrary, after the peaks, the valleys are consistently inconsistent. Overall, the best quality about Kingfisher is that it has the type of “mass appeal” sound to it. It’s the perfect album to introduce to a friend who’s interested in rock music, but might be on the fence about listening to “emo” or something that’s “not on the radio”. Kingfisher is a mature album. It’s not going to catch you off guard with any quirky lyric or musical surprise, and that’s perfectly fine. In a time when so much musical experimentation is occurring, it’s enjoyable to know exactly what you’re listening to, and having it executed at a high level. link

From Spectral Nights:

fAter forming in 2007, releasing their first album in 2011 and playing extensively throughout the United States and in Europe (including a London show with our very own Our Lost Infantry) over the past seven years, Prawn have returned with their follow-up to 2012’s ‘Ships’ – the ornithologically titled ‘Kingfisher’. Complete with artwork of the beautiful bird on its sleeve, will this be the record to see them take flight?

The band’s prog-rock influences are laid bare on the mesmerising opener ‘Scud Running’. Rhythmic and confidently stadium sized, it recalls the likes of the Appleseed Cast alongside the more interesting elements of Snow Patrol. ‘It’s a long way away’ is repeated over and over again while the shrewd lyrics also offer a tantalising glimpse into the band’s thought process – and it’s pretty dark: ‘The breath beneath the services, it weighs me down…’. Being part of the impressive Topshelf Records roster, inevitably Prawn have been thrown into the so-called ‘emo revival’ and ‘First as Tragedy, Second as a Farce’ would happily sit alongside You Blew It! and Into It. Over It’s strongest work. While never forgetting the importance of a good pop hook, singer and guitarist Tony Clark bellows out the lines: ‘I am fucked. I am my father’s son.’

These reflective and self-depreciating lines are a common theme throughout the whole album. Even the more traditionally melodic ‘Prolonged Exposure’ features deeply personal lyrics (‘you’ and ‘I’ must be the most common words spluttered during its five minutes) and the slightly self-absorbed statement: ‘I last drank when you walked in’. There’s a touch of ‘Opus 40’-era Mercury Rev or The Antlers in ‘Dialect Of’, a fragile song that’s starry-eyed lyrics – ‘You carry me over’ – find a perfect foil in the post-rock guitars and marching military drums. The band head back to their punk-rock roots on the Lemonheads-y ‘Glass, Irony’ – a track that would also have fitted in perfectly with the mid-00s explosion of bands like OK Go and Hot Hot Heat… And that’s a compliment.

‘I never thought that the wind would be hissing your name into the leaves’ is the stunning opening line of ‘Absurd Walls’, an ode to heading back home to the East to reflect on the things that have gone wrong – and whether it’s all your fault: ‘I fucked it, you know it’. Ryan Adams-style mourning and self-awareness run throughout this song as Tony urges a close companion to live their life: ‘Go be with the ones that you’re missing, takes a chunk out of me to see you leave…’. With American Football-style guitar work, the song ends on a surprisingly optimistic note: ‘When you get there, I’ll keep up.’ Things are turned up a notch with the infectiously catchy ‘Thalassa’, a bona-fide pop hit. The band represent their New Jersey heritage with a touch of brass while the shout of ‘I’m glad you found clarity’ shows how sometimes it’s OK to let things go and run their course… It’s the perfect complement to the song that came before it.

Sparse post rock elements glisten throughout the introduction of the closing song ‘Halcyon Days’, while there’s also another striking delivery of some dramatic lines: ‘Bad bones in the flesh, bad blood in our veins’. Scattered riffs and beautiful melodies collide as the song falls into a finish that The National would be proud, complete with distinctive backing vocals and a throbbing drum sound, all while the band sing: ‘We keep fighting waves’. With ‘Kingfisher’, Prawn are set to make quite the ripple. Like the bird the record is named after, it’s bright, fascinating and sure to make you smile, link

From Pop Matters:

Kingfisher is absolutely fabulous and a thrilling discovery.

Zachary Houle

Prawn

Kingfisher

Topshelf

2014-08awn is a fairly low-key indie emo group. I actually stumbled across this Ridgewood, New Jersey-based band completely by accident on a download site for music journalists while looking for something else entirely, and downloaded the album on a whim just to see if it was any good. I’m glad I did. Kingfisher, the band’s sophomore release, is amazing. And it looks like others are starting to realize the charm’s of this heart-on-its-sleeve outfit.

I have a friend who edits and publishes my fiction in London, and, without any warning or prompting on my part, I discovered that she had shared a link to a Prawn track from Kingfisher on Facebook not long after my own stumbling upon this group. I wouldn’t be surprised, then, if Prawn explodes and goes viral with this release, which shows a real sense of maturity and heft that is absolutely stunning. Wall to wall, it doesn’t have a single weak track on it. Sounding at times like the Appleseed Cast in all of its mathy glory, and sometimes sounding like the National of old, just with the added vocal range of a singer who sounds remotely like J Mascis, Prawn deftly shows that they’re not a band to be ignored.

Like any best kept secret, Prawn swims the distance of emo-rock with a force that is to be reckoned with. The album opens with “Scud Running” and a repeated chiming guitar chord (you listen to it, and the guitar is practically speaking the words “chime!, chime!, chime!”) before the cellos kick in. There’s a very Broken Social Scene touch as trumpets get eventually added to the piece. It’s a chilling work, but one that is like an exasperation of trying to struggle and be heard. “It’s the floor I’m reaching for,” sings vocalist Tony Clark, “a breath beneath the surface / It weighs me down / It cuts me from / The line that you’ve been reeling.” But should you think this is a study in pessimism, Clark add, “If there’s a light from that beacon / I can count the distance,” as though he’s swimming towards something more uplifting, even as he realizes that “it’s a long way away.” And, in a particularly deft move, the band skids out of “Scud Running” with the brilliantly titled “First As Tragedy, Second As Farce”. The seafaring imagery continues on here, “I miss the breakers breaking / Everything I’ve known.” If Kingfisher wasn’t an album of music, it would be a nautically themed painting.

Usually, I can listen to the first few notes of a record, and determine how the rest of it might play out — a sort of music critic ESP, I suppose. And after hearing “Scud Running” for the first time, I thought to myself, “I bet the rest of this is going to be equally amazing.” I was right. Third track “Prolonged Exposure” has some very Real Estate guitars lapping up the shoreline of the intro, before everything blows up into a cauldron of shimmery noise during the chorus. Prawn continues working its mojo from there. “Dialect Of” rings like a clarion call, a forceful and yet delicate stab at indie rock that will get your head nodding. And then the band knows just how to simmer things down with “Old Souls”, with a guitar line that practically yearns with sadness and melancholy. “We’re old souls in new skin / …just waiting, waiting to begin,” yearns Clark. When the liquid guitars nudge their way in the bridge, you might just lose your breath.

“Glass, Irony”, which opens up the second half of the album, plays out like a long lost song by the Breeders, and, of course, the nautical themes keep coming long, hard and fast: “Let’s keep swimming / To our bodies.” “Absurd Walls”, meanwhile, sounds like a Modest Mouse track from their late-’90s peak. The guitars shimmer and glisten, and you might want to pull out your hankie for this one. That is, until the song turns into something out of Vampire Weekend in the last half minute of the tune. The horns make their reappearance on “Thalassa”, along with a refrain that is utterly bile-filled: “I’m glad you found clarity in ambiguity,” the words carefully measured and delivered with a fury and vile not heard of since the days of Hüsker Dü. Heft and power courses throughout “Runner’s Body” with a pummelling riff and frantic desperation in the rushing guitar lines. Final song “Halcyon Days” brings things to a crystalline close, at least initially, before churning into a thick whirlpool of sound.

This LP is carefully constructed and pushes all the right emotional buttons to great effect, balancing its angst-ridden lyrics with a sound that’s as clear as glass. Kingfisher is absolutely fabulous and a thrilling discovery, regardless if you accidentally stumble across this or not. Every dorm room should come equipped with this album, along with the standard food and lodging, such a revelatory and emotional disc this is. Tapping into the anguish of the young, this album reels you in seductively, and it’s hard to find any fault with it. Listening to this — particularly in my case, as something stumbled upon — you feel the true joy of indie rock, and why it’s vital and still matters. While Prawn certainly don’t hide their influences, the way that this record congeals and morphs between its sonic templates keeps the listeners interest and an ear towards the stereo. All in all, this is upstanding stuff and just one of those records that is such a pleasant surprise that you will want to hold onto it endearingly and treasure it just for yourself. But don’t be selfish: Prawn needs to be known about to all of your friends and loved ones. Go and get Kingfisher, and find out for yourself what I’m fussing about. Now. In the end, you won’t regret that you did, believe me.

link

"Wesleyan Vile-tality: Reclaiming the Heart of Methodist Identity"

2025-10-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite Wesley quotes ever:

And I love this book title which riffs on it ...

Thanks to Asheley Boggan for bring this quote back into the conversation(s) about where Methodism goes from here. She rightly asserts that, "John Wesley's entire ministry was framed by a submission to be more vile." (p.23).

Wesley's Journal:

"I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in church...

“At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation…” (, Journal of John Wesley, II, 31 Mar. 1739, p. 167 ).”

What time is it for Methodism? It's four o clock in the afternoon.

At Bristol.

We of the Methodist tradition are quick to quote a different time, date and place as where it all began:

"In the evening,I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." (Journal, May 24, 1738)

But one year later at Bristol, everything took subversive shape:

"Have you had a Bristol moment in your life?

A moment where you felt God calling you into something new and unexpected?
(Discussion question, p.22)

In a very moving section (chaper 1), Boggan recounts her own Bristol encounter, literally in Bristol on a Wesleyan heritage tour, interweaving it with her own personal trauma (divorce and death of parents) and the denominational trauma. That brave pilgrimage is one we all need to take! Thank you, Ashley for inviting us into the hard but required work of reflection which can birth a wholly and holy vile life.

Any who know my own traumas connected to discerning my calling as a Methodist pastor may be surprised I am not here to comment on the UMC/GMC divide, or conservative/liberal debates. (See

"We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott!" if interested.

It's no longer my fight; in fact it never was. I am a conscientious objector in the culture (and denominational) wars

But I was Bristoled an ATM in Fresno, California.

And I would love to be as Bristol-ed as I was Aldersgated.

I will let you peek at the table of contents, and these reviews of the book to learn more about how she apples the Bristol-birthed vile-tality in the current situation. She is well-versed in history, a great story teller, and the challenges are clamant and convicting A heads-up: many in our tribe are not aware of the Thomas Blair incident (pp 30-31) in which Wesley used his influence to spring a man accused of "sodomitical practices" (reminds me of the Pastor Artie Bucco story) from prison. Tell that story, Methodists of all stripes.

May Wesleyans ever be "prophetically offensive" (p. 107) and sovereignly and steadfastly committed to Jesus..and to true "vile-tality."

Have you had a Bristol moment in your life?

Note: I received a copy of the book from Speakeasy for an honest review.

Elton's "Rock of the Westies"

2025-10-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

All of these reviews are contradictory, and also not:

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

By Don Ignacio

Elton John Rock Of The Westies (1975)

As you probably could have gathered from the title, Rock of the Westies is full of rock songs, and if you read further into the title, you can gather that they apparently came from a place called “Westies.”

That’s right; you won’t find many ballads here. There is only one of them, as a matter of fact, and it’s called “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford).” It’s a strapping fine song with a nice melody and solid instrumentation, but you’ll probably notice immediately that it isn’t nearly as engaging as his other ballads. But we can forgive that (Right?) because the primary purpose of this album is to rock.

And ROCK, it does just fine. The nice thing about rock ‘n’ roll Elton John is that he’s pretty much always fun at it. Even in the 1980s when his career became stale, his rock ‘n’ roll songs were still enjoyable. They might not have been memorable, but he had a naturally good vocal chops and he generally attracted good musicians to keep them sounding punchy. The exact same thing can be said for Rock of the Westies.

That’s not a good thing, though. Comparing anything to Elton John’s 1980s career is not a compliment! In the 1980s, Elton John existed merely as a zombified shell of his old self where he lost his uncanny sense of melody and harmony, and making it worse, he didn’t seem nearly as keyed-up as he used to. By a large account Rock of the Westies was where that cancerous process had started. You can really begin to suspect something was up by the end of the album when the dull rocker “Hard Luck Story” and the 1970s elevator muzak “Feed Me” comes in. Man, those are flat and lifeless songs.

In fact, you could probably sense that in the other songs, but those were kept alive by a raucous vocal performance, great back-up musicians, and/or unusual “gimmicks.” “Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)” has a nice tune, but what ends up holding my attention the most are those cartoony guitar and synthesizer tones. So, it makes a good listen, but even then, it isn’t as captivating in that Elton-John-y kind of way. You know what I’m talking about! “Grow Some Funk on Your Own” and “Street Kids” both have cool, gruffy guitar tones, a solid driving beat, and an energetic vocal performance. Songs as spirited as those are impossible to hate — you might even start to love them after awhile — but it’s difficult to deny that they lacks the inspired, infectious quality of his classic stuff.

Even the album’s big hit, “Island Girl,” is a surefire sign that he was declining. Commercially he was doing just fine, though; it hit the No. 1 spot in the charts. I feel great and happy when I’m listening to it, but there really isn’t anything that special about it. Of all his hits, that’s among his least. (I’m saying this even though I gave it an A- … well, it’s still a good song!) Also a good song is the medley that opens the album. It has a fun beat and a nice melody.

But what pushed that over the edge is how he layered the “Yell Help” and “Wednesday Night” sections together toward the end. You wouldn’t think they would go well together, but they did! Nice touch! And the end where the band plays a funky beat as fast as they could is nutty, and that’s another point in its favor. I also enjoyed the ending track “Billy Bones and the White Bird” with that thundering drum beat and that unexpected and beautiful chorus section he worked in. That was the best ending I could have hoped for.

Even though I said constantly that this album was the beginning of the end for Elton John, it was a gradual process for him. There’s still enough about Rock of the Westies that is good and holy, and it would be a good album to possess if you really like his earlier stuff. Just make sure and don’t listen to the bonus tracks. They are the worst bonus tracks of all time! One of them is something similar to the title track from Captain Fantastic except it’s stale and entirely forgettable. The second one is a piano ballad ………….. and it’s by far the worst, most tedious piano ballad I ever heard him do.

This all points to Blue Moves, the tedious double-album monster. link

By Michael A Little:

Graded on a Curve:
Elton John,
Rock of the Westies

St back, kids, and I’ll tell you about the baddest punk of them all. No, I’m not talking about Johnny Rotten or Richard Hell or Sid Vicious even. No, I’m talking about Captain Fantastic, The Big E—that’s right, Elton John his tough mofo self. Sure, he’s better known for such anthemic softballs as “Your Song,” “Somebody Saved My Life Tonight,” and that awful piece of treacle “Candle in the Wind.” But John is the same rock’n’roll badass who gave us “The Bitch Is Back,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock’n’Roll),” “Midnight Creeper,” and “Street Kids,” the last of which is off Sir Surly’s punkest LP of them all, 1975’s Rock of the Westies.

In a deliberate effort to be misunderstood, because every good punk wants to be misunderstood, John larded his earlier LPs with love songs, broken heart songs and the like. He threw in lots of oddball tunes as well; the great “Solar Prestige a Gammon” is made up of nonsense words, “Social Disease” is a hillbilly ode to living life as a form of human syphilis, and “Teacher I Need You” is “Hot for Teacher” years in advance. As for the great “Bennie and the Jets,” who else could have conceived of such a thing? And who but Elton John would have thought to write a song called “I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself” and fit it up with a bona fide tap dance solo? That right there is a real punk move for sure.

But on Rock of the Westies Elton John is feeling scurvy and ready to put the boot in. “No more Mr. Tender Genitals,” I can hear him thinking. “I’m the bitch who gets high every evening sniffing pots of glue.” And so he went and he co-wrote a bunch of evil-ass tunes and he went and he set Davey Johnstone’s guitar on stun and then he went to business, kicking out the motherfucking jams.

Not every song on Rock of the Westies is a bitch slap. But John, who was evidently in a nasty and drunken funk at the time, only offers up two of his much-renowned slow dancers. “Feed Me” is a throwaway and makes me think Elton was listening to lots of Steely Dan at the time, while the wonderful “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)” is a breakup anthem for the ages, and provides solid forensic evidence that while Bernie Taupin is no John Keats (or even Rod Stewart), he has his moments.

On a tougher note, “Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)” is some brazen honky tonkin’ music, while both “Island Girl” (she’s six foot three and black as coal!) and “Grow Some Funk of Your Own” (which features some switchblade guitar and one great piano) will rock you all the way to Jamaica, thanks to Ray Cooper of the castanets, conga, maracas, vibraphone and I could go on but won’t. Meanwhile, “Street Kids” is as feral a cut as any John has ever written, while “Billy Bones and the White Bird” is all drum crash and tough talk, with some funky synthesizer work by James Newton-Howard tossed in.

“Hard Luck Story” is mean and lean and benefits, as did “Grow Some Funk of Your Own,” from the frantic percussion work of Cooper. A great chorus, one funky bass, and great backing vocals also help. As for “Medley (Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly)” it comes at you like one of Marc Bolan’s funkier contributions to Western Culture before morphing into a glittering glam confection, and from there growing as ugly and mean as its title. John practically snarls his way back to the song’s beginning, from whence the tune takes off into hyperspace with Cooper earning double pay on the congas and LaBelle providing some glorious vocals.

So forget John Lydon. Were he and Elton John Elton to meet face to face, the latter would merely laugh before pushing Lydon into the closest gutter, tearing the safety-pin from his shirt in the process. Because Elton John is the nastiest piece of work you’ll ever run across. Don’t let the outrageous eyeglasses or that “I was best friendsies with Lady Di” bullshit fool you. Reginald Dwight is a regular droog and always up for a bit of ultraviolence. And if you’re smart, you’ll stay out of his way.

GRADED ON A CURVE:
A

link

from Johh Visconti:

Revisiting Elton John’s “Rock of the Westies”

For Elton John, 1975 was a peak year in his ascension into the rock and roll stratosphere. His most recent disc, the autobiographical Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts upon release, the first time an artist had ever accomplished that feat. The success of Captain Fantastic rounded out an impressive run of albums and singles released by Elton throughout the last several years. But when he arrived at Colorado’s Caribou Ranch studio to begin work on his tenth album, there were changes afoot, in both the band’s lineup and Elton’s signature sound.

Long-time bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson were replaced by Kenny Passarelli and Roger Pope, respectively. Keyboard player James Newton Howard and guitarist Caleb Quaye also joined the group. Both Pope and Quaye had played with Elton on earlier albums, and these additions to the group joined guitarist Davey Johnstone and percussionist Ray Cooper at the recording sessions, which took place during the summer of 1975, with long-time producer Gus Dudgeon behind the boards. The album’s title, Rock of the Westies, was a bit of a pun on the location of the studio, which was “west of the Rockies.”

Rock of the Westies is something of a transitional record in Elton’s oeuvre. He appeared to be trying for a loose, funkier sound, less dependent on the majestic sweep of songs like “Indian Sunset” and albums like Madman Across The Water, with a vibe more akin to tracks like “Amy” from Honky Chateau. “Medley: Yell Help-Wednesday Night-Ugly,” is an amalgam of rock and soul, featuring vocals from Labelle, and “Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future),” is a percussive tune based on a popular British comic book character. “Street Kids” is a hard-rocking number featuring excellent backing work from the band.

The album’s biggest hit was “Island Girl,” a tale about a Jamaican lady of the night, which notched the number one spot in the US. “Feed Me” a tune about giving in to your excesses, has something of a jazzy feel, reminiscent of Steely Dan. “Hard Luck Story” was originally written for Kiki Dee (who provides backing vocals on the album) by Elton and longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Guitar maestro Davey Johnstone is credited as a co-writer on the rollicking “Grow Some Funk of Your Own” which features Elton and the band rocking out and creating some deep grooves.

While the album is filled with crunchy tunes like “Billy Bones and the White Bird” there’s a nod to the classic Elton ballads of the past. One of the best tracks on Rock of the Westies is “I Feel Like A Bullet (in the Gun of Robert Ford)” which uses Old West imagery to illustrate the bitter end of a relationship, recalling John/Taupin compositions from albums like Tumbleweed Connection. The song, featuring a wonderful vocal performance by Elton, was released as a double A-side single with “Grow Some Funk of Your Own,” and traveled up to number 14 on the charts.

Rock of the Westies was issued in October 1975, just five months after Captain Fantastic, and like that disc, it entered the charts at number one. Reviews in the music press were mixed, though some critics, like Robert Christgau, praised the record. A number of fans cite the album as a favorite, while others consider it one of Elton’s weaker efforts. I was a little disappointed by the record when it first came out, as I didn’t think it represented Elton and Bernie’s strongest work, though it’s grown on me over the years. Rock of the Westies, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is notable in Elton’s discography for leading to further musical explorations on records like Blue Moves and A Single Man. It also signaled the end of his classic period, and his overall domination of the charts in the 1970s, though there would be more hits, and more terrific albums, to come in the future.

link

Rock Of The Westies’: Yet Another Peak In Elton John’s Stunning Career

Continuing Elton John’s unbeatable run in

the 70s, the ’Rock Of The Westies’ album found him scaling

ever greater heights

The real ending/epic epilogue of the 21 Pilots Lore/Saga/Storyline?

2025-10-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

photo credit

The 21 Pilots ten-year, five-album (though I Could say twelve year, six album) conceptual series /song cycle/concept album(s)/story/storyline ...often called "The Lore" (see this)....of Blurryface, Clancey, the evil bishops of Dema and company is apparently over..,.

...or is it?

So much to say about this ten-year trip. Do check out a summary or two online if this is new territory,

Like many concept albums (or movie trilogies!), the last song didn't seem to end quite up to snuff or expectations. Satisfactory? Yes, but something seemed missing.

The task of finishing triumphantly, or shockingly, may be impossible, especially with long, dramatic, sometimes convoluted storylines

. The Who's "Tommy" (by most accounts, the first rock opera/truly concept album) ended strong with the finale song.

Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" ended fairly well with "It", but it was anticlimactic and generic ; as Tony Banks recently ) expressed (Who could top Supper's Ready's" return of Christ ?)

Though I have lamented abut U2 endings; I will not complain about the ending of U2's quasi-concept album, "No Line." It didn't end with a bang, but a whisper; but what a holy hush!

And I once wrote about Pink Floyd:

Even though the double "Wall" album, and concert, ended with a short piece, "Tear Down the Wall," and that seemed like a good thing; it is not so good. In the record’s scenario, once we tear down the walls that keep us from others and reality, instead of freedom, we find our worst nightmare: there’s nothing behind it! We are hopeless, and now to make matters worse, naked, and in front of an enemy. A careful listener will hear, after the sounds of the wall crumbling, the "real last song" of the Floyd record, which numbly submits to circumstances , and coldy bends the arc full circle (literally in this case..I’ll explain) from fear to… fear. The last voice one hears at the end of side 4 (remember records? This was a double album; so four sides) is someone quietly saying something that gets cut off mid-sentence: "Isn’t this where…", and the sentence (as one discovered later) was "continued" at the beginning of side 1: "…we came in." "Isn’t "Isn’t this where we came in?" Clever tactic, depressing thesis: The record (literally) comes full circle (literally); life (spiritually) is endless circle; spiraling through the grooves of the record, and life, into nothingnumbness. Even if we do tear down a wall, we’ll build another and another...link

And thought more at this link: Gregory of Nyssa and Green Day: death/birth of the concept of the concept album)

Don't get me started on "well-ended songs that end well by not ending well"...
But I started that conversation here in honor of Ray Bradbury).

I love the "Clancy" series, no matter how it ends.

Note that several thought the storyline was over, though hanging, with the fourth installment
But everyone eventually agreed, and band seemed to confirm, it closes with the closer of the fifth, "Breach."

Or does it?

In typically subtle, sneaky and subversive Pilots fashion, a few weeks after the final final album was released, out of nowhere, an epilogue, (coda? alternative ending?) was dropped as a download on the deluxe album version, called the Digital Remains edition, and it's officially behind a paywall for now,,

Or is it?

This is the real, and really satisfying. ending.

Happier, even.

The devil loses. God wins, Christus Victor.

This amazing loaded video by a fan who started tracking and tracing the story when he was 14, and is now 24, should be watched and full, but today, watch from 1:35:52 to learn about the two closing songs.
Then test drive the two candidates for closing hymn below.

I like them both, but I think #2 wins.

Or does it?

Cast your vote. But know that my name is Blurryface ...and I care what you think. (:

Intentions lyrics:

=
I am starting it all over once again
Did I learn a thing?

Intentions are everything

Intentions will set you free

You will fail most every day and every way
Did you learn a thing?

Intentions lack memory

Intentions will set you free

Just try to be

===

Here is one review: of the other ending::

‘Drag Path’: The Meaning of Twenty One Pilots’ Epic Finale

14/09/2025 by Songs Discussion

“Drag Path” by Twenty One Pilots is a cinematic and deeply allegorical track that serves as a powerful narrative of capture, faith, and ultimate rescue. The song’s core meaning centers on a protagonist who, while being dragged away by a demonic, devil-like force, makes the conscious and courageous choice to deliberately leave a trail of clues—a “drag path”—as an act of profound faith that a loved one or a community will follow this evidence and save him. It is a triumphant story about finding salvation through unwavering trust in others, even in the absolute darkest of nights.

Introduction to the Song

Released on September 12, 2025, “Drag Path” is the fourteenth and final track on Twenty One Pilots’ fictional new album, Breach. As the album’s closer, the song provides an epic and emotionally satisfying conclusion to the tumultuous journey of the entire project. Musically, “Drag Path” is likely a dynamic and cinematic alternative rock anthem, building from tense, narrative-driven verses to a powerful, pleading chorus, and finally resolving into a continued here

and this:

For now (it may well get removed), here is "Drag Path (Devil's Eyes)"

Drag Path lyrics:

When I see the devil's eyes
A current travels down my spine
He found me
Seems as though I've lost again
A story told ad nauseam
He found me
Maybe once or twice or three
He's tried his hand at drowning me
But I'm still on fire
At least, I'm pretty sure

When I see the devil's eyes
I'll look away and smile wide
You found me
'Cause then I'll know you're also there
'Cause proof is in the adversere
You found me

A drag path etched in the surface
As evidence I left there on purpose
A sad sack, laying on the surface
Can you find me?
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path, etched in the surface
Can you find me?

Would you
Please, please hurry
Would you
Please, please hurry

Can you, can you, can you, can you?

A drag path, etched in the surface
As evidence I left there on purpose
A sad sack, laying on the surface
Can you find me? (Can you, can you find me?)
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path, etched in the surface
Can you find me?

Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)
Can you find me? (Can you find me?)

Then the sun begins to rise
We made it through the darkest night
You found me

lamenting in packs

2025-09-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

image credit: from a post by Brian and Peri Zahnd, Laughter and Lament, recommended

From "Crowds and Power," by Canetti, pp.143ff:

The face of the earth has been changed by the religions of lament and, in Christianity, they have attained a kind of universal validity. What is it then which has endowed them with their power of resistance? What is it that has procured for these religions originating in lament their peculiar persistence during millennia?

The legend around which they form is that of a man or a god who perishes unjustly. It is always the story of a pursuit, a hunt, or a baiting, and there may also be an unjust trial. In the case of a hunt, the wrong creature will have been struck down, the foremost hunter instead of the animal which is being pursued. This animal, in a kind of reversal, may have attacked the hunter and wounded him fatally, as in the story of Adonis and the boar. This is the one death which should not have taken place, and the grief it arouses is beyond all measure.

It may be that a goddess loves and laments the victim, as Aphrodite Adonis. In her Babylonian shape the goddess’s name is Ishtar, and Tammuz is the beautiful dead youth. Among the Phrygians it is the mother goddess Cybele who grieves for Attis, her young lover. In Egypt it is Isis who has lost her husband Osiris. But it can also happen – and this is the later and no longer mythical case – that a group of relatives and disciples lament the dead, as they do Jesus, or Husain, the Grandson of the Prophet and the true martyr of the Shiites.

The hunt, or pursuit, is pictured in all its details; it is a precise story, very concrete and personal. Blood always flows; even in the most humane of all Passions, that of Christ himself, we find wounds and blood. Each of the things which compose the Passion is felt to be unjust; the further removed from mythical times, the stronger becomes the tendency to prolong the passion and to fill it out with human details. The hunt, or baiting, is always experienced from the point of view of the victim.

Around his end a lamenting pack forms, but the lament has a particular tone; the dead man has died for the sake of the people who mourn him. Whether he was their great hunter, or had another and higher value for them, he was their savior. His preciousness is stressed in every possible way; it is he, above all that should not have died. His death is not recognized by the mourners. They want him alive again.

It begins with the few faithful who stand beneath the cross; they are the kernel of the lament. At the first Whitsuntide there were possibly 600 Christians; at the time of the Emperor Constantine about 10 million. But the core of the religion remains the same; it is the lament. Why is it that so many join the lament? What is its attraction? What does it give people?

To all those who join it the same thing happens: a hunting or baiting pack expiates its guilt by becoming a lamenting pack. Men lived as pursuers and as such, in their own fashion, they continue to live. They seek alien flesh, and cut into it, feeding on the torment of weaker creatures; the glazing eye of the victim is mirrored in their eyes, and that last cry they delight in is indelibly recorded in their soul. Most of them perhaps do not divine that, while they feed their bodies, they also feed the darkness within themselves. But their guilt and fear grow ceaselessly, and, without knowing it, they long for deliverance. Thus they attach themselves to one who will die for them and, in lamenting him, they feel themselves as persecuted. Whatever they have done, however they have raged, for this moment they are aligned with suffering. It is a sudden change of side with far-reaching consequences. It frees them from the accumulated guilt of killing and from fear that death will strike at them too. All that they have done to others, another takes on himself; by attaching themselves to him, faithfully and without reserve, they hope to escape vengeance.

Thus it appears that religions of lament will continue to be indispensable to the psychic economy of men for as long as they remain unable to renounce pack killing.

Of all the traditional religions of lament which could be adduced for doser consideration that of the Islamic Shites is the most illuminating.

The cults of Tammuz and Adonis, of Osiris and Attis are also relevant.

Bat they all belong to the past and are known only from cuneiform or hieroglyphic texts, or from the writings of the classical authors of antiquity, and, though these reports are invaluable, it will be more convincing if we concern ourselves with a faith which still exists today in a living and unweakened form

The most important of all the religions of lament is Christianity, and something will have to be said about it in its Catholic form. But from among the crucial moments of Christianity, the moments of true mass excitement, I propose to choose for description, not a moment of genuine lament, which has become rare, but another: the Feast of the Resurrection in the Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Link to entire book as a PDF

back to blogging? or something else Subtacky? or settle for Spacebook? or..........

2025-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

photo credit and related article

There have been rumblings (I can never use that word anymore without a link to Neil Young) about a renaissance/kickstart of blogging, especially those of us who you used to resonate with the emerging church (whatever that was or is) or this with church and culture emphases...

Is it too late?

How I miss those blogs who disappeared (Next Reformation, Denver in Translation, anybody?) . Check all the links on my right-hand column, and my "Lotsa Lynx" graveyard, to see when the dozens (OK, hundreds?) of blogs I once clung to , were most recently updated.

Some have migrated to Substack (do check out Cathleen Falsani: This Numinous World, for starters.

One of the pioneers , Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi) posted on Facebook last year:

"I believe that Substack is bringing back blogging. Not that blogging is dead, but it’s offering a place where blogging can co-exist with social media in a more seamless way." (HUNTER BURGTORF, 'Why Substack is the new blog)
I don't plan on joining Substack but I see that a lot of my friends are using it as a place for long-form text-based blogging. I would like to hear your thoughts. Many of you just feel the need to write, to get those thoughts out of your head and into the internet, to "publish glad tidings" daily. I can relate. Sometimes I post a thought on Facebook and then make it invisible. Sometimes, we just need to write for ourselves.
I used to blog many times a day on blogger but moved to Typepad because they had an integrated comment system and the graphics were cleaner. I should have stayed with the same platform.
I moved to Wordpress later but, like many bloggers, was inundated by anonymous troll commenters and decided to use Facebook as a safer place to share my thoughts.
I have not blogged for a long time but am now thinking that my site should be a home-base, a dashboard for all my social media streams, especially as I look at Twitch as a place where I can stream my thoughts in real time and enjoy conversation in the comments with the help of AI to moderate and enhance.
Any thoughts? Link

Heck, as you can see below, once I click to publish this post, 2025 will be my most active year here....since 2017.

Can we party like it's 1999 again?

No, but I will post this anyway...and it will show up on Facebook, where interaction happens.

Though feel free to blow me away and comment below..

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Conversion, Culture and Cognitive Categories by Paul Hiebert (bounded and centered sets)

2025-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Conversion, Culture and Cognitive Categories
Hiebert, Paul G. 1978.
‘Conversion, Culture and Cognitive Categories’. Gospel in Context 1 (4):24-29.

How much must Papayya ‘know’ about the Gospel to be converted? by Paul G. Hiebert

Can an illiterate peasant become a Christian after hearing the Gospel only once? And, if so, what do we mean by conversion?

Imagine, for a moment, Papayya, an Indian peasant, returning to his village after a hard day's work in the fields. His wife is still preparing the evening meal, so, to pass the time, he wanders over to the village square. There he notices a stranger surrounded by a few curiosity seekers. Tired and hungry, he sits down to hear what the man is saying. For an hour he listens to a message of a new God, and something which he hears moves him deeply. Later he asks the stranger about the New Way, and then, almost as if by impulse, he bows his head and prays to this God who is said to have appeared to humans in the form of Jesus. He doesn't quite understand it all. As a Hindu he worships Vishnu who incarnated himself as a human or animal in order to rescue humankind at different times in history. He also knows many of the other 33 million gods village proverbs say exist. But the stranger said there is only one God, and this God has appeared among humans only once. Moreover, this Jesus is said to be the Son of God, but the Christian did not say anything about God's wife. It is all confusing to him.

The man turns to go home, and a new set of questions floods his mind. Can he still go to the temple in order to pray? Should he tell his family about his new faith? And how can he learn more about Jesus—he cannot read the few papers the stranger gave him, and there are no other Christians within a day's walk. Who knows when the stranger will come again?

Conversion and cultural differences

Can Papayya become a Christian after hearing the Gospel only once? To this we can only say yes. To say that a person must be educated, have an extensive knowledge of the Bible, or live a near perfect life would mean that the Good News is only for an elite few in the world.

But what essential change has taken place when Papayya responds to the Gospel message? Certainly he has acquired some new information. He has heard of Christ and his redemptive work on the cross. He may also have heard a story or two about Christ's life on earth. But his knowledge is minimal. Papayya could not pass even the simplest tests of Bible knowledge or theology.

To complicate matters further, the knowledge Papayya has, he understands in radically different ways from Christians in the West or in other parts of the world. For example, the English speaker talks of God, but Papayya speaks of devudu because he is a Telugu speaker. But devudu does not have precisely the same meaning as God, just as the English word "God" does not correspond exactly to the Greek word theos found in the New Testament.

Ordinary English speakers divide living beings into several different categories. One of these is supernatural beings, a category into which they put God, angels, Satan, and demons. Another is human beings and includes men, women, and children. A third is animals, and a fourth is plants. In addition to these there is the category of inanimate objects such as sand and rocks, as well as a few kinds of life that are not so easily classified and over which there is some disagreement, such as virus and germs. In this system of classification, God is categorically different from human beings, and human beings from animals and plants.1 The incarnation means that God crossed the categorical difference between himself and humans and became a human.

Telugu speakers do not differentiate between different kinds of life. All forms of life are thought to be manifestations of a single life: gods, demons, humans, animals, plants, and even what appear to be inanimate objects all have the same kind of life (see Figure 1). To be sure, the gods have more of this life than humans, and humans more than animals or plants. But there is no real difference between gods and humans or humans and animals. After death, good humans may be reborn as gods, and wicked gods as animals. Moreover, gods come down constantly to earth as incarnations to help humankind, just as a man might stoop to help his servant. The problem we face, then, is that when we translate the Word of God into Telugu, not only is there a change in sounds from God to devudu, but a change in basic meanings. There is a fundamental difference in the ways in which the two words are viewed, and in the ways these words are related to other words belonging to the same cognitive domain. If devudu does not carry the biblical connotation of the word "God," then certainly we must find another word for translating it. There are many that suggest themselves: ishvarudu, bhagavan, parameshvara, and so on. But upon examination, we find that all of these carry the same essential meaning as devudu. There is, in fact, no word in Telugu that carries the same connotations as either the English word "God" or the Greek word theos (nor do the two have exactly the same meaning). Nor is "God" the only word with which we have a problem in translation. Similar differences exist between any other major words of any two languages. Now we must ask not only what knowledge must Papayya have to become a Christian, but also whether this knowledge must be perceived in a particular way—from a particular worldview. Must Papayya learn the English or the Greek meaning for "god" before he becomes a Christian? Since it is so hard to measure a person's beliefs and concepts, would it not be better to test his conversion by means of changes in his life? Can we not define a Christian as a person who goes to church on Sunday, and who does not drink liquor or smoke? Here, too, the change at conversion may not be dramatic. There is no church for Papayya to attend. The circuit preacher may call only a half dozen times a year. Papayya cannot read the Scriptures. His theology is found in the few Christian songs he has learned to sing. To be sure, he no longer worships at the Hindu temple, but otherwise his life is much the same. He carries on his caste occupation and lives as most other villagers do. Is he then not a Christian?

Conversion and category differences

What does it mean to be a Christian? Before we can answer this question we must look more closely at our own thought patterns—at what we mean by the word "Christian." This word, like many other words, refers to a set of people or things that we think are alike in some manner or other. It refers to a category that exists in our minds. To be sure, God, looking at the hearts of people, knows who are his. It is he who one day will divide between the saved and the lost. But here on earth, we as humans pass judgments, we decide for ourselves who is a Christian, and, therefore, what it means to be a Christian. What criteria do we commonly use? Before we answer this question, we must ask an even more fundamental question: what kind of category are we going to use? Modern studies of human thought (see bibliography) show us that our mind forms categories in at least three different ways, and each of the three kinds of 1This is true despite the widespread acceptance of the theory of biological evolution. This theory blurs the distinctions between humans, animals, and plants. But in everyday life the distinction is strong. We can kill and eat animals and plants, but to kill humans or to enslave them is considered a crime. Animals need not wear clothes, but humans must. categories has its own structural characteristics. For our discussion here we will look at two of these types: (1) bounded sets and (2) centered sets

1. Bounded sets

Many of our words refer to bounded sets: "apples," "oranges," "pencils," and "pens," for instance. In fact, the English language, probably borrowing from the Greek, uses bounded sets for most of its nouns—the basic building blocks of the language.

What is a bounded set? How does our mind form it? In creating a bounded set our mind puts together things that share some common characteristics "Apples," for example, are objects that are "the firm fleshy somewhat round fruit of a Rosaceous tree. They are usually red, yellow or green and are eaten raw or cooked."3

Bounded sets have certain structural characteristics—that is, they force us to look at things in a certain way. Let us use the category "apples" to illustrate some of these: a.

a)The category is created by listing the essential characteristics that an object must have to be within the set. For example, an apple is (1) a kind of "fruit" that is (2) firm, (3) fleshy, (4) somewhat round, and so on. Any fruit that meets these requirements (assuming we have an adequate definition) is an "apple." b.

b)The category is defined by a clear boundary. A fruit is either an apple or it is not. It cannot be 70% apple and 30% pear. Most of the effort in defining the category is spent on defining and maintaining the boundary. In other words, not only must we say what an "apple" is, we must also clearly differentiate it from "oranges," "pears," and other similar objects that are not "apples."

c. Objects within a bounded set are uniform in their essential characteristics. All apples are 100% apple. One is not more apple than another. Either a fruit is an apple or it is not. There may be different sizes, shapes, and varieties, but they are all the same in that they are all apples. There is no variation implicit within the structuring of the category.

d. Bounded sets are static sets. If a fruit is an apple, it remains an apple whether it is green, ripe, or rotten. The only change occurs when an apple ceases to be an apple (e.g., being eaten), or when something like an orange is turned into an apple (something we cannot do). The big question, therefore, is whether an object is inside or outside the category. Once it is within, there can be no change in its categorical status.

2. "Christian" as a bounded set:

What happens to our concept of "Christian" if we define it in terms of a bounded set? If we use the above characteristics of a bounded set we come up with the following:

a. We would define "Christian" in terms of a set of essential or definitive characteristics. Because we cannot see into the hearts of people, we generally choose characteristics that we can see or hear, namely tests of orthodoxy (right beliefs) or orthopraxy (right practice) or both.

For example, some define a Christian as a person who believes (gives verbal acknowledgement to) a specific set of doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and so on. Some make such lists quite long and add on specific doctrines of eschatology or soteriology. Others, convinced that true "belief" is more than a mental argument with a set of statements, look for the evidence of belief in changed lives and behavior. A Christian, then, is one who does not smoke or drink alcohol, and so on.

b. We would make a clear distinction between a "Christian" and a "non-Christian." There is no place in between. Moreover, maintaining this boundary is critical to the maintenance of the category. Therefore it is essential that we determine who is a Christian and who is not, and to 2

In addition to these two, there is a third and possibly a fourth type of category, namely fuzzy sets of one or two types. To be precise these should be referred to as fuzzy subsets. 3 A composite definition based on the Oxford and the Thorndyke dictionaries. keep the two sharply differentiated. We want to make sure to include those who are truly Christian and to exclude as heretics those who claim to be but are not. To have an unclear boundary is to undermine the very concept of "Christian" itself.

c. We would view all "Christians" as essentially the same. There are old experienced Christians and young converts, but all are Christian.

d. We would stress evangelism as the major task—getting people into the category. Moreover, we would see conversion as a single dramatic event—crossing the boundary between being a "nonChristian" and being a "Christian." To do so a person must acquire the defining characteristics which we have outlined above. Crossing the boundary is a decision event. Once a person is a Christian he is 100% Christian. There is essentially (not required by the structure of the category) nothing more for him to acquire. He might grow spiritually, but this is not an essential part of what it means to be a Christian. Let us return, for a moment, to Papayya. If we think of "Christian" as a bounded set, we must decide what are the definitive characteristics that set a Christian apart from a non-Christian. We may do so in terms of belief in certain essential doctrines. But here we face a dilemma. If we reduce these to so simple a set that we can say Papayya has truly become a Christian (that he has acquired all of the beliefs necessary to become a Christian) are we not in danger of settling for cheap grace? Furthermore, how do we handle the fact that Papayya views the doctrines we do require in different thought forms? Must these be corrected before we are convinced that he is a real Christian? On the other hand, if we raise the basic requirements for being a Christian too high, we make it impossible for Papayya to become a Christian that night, or that year—for it would take more than a year of careful teaching before he could begin to understand our theological framework. We face a similar problem in using changes in behavior to define a Christian. There will be changes in Papayya, to be sure, but many of them will not take place immediately. We may see little in the way of a dramatic change by tomorrow. Is he then not a Christian?

3. Centered sets: Could it be that our problem with deciding whether Papayya is or is not a Christian has to do with the way we form our mental category "Christian"?

But there are other ways to form categories. A second way is to form centered sets. A centered set has the following characteristics:

a. It is created by defining a center, and the relationship of things to that center. Some things may be far from the center, but they are moving towards the center, therefore, they are part of the centered set. On the other hand, some objects may be near the center but are moving away from it, so they are not a part of the set. The set is made up of all objects moving towards the center.

b. While the centered set does not place the primary focus on the boundary, there is a clear division between things moving in and those moving out. An object either belongs to a set or it does not. The set focuses upon the center and the boundary emerges when the center and the movement of the objects has been defined. There is no great need to maintain the boundary in order to maintain the set. The boundary is so long as the center is clear.

c. Centered sets reflect variation within a category. While there is a clear distinction between things moving in and those moving out,4 the objects within the set are not categorically uniform. Some may be near the center and others far from it, even though all are moving towards the center. Each object must be considered individually. It is not reduced to a single common uniformity within the category.

4 Between A and not A. This is the law of the excluded middle. While it is part of bounded and centered sets, the law does not hold for fuzzy sets. d. Centered sets are dynamic sets. Two types of movements are essential parts of their structure. First, it is possible to change direction—to turn from moving away to moving towards the center, from being outside to being inside the set. Second, because all objects are seen in constant motion, they are moving, fast or slowly, towards or away from the center. Something is always happening to an object. It is never static. Illustrations of centered sets are harder to come by in English, for English sees the world largely in terms of bounded sets. One example is a magnetic field in which particles are in motion. Electrons are those particles which are drawn towards the positive magnetic pole, and protons are those attracted by the negative pole.5

4. "Christian" as a centered set: How would the concept "Christian" look if we were to define it as a centered set?

a. A Christian would be defined in terms of a center—in terms of who is God. The critical question is, to whom does the person offer his worship and allegiance? This would be judged, in part, by the direction a person faces and moves. A Christian has Christ as his God. Christ is his center if he moves toward Christ—if he seeks to know and follow after Christ. From the nature of the centered set, it should be clear that it is possible that there are those near the center who know a great deal about Christ, theology, and the church, but who are moving away from the center. These are the Pharisees. On the other hand there are those who are at a distance—who know little about Christ—but they may be Christians for they have made Christ their Lord. He is the center around which their life revolves. b. There is a clear division between being a Christian and not being a Christian. The boundary is there. But there is less stress on maintaining the boundary in order to preserve the existence and purity of the category, the body of believers. There is less need to play boundary games and to institutionally exclude those who are not truly Christian. Rather, the focus is on the center and of pointing people to that center. c. There is a recognition of variation among Christians. Some are closer to Christ in their knowledge and maturity, others have only a little knowledge and need to grow. But all are Christian, and all are called to move even closer to Christ.

By recognizing variance, the centered set avoids the dilemma of offering cheap grace to make it possible for the ignorant and the gross sinners to become Christians without lengthy periods of training and testing. Growth after conversion is an intrinsic part of what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is not a finished product the moment he is converted.

Two important dynamics are recognized. First there is conversion, which in a centered set means that the person has turned around. He has left another center or god and has made Christ his center. This is a definite event—a change in the God in whom he places his faith.

But, by definition, growth is an equally essential part of being a Christian. Having turned around, one must continue to move towards the center. There is no static state. Conversion is not the end, it is the beginning. We need evangelism to bring people to Christ, but we must also think about the rest of their lives. We must think in terms of bringing them to Christian maturity in terms of their knowledge of Christ and their growth in Christlikeness. We must also think of the body of believers in terms of their growth over the centuries. 5The turning may take several steps, but there is a definite turning around which is distinct from growth. Note, too, that the stress is on a change in knowledge or action. Knowledge must be acquired, but that in itself is not enough. It is a decision, a change in faith, that is the critical factor. Stress on growth also means that every decision a Christian makes, not only his decision to become a Christian, must take Christ into account. Every decision throughout life moves him towards Christ or slows him down.6 If we were to define "Christian" as a centered set, the critical question regarding Papayya is not what he knows (although he obviously needs some knowledge) but has he made Christ his God— does he seek to follow Christ and to know him more fully? Conclusions What do we mean when we say that Papayya, an illiterate peasant, has become a Christian? In answering this, it is clear that we must first clarify what we mean by the word—whether we are thinking in terms of bounded or centered sets. If we do not make this clear, we will only talk past each other, and our disagreements will often arise out of subconscious presuppositions rather than out of theological differences.

A centered set approach to defining "Christian" corresponds more closely to what we see happening in mission and church growth. It also seems to correspond more closely with the Hebraic view of reality.

But a centered set approach does raise some problems, at least for westerners who think primarily in terms of bounded sets. These problems often relate to the question, how do you organize an institution such as the church as a centered set? Is it not essential to maintain the boundaries by setting high standards for membership? On the other hand, the bounded set fits best with our western view of the world and our democratic ways of organizing associations such as the church.7 Ultimately the question of whether we should see the term "Christian" as a bounded or as a centered set must be decided on theological, not pragmatic principles. But this demands that we think through all of the basic theological terms and decide which of these should be viewed as bounded sets, and which as centered sets.

Bibliography Black, Max, 1963. "Reasoning with Loose Concepts," Dialogue, 2, 1-12. Cohen, P.J., & Hersh, R., 1967. "Non-Cantorian Set Theory," Scientific American, 217:15,104106. Cohen, P.J., 1966. Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis. Hashisaki, J., & Stoli, R.R., 1975. "Set Theory," The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th Edition. Macropedia 16:569-575. Hatcher, W.S., 1968. Foundations of Mathematics. Zadeh, L.A., 1965. "Fuzzy Sets," Information and Control, 8, 338-353.

6 In centered set terms, one might say that each decision moves a person towards or away from Christ, but that a person remains a Christian so long as he is faced towards Christ. Whether he can or cannot turn back to face away, and therefore lose his position as a Christian, is a theological issue and is not determined by the structure of the category itself.

7 It is interesting to note that the independent church movements in India, such as Bhakt Singh, organize themselves in terms of centered sets. They have only loosely defined, or no church membership, and give leadership to a few elders at the center.

LINK

The Godhaunted Wichita Lineman

2025-05-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't know or recognize (or did I?) what I felt in 1968, as a 9 year old not-yet (or was I?) believer when I first felt the aching sensucht and longing loneliness/liminal loveliness of this song, but it's good to have some knowing traveling companions to help unpack it these fifty seven years later. See these links.

PS: there's another song from that year that Godhaunted me, but that's another post, though the song is here, and some in this neighborhood (Paul Leader, at least) will get it as soon as you click to see what it is at this click (bonus: this version includes the rare prog outro .

On to Wichita..

Of course, Johnny Cash has covered it!:

Disciple Dojo: The Olivet Discourse

2025-03-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@DiscipleDojo

links on the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime for old white guys like me

2025-02-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

The subversive genius of Ken

amar’s Super Bowl halftime performance

Music Mondays (or Late Sunday Nights): Kendrick Lamar

Philosophical Reflections on the Super Bowl Halftime Show

The Compton MC might have just given us the biggest rap performance ever

===

Daniel Rushing

rdSspnoote1h 5atmi A127ua 0 01t3rmtru9M3a82m1eiufb0mcFt:hy15214

This week, Kendrick Lamar took the Super Bowl stage and did what he always does—he made a statement. And like all pieces of art, some people got it, some didn’t, and some will be unpacking it for years. But make no mistake: this was a deliberate act of defiance wrapped in a halftime show. A moment of subversion disguised as entertainment. A public rebuke camouflaged in a cultural spectacle.

Lamar has never been just an artist. He’s a storyteller, a prophet, and a master of layering meaning into his work. And if you weren’t paying attention, you might have missed what he was really saying. But for those who saw it? Whew. There was a lot going on!

The Hidden Transcript: What Kendrick Was Really Saying

James C. Scott, in Domination and the Arts of Resistance, describes something called the “hidden transcript”—the coded ways in which oppressed people speak truth to power when outright rebellion isn’t an option. Lamar is fluent in this language.

He knows the Super Bowl is not a protest stage—it’s corporate America’s halftime spectacle. He knows he’s playing within a system that has historically shut down explicit Black resistance. So instead, he does what generations of Black artists before him have done: he embeds the message beneath the surface, forces you to engage with it, to dissect it, to feel it even if you don’t fully understand it.

This isn’t new for him. Lamar has spent his entire career weaving hidden transcripts into his work. His Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. was a meditation on power, race, and faith, wrestling with the contradictions of Black success in America. To Pimp a Butterfly was a manifesto on identity and exploitation, a love letter to Blackness wrapped in a critique of the machine that profits from it. It foreshadows Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance and the reaction it received— the audience wanted a song and a dance, but the artist resisted the exploitation of the art.

Hidden transcripts are not a new phenomenon—they are deeply embedded in biblical literature, particularly in the texts that liberation theologians have long used to articulate their belief in God’s preference for the oppressed. The Bible, especially in times of empire and occupation, is full of coded resistance language, stories, and apocalyptic visions that speak against domination without inviting immediate persecution.

Take the Book of Revelation, for instance. To the untrained eye, it reads like a cryptic fever dream—beasts, dragons, cosmic battles. But for those who understand the historical moment, it’s clear: John of Patmos wasn’t writing about some far-off, end-of-time scenario. He was writing about Rome. The empire. The beast that crushed those under its rule. The coded language of Revelation allowed early Christians to express defiance against a violent imperial system without putting their lives on the line. It was a survival mechanism, a theological cheat code.

Jesus himself spoke in hidden transcripts. His parables weren’t just quaint moral stories—they were radical, subversive critiques of the ruling elite. When he talked about the Kingdom of God, he wasn’t just talking about heaven; he was talking about a new order, one where the last would be first and the first would be last. That kind of rhetoric wasn’t just spiritual—it was deeply political, a direct challenge to the Roman occupation and the religious leaders who upheld the status quo.

Liberation theologians have long argued that the Bible is, at its core, a resistance document. From the Exodus story of enslaved people demanding their freedom to Jesus’ ministry among the poor and marginalized, scripture is full of moments where the oppressed speak truth to power—often in ways that their oppressors cannot immediately decipher. Like Kendrick Lamar’s performance, these texts operate on multiple levels. Some will see only the surface. Others will recognize the revolution just beneath.

Deciphering the Iconography and Symbolism

While I cannot speak for Lamar, there were some images that jumped off the screen at me. The first thing that stood out was the choreography during “Humble.” The fractured American flag imagery wasn’t accidental. That flag—carried by Black performers of all shades—was a redefinition of patriotism, a statement about who belongs in America and who historically hasn’t. It was a reminder that to be Black in America is to live in the tension between citizenship and exclusion. Between the promise of the flag and the reality of it. And yet, there was Lamar, standing in the center of it all, fully aware of the weight of that symbolism.

Then there was the giant game controller stage. Not just a cool set piece—this was a direct statement on control. As he rapped, “You can’t control us,” he stood inside a literal representation of the system that seeks to manipulate Black culture while exploiting it for profit. And this wasn’t just about the music industry. This was bigger than that. This was about the political system, the economic system, sports, the media—all of it. The ways in which Black creativity, labor, and bodies have been historically “played” like a game, used for entertainment but denied real agency. And right there, on the biggest stage in American pop culture, Lamar took back the controls.

And then there was Uncle Sam.

Samuel L. Jackson’s role as the living embodiment of America’s favorite propaganda icon was both hilarious and deeply unsettling. Uncle Sam—now reimagined as a cultural gatekeeper, questioning Lamar’s place in the “Great American Game”—wasn’t just a mascot. He was the voice of the establishment, the system itself speaking through an icon.

“Do you really know how to play the game?” Jackson sneered, mocking the way America sets impossible standards for Black success. “That’s what America wants. Nice, calm. You’re almost there, don’t mess this up.”

Sound familiar? It should. This is the same coded messaging Black athletes, entertainers, and professionals have been hearing for decades. Be talented, but not too bold. Be successful, but not too outspoken. Play the game, but never think you can change the rules.

And then came the most loaded line of all: “The old culture cheat code…scorekeeper, deduct one life.”

If you didn’t catch that one, let’s break it down. In gaming, a cheat code gives the player an advantage, an extra chance at survival. But here, in Lamar’s world, the “cheat code” wasn’t an unfair edge—it was community. It was the idea that Black people, through collectivism and cultural resilience, have always found ways to survive and thrive despite the odds. And yet, in the eyes of the system, even that is unacceptable. The moment Black people support each other? The moment they build something of their own? Deduct one life.

That’s the game.

And Kendrick Lamar knows it well.

The Super Bowl as a Battlefield for Cultural Resistance

Lamar’s performance joins a long history of Black artists using the Super Bowl stage to make a statement—whether the audience realized it or not.

Beyoncé did it with Formation, invoking the Black Panthers. Prince did it with Purple Rain, refusing to water down his artistry. Lamar followed in their footsteps, using every tool at his disposal—symbolism, iconography, theatricality—to craft something that was more than a halftime show. It was resistance art in real-time.

And yet, there will always be people who miss the message. That’s the beauty of this kind of art. To some, it was just a cool show with great production. To others, it was a masterpiece of subversion.

Lamar knew this. He always does.

Because resistance isn’t just about what’s said—it’s about who has ears to hear.

And Kendrick Lamar? He made sure that for those who were really listening, the message came through loud and clear.

Rita Elle

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2025 | This post is very different. After reading too many comments about people not liking the halftime show, I had to research.

Disclaimer: I would not know Kendrick Lamar if he sat beside me at church. Prior to me researching today, all I knew was he is rapper who made a song during a conflict with another rapper. So, this post took two hours of work!

——

My summary of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance.

It wasn’t meant to entertain. It was a creative, theatrical protest designed to inform and reveal. Every person who participated in that show put their career at risk to protest sgainst the system that pays them.

It started with MC Lyte introducing the halftime show. The “stage” is set up like The Squid Games, a popular Netflix show about how rich people used a game to kill poor people for their entertainment. The games Lamar is speaking of are the media and systematic oppression.

Then appeared Samuel Jackson, announcing, “It’s your uncle, Sam”. Researched revealed this is a throwback to his character in the movie Django, which I haven’t seen.

Lamar says, “everyone must be judged but this time God is favoring us”. - Could this be saying Black people wont experience the horrors in this “movement” as they did in previous “movements”?

The revolution is about to be televised. Picked the right time but the wrong guy. - The right time because we now have access and tools to reveal in real time the atrocities happening throughout our country. We are seeing this as government workers are showing us in real time the people working on behalf of #47 to systematically destroy and challenge the foundation of this country. No one is safe.

The dancers were dressed in prison clothes, highlighting mass incarceration. The dancers also showed how the incarcerated are so institutionalized, it’s like a dance, a routine, and a way of synchronized life.

Uncle Sam interrupted again proclaiming they are “too loud, too reckless, and too ghetto”. Then he asked if they really know how to play the game. - It’s a warning. If you want people to listen to you, do it in a way they won’t reject. Also, it highlights how Black people are often labeled to distract from their message. Play the game and code switch.

The dancers are wearing red, white, and blue. They move into a “divided flag”, showing the riff in America (#47 followers vs everyone else) and how America is separating from the rest of the word (tariffs, attempts to colonize random countries, etc).

They show a group of dancers giving the impression they are hanging outside at a corner. Lamar asks, “do you want the dangerous me or the famous me?”- The dangerous “me” is the informed “me”. The famous “me” is the one who plays your (America’s) games to fit in, entertain, and be quiet. It’s not loss that he says this at a football game. Many players have been criticized for speaking up and told to “just play the game”.

Uncle Sam returns to confirm this by saying, “Scorekeeper, deduct one life”. When we speak out, we are risking our lives. When we don’t play the game, society takes away a life (incarceration, rejection, defunding public services, careers (Kapernick), etc). It also highlights how people get “cancelled” for not playing the game.

Uncle Sam returns to proclaim, “you have lost your mind”. Upon research, this is referring to a song currently part of legal litigation.

Lamar slows the music and goes into a Luther Vandross remix, If This World Were Mine. The title along is a message.

Uncle Sam interjects. “That’s what America wants. Nice and a calm.” - Society doesn’t like when the Global Majority, non-White people, own our power. Society wants us to code switch in life and go along with “the game”. They dont want loud and proud, well, unless youre a J6er

The camera shows “bodies on the floor”. - Is the highlighting the genocide of the Global Majority? The accepted mass killings of Black people, BIPOC, and others.

—— Other notes

* 40 acres and a mule. This is bigger than music. - He’s reminding all that while others have received reparations, Black people have not.

* Serena Williams is shown “crip walking”. It’s a dance originating in Compton, CA, where her & Lamar are from. This is also a statement about protecting Black women, as I learned Williams used to date Drake (the guy Lamar had a beef with) and Drake made some negative statements about Williams and her family. The other lady performer also ised to date Drake

* The media has always used Black people to entertain. They control the messaging used to entertain others to ease the feelings of the oppressors. This dates back to slavery when the enslaved were forced to sing & dance or be beat or sold.

* The audience forms a message in the stands that says “Game Over”. Lamar then says, “turn the TV off”. This movement, this revolution, is no longer a game.

It’s not entertainment. We aren’t playing your game. That’s over.

David Drury

rdSspnoote1h 5atmi P227ua 0 01t3rmtru9M2a42m1eiufb0mcFt:hy15214

Don't worry if you didn't quite understand Kendrick Lamar's halftime show. That's part of the point. It's a puzzle. It's supposed to be complicated.

I know for years when Kendrick has dropped a new album I've joked that I've needed to take some time to "digest it over time with a ton of looking up references to black history, pop culture, the Bible, and Urban Dictionary."

His visual performances like at the Super Bowl have a similar quality. What's more in the social media era, it seems like Kendrick has figured out how to do art in a way that almost defies easy digestion, and instead requires a second act. The second act comes in the following days where fans come up with really solid interpretations or at times just straight explanations of references or intentions I missed--no doubt you've seen some of these in the last day. This is apparently part of what Kendrick wants--sure, a super fan can figure out a lot of these things immediately, but part of the fun is figuring out the puzzle over time, in his lyrics, in his visual choreography, in his actions. This is the way artists should think: they want to provoke a discussion of many things that are perhaps open to some interpretation and nuance, not just a quick and easy pop song to listen to and forget.

So, again, if you didn't get all of it right away--that's okay. I'd claim that's part of the intent and for me, part of the fun. It's a puzzle.

If you're not into puzzles, that's ok too.

—————-

Added for clarification after some comments…

Just to clarify: I didn’t say that those who didn’t like the performance had bad taste, or that they are out of touch, or otherwise pass judgement at all—entertainment is often about judgement calls and personal opinion. Instead I was making sure that those who felt they “just didn’t understand what was going on” knew that some of that effect was intentional. It’s okay to feel that and then I wanted to invite those interested along for the journey of discovering how the puzzle becomes complete. Again: not for everybody—little music is! and some just don’t dig rap (like I don’t dig country or reggae)

Just wanted to invite more people to be curious about it instead of dismissive.

And here is a related article of mine in response to Kendrick running up the score, among other things:

https://daviddrury.substack.com/.../losers-a-guide-to...

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Peru: unbounded mystery and exorcism

2024-11-04T12:10:00.001-08:00

“..no country in this hemisphere outrivals Peru in the aura of mystery and exorcism.. Peru locks into the world traffic of people and ideas, where, as anthropologist Arjun Appadrai puts it, ‘groups are no longer tightly territorialized, spatially bounded, historically self-conscious or culturally homogenous."

-Page 6 of this great book

misquoting Clive Staples, grief and anger

2024-06-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

I ran across the meme lately with the quote about anger and grief attributed to C.S. Lewis.

Is it much exaggeration to say that most quotes attributed to Lewis on the internet are not really Lewis?

I have anger and grief about how often this happens!

I loved the quote, but immediately guessed (correctly ) that it was not him.

That is so annoying. There are even whole websites...even an entire book!... to debunk fake Lewis quotes.

Quotes NOT By Lewis
Quotes Misattributed to C.S. Lewis
Book: The Misquotable C.S. Lewis: What He Didn’t Say, What He Actually Said, and Why It Matters

Here are the most frequent misquoted or fake Lewis quotes that Lewis Foundation is asked about. Maybe if I post them here, it will help stop the madness....yeah, right! (:

Quotes NOT by C.S. Lewis

“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – paraphrase of a George McDonald quote in Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life OR This Was Your LIfe! Preparing to Meet God Face to Face by Rich Howard and Jamie Lash
“You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.” – Les Brown
“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” – Dr. John Trainer
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” – paraphrase of a Charles Marshall quote in Shattering the Glass Slipper
“We read to know/discover that we are not alone.” William Nicholson, screenwriter, in Shadowlands (1993)
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – from the film Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010); the screenwriters are Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Michael Petroni
“Experience, that most brutal of teachers, but you learn, my God do you learn.” – slight misquote from a quote in the film Shadowlands (1993), William Nicholson, screenwriter - -LINK

Anyway on to the 'misundertaken" quote at hand.

I like it, and would credit it correctly if I could.

It reminds me of this :

"My own experience with recovering addicts is that two tasks seem to help them the most:

mourning losses, and getting aggressions out front."

-Dr. Jerome Levin-Dr. Jerome Levin

I was glad to find this from Christopher Brady;

“I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.” This quote, with the accompanying picture, came up in my FB feed and was attributed, as you can see, to C.S. Lewis and, more specifically, to A Grief Observed. Except Lewis did not write this. I reshared on FB both acknowledging the truth of the quote and questioning the attribution.

First, the sentiment. It is powerful and it rings true to the experience of so many of us in grief. When a loved one has died, it can be fairly obvious. Our emotions and feelings well up and anger is chief among them, especially when it is someone who has died well before their time. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross even famously placed it #2 on her list of five stages of grief in her book On Death and Dying. (It is worth noting that most now acknowledge that we will go through these stages, and other feelings, in any order, often circling back again. A key to emotional health is to try not to get stuck in any one moment and not beat ourselves up when we come back to a “prior” stage. Feel the feels.) Anger and grief do, indeed, go hand in hand. Recognizing that can be a very important part of coping with anger, since sometimes we might struggle to pinpoint its origin.

Grief comes from many directions, however, and I define grief as those emotions that come from the loss of something we hoped or expected to continue in our life. It is not just about someone dying. For example, our institution is going through a change of governing structure, moving towards a model that many (perhaps even most) other universities have. It is not a small matter and it has caused a lot of upheaval and dissent within the community. People describe their anger, frustration, and anxiety in various ways, but they all are a part of grief. There are, of course, layers and complications to all feelings and many will point to this or that specific thing that has angered them, but grief is a key and unspoken component of this experience. What they had expected as a certainty, the structure and way of doing things, was now changing and they weren’t ready for it. Many don’t like it. It is disorienting and unsettling.

Anger is real. It is a part of grief. That needs to be said and acknowledged so that we can process our feelings and emotions accordingly. It is a good quote, “I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.”

It just isn’t from C.S. Lewis. A mutual friend connected me with William O’Flaherty who runs Essential C.S. Lewis, a great site for all things CSL. He also published The Misquotable C.S. Lewis, a look at various and sundry quotes and near-quotes attributed to Lewis. He confirmed what I and others on my FB discussion had surmised, Lewis didn’t write this.1 At least not that we can find. That is a shame, not because it should be from Lewis, but that the original author is not getting the credit they deserve. Conceptually, it is a worthy sentiment and I would want to credit them, so if you are the original author, please do come forward!

Proving a negative is difficult, so how do we know that Lewis didn’t write this? Well, William and I both happen to have almost all of Lewis’ works electronically and we both, independently searched for this phrase and could not find it in his corpus. It is always possible we missed something. An interesting note from my research is that in A Grief Observed, the book that this quote was attributed to in one post, opens, “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.” That actually describes very well the feelings I have had in grief. Yet a search for the word “anger” in the book, brings up “danger” and “stranger” but never “anger.” So Lewis equates the emotion with fear but not anger, at least in that work.

Others suggested reasons why this is not from Lewis include that it simply didn’t “sound like Lewis.” Not an unreasonable argument. We all have a sense of how an author “sounds” (or reads). We are talking about style. Would Lewis personify anger and grief? Would he assign a gender to grief? (And I have found myself wondering what it means that the author did assign the female gender to grief.) It is possible that this was attributed to Lewis in some sort of dramatization, such as Shadowlands or The Most Reluctant Convert. I have not checked those sources. I also noted Michael Ward’s very good chapter “On Suffering” and cannot find it mentioned there either. I would think, if it existed as a Lewis quote, Ward would have cited it.2 -Christopher Brady, Link

The quote sometimes shows up as part of a longer section; see this commentary by Lauenarve:

Yes, we are here, once again, revisiting the topic of the ability words have to allow us to feel and experience things we didn’t know were possible.

I’m an English major, and I’m a sucker for beautiful writing. Forgive me.

As I’ve stated in the past, if I read something that resonates with me deeply, I’m going to remember it; additionally, I’m more than likely going to save whatever piece of writing it is that has snagged my attention to avoid losing it.

I viewed an Instagram reel a few days ago that I’ve been thinking about, on and off, ever since. I don’t follow the account that posted the reel, although perhaps I should, but I am delighted it decided to appear in my algorithm because of how powerful the language used in it is. The caption states that the reel is a compilation of quotes from C.S. Lewis, Laura Eden and Nagata Kabi.

“I sat with anger long enough until it told me its real name was Grief.

“I’m not a whole person and I don’t think I will ever be. Parts of me died in the house I grew up in and I visit them in dreams.

“When you are not fed love on a silver spoon, you learn to lick it off knives.

“Loving you became just a different way to hate myself.

“I guess it’s okay to grieve about the child you could have been. How can something be there and not be there?

“How do we forgive ourselves for all the things we did not become?

“Up until then I never understood how people could just keep on living. But maybe I have a place to belong, but it wasn’t something definite, like a seat. It was flowing and formless. Perhaps inside of me. Perhaps outside of me. A reason to live. The power to live. A place to belong in this world. I think the essence of that sweet nectar varies from person to person.”

Love of language or not, if this piece of writing doesn’t make you feel something, I don’t know what will. Link

God-haunted music: Model Engine/ The World is a Beautiful Place, and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

2024-01-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I ever missed these two bands:

1)Model Engine

See this from Rhett Smith:

“In 1995 I was standing in the cleared out sanctuary of a church waiting for the headlining Christian band to come up and play. Christian music, at least in the small band, alternative format, was in its prime, and there didn’t seem to be one weekend that went by where there weren’t Christian alternative bands playing in my hometown of Phoenix, AZ. But this night was different. Everyone came out toThe Lean Years Tradition by Model Engine see the opening band, a local favorite, and between their set and the headlining act, almost everyone went home. Hundreds of kids left, and there were only a handful of us in the room. And I mean, probably 50-60 people.

We were waiting for this band that we had never heard of before, and we figured, well, we might as well stay around. Three guys walk up to the stage, and as they began to play, we knew that we had never heard anything like them before…from the music…and especially to iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 786px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=775579458/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/" seamless>The Lean Years Tradition by Model Engine

the lyrics. It was a transformative show. And who was this band?” Black Eyed Sceva, who went on to become Model Engine" . link

t wasn’t so much a departure in sound but rather an upgrade in sound production, songwriting, and that full band sound complete with different instrumentation and backing features. With the sound of this record there was absolutely no reason this couldn’t have been the biggest release of the late 90’s. I’ve praised this album a lot over the years and I count myself as a big fan of the band. Switchfoot were just starting to take off around this time and I could have seen the two bands touring together in the years that followed but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Although I do remember seeing both bands at some mini-fest in the abandoned department store of an old mall near us that was getting remodeled. I don’t know the whole story regarding the end of the band and one day I will interview Jeremy Post about it but it was always a sad part of our scene to lose a group of guys that were intensely talented and passionate about what they did. They were in terms of lyrics, lightyears ahead of many other bands at that time (except for their label mates FIF who always seemed to pull out an endless supply of witty and thought-provoking words). So, long story short, the fantastic 1997 album by Model Engine is now finally available on all digital networks for the first time. Head over to Spotify and Apple Music right now and check out Model Engine “The Lean Years Tradition”. The band members themselves are responsible for the re-release and all support goes to them. The album has been remixed/Remastered as well. Enjoy! link

Interview with frontman:

Linda - You never liked religion much.

Jeremy - (laughs) No, but I think traveling has been the best thing for me. It's nice to see how other Christians serve the Lord. God uses people in so many different areas and walks of life. If I just sit out in my house in California and that's all I see, I get a pretty limited view. So it's nice to go across the states, or go to Europe and see how Christians adapt to their environment, finding the different ways people serve.

Linda - Your new material has more graphic language. "Reeberbahn," for example, is about your encounter with a prostitute before going on stage in Hamburg, Germany. Why do you choose such harsh subject matter?

Jeremy - That's not something we've tried to do. I've been writing songs for a long time, and a lot of people considered the songs that ended up on our albums abrasive because of the things they talked about. What I thought was pretty nice and mellow, people thought was on the edge of being too graphic. As I've matured, I've come to think that life is graphic and abrasive a lot of times. If you're going to be writing songs about that, you have to bring those elements in or you're not being honest. That's why I appreciate Vigilantes of Love so much because Bill Mallonee writes so poetically about real struggles.

We definitely are in the Christian market. We end up playing with bands, though, whose thing is writing songs that are more at home in a church--talking about Jesus, praising the Lord with terms that are easy for the Christian community to swallow--whereas I would hope that our music praises God in a way that is real. I see life, I see the down side of it, and I go, "Wow! God's doing a work here?" If I can convey the way that I see God glorified, I think that will glorify God all the more, but it's not going to be cheerleading other people to praise the Lord. Our job, our calling is to say, "This is my life. This is my experience, and here's how God worked through this experience to change me." Hopefully, that will be reflected in our music. Link

Lyrics to "Reeperbahn":

on a curb with hamburg's dust under my shoe

things for sale as black as hell in pyrite's golden hue

there's a ten-foot high window display for something bittersweet

a book shop sets my backdrop on a busy port town street

there's a cigarette stuck in the mouth of an overpainted..

on a curb in hamburg watching the junkies

zigzag breathing something mysterious

into an otherwise empty bag outside the shops that never close

on a moonless, starless night across from where the harlots pose

beneath a block-wide neon light

there's a cigarette stuck in the mouth of an overpainted whore

and she comes so close i can smell the smoke and she makes a quote for the price of her wares

See:

The Lean Years Tradition | Model Engine - Bandcamp

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

2)The World is a Beautiful Place, and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

Start with the closing song/suite on "Illusory Walls": "Fewer Afraid".

Excerpt from Spotify:

Sometimes, the best place to begin is at the end. If you really want to dig deep into Illusory Walls, the fourth album by The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, it definitely helps to do that. That’s because epic closer “Fewer Afraid”—all 19 minutes, 44 seconds of it—doesn’t just revisit the themes and ideas on the ten songs that precede it, but also offers a self-aware summary of the Connecticut band’s entire history. It’s the conclusion of all the stories within the record as well as a nod to all the lives that helped make them—little glimpses of everything that’s come before, on both a micro, immediate level, and a more universal one.

“That song is a higher level look at my whole life and the whole world,” explains vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello, “as well as the album, our band, and our discography. It places the band in the context of the rest of the world as if we’re listening to everything that came before. It touches on all the themes of the previous songs, but there are also callbacks to songs from earlier in our career. But in this song, they’re the object, not the subject—I’m talking about a world in which these things happen, not talking about these things happening.” -Spotify

This post-rock direction carries forth what is nearly another LP in it of itself—two towering tracks that together total nearly 40 minutes, “Infinite Josh” and “Fewer Afraid”. Both tracks pay compliment to the band’s increasing and expanded fidelity and instrumentation, with compositions that go between serene, delicate and gentle, to spaced out and utterly triumphant, a sense of light amid the dark. At their weakest, these longer explorations can proceed with a certain languor before reaching their zenith. But at that apotheosis is the purpose, and the intent of it to begin with. Between the more traditional songwriting and the exploratory spaces, there’s a consciousness of the material and immaterial, concrete while remaining keenly experimental. It feels like it’s going to break, like it’s going to push into the ether, and that catharsis is resolute throughout the album.

Illusory Walls is an exploration of darkness, adding definition to the creeping and stalking fears that rattle our ribs and cause us to lose sleep. The anxieties of hearts well worn, sometimes from each other, sometimes from the crushing weight of what feels like a dying planet. In it though, there is a solidarity, a hope, a sense of community that we’re all going through together, as we approach new fears, we put aside old ones to see what’s left. Illusory Walls is a stunning effort of lyrical revelation and sonic rawness in equal measure. While it may chronicle an age of despair in meticulous fashion, it speaks volumes about the potential of who we are, and what we can be. link

Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

Pitchfork:

Illusory Walls
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

Illusory Walls by The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die

giving away $10,000

2023-09-17T18:54:00.001-07:00

Shane Claiborne , in Practicing Jubilee, pp.36-38 in Schools for Conversion, edited by The Rutba House :

“A couple of years ago we had two things happen. First, we won a lawsuit for police misconduct in New York City. The police had been arresting homeless people for sleeping in public, and charging them with disorderly conduct. I was arrested one night as I slept out in protest. Through a long legal process, I was found not guilty and filed a civil suit of wrongful arrest, wrongful prosecution, and police misconduct. And we won, in addition to a legal precedent, around $10,000. We knew it did not belong to me or to The Simple Way, but to the homeless in New York for all they endure. It was their victory. The second thing that happened was that after our study of biblical economics, we had an anonymous gift of $10,000 which had been invested in the Stock Market and now was being returned to the poor. A bunch of us started conspiring, and before long we said: It is time for a celebration of God's Jubilee.’ And where else should we have it but on Wall Street, in the face of the world's economy? This was not a one-time celebration, but an ancient celebration going back to Leviticus 25 and an eternal celebration of the New Jerusalem. We decided to send 100 dollars to 100 different communities that incarnate the spirit of Jubilee and the economics of love. Each $100 bill had ‘love’ written on it. And we invited everyone to Wall Street for the Jubilee.

After months of laughter and dreaming, it really happened.

About 40 people had all the change they could carry over 30,000 coins in bags, coffee mugs, briefcases, backpacks. Another 50 people would be meeting us on Wall Street. A dozen ‘secret stashers’ ran ahead, hiding hundreds of two-dollar bills all over lower Manhattan in parks, napkin holders, and phone booths. At 8:15 we started trickling into the public square in front of the main entrance to the New York Stock Exchange. Word of the redistribution had spread throughout New York, and nearly 100 folks from the alleys and projects were gathered. We had choreographed the celebration like a play production, making Wall Street the stage of our theatrics of counter-terror. At 8:20, Sister Margaret and I stepped forward to proclaim the Jubilee:

—

‘Some of us have worked on Wall Street and some of us have slept on Wall Street. We are a community of struggle.
Some of us are rich people trying to escape our loneliness.
Some of us are poor folks trying to escape the cold. Some of us are addicted to drugs and others are addicted to money.
We are a broken people who need each other and God, for we have come to recognize the mess that we have created of our world and how deeply we suffer from that mess.
Now we are working together to give birth to a new society within the shell of the old. Another world is possible. Another world is necessary. Another world is already here The money for this Jubilee Celebration was formerly invested in the Stock Market. Over $10,000 has been set free, poured out to be shared with our sisters and brothers in need. This money belongs to the poor, the workers, the refugees, the homeless... to all those who have suffered most from the wreckage of the current system. May we return it with joy, with our heads bowed in repentance, and with our hearts lifted in Jubilee.’

——

Then Sister Margaret blew the ram's horn (like our Jewish ancestors used to), and we announced: ‘Let the celebration begin!’ Ten people stationed on balconies above the crowd threw hundreds of dollars in paper money, covering the sky. Then they dropped banners which read,

‘STOP TERRORISM... SHARE.’

‘love,’ and ‘THERE IS ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE'S NEED BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE'S GREED.’

The streets turned silver. Our ‘pedestrians,’ ‘tourists,’ ‘homeless’ and ‘business people ’began pouring out their change. We decorated the place with sidewalk chalk and filled the air with bubbles. Joy was contagious. Someone bought bagels and started giving them out. People started sharing their winter clothes. One of the street-sweepers winked at us as he flashed a dustpan full of money. Another guy hugged someone and said, ‘Now I can get my prescription filled.’

It worked. We had no idea what would happen. We knew it was dangerous, intentionally bringing God and Mammon face to face. But this is precisely what we have committed our lives to. It is risky, and yet we are people of faith, believing that giving is more contagious than hoarding, that love can convert hatred, light can overcome darkness, and grass can pierce concrete.,,even on Wall Street."

many mansions in heaven?

2023-09-16T14:43:00.001-07:00

Craig Keener:

Peter wants to follow Jesus wherever He goes, but Jesus tells him that if he wants to follow Jesus where He is going, he must follow Him to the death (John 13:31-38). Nevertheless, Peter and the other disciples should not be afraid; they should trust in Jesus the same way they trusted in the Father (14:1). He would prepare a dwelling-place for them in His Father’s house, and would come back afterwards to receive them to Himself (14:2-3). “You know where I’m going and how I will get there,” He told them (14:4). Perhaps like us, the disciples were confused, and Thomas spoke for all of them: “Lord, we don’t even know where You’re going; how can we know the way you’re getting there?” (14:5) So Jesus clarifies His point: Where He is going to the Father (14:6), and He is going there by dying on the Cross but would return afterward to give them the Spirit (14:18-19; 16:18-22). How would they get to the Father? By coming through Jesus, who is the way (14:6).

We often cite John 14:2-3 as a proof-text for Jesus’ future coming; conversely, we cite John 14:6 as a proof-text for salvation. But if we follow the flow of conversation, we have to be wrong about one of them. 14:2-3 declares that Jesus will bring them where He is going, but 14:6 tells us where He’s going and how we His followers will get there: He is going to the Father, and we come to the Father when we get saved through Jesus (14:6). Do we come to the Father through Jesus only when He returns in the future, or have we come to Him already through faith? The entire context makes this point clear. We enter the Father’s house when we become followers of Jesus Christ!

In the context of John’s entire Gospel, there is no reason to assume that the “Father’s house” refers to heaven, though it might be an allusion to the Temple (John 2:16) or to the Father’s household (John 8:35; and we are His new temple and His household). More helpfully, Jesus goes on to explain the “dwelling-places” (NIV: “rooms”) explicitly in the following context. The Greek word for “dwelling-place” used in 14:2 occurs in only one other verse in the New Testament—in this very context, in 14:23, part of Jesus’ continuing explanation of 14:2-4. “The one who loves Me will obey Me, and My Father will love that one and we will come make our ‘dwelling-place’ with that person” (14:23). The related verb appears throughout John 15:1-10: “Dwell [abide]” in Christ, and let Christ “dwell” in you. We all know that Jesus will return someday in the future, but if we read the rest of John we learn that Jesus also returned to them from the Father after His resurrection, when He gave the disciples the Spirit, peace and joy (20:19-23), just as He had promised (14:16-17, 26-27; 16:20-22). This is in fact the only coming the context addresses (14:18 in the context of 14:15-27; 16:12-24).

What is the real point of John 14:2-3? It is not that Jesus will return and we will be with Him someday—true as that teaching is from other texts. It is that Jesus returned after His resurrection so Christians could have life with Him (14:18-19), that He has already brought us into His presence and that we can experience the reality of His presence this very moment and at all times. This means that the same Jesus who washed his disciples feet in the preceding chapter, who taught and healed and suffered for us, is with us at this very moment. He invites us to trust His presence with us. -link

"hear the good news: everyone dies"

2023-09-05T18:45:00.002-07:00

Henri Nouwen in the restaurant

2022-12-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Henri Nouwen had an unfinished manuscript at the time of his death in 1996 about what he had learned (the intimacy and spirituality of interconnected teamwork etc) through watching and befriending a traveling trapeze troupe . The book just came out this year with the help of a friend . The book is very different than his 40 books on the spiritual life .

Here is the section I had in mind. Prepare yourself!

And it is absolutely nowhere online .. until now 😎

I’ll post it without comment .. and duck ! I’ll chime in after some of you do .

“As Henri became more at home in his body , he raised with several editors the possibility of writing a book that would directly explore the questions of sexuality . By the next summer, he mused to a journalist , ‘Every human lives a sexual life , whether you’re celibate [as Nouwen was as a priest/pastor] or whatever . Sexual life is life . That sexual life has to be lived as a life that deepens the communion with God and with our fellow human beings . And if it doesn’t , it can become very harmful . I haven’t found the language for It yet and hope I will someday .’

Gradually , Henri began to feel a little more free, even playful. Early in 1996, he amused some of his New York editors over an elegant lunch at the Barbetta restaurant by blurting out happily , ‘Don’t think that I don’t want to have sex with everyone in this restaurant! I have fantasies just like everyone else !’ His editors stared in astonishment, looked speculatively around the restaurant, and then they all burst out laughing together with Henri.”

-p.203,”Flying, Falling, Catching: an unlikely story of finding freedom “ by Henri Nouwen and Carolyn Whitney-Brown .

https://www.amazon.com/dp/006311352X/ref=tsm_1_tp_tc

the covenant post-Holocaust: "Only a wounded faith is worthy of a silent God"

2021-02-12T14:56:00.001-08:00

"Children were sometimes burned alive at Auschwitz ..After describing this scene, Rabbi Greenburg put forward the following proposition: 'No statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children.". -Gushee. p. 70, After Evangelicalism

Highly recommended: read page 76 (and ideally the whole section of pp. 74-81) of Gushee's After Evangelicalism (read here) ,where he covers Greenburg's suggestion that post-Holocaust, for the Jews, the covenant is no longer in a "commanded stage," but is now voluntary.

"Israel's relation with God has been severely wounded. Wiesel: ' Only a wounded faith can exist after these events. Only a wounded faith is worthy of a silent God.'...God no longer has the right to demand covenant loyalty from his people." -Gushee. p. 76, After Evangelicalism

Top Ten Godhaunted songs #1: "Wish You Were Here"

2020-06-26T19:00:00.005-07:00

This is my first original blog post in YEARS, and inspired by a video my amazing friend St. Stacy posted a video of a neighbor

Stacy and I celebrating our students graduating.

of hers singing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on his porch, as (I assume) a kind of gift to the neighborhood during this eerie "shelter in place."

Many of us are on our codvid quarantine porches wishing

somebody
anybody
was "here";

Even if it's Chris Cornell-style, almost not caring who picks up the distress signal of a wishful wistful, atheistic theistic, prayerful unprayer.:

On a cobweb afternoon in a room full of emptiness
By a freeway, I confess I was lost in the pages

Of a book full of death, reading how we'll die alone
Of a book full of death, reading how we'll die alone
Of a book full of death, reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good, we'll lay to rest anywhere we want to go

In your house, I long to be Room by room, patiently I'll wait for you there, like a stone I'll wait for you there, alone

And on my deathbed, I will pray to the gods and the angels

Like a pagan to anyone who will take me to heavenTo a place I recall, I was there so long ago The sky was bruised, the wine was bled, and there you led me on

But that's another song.
Or is it?

Chris Cornell and Roger Waters may be praying to the same You that they wish were here, and that they hope they meet there.

Roger's skies in "Wish" were pain-blue, and Chris' in the song above were bruised
But the song...and the Canopy Maker..remain the same.
Even the Good Book darkness-skies are God's canopy.
And the Floyd song..like all of them.. is dark.

But the canopy is there...even if appearing bruised.

I challenged Stacy to post a few reasons...any reason ..why she likes this song.

I can't wait to hear. She many even know things about the song I don't..and I have been tracking it for 45 years or so, I bet she even knows about the often-unnoticed (and much-debated ) throat-clearing cough towards the beginning that I always hears as a guy waking up and turning on the radio to hear this song, and eventually play along to it.

And that man has been me ever since.

To cough is to pray.

My reasons for liking the song are many.
And some were formed before Stacy was born.
But I don't even know if I can use the word "like."

Or love.
Or "hate"
Or "love."
Or love/hate.

Though they all work.

Maybe the word I need is "need."

I mean, we all need help putting words to our prayers at times.
Even, especially when the prayer ...as written...doesn't seem to be getting through..

And this song was an integral part of the prevenient-grace mixtape that led me to Jesus (tied with this 24-minute hymn from the Book Of Genesis--I mean, Band of Genesis ), and part of the strange and heteroclite canon/cannon of laments and imprecations that keep me tethered to this Jesus.

Stacy, I might not know you..or Jesus..without this song!
(Do I love or know Jesus?)

And this blog post is also serving a public challenge to Stacy to write more; even blog. Her social media posts can be stunningly moving. My post today may only be so to me, but I dedicate it to her.

This song.
Where to start?

If by some tragic circumstance you have never encountered this song, may I counterintuitively (Why not go the unobvious route?) suggest you sample this version filmed in my favorite city, as the song is sensitively interpreted performed by two Jewish men. If I had been there, and stumbled upon this scene, I would've probably been so transfixed that I'd be transfigured..or still there. To me, another Jewish Man is always active in the music of streets of That City.

See you after the break.

Original version.

When this song came out, and my friends and I first heard it cranked loud on Dan's huge JBL speakers:

no words.

But let me try several.

I mean, if I can't at least occasionally articulate the "inarticulate speech of the heart" about one of my top ten "Godhaunted songs" (Hi Happy Lee, your song is next)

As most Floydfans know, the album this is found on, and this song, is partly/largely about/addressed to former band member Syd Barrett,

As is much (all?) of their material.

Barrett had left the band/been forced out due to his drug-induced mental ilness, The band tells this chilling story

Syd Barrett's tortured spirit was already hovering over Pink Floyd's ninth studio album, even before he unexpectedly crashed the sessions for Wish You Were Here on June 5, 1975.

Both the emotive title track and shimmering, psychedelic epic "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" were inspired by Barrett, the band's former frontman, with chief writer Roger Waters meditating on themes of isolation and inward escape. So, when the long-absent musician – portly, with distant gaze, shaved head and eyebrows – randomly arrived during a mixing session for "Diamond," the coincidence reduced the band to a mixture of shock and depression.

It's not as if Barrett, Floyd's co-founder and the driving creative force behind their debut LP, 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, left the band on good terms. His mental instability, erratic stage behavior and addiction to LSD made him a liability, and guitarist-singer David Gilmour was brought in as a replacement.

....Pink Floyd were confused by his presence, assuming he had to be a crew member. But when Gilmour eventually identified their former bandmate, Waters broke down in tears. That June day also happened to be Gilmour's wedding day, so Barrett wandered into the guitarist's wedding reception at EMI. He left without telling anyone, disappearing as strangely as he'd arrived. The experience had a profound impact on the band, particularly Waters, who even incorporated a lyrical reference to the early Barrett-penned single "See Emily Play" on Wish You Were Here.

"I'm very sad about Syd, [though] I wasn't for years," Waters said in 1975. "For years, I suppose he was a threat because of all that bollocks written about him and us. Of course, he was very important and the band would never have f_____ started without him, because he was writing all the material. It couldn't have happened without him, but on the other hand, it couldn't have gone on with him. He may or may not be important in rock 'n' roll anthology terms, but he's certainly not nearly as important as people say in terms of Pink Floyd. So, I think I was threatened by him."

Gilmour, who co-wrote the music to both the title track and "Shine On," has trouble separating these classic songs from his memories of the former Floyd icon. "Although 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' is specifically about Syd and 'Wish You Were Here' has a broader remit," Gilmour said in the 2012 documentary Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here, "I can't sing it without thinking about Syd."

link

Finally, now you are primed to read the lyrics, and weigh who they addressed/redressed to? Who is your Syd?

You can "never again sing it without thinking about" your "randomly arrived" Syd.

Lyrics:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell
Blue skies from pain
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here

We're just two lost souls

Swimming in a fish bowl

Year after year

Running over the same old ground

What have we found?

The same old fears

Wish you were here....

From Song Facts:

This song is about the detached feeling most people go through life with. It is a commentary on how people cope with the world by withdrawing physically, mentally, or emotionally. In the commentary of The Wall, Roger Waters states that the inspiration was Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett and his ordeal with schizophrenia.
Roger Waters has said this song was based on a poem he wrote about Syd Barrett's fall from reality. It was said that Syd's friends would lace his coffee with LSD, which eventually lead to his mental breakdown. >>
This was a rare case of the Pink Floyd primary songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour mutually collaborating on a song - they rarely wrote together. Gilmour had the opening riff written and was playing it in the studio at a fast pace when Roger Waters heard it and asked him to play it slower. The song built from there, with the pair writing the music for the chorus and verses together, and Waters adding the lyrics.
The song reflected the feeling of the band while they were recording the album. Waters felt they were not putting a full effort into the recording sessions.
When this song starts, it sounds like it is coming from an AM radio somewhere in the distance. It represents the distance between the listener and the music.
Link

Perhaps the most important part and punch of the lyric is the ellipsis; hemistiche, at the end..
Will the wished-for "you/"You" ever be here?

Who or what is "you"?

Roger Waters has left this open to interpretation, but in various interviews over the years has seen it as

Syd
a lover or friend
his bandmates

and a fascinating and compelling candidate that only hit him later in life;

himself.

The Cure can relate.
And so can you.

And Sudzi.

And Soren:

   
"It is essentially owing to her, to my melancholy and to my money that I became an author.

Now with God's help, I shall be myself.

I believe that Christ will help me to be victorious 

over my melancholy" -Soren Kierkegaard ,Journal, 4/19/1848

I also dare to believe, even if Waters doesn't believe or admit it..

The You is also
partly
partially God.

Of course at some points in the lyric that You doesn't make sense (God a fearful lost soul..
OR DOES IT?

But
The You is also
partly
partially
God.

Every You in every song eventually is.

Every wish ultimately is for the hereness and nearness of One who doesn't seem here.

Why can't the onmipresence be manifest?

As I once preached from Psalm 22:
"The Lord Be With You...Even When He's Not."

But knowing Floyd, if it is a prayer..

atheism, cynicism and nihilism often win..

"There is no dark side of the moon really. As a matter of fact it's all dark,"

"Is there anybody out there?" they once prayed.

The expected answer is no.

Same with the chilling first set of questions in "Wish".

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

They are not essay answers.
One senses they are multiple choice
A"Yes"
or
B"Hell, no."

B being "right".

But I'm opting for a C: " Both A and B .

Sometimes fuzzy sets are the only

way to pray.

Apophatic is cataphatic.

It's often more classically encouraging to hear U2's Bono (Who gives us permission and a decoder to "Turn each song into a prayer") ask the biblical question "How long?'' since we know the question has a deadline, and is not a dead end.

Maybe Pink Floyd is asking the same question, but from the dark side of the faith.

Such is the hardwon faith that does not bypass lament.

U2's Dead Man might even Wake Up.
'
Floyd's deity might remain dead.

But thank God that God is bigger than authorial intent.

(And bigger than the Boogie Man and the devil, for that matter.)

Waters also may well have meant this as not just about TO or ABOUT Syd, but

FROM Syd, how HE felt towards

the band (or himself..or God)

I was not yet a committed Christian when I first heard this song; I don't know what you would have called me when the pictured guys (I'm the one in the T shirt, And obviously, there is one non-guy with us, but she wasn't part of our gang) in this Upstate New York circle of friends first experienced it.

I felt it/heard it as my lonely being awakened,
It was addressed to myself

to my friends

to Syd

to a partner I hadn't met yet
and to an unknown God that I somehow knew.

I am intrigued that Waters tended to picture the "two lost souls in a fishbowl" as

two fish, but each in a separate bowl (this is perhaps authenticated by cover art on a later single version).

I hadn't felt it that way.

Being two lost souls in the same bowl was lonely enough.

But at least the two were in it together.

Terrifying to be trapped in a bowl alone, able to see your soulmate in an adjacent bowl.

Year after year.

Covid quarantine, indeed

But until we admit we often live this hellonearth in our "there" ("Can you tell heaven from hell?."...
We may never experience God as here.

Wish you were here,

Syd
friends
enemies
Dave
God

It's all in how you read it,

PS Maybe just watch this guy in video. He's crazy, but he may weel say most of what I just tried to sat better than I just did!: --

Other Pink Floyd posts here.

See related ed "labels" (keyword "topix ) below

"How does your faith interact with your music?"

2020-04-19T19:52:00.002-07:00

How does your faith interact with your music?

Eric Campuzano:

"It does not interact;

it is my music."

Link, full interview

Other Prayer Chain-related posts here

Psalms of Lament and Imprecation as Authentic Worship

2020-02-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

Timelines

2020-01-30T16:01:00.002-08:00

It has been hugely productive, revelatory, and (even) fun to, as part of a class that several others and I teach, have students plot out (on the whiteboard) their timeline.

holy heteroclite:

Bono's renewal of baptismal vows , officiated by an unlikely pastor; Part 1 (thanks to Angela Pancella)

Set Theory: Bounded, Centered and Fuzzy

Eulogy for my Uncle Arden Hughes

'Fraught with references to things like blood, God and the cosmos..,putting all this pain and wonder into words" : "Kingfisher" by Prawn

"Wesleyan Vile-tality: Reclaiming the Heart of Methodist Identity"

"We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott!" if interested.

Elton's "Rock of the Westies"

Elton John Rock Of The Westies (1975)

Graded on a Curve:Elton John,Rock of the Westies

Revisiting Elton John’s “Rock of the Westies”

The real ending/epic epilogue of the 21 Pilots Lore/Saga/Storyline?

Introduction to the Song

lamenting in packs

back to blogging? or something else Subtacky? or settle for Spacebook? or..........

Conversion, Culture and Cognitive Categories by Paul Hiebert (bounded and centered sets)

The Godhaunted Wichita Lineman

Disciple Dojo: The Olivet Discourse

links on the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime for old white guys like me

The subversive genius of Kenamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance

Music Mondays (or Late Sunday Nights): Kendrick Lamar

Philosophical Reflections on the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Rita Elle

David Drury

Peru: unbounded mystery and exorcism

misquoting Clive Staples, grief and anger

Quotes NOT by C.S. Lewis

God-haunted music: Model Engine/ The World is a Beautiful Place, and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

The Lean Years Tradition | Model Engine - Bandcamp

Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

Illusory WallsThe World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

giving away $10,000

many mansions in heaven?

"hear the good news: everyone dies"

Henri Nouwen in the restaurant

the covenant post-Holocaust: "Only a wounded faith is worthy of a silent God"

Top Ten Godhaunted songs #1: "Wish You Were Here"

"How does your faith interact with your music?"

Psalms of Lament and Imprecation as Authentic Worship

Timelines

Graded on a Curve:
Elton John,
Rock of the Westies

The subversive genius of Ken

amar’s Super Bowl halftime performance

Illusory Walls
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die