Back in D-town

Update on what's happenin:

* I'm back in Dallas, and getting ready for my first weekend leading worship that is NOT an audition. Looking forward to getting back in that groove.
* I've been reorganizing all my praise stuff. After a few years of doing this praise thang, I feel like I have the organization process down pat. Once I get all the songs put into powerpoint format (should take me three-four days), I'll begin the process of going through the songs and powerpoints, checking for glaring errors, and begin numbering the songs so as to make the slides easily retrievable. This allows for an incredible amount of flexibility.
* Saw the movie Once with Jaimie last night. I loved it. But I love the Frames. Like, A LOT. So, a movie that had Glen Hansard (the lead singer) in a role in which he sang about 50% of the movie was a pretty good setup for me. The movie delivered. It was short and sweet, cute and not too sappy, and the music was gorgeous and Irish.

Random thoughts on my PVM:

I talked about the divergence of the 'church front' and the real life experience a little bit last week. I've read over it and want to talk a little more about this. I feel like there are many ways that we do this, and most of them are extremely subtle. We say things like, "I'll pray for you" and don't actually pray; we say we want to seek G-d wholeheartedly but still choose selfish things, and then we justify these choices without facing our self-servedness. I am not condemning these actions; they are very human actions. However, when we in the church begin to gloss over these things and pretend like they aren't happening, it's the first divergence. It grows further when people stop being accountable for larger decisions, like how we spend our money or how we treat our family. This is a common trend among Christians. Seems like Paul might have been addressing these issues in the very beginning of the whole Church thing.

We constantly swing to and fro regarding these things, but when you are in leadership, the split seems to grow larger and more blatant. Due to the holiness we ascribe to church leaders (or perhaps the holiness they ascribe to themselves), there is extra demand for perfection, perseverance and G-dliness. This demand, unfortunately, does not often lead to increased levels of these characteristics; instead, it seems to cause them to find new and creative ways to hide their own sinful natures, or perhaps new ways to point away from their own flaws by focusing on the flaws of others.

Maybe a better solution would be to begin each relationship with two things in mind: our own broken soul with all of its needs, weaknesses and failures AND the cross of Christ that both offers us any hope of justice and shows us how G-d wants us to make our choices. We put others first, always, everywhere in every situation. We trust that although we don't know the answers, we have hope in this G-d who died. And hopefully, we learn to be honest and open always, not hiding behind our sunday school answers and shiny fake smiles...

Update on what's happenin:

* In Houston at the moment. Actually hanging out at my old place of employ - Christ UMC. Good to see some friendly faces and see how everyones doing...
* Been playing this game on facebook - iLike - its a music quiz. Fun times.
* Committed to lead worship officially at two churches in Dallas. That is fun, and a cool way for me to help earn some money while not exerting too much time.

What I'm readin:

* Still on GG&S ... still love it.

Random thoughts on my PVM:

Coming back to Sugar Land has jogged my memory a little bit. It is good seeing friends and feeling at home in a church building, but it also reminded me of why I left this church. The sharp divergence between my own personal experience and the words that I found myself speaking to the youth and members of the church was beginning to tear at me. Perhaps if we are sensitive to the tug and struggle of 'real life' and to the brokenness of the human soul, we would find a way to allow leadership in the church to truly exist within the Via Media. It seems that we are always asked in church leadership roles to slide away from the middle; maybe we think this will help drag others over towards the middle from their 'wanderings.'
I don't know the answers. But I do know that every time I felt like I had to hide a part of my own personal struggles when speaking to those who were struggling themselves, I was participating in injustice. I was perverting the truth, and manipulating the emotions of young people who could one day, be standing exactly where I was.
Maybe down the road I will begin to try and share my experiences and wisdom with young people again; but for now, I will focus on sharpening my senses, and listening harder to the echoes of G-d's music in this dark world.

at the Javalatto's cafe - free wifi galore

Update on what's happenin:

* hanging out at coffeeshops an inordinate amount - we have yet to order internet for the apartment
* getting the hang of the life-routine here in Dallas. Jaimie is going to work every day (sans weekends) and I have been looking for a job.
* speaking of employ, I am hearing positive things from SMU regarding a 10-hour a week on campus position, and I just 'tried out' for two youth worship gigs this weekend. I am probably going to lead worship at Highland Park UMC on Sunday mornings (for their youth) and maybe lead worship for Heritage church of Richardson on Saturday nights (for their youth)...
* I am still reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Fascinating book.
* I am still stuck on chapter 10 of Wheelock's Latin. On an encouraging note, Jaimie is about to start a hardcore studying habit so that she can get LEED certified, and we are planning on studying together (LEED for her, Latin for me)
* I found my old Matthew CD - miss that band, great CD.

Random thoughts on my PVM:

I heard a talk Sunday morning by the well-known youth guy, Walt Marcum, about the roots of Methodism. He ended the talk by saying that the strength of United Methodism is that the foundation of our theology is the Via Media... Well, that's news to me, but I like the sound of it. I hope to engage in some dialogue with Walt about this, as it is the first time I can recall a UMer actually claiming the phrase as applying to Wesley's little movement.

His talk was focused on world religions, and his purpose was to show where 'we' came from, and to establish the idea that we are different from others, but we shouldn't judge them. I am wary when people talk about Judaism, Islam and Christianity as separate religions, and do not spend time establishing that Judaism was the foundation (as Christianity and Islam split off from it). If we view Judaism as a separate entity entirely, we run the risk of isolating ourselves from the valuable historical and cultural roots Israel has to offer.

The book I've been reading has been reminding me day by day of our common heritage - the evolution of civilization, religion, and culture. Perhaps the study of world religions should be grounded in our common roots - talk first about why we are the same, and then begin, bit by bit, to show how we are different. That might keep us from closing our eyes to the common truths that bind some religions together. (more on this later)