Posts Tagged ‘Andy Crouch’

[As I speak with many college students, I feel like many of them are going crazy because they have jam-packed schedules. And it made me think of a post I wrote November 22, 2008. I think it is extremely relevant for my own life right now, too].

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

-Exodus 20v8-11 TNIV

I think the idea of “sabbath” (or rest) has been lost on many of us, Christians (particularly, in America). We ultimately have fallen into the idea that we (the Church) need to be best, fastest, quickest, coolest, most exciting people because otherwise the world will look elsewhere. I think this is somewhat true, and there is great benefit in attempting to attract the “un-churched” (for lack of a better term). However, in our attempts to be these things, we have inevitably lost sight of the beauty of sabbath, the beauty of rest.

(more…)

Highlight(s) of the week: (1) My seminary retreat. Guest speaker was Andy Crouch, who was awesome! His theme was “Live More Musically” (see notes 1, 2, 3, and 4). (2) Practiced Sabbath this past Sunday, which for me was really turning off my phone. I really enjoyed spending the time with my family without any distractions. (3) Amanda was runner-up for “Teacher of the Month,” which is voted on by students. This is actually a greater achievement than it sounds because she only teaches two grades (versus others who teach 3 or 4) and has only been there for one month. I’m proud of her.

Live More Musically session 5

Why do we worship on Sunday?

The Jewish people have never forgotten on what day is the Sabbath – the seventh day of the week
•    then, we hear of a group of Jews who worship on the first day
o    something so great happened on the first day that they saw time in a new way
o    N.T. Wright – the change from Saturday to Sunday is one of the biggest evidences of the resurrection of Christ
o    The Lord’s Day – the early Christians called it the “eighth day” – what God had done is so huge that the seven days couldn’t contain it

The change to Sunday touches billions of people today – people on Sunday often do something different than they did every other day

Time
Practices remind us of Discipline
Breath in singing reminds us of Sabbath – we have to stop in order to breath
Dissonance reminds us of Suffering

Only when notes are playing in time do they make any sense

daily quiet time? – comes from a Western, modern idea that humans are like machines – but humans are like music
•    we treat people like machines that do the same thing every day over and over again until you die
•    the early church structured their lives around Christmas (Christ’s birth) and Easter (Christ’s resurrection)
o    before Christmas, spent four weeks preparing – Advent
o    after Christmas, celebrate what God  has done
o    for 40 days, Lent – leading up to Easter
o    days after Easter, celebrate Easter

o    we treat in our churches one day – Christmas and one day – Easter
o    Andy’s family during Advent –  fast by eating vegan every meal – remember every meal that there is no meat and no dairy – light Advent candles and read Scripture
•    12 days of Christmas to Epiphany – they feast
•    40 days of Lent, fast from foods
•    Easter, feast

feasting and fasting

Humans aren’t made to be monotonous beings – we need variety

Let’s live meaningfully in time now anticipating eternal time

Psalm 84

session 3 was a Q&A. Q&A’s are difficult to take notes on so…

Live More Musically session 4

read Psalm 22v1-18 alongside playing “Prelude 8 in eb minor” by J.S. Bach

When we set out to live musically, I wonder if we realize it’s going to involve minor keys
•    minor key – works in reverse way of major key
o    major key – resonates, works with the way of the universe
o    but minor keys – the key of dissonance – create in our ears that we can’t consciously hear it – something is not quite settled

Dissonance | Suffering

Andy – went to voice coach and realized that he has a natural limit to his voice (8 notes) and if he goes out of that he will lose his voice
•    so, the thing he loves to do – leading worship – he can’t

Also, liked to write
•    part of editing Regeneration magazine – put in a lot of time, effort, and fundraising, and it eventually went “down the tubes”

Andy fell into the miry clay
•    wife got a job in Swarthmore, but he missed Boston (his home)

What does it all mean? All those years of friendship and ministry? – what did it mean to grieve that?

What in your life is dissonant?

This is part of living musically

fugue – musical composition of “voices”
•    fugue weaves between major and minor – eventually as you develop the minor key it ends of in a major key and vice versa
•    as they work together, you hear a sense of harmony

•    better metaphor for Christian life than you are a sinner (dark, deep, minor), then Jesus (happy), but you’re still a sinner (dark, deep, minor)

Christian life is more like a fugue – multiple voices, keys, tensions playing at the same time – theme takes time to develop

Some things are still unresolved

fugue – Bach deploys dissonance to bring about beauty
•    Fugue 8 in d# minor by J.S. Bach

Psalm 22v1-18 – greatest explanation of human dereliction
•    after v18, the psalmist immediately changes his mood – “you have rescued me”
•    when he is mocked, he remembers when he was delivered, and looks for his second deliverance

What can we learn from people who lived musically?

Practice | Disciplines

•    discipline – an uninteresting thing that you do over and over again until you get good at it

•    the Christian life is basically about the same thing

Breath | Sabbath
•    set aside your work and do not do what you normally do

•    we need to breath in order to talk/sing
o    somehow we think we can do ministry without resting

•    If we want to live more  musically as Christians, we have to learn to stop what we are doing – take a “breath”
o    take a day of rest

Psalm 131

Early church read, “pray without ceasing,” and asked, How do we do that?
•    They said it has to do with breathing
o    when you breath in, prayer; when you breath out, prayer
•    Prayer
“[breathe in] There is Another, [breathe out] who lives in me.
[in] There is Another, [out] who completes me.
[in] There is Another,  [out] whose righteousness is mine.”

In prayer distractions become the material of our prayer

“Live More Musically” session 1

-Harmony: note C (major) is a combination of various frequencies
-we all are searching to live our lives in harmony with what God has designed
-Rhythm
-first thing we hear is the rhythm of our mother’s heart
-Meaning
-you want the song to give meaning to the moment you are in
-Improvisation

How do we get these things?

Playing a CD vs. Playing a violin
- how do they differ?
Violin: (a) personal investment, (b) discipline - time, (c) unpredictable, (d) preparation/maintenance, (e) flaws, (f) creativity, (g) active, (h) one place, (i) expensive, (j) tired, (k) few can do

CD: (a’) easy, (b’) instant, (c’) predict., (d’) batteries, etc., (e’) perfection, (f’) not, (g’) passive, (h’) many places, (i’) cheap, (j) infinite, (k’) anyone

What happens when you pratice and continue to? You eventually enjoy it.

What happens when you continue to enjoy it? You become satisfied.

The whole culture tells you that the way to live more musically is to be at a sustainable satisfaction (i.e., buy the CD) - get it now!

But lasting satisfaction comes with the hard road of practice

What’s addiction? Starts with the first time being very very satisfying
-keep looking to get it like the first time - but you can never get it
-eventually you kill yourself looking for the same satisfaction

Jesus, “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it. Anyone who loses his life will find it.”
-if you start with what is unsatisfying you’ll find lasting satisfaction

We must convince people to lie their lives in the logic of “practice” and not “purchase”

The Psalms
-Psalm 1 - “happy” and “delight”
-all the psalms are about how to be happy
-you being blessed comes from giving of yourself
-but it comes from “practice” (not purchase)
-as you pratice it produces longevity
-ends on a dark note - last word “doomed”
-scornful isn’t just unhappy - it is refusal to be happy
-what is doomed? Being unblessable - not allowing blessing

The way of God is about being the person who is delighted