Spiritual Discipline
As I’m sure the majority of you know, I am the Student Council President for Tyndale University College 2008-09. With this post comes some pretty heady stuff – I’m still coming to grips that I am actually representing 450-odd students to Administration, Faculty, Staff, and, to a lesser extent, the Community at large. I don’t want to go into this lightly.
So, on top of the logistical work that needs to be done this summer (a.k.a lots of meetings), I will be preparing myself spiritually in the coming four months. To do this, I’m going to need to adopt a few spiritual disciplines.
Being a Christian University, all Student Leadership members at Tyndale are to adopt 2 Spiritual Disciplines, one of which is observing Sabbath. The other is one of our choosing.
Sabbath, for me, is way easy. I know how to disconnect. I’m always trying to make those boundaries a reality in life and so keeping Sabbath for me might mean an extra step. A more literal Sabbath. I’m going to think about that one, and see if I can’t come up with something later.
The other discipline I think I’m going to pursue is the use of icons within meditation. More on iconography and the meditation of icons later as well.
I think on the whole, I’ll be looking into all of them and trying them out on a weekly basis or something. I’m really into the old stuff these days – traveling the old ways is my pursuit for the Summer. Come join me, you may learn something.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on April 29, 2008 at 6:44 pm, filed under Blog, Life, Spiritual Disciplines and tagged Leadership, Sabbath, Spiritual Discipline, Tyndale University College. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Music You Should Listen to.
I really like music. When talking about music, I say things like, ‘this stuff’s bananas!’, or ‘seriously, you have to listen to this for a minute.’ I listen to all kinds of music, (some more than others) and now I feel I need to share some music with my reading public, to expand your minds. Here are 4. people/groups you should take some time to get to know.
Wow. Just, wow. Before moving forward, however, the name is misleading. There is no pornography involved and for the most part the lyrics are quite clean. Essentially, this is a Canadian Supergroup (a group of solo artists/band members who perform together when not on their own tours/recording) that blows my socks off every time I hear it. You should pick up their album, Challengers - it’s hauntingly beautiful.
2. Buck 65.
Buck 65 is a Canadian Hip-hop artist who has gained popularity in the underground scene over the last few years. Before his newest album, Situation, I’m not sure I quite got where he was coming from, but this album really gels well – it’s a theme album about the 50′s people, the freakin’ 1950s! Be warned, however; there is a bit of language.
Imagine the most politically active beatnik from the 50s/60s, give him a mean streak and grainy voice, and you have Sage Francis. When this guy raps, he tears guts out of things (not literally, just a graphic metaphor) and throws it on the table, with the express point of making you deal with it. Human Death Dance is an album that has stayed in my regular rotation since last May when it came out. This one, unlike the rest is loaded with cussing, hard questions about God and rough issues. Not for the faint of heart. But sooooo good.
Ok, so I have a confession: Dan Smith of the Listener Project is the Manliest, Coolest, Most Awesome individual that I have ever met. I have serious man-crush on this dude. I have so far planned 2 different concerts, the main purpose being that I can just spend time with this artist. Listener Project is leading the way with a new genre of music: Talk Music. It’s fantastic. Listen to it.
So there you go. Have a listen. If you would like specific songs that you should listen to, feel free to ask.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on April 21, 2008 at 12:37 am, filed under Music and tagged Awesome, Buck 65, Listener Project, Music, Sage Francis, The New Pornographers. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Memories
I’m a memorable person.
More accurately, I’m a rememberer. I remember things.
This is why people think I’m smart. I’m not that smart.
I’m just good at remembering, and I love to remember. I’ve been defined as a visual-learner, with a close-to-photographic memory, so people naturally assume that I simply remember the optics of a situation. In reality, I remember emotions. I remember feelings. I remember aches.
Aches is the closest word I can come up with. Some would use nostalgia; C.S. Lewis would call it sensucht. It’s something that pulls you away from the present moment into a timeless point in which you can almost grasp it before ‘poof!’ it’s gone. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not a bad thing. Just…a thing.
Being an ‘achey’ person, I have a hard time communicating this to people. They generally assume I’m not happy because I miss something from years ago. But that is not the case; I’m still happy – just achey that day.
It’s important to remember. (I think I’m being objective about this, and not just placating my own freakish nature.) Remembering is the filter with which we process everything coming at us today.
The trick is using the right filter.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on April 19, 2008 at 1:02 am, filed under Life and tagged Memories, remembering, Sensucht. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Alright, time for another post about how to do this blog.
Everyone’s favourite part of a blog is when a blogger meta-blogs (blogs about his/her blogging) right?
Wrong.
Too bad.
I have found a new way to blog, which is quite different from when I used to blog. I used to agonize about trying to get something out daily (which somehow worked, for awhile at least) and really fighting through the words a lot of the time. Being a perfectionist, I’m not sure this was immensely healthy. And I think that’s why I took such a long hiatus from blogging over the last few years; it was just too draining.
But I have a new way. I just write until I run out of idea, save the draft and go on with my day. So far, this seems to be working for me – I’ve got 2 other posts that are almost ready to go public. I’m liking it. Plus, Scot McKnight does something similar and the more scholar-like I become, then perhaps the more scholarly I will become.
So this means sporadic updates for all! Hooray! Huzzah!
Let’s get back to work people,
WK
This entry was written by , posted on April 18, 2008 at 1:13 am, filed under Blog and tagged Blog, meta-blogging, Scot McKnight, writing. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
A Biblical Hardliner
In an effort to prove to my housemate Pat that I keeping with blogging this time around, I am going to make a statement that I hope others will comment on.
Here Goes:
There are things in the Bible that are concrete and not open for ‘interpretation’.
Time to unpack that statement.
The reason that I say this is because I’ve heard so many Christians tell me that God’s word is living and active, and if I say that something can only be a certain way, then I must be the most arrogant man in the Universe.
In the Universe.
Well I’m not. (yes, I know that, in itself, is a hilariously ironic – and possibly even hypocritical – response) Having done biblical studies for two years now, I’ve decided that people need to start taking certain things seriously in their ‘interpretations’ of the good book. For those who aren’t in biblical studies, we need to delineate between two kinds of interpretation: exegesis and hermeneutics. Exegesis is the interpretation of what the text originally intended/meant. Hermeneutics is the subsequent study of how to apply the exegetical work.
Essentially, the main/big difference between exegesis and hermeneutics is that exegesis should have one answer (albeit one with possible other layers, like any good author should be) and hermeneutics is far more up for grabs. Sadly, most people skip exegesis and move to hermeneutics or, even worse, blend the two into some horrific mind monster. That’s wrong. And this is where people get miffed at me.
This post is about the need for a correct exegesis of the Bible, of what it meant to the people of the time, (at which point I can, if I so choose, apply that knowledge to my life [hermeneutics]) but most Christians tend to get all existential (feelings-oriented) and New-Agey about their interpretations of the Bible. Case in point: Revelation is not correctly interpreted as pre-tribulation, pre-millenialism rapture promises and warnings. I propose that this idea comes mostly from some guy getting a little loose and liberal with his theology, tradition and his scholarship and came up with what is now the 8-Bajillion-dollar industry we have today.
When it comes to application, go nuts. Do whatever floats your boat. But when it comes to what it says, there IS a right answer.
Deal with it.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on at 12:23 am, filed under Biblical Study and tagged Bible, Christianity, Interpretation. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.