Some random things that I believe – and don’t believe…

I believe that the Book of Jonah is one of the most profound books in the Bible. Not the whole ‘swallowed by a fish’ bit, so much as the fact that God sent him as a missionary to the deadly enemies of Israel. No wonder he ducked and ran…

Oh, and it’s also one of the funniest books in the Bible. Especially in the last chapter, when Jonah accuses God of being a habitual wuss, and then follows the entire ‘gourd’ story (see Jonah 4).

I believe that no political party has a monopoly on lying, stupidity, empire-building and self-interest. In fact, for the most part, I think it’s pretty evenly distributed.

Mind you, ‘trust the markets’ is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. The price of gas goes up in increments of about 6 to 7 cents a litre. But it comes down at a much slower rate. Oil company executives tell me this is because of ‘forces beyond our control’. I don’t believe that.

I believe that Jesus was a pacifist, but I definitely do not believe that he was a passivist.

Until this past weekend, I sincerely believed that a bishop’s mitre was one of the most ridiculous looking pieces of headgear ever invented. But on Sunday one of my Anglo-Catholic colleagues described the Canterbury Cap for me. I now believe it’s a toss-up.

I do not believe it is possible to write a folk song. A song becomes a ‘folk’ song when it is sung by folk – passed around, adapted, set in new situations, etc. etc. It follows that (1) songs that can only be convincingly sung by the author (being inextricably related to his or her life situation alone) can never be folk songs, and (2) copyright is the enemy of the folk process.

Oh, and I also believe that most of the music sung at folk festivals is not folk music.

I believe that Jesus has sent his followers out into the world to share his message and to invite people to turn from their previous allegiances and follow him. I believe that he is the unique Son of God, sent into the world by God to live, die, and rise again to save us. I do not, however, believe that this means I can make exact predictions as to who will or will not fry in the lake of fire (thank you, Allan Hunsperger). The parable of the sheep and the goats leads me to believe that I might get a few surprises.

I believe that there is a very important difference between the words “I do” and “I will”.

I believe that a lot of people confuse worship with entertainment. By the way, this includes connoisseurs of cathedral Evensongs every bit as much as those who like their worship bands served with big screens and lattes.

I do not believe that everyone who says “We are truly sorry and we humbly repent’ has actually repented. This includes me. In fact, I wonder if I should be saying the words “I repent” at all. Perhaps I should concentrate on really repenting (i.e. doing things differently) and then let God judge whether I’m truly repenting or not.

I believe it is possible to be too opinionated. I believe I may have crossed that line a long time ago.

Happy birthday Marci

‘Our definition of mission is probably too broad…’

” – our definition of mission is probably too broad. We’re happier to talk of Fair Trade as mission than evangelism. Within the ’5 marks of mission’, it feels like some are more equal than others. We need to jack up the church growth end, as it just gets swamped by the rest…we need some positive discrimination.”

Read the rest here.

‘Folk Songs and Renovations’ now available for Digital Download

I’m pleased to announce that ‘Folk Songs and Renovations’ is now available for digital download through the ‘Band Camp’ website.

Here’s the link.

Red Tail Ring live

The brilliant duo of Laurel Premo and Michael Beauchamp – known collectively as Red Tail Ring – are my favourite American folk group, bar none. They play a nice mix of their own original songs and their interpretations of traditional folk songs – exactly the combination that I love so much!

If you’ve never heard them before, make yourself a coffee, sit back, and turn the volume up on your computer. This is a nice half-hour live set that gives you a good flavour of their stuff.

If you like their music and would like to hear more, go to their website.

CGDGCD tuning – and some brilliant playing from Doug Young

I’ve recently been experimenting with a new guitar tuning (for me, that is) – CGDGCD, sometimes referred to as ‘Orkney’ tuning (I don’t know why!). I first heard of it from local Edmonton musician Dana Wylie, who is a real expert at using it, but I left it alone for a while. Now I’ve had a go at it and I have to say that I’m really enjoying the particular voicings it makes possible. Like many alternative tunings, it doesn’t really have many ‘chords’; it’s more useful for picking out tunes with combinations of two or three strings at a time.

Martin Simpson has used it (‘Little Musgrave’, ‘Polly on the Shore’, ‘Mother Love’), and he’s always worth listening today. However, today I found a lovely YouTube video by Doug Young of an old piece by the great Irish harpist Turlough O’Carolan, played in this tuning. Here’s what Doug says on his YouTube page:

This is an arrangement of a tune by Turlough O’Carolan, the 17th-18th century Irish harpist and composer. Princess Royal, which also goes by the name Miss MacDermot, first caught my ear via an arrangement by Portland area guitarist Anton Emery. Anton created a wonderful arrangement in CGDGCD tuning. You can hear him play it and get tab for his arrangement at:http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/Pr…

I started to learn his arrangement and ended up making so many modifications for my own taste, that I think I can justify calling this my own arrangement, but it owes a huge debt to Anton’s version, as I’m sure you can hear if you check out his recording. He came up with most of the cool parts and did the work of laying it out in CGDGCD tuning. I tried to keep my take on the tune a little more free, less strict in tempo, added more bass movement and harmony variations, added an intro, and so on.

I’m playing here on a Lowden O22, cedar top, mahogany back and sides. The recording was done with my usual setup – Schoeps CMC6/Mk41 mics plugged into a Zoom H4n recorder. Video was shot with a Panasonic GH2, Canon HF200 and Sanyo Xacti. Edited in a trial version of Final Cut Pro X, my first attempt to learn the new program, so I played around a bit with some of the effects and so on.

Here’s the video:

Pentecost

My Dad described this experience to me a long time ago, and I included it in my book ‘Starting at the Beginning’ (now out of print I’m afraid):

On Shrove Tuesday 1971, I was part of an ecumenical prayer group and all the members knew that I was waiting, in obedience to the Lord, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Two of the group asked me if I would like them to pray with me. I agreed and they prayed but nothing happened. I was trying to will myself into the experience but that isn’t how it happens. So, in my heart I prayed, “Well, Lord, I’ve waited twelve years, I can wait longer, if that’s what you want”. And that was what the Lord was waiting for… And so it happened. My heart was bursting with a joy and peace and love I had never known before.

 The way I would describe it is that it’s like standing under a great waterfall but the water not only cleanses the outside but pours through the whole body, soaking and enriching every cell. It’s realizing that every drop of that water is the Spirit’s power filling me to overflowing with the love of Jesus.