Grace Beyond Eggs & Peeps

I’ve claimed to be a devout Christian before. The height of my claim came in high school when, for a few months, at least, I was set on the decision to attend a Seventh-Day Adventist college and major in Theology to become a pastor. For the most part, my spiritual life has been hit and miss since then.

The past couple years, however, brought about a growing acceptance of the concept of God’s grace. Essentially, there is nothing that I could do, or have ever done, to earn God’s love and acceptance. This realization has brought me closer to him than I’ve ever been or ever could become by learning to quote from the many writings of Ellen G. White or by refraining from doing the wrong thing on the sabbath (two big emphases of the Adventist church). Both of my hands are empty and free to serve now that I set my score card down.

My realization of the profound consequences of Grace on my personal life, has developed a greater appreciation of the events that the Christian Easter season celebrates. I grew up, as many kids do, coming out to the living room on Easter Sunday to find an Easter basket full of candy, treats, and usually a toy. The Peeps were my favorite. This was before they became available for every other holiday. I’m talking about the marshmallow, sugar-coated, yellow, pink, and purple chicks and bunnies. I still love them!

Sure, I was familiar with something related to Jesus being resurrected (or something like that), but, that was all on the periphery. My main focus when I was a kid was the candy, the oversized rabbit that stands on two legs at the mall, and egg hunts. Even in my mid-twenties I didn’t grasp the significance of “Good Friday,” as many people called it.

Last night I participated in a Thursday evening communion service in which we focused on commemorating Christ’s last supper with his disciples in the upper room. I’ve been focusing on this event in my personal readings over the past week as well. To me, this is where the truest character of Jesus is revealed. From the revelation that John the disciple reclined at the table with his head resting on the chest of Jesus, to the fact that the Messiah disrobed, wrapped his clothing around his waist, and washed each of his followers’ feet.

Though he knew he was about to suffer the greatest pain known to man, Christ spent this evening breaking bread with his betrayer, and providing food, wisdom, and comfort to his disciples. On the eve of the day when He would experience the greatest mental, physical and spiritual struggle to touch mankind, Jesus provided rest to his disciples and served even those who would, later that night, betray and deny him.

The next day he was unjustly executed. Three days later, on resurrection Sunday, he served all mankind by tying the knot of grace that binds, to Him, those who accept his generous invitation to eat with Him in His kingdom.

The hope and peace of my life rests on these events.

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23

“3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” John 13:3-5

Spokenword Audio Review: Kevin Max/Adrian Belew – Ravensongs 101

The Ravensongs 101 project shouldn’t be viewed in the same terms as a regular music release, but, as a conversation between art and listener. It is expected that some initially drawn to this release on the basis of Kevin Max’s past association with dc Talk may not fully appreciate this project for what it is. Poetry, not often intended to be bite size or sugar-coated, works best when an honest give-and-take dialogue of questions and interpretations exists between the reader (in this case the listener) and the poem itself. Concepts related to divinity, guilt, romance, pleasures of the flesh, conflict and hope are communicated less as sermons and more as confessions and open-ended questions. The name of the project is appropriate because, overall, the listening experience provided by this release is one blanketed with shadows and layers of complexity that reveal new details and nuances with every repeated listen. That being said, the full audio affect is best appreciated while listening alone in a room with dimmed lights or none at all. This isn’t one to play for the kids on the way to daycare. The project is notable mainly because of Max’s masterful control of his voice as an instrument that, while demanding the listener’s attention to the integrity of each poem, works in tandem with Adrian Belew’s (King Crimson – has worked with Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Talking Heads) instrumentation to create an audio experience that hooks the listener without relying on the traditional structural format of a song. The rhythmic variations of Belew’s instrumentation serve to enhance, to a higher level, the dynamic between tone, meter, and concept Kevin Max consistently and articulately injects into his poetry. With each track built on the framework of Max’s poems instead of some formulaic framework that guarantees a shot at pop stardom, this project serves as another testament to Kevin Max’s intent to produce artwork with integrity at all costs.

It is available through iTunes and Amazon

Long Leaf Pine

Juvenile pine that once stood naively tall
Having taken root on an uneven bank
In a climate that you once considered mild
You can now be found hungover
Bent down with your uppermost branches
Just inches above the brittle ground
You stand, but, prostrate
Surely, if trees can feel, spirit-breaking pain
Take comfort, though, because you are evergreen
And like your long Carolina leaves
Your sins are covered in white snow
Though you long to be numb to the pain
The warm will come and your burden will melt away

“When The Full-grown Poet Came,” ~A Poem By Walt Whitman

When the full-grown poet came,

Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;

But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled, Nay, he is mine alone;

-Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each by the hand;

And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,

Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,

And wholly and joyously blends them.

“O Living Always, Always Dying,” ~A Poem By Walt Whitman

O living always, always dying!

O the burials of me past and present,

O me while I stride ahead, material, visible, imperious as ever;

O me, what I was for years, now dead, (I lament not, I am content;)

O to disengage myself from those corpses of me, which I turn and look at where I cast them,

To pass on, (O living! always living!) and leave the corpses behind.

“Dead Wren” ~ A Poem By Henri Cole

When I open your little gothic wings
on my whitewashed chest of drawers
I almost fear you, as if today were my funeral.
Moment by moment, enzymes digest
your life into a kind of coffin liqueur.
Two flies, like coroners, investigate your feathers.
My clock is your obelisk, though only this morning
you lunged into my room, extravagant as Nero,
then, not seeing yourself in the sunlit glass,
struck it. Night – what beams does it clear away?
The rain falls. The sky is pained. All that breathes suffers.
Yet the waters of affliction are purifying.
The wounded soldier heals. There is new wine and oil.
Here, take my handkerchief as your hearse.

Music Review: Heather Williams

I happened upon the music of independent musician Heather Williams purely by accident, but, I was hooked instantly. The three songs available on itunes stream on her myspace page where I first heard them. After hearing her unmistakably sincere voice the question of why she doesn’t have more of a promoted presence in the music world immediately surfaced. If you give her music a listen I’m sure you’ll be asking yourself the same question.

“Hallelujah” as featured here is actually two songs spliced together. The namesake of the track is a confessional and celebratory song that starts small, but, builds in presence until crossing a dramatic musical threshold toward the end. Lyrically it begins with recognition of humanness and our need for grace. But, the ultimate message is that, despite fact that we struggle and fumble through our daily existence making mistake after selfish mistake everyday, God’s unconditional love for us still calls. The second part of the track is an a cappella rendition of the, “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.” Williams handles the classic hymn beautifully.

“Holes” is a piano-driven track that exhibits the pop sensibility of Williams while also showcasing her soulful voice. Like the lyrics in “Hallelujah,” “Holes” communicates the experience of someone who has humbly realized her human limitations and, as a result, opened herself to the hope of something much bigger.

“Beautiful Thing” is the track that hit me immediately as an infectious, gutsy, whimsical pop groove. Its terribly catchy and one can’t help, but, to nod, wiggle, toe-tap, or all-out dance while its playing. Its another track that displays the soul in the voice of Heather Williams, but, does so with a power and groove that is distinct in comparison with the mellower ambiance of “Holes,” and “Hallelujah.” “Beautiful Thing” seems like the kind of song that should be on the radio and, in airplay on pop-format radio stations, would stand head and shoulders above most of the vanilla, formulaic music that currently dominates radio playlists.

The threads that are woven through each of the Heather Williams songs featured on itunes are her sincere voice, a consistent message of grace and hope amidst the reality of daily life, and soulfulness that makes her music unique and extremely palatable to the ears. I strongly suggest, that for the price of a tall latte, these three songs by Heather Williams are well worth the price.