Re: here's a question- (otr content!)

[bigLight <biglight at pacbell_net>]

Melanie Shannon wrote:

> good gracious, john.  i liked those quotes so much i've stolen them for 
> this week's signature.


<blush>Ohhh stop... It's not like I wrote them or anything...</blush>


> 
> 
> that difference between the fraility of humanity and the holiness of the 
> Divine has been one of those ideas which repeatedly draws me back to my 
> faith.  the thing i so often miss in pop Christian culture (and i use 
> this /very/ loosely folks, please don't jump on me!) is the way our 
> humanity is often overlooked, or addressed as an evil to be avoided at 
> all costs. 


Or, at best, negotiated, tolerated. Not very often *celebrated* though.



 i'm afraid i'll raise arguments by saying that, but maybe i 
> can better explain my point by saying that karin and linford do the 
> opposite for me.  they seem willing to really address our humanity- to 
> acknowledge it and explore it- and to try to understand it.


and I think they celebrate it. The tiniest, most human things are sites 
of celebration for them: think "The Seahorse." Or "Paul and Virginia."




> 
> 
>> The way I see it, my faith is *mine*. At the end of the day, I'm
>> responsible for how it makes me act, what it makes me say, etc. If being
>> just or loving puts me at odds with an established religious group, well
>> then, it does. I wouldn't be the first. :)
>>
> 
> such tricky ground to tread on...



Yeah, but it's ground you and I and everyone *has* to tread on. If you 
sign over your decisions to an institution, a denomination, or just one 
other person, say, a pastor, you're still treading the tricky groud-- 
you've just decided to let others decide for you. That's certainly a 
valid decision, but it is no less "tricky ground" than deciding to own 
one's faith decisions. The deicison to let other people's doctrines tell 
you what to believe is still a decision you make compeletly in faith; 
it's just that you're putting your faith in God + some stuff a group of 
people believe about God. Which is, I think, valid, and often 
necessary-- it's a function of community. But it's rarely a decision any 
of us make completely. I can't count the people I've been in churches 
with who were dissenters from the majority on some level. That's also a 
function of community. I think that ideally, indivdual communities of 
faith oughtn't prescribe what thier congregations believe, but rather 
exist as living descriptions of that collective faith. Much as this list 
is not a collection of things people *must* believe or think about OtR 
but rather a collection of what people have and continue to believe 
about OtR in all thier heterogeneous glory.

Okay, enough of that... :)


> 
>> Bjork's newest
>> album, Vespertine, is thematic- all the songs are supposed to be
>> "chamber music" for our homes, a celbration of what is daily and
>> parituclar to us (whch puts a whole other spin on "worship music").
> 
> 
> i didn't know she had said this- it explains a lot.  i'm going to have a 
> lot of music to catch up on this week...



She said this and more in the British music magazine called Q. The cover 
story for that issue was U2, I believe, which was also a very good article.


yours,


John



np- Doves - Lost Souls


-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The Law goes silent in times of war."
                         -Cicero
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.johnpauldavis.org

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References:

• Re: here's a question- (otr content!)
• From: "Melanie Shannon" <arwen725 at hotmail_com>

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