Music Mondays: Father and Child Edition

Parenthood is filled with many joys and new experiences. 

What I'm about to share has certainly been new but not always joyous. As my wife said this morning, "You know at first, I thought all those children's songs were dumb. But now I kind of like them."

That pretty much sums it up for me too.  We've entertained our 2 year old with YouTube videos for a while now. We try not to overdo it and there's certainly a point where you start questioning reality after the 14th version of "The Muffin Man" plays.

I don't have the creative energy to rank the best or rate the worst that are in the rotation right now. But for this Music Monday I'm going to pick three different songs from three different "channels". 

If they get stuck in your head, like they do ours, I'm sorry not sorry. I'll offer my own little commentary free of charge.

Here's a good one to start off with. Cute ducks, simple tune, teaching some basic counting skills. I have watched it enough to wonder if this takes the listener on a subtle emotional roller coaster that my toddler is not totally mature enough for. :) Props to "Super Simple Songs" for having a very distinct intro diddy.

Sesame Street has adopted a very clear strategy to incorporate pop culture figures into their videos. This one is a little more obscure as Feist had more of a pop culture moment over a decade ago with her "1,2,3,4" (shoutout to SS for capitalizing on this made-for-their-show connection).  I was legitimately impressed by the choreography of the video and it turns out, this one isn't just popular in our house, it has turned into a phenomenon of it's very own. 

No feature on kid's songs would be complete without some version of "Baby Shark". This one comes from a group called Bounce Patrol. They have a ton of videos and this one has over 1 BILLION views. I'm not even going to look it up but I think it is safe to say that they are from Austrailia. Their visual creativity is probably a big part of their draw with kids. As an adult, I just imagine you have to really love childhood education/entertainment to do all the over-the-top stuff these folks do. Kudos to them I guess.

A Brush with Greatness

My sophomore year of college, I had just barely earned my way onto the travel squad on our Grace College basketball team which allowed me the special opportunity to go to Los Angeles in late December 2000. We did some cool sightseeing, lost our two games, and had three interactions with sports legends.

One was a mere accident. We were hitting up the famous In-N-Out Burger when Rickey Henderson pulled in the driveway in a limousine. He rolled down his window and dapped us up. It was close to noon but he and his friends were dressed like they were going to the Oscars or some other prestigious party. Our guess, based on our quick observations, was that these folks were actually still partying from the night before.

The second interaction was a planned dinner with UCLA legendary coach, John Wooden. It felt like a visit to see a basketball pope - minding your P's and Q's, straining within the group setting to listen to every word he said, even going back to his apartment and trying not to trip over all of his "Coach of the Century" awards that littered his living room.

The third interaction was during a visit to a defending NBA Champion LA Lakers practice. Laker forward Rick Fox had been more or less "discovered" by our college coach and we'd used that connection to sit in some bleachers and watch these world class athletes play and compete...and goof around. Shaq had kicked a giant medicine ball during the practice after one of our party had snapped a picture with the flash on while he was shooting free throws. (He seemed playful about it because he'd missed, and the whole team had to run...make that jog down and back). Fox chatted with us for a good amount after practice, showing us around the facility once everyone had cleared out.

But at some point during our time there, as practice had ended, we'd noticed Kobe come out and conduct an sit-down interview across the gym with a reporter. To me, it seemed like a long interview, because we were waiting around for a good while before Fox came out.  Eventually, Bryant did end his interview and headed our direction. It was clear we were some sort of team or group. Being the burgeoning superstar that he was, he was more than willing to take some pictures with us.

That's me in the gray shirt and blue jeans..

I was and will always be a Boston Celtics fan - the historic arch-rival of the Lakers. But even this staunch supporter of the Shamrocks couldn't deny Bryant respect for his greatness. He was young then, close to the age of some of our upperclassmen in fact. His life and career still had so many ups and downs ahead of it. Yet he was a star and we all knew even more greatness lay ahead.

He did earn his place among the all-time great players. In terms of personal and team accomplishments, his resume stands up with anyone's. And tragically, his life ended yesterday in a helicopter accident that killed his daughter and 7 other people. We have all been confronted again with the fact that death is no respecter of persons. Famous or not, all those lives that were lost is a devastating reality. It comes for all of us. Yet Scripture over and over again encourages us that God has done something about the enemies that are sin and death - Hebrews 9:27-28 is one passage that comes to mind.

I cannot speak to Kobe's spiritual life. Others more qualified than I can speak to his basketball genius. It was a pretty neat experience to get to brush with greatness 19 years ago. But it was only 10 minutes.

So I share all of this not only to share my memorable experience, but also to remind myself and you that life is preciously short. Make the most of each day. Embrace Christ as the hope of eternity and live each day for God's glory. Love the people around you and make sure they feel it. Thank God for the mundane and special moments - whether you are grinding along or brushing up against greatness.

Music Mondays

A lot has taken place since my last post. Most significantly, we added a fourth member to our family - Elijah Harlow Compson, born on 12/31/20, 8 lbs 9 oz, 21.75" long. His two year old big brother has adjusted very well and so are mommy and daddy for the most part. We are blessed.

Our emotions are quite the opposite than one of the heroes of my youth. TobyMac, formerly of dc Talk and still a giant artist and producer in the CCM world, had his oldest son pass away suddenly this past fall. 

Now I am a father, that kind of experience hits home in a very real way. It is excruciating even to think about. The McKeehan's have expressed grace and faith in the few public statements they've given. And just recently, Toby came out with a powerful tribute to his son and this situation with a song that expresses grief, but also grace and faith. 

Music Mondays

Our worship team led us in a song yesterday that made me go "oh, that's a Christmas song? That's a Christmas song."

It's one of those I've heard, but never really listened to or connected it to Christmas. 

If you don't believe me, try the lyric video.

We are unpacking Isaiah's prophecy of a coming King in 9:6-7 in our Advent sermon series, so even though it surprised me a bit, this song was very fitting. Jesus embodied each of Isaiah's royal titles in a unique way and he certainly continues to embody the king who reigns and will reign forevermore.

Some 'serious' thoughts to consider about Thanksgiving

I realize Thanksgiving has come and gone, so I may be tardy in sharing this video below. 
But if you are like me, you still have a full belly from all of the feasting you did late last week. 

So why not consider these wise words as you look back on all the good times you had. 

A Turkey's Plea from Andy Waddell on Vimeo.

(h/t to my peeps at the Brethren National Office - https://www.brethrenchurch.org/articles-stories/what-would-jesus-eat?utm_source=Brethren+Church+Weekly+Updates&utm_campaign=79c9dd398b-11-26-2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d565756c49-79c9dd398b-141981353)

Music Mondays

I realized it has been quite awhile since I did anything related to music or my ongoing series "Music Monday". A busy schedule has a way of doing that to me.

I thought I'd bring back the feature in a short-and-sweet way this morning with a newer song I'm really liking. I am not going to waste a lot of space to share why, just that I like how in a confessional sort of way, it describes Jesus' life, ministry, and the beginning of the Church.

Techne - How should Christians view technology?

It has been two weeks now since I attended the Center for Pastor Theologians annual conference in Oak Park, Illinois. The theme, as the title above infers, was to discuss and understand how Christians ought to view, utilize, and understand technology in this rapidly changing world.

There was a lot to process and many implications for various fields. I found the plenary and breakout sessions all to be very informative and interesting. I'm indebted the many speakers and presenters, including Dan Brendsel, Karen Swallow Prior, Charlie Dates, Felicia Wu Song, Joel Lawrence, Andy Crouch, Christina Bieber-Lake, and Jeff Hardin. The following take-aways originated with these highly-qualified and informed people.

I thought I'd share my biggest takeaways in no real order of importance:

1. It is probably helpful to differentiate between techne as a tool and modern technology. Humanity has always had tools of some sort - hammers, roads, writing utensils etc. But what marks are current era is how exponentially greater the quantity of power that has been harnessed and put into automated systems. This was a point made by Andy Crouch and essentially in boils down to the fact that we had used tech as a tool. Now we are tools of the "technique" system. I did find that there were differing views on this differentiation, but there is a common agreement that this pursuit for better and easier tech is driven by our innate desire for control and self-determination. 

2. Technology often invents problems that don't exist. And one of those developing problems is going to be that of our human identity. Clearly many cultures are already grappling with this from the aspect of sexuality. But as the digital and virtual worlds become mor eand more dominant, Christians especially will likely be confronted with issues they dealt with when gnosticism was a dominant world view. Our understanding of the "oneness" of the material and immaterial needs to be reaffirmed. And along these lines, it will be very important for the Church to clarify our mission potentially even showing the world a different way than one anchored to tech. We should be ready to highlight the longings of our souls that remain unfulfilled despite all the technological progress we are making.

3. Technology can be good and used in positive ways, but we must be keenly aware to its dangers too. Tech in general can really hinder our spiritual lives. It can reflect "the dark heart of man in an instant" as Charlie Dates said. It brings transparency in that sense. For pastors and ministers, it is especially crucial that we seek to be faithful rather than famous. Technology can also deceive, making good on its promises in the short-term, but never the long-term. It creates a sense of life being lived elsewhere. Life is lived on my Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook feeds and not in my actual physical context.This creates an obligation to technology that causes stress and forms it's own worship system. 

4. To balance out the above point, there are many practices we can embrace that will help us navigate this technological world wisely. Some I picked up on include:

• Embrace good technology. What would that be? Crouch defines it as any tech that serves, helps bring people together, and blesses others.
• Read. Dr. Prior made a good case for reading print and reading it contemplatively as a way to sharpen our brains and help better for our inner life.
• Intentionally design your living spaces with tech boundaries and create limits and routines that distance ourselves from our phones, tablets, and tv's. Something as simple as creating a family charging station where everyone puts their phones at night so they aren't waking up immediately to a screen.
• Demonstrate within our Christian communities the value and special nature of what the life with Christ is. The Eucharist (Communion to us low-church folks) was highlighted by more than one speaker as a regular observance that can be an oasis for our tech-saturated souls. One aspect that wasn't explicitly mentioned was fostering a spiritual environment where we are in tune with the Spirit.  But as we navigate this world, we need to recognize how it can numb us to experiencing true gratitude, to learning through suffering, and to receiving grace in the ups and downs of our lives.

This conference gave me a lot to think about and a lot to read (love the book tables!) and it confronted me with everyday ways I'm too tethered to technology. Good things to ponder and good reasons to seek God's empowerment to live like he wants me to live.