the nose sez #27
the nose sez:
What’s the best thing to eat after a night of drinking?
Soba noodles.
蕎麦。。。そーば！
Do not grow weary
As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Exhortations to persevere appear twice in the New Testament. I don’t think that it’s an accident. Far too easy to grow cynical, especially as one ages and see more things about the human condition. The schedule fills up, energy levels go down. Regrets grow from past events seen through a different lens.
It might seem rather selfish to think that the big driver for all this is a “reward” – almost as if it’s done for one’s own gain. But I think it’s a rather clever way to motivate fallen man.
More worship workshops
Covered a few more recordings over the weekend:
- Guitar Conversations – Mike Cosper, Patrick Anderson, Paul Hoover
- Strengthening the Drum/Bass Connection, PT1 – Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer (outline)
- Putting Songs Together – Bob Kauflin (outline)
Still yet to tackle the “The Piano in Contemporary Worship” video series. Vimeo has always been buggy and refreshing when it stops to start again from the top just doesn’t seem too appealing.
Anyway, found the three seminar recordings very useful, the guitar and drum/bass one summarised many things that I have slowly learned over 8 years of playing in a mostly worship band setting. Points like playing less, knowing who is driving the song, recognising that what you listen to will undoubtedly influence how you play (post-rock and instrumental has pushed me towards the ‘play less’ mentality). Gear talk made me want to buy another delay pedal and a tuner pedal.
The last one, “Putting Songs Together”, was just full of good tips and just reading the 5 page outline makes for heavy reading. Moreso because there are so many learning points. Things that I think shouldn’t be limited to people who are leading the singing.
It also supplied a brilliant medley idea: The last verse of “How Deep The Father’s Love” into the chorus of “Jesus Paid It All”, how the first line continues the thought and responds to the last line. The continuity that bridges more than a century between the two songs.
All this talk of worship made for much introspection. I’ve seen myself as less of a musician than a listener who tries to patch together something out of what he hears.
I watched Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa tonight. It’s a good movie.
Off to audition a pair of headphones. Midnight listening session.
Worshiping a big God in a small church
A whole series of workshop recordings came across my reader and I decided to have a listen. Did not expect this much conviction from the first one I listened to. Much repenting for me to do and really looking forward to listening to the rest of the recordings.
But rather than risk missing out key points, here’s the link to the whole thing:
Worshiping a Big God in a Small Church – Pat Sczebel [1:14] (outline)
Tentative
There are piles of books scattered everywhere, waiting to be read. Pages waiting to be filled with notes.
The older one gets, the more grey things become. By that I mean that one gets a broader perspective (hopefully) of things and events and with experience is able to link things together. But with that broader perspective also comes the hesitation to make a definitive statement on anything. That more or less explains why I’ve blogged less (There are also other reasons, but we’ll stick to this one, hurhur).
Webs of information, how one careless sentence can spin off into two or more different perspectives. Who would want to be a cause of that?
So the words of James, brother of Jesus, continues to echo. Words such as slow to speak, doer, bridle his tongue, good conduct, and many others. What to make of it.
