Here's the sermon from Sunday night, on Proverbs 22:17-21. I'm really looking forward to digging into these "thirty sayings" of Proverbs. Just studying chapters 22-24 is helping me solidify what the main lessons of Proverbs are. I have a theory about Proverbs, that our problems and thus the main lessons of Proverbs, are relatively few in number. I'm hoping to solidify this theory in an article, perhaps after I finish preaching through Proverbs...like, in 2010.

mp3
mp3 from Sermon Audio (smaller size)

-----

A couple really great music discoveries:

The Wood Brothers. This is a concert from npr posted on their website. It's just Oliver & Chris Wood on guitar and upright bass, respectively. Oliver is the guitarist from Medeski, Martin & Wood (for all you modern jazz fans). But these songs manage to combine an old-timey feel with excellent guitar work and really deep grooves (the one thing I often feel is missing from "americana" music). Their cd is definitely going on my wish list.

James Hunter. I also heard him through an npr link to David Dye's World Cafe. It's really, really great soul/'60s r&b. His voice is so good it's almost impossible to believe his cd was recorded just last year.

As long as we're in this genre, I should metion Tres Chicas. I picked up their first cd, Sweetwater, for the wifey a while back. I can't even remember how I heard of them, but it is a great folk cd, although it's mostly marketed as a country album. What makes them stand apart is their great harmonies. The instruments are fine, but not showy; the songs are clever. But their singing...if I had a great big front porch, I would hire them to sit there and sing, because this is just what front porches were made for. It looks from their website like they have a new album coming out soon. (It also says they're holding a benefit concert for "reproductive rights"...argh.)

-----

FYI - cvbbs.com is having a sale. Free shipping on orders over $200. That's a whole lot of money and a whole lot of books, but if you've been waiting to pick up Calvin's commentaries or some other set, now's the time.