Friday's Randomness

I've been feeling fairly dry in blogging inspiration, but it's flowing like a river now, thus the following disjointed post:

Blogs of Irish RP Pastors! (please tell me if names or congregations are incorrect):

Mark Loughridge of Milford RP Church
David McCullough of Dromore RP Church

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Good concert: Neko Case at the 9:30 club on NPR.org

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Another quote from Noll's Turning Points, this time on the differences between the Greek (Orthodox) and Latin (Roman) church, by Bishop Ware:

From the start Greeks and Latins had each approached the Christian Mystery in their own way. At the risk of some oversimplification, it can be said that the Latin approach was more practical, the Greek more speculative; Latin thought was influenced by juridical ideas, by the concepts of Roman law, while the Greeks understood theology in the context of worship and in the light of the Holy Liturgy. When thinking about the Trinity, Latins started with the unity of the Godhead, Greeks with the threeness of the persons; when reflecting on the Crucifixion, Latins thought primarily of Christ the Victim, Greeks of Christ the Victor; Latins talked more of redemption, Greeks of deification...These two distinctive approaches were not in themselves contradictory; each served to supplement the other, and each had its place in the fullness of Catholic tradition. But now that the two sides were becoming strangers to one another - with no political and little cultural unity, with no common language - there was a danger that each side would follow its own approach in isolation and push it to extremes, forgetting the value in the other point of view.

Nothing like a little theology for Friday afternoon. For you Protestants, which way do you think you/we lean?

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A thought on Titus 2 - our Bible study was in Titus 2 last night, which I generally think of as a passage about different roles in the church (older men, older women, etc.). It is indeed that, but I came away profoundly grateful for verses 11-15, which form the theological backdrop for verses 1-10. Often I feel a tendency to approach Paul's teaching on church roles (especially women in the church) defensively, with my gloves up, so to speak. Not that I don't believe him, but I tend to anticipate folks bucking against Paul's instructions for them, especially young women.

But the problem is that I've read it and taught it apart from verses 11-15. A much better way is to meditate on the grace of God (v. 11), our great calling to live heavenly lives on earth (v. 12) and wait actively for Christ (v. 13). This is the Christ who purchased us to Himself by His blood; He didn't purchase a lifeless item, but a people designed to be zealous for good works. What a great calling! This, then, is the foundation of the roles of younger women and men and older women and men: the grace, salvation, and return of Jesus Christ.

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Music review:
The Derek Trucks Band, Songlines

I mentioned Derek Trucks a while ago; if you haven't checked him out yet, I pardon you of your minor oversight. Now you have no excuse.

Songlines is flat-out great CD. Derek Trucks, the quite-young guitarist for the Allman Bros., and husband to blues-wiz Susan Tedeschi, is the best slide player I've heard. He clearly has the chops to play faster and fancier than most, but it's his musicality & tastefulness that keep impressing me. Rather than just being a guitar album, songlines is full of great songs and well-placed guitar solos.

For this album, DTB added a new singer, Mike Mattison, whereas in the past they employed guest vocalists. Mattison is a great singer and it helps to have the same voice throughout the album. The rest of the band consists of a drummer, percussionist, bassist, and flute player. The style of music is quite hard to pin down, though Songlines feels less experimentally international than the last two albums.

They cover blues, African, gospel, soul, jazz, etc. It's all very toe-tapping; I often find myself smiling at how good it is. So, if you're looking for a new cd for the summer, here it is.

[p.s. The title of the album comes from aboriginal myths wherein the ancients wandered through the Outback singing creation into existence. Later aborigines believed that if you knew the right songs, you could find your way anywhere. Sort of reminds me of Narnia's creation.]