Pilgrim's Progress

Go To Sleep

Maybe one to fall asleep to? A remix of "Blue Room" by The Orb, from 1997. I haven't really done much musical stuff like this for nearly a decade, so it's great to have found it again.

I've been struck recently by the story of Elijah. After the showdown on Mount Carmel, he ran for his life. There he collapsed, exhausted. Only after rest could his recovery begin. And when he got up the first thing God said to him was not "pray", or "fast", or "try harder", but "eat something", and then sent him off to sleep again!

So this is for everyone who doesn't need to pray more, or pull their socks up, but who needs to rest, and look after themselves before returning to the front line.

Deep Sleep (96K MP3; 11 mins; 8.6MB download) Higher quality version available on request for non-commercial use in Christian worship, mission etc.

I'd like to put together some background ambient stuff for worship, but even better, I'd love to mix it live!

We'll Get There

Was playing around with a demo of Ableton Live 6 LE today - a software package for live mixing audio and DJ-ing.

I came up with this live mix, which kind of sums up the way I feel about life at the moment - I think I've been granted a glimpse of where I'm headed, but not just yet.

 

We'll Get There Mix (96K MP3; 11 mins; 8MB) Higher quality version available on request for non-commercial use in Christian worship, mission etc.

Based on one of MLK's famous speeches. It is quite full on - a sign of the there's creative energy that's bubbling away even though life is difficult right now.

Hope you enjoy it.

Open Spaces

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
(Ps 18:19)

Note, he brought me out into a spacious place. Out of where? Implies a journey from confinement to freedom (read back in the Psalm for clues).

Modern life can be so busy, so confined, so boxed in, sometimes unavoidably. So whatever is pressing in upon you, may God grant you open spaces today ... may your inner world be spacious, even when life presses in.

Footnote:

1. "Spacious" translates Hebrew word 'merhab' which can mean spacious place, meadow, vast expanse

Facebook and Postmodern Loneliness

Have you been sucked in to Facebook yet? Its a great way to get back in touch with old friends. It's great for a bit of fun. It's great for a lot of things. I live alone, as many of people do in our culture. I love the way Facebook is helping me put my life story together, and helping me reconnect with old friends, and have little fun moments in the middle of the day.

Someone was burbling away on the One programme yesterday about "Wikinomics" - the power of collaboration in a Facebook generation. He said that MySpace has 200 million subscribers worldwide, Facebook has about 80 million.

WHY IS THIS? What are we looking for?

Part of me is still searching for a particular kind of vulnerable, authentic community which I can call a spiritual home. The kind of vulnerable peer relationships where you can't hide, or pretend. The kind of place where authentic and close relationships are seen as the key to growth, maturity, joy and freedom. Letting people close enough to annoy and irk us, and get under our skin, but also to mirror back the real us.

I already have this to some degree in a growing number of close friendships, but I can still hide the real me too easily, and I do.

My hunch is that too many of us are lonely, and are searching for more connectedness, and we know it will cost us something to find it. Perhaps the price is our freedom, our reputation, our autonomy.

A friend said to me at Greenbelt, as we sat outside the Organic Beer tent watching people, "I know what's missing from the church - living together in real community."

How can we, the people of God, live more like this, and model it for a lonely, disconnected culture?