Wearing the wrong coat

There was a two year or so period where I didn't have any TV or internet access at home. I didn't even have a reliable radio or a newspaper subscription. All of this was by choice. I didn't overly miss them to be honest. It was kind of nice being off-grid when at home, and I got used to things like being surprised by the weather each day. My habits have changed a bit since I got local TV and home internet service, but one habit that has been slower to change is checking the weather forecast.

Without TV, internet, radio, or the newspaper to check the forecast, I had to manage the old fashioned way: go outside, see what I'm dealing with, and make decisions accordingly. This approach sometimes results in wrong decisions. There was one day in a past March when I wore warmer clothes to bike to the library, eight miles each way, and by the time I left the library it was 80+ degrees. Today, I left for choir rehearsal in a jacket thinking it felt warm enough outside, and walked out after rehearsal to find snow. Both were beautiful surprises. The first surprise was a beautiful March day. The second surprise was a beautiful snowy scene; the Concordia Theological Seminary campus is gorgeous in snowy and rainy weather, so I walked slower than normal out to my car.

I spend a lot of time planning to avoid surprises, but I don't often mind being surprised by the weather. It helps remind me I can't avoid all surprises, and keeps me from thinking I have more control than I really do. Both of which are lessons that are worth sometimes wearing the wrong coat.

See How He Loves Us

Suggested Hymn Tune: HERZLIEBSTER JESU

Moved to compassion, Jesus started weeping

Outside the tomb which Laz’rus’ corpse was keeping.

The Jews who saw this were then moved to speaking:

“See how He loved him!”

“Father, forgive them.” We hear Jesus crying

As He is hanging on the cross and dying;

Bearing our sin and to us life supplying.

See how He loves us!

Viewing Christ’s death we see love’s definition;

Acting to save us of his own volition

Though we deserved it not, won sin’s remission.

See how He loves us!

[Nov 2013]

Catchy Hooks

Catchy hooks:

Not to catch food, but to feast

your eyes and ears

on headlines and soundbites

that want surprised eyes and jaws agape;

not to sate, but create

a hunger for the consumption of now

and undigested reaction.

Catchy hooks:

Not to inform, but to form

desirous daydreams

with posters and trailers

that prompt impressions while impressing

neither plot, nor point,

but images vaguely suited for imaginings

conveniently customizable.

Catchy hooks:

Not for development, but envelopment

in sonic oceans to drown,

in bass and beat,

expectations of subtlety;

denouncing nuance

for rhythmic jaunts contrived to prompt

predictable reaction.

Catchy hooks:

Not to enrich but make rich

and consume your attention;

promoting retention

by advertising the adversity

of travailing irrelevance

if you ignore or trivialize.

Do you buy it?

O Lord, Do Not Forsake Me

I was hoping to have a new Ash Wednesday hymn text written to share, but I can't quite realize the idea I've been pondering. I shall reflect more during Lent and continue trying. In the meantime, this original hymn text based on Psalm 38 will have to do:

O Lord, do not forsake me;
Come quickly help to bring.
My anguish overtakes me;
In groanings now I sing.
The guilt of my transgression
Has crushed my feeble frame.
Lord, hear now my confession--
I call upon Your Name.

Your pointed Word has pierced me
As arrows through my breast.
I feel Your hand upon me
As burden on my chest.
My strength and members languor
As I upon You wait.
Rebuke me not in anger,
But let Your wrath abate.

My sin leaves me in sorrow
And ever present pain,
That wounds me to my marrow
Till others see the stain.
My friends and neighbors leave me
While enemies pursue
To ruin and bereave me
And hateful gloatings spew.

My foes see my repentance
And judge it to be vain,
But I’ll not let their sentence
My thoughts now entertain.
For you, O Lord, will hasten
Forgiveness to provide.
O God of my salvation,
Near You let me abide.

[Nov 2013]

Lord Jesus, Think on Me

I was a reader before I started working to be a writer, and I was a listener before I started working to be a musician.

I want to be a hymn-writer. I guess you could say I already am one, but, much like I'm still working on becoming a musician, I'm still working on this writing thing.

I want to be a hymn-writer because, as a hymn-lover, I find within hymns a clear confession of faith and a great source of comfort. So, while I'm working on the writing part with failing thoughts, I'll take comfort in reading of the One whose thoughts do not fail.

~~~~~~~~~

               Lord Jesus, think on me
               And purge away my sin;
               From worldly passions set me free
               And make me pure within.

"Pastor! There's a sick call to be made. You must go to Sjöstugan. [. . .] It is Frans, a heart attack, they think. You'll have to hurry, Pastor."

               Lord Jesus, think on me,
               By anxious thoughts oppressed;
               Let me your loving servant be
               And taste Your promised rest.

Fridfeldt saw at once that there was little he could do here. The old man was obviously already paralyzed and entirely unconscious. Now and then he spoke a few incoherent words.
[. . .]
Fridfeldt sat down on the edge of the bed. He tried to talk with the sick man, but there was no sign of recognition. He bent over and shouted in the man's ear, but received no recognizable answer. Occasionally they could make out what the old man said, but he spoke of far-away, distant things, about rock blasting and oxen.

               Lord Jesus, think on me
               Amid the battle's strife;
               In all my pain and misery,
               O be my health and life.

"Father was always such a good man," said the weeping daughter. "I know, of course, that he will have it better now, but it is so hard to part with him."

"When I got here," she continued after a moment, "I said, 'You are are thinking about Jesus, are you not, Father?' And he answered me, 'I am not able to, Lena. I can't think any longer. But I know that Jesus is thinking of me.'"

               Lord Jesus, think on me
               Nor let me go astray
               Through darkness and perplexity
               Point out Your chosen way.

The pastor sat in silence. The truth that Jesus is thinking of the sick one seemed to him a comforting pillow on which to rest one's head when death is near.

               Lord Jesus, think on me
               That when this life is past,
               I may the eternal brightness see
               And share Your joy at last.

~~~~~~~~~~

Quote sources:

The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz, (pp. 163-65)

"Lord Jesus, Think on Me." Lutheran Service Book 610

Signs

Mile Marker 419.99 and H.W. Baals Drive are signs

partnered by crimes for street cred.

Stolen names to make a name

of prankster, risk-taker,

one who takes what one wants.

It’s ok. They’ve replaced signs before, right?

It doesn’t cost them much.

Nobody got hurt.

It’s no big deal.

They.

Them.

Nobody.

Can you be more specific?

They…

They refer to you generally too:

Thief.

You’re right, it doesn’t cost them much,

only a sign.

The name on the sign doesn’t cost you much either,

only your good name.

Mile Marker 419.99 and H.W. Baals Drive are real signs

that shouldn’t exist.

It’s no big deal until you are “They.”

Until you are “Them.”

Until you are "Nobody."

Tasty, tasty mistakes

People are often surprised I can cook. It's really annoying. I'm a good cook. I avoid cooking whenever possible, but I'm good at it when it is absolutely necessary.

I've sometimes had people ask me for the recipe I used to make this or that. This is always awkward. I do look at recipes for some things, but it is the rare occurrence that I follow a recipe exactly. I prefer to follow a process like this:

1. Research typical uses and recipes for any ingredients I'm considering working with I'm not already familiar with.
2. Decide what type of dish I feel like eating.
3. Assemble ingredients I know will work together.
4. Wing it.

Does this approach sometimes limit me? Yes.
Do I sometimes make mistakes? Yes.
Are the mistakes almost always tasty? Yes

My improvisation approach at the piano or organ is similar. I decide on a framework to work within I know works, and I explore the framework as I go. Limiting myself to the framework ensures that anything I do will be workable, so I don't worry about making "mistakes." Sure, I sometimes make a mental note not to do a particular something again, but everything works out because I always know where I am and where I am going.

I don't fear limits. I enjoy the challenge they present. Limits force me to know, understand, and love my tools. Limits present me with the world of the familiar, in which I explore, discover, and make tasty, tasty mistakes.

The Adventure Begins

I know, I know. Another blog whose title employs some vague literary pun of questionable wittiness. How ordinary. How boring.

And that is precisely the point. This blog will catalog my search for adventure in the ordinary, in the boring.

I would tell you about what to expect--about the specific plan and purpose of my blog--but when the adventure is into the ordinary and the boring, it's probably best to end up at the unexpected.

I'm happily ordinary, and I might be boring. But I'm an adventurer embarking on my Adventure in Fort Waynederland.