The Lone Strangers’ latest, a record of 10 of our favorite praise songs from The Rock and Stonebrook is almost here. Pat posted a sampler clip on his blog that has gotten me really excited.. The album is currently off being mastered, and then to be pressed (in the mean time we are obtaining licenses to the 10 songs on the disc). It should be here in a short few weeks. If you’d like a copy, drop me a line. They’re selling for $10 ea. (If you want to buy a case of 30, we’ll give you a discount… ;-) ) Check out the cover art:

Today in my daily surfing, I came across Matt Blair, a worship leader/songwriter from North Carolina. For those of you who know me, and my compatriot/band mate Pat Blair, this is highly ironic. Haven’t really checked out the music yet, but if you look at his picture, he even looks like a combo of Pat and I (sorta…).

Funny stuff.

I finally picked up Derek Webb‘s latest CD “Mockingbird”. It was released on December 26, 2005. Over the last year, Derek has become one of my favorite artists, by virtue of his lyrics which are truth filled, unfiltered by the industry, slightly controversial, and centered around harder truths of scripture and Christian living in a society that tends to pull us away from living Christ-like lives.

My friend Scott (sound guy at our church) told me that this is a difficult album to listen to. He’s right. Derek doesn’t pull punches in rebuking himself (and thereby, the listener, if one is paying attention) about our hypocrisies as Christians. Or maybe it’s just me.

I could pick out choice lines from each song, but right now I’m really focussing on the second track on the album. Called “A New Law”, about legalism vs. the freedom we have in Christ. It’s a topic that’s been on my mind quite a bit here recently.

The title makes the lyrics… ironic? Christ came and brought us a new law, the “law of life that brings freedom”, yet we tend to create “new laws” for ourselves and live by those, rather than the freedom Christ gave us.

A New Law by Derek Webb

don’t teach me about politics and government just tell me who to vote for

don’t teach me about truth and beauty just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man just give me a new law

i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy so just bring it down from the mountain to me

i want a new law i want a new law gimme that new law

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit just give me a new law

what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep for one you can that cannot get you anything do not be afraid do not be afraid do not be afraid

I’ll probably post choice snips from the other songs at some point. I’m loving this disc. Definitely worth picking up.

[tags]Derek Webb[/tags]

Hard words I’ve heard recently. I want to measure them against scripture, but they are sticking in my throat.

Ministry

• Faithfulness over success
• Christianity is not a set of rules to live by.
• The Gospel is more than “The Four Spiritual Laws“.
• The question “What must I do to be saved?” is asked several times in the New Testament. The question is answered differently in each case.
• We don’t have to understand complex theology to become a Christian. We must have a mysterious relational encounter. (There is complex theology involved, but we do not need to understand it all.)

Justice / Living

• Peace. Step in front of bullets. Stand up and fight. But as Christians, violence is not one of our options.
• Our enemy is NOT flesh and blood. We are to love. (This includes Iraqi insurgents, Muslims, the French, Liberals and evolutionists. All of them.)
• God is not going to judge us based on our response (or lack thereof) to the Africa AIDS situation. He already judged and punished Christ for our loving people poorly. This is our motivation for loving people. Not to earn God’s favor, but because we already have it.
• Are you following Jesus, or the American dream?

Politics

• America is not a Christian nation. The founding fathers had some Christian ideas in the founding of it, but we are not a theocracy, (and we should not be surprised when it doesn’t behave in a Christian way. What’s more, we should not take an American, patriotic ideal as equal to a Christian ideal. Americanism and Christianity are in conflict from time to time.)
• America is not the new Israel. We are not God’s chosen political nation on this earth, carrying out his will and judgement.

It’s meme time again!

Tagged by Yannick.

1: List three (3) words that describe your faith.

• True
• Tenacious
• Imperfect (doesn’t that seem inconsistent with true?)

2: Describe a belief you are certain about and one with which you struggle.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.

I struggle with believing Jesus’s words: “I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

3: What is your mission in life?

To know God and do what he tells me.

4: Describe one thing that interferes with authentically living out your faith.

Left to my own devices, I am a self-centered, lying, gluttonous, hedonistic coward.

The degree to which I ignore God’s presence in my life (his spirit in me) is the degree to which I am these things.

5: What is your favorite story from the Hebrew Scriptures? Why?

David’s story. The whole thing. It gives me hope. A king/poet/warrior who screws up majorly, yet God still uses him in huge ways.

6: What is your favorite New Testament story? Why?

I continue to be inspired by Jesus’s life, challenged by his death, and changed by his resurrection.

7: Describe a meaningful action you took because of your faith.

I decided several years ago to let the mission affect my life choices (job, where I live, what I buy, etc), not let my life choices affect how I carry out the mission.

8: Does your faith differ from that of your parents? If so, how?

Yes. How is a hard question to answer. My faith is my own. My story is different from theirs. God’s plan for my life (specifically, not generally) is different from his plans from theirs. Do I have more or less? I think that is the wrong question to ask.

9: Who or what was most important in the development of your faith?

My Freshman and Sophomore years in college, in general, the experiences. Seeing the results of living for what I wanted… and then in stark contrast, the results what living for what God wants.

10: Pass it on! Tag at least two other religious/faith bloggers.

I’d like to hear what Nate, Pat, and Ben think.