The Christ Tree

July 25, 2008 at 4:36 pm (Raleigh)

This is one of the best albums I’ve ever experienced:

The Christ Tree by The Trees Community

listen on their website: 

http://theTreesCommunity.com/

About the Trees Community taken from myspace page:

The Trees Community was a musical group as well as a community. We started out as disparate individuals who were just looking for the truth. In the summer of 1970 we stumbled upon a semi-abandoned loft in New York City with no locked door and through it, entered a collective life in the service of God. The language of our service was original music played on 80 instruments from around the world.

The early music was powerful, intricately beautiful and inspiring. Sometimes it was as if thousands of voices were joining and pouring through our own, like several Mellotrons being played at once in different keys, the music liquid, dynamic, ever changing. One night we might travel along a hot, dusty road in Ancient Egypt, with the sounds of donkeys hooves and clanging pots. Another night we were adrift in a foggy sea, the boat groaning and creaking and a distant bell tolling. We were part of a living, breathing unrehearsed story — a symphony. God handed us each separate parts yet no one knew the script. Eventually the music evolved, but never traveled far from these mystic roots.

In the spring of 1971 we embarked on a pilgrimage without a destination. Our journey was so named because we had no itinerary, traveling from place to place by pure faith. We lived in a converted school bus and traveled extensively for seven years throughout the U.S. and Canada. We visited many churches and fellowships including Trappist, Benedictine, Franciscan and Paulist monastic communities, evangelical and social outreach groups of every denomination, a Hutterite farming collective, and eventually returned to New York City to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, where we became a community in residence. We continuously learned from every group and person we met, sharing our lives, slowly building a musical expression of the gift of faith we had been given.

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Prayer

July 10, 2008 at 12:27 pm (Monica)

“Open conversation with God.”  That is how someone once described prayer to me.  That is never how I thought of prayer before, and always how I thought of it after.  I previously thought prayer was requests you made of God on behalf of someone else.  I was convinced you didn’t pray for yourself; that was selfish and God doesn’t like selfishness.  Now, I guess I think of prayer in a few different categories; you can pray for yourself, pray for others, talk to God, thank him for things, or (and this is my favorite) ask God questions.  I used to think “why” questions were absolutely off-limits when in conversation with God; how could you challenge your creator?  I later found “why” questions the most liberating thing.  One, “why” questions let Him know you’re thinking about things and you aren’t an ameba, two, that tiny word admits that you do not have all the answers, and that you’re talking to someone who does.

I would like to say that all of my prayers are sophisticated, well thought-out, eloquent, self-less and worded for exactly what everyone needs.  I would like to say everyone got everything I’ve prayed for.  I know that’s probably not true, but most of the time my heart was in the right place.  However, like the rest of the world I am definitely a hypocrite even when I wish I wasn’t and even when I try to pray or write and sound like I know what I’m talking about.   When we pray and ask for things, whether it is for other people or ourselves, don’t we often have selfish requests?  “I want, I want, I want.”  I wish my prayers would get more and more humble.  Not in the sense that I am asking necessarily a smaller ratio for myself than for others, but in the sense that I become more real and honest and obtain a truly conscious humility so that I can appreciate and respect God’s relationship with me in spite of all my shortcomings.

I guess while in the beginning I struggled with what topics were off-limits while praying, which topics were “acceptable” (there are none that aren’t, I think, because He knows all your thoughts anyway…) now I struggle with what I ask of God.  I ask “little” things of Him all day long.  “God, please let me get here or there on time, please don’t let my gas run out, please let me get the answering machine so I don’t have to talk to him…” (All spoken with the utmost sincerity and humility, as I know daily all the things that are out of my control and not at all realistically possible, neither are they life and death situations that God answers regardless immediately and without fail.)  However, when it comes to those really big and more serious life issues, He often seems reserved and does not answer.  Is it because we should not ask of Him?  We have all these verses that say otherwise;

“ Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” John 14:13

“Everyone who asks receives…” Luke 11:10

“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask HIm.” Matthew 6:8

I mean, I’m not asking for a new car or to be rich, I’m not even asking to get the answering machine…I just want answers, I want assurance, in a really silly way, I want to know if I’m going to get everything on my wish list: wisdom, peace, the revealing and guidance of His career/life plan for me, someone who loves and inspires me…

Father, be mindful of the humble state of your servant; just look at the ridiculous things I ask for!

In the end, I of course as usual have no answers.  I still ask for ridiculous things, I still ask for help with serious things, I pray in sadness, anger, disparity and abandon.  I cannot begin to account for the things He gives me right away, the things He makes me wait for, and the things that He does not seem to respond to at all (often the biggest things in my life).  The only two things that I am sure of, is that He hears me and He will have answers for me when it is time, and whether He answers my prayers immediately or not, things are always better when we are in frequent “open conversation”.

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Independence Day

July 4, 2008 at 8:07 pm (Raleigh)

I have been struggling with what to write about today.

On Memorial Day, I discussed the issue of remembering. We should not remember those who died in US wars, but we should remember everyone who has died due to violence.

Today Americans celebrate Independence. There are many positives and negatives that came along with July 4th 1776. The US suffered from the oppression of the British government. after the US gained momentum, they decided that they wanted to become their own nation. Freedom from oppression is a great thing. US citizens have fought for many rights, and have been granted many freedoms once they stirred up enough trouble.

But let’s not forget about how the North America was taken over. The land was originally inhabited by Natives. These natives had no conception of land ownership. What we learn in grade school is often a tainted narrative of how the US came to be. “Indians” were seen as savages and were given disease ridden blankets, were driven off their land, and killed.

Anyway. I think that there is something important that we can all celebrate on Independence Day, and that is our Independence from the world. God calls us to be his chosen people. This means that we are different. We are not to conform to this world. We are not to give into selfishness, greed, money and power. These are all things that God hates. We shouldn’t look at ourselves as citizens of a country. We should see ourselves as members of God’s kingdom. We are God’s nation. Jesus has set us free, and through him, we can do many great things.

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