Upon this Mountain...

So Cathedraldays is on location in North Bend Pennsylvania at the home of my best friend, James Wooster. He's getting married on Saturday to my friend Michelle and I am here to be his best man... (Although my current title is "Awful Man". I worked my way up from "Worst Man". :)My counterpart Erica, "The Maid of Shame", is Michelle's niece.

Anyway, This is my first trip to the mountains of Pennsylvania. It is really quite beautiful here. We've had a wonderful time thus far and tomorrow we are going to the amusement park.

Anyway, James took us on a tour of three of his four churches today. One of which was an absolutely beautiful gothic beauty with 1800''s woodwork and wainscot panelling, Stained glass, stone work, beautiful masonry, an absolute archetectural gem.

Anyway, above are a couple pictures Erica took of Renovo First, the gothic glory, and North Bend, the beautiful white ship on a sea of green mountain.

Hairspray

So, yesterday I went to see the movie "Hairspray" because... well because I love musical theater. It was so much fun! Hilariously funny and I think I have a crush on the girl who played Tracy. Those brown eyes are gorgeous.

The fun thing was everyone in the theater was laughing together. Over and over again, people laughed and chuckled and giggled. And there is something wonderful about that. The last time I heard an audience laugh that hard was when I went to see "Groundhog Day" with my sister.

Music

So, is there anything more wonderful than finding that album or that song that rattles your soul? Oh it has been so long since I've had this experience with anything that calls itself "Christian Music". However, recently, I've uncovered a few bands that absolutely rock.

This leads me to an exposition on what music should be. You see we live in an age where the music has turned into corrupted, prepackaged, hastily produced musical snot. It's about as riveting as a head cold.

Christian musicians however, are much worse about merely mass producing copied sounds than most secular artists are. It's like we find the next popular sound and then steal it without ever bringing any new vitality or validity to it.

Music should be the ultimate sensory experience. It should have no boundaries at all. The entire world of sound should be used to make music as interesting as possible. Every genre, every instrument, every beat and bass line should be experimented with, stirred and mixed together until something completely new is born. Most Christian artists don't want to do the work apparently.

I lament the loss of the Bach like souls who seek out new and interesting sounds. Especially when Christian people are supposed to be the most creative... since they worship a God who created all.

Incarnation Precursors

So, because my inner timing is off lately, and because I my prayer cycles are off kilter and because I am still pretty packed up despite the fact that I have lived at my current location for two months... I thought I might speak about the primary mystery of the Advent/Christmas cycle, the incarnation.

You see the other day I was thinking about the concept of the tabernacle and how astounding it is that God would concede to live in a tent with the rest of Israel. Then it hit me...

In the garden, God wanted to walk along side Adam and Eve...

God had dinner with Abraham...

God wrestled with Jacob...

He let Moses look at him...

He lived in a tent with Israel...

He lived in Solomon's temple...

He became incarnate in Christ...

Is there then something in God that makes him desire to be with his people? More than that, I think that this trend of living with, staying with and coming along side humanity reveals that from the very beginning God was incarnational. He was constantly seeking our companionship and friendship. I think that if we view the movement of scripture we find that the incarnation, though surprising and myterious, actually fits qute well in the arc of the story. Including the return of Christ where the dwelling of God is with men, and he himself will be our Light.

I had never thought of the incarnation in the light of the OT before... any thoughts?