The End

It's my last day of work with Sun Media Interactive here in St. Catharines, Ontario; my last few hours in fact. I couldn't be more content right now. I'm going to have about 10 days of travel and leisure before I start my new super-cool job in Winnipeg that I'm really excited for. Going to Toronto tonight to see an old friend and to watch the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, last visit with some family over the weekend, pick up two of my cousins on Sunday, hang out and have fun on Monday, go to Canada's Wonderland on Tuesday and make myself sick with roller coasters, then start the drive back home on Wednesday. Should be a stellar week!

Church Music continued

I thought I would add a few thoughts about worship, to clarify, and also just some more ideas that have come up in the last couple of days.

I guess first I should say that I maybe shouldn't have put my thoughts about worship at certain more traditional CRC churches in the same blog post as those lyrics from Jon Foreman. I feel that the worship at these churches is far from what is described in this song.

I've been thinking about passion in worship lately. I think a lack of passion in worship plagues most churches, whether it be a traditional CRC or a contemporary community church, or an emerging home church. A passion for excellence, a passion for the musician's craft, a passion for something better, a passion for change, a passion for worship.

I know that's hard; I speak from experience, but I'm sick of people who don't care enough to practice, and I'm sick of people who discuss change and passion and worship, but don't care enough to step up.

Anyways, this is something that I care about, but it's something that I prefer not to debate, because it's one of those things that seems endless, and in the end, my best solution is get up there and show my passion.

Local News

Here's just one example of the type of news that I've been working with on a regular basis:

Meat Theft

"Chicken breasts fell out of a Tillsonburg man's pants after security guards confronted him this weekend in the parking lot of the Norfolk Mall.Security staff at the Zehrs Food Plus Market observed a man concealing the meat beneath his clothing Saturday morning. He then walked past cashiers without attempting to pay.

"A Zehrs security guard approached the man in the parking lot and informed him he was under arrest for theft. The man attempted to leave but was restrained by the security guard and the store manager. That's when the chicken breasts fell out of his pants.Norfolk OPP report James McElhone, 26, has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime worth less than $5,000 and theft of property worth less than $5,000."

Football Game

I took my uncle to the airport in Hamilton on Friday night. He's off to Montreal for the weekend. Since I was in the city, I figured I would check out the football game. I managed to score a pretty sweet ticket for $30 from a very nice gentleman on the street (I guess they have a roving box office in Hamilton). Didn't really care who won, just wanted to enjoy an absolutely beautiful summer evening and some entertaining football. 

Photo of me in the lousiest stadium I've ever been in (even worse than Saskatchewan)

That's a pretty big flag, I guess..... I've seen bigger.

At Home

It was POURING rain this morning when it was time to go to work, so I decided to work from home today. All my work is over the internet, and my phone calls are being forwarded to my cell phone (if I happened to get one, which is highly unlikely).

I figured I would maybe go into the office later in the day, but it's almost 1:00 (and I'm done at 3:00), and the day has just flown by. Maybe I'll have to do this again in my last week of work here.....

The End, Music, Church

I suppose it's been a while. I've had a lot on my mind over the last couple of weeks. I got a new job back in Winnipeg. I'm really excited about this new job, it seems like a really great place to work, plus I really wasn't liking the one I have in St. Catharines. But, I have enjoyed living out here. But, I also miss some things about Winnipeg.

I've been thinking about music lately.... Well, I guess I'm always thinking about music, but I've been thinking about music in churches lately. Maybe it's because of the very interesting experience of leading a couple of songs at Providence CRC in Beamsville last Sunday. Or perhaps it's because I've now been asked to sing next Sunday at Covenant CRC in St. Catharines (yup, I'm on a CRC tour right now... good thing I'm leaving in two weeks).

I don't want to sound like a music snob. And I did enjoy playing at Providence on Sunday (mind you, it was just me, so not much to deal with). And it's not that I want things louder, or rockier, or anything like that. I'm a fan of the hymns, of the organ, all that stuff, but it's difficult to put my finger on what makes me cringe about worship at these churches....

I've been listening to Jon Foreman's eps lately. Don't judge him based on his past musical sins, but he was the front man of Switchfoot. His solo stuff is this wonderfully intimate singer-songwriter style, with some great world music sounds thrown in (chinese strings, spanish horns, etc). He's kinda in the same line as Derek Webb; somebody that was the Christian music scene for a number of years, and now sings about some more real issues.

Anyways, I was really hit by his song, "Instead of a Show" off his Summer EP. Here's some of the lyrics:

I hate all your show and pretense

the hypocrisy of your praise

the hypocrisy of your festivals

I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship

Away with your noisy hymns

I stop up my ears when your singing ‘em

I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice

An endless procession of righteous living, living

Instead let there be a flood of justice

Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying

you sing right along with the band

you shine up your shoes for services

but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless

and the ones that don’t fit in your plans

quit playing religion games

there’s blood on your hands

It blows me away that this is the same guy that was in Switchfoot for all those years.

Gum

I accidently bought vanilla mint trident yesterday.

It's gross.