Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Songs to Use for Something, Sometime--Chance the Rapper--Everybody's Something (Parental Discretion)

So I know I know, every once in awhile I come around and post something, I say I am going to be doing it more often and as we all know that never happens.  So, I might write sometime or I might not.

So I have had this playlist going on my iTunes for some time now called "songs to use for something sometime."  When a strong strikes my fancy for some reason I drop it in this playlist and there it sits. "Everybody's Something" by Chance the Rapper has been sitting in this folder since I first heard it.

If you aren't familial with Chance, he is a Chicago based rapper, who instead of signing with a major label keeps working on his own projects and releases them for free.  The latest project he was a part of is called Surf which is by a group called Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experience.  If you haven't heard this album yet you better stop reading and head over to iTunes, datpift or wherever and give it a listen.  It has some fantastic stuff on which has already maybe it into my playlist.

Chance came onto the scene big time in 2013 with this mixtape called Acid Rap, it is still out there for free if you haven't heard it.  It is a rather busy, hectic album that showcases his various styles, flows and his hometown.  This track called "Everybody's Something" is off of that mixtape.  As I posted in the title of this article, this track is NSFW and requires some parental discretion.  The video below is the official video but does not have the last verse from BJ the Chicago Kid.  The second video includes the whole track.



The hook on this track, as it is supposed to, gets right to the heart of the message Chance is looking to send.  It doesn't mix any punches or beat around the bush, it just comes at you with this reminder that no matter who you are, where you are or where you are going, you mean something to someone. 
                                  "Everybody's somebody's everything.  I know you right.  
                                                    Nobody's nothing, that's right"

The hook might not take us into too much detail about reason or need for these words of reassurance but through the bridge and verses we get a better picture.  On his two verses Chance, weaves lines about gun violence, drug use, his city of Chicago, racism and I am sure other references that I've missed, but these don't seem to be verses just about others experiences but his own.  It is on the hook of the track that Chance lays out that he knows that he is loved because there have been people in his life that have helped him through the dark times, so in turn the connection that seems to be made is that if he can be loved then so can everyone.  If he means something to someone else then we all must mean something to someone. 

"I know somebody, somebody loves my ass 
cause they help me beat my demons ass"

My mind has been a wash over the past few weeks, with news of riots in my hometown of Baltimore, shootings here in my current home of Portland, a death in my congregation this week, the jury decision in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case, the earthquakes in Nepal, seeing the Avengers over the weekend and everything else that dominates our news media.  Maybe in my mind I simplify things too much, or maybe I don't get the depth of the issues or maybe I am unwilling to vilify another, but I do not understand how life became so expendable, so unredeemable, or so quantifiable.  It is not just that we have become numb to violence and death in our society, but that we can so distance ourself from that life that we can see it as nothing or unredeemable, or some sort of justice is being done by the way we are treating a fellow person.

My mind keeps coming back around to these words from Chance, and the retribution that is in them, reconciliation, the grace, redemption.  When I see death on the news, I think of whose child died, or our next military campaign, whose husband won't be home or as a jury convicts whose mother is being torn away from her family.  There is a great depth that can be found in this track that would take days to unpack.

However, for me, right at this moment, the message that I hear, that resounds in my ear is one that is a lot simpler than that.  It is a message of the value of life, the importance of human relation, and the promise from God that we will never be alone, that there is nothing that can separate us from Christ love.  For me, deep in this song, we hear the message that Christ calls us to love ourselves, love one another, to pray for those that persecute us and to remember that we are all God's children and have value in God's eyes.  It causes me to slow down when I see someone on the street, causes me to reflect on who they are and who loves them, it causes me to think twice before I comment on Facebook or twitter, it makes me remember that the person I see on the news or being vilified is someones son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, but more importantly a child of God.

So before we cast the first stone, lash out in hate, or don't consider the life that is being taken we need to remember who we are and who cares about us and in turn who cares and loves the other.  If you feel that you are alone, or that you aren't anything to anyone, I am here to remind you, that you are something to someone, that you do matter to someone, if you know it or not.  If you don't know who that person is, it can be me, know that you matter to me, but more importantly know that you are God's.

If you do need someone to talk to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is always open 1-800-273-8255


Friday, February 20, 2015

Updates

So we have some updates to share!  I am working at a church in a Pastoral role here in Portland.  It is not a call but it is a foot in the door, a chance to work with a congregation and helps me keep up my training.  I am serving as a Pastoral Intern, for lack of a better title.

Last Memorial Day I was asked to be a pulpit supply for Holy Trinity Lutheran here in SE Portland.  After the service, while talking with some of the members I was offered a few more Sundays  to come and preach.  Seeing as I had no other commitments, I jumped at the opportunity.  As the summer progressed into the fall, I found myself leading worship at Holy Trinity for multiple Sunday's a month.  Later that fall,  through a conversation with the council, we discovered that there was going to be an opportunity for part-time Pastoral work.

After discussing the possibility with Colleen, the Synod and the congregation we worked out a contract for me to serve Holy Trinity as a Part-Time Pastoral Intern and take care of pastoral duties around the church.  This is not a call for a variety of reasons, but I am helping them to discern for the future for the congregation, take care of the spiritual needs of the congregation
and follow the guide of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for your prayers and support along the way and I will keep you posted over the coming months.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Come and See

I am not going to be preaching this weekend but I wanted to pass along some thoughts I had regarding the Gospel for this week.


The reading for Sunday is from John 1:43-51 and is one of my favorites, not because one of our characters here is Andrew but because of how Jesus calls the disciples.

When Jesus calls the disciples on the beach he says "follow me," it is as simple as that, follow me is the command.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Jesus reaches out to people with an invitation to come and see what this is all about.  For me this feels the opposite from what many invitations are in our society today, especially from the church.

I feel what I have witnessed from the church is not an invitation to come and see but rather a question of what do you believe, can you prove it and does what you believe line up with our beliefs.  Jesus does not call down to the beach and tell them to "believe in me" but rather "follow me" it is not until the end of the Gospel that we hear a profession of faith from the disciples, only after they lived, loved and traveled with Jesus did they come to believe and understand who Jesus was.


Things do not begin with a demand of faith but rather with an invitation to come and see!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Epiphany Reflection 2015

Until just a few years ago I had only given passing thought to Epiphany (the day when the wise guys showed up).  I understood the event and all but the significance did not sink in until recently.  As I was reading this morning from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (the prayer book from Shane Claiborne) the Psalm of the day jumped out at me.

Psalm 33: 1-6
Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous: it is good for the just to sing praises.
Praise the Lord with the harp: play to God upon the psaltery and lyre.
Sing for God a new song: sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.
For the word of the Lord is right: and all God's works are sure.
God loves righteousness and justice: the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: by the breath of Gods mouth all the heavenly hosts.

A few weeks have now passed since we gathered on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ's birth.  It was a night filled with singing the old comforting hymns, gathering around the table for a meal, and witnessing the light of the world scattering the darkness.  As the church emptied that night and everyone went home we were on the cusp of a new day, Christmas Day. 

There were presents to open, family to see, traditions to fulfill on that day and days to come.  However, as the days past we began going back to work with a brief pause for New Years. By now we are settled back into our offices, schools, roles and lives, while Christmas feels like weeks ago.  

Bam, Epiphany happens.  This is the day that the Lord has made and this is the day that we recognize and remember that Christ didn't come into the world for just us gathered in that church on Christmas Eve.  These wise guys that show up came from a distant land, from a far far far away place bearing witness to the Savior of the World.

We hear in the Psalm for today that we are to "sing for God a new song, sound a fanfare"  This is a day that should break us out of our post Christmas slumber, the post holiday routine and remind us that this child came not just for us but for the whole world!  This child is for the whole world and all people.  That for me is the significance of the day and the reminder for me that this day is not like any other day.  No day is like any other day because we are constantly being made new and the world is constantly being renewed.