Month: October 2012

I Remember Only One Hallowe’en

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When I was five years old and my sister Angel was four we went out for Hallowe’en as ghosts. Mum cut a bed sheet in half and then cut two eye holes in each half. We were ghosts (perhaps floral patterned ghosts…I am not sure).

It is the only Hallowe’en I remember.

This is significant to me. My mum. Single-parent mum. Welfare mum. The best mum in the world mum. She couldn’t afford to go out and buy costumes with masks…so we had sheets. It never occurred to me when I was five that this should disappoint me and so it did not. It never occurred to me when I was five to be bothered by being poor and so it did not. It never occurred to me when I was five that somehow I may have been lacking for something and so it did not.

These things did not occur to me until others suggested they should.

I did not know I was poor until others pointed it out. At this point something was stolen from me. A proud innocence. A value of simply being me in a family with a mum and sisters. There was no need for anything else.

I remember one Hallowe’en. I was a ghost. I was a sheet with eye holes cut out. I was loved by a mum and this was better than anything ever in the whole wide world. The best treat and treasure a boy could ask for.

I remember one Hallowe’en. I was a ghost…the best ghost in the world.

Buzzing

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Some cold bones
invade the deep spaces
around my dry heart
leaving a fiction of life
the cut of an electric knife
and I am buzzing

Kitchen’s Restless is a Brilliant Listening Experience

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Restless is Canadian musician Keith Kitchen’s third full length album (released November 2012) that is a brilliantly crafted folk/soft rock listening experience with shades of blues and country from cover to cover lending a compelling, yearning (restless) sensibility.

Kitchen opens the eleven song set with the warm, close and hopeful strains of Cozy Apartment setting the tone for the listening and presenting us with the beginning of one couple’s journey together and all the dreams that come with that.

Next comes Restless, the title track of the album inspired by St. Augustine who wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”  The folk/rock feeling speeds the pace up and brightens Kitchen’s voice making it a stand out though it feels older somehow, likely due to the reverent inspiration of Augustine.

Picture of Jesus is a cover originally by Ben Harper. The songs that Kitchen chooses to cover like Harper’s are well cared for and fit perfectly into the tone of the album. The harmonizing on this song is beautiful.

Dark Days follows and surprises the listener with a hopeful sound not as dark as the title suggests…which is likely the point. By this place in the album listeners will discern a wonderful, layered sound led by Kitchen’s soulful voice and clear, well-played acoustic guitar.

Grace is a cover originally by Michael Knott and another great example of a warm layering of music in which the vocal and acoustic guitar takes the lead while the keyboards and other instrumentation fill in, compliment and surround.

Walk in the Way is another prophetic call to give of ourselves in a way that we may have forgotten (or at least hidden from). Quick and clear there is nothing simple about the music which again shows a great level of attention to detail. Instruments weave into one another and compliment rather than copy. The song shows craftsmanship where the beat plays a larger role bringing the drums to the foreground with the guitar and other instruments playing a more supporting role. Lyrically and rhythmically the most complex of the music on the album it brings to mind Michael W. Smith but it’s all Kitchen from beginning to end.

The House with the Sunflowers is starts slow but when the chorus hits you are hooked. Kitchen lifts his voice higher in this song than any other and makes you want more. This song is a very honest song providing that ever present hope that pervades the set.

Down There by the Train is a brilliant cover of the original by Tom Waits. Kitchen’s rendition of this classic Waits’ song is something to be heard. A standout on the album Kitchen manages to channel Wait’s soulful depth while making the song entirely his own. When he sings “and there’s room for the forsaken if you’re there on time, you’ll be washed of all your sins and all of your crimes” I literally had goose bumps. I don’t think it is a coincidence that this song is in the mix because its themes of hope, grace, mercy and forgiveness are central to the entire album. Perfectly executed this song sits among my favorites.

I’m Not the Guy (Burning Bush Lament) lyrically is simple yet in its profoundness it rises above all else. The song is poignant and personal recalling a modern Moses and may in some ways speak not only of the individual but pretty much the church as a whole. A challenging and clever song that gently holds a mirror up to the listener. Powerful. My favorite.

Dweller by a Dark Stream is a cover written originally by Bruce Cockburn and presents us with great, strong vocals, a powerful theme of transformation and strong images of the human condition. Kitchen’s voice is relentlessly hopeful and uplifting even when singing of dark things.

We Come is a cover by Jim Coegart that closes the album as a reminder of the point of the whole musical journey and wraps you in worship. Strong and inviting, Kitchen offers We Come to his audience like a gift.

Overall the album is rife with themes of accountability and acts as a gentle prod to one who is asleep or maybe hiding, waiting out the world. Hope is woven like a bright silver thread throughout every song and the listener is always aware of the source of this light. The entire album is gently prophetic…pointing out human foibles and struggles but lovingly and never judgmental or harsh.

Restless is a beautiful and strong work of a craftsman who clearly painstakingly assembled every piece with care. Nothing feels rushed and thrown together.

Front to back this album is a lesson in how to produce, from the brilliant sound to the cover art, liner notes and CD silkscreen bearing images that suggest a journey and the need to move forward. There is nothing shoddy or lacking in Restless but rather I am convinced the listener will come away well satisfied with the whole experience.

At $20 the album is well worth the investment and I highly recommend it; to order visit www.keithkitchenmusic.com.

Church Demographics

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Hey Church types! I have an idea for you that I think would be cool to try out.

Go out and buy the largest and best map of your local area, one that can feasibly include the location of your most distant congregant or visitor.

Glue or otherwise secure said map to a 1/2 inch thick styrofoam back; mount said map on a highly visible, accessible wall; Buy a big container(s) of coloured push pins of varying colours and assign themes to the colours with a legend explaining those colours next to the map.

Ask your visitors, guests and congregants to take a pin and push it into their street address. Decide on meaningful definitions for colours such as – Red for Parents with Kid(s); Orange for Married without Kids; Green for singles; Yellow for single parent household; Black for emptynesters…you get the idea.

Now leave it up and constantly encourage people to take a moment at some point in the future to pin themselves to the map.

Stand back and watch the power of demographics. What will you do with this? Who knows? It is information and all sorts of things could come from it like – “Hey I didn’t know that 82 percent of all our people come from this five block radius”, or “Wow 76 percent of our people are rural”, or “Why doesn’t anybody from neighborhood Y come and visit us?” etc.

It can help with better small group planning, it can help with connecting newcomers with members of the community who live near them, it can help in determining what part of the community you should perform volunteerism in, it can help you better understand the nature and makeup of your congregation and this is ALWAYS a good thing.

You can also do this via your website if you are Techie enough although I would suggest a real map in a real location that can be virtually recreated later.

Do it.

true life

cracked and broken voices raise
shattered songs of redemption
to the skies, to the skies
lifted on melting waxen wings
an injured heavy chorus of praise

words weighed down with damp despair
still glint with bright buoyant hope
fragments of wholeness long lost
call to the only one within reach
to welcome return of prodigal prayer

run fast to the healing embrace
that in the crush is found true life realized

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Worth Everything

The living room is warm and bathed in a golden light as my daughter is busy cutting and sewing up cute costumes and outfits for her dolls. My eldest has gone for ride with a friend and my middle is watching Youtube videos.

And me? I am in the midst of it all and aware of a great blessing. There are not a lot of people in my life…but the ones who are…they are worth everything.

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shame

shame is a bath
prepared by neighbours
filled with cold
filled with castoff
blood and tears
forgotten fears

enter at your own risk

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hollow

sharp tongues
like knives
carve graven images
out of friends and neighbours
leaving them…hollow

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Priorities

What are our priorities?

More and more that seems to be a very personal question that depends on who you are but I wonder if it should be that way. As followers of Christ one wonders what has happened to our priorities…we have, for a long time, allowed ourselves to become bound by our own human and worldly pursuits and desires and wrapped them in the sanctity of scripture.

Our priorities have been our own, reinforced by scripture. Our priorities have been reactive and often judgmental…defensive – this is not a good thing.

Matthew 5:3-10 –

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

John 13:34-35 –

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Ephesians 2:13-18 –

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

So what are our priorities? Prayer, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, grace, healing, clothing, feeding, visiting, unity, and above all other things – love.

Any other focus is a terrible and bleak waste of time.

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outside in

Inside out
I don’t wanna be
inside out
I wanna be
outside in
but how
how does it work
to take the light
the light you wear
and make it
the light within
a light you share

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