Typhoon | Music Monday Discovery

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I am spinning over a Music Monday Discovery today. If someone told me about this band I didn't listen, I apologize. Typhoon is a Portland band (Facebook, Twitter) that just released a new EP, A New Kind of House. I found it because it's streaming FREE at Spinner. It's one of my favorite kinds of music, with surprising instruments and striking harmonies. And these guys know how to build up to a moment, to develop a sense of anticipation in the hearer. Had to go buy it. They also have a 2010 album, Hunger and Thirst.

Here's a video for the first song off A New Kind of House, "The Honest Truth." Creative, engaging, & thoughtful. I encourage you to follow along with the lyrics. They are interesting.

Super-Cheap Classical & Opera

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Music Monday: Cheap | New | Free 3.14.11

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It's Music Monday and you need some good new music at a good price. Here you go!

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The National | "Conversation 16"

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I can't express how much love I have for The National. I found them by reading good reviews on three previous albums: Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003) | Alligator (2005) | Boxer (2007). Their 2010 release which was my #2 album of 2010 is High Violet. A stunner. I listened to it again on Saturday and it's oh, so good. It's also only $3.99 (as I write his post). That sale will end any moment, so please rush to grab this amazing album, full of passion and art. And enjoy "Conversation 16" starring, from Mad Men, John Slattery...

The National

Damien Jurado | Tiny Desk Concert

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I saw Damien Jurado in concert a few years back. His band was opening for Okkervil River. The show was compelling, but I really didn't dig into his music right away. I liked his 2009 album, Caught In The Trees. But his latest release, Saint Bartlett, is what made me a fan. Here's his recent Tiny Desk Concert. Hear Ya calls Jurado "wildly underrated." Maybe so. If you are looking for slick, super-polished, and ready to sell--this isn't it. It's a dude, his guitar, and good songwriting. Enjoy!

Samantha Barks as Eponine

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My family loves to watch and listen to Les Miserables. We own the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert DVD. Today we've been watching the The 25th Anniversary Concert and I was taken by Samantha Barks' rendidtion of "On My Own" from the character, Eponine (Lea Salonga is also amazing on the 10th Anniversary edition). It's one of my all time favorite songs, and it's here for you. Lyrics are below if it's new to you. Also look to DVR the concert as it's showing on PBS right now.

And now I'm all alone again nowhere to go, no one to turn to
I did not want your money sir, i can not hear 'cause i was told to
But now the night is near
And I can make believe he's here

Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head

On my own, pretending he's beside me
All alone I walk with him till morning
Without him, I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him, but when the night is over
He is gone,
The river's just a river
Without him the world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him, but every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world would go on turning
A world that's full of happiness that I have never known

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own

Support Reformissionary

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After Governor Quinn signed a new tax law, Amazon has terminated all Illinois Associates. Many of my links go through Amazon. It costs you nothing extra, and it supports my me and my family by helping me buy books (I have no book budget at my church), music, and recently my Kindle. Starting April 15th, this revenue ends.

So if anyone can support Refomissionary by clicking through an Amazon link when you need to buy something, it would be greatly appreciated. I very much appreciate how many of you have supported me this way in the past. Some have even emailed me asking for direct links for books and other products so that they could buy what they need and I could bring in a little money. If you are interested in that: pastorsteve [at] gmail [dot] com.

Again, it's at no extra cost to you. It's the same price. But if you click through one of my links over the next month or so, you'll support Reformissionary. Thanks so much for whatever support you can provide. Click on the banner below to buy something! Thanks for anything you can do.

Open-Air Preaching & Revival

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Several weeks ago I had the privilege of sitting down with Richard Owen Roberts to discuss revival. He was interim at my church before I cam seven years ago and I've been able to sit with him from time to time and pick his brain. If you don't know, Mr. Roberts is a bookseller in Wheaton, IL, an author/editor, and a well-known expert and preacher on the issue of revival.

Toward the end of the conversation I asked him about open-air preaching. This was well before I wrote the five main posts on open-air preaching (as well as posting several quotes on Reformissionary and Twitter on the subject). I specifically asked for his thoughts about the role of open-air preaching and a desire for revival.

He first said that he thinks most open-air preaching is bad. His words were stronger than that, but I don't want to overstate. Then he said this (this isn't a direct quote, but close)...

I can't imagine that we will ever see revival without seeing preaching in the open-air again.

I hope to return to talk to him more about the subject.

Why Jesus Taught In Parables, Part 3

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D.A. Carson in The Expositor's Bible Commentary on Matthew, Vol 2 says this in a point concerning Matthew 13:13 (pp 309-310)...

This sheds much light on the parables. It is naive to say Jesus spoke them so that everyone might more easily grasp the truth, and it is simplistic to say that the sole function of parables to outsiders was to condemn them. If Jesus simply wished to hide the truth from outsiders, he need never have spoken to them. His concern for mission (9:35-38; 10:1-10; 28:16-20) excludes that idea. So he must preach without casting his pearls before pigs (7:6). He does so in parables: i.e., in such a way as to harden and reject those who are hard of heart and to enlighten--often with further explanation--his disciples. His disciples, it must be remembered, are not just the Twelve but those who were following him and who, it is hoped, go on to do the will of the Father (12:50) and do not end up blaspheming the Spirit (12:30-32) or being ensnared by evil more thoroughly than before (12:43-45). Thus the parables spoken to the crowds do not simply convey information, nor mask it, but challenge the hearers. They do not convey esoteric content only the initiated can fathom but present the claims of the inaugurated kingdom and the prospects of its apocalyptic culmination in such a way that its implications are spelled out for those in the audience with eyes to see.

Why Jesus Taught In Parables, Part 2

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Robert Stein in Jesus the Messiah gives some explanation of Jesus' use of parables (pgs 124-125)... 

Parables are "extended metaphors, which tend to teach a basic point. At times, however, the details of a parable may bear allegorical significance (Mt 13:24-30, 36-43; 22:2-10; Mk 12:1-12)."

"The parables were particularly useful for Jesus as a teaching device. Parables tend to disarm the listeners, for the meaning of a parable is often driven home before they can resist the point being made." (2 Sam 12:1-4, 7; Luke 15:1-32)

"Parables were also an effective way for Jesus to introduce potentially dangerous teachings. To talk about the arrival of the Kingdom of God naturally raised concerns on the part of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Yet the statements that the Kingdom of God is 'like a mustard seed' (Lk 13:18-19) or 'like yeast' (vv 20-21) wer sufficiently enigmatic that the political authorities judged them harmless. Through his use of parables Jesus could speak about politically sensitive issues. As a result, thouse outside his circle of followers could 'listen, but never understand...look, but never perceive' (Mt 13:14). but to those within the believing commjunity such teaching were explained."

Why Jesus Taught In Parables

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Robert Stein, in An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus give three reasons (read, p 33ff)...

1. To conceal his teachings from those outside (Mark 4:10-12)

"Time and time again Jeuss found in his audience those who were hostile toward him. The Sadducees saw in him a threat to their sacerdotal system. His attitudes toward their doctrine (Mk 12:18-27) and above all to the abuse in their role of administering the Temple of God (Mk 11:15-19, cf 14:58) were a direct threat to their civil and religious authority (Mk 11:27-33). ...Many of the Pharisees likewise saw in Jesus a threat to their own self-righteousness (Lk 18:9-14) and their religious leadership..."

"By his use of parables Jesus made it more difficult for those who sought to find fault with him and accuse him of sedition....The parables therefore concealed his message to those outside, but privately, after they were explained by Jesus to his followers, they became revealers of his message."

"Yet we must be honest and admit Mark 4:10-12...seems to say that Jesus withheld his message from those outside not only in order that they would fail to understand but in order that they would be unable to repent and be forgiven."

2. To reveal and illustrate his message to both followers and "those outside" (Mark 12:12) 

"For the original lawyer as well as every reader since, the parable of the good Samaritan illustrates in an unforgettable way what it means to be a loving neighbor, and if one sought an example to illustrate the gracious love of God for sinners, where could one find a better one than in the parable of the prodigal son?"

"At times even those 'outside' did not and could not miss the point Jesus was seeking to illustrate in the parable.

And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away. Mark 12:12

3. To disarm his listeners (Luke 7:36-50)

"At times Jesus sought to penetrate the hostility and hardness of heart of his listeners by means of a parable."

OT example - 2 Samuel 12:14, "a perfect Old Testament example of this"

NT examples - Luke 7:36-50, "Here, in order to pierce through Simons hardness of heart and prejudice, Jesus spoke in a parable and hoped to reach Simon."

Luke 15 parables in response to Luke 15:1-2...

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So he told them this parable...

Junip | "In Every Direction"

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Here's "In Every Direction" off of Fields by the José González-led trio, Junip. One of my favorite tracks off the album.

LYRICS

still protecting the magic feather
holding tight to a supporting crutch
writing scripts on worn out leather
still waiting on a divine touch 

try to ride on waves of activity
in every direction
you're the center and you're always free
in every direction

feeling safe enough to abandon the void
ban the zero, ban the noise
quiet sounds picked up and dissected
all faint shadows reflected

try to ride on waves of activity
in every direction
you're the center and you're always free
in every direction

Music Monday: Cheap | New | Free 3.7.11

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