low tech style

I was cleaning up my office and found my old LP’s. So I connected up my old record player and put a few of them on. Phil Collins “No jacket required”, Springsteen “born in the USA”, Police “Zenyatta Mondatta” and Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” among many other 80’s hits. What a flood of memories comes back! Not only listening to the old songs but also remembering how to use the old low tech record player moving the arm across etc. Remember how fragile this format was? Or how detailed the covers were. I don’t know why but there is something about the old scratchy LP’s that gives them a sense of authenticity. I immediately remember seeing Australian Crawl play in the Bridgeway hotel, Pubs played music that didn’t come from poker machines. There is something about listening to live music that I love. The fact that you would never hear the song played that way again.

In this day and age of CD’s, MP3’s and streaming etc I find that everything seems so fake, if it isn’t perfect it isn’t any good. I have seen this kind of mentality come through in the Church as well the polished singers at the front of the auditorium hands raised in just the right way wearing the right clothes heads strategically bowed. I begin to long for some authenticity in the church some low-tech scratchy performances that really tell you that you are alive. In a church context this means that the audience is God. Does he want perfection in the Worship that we offer him or authentic live never to be repeated performances for the love of him? How fragile yet compelling does God want us to be?

My new challenge

My journey has had some interesting turns in the last few weeks. I have completed my studies and will graduate in a little over 1 week’s time. At the moment, I am going through the pastoral search process and trying to discern where God is calling me. Anyone who has ever been through this process will understand how daunting a task it is. It would be easier if I could open a paper on a Saturday and circle the pastors’ jobs with the best conditions and pay. This of course is not how it works though, I must wait for a church to approach me and then try and determine if God is calling me to that community. I have had discussions with many churches and those discussions are continuing. I ask for those who know me to continue to pray, that when God calls me to the church he wants me to go to that I will hear him clearly and that Alison and Jakob will feel the call as well.