B-ing Sufjan

 

There is a crisp breeze blowing through the prayer gardens here at ORU, and the sounds of Sufjan fill my head.  Fall has arrived and I couldn't be happier. 

This weekend I went and heard a motivational speaker.  When I hear about this type of even, I tend to think auditorium or maybe even church hall, covered with people from all walks of life.  These people are usually women who have left there kids at a "Mom's Day Out," and they've been aloud to

stop at Starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato for the first time in months.  Of course they're dressed appropriately--cross necklace with rhinestone that would rival an Priest's in size, and a nice pair turquoise and brown capris with a paisley top all smelling strongly of hairspray.

This was not my experience.

The motivational speaker was on a fifteen inch computer screen skyping a group of six people sitting in a living room.  Instead of macchiatos, Folgers instant.  That being said, the speaker continued to rant and rave about every person who ever lived needing a "B."  He must of assumed we all knew what a B was seeing as he never really explained it.  "Find your B!" "You'll fail with a B," "B,B,B,B!" I've decided that he meant a goal, or something to look forward to in life. After many minutes of contemplation, I have found my B: Sufjan Stevens' Age of Adz.

Many a day driving down Riverside with the windows rolled down and listening to "Chicago" or "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us" have I spent.  For those who don't listen to him, he is a simple man with enormous things to say.  His music ranges from bare minimum bango and whisper to explosive cacophony/harmony combos that he described as something sounding like a "sixth grade band."

I love his music and would like to believe we would hit it off and forever be friends.

Age of Adz has taken a different route with much more techno sounds and synthesizers.  It reminds me of the same turn that Derrek Webb took with his newest CD: troubador to techno tight beats DJ extraodinaire.

My B is that I will be attending Sufjan's concert at the end of fall break.  I have been awaiting this moment for many years, and am looking forward to it greatly.

Hipster Faith

Christianity Today and Relevant magazines both put out articles this month on hipsters within the church and the effect they have overall in Christian thought.  Some of it was disturbing--gluten free alternative communion--but other parts were insightful.  I see myself writing an actual full fledged response to it in time, but that will most likely take shape later this year. 

In my "leisure" time, I have been reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Circle of Quiet , where she says something that really resonated with my thoughts towards the ideas of "hipster faith," and how I respond to that as a new member of the Orthodox Church, aka neophyte. 

 Our children are hungry...they have a passionate need for the dimension of transcendence, mysticism, way-outness.  We're not offering it to them legitimately.  The tendency of the churches to be relevant and more-secular-than-thou does not answer our need for the transcendent.  As George Tyrell wrote about a hundred years ago, 'If a man's craving for the mysterious, the wonderful, the supernatural, be not fed on true religion, it will feed itself on the garbage of any superstition that is offered to it.'

 While standing in the rain the other night outside of the church after vespers, my friends and I spoke about books and holiness.  This has been a topic of great importance to me lately.  Walking to our cars after being chilled enough by the weather, my friend, Mercy and I were closing the conversation with a thought on Islam and the growing number of youth who if they're not converting, are strongly interested.  She and I agreed that there is an intensity and structure and demand in Islam that attracts younger spirituals today--something that helps us to focus on the need to be present in what's going on around us, but to also be focused on eternity, and all through our senses.  It makes sense they would find refuge in something like Islam.  My prayer is that they find the True Faith, which capture all the senses and puts them towards the obedience of Christ.


I digress.  What I mean to say is that I am finding in my journey towards Orthodoxy the beauty of demands and of structure.  In these there is freedom.  The hipster generation is looking something to see, hear, taste, smell and to touch in their faith.  I read that a huge growth in monasticism occurred post-hippie movement.  I pray that the same will be for the hipster movement.  I know that in Orthodoxy, I am finding answers; things relevant more to my spirit and less to the world.