The Life of the World to Come

Since ancient times, believers have summarized God's revelation about our present and future hope with the words of the Nicene Creed: "we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come."  I love that phrase - "the life of the world to come." It's a very pregnant phrase and beyond that, the pregnancy metaphor works well here.  The expectant mother carries the baby inside of her; it grows inside her.  She feels a close bond to her baby - she yearns for it to come.  She wonders what the baby will look like.  Will he have his father's eyes?  Will she have that dimple that grandma had, that mommy has?  (The possibilities are seemingly endless.)

Waiting. Longing. Wondering. Certainty. Anxiety. Hope.

All these things are an apt description of the expectant mother as she looks for the arrival of her baby.  Likewise, we, the church-community, look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  It is coming, but we don't know when.  It will be here, one day.  Until that day, we are gripped with labor pains.

Six months ago today, my mother passed from this life to the next.  Today, I can't help but think about the great hope and great joy of the life of the world to come.  My mind is boggled by the thought of heaven. Paul tells the Ephesians that God can do more than all we ask or think. Han Solo spoke for me, when he said: "I can imagine an awful lot."  Consequently, I find myself in the tension of expectation, and now more than ever, I find myself looking farther ahead than my shallow contemplation does. Come Lord Jesus! "Oh come, oh come Emmanuel."

His Royal Flyness

The day that Michael Jackson died, I experienced an epochal moment in my musical pilgrimage: I experienced live electro-dance music (EDM) for the first time.

Earlier in that day, I was on Facebook when I noticed that a friend who worked at 4th Street Live! [sic] - Louisville's lame attempt at having a club district - had posted a photo of a giant boom box.  It was the backdrop to a stage and that night, they were going to have a free concert.  The artist was one with which I was familiar, as my indie scourings of the intertubes were fueled by a passion to find new (and unheard of!)  music.  Beyond that, it was the summer of '69 (plus 40), and the mild temperatures only made for a perfect scenario to roll down the windows and blast electro pop.  Thus, when I discovered that MSTRKRFT were putting on a free show, I knew that I had to be there.

MSTRKRFT (the Web 2.0 spelling of mastercraft) put on a bangin' performance.  Beyond having a good time with friends (shout out to the BGGs), I came to a conclusion based on both MSTRKRFT and their opening DJ (who kept asking us to throw up peace-signs to give the King a "peace out"): white men with MacBooks were the future of sexy music.

Almost two years later, my enjoyment of EDM has only grown and we've moved from throwing dance parties with iTunes playlists to dance parties where we mix the tracks with professional grade programs.  I've taken the moniker of "His Royal Flyness," primarily because it was the most audaciously ludicrous name I could create.  Beyond the boom of bass or the whine of synths, there's something about very freeing about dancing with modest abandon.  I truly believe that that same something can be in perfect keeping with a God who gives humans wine to gladden their hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread to strengthen their hearts (Psalm 104:15) the same God who richly gives us all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:16).  As a believer in Jesus, my joy in him permeates these things and gives them an even better and fuller pleasure.

I'll see you at our next dance party.

Spring Cleaning

The first step to getting my blog back up and running: publishing all the comments that were awaiting moderation. From five years ago.