Buddy Greene plays Harmonica like nobody’s business. Just open his site in a new browser and listen to his music while you read this. I was reading through the lyrics on his site this morning and was struck by these lines from “Jesus Has Left the Building”:
There’s a big crowd gathered at First Church
They’re dressed up and lookin’ so fine
They lean forward in their pews to hear the good news
And get a handle on God’s design
Isn’t that just like Christians? I go to First Baptist Church Kerrville, so these lines hit home. And they remind me of something I read in Christian Century at breakfast. In his essay “Reasons to Join,” Garret Keizer talks about the importance of paradox and ambiguity as agents against heresy in the church. (Whew, suddenly this post got all theological on me!)
Seriously, though. We try so hard to “get a handle on God’s design,” we turn church into a collection of religious autodidacts who are seeking the way to know God’s will and stick to the letter of the law. We turn into people of jots and tittles. We prefer the “pseudo-clarity to the many sidedness of truth, tidiness to the mess and complexity of reality.”
That’s the same warning I hear in Buddy Greene’s song–though he makes it all folksy and fun. The warning is still the same. And we need to know where we’re headed if we fall into this trap. Garret Keizer explains it well:
The fate of most autodidacts, a fate I happen to understand only too well, is to be perpetually reinventing the wheel, and in the course of that needless reinvention, never to achieve the wing, the propeller or the time machine.
This is another reminder why it is so important to retreat. Retreat! Retreat! When we step back, when we slow down, we have a chance to hear voices other than our own. Sometimes we just hear the crickets. Sometimes we hear the wisdom of our neighbors. Sometimes we may eve hear God in the stillness.
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If you missed yesterday, Laity Lodge is sponsoring this month’s High Calling Blogs Group Writing Project: Retreat! Retreat! Retreat! You could win a FREE retreat just for participating in the project. But get hopping—you have to post before noon on Friday to be in the drawing. We’ve already had some good entries from L. L. Seedling, Carl Gyrovague, Gordon Real Live Preacher and Kathy Beyond Words. Also, Jacob Share is helping us promote the project again. Thanks Jacob! You’re welcome to participate too.
Yesterday, I promised to talk a little bit about the three retreats we’re featuring during this writing project. Buddy Greene is coming up first, May 29 through June 1. That’s right around the corner, and it’s going to be awesome.
Here are the details:
Musical Conversations with Buddy Greene and Company
(REGISTER HERE.)
May 29-June 1 (Thursday-Sunday)
Buddy Greene (AWESOME HARMONICA!)
David Dark (AWESOME WRITER!)
Sarah Masen (SUPER COOL SINGER!)
+ Raku Japanese pottery Larry Matthew (there’s a kiln and everything!)
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