As far back as junior high my morning included music. Back then it was albums, 8 track tapes, and the radio. Cassette tapes arrived during high school and then the Sony Walkman. Thus began the age of take your music, on your person, with you. Today, many use their phone to connect to streaming services that are the new “radio”. Or, you can upload your music to your phone. I don’t use my phone for that. It already has more of my attention than I want it to have. I’m experimenting with paying it no attention during sabbatical. No, that is not going as well as I want.
My friend, Steven J-B, was always into new music. He was a young boomer that I think clung to the summer of love mentality when it came to music. Try it. Sample it. Live in it. Listen. Listen deeply and listen just for fun. He often knew more about new music than his kids. “You never know what is going to speak to you, maybe even for you.” And he allowed music to speak for him and for the congregation at his funeral. Along with hymns of faith, that playlist included:
“Sarabande in Pencil Form”, Calexico
“Can’t Find My Way Home”, Blind Faith
“Mad World” (Alternate Version), Michael Andrews
“Pyramid Song”, Radiohead
“Oh Great God Give Us Rest”, David Crowder Band
“Seasons of Love”, Rent
“Keep Me In Your Heart”, Jorge Calderon
“Everything in Its Right Place”, Radiohead
Here in the West, much of the 1960’s and early 1970’s music spoke for the antiwar movement, hippy culture, and yes, establishment society. R-n-B, Soul, Punk, Metal, Grunge, and Rap speak about, and for, specific community’s experiences, and since the 1990’s have been repackaged as Hip-Hop or Pop which have found their way into what is modern Country. Crossover talent. Mashups. iHeart radio. I don’t mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but I’m not sure what passes for Rock-n-Roll anymore. The Grammy’s remind on a yearly basis how stuck I am. Classical, Opera, Bluegrass, and Zydeco have retained their original sound as much as my ear has given it. I don’t doubt it has always been about selling records, but I want to be idealistic enough to believe that there was a time it was just about the music. Maybe somewhere it still is. An aside, one of my top ten movies is, “Pirate Radio”.
Rather than listen to a political or sports talkshow in the morning, I’m returning to a soundtrack that inspires me and challenges me. No SiriusXM before 8am unless it is the George Carlin channel which always sets me in an interesting mood for the day. I’ve got all this music on my computer (and iPod) much of it reflects my personal album collection. So, I’m returning to my examen morning soundtrack. Listen. Listen deeply.
“Redemption Song”, Bob Marley
“Creator’s Blessing”, David Fein
“One Voice”, The Wallin’ Jennys
“An Elder’s Prayer”, Charlie Wayne Watson
“YHWH”, U2 (abbreviated to respect my Jewish neighbors)
“Cherokee Indian Drumming”, American Indian Music
“Amazing Grace”, Braveheart Soundtrack
“Aziz Azia”, Outback
“Day by Day”, Godspell Soundtrack
“God Must Be a Woman”, Travis Tritt
“Seasons of Love”, Rent Soundtrack
“I’d Love To Change the World”, Ten Years After
“Onward”, Yes
What’s your morning soundtrack?
Last week I worked more finishing up projects than I actually did sabbatical, but that is the nature of my vocation and a comment on my organizational skills. There is no day like today to start off in a new direction. One of the things I did pre-season two, was listen to my entire Springsteen collection. That was privileged time. Thanks to Steve Jobs, I can take most of my music collection with me anywhere, but there is something mystical about sitting and absorbing the music, poetry, or prose that opens portals in time. It is more than escapism.
One of last week’s Sightings from the Martin Marty Center spoke of Springsteen and his one person Broadway show offering this summation.
“Springsteen on Broadway” is labeled by the artist as “my long and noisy prayer.” It asks for us to be redeemed, and for America to climb back up from its tragic fall. We must name our failings and fully accept their depth within us. We can then reclaim our birthplace and our most deeply-rooted values.
[Ron Malzer, “Springsteen’s Promised Land (It’s Not What You Think)”. Sightings, March 28, 2019]
Maybe part of sabbatical is discovering deeply rooted values, again. I often suggest to congregations that sabbatical time is an opportunity for their minister to rediscover the “why” of their call to ministry. The ’80’s rock-n-roll group Journey focuses on the work of relationships with this lyric, “I get the joy of rediscovering you.” The first year I served in Regional ministry I listened to the song, “Faithfully,” many times as my companion and I adjusted to a different ministry lifestyle. We are a clergy couple with our own visions of what ministry means, how to best serve, and have different ways of working. We’ve only served together as summer camp directors. We don’t ever see ourselves serving a local congregation together. We knew when we married almost thirty years ago that we wanted home to be home, and try as we do, sometimes home becomes an extension of work. It is just part of it. Even now, eighteen years after I began serving in Regional ministry we have mostly adjusted to this lifestyle (clergy couple – seminary professor and associate regional minister). We are rarely seen in the same place together and some ask, “Are you ever home at the same time?” The entire verse speaks a truth that we manage better.
Through space and time
Always another show
Wondering where I am lost without you
And being apart ain’t easy on this love affair
Two strangers learn to fall in love again
I get the joy of rediscovering you
Oh girl
You stand by me
I’m forever yours
Faithfully
Journey. “Faithfully.” Frontiers, Columbia Records 1983, track 5. Lyricsfreak, https://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/journey/faithfully_20075719.html.
This lyric speaks a truth about serving in Christian ministry. In my denomination, the ordination vows a minister takes on reminds the one being ordained that “God who called you is faithful.” That is a statement of faith as well as an idealism. O Lord, please stand by me or at least stand with me. You know . . . footprints.
The “Smarter Living” section of the New York Times did a week of articles on productivity, procrastination, precrastination, and work habits. When asked, I speak of my work habits by what has my attention or most of my attention. I divide up my week and day based on what needs my attention. This article helps explain my attention driven work habits: “Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.”
Attention management is the art of focusing on getting things done for the right reasons, in the right places and at the right moments.
[Adam Grant, “Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.” March 28, 2019. NYTimes.com https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/smarter-living/productivity-isnt-about-time-management-its-about-attention-management.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share]
Oddly, the marketing guy I follow, Seth God, posted this yesterday.
Busy is not the point.
There’s a common safe place: Being busy.
We’re supposed to give you a pass because you were full on, all day. Frantically moving from one thing to the other, never pausing to catch your breath, and now you’re exhausted.
No points for busy.
Points for successful prioritization. Points for efficiency and productivity. Points for doing work that matters.
No points for busy.
Seth Godin, “Busy is not the point.” March 31, 2019
I remind high school students that “busy does not mean successful.” You are going to make choices. Be intentional about your choices. Clergy can have issues balancing the call to ministry and the call to life outside of ministry. I will revisit what has my attention or to what I give my attention during Season 2. My reading so far of iGen notes that our devices, specifically smart phones, have become pellet dispensers of identity, approval or disapproval, through social media. A digital existence is a choice, not yet a requirement, for participating in modern society. Why do I give it my attention? For whom am I posting?
Deep rooted values. Through space and time. No points for busy.