Spirit & Soul

The other night Aaron spoke on the nature of worship. During the course of sermon he read a passage (? address) from the message that said something along the lines of worship is our spirit/soul interacting with God in honesty. This sparked memories of past thoughts for me. I have often wondered what exactly our spirit is. This honesty of soul may be a good starting point for understanding this concept.

Something that has always struck me in the old testament is the use of names. Names were not just symbolic placeholders for individual identification, but spoke to who the person was, it was more than a name, as we understand the word. I wonder if this could inform the biblical beginnings of our new testament concept of the personal/individual spirit.

For a long time, I always viewed spirit, my spirit, as something "other" than myself. Now I wonder if there may be more to it. I wonder if my spirit is really myself at my core. If it is the culminations of my longings, my thoughts, and my habits. Day to day, I am separated from this spirit by my deviations of my core self, yet it informs everything I do. Given this view of spirit, it will change and develop over time as I change through my experiences and as my world view forms.

For me, this idea leads to another thought, the idea of Christ's redemption as played out in my own life. As I grow into relationship with God, this, if real, will begin to inform my behaviors and over time, change who I am at my core. On the other hand, if I delve into my own devices, my core will crumble.

Just some random thoughts.

Midlake and St. Vincent @ Walters on Washington

Last night I went to the Midlake concert at Walters on Washington. My brother introduced me to them a couple of weeks ago and we found out they would be in town.

The show was opened by St. Vincent. The band is made up of only one person, and unassuming woman with huge glasses and a voice that leaves you wondering how it came from her. She rocked out on the guitar playing a bluesy rock, with an occasional kick of the drum (yes, she would literally kick it). While she lacked the usual stage antics, the performance was great. I bought her three track LP which is good, however, I don't feel it competes with her live show.

After another opener (not really worth mentioning), Midlake took the stage. During setup they placed a paper-mache panther head in front of the keyboard and set a projector to display video behind them during the performance. Before they even started playing I knew I would like their performance, and I was not disappointed. The lead singer seemed almost pensive during the show, the seriousness of an artist delivering his wares. I appreciated the fact that they would switch instruments, they seem to really know music and use this knowledge to create a very mature style. The video clips in the background created an asthetic element to the concert which was almost meditative.

I would definitely suggest a listen to The Trial of Van Occupanther.

Back Again

Well, being that my sister has started her blog up again, and it has been almost a year since my last post, I figure I might as well try to start it up again, though no guarantees.

Just a brief catch-up on me. I have lived in the Montrose area of Houston for the last year and a half, but have recently bought a house in Tomball. The reason for the move back to Tomball is that I have been going to church at Sondays. One of my best friends, Matt Davis, plays the music and finally got me to check it out after about a year of bugging me. I have been going ever since. It is a group of about 50-60 people and we meet at a coffee shop Sunday nights. One of the things that attracts me to this church the most is that it is diverse and oriented towards social justice. A lot to most of the people who come either are or have been addicted to drugs or alcohol. There is a group from the Open Door Mission who come every week. Everyone welcomes one another, they talk about what is actually going on in their lives, it is a real community. I love it.

Anyway, I will be posting somewhat regularly (hopefully) and will continue to fill you in.

jp