Something about Pink Floyd in a religious context

As you may recall from the previous post, Led Zeppelin is my favorite band to a truly hyperbolic degree.

However standing in as close of a second place as is possible is the Pink Floyd.

GET IT?

Pink Floyd does good things. Very good things.

But they're not Led Zeppelin.

I said last week that Led Zeppelin's 1973 Houses of the Holy is my all time favorite album. Pink Floyd's 1973 Dark Side of the Moon is my second favorite. I don't know how it was for wine, but 1973 was a pretty awesome year for rock and roll.

In fact, I think Pink Floyd hit a streak of audio perfection for a stretch of four albums - Meddle in 1971, DSotM in '73, Wish You Were Here in '75, and Animals in '77.

But Led Zeppelin had a streak for 8 albums running. So... Led Zeppelin still wins.

And it's not like I hate the rest of the Pink Floyd catalog compared to those four albums. That's not at all the case. I really dig The Wall, but it is a bit bloated, and it's very emotionally draining if you really absorb the content while you listen, so I don't listen to it very often. The Syd Barret years are fun, and some of the earlier instrumental freak-outs like "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Saucerful of Secrets" are particularly awesome.

But at the same time, I don't ever just sit around listening to the studio album from Ummagumma. You wanna know why?

Because it's terrible.

I love Pink Floyd. Don't get me wrong. But nobody likes Ummagumma. Even Pink Floyd members themselves will tell you that Ummagumma is horrible. Ummagumma studio is not as bad as "Revolution 9" from the Beatles' white album, but it is almost six times as long, so it's like your best friend asking if you'd rather be stabbed in the ears with a really sharp pencil once or a kinda dull pencil six times. Either way, you're getting stabbed in the ears with a pencil by someone you once trusted to not stab you in the ears with a pencil.

Led Zeppelin? They don't have a bad album. Sure, In Through the Out Door is not my favorite Zep album, but it is still a Led Zeppelin album. I still love it. I'll even admit I can see why other people aren't too nuts about it. I still love it. It's Led Zeppelin.

Sometimes I am not in the mood to hear Perpetual Groove. Sometimes I am not in the mood to hear Eric Clapton. There are never times when I am not in the mood to hear Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin.

Now, there is some Pink Floyd I have to be in the mood for, like The Wall or most of the stuff from the Syd Barrett years. And, of course, Ummagumma is just never gonna happen voluntarily.

But I will never complain if you turn on Dark Side of the Moon. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, what time of year it is, what's happening in my life, if I've had a good day, a bad day... Dark Side of the Moon is always a good choice.

It's just that Houses of the Holy is always a better choice.

I love Pink Floyd. I just get a bit more excited about Led Zeppelin.

A lot of you have been asking me for updates on the job situation with the church in Oregon. As of writing this, I don't really have an update to give. I know that they interviewed another guy. He taught the Wednesday night class last week and preached this past Sunday morning. As far as I have been told, it's down to me and that guy. I really don't know anything else about if I've got the job or not, or even when I will know.

I do know that I want the job. I know I want to be in Oregon. When I was up there, I saw God using me in a lot of just incredible ways. I felt like my entire life up to that point had been laid out specifically to get me to that point. I saw the invisible Hand of God guiding my life from birth onward, directing an infinitely complex orchestra in an infinitely complex song, and going to Oregon felt like the first notes of the "Hallelujah" chorus. It was good.

But hey, you know what?

I like being at home, too.

In fact, I love it.

Since the end of the summer of 2009, I've been looking for a church job. I started off looking exclusively for youth ministry work, then broadened my search to include pulpit jobs. In every church I've had any serious contact with, God has shown me some pretty amazing windows of opportunity where I felt that I would be able to be of particularly good use. In some places, those windows were bigger than others, but every church I heard anything other than an immediate "No" from looked like a possibility on my end just because I saw where God could use me if He wanted to. And that's just what I saw. I know for sure that God saw other places I could have been used in any of those places.

But (obviously) I wasn't the best fit for those places and/or they weren't the best fit for me.

The thing that started to get to me, though, was that I could see these immediate openings into sharing Christ with people everywhere I looked... except at home.

I was talking to a church in Olive Branch, Mississippi, for a little while. I know a lot of awesome folks in Olive Branch who could use a deeply personal Christian influence in their lives, not the kind of Christian influence that leaves fake money with Bible verses on it as the only tip for a waitress named Emily. I could have done some good there.

I was talking to a church in Cathey's Valley, California, for a little while. I didn't know anybody out there that wasn't at least a three-hour round-trip away, but that entire trip was God showing me places and people where I could do some good.

I was talking to a church in De Queen, Arkansas, for a little while. They were my first church interview after my internship Heritage Place in Birmingham was over. I was nervous, I didn't really know what I was doing, and I certainly wasn't in the same place with God that I am now. But even with all of that, I saw where God could put me to good use.

But no matter where I went, no matter where I got back from, no matter what I learned, I couldn't see how to do anything at home.

I don't know if it was because I just wasn't looking in the right places or what. I did what I could where I could, but it was like a band with one good song every few years instead of a career made of several worthwhile albums. That one good song might be awesome, but everything in between is really boring.

But here lately, something happened. I got back in touch with some dudes I knew from high school days and God started really using me. It's slow, but it's steady. It's definitely there. It's definitely strong. It's definitely God.

So now I've got another reason to want to stay home.

I love my parents. I love my sister. I love our cats. I like our dog. I love Tennessee. I love living less than an hour from Nashville. I love being close enough to Perpetual Groove's regular touring circuit that I managed to see them 6 times last year - one of those being Amberland, which honestly, literally, truly, sincerely changed my life.

But I'm more excited about Oregon.

There's no shortage of things I can do here at home. I've started to see more of the possibilities God wants me to see. I've started to see more people I can reach out to. I've started to see more conversations I can have with people who I'm in a unique position to have those conversations with about the things that are worth having conversations about. Those possibilities are everywhere here at home. I'm finally seeing it.

I'm still just more excited about Oregon.

To be honest, part of the reason is that it's gonna be easier for me to be a better man in Oregon. Up there, I've got a clean slate. Down here, I'm doing my best to be my best, but I'm still reminded by a lot of reminders of my past failures. In Oregon, I didn't spend all my time around cigarettes. Here at home, most of my friends smoke, and sometimes I slip up. Sometimes I slip up for a few days in a row.

When Jesus had finished these parables, He moved on from there. Coming to His hometown, He began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all His sisters with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

- Matthew 13:53-58

I'm not saying I'm a prophet, and I'm definitely not trying to equate myself with Jesus, but I do think that the truth of what Jesus says still rings true today. Why would anybody listen to me talk about God? Isn't this the guy who dressed up as Twinkie the Kid in high school? Isn't this the guy who never showed up on time for anything once he had a driver's license? Isn't this the guy who did old Chris Farley gags on the bus?

Please, please, please - don't get me wrong, I love being home. It's just that I know I can do some better work somewhere else. That's what I'm more excited about.

I'm excited about being in a place where people see my Christian example without the burdensome trouble of knowing me 10 years ago.

I love Pink Floyd. I will never be upset with someone for suggesting Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd is awesome in ways that nobody else - including Led Zeppelin - ever comes close to. Pink Floyd is the only Pink Floyd.

I'm just more excited about listening to Led Zeppelin.

If I do get the job, I know I'm gonna miss home. I know it's going to be different being 2300 miles away from my parents and sister. I know it's going to be hard.

But I also know that it'll be worth it.

And if I don't get the job, I know I'll be somewhat disappointed, but I certainly won't be complaining.

I also know that it'll be totally worth it.

I'd appreciate your continued prayers for God's Will being done through me.

I will let you know what happens as soon as I know anything myself.

I love you all, and I love all of you.

The Gospel According to Led Zeppelin

In case you're just tuning in, here's the story so far: my favorite musical entity in the history of time is Led Zeppelin. It is kind of a thing with me.

Led Zeppelin. Just... oh, so good. So very good. My goodness, the goodness of Led Zeppelin. From the first album to the last, including the live shows, the bootlegs, the outtakes, the studio sessions, the rough cuts... everything. If it was Led Zeppelin, I love it. I'll admit that it's kind of an existential quandary whether I love everything Led Zeppelin did because it was Led Zeppelin doing it or if Led Zeppelin just did everything that I love, but either way - I love Led Zeppelin. Quite a bit.

My favorite song is "Over the Hills and Far Away," which is found on Zep's fifth album, Houses of the Holy, which, as it turns out, is my favorite album. Not just my favorite Led song and my favorite Led album, but my favorite song and favorite album.

A buddy of mine once asked me who I'd pick if I could put together the ultimate super-group consisting of my favorite vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer. My answer was Led Zeppelin. He said, "No, no, I don't think you're quite getting what I'm asking. I mean, like, if you could take a drummer from one band... and then a guitarist from another band... and, you know, make a whole band like that... who would you pick?"

Yeah, I got it the first time. My answer is still the same. Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is my favorite guitarist, Robert Plant is my favorite vocalist, John Bonham is my favorite drummer, John Paul Jones is my favorite bassist/organist/horn accompanist/everything-else-he-did-ist. Led Zeppelin is my favorite band.

If you hang out with me in a place where I have any control over the music, ever, there will come a time where Led Zeppelin comes up. It's just how it is. I'm GONNA play some Zeppelin. I don't care who I'm around, where I am, what's going on... If there's music to be heard and I'm at all in a position to choose what is played... Yeah. Zeppelin's gonna happen at some point.

I have been accused before of musical snobbery, and it's not like I can really rebut that accusation with too much truth... Yeah. I'm a music snob. I know what I like, and I'm pretty vehement about it. Is it possible that there is (or will be in the future) a band that I would enjoy more than Led Zeppelin? Well... Yeah... It's possible... But then, it's also possible that the entirety of the British monarchical family is killed in a freak photography accident and I'm crowned the next king of England, resulting in all sorts of zany mishaps with my clumsy attempts at a knighting, applying my own inimitable style to delicate matters of international diplomacy, and dealing with the pressures of being recognized at the Burger King nearest to Buckingham Palace.

Doesn't mean it's very likely.

I could go further, but I figure the point is pretty well made, and I'm definitely aware that most of my posts are long enough as it is. We don't need another 8 pages of me telling you how much I love Led Zeppelin. But what I do need for you to understand - in case you haven't picked up on it yet - is that I am a fan of Led Zeppelin. This point is integral to the case I am presenting in this post.

So now let's talk about God.

As much as I do love Led Zeppelin, God still wins. I know, I know... the previous fanboy rant may have called that into question for some of you, but I don't have a weekly blog dedicated to Zep. God is still my primary focus.

But part of what I've been thinking about a lot lately is the idea of apologetics. I know that's kind of a loaded term for a lot of people, and a confusing one for others. It's always hard to think about "apologetics" and not get to "apology." The two words are related, both rooted in the Greek word απολογία (apologia), which means "speaking in defense." We've come to think of an "apology" meaning simply an admission of guilt and an expression of regret, but the original usage of the word actually meant a formal defense of an idea, and that's all apologetics actually is.

I am specifically interested in the idea of Christian apologetics - a defense of Christianity. Not that I feel that Christianity needs protected, lest it fall apart under the scrutiny of the skeptical world, but a defense based on correcting misconceptions and misunderstandings of the Christian faith (that is - Christianity as I see it, which I would like to think is at least in the ballpark of the way God is showing it to us through Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible).

It is in this same sense that Paul "defends" the gospel in Acts 26:2 and Philippians 1:7, and also in which Peter tells us to "be prepared to give an answer" in I Peter 3:15.

So what, then, are we to do?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

- Matthew 22:34-40

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

- Matthew 28:19-20

Here's how I see the total sum of the responsibilities of Christianity: Love God, Love others. In Loving God and Loving others, we are tasked with the responsibility of introducing others to God. I briefly touched on this last week, noting that it's important for us to be able to find connections to God in the world outside of "the church" in order to build bridges of communication between ourselves and "the World." But what I want to specifically stress now is that it is every bit as important that we all, each of us, understand (to the fullest extent which we are able) the intellectual reasoning of our Faith.

What I'm saying here is that it's not enough to just say "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." That is an outrageously dangerous theological position to tie oneself to. I'm not saying that it's wrong to have a strong faith in the Word of God - that's very commendable. But to have a singularly directed and blind faith in the Word of God... Yeah, that's pretty dangerous.

It isn't enough that we know the Truth of the Bible and believe wholeheartedly that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We've also got to know why it is that which it is.

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

- I Corinthians 14:20

Within the context of that chapter, Paul is specifically addressing the issue of speaking in tongues. In the Corinthian church, there had apparently been a problem of some members expressing the gift of speaking in tongues through the Holy Spirit to just babble on with nobody to interpret what was being said. While thanks were being given to God for the miraculous gifts displayed, the gifts were pointless because nobody was learning anything.

Paul's exhortation then is a reminder that we are to come together in our worship and fellowship not to praise God for blessing us with things that we haven't bothered to examine and understand, but to encourage, enlighten, and educate one another to the deeper truths of Christianity.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

- Hebrews 5:11-6:3

Notice that the writer says that those in his audience should be teachers by this point, and yet they constantly need reminded of the elementary principles of Christianity. This, to me, pretty plainly says that it is not enough for us to accept the gospel as infallibly true and never open our eyes or ears to anything else ever again.

Let me switch back over to Led Zeppelin for a minute.

As I'm sure you'll recall, Led Zeppelin is my favorite band.

Led Zeppelin is not, however, the only band I've ever heard.

Recently, I've been listening to a whole lot of the original line-up of the Allman Brothers Band. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite. I've been digging around and finding all sorts of live material from the early years of Yes that I'd not heard before. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite. Last week, I wrote about Eric Clapton, and the week before that, I wrote about Perpetual Groove. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite.

I've heard Lady GaGa. Led Zeppelin is definitely still my favorite.

I've got enough music on my computer that if I were to put it all into one big playlist, start at the beginning and let it play all the way through, I could go for some three months non-stop and not hear a song twice. Most radio stations have a library of something like 7,500-10,000 songs. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000+ songs.

Led Zeppelin isn't my favorite band because they're the only thing I've ever heard, but instead, it's because I've actually heard a ridiculous amount of music that I can therefore say in the face of countless potential challengers, Led Zeppelin still tops my list.

I am not (necessarily) saying here that we can only be good Christians if we go out and research the tenets of other faiths. But I will say that it's very hard to show someone why Christianity makes more sense than other faiths if we don't even know why Christianity makes sense on its own.

Too often I have seen an approach to Christianity that doesn't allow for any questions. It is as though the beliefs of Christianity are so fragile that they can't stand up to even the slightest examination and scrutiny. Don't we believe that this is the Way, the Truth, and the Light? Isn't this supposed to be following after God's own Son, the Word made flesh? Aren't we actually operating under the assumption that our faith is correct anyway?

So what is there to be afraid of?

It doesn't do us a lot of good in spreading the gospel if our only response to an atheist's assertion that there is no God is to run away screaming, or to brand the atheist a heretic, or to quote Bible verses to someone who doesn't believe in the Bible in the first place. We've got to know what we're talking about.

Can you offer any evidence for the existence of God beyond your own beliefs?

Beyond that, can you help others understand why Christianity is the path you've chosen to follow, excluding all of the other thousands of options in the world today?

Or are you still living out a faith that was handed to you? Is your faith your own, or is it your parents'? Or your preacher's? Or your professor's? Or your spouse's?

Do you know why you believe what you believe?

Do you believe that what you believe is able to stand up to the tests of reason and logic? Or do you believe that "faith" is sequestered off in its own little corner of the brain, permanently exiled from rational thought?

What are you going to do when somebody tells you that God cannot possibly exist because evil exists in the world? How are you going to answer that? ("God moves in mysterious ways" is a cheap cop-out, by the way.)

I am really having to fight the temptation to lay out all "the answers" here. It somewhat defeats the purpose of asking if you have any answers of your own if I give you all of mine.

I can (easily) tell you for hours how much I love Led Zeppelin. But if you've never actually heard them, it doesn't make a difference in the world. And if I'm going to be the guy saying Led Zeppelin is so much better than everything else, shouldn't I at least have something to back that up? Shouldn't I at least be able to play a song or two for anybody who asks?

I'll admit here that not everybody likes Led Zeppelin. I can at least acknowledge that fact, even if I don't really get it. I can sit you down and play their entire catalog, from the 1968 Scandinavian tour as the New Yardbirds to the 1982 "leftovers" album, Coda, and you might not enjoy a lick of it. I don't at all see how that could be true, but it is definitely a possibility.

But that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop listening to them, or stop trying to expose every person on the planet to their awesome.

Similarly, I've got to admit that not everybody is going to become a Christian. I could present a defense for the faith on par with Paul in the Areopagus or C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity to every single person on this planet and there would still be plenty of folks who don't see it. There would still be folks who don't believe. That is to be expected. That is Biblically guaranteed.

But it doesn't mean I'm going to stop believing, or stop trying to share my faith with the world over.

There are people in the world - like Brian Flemming, writer/director/narrator of "The God Who Wasn't There" - who will try to tell you that Jesus of Nazareth wasn't even a real person, much less the Son of God.

What are you going to say to that?

Have an answer. Not only does the potential faith of the people you encounter in your life depend on it, but it's very probable that your faith depends on it as well.

How Led Zeppelin Taught Me Proper Reverence to God

Just in case you haven't picked up on it by now, I'm something of a music snob. I like what I like, I like it passionately, and I'm just as passionate about the stuff I don't like.

One of the greatest things about living in the technological age that we find ourselves in is the advent of portable music. For instance, my iPod. I have so much music on my iPod that if you pushed play when the ball drops on New Year's, you wouldn't be done until March 1st. And that's just the stuff I can fit on my iPod. So I can drive around in my truck with over 1,000 albums at my instant disposal and listen to just a ton of music whenever I want. Frankly, it's awesome.

But for all the music I've got, there's only one band that I am always, always, always in the mood for: Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin is my THING. They are IT. My goodness. Top of the list, no question, no hesitation, no competition.

The worst thing about having that iPod is that I'm kinda spoiled now. Recently, my sister and I made the five-hour drive to a family reunion in Arkansas without an iPod adapter... We had no choice but to listen to the radio. It was easily the worst thing to happen to me in months. Oh, the torture.

Not only am I accustomed to hearing music without commercials, I'm accustomed to hearing music that is only made up of things that meet my standards for "good." Foreigner does not meet my standard for "good." Neither do The Scorpions, Journey, Bruce Springsteen, or Def Leppard. And yet, for some reason, classic rock radio stations across the country consider all of these awful, awful, awful things worthy of being played alongside Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, and - most terrifyingly of all - the one and only Led Zeppelin.

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a bad Zep song. They're all awesome. It's Led Zeppelin. How can it be anything less than amazing?

My love for Led Zeppelin is no secret. When I get to hang out with the guys and we're exposing each other to new music, they all know to soften my expectations for a band by prefacing it with, "Well... It's not Zeppelin or anything, but it's good."

I don't let people make comparisons to Led Zeppelin lightly, because I take Led Zeppelin way seriously. They're IT. They are THE BEST THING. They're Led Zeppelin, man... So you'd better believe that I don't bring them up unless I'm actually talking about "bands that are so awesome that I am a completely different person for the simple reason of knowing that they exist."

And I think I'm finally there with God, too.

For a long time, I didn't really have any problem taking liberties with mentioning God. It wasn't always reverential. Sometimes it was just downright blasphemous. Taking the Lord's name in vain never seemed like it was that big of a deal until I realized just how much I actually care about God.

Now, I don't say "God" unless I'm talking TO God or ABOUT God. I just take God way too seriously. He's become real to me in a way that honestly blows my mind. He's become THE BEST THING.

And yeah, I've spent my whole life knowing God was the most important thing, but that doesn't necessarily mean I did anything about it.

But over the past days, weeks, months, years... God has been showing me more and more of Himself in such a way that I can't help but make Him the topmost priority in my life, and quite frankly, it is an unbelievably fantastic experience to be going through, I gotta say.

I don't really have much to say this week except that I want to encourage you to take God seriously. Take Him seriously enough that you understand just how important He is. Take Him seriously enough that you understand why He deserves a reverence that everything else is just not worthy of. Give God the first place in your life and SEE what happens.

(And listen to more Led Zeppelin.)