Friday Again

It seems like Friday comes around faster every week, but here it is again and yet again I find myself missing my friends back at Bluffton. Don't get me wrong, there are great people here at the Project, but it seems like I just really started to get close with my Bluffton friends and then we have to take a semester away from each other. And then I hear about things happening at Bluffton that I just wish I could be there for my friends. And I've only gotten to see my two month old niece once since she was born. I never really get "homesick" like other people do, but I do just wish that I could have the best of all worlds. I wish I could have my Pittsburgh cake and eat it at home too.

Now I feel like I should put in a paragraph about how much I love Pittsburgh just to even things out. For part of my internship today my supervisor had to "train" me at playing Guitar Hero. Oh to live the life of a youth minister. I did pretty well, but I do lack the ability to actually physically rock out while playing. It throws me off. On Wednesday I led the groups in the game portion of the night. When I got there Wednesday afternoon Mike just asked me what game we were playing in the very sink-or-swim fashion that he is so good at. I ended up picking a game where the kids try to pop balloons tied to other peoples ankles with string. It was a good time; I just wish I had more balloons to play more. The middle schoolers did really well, but the high school kids were just loud and didn't want to pay attention. I tried the whole wait-obnoxiously-until-everyone-is-quiet philosophy but that just gave the kids the impression that we weren't doing anything so they could talk. I ended doing a lot of yelling (not at the kids, just toward them) which is probably the opposite of how it should have happened. Sink or swim baby, sink or swim. I'd say I at least doggy paddled.

For class we had to read a book about Hasidic Judaism to better understand the religious make-up of Pittsburgh. The book itself was somewhat dry at times, but it was interesting to learn about a whole other culture that I had no idea existed. I think a lot of Christians have this immediate instinct when they hear about Jews to just write them off because they just don't get it. Aside from the whole Christ thing (which happens to, in my opinion, be a big thing) the Hasidic Jews seems to have a lot to teach people. The term "hasidic" actually comes from the Hebrew word meaning "pious" and their whole philosophy revolves around getting back to a Judaism that actively pursues the commandments set forth by God rather than trying to inculturate themselves. We had a really interesting discussion in class about separationism in regards to religious beliefs. Personally I think the Hasidic Jews took things too far in that they restricted themselves from seeing the presence of God in things that didn't belong to "their world". But, on the other hand, I admired their devotion to their beliefs. I think that sometimes Christians have allowed themselves to become too incultured to the point where nothing makes us uncomfortable. We watch tv shows, we see movies, we listen to music that relies on vulgar, obscene, lewd, and even mildly pornographic media to get their points across and we don't even flinch. Nothing makes us uncomfortable anymore and that scares me a little. In the book one of the author talks about how Jewish woman have to cover their elbows and other seemingly unnecessary spots because it might tempt the men. She then quotes one of the Jewish boys saying that he finds women's elbows and ankles and the like attractive and the only reason that most people don't anymore is because society has pushed the envelope too far in what does and doesn't make us uncomfortable. I don't pretend to know how far is too far, but I do want to make a more conscious effort to become aware of what I think should make me uncomfortable being around. I could probably ramble about this all day, but I think everyone has had just about enough of the Jews for one Friday night.

I have been thinking about doing an Honors Project. It was recommended to me last year when I told the music faculty that I felt like I wasn't being challenged. It's true, that things like academics just come easy to me and I've never really had to try for any of my grades. I feel like this could be a great opportunity to push myself into learning about something that I actually care about, but another part of me is screaming at myself for even thinking of doing extra work for "fun". If I did it, I would probably do the topic on something like this (I've been thinking about this a lot): "Higher Ground: Exploring the Integration of Worship Music from the Ancient to the Modern". Or something like that. I would want it to be more than just the boring argument between sacred and contemporary worship music. I've spent my life immersed in both styles now and I have come to find beauty in everything from Gregorian chant to the latest David Crowder Band song. I want to explore how/if we can bring together the best elements of everything and learn from the past while pushing toward the future. See why I'm scared of attacking something so ambitious? I think that if I could pull this off that it would be one of the highlights of my life. Dag, that's a lot of work though. And, if I want to do this I should probably start formulating ideas now so I can be ready by the end of next year. Talk about fear of commitment. I think everyone has had enough of worship music for a Friday night.

Peace.