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Archive for February, 2007

A Late Tuesday Going Away Party

February 4th, 2007 No comments

Late Tuesday

At Late Tuesday's Farewell Concert
Eric Sturgeon (of the Lonely Forest) stopped by to say hi!
Eric, me (looking a little crazy), Bekah, Tammy, Erin, and Jen.

The night finally came: Late Tuesday (my Late Tuesday blog page) is now in retirement. But what a wonderful way to go! The show went from 7 to nearly midnight and I could have kept listening. Late Tuesday invited some of their band-friends (well, and real life friends too) to play with them and the line-up could not have been better. Corbin Watkins opened; great voice, pretty talented guy! The Lonely Forest (my Lonely Forest blog page) was up next with more of their new music. I am pretty excited because they are getting into the studio to record their first full length album soon! Awesome as usual. Mindhead brought us all a great treat by coming out of retirement for a special performance. I had never heard them as a band before and was pretty blown away, they really went all out! Another personal favorite in The Pale Pacific came next. They are always fun to see and put on a rockin’ show. Gabe and Cam’s antics are always good times. And finally Tara, Dana, and Jocelyn made it up on stage to perform their farewell show. I’m not sure how the held it together, it was a great show filled with emotion, humor, and their usual witty banter. Their final song was, of course, I Must Go; pretty sad.

It was a great way to say “good-bye” to their fans and for us to say “thanks” to them for their music. So, Dana, Jocelyn, and Tara: thank you. It has been lots of fun hanging out and listening to your music. I look forward to your solo stuff! See you around! :)

I took quite a few pictures and a few video clips. I picked a selection of photos and posted them at my Flick set: Late Tuesday’s Going Away Party. Stop by and check those out. A larger selection of pictures can be found at the bottom of this post.

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Categories: Meaningful Song, Photoblog

The Shema

February 2nd, 2007 8 comments

The Shema
Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ehad

I love the Shema. The Hebrew שמע (shema) is in imperative and is literally commanding: “Hear!” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 tells us:

4 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This is probably the most important prayer in Judaism… and it should be in Christianity as well, especially since it was reaffirmed as one of Jesus’ greatest commandments. Mark 12:29-30 has Jesus’ response to a scribe’s question about which is the greatest commandment:

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

The Old Testament and the New Testament seem to agree: YHVH, God, The Lord, Jesus is who we are to live for. Not just a priority, but everything. Everything in our life stems from our devotion to Him. Seems pretty clear to me!

One of my favorite words in the Hebrew (yeah, cause I have so much experience!) is נפש (nephesh) and is used in Deut. 6:5 and is most often translated as “soul” but has a much richer connotation. Here are a few of the words that נפש can also translated as: living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion. This Hebrew word is somewhat comparable to the Greek ψυχή (psuchē) word that is used in Mark 12:30. The Greek also has much deeper meaning than the simple translation “soul”: inner self, life, person and Louw & Nida comment that it is “the essence of life in terms of thinking, willing, and feeling – ‘inner self, mind, thoughts, feelings, heart, being.’” Again, this is all to say that God wants every part of our life. Not just one aspect.

So, Hear O Israel! And that means YOU. This is the personal God of Israel that has become the personal God of the world. He wants you to hear. Not just listen, but hear.

The Hebrew in Deuteronomy and the Greek in Mark are both extremely beautiful, so here they are:

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Categories: Religion, Theology