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Thursday, October 01, 2009

Well, I'm Back.

I haven't posted anything since NEFC. I was trying this last summer to become a consistent blogger, and, well, I got busy. So I gave up again.
Now I'm back after a good, long hard summer of ministry. I'm no longer going to Multnomah University this year, as I can no longer afford it. Currently, I have a part time job at my church, and am using my free time to work toward becoming a certified piano tuner and technician. That is a short update on my life up to now.
I really think I'll be blogging a lot more frequently now. There's been a lot of things on my mind lately that I want to right down. Things that are important to me, like issues where the truth is attacked. If there's one thing I hate, it's when the truth is attacked and people's mind are put into a paradigm of falsehood. It happens in the political realm, it happens in the theological realm, in the hermeneutical realm, in the realm of ideas of how one is to live -- and I believe that all these "realms" are ultimately one realm, just like the European and Pacific theaters in WWII are part of the same globe. Whenever the truth is attacked, it's ultimately because someone does not want Scripture to be authoritative. And sadly many times, it comes from people who think they uphold the authority of Scripture, even when they unwittingly undermine it. The philosophy of the world is that "man has all the answers." The rules we live by and our philosophy of life is built on fallible man's fallible ideas, rather than the infallible Word of God. And this philosophy has affected many Christians in ways they do not (and perhaps will not) recognize.
All that to say, I've got a lot to write about. There are so many important issues where the authority of God's Word is under attack. So look for further posts.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Piano technician? Funny, the other day I was just thinkin' to myself that I should do that... are you doing it through apprenticeship, home study, or an actual class? I was looking into it more last night because I really do think it is useful (and not extremely expensive, either, if you consider how much learning other trades can cost!)
I do hope you blog more - I love reading your thoughts. They're things that more people need to hear.
There's a quote by John Calvin that I love: "A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw God's truth was attacked and yet would remain silent."

Anonymous said...

RYC: I did use Cyberhymnal. I love that thing. And I love our family hymnals, though they don't have all of the verses of hymns... and they take out the "Ebenezer" part of Come Thou Fount and about 3 of the commonly known verses of "O Come O Come Emmanuel."
And actually, I can't remember singing Come Thou Fount and not knowing what Ebenezer meant.
I think even more a pity than winnowing out verses is when people ditch hymns by the side of hte road because they're too "old." We sing some hymns at Church, but not many, and not with hymnals (which are a great asset to short people like me, plus singing the harmonies is always beautiful). It was so refreshing this summer to be at a music camp where we sing hymns daily and everyone can sing in 4-part harmony, where we play classical music, and have amazing fellowship.

James Dunn said...

Yes, learning how to be a piano technician is not that expensive... I'm taking a correspondence course with the American School of Piano Tuning. It cost me a little over a thousand dollars, tools included with the lesson. So far I've tuned seven pianos (one of them twice) and done repairs on two of them. Just today, I removed the action out of a 112-year-old piano and brought it back home to work on (it's in pretty bad shape).
The nice thing about being a piano technician is it's the kind of job where I can work on something with my own two hands, and it can naturally lead to self-employment. No deadlines, bosses, timesheets... just me and the piano.

James Dunn said...

And about hymns...
Yes, it's sad. There are such depths of riches in many hymns that one simply finds lacking in most of the christian songs written these days. Even the melodies themselves often lack depth (I don't think lyrics are 100% of a song's worth... if good lyrics are put to horrible cacophonic sounds, well...).
By the way, where is the music camp you went to?

Anonymous said...

American School of Piano Tuning was one of the places I was looking into. I may order it before next summer and bring it back with me to do then... a 'set in stone' thing for after I graduate. That and hopefully taking Hebrew and continuing with my current piano students...
We sang a version of "O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus" at Church yesterday... some of the words changed and the melody as well. The melody is still pretty, but today during family worship EVERYONE wanted to sing it the "real" way. :P
My music camp (Csehy Summer School of Music) is in New York, Houghton College. The pianos there could really use tuning. ;) At lead they could when we were there...
It's been around for almost 50 years now. So there are some 3rd generation people going, it's really neat. And most people are homeschooled. I feel more at home there than I do here, where there are 2 other families who homeschool for the same reasons we do. Plus nobody looks at me funny when I have a sudden music-nerdy impulse like singing a chord.

James Dunn said...

It must have been to the tune of "Morning has Broken." I know I've seen it put to that tune before, with the verses slightly altered... I love the "Morning has Broken" melody (one of my favorites... I play it all the time on my Bessie(my alto recorder)), but I prefer to keep it with the "Morning has Broken" lyrics. "O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus" goes perfectly with the minor tones of its traditional arrangement -- it's simply a deeper melody, and so better fits a description of even deeper love.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't Morning Has Broken... we would have recognized that. I love that melody, too. Really all Celtic melodies.
All of the verses except the first were changed, and they weren't nearly as deep.
Another thing I've noticed is that hymns are easier to harmonize, because they make more musical sense than other songs.
I hate it when people say that hymns are too "old." First of all that's a chronological fallacy, and secondly, if God doesn't change, truths that were so deep then shouldn't change to be less so now.

Lostariel said...

Well, I feel left out.

:)
Glad you're posting again!

Lostariel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
James Dunn said...

Lostariel: Thanks! It's good to be back.

Drum of a Different Beat: Yes, hymns are easier to harmonize with -- much easier! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed that... I've sometimes tried to harmonize with some of the contemporary stuff... it's hard. I think part of it is that most of the old hymns have a balance of emotion and thought put into them, while contemporary songs tend to be overbalanced on the emotional side, without as much thought put into the composition (though there are some notable exceptions).