This is probably one of the most moving videos I’ve seen. Mars Hill baptized 120 people on easter, in the sanctuary, while rocking an amazingly powerful hymn. Seeing people baptized in their street clothes while singing Gloria, man, intense, nothing else to say, so just watch.

Many of us have already bought our tickets to the Helio concert here in Phoenix. Here’s a taste of what we’ll see. Does it get any better than Ben on drums? I don’t think so.

One thing I really received from the Mars Hill Continuous Worship Conference was the concept of receive, reject, redeem. That means simply that when assessing our culture we should put it through this filter and not passively accept or reject anything. We should see what we can openly receive, what we must reject and what can be redeemed.

I find it valuable in critique secular songs, concerts, etc… In this example I wanna take a look at Sigur Ros latest project which is basically a documentary of their latest tour. I really appreciate Sigur Ros as a band. I use the word “appreciate” usually to describe bands, writer’s, musician’s who’s music I like but can’t listen to regularly. This would include bands like, Led Zepplin, Zero 7, Sigur Ros, the list goes on.

The first think I think the church can receive from Sigur Ros artistically is their patience. They let their songs develop at such a drip pace, but never allow it to stagnate. That is really really hard to do. They certainly didn’t read the A&R handbook as far as how fast you should get to the hook. Second, is their instrumental creativity. You can tell that they approach every instrument much like most bands approach a vocal melody. They weave melodies together instrumentally in such a beautiful way. And what more can you say about Icelandic vocals(Bjork anyone???), I mean they are just amazing. Haunting but still very light and pleasant.

What can be redeemed is their creativity. Goto 45:15 of the video in this post to see just how creative they are, really amazing. Of course watch the whole thing when you get time to hear some beautiful music.

There is a series of 3 videos on You Tube that is a great documentary on the christian persecution happening inside of Egypt. This isn’t meant to be the most extreme example of persecution, although it is very bad, but it really puts into perspective what people sacrifice for a life after Christ. This is nothing I have any sense of, even after watching this I feel so humbled that I most likely will never face 1/10th of what these people face every day.

I don’t want to summarize what the videos will tell you, but one of the most amazing quotes comes at the end of the 3rd video. The Zebeleen is a Christian community that lives in garbage, there’s no real other way of explaining it. But their entire community is a garbage dump, it’s in their homes, they live with rats and rubbish, it’s just terrible. So this Christian man and his family was living outside the Zebeleen and was getting tirelessly persecuted amongst the muslim population and decided to move his family into the Zebeleen garbage community. Even though he was a successful businessman in Egypt, he moved into squalor by choice. He at first thought there was no way they could survive there. But he goes on to say this:

“I didn’t even think I could survive…but it’s because of the Christians and the faith that I am here. Even if my children have diseases from the garbage I want them to live here with other Christians. The most important thing is that my children are raised in a Christian environment. It is much better to be in a place with garbage that has Jesus than to be in a place [without Jesus] even though it may be clean.”

I started crying at that point in the video. For a father with 2 beautiful little girls to say, their place in the kingdom and body of the church is more important than their health is just incredible. That it is by choice, is even more incredible. I’ll link the 3 videos below, but I wanted to tie this into worship.

I started thinking about what place persecution has in our worship songs. Of course in the English speaking countries that generate our worship(US/UK/Australia) there really is no persecution, just ridicule. So our worship stance becomes a “I’m not ashamed” anthem. An admission that we’re prepared to accept ridicule and I think that’s great. But I’d love to hear what these Coptic Christians sing, what they are prepared to accept as a sacrifice for the Kingdom. I think our disconnection to the reality of persecution foreign Christians face does us a true disservice and undermines the depth of our understanding of sacrifice and strength through Christ. I’ve never before considered persecution in any of my worship writing, but I will now.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

So Radiohead gave away let you download their album paying whatever you wanted. Now they release a full hour video of them playing live their entire In Rainbows cd. I already reviewed the entire In Rainbows album, so you should know I’m a fan. These guys are just the coolest. Check it:

This is an older video but definitely worth the watch. There Will Be a Light is one of the best cd’s in the last coule years. Ben has always been one of the best live shows around, I think I’ve seen him live 4 or 5 times and each time was memorable. This performance is awesome, I love how this song ends, God went ahead and landed in the middle of the Late Show. Also as a bonus, Marc Ford is playing guitar, former player for Black Crowes, with Ben Harper and from what I’ve heard Marc Ford is now saved. (Teaser: we should hear more about that in the coming Chris Lizotte interview since Chris played with Marc Ford). One more thing, bass players take note, Juan Nelson is one of the baddest players in the biz!