Tonight was fun—Gimo, the young singles’ leader in the Church here, has been planning an activity for Church members to get together over a few weeks of practices with borrowed/rented instruments and put together some original songs to perform on the 14th. It’s the kind of thing that could either turn out way fun or ridiculously horrible, and so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I’d told Gimo I’d participate ever since he found out I play drums, and so I wasn’t about to back out. Tonight was our first practice, at an evangelical church down near the chapel (we’re renting the instruments from the church). It was the first time I’d ever played drums in an evangelical church before—there was a disappointing lack of Hallelujahs. It was me on drums, a funny punker kid name Zé on guitar (who’s a great guitarist, so long as you want to play Nirvana or Blink-182) and a friend of his on bass, and an interesting collection of young folks singing lyrics they’d written. Easily my favorite and nominee for most surreal was a love-song-style tune by one guy with lyrics all about the Law of Chastity, and a few references to manslaughter thrown in for good measure—“The Law of Chastity isn’t respected/ and shedding innocent blood is a big sin in the eyes of God”. I should copy the real lyrics down next time, I really don’t think I’m doing them justice—I mean, I agreed with them 100%, but you just don’t usually have too many tunes that have lyrics like that accompanying James Blunt-y cheesy love chords. Surreal, yo.
For FHE, Ryan and I listened to the last session of General Conference from yesterday, which we hadn’t been able to finish watching thanks to our sketchy internet connection—and it was, as expected, amazing. I loved the focus on repentance, and the hope for redemption and second chances that repentance brings. There have been a couple times in my life when I can remember feeling really, really strongly the confirmation that I’m not a lost cause—that despite all the stupid things I’ve done, there is hope for me through the Atonement of Christ. Tonight was one of those warm, comforting times when you feel those truths confirmed, when you feel the reassurance settle on you like a blanket that His grace is sufficient for you. I love General Conference.
1 comment:
Can I hear an amen!? (I've got a Funny story on that phrase, but I'll save it for later). Man, I'm jealous I didn't get to hear a ballad on the law of chastity and shedding innocent blood...but I'll try to work through it.
I'm glad you were able to hear the second session Monday night--to think, if only I had kept my cell phone on and sneaked it into the conference center, you could have heard it all, too!
The repentance theme was beautiful, wasn't it? Especially the "point of no return" as a lie message. I, too, recall moments in my teenager-hood when I felt like a failure, I'd pray for forgiveness and feel an overwhelming peace and comfort, that I've always been loved very much, and that no, I wasn't a lost cause.
Which is why I think that "footprints in the sand" poem is a little silly, and when I hear it in sacrament meeting, I can't help but sigh at the well-intentioned gesture. But really, Christ *always* carries us, through His infinite Atonement. At least, that's my opinion.
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