I think that some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed were things in unison, be they people, nature, or events in my life. In keeping with my semi-custom of citing psychological phenomena in blog entries, I’ll allude to the fact that the human mind is set up to find similarities between things rather than differences. This may seem obvious and insignificant, but our brains could have easily been set up to attend to differences, and according to evolutionary models, we would have been just as reproductively fit. In the millions of times I’ve learned about the Scientific Method as a Sciences student, we’ve discussed how we arbitrarily look for similarities among the things we study; we could easily examine differences between organisms and occurrences to learn more about them. The fact that we use Occam’s razor to uncover the laws and principles that govern our universe rather than something that explores how different things behave differently points to our similarity-seeking-minds. I love that God set up our minds to look for harmony and accord in His creation. He made everything so brilliantly unique and special, but there are commonalities in how He made them. I find that all of these God-created things can point me towards Him and the fact that He formed them (although how exactly He created them remains a mystery to me). I love seeing people in unison, and being in unison with others. Not that this justifies agreeing with someone simply because they believe a certain thing, or mimicking someone else’s behaviour just to be the same as them. But part of the joy of cheering obnoxiously with others at football games, doing the Funky Chicken, or singing songs together comes from being unified in thought and action. Whether I share a desire to see my team win a game, and cheer loudly when we score a touchdown, or share a moment of heartfelt praise to God, there’s something exquisite about joining with others in a cause or feeling.
There’s this Ben Lee song “We’re All in This Together” that I really love (he played the Sidetrack the night before I came home from New York; I was sad). The song basically explores what’s stated in its title: the idea that all of us are journeying through life jointly. I’m so sick of the capitalistic idea that we’re competing against each other for resources and happiness. There are more than enough resources for everyone, and it’s so much easier when we root for each other. Whether done explicitly or implicitly, competing to see who has the trendiest clothes, best relationship with their significant other, coolest car, prettiest face, happiest life, or greatest knowledge of Biblical trivia strikes me as such a waste of time and energy. This is not to say that enjoying fun t-shirts and delightful shoes is wrong, or that playing a game of soccer against another team means that you don’t care about the people on that other team, but at times we take our competitive natures to an unhealthy level. As Ben Lee puts it, “on the subway we feel like strangers, but we're all in this together. Yeah I love you, and you love her, and she loves him, and we are all in this together.” We really are “all made of atoms,” and 99.9999% of our genes are identical; why not work together to figure out this thing called life? I just returned home from a weekend spent with C&Cers at Winter Retreat, and while I was miserably sick for most of it, it was such a rich time. Time spent at camp or retreats reliably reminds me that we truly are all in this together. We use each other’s blow-dryers and sleeping bags, eat together, share thoughts about God and life, and are comfortable enough to embarrass ourselves in front of others. On Saturday night, a bunch of us played Skittles, and while reciting tales of past crushes and carrying Stu up a flight of stairs isn’t the most spiritual activity ever, I love that that group of people was able to be (almost) entirely vulnerable and honest with each other.
Sometimes I can be cynical about Christians, and become frustrated over how hypocritical we can be, but there really is something special about Christian community when it’s done well. There might be moments of boys using your camera to have a nipple (ewwww) photo shoot, and Mike might put a giant wasp in your sleeping bag, but it is good. One chapter of Velvet Elvis, which I clearly liked a great deal, spoke about the idea of heaven starting now, and Rob Bell writes about how God saw the world He was creating as good. It was still developing, and was perhaps not perfect, but He knew it was good. The world is still the same; it’s far from perfect, but it is good, and God’s kingdom is being built up right now as I type this. God’s people mess up a great deal of the time, but God is working in them, and He sees them as He sees Christ; I need to see others as He sees them more of the time. Sometimes I wish the church reached out to people on the margins of society more often, and I often think that we miss great opportunities to kingdom-build out of close-mindedness or selfishness. But spending time with people nearly 24 hours a day gives me a perspective that I don’t often have, and it makes me hopeful about the church. People really are intentional about their faith, and do care deeply about others, perhaps it’s just not obvious all of the time. I loved talking about common struggles and doubts with people in my small group, and was encouraged to remind myself that I know a group of people my age who genuinely want to live Christ-centred lives. I may disagree with a few of them on about a zillion things, and may find some of their dating practices to be amusing, but they’re really quite lovely.
As aforementioned, I’ve been unfortunately sick as of late, and have found that this particular virus leads to the strangest dreams. Last night, I had a vivid dream that I was going to San Francisco over the summer, and awoke to be bitterly disappointed that it had merely been a sleeping reality. The night prior, I dreamt that I was a teacher, and all of the children adored me. Viruses certainly have their upsides. In other extraneous news, the lineup for Coachella was recently announced, and I’m so very giddy about it. Loads of my favourite artists will be there, and it’s going to be an awesome festival this year. If I had one wish to be granted by a fairy godmother, and it couldn’t be anything like world peace etcetera, it might be that I could go to Coachella in April; it could potentially be the best road trip ever. I was a bit disappointed that Gnarls Barkley won’t be there this year, but others make up for their absence. Another über-exciting event that’s just around the bend is Break Forth this weekend. I’m in four workshops on marginalized people, and I’m super stoked to be able to work through issues surrounding this group of God’s children with like-minded people. Plus, Tony Campolo is speaking over the weekend, and The Newsboys will be in town on Sunday night. I loooove Tony Campolo, and while The Newsboys’ lead singer has worn mascara to every concert Jess and I have ever been to of theirs, they’re fun to hear live, and always sing the “Breakfast Song” at the end. I have to work Saturday morning, but will have the rest of the weekend to think and talk about God, sing and dance my heart out, and hang out with Jess, Crystal, and my parentiotas. God always challenges me so much through this conference, and it rivals retreats in levels of fun. Also, my dad just came back from Superstore with chocolate ice cream. January is a decidedly good month.
Cait’s Top 30 Moments from the Retreat- camp songs and dances on Saturday morning
- only having to listen to one Dashboard Confessional song in the car
- communion on Saturday night
- discovering a giant wasp in my sleeping bag
- water polo (I almost got the ball from Matt C. one time)
- Melissa nearly being thrown into a snowbank
- a shoulder piggyback from Dusty
- playing Would You Rather with Crystal and Rob
- the stars in the absence of city light
- our “7-11” run to Westlock
- Rob not actually mooning us while driving in Brock
- the croissant I ate on Sunday morning
- synchronized swimming with Allan and Crystal
- Matt’s proposal to Dusty
- trying to figure out why there was a cellophane snowman on our porch
- unwrapping our cellophaned belongings (underwear and all)
- flutter-board tag in the pool
- waking Crystal up both mornings
- explaining our alarm clock prank to Rachel
- the sunrise on Saturday morning
- being stern with Jeremy and getting my slippers back
- defending the beleaguered newsletter with Andrew
- prank-plotting with Crystal and Melissa
- very nearly winning Apples to Apples (my winning card was so close to being picked)
- thinking we had to eat our meals with clothespins
- Crystal’s attempts to do flutter-board summersaults
- Mike’s Muslim Crusade Victim costume
- getting the silver medal twice in Cheat
- Matt’s “haircut”
- all of Saturday night’s Skittles game
Cait’s Top 30 Bands Coming to Coachella
- Arctic Monkeys
- The Decemberists
- The Kooks
- Klaxons
- Amos Lee
- Ratatat
- Damien Rice
- We Are Scientists
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Regina Spektor
- New Pornographers
- Gotan Project
- CocoRosie
- Andrew Bird
- The Fratellis
- The Frames
- Peter Bjorn
- Fountains of Wayne
- Kings of Leon
- The Cribs
- Mando Diao
- Tapes ‘n Tapes
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Explosions in the Sky
- Lily Allen
- Hot Chip
- Interpol
- Happy Mondays
- José González
- Tilly and the Wall
P.S. There are new pictures up on Flickr and a video on YouTube (shown above). Although the video was done haphazardly, it was too funny not to post. The hair will grow back, but the memories will last.
P.P.S. MSN is behaving cruel and unusually at the moment, so if I don't respond to your messages online, it's the fault of Microsoft. Approximately one third of my messages are being sent, and my relationship with MSN is certainly at a dysfunctional point. Hopefully after a brief cooling off period, we'll be able to restore our friendship.
P.P.P.S. TOMORROW THE ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS ARE ANNOUNCED. THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS MORE EXCITING IN LIFE THAN OSCAR NOMINATIONS. I'M GETTING UP EXTRA EARLY TO HEAR SALMA HAYEK DECLARE ALL THE NOMINEES.
2 comments:
A very excellent recap of the weekend. I had a great time, and it's really cool that you mention unity. I think one of the coolest moments of the weekend for me was just listening to everyone singing at one point before communion. It was a great unity of believers praising God. There were many other great times and cool lessons, but that was such an amazing picture of community.
I really have nothing to post on the Retreat, you pretty much stole the good parts. It would seem like copying if I reproduced it all. And although I have never heard of Coachella, it looks like it would be amazing from the band list. Last.fm has helped me find info about a bunch of those bands (which makes them that much cooler. For instance, Tilly and the Wall's percussionist is a tap dancer, how cool is that!) and I seem to have discovered many cool new indie bands as of late.
Oh and mad props on the video. The song selections were perfect. It was weird to watch all that hair get cut off. I am glad that you didn't capture the uncontrollable leg shaking or focus on moments that I needed to take some really deep breaths. And a HUGE thank you to those who donated money for the College and Career Missions Trip to Jamaica. I am so excited to serve and grow through it.
PS Nipples aren't as bad as you think. OK, well pictures of Matt C. pinching his nipple are sorta gross.
I really wish that there was some way of typing nipples with just symbols, but that would be limited to "n!pp!e$" which looks really absurd. Thus, I must type the actual word and cringe while I do so. Anyways, I must say that nipples aren't actually gross, and I don't mind them in contexts in which they're commonly seen, but when guys take their shirts off in the middle of lunch (Matt C!), at a New Year's party (Matt C!), or during chapel (Matt C!), I find it difficult to keep my stomach from doing a summersault.
Still though, I think that this past weekend served as a form of counter-conditioning behavioural therapy; they're only half as disturbing now. My dear friend Nicole saw the pictures of the guys' bare chests on my Flickr yesterday, and was understandably baffled as to why I would put such cringe-inducing photos up, and why I would have taken these pictures. She, too, is baffled by males' enjoyment of taking their shirts off periodically and showing off their chests to the world. Taking pictures of said objects being pinched is particularly baffling.
While your hair being expunged from your scalp was sad, Matt, it certainly went to a good cause. Our weekly small group get-togethers generally involve 30 minutes of discussion of the missions trip now, and I'm so thrilled for you guys to go, and not just because Crystal is bringing me back a Rastafarian hat. I'm still quite crestfallen that I can't come, but I know there'll be loads of stories about what God is doing there to hear when you guys get back, and it's going to be super cool experience, both for you guys and for the people there. They have such an interesting culture too; it should be awesome to experience it first-hand.
And Jill, your boyfriend makes me smile. Sometimes he forces me to cover my eyes and shriek as well, but a little bit of censorship makes that quite manageable.
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