Exploring the sacred in the secular...

Our band is going to lead a retreat this Saturday for the local American Baptist church called: How Do You Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? At the core of this day of music and prayer has to do with exploring and listening for the sacred in what is often called our secular culture.

Part of the inspiration is rethinking the old "By the Waters of Babylon" song from Psalm 137...

The other part comes from a life-long experiment in listening for the holy in culture that Cathleen Falsani puts like this:

I have a favorite T-shirt that reads, "Jesus is my mixtape." When I bought it, I thought its slogan was charmingly quirky, but over time it has acquired this transcendent quality, a motto that sums up my belief that everything - everything - is spiritual. At the center of that everythingness, as a pastor friend of mine likes to describe it, is a universal rhythm, a song we all play, like a giant, motley orchestra. Sometimes in tune, sometimes off-key. We call it by different names. Still, it remains - if only we have ears to hear it - the eternal soundtrack that plays in the background of our lives.

It will be a blast to be in a sweet, rural retreat center by a lake singing, talking and learning with 50 new friends. After opening with a time of Taize worship - and a follow-up discussion - we'll use a liturgy from the Community of Iona and talk about world music. And then we'll wrap things up with my own liturgy fusing some poetry by Emily Dickinson, Scott Cairns and Marie Howe with songs by Annie Lennox, U2 and Cat Powers. I spent all day working out the art presentation in Power Point form which is one of my favorite visual ways of praying ever!

And now it is time to call it a day.