08.24.08 Shaun Groves Goes Screamo

As promised, here’s video from the screamo festival this weekend - with appearances by Tracy Edwards, P.D. Ross and Ben Stewart.

Also available on Youtube.

Again, I love my “job.”

08.22.08 Important Lessons For A Soft Rock Star From A Screamo Guitar Player

I spoke at a screamo music festival yesterday and here is just some of what I learned about music making from one guitar player there.  I wrote these lessons down and will afix them to my bathroom mirror at home for review every morning.

1) Play the guitar behind your head.

2)Spin the guitar around your neck.

3)Play a friend’s guitar.

4)Wear tight jeans.  And boxers.

08.22.08 Two Groups And A List

People who give me life: My wife. Brian and Amy. Ben. Redneck Neighbor. Sophie. Tracy. Jim Gaffigan. Wess.

People who take life from me: The guy with the endless need for affirmation.  The gossip. The lady looking for a fight.  The guy with nothing good to say. The girl who forwards me Republican propaganda.  The guy who forwards me Democratic propaganda. The addict.  The outloud incessant worrier. The grown man who’s still mad at his mommy. The perpetually depressed. The comma-deficient. The abuser. The anonymous. The rock star. The...there are a lot of these.  They’re easy to list aren’t they?  And listing them, focussing on them and not the folks in the first group, is a sure way to become a miserable life-taking person myself.

It’s time to stop keeping that list.

08.21.08 Nothing If Not Diverse

Yesterday, the third annual Groves family back to school bash was thrown.  21 kids and 11 adults (last count taken just before ordering pizzas) in our front yard playing games, eating, hanging out and, of course, having their picture taken (see below).

Today, I was in North Carolina speaking about Compassion International at a screamo festival (stunning video coming soon).  About 900 people in a field, no funnel cakes, lots of guys who looked like girls and girls who looked like guys, lots of tapered leg jeans (disturbing pictures coming), one dentist friend, and two fist fights.

Tomorrow, I’m speaking and playing at a conference for independent musicians in Dallas.  I will likely see guys who look like girls there but other than that it’ll be a completely different day than the last two.  I love my life.

08.20.08 And The Government Will Be On His Shoulders

I’ve got too much going on to post something fresh today.  So, here’s something from the archives: a reminder for those pinning their hopes and the hopes of the world on the next president.

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LUKE 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Augustus.  Born Octavius, adopted son of Julius.  Heir to the throne of the great Roman empire.  Julius was so proud of his boy, and himself, that he forged a coin in Gaul, distributed across the empire, to honor them both.  On one side, the face of Julius.  On the other, the face of Octavius.  Written across both were the words, “Divine Caesar and the Son of God”.

Powerful men are often in love with themselves.  That’s nothing new.  Megalomania is as common among the famous as flies among the poor.  But few call themselves gods.  And Julius wasn’t the only one adoring himself and his offspring this way.  Emperor worship was the national religion, most fervent in Asia minor where the greatest number of Christians, followers of a rival Jewish king, would one day lose their lives for refusing to honor Caesars and their empire.  Julius was a god to his people.  A full fledged god.  Capable, so they thought, of controlling the earth below and the sky above, capable of creating and sustaining their very lives,

But his own life wouldn’t last forever.  And when Octavius ascended his father’s throne he dubbed himself “Augustus.” Not the humblest of names.  No, Augustus means “worthy of reverence and worship.” Like his father, Augustus reigned as god over his kingdom.

Until 17BC, when a strange star appeared in the sky.  The great Roman thinker and writer Virgil interpreted the sign for him.  “The turning point of the ages has come.” Utopia is on the horizon, the dawning of a new and great era has arrived, through the great Augustus.

Now, there were shepherds watching their flocks and an angel appeared to them with a different interpretation. (LUKE 2:10-11) “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

“Christ”.  The rescuer. 

“Lord”.  Emperor.  King.  The King.

This was the day the Jewish prophet Isaiah had written of, the day power changed hands on earth.  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

“Government.” Power.  Rule.  Not a system.  Not a senate or an office.  The ultimate authority.  The right to reign.

“On his shoulders.” Passed on.  Bestowed upon.  The power and position that Caesars believed they held, that dictators crushing the Jews for centuries wielded, the authority and control exercised by mere mortals sitting on thrones inherited from Fathers and Mothers - this mantel is handed to a child heralded by the night sky Caesar claims to conduct.

A new King.  A new kingdom.  The kingdom of God lying in a manger, growing in Nazareth, learning from the rabbis, wearing his prayer shawl, preaching in the synagogue, “"The Spirit of the Lord is on ME, because He has anointed ME to preach good news to the poor. He has sent ME to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Revolution has come to a manger, come through a Jewish rabbi born to a virgin in the Middle East.  And an empire, a god, a savior, is overthrown.  A new kingdom for the poor of spirit, the mourning and the quitters that would outlast the reign of all Caesars has come. 

So great would the Christ’s influence be that one man, a follower of his named Peter, would announce, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Peter.  A revolutionary like his Master.  What a rebellious pronouncement he made.  Rebellious?  Yes.  For before Peter ever spoke these words about Christ, Augustus had written them about himself on Roman coins, “ Caesar Augustus.  There is no other name given to men by which we may be saved.” Peter reminded us all, for all times in all nations, that only Christ saves the oppressed, the sick and the sinful.

What the nativity scene dimly lit on our mantles fails to capture for us is the defiance, the seditiousness of the Christ Peter knew well.  The placid figurines leave us wondering why anyone would want to kill this precious child.  Remember though.  Asleep on that hay is the King of kings come to do through his people what no Caesar could, come to bow every knee, erase every border, destroy every flag, save every soul, free every captive, feed every stomach, open every eye, right every injustice - and do so by giving up His own life, not by taking another’s.

Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace.