sometimes...

you see an image that you desperately wish you'd created. the one below is utterly wonderful. i dig everything about it. conceptually it's the kind of thing i love - that couple! that typewriter! aesthetically it's close to my 'own style' and the style i aspire to, but more skilfully done.

so those are my lovelorn ravings... information about where the image comes from: it's the cover illustration for a book by matthew allard - the illustrator is ian dingman. allard wrote stories based on the illustrations, rather than the other way around.

immanence

one area of the Christian faith that i'm really interested in is the presence of God - ie the ways in which God is present in the created world, the ways His presence is experienced, and how people throughout the Christian tradition have experienced it. 'immanence' is a term used in theology when people talk about how a transcendent God is present in the created world.

i might put a few of my thoughts about the subject down here on the blog from time to time... this might include some of my own personal experience, but i thought i'd note some conceptual ideas about how God is present first of all.

one of the upshots of immanence is that God is close to us, understands us and identifies with us. He knows us.

in the Christian tradition, God is trinity - that's a vast concept, which i'm not going to attempt to even try and summarise, but suffice to say that the trinity involves the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

aspects of the extent to which God knows us are evident in each part of the trinity.

Father: in the sense that we are God's children, He knows us. the concept of God being our father can get a bad rap because our understanding of the concept of 'father' is inevitably influenced by our own personal experience of what a father is. nonetheless, this concept of God represents what an untainted father is. a true father wants what is best for his children and experiences a level of bond and connection (love) that can only come because the children are his. we are made in God's image - He recognises the things in us that came from Him.

Son: Jesus is God coming to earth to exist as a human. God's experience of what it means to be human (the human condition) is firsthand. in other words, He knows what it's like. He knows what it's like to be in a human body - the strengths, weaknesses, limitations - He knows what it's like to think like a human - apart from the union of God and humanity, He's also felt the gap that humans experience between themselves and God.

Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit is the part of God that lives inside a human when that person places their life in God's hands. the Holy Spirit dwells in the essential core of the person and as such is utterly involved in what that human experiences. the Spirit is right there where the emotions and thoughts occur - where the subconscious happens, where all the memories and personality are stored, and where the neurological and other biophysical interactions occur that make us function.

these aspects of the immanence of God are so effective that God knows us better than we know ourselves. it is impossible to be better known than God knows us.

free mp3 fresh from new zealand

in recent months three - no, four! - very nice free new zealand albums have fallen into my lap... there's an indie introspective theme to them. here they are now:

1. the haints of dean hall

the album is called 'sleeper'. their second album. stuff recorded in the front lounge. little bit country. acoustic.

the album is available from arch hill recordings for free and you can download it here.





2. secret knives

the album is called 'affection'. first full album (i think), though there is an also a rather nice ep. this is indie shoe gaze stuff with some nice synth ambience with some strong melodies popping out.

the album is available from a low hum for free and you can download it here.




3. avalanche city

the album is called 'our new life above the ground'. the first album of dave baxter. according to the website, "Armed with a sack full of vegetarian single serve curries Dave Baxter headed into the countryside and moved into a little community hall called the Kourawhero Hall, just north of Auckland. There he spent the week alone recording and playing everything himself with only the cows and the milk trucks as company."

he then decided to give it away for free. it's got a folk vibe to it (a la mumford and the decemberists and fleet foxes and stuff). and you are the lucky recipient of this third musical treat also: here.

4. glass vaults

american indie hype blog, i guess i'm floating, describes them thusly: "New Zealand continues to impress with solid music... the small Pacific Island [sic] has more aural deliciousness to offer. Glass Vaults is the two-man project of Richard Larsen and Rowan Pierce, crafting elegant synth sounds perfect for rendezvous on moonlit shorelines... Driving all of the diaphanous sound is a rhythmic beat intermittently thumping along, with shades of Animal Collective-esque composition mixed with vocals that lull in a manner similar to Thom Yorke’s."

it is very lovely and ambient (indie ambient not dance-musicy ambient, in case you're worried). so then, all you need to do is download it by going here.

there we are then.

little house on the island

another instalment in the intrepid adventures of my little house... the earlier episode is here. this time, the little house is on kawau island in the hauraki gulf...

safelittleworld: little house on the island from andrew killick on Vimeo.