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luv luv luv, mike

I just got the final masters back from Mr. Alan Douches. They sound great. He’s done a fantastic job of getting the volume up, yet still letting all the layers speak. It’s fun because there are so many different parts that it’s like some sort of secret surprise cake, one that has many flavors and toys hidden thru-out…take a bite…see what you find…headphones will be a must for the best listening experience…I can’t wait for ya’ll to hear it…

In other recent news…I just got back from Croc, Mexico with my two oldest kiddos (Cole & Macyann). It was such an eye-opening experience for us to see how most of the world lives. Such a contrast to the comfort and luxury that we live in here in America. At times it was overwhelming…what do we do? There’s too much poverty for us to really make a dent…but just the simple act of speaking with people down there…showing them that God sees them and cares for them…helping to build a house…aiding in the development of that community…it was good. It was still confusing coming home. I don’t want to live like they live, yet in a world of equity, that’s what it would be…possibly even worse…I’m not sure my comfy american butt is ready for that…or ever will be.

I was reminded by a guy down there not to get overwhelmed, but to pray for specifics that God brings to my mind. Ask for His best for this world and to show me how I can help, even in little ways…that was good to think about…

luv to all,

mikey c.

“Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” — Jesus (Mark 3:35).

“Their first lawgiver [Jesus] persuaded them that they are all brothers and sisters of each other after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods.” — Lucian of Samosata (The Passing of Peregrinus, 2nd century C.E.)

If one of Paul’s contemporaries could time-travel to the 21st century and read popular English translations of his letters, puzzlement would surely provoke some questions: “Why in so many passages has the Greek word for ‘brothers’ been mistranslated using non-family terms? Don’t the translators know that Paul’s favorite way of referring to us was as his ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers’? Why has one of the most important features of our new identity in Christ been hidden from these English readers?”

Jesus is remembered by both friend and foe (as in comments by Mark and Lucian, above) to have redefined the basis and limits of family life, rejecting blood ties in favor of the faith-based sibling-like bond that he created among his followers. Persons who do God’s will have become Jesus’ siblings with God alone as their parent (see Mark 3:35, Matthew 12:50, and Luke 8:21). Most English translations of the gospels do faithfully report that fact. Yet this translational accuracy disappears in many English versions of Paul’s letters.

A close reading of Paul’s Greek in his letters reveals that he not only knew about Jesus’ radical redefinition of “family” but also made it his core relational term to describe the converts in the faith-related, household-based congregations to whom he wrote. Paul profoundly affirmed and implemented Jesus’ vision of a society based on the surrogate kinship of faith-related siblings. This shared vision undermined blood-kinship obligations in favor of relationships rooted in the individually chosen and deeply shared commitment to the will of God as revealed by this Jesus. Paul’s basic model for his new communities was a family of such “brothers and sisters,” without any person in the group, including himself, enjoying the traditional authority and privileges of an earthly parent.

For most modern English readers, however, Paul’s strong emphasis on sibling relationships is a “secret.” Two factors keep it that way: 1) cross-culturally insensitive translations and 2) interpreters who uncritically assume that first-century brothers and sisters related to each other as siblings frequently do in contemporary Western culture. Note first that inadequate translations from the Greek have used nonrelational terms such as “one,” “another,” “friend,” and the individualistic term “believer” to render the Greek words for “sister” and “brother” (in the NRSV and often the NIV). And often Paul’s general term for “brothers and sisters” together (adelphoi) is limited to the “brothers” alone (as in KJV, RSV, NIV), thereby making the “sisters” invisible and obscuring one of Paul’s most consistently inclusive applications of his baptismal teaching that in Christ “there is no longer male and female” (Galatians 3:28).

The Greek words for “sister” (adelphe) and “brother” (adelphos) share the same root: delphys, meaning “womb.” In the most literal sense, these adelph words designate persons born from the same mother. The plural, adelphoi, means “brothers” or “brothers and sisters,” according to context. There was no other Greek term available for Paul to use that embraced all female and male offspring in one family, of whatever age. So the context is, as usual, critical for determining meaning. In Paul’s letters the reader may anticipate that the context calls for the translation “brothers and sisters” or “siblings,” the inclusive and concise English word that I use most frequently in my teaching and writing.

For many of us, there is little in our own socialization and experience to help us connect with Paul’s approach here. The phenomenal mobility of persons in Western culture permits them to live far away from the family members with whom they grew up, weakening sibling ties. Such readers easily fail to feel the impact of Paul’s emphasis on brother/sister rhetoric as leverage for changing the behavior of the followers of Jesus in his care.

]]> http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2008/04/some-secrets-about-the-siblings/feed/ 0 http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2008/04/mix-done-mastering-close-to-done-new-old-song-posted/ http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2008/04/mix-done-mastering-close-to-done-new-old-song-posted/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:47:00 +0000 Mike http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2008/04/mix-done-mastering-close-to-done-new-old-song-posted/ Read the Rest...]]> Hey everyone–

Just wanted to let you know that the mix is done on the worship cd…or should I say cdS…yes, you read it here first…not one, but two cds coming in one package…we had too much goodness to be contained on one little silver disc…that’s what color cds are, in case some of you forgot…

Anyway, Alan Douches (like couches) is mastering this thing and he’s doing a fantastic job. He’s done the last couple of Sufjan Stevens records as well as records by Midlake, !!!, Galaxy 500, My Brightest Diamond, Cheyenne, Ben Folds, etc, etc, etc…he’s really great and has brought the mixes to life…can’t wait for you to hear them not on myspace…myspace really does sound so bad…I don’t think I’m just being a snob…anyway…the mastering should be done in the next week or so…

Now, I’m waiting on the illustration and layout to be done for the packaging and then it’s off to Crystal Clear in Dallas for duplication and into your sweet hands…I’m hoping to have these things ready by June sometime…we’ll see…I thought I’d be done by January! ha!

Also, I just posted up an old Builder song that we sang at Jacob’s Well last week for the Psalm series…you should go listen to Tim’s message on Psalm 88, it’s a great one…The song is called The Standard and that’s Mrs. Lori Chaffer singing the sweet background parts…yep, from so long ago…I wrote this one when we had first moved up to Kansas City, and I was completely disoriented…where was God? and why did he have me in this place? did he see me? I was having a lack of faith and lack of friends and just needed to see some other people living faithfully, pursuing God…luckily, those people came around…

also, another new song we sang this past week was called Lord I’m All Alone and was written by my good friend David (aka Emo, aka Du-pree) Bennett…go check it out on his myspace…and while you’re there, tell Emo I said “hey”…if you’re lucky, he’ll do some sweet hardcore dance moves for you…Showbread anyone?

luv ya,
mc

]]> http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2008/04/mix-done-mastering-close-to-done-new-old-song-posted/feed/ 0 http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/12/tracking-done/ http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/12/tracking-done/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:05:00 +0000 Mike http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/12/tracking-done/ Read the Rest...]]>

finally finished with the tracking of the worship record! tracked Don Chaffer’s cello the Wednesday before Christmas…on Words To Build A Life On (96 tracks on this one…) and Lord I Believe, Help My Unbelief…

also, tracking Jon Yeager right now for his new record…and starting on the mix of the worship record next week. hope to be done by February…

Samantha Grasso & Nate Lewis starting on the artwork soon…tenative title:

Mike Crawford’s Secret Siblings present: Songs from Jacob’s Well Volume I –even the darkness will not be dark to You…

(subversive symphonies & time-tested folk-remedies sure to aid in the toppling of evil empires)

i’ll be posting some mixes as they come along so you can hear some sneak peaks…

hope the new year is a good one for you all!

luv,

mc

]]> http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/12/tracking-done/feed/ 0 http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/11/almost-done-with-tracking/ http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/11/almost-done-with-tracking/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:39:00 +0000 Mike http://mikecrawfordmusic.com/2007/11/almost-done-with-tracking/ Read the Rest...]]> up til 1:30 with the horns last night…just a couple more parts to lay down…

strings are done, mostly…

guitars are done…

just a couple more vocals to do…

opera is done…

Center My Heart has 72 tracks currently

Words to Build a Life On is closing in on 70 tracks…

those two are the most epic so far…

done tracking by the end of this month — then on to mix — hooray!

luv ya,

mike

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