Every time we get into the car, Henry asks if we can listen to “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons.
And then he TURNS INTO Mumford…
Welcome! Thanks for checking out my blog about music, worship, and trying to join God in his work to restore the world. I'm excited to share some ideas – in both directions. Let the conversation begin. . .
Every time we get into the car, Henry asks if we can listen to “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons.
And then he TURNS INTO Mumford…
Hello, friends. I hope you had a great Christmas and New Years!
Our family had the chance to stay at a friend’s house in Florida last week, and we soaked up the warm weather and slow pace. I was really fried after the Willow Christmas services, and thankful to get to slow down and build sandcastles with my kid. Here’s a picture of Henry getting launched by his uncle Todd…
Henry in flight
Near the end of the trip, I snuck away one afternoon to journal and dream and pray about 2012. Although I’m excited about a handful of personal, family, and ministry things, my mind kept coming back to A New Liturgy. I absolutely can’t wait to see what A New Liturgy becomes in this next year.
As you know, I love creating these 25 minute spiritual journeys, but am pretty clueless about what to do with them when they’re done. (The business and marketing side is not my strength.) And so in 2012, I’m going to pour my energy into creating the best Liturgies I can, share them with whoever seems interested, pray like crazy, and see what happens. Sound okay? Here are a couple of the next steps…
(1) A New Liturgy No 3. This morning, I made the first demo of Liturgy No 3: “Lord Have Mercy”. This one is going to be way more raw, un-produced, sparse, and messy than the first two. It’ll be a 25 minute journey of confession and repentance…with a handful of organic instruments creating a lot of space to pray. That’s the intention, anyway! I’m curious to see how it morphs and comes together…
(2) The New Liturgy Blog Tour. Beginning this weekend, a number of bloggers will be posting thoughts, reflections, and reactions to “A New Liturgy”…two or three posts per week all January long. I’ll let you know about each new blog so you can check them out and “join the tour”!
(3) A Remix EP. While creating Liturgy No 1 and No 2, we stumbled upon a number of alternate arrangements for songs. Two friends and I are cleaning those up (and adding a few more remixes), and can’t wait to share them with you.
If I haven’t said this recently, THANKS SO MUCH for checking out this blog and being interested in “A New Liturgy”. Your encouragement and support has been profoundly moving, and I’m humbled to be on the journey with you all. Can’t wait to see what 2012 brings!
Blessings,
aaron
The Evil Russian
Last week, almost as a joke, a number of us in the band started “The Evil Russian” push-up plan. Setting aside the ridiculously un-P.C. name, we all committed to follow the plan and do hundreds of push-ups throughout each day. We do them in unison when together, and trade emails/texts the rest of the time.
In the first two days, I did more push-ups than in the last decade combined. And my arms almost fell off. But each day gets a little easier.
Last year, my wife Shauna decided to run a marathon. She hates running but decided to join Team World Vision and their training plan. She followed the running schedule during the week, and then joined the whole team every Saturday morning for that week’s long run. After months of training, she ran the Chicago Marathon and achieved one of her life dreams.
What is the key to both of these goals? A plan and a community.
You don’t want to know how many diets, commitments, and goals I’ve given up on in the last couple years. It’s embarrassing and quite discouraging, actually. I always begin strongly with great intentions, but lose my way without a clear plan. Or I mold my intentions into a solid plan, but quickly lose heart without a community on the same journey.
I’m beginning to wonder if this also applies to the deeper parts of life.
There are a number of ways I’m not growing as a Christ-follower or human being, and even a few ways I’m drifting backward. And in spite of good intentions and noble declarations, I can’t seem to turn the ship. But instead of getting tangled up in the convoluted theological theories and guilt, what if I simply need to admit that in my spiritual life, I need a Plan and a Community. I can’t just “try harder” in each moment and hope to get there…and I certainly can’t get there alone.
For example, how do I become a less selfish person? Really?!? The Christian path has often been:
(1) Go to church, (2) Hear a message about not being selfish, (3) Feel guilty, (4) Promise to not be selfish anymore, (5) Try really hard, but then (6) Realize that I’m back to my selfish self by Tuesday morning. (7) Do the same thing next week.
This can’t possibly be what Jesus is inviting us into.
I have a few more thoughts (and a hundred more questions) for a future “Part Two” post, but first, what do you think about all this? What has your experience been like?
Do you have a plan and a community that helps you become the person God made you to be? What does it look like? Or do you take a different path?
How does your faith actually help you to change? Or doesn’t it?
Mac's first bath
Hey, I’m so sorry for the ten days since the last post. It’s been a crazy couple weeks! Here are a few things that have been going on…
(1) The baby! Mac’s first 5 weeks on planet earth have been fantastic and exhausting. We’re so ridiculously thankful and happy…but could use a decent night’s sleep. But other than 48 scary hours in the hospital when he was only ten days old (which turned out to be nothing more than a cold!), all is well with the little guy.
(2) Shauna and Henry. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
Henry's 5th Birthday
(3) A New Liturgy. The last few weeks have been really busy in my little home studio – working on
Liturgy No 2: “Blessed to Be a Blessing”. (You can check out pictures and updates at the New Liturgy Facebook Page.) As of right now, three out of the four movements are finished, and the final movement will be done next week. I can’t possibly convey how excited I am about all this…and really look forward to sharing it with you! anewliturgy.com.
tracking bass drum in my living room
Ada Bible Church
(4) Leading Worship. In October, I lead worship five different times, 12 services: at Willow three times, once at Ada Bible Church, and once at Mars Hill. And the next couple weeks are equally full. But honestly, I love it. It’s such a huge honor to get to serve communities in this way, and I can’t wait for this coming weekend…
[By the way, NT Wright is coming to speak at Willow this Saturday and Sunday. He's a genius and I can't wait to hear what he brings. His new book is Simply Jesus.]
There’s so much more to share! Coming soon…
iPhone 4S
Last week, the UPS man rang our doorbell, handed me a small box, and made all my wildest dreams come true. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration for dramatic effect, but I am loving the iPhone 4S.
Since Shauna had the 3GS and I had the 4, we decided to upgrade my phone line to the 4S…and then give her my 4. Yes, I have the greatest wife on the planet. This is not the first time we’ve done this kind of “upgrade”, and it hopefully won’t be the last!
At first, I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed. It looks and feels exactly the same as the 4, and I couldn’t possibly care less about Siri – the iPhone’s built in “assistant”. (And even after playing with Siri a bit over the last week, I’ve found it to be a clever novelty, but not much more.)
But the more I use the new phone – and especially OS5 – the more I am loving it! Here a couple of the highlights:
(1) The new notification system is brilliant. I don’t have it set up perfectly yet, but I’ll keep tweaking over the next few weeks and get it just right. And I LOVE how it syncs with my iPad, which has already been wildly helpful.
(2) The 4S does feel slightly faster and smoother than the 4.
(3) The camera is a ton better. Better pics and HD 1080 video.
(4) Double-click on the lock screen to go strait to the camera! Such a simple but amazing tweak.
(5) Take pictures by clicking the volume up button. So helpful!
(6) And then a number of small tweaks that make small but helpful improvements (tabs in safari, edits in iphoto, format text in mail, etc.)
The jump from iPhone 3GS to 4 was an enormous leap forward. The jump from 4 to 4S is a small but very nice improvement on what already is.
Here’s my opinion: If you have a 3G or 3GS (or any other non-iPhone), go out immediately and buy the iPhone 4S. It will make all your wildest dreams come true. But if you already have the 4, it might not be worth the couple hundred bucks.
Anyone strongly agree or disagree? Thoughts?
Yesterday at 11:46am, William MacIntyre Niequist joined planet earth. 8lbs 1oz / 21 inches. Shauna was an absolute rock star, and we couldn’t possibly be more thankful to God for this healthy, strong, already-loved, new member of our family. Thanks so much for your prayers…
making his presence known
an hour old
Henry meeting his brother
Henry and Mac
Henry, my friend Jason, and I spent a couple hours on Friday wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago. I love it there, and always leave inspired and stretched and filled up. But among all the beauty and genius, we stumbled upon this piece from 1919…
Over There Over Here (c.1919)
Basically, this is a propaganda piece from the end of World War One. And the message is very clear:
It’s terrible over there and great over here. They are sub-human brutes, and we are civilized winners. Everything about there and them is bad, and everything about here and us is good.
I’m really glad we’ve grown out of that either/or, us vs. them thinking in these last hundred years, aren’t you? Can you imagine if we still believed that WE (our country, our political party, our belief system, etc) held all the truth and all the wisdom, and THEY had nothing good to contribute? What a sad and dangerous world that would be!
Please forgive the sarcasm. This is something that breaks my heart and scares me. And it does for two main reasons… First, this “we’re the good guys and they’re the bad guys” approach is wrecking our country (just look at Washington) and threatening our whole world (consider the Middle East). Who will stand up and lead us higher? Is there a grown-up around? Second, I still have so much of this “us vs. them” thinking alive in me. And as soon as I rail against “those narrow-minded either/or people!”, I hear the rooster crow and realize that I am one of them. Or as Fr Rohr likes to say, “I have found the problem, and it is me.”
O God, please have mercy on us today.
May we find Your fingerprints everywhere we look, and Your image in everyone we meet.
(1) My bro. Last night, my little brother got married. It was a beautiful night and I couldn’t be more excited for Eric and his new wife Brittany. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Niequist!
(2) PleasureTowne. Speaking of the wedding, we witnessed the single greatest wedding band most of us had ever seen. To kick off the reception, the lead singer (and my good friend) Troy declared “Good evening. PleasureTowne is both our name and our destination tonight…” and launched into 3 straight hours of the most fun songs of the last 4 decades. The dance floor was packed from beginning to end, and we had a ball. Check their facebook page and below…
(3) The Brilliance. One of the bands on our “Songs for the Oppressed (vol 1)” CD is The Brilliance, a new band that I love. Led by David Gungor, these nine musicians create some of the most stunning, honest, understated, and evocative music I’ve heard in a long time. Please please please check them out today!
The Brilliance live
(4) Recording. I’m half way done tracking my first “new liturgy” project: “God is Love”. Next week I tackle piano, trombone, tons of edits, cello, a “monk choir” of guys, spoken word, and all the odds and ends. I can barely contain my excitement about all this…and can’t wait for you to hear it!
Nathan
Ben
(5) Air Conditioning. Most of you are going to think I’m ridiculous, but I’m already sick of the heat and ready for fall. Humidity is evil. Especially yesterday, outside in a black 3 piece suit! And so I am especially fond of air conditioning these days…especially for sleeping. (I want it 65˚. Shauna wants it 75˚. So we usually compromise around 71˚.)
This weekend, during a great conversation with some friends, I realized that my know-it-all ramblings were turning a fascinating discussion into a boring monologue. Why do I so often find myself climbing up onto the nearest soap box? It’s a bit embarrassing to think about. But the moment reminded me of my friend Tim’s hilariously honest confession…
“Aaron, I’m pretty sure that my theories and beliefs are half right and half wrong.
The problem is, I don’t know which half is which!”
Me too. (Although “half right” might be pushing it…)
In about an hour, we’re heading to the Eagle River (northern WI) area for four days of fishing with my dad, uncle, brother, and cousin. This is our 23rd consecutive memorial day fishing trip…and I bet I’ve been on 18 or 19 of them! I can’t begin tell you how many life memories have come from these trips and the many ways they’ve formed me into the person that I am. And I can’t wait to take Henry some day.
But while packing this morning, I’ve been thinking about the man who passed this fishing bug down through the generations: my grandpa Niequist. Unfortunately, he passed away five years ago (one month before getting to meet his first great-grandchild, Henry), but he’s still alive and well on these fishing trips. Without fail, we’ll be sitting quietly on a beautiful lake this weekend, and my dad will comment, “Wow, dad would have loved this.” Or we’ll hear a loon…and all laugh thinking about grandpa’s famous “loon call”. Either way, I’m feeling very thankful for my grandpa and all that he passed down to us.
In his famous words: “Aaron, you are now a part of a long line of lousy Niequist fishermen.” Indeed.
grandpa Niequist
future golf pro?
I just had to share this.
On his 30th birthday (in 2009), Dan McLaughlin quit his job as a photographer to become a professional golfer. But here’s the thing: Dan didn’t play or really even like golf. However, inspired by the 10,000-hour theory from Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant book Outliers, he decided to test this theory (that anyone can become great at something by putting in 10,000 hours) and create “The Dan Plan.” Dan will practice golf six hours a day, six days a week, for six years…and then attempt to join the PGA tour. Seriously. Read the story here.
Dan is either a genius or certifiably insane.
But either way, I must admit, his commitment is both inspiring and challenging.
Just imagine what your life could be 10,000 hours of disciplined work from now….
My friend went to two funerals last week – for a 26 year old girl in an accident, and a baby who died right before birth. What do we do with such tragedy…especially as people who believe that we’re praying to an All-powerful, All-loving God? We had a fascinating, sober, and honest conversation. A few reflections…
Did God cause the accident? I don’t know. (Although I doubt it).
Could God have stopped the accident but decided not to? I don’t know.
Is God intimately involved with us as we grieve and try to heal? Absolutely.
Or in my life…
Did God cause us to have two miscarriages? I don’t know.
Did God consider protecting the pregnancies, but then decide not to? I don’t know.
Did God weep with us when we heard the painful news? Absolutely. I believe this with all my heart.
And does God stay with us during the grieving, as close as the air we breathe, bringing healing and redemption and beauty out of such a terrible thing? Yes, somehow. We’ve experienced this over and over.
I don’t know how God is involved on the front end of things. These days, I lean away from the idea that God is the puppeteer of every moment, but honestly, I don’t know.
However, there is nothing I believe in more deeply than God’s ability (and desire) to enter into every situation and bring good. He can bring light out of any darkness, hope out of any despair, healing out of any brokenness…bringing “beautiful things out of the dust; beautiful things out of us.” I don’t have to try to believe this with my brain; it’s deep in my bones. This is why I am still a Christian.
Does any of this connect with you? How do you wrestle with these deep mysteries?