I recently had the privilege of writing a piece for Gospel Centered Discipleship about why we (Habañero Collective) host house shows (literally, concerts in our living rooms). One of the reasons is that, as Christians, we believe that culture is extremely important. It’s not my intent to go in to a fuller discussion of why that is at this point (if that’s something you’re interested in hearing, just ask).

Instead, I was contacted by a couple of people asking for further resources on the issue of Christianity and culture. So, in no particular order, are some of the books that have been helpful for me over the years. That’s not to say I entirely agree with everything in all of these books, but isn’t that part of the beauty of reading widely? Even if we don’t fully agree, we are sharpened when we engage with people of the same faith who have a different perspective.

If you’d like to know thoughts on a particular author or work, don’t hesitate to ask. This is in no way a comprehensive, or even ordered list; just some of the first recommendations that came to mind and I just wanted to pass along these resources before I forgot:

• Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch
• To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by John Davison Hunter
• Plowing In Hope: Towards A Biblical Theology Of Culture by David Bruce Hegeman
• When The Kings Come Marching In:Isaiah and The New Jerusalem by Richard Mouw
• He Shines In All That’s Fair: Culture and Common Grace by Richard Mouw
• Calvinism In The Las Vegas Airport: Making Connections In Today’s World by Richard Mouw
• Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Cultural Exegesis) edited by Kevin Vanhoozer
• Public Faith, A: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good by Miroslav Volf
• The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission (Biblical Theology for Life) by Chrisopher J. H. Wright
• Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Tim Keller
• Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview by Albert Wolters
• Hopeful Imagination: Prophetic Voices in Exile by Walter Brueggemann
• The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
• He Speaks to Me Everywhere: Meditations on Christianity and Culture by Philip Graham Ryken
• Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner

Welcome to this year’s round-up of thoughts, prayers and popular culture. I love year-end lists because they help me gather my thoughts about the culture I’ve interacted with during the year, but also because they help me discover new things I might have missed on my own. However, I fully realize that such lists are entirely subjective. So, with that in mind, I don’t have the nerve to say that these are “the best” items of 2012, just my favorite things of the year.

As you might now, I partner with my great friend Mark Whiten in something we call The Habañero Collective (by the way, if you’re wondering, our website is essentially a Tumblr place-holder website for house show announcements where I post pictures I like in between house show announcements). We used to do a podcast and now we host house shows. We grew so tired of there being no music and culture in our part of Phoenix that we decided that, instead of complain, we would create it. So we host bands for concerts in houses (see performances from three of my favorite house shows we’ve hosted here, here, and here). All of that to say, I also include Mark’s favorite albums of the year because he and I are continually pushing one another to “discover” great music. Granted, I’ve introduced him to more music than the other way around, but is that really the point?

If you have something you think we missed in 2012, I’d love to hear it. If you think we’re wrong on some of our favorites, I suggest you get your own blog.

So, without further ado, here is the Holiday At the Sea/Habañero Collective 2012 year-end round-up:

• Browse Mark Whiten’s favorite albums of 2012 (coming soon)
• Browse Brent’s favorite movies of 2012
• Browse Brent’s favorite 2011 albums first heard in 2012
• Browse Brent’s favorite songs of 2012
• Browse Brent’s favorite albums of 2012
• Browse our 2011 picks
• Browse our 2010 picks
• Browse our 2009 picks

Amazon has some great prices on some invaluable resources right now for the Kindle (yes, I’m reppin’ for the Man):

• Calvin’s Commentaries ($2.99)
• The Complete Works of John Owen ($2.99)
• The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume One ($0.95) and Volume Two ($0.95)
• John Calvin’s Institutes Of The Christian Religion ($2.99)
• The Works of John Bunyan ($0.95)
• The Collected Works and Sermons of Andrew Murray ($0.99)

 

I love year-end lists. Not only because it asks us to reflect on media intake but because it’s a great way to discover what we might have missed in any given year. It’s a chance, not to gloat in your own preferences but learn from others.

As many of you know, I partner with my great friend Mark Whiten in something called the Habañero Collective. We used to do a music/interview podcast exploring/challenging notions surrounding “Christian” music but we don’t do that anymore. Somewhere along the way, it morphed into hosting house shows. Future plans include world domination but I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, here are some of our favorite picks of 2011 in various categories:

• Browse Mark’s 2011 picks
• Browse my picks for my favorite concerts of the year
• Browse my some of my favorite songs of the year
• Browse my favorite albums of 2011
• Browse my 2010 picks
• Browse my 2009 picks

I wanted to share a section of Jared Wilson’s wonderful book Gospel Wakefulness in which Wilson distinguishes between salvation and what he calls “gospel wakefulness.” I’ve been meditating a lot on this passage over the past couple of days:

I am not talking about waxing and waning feelings of intimacy with God, movements of worship, or the sort of experiences that lead to “rededicating one’s life” (and rededicating more after that), but an experience of such power—of such awakening—that it persists and endures, settling deep into the heart and the conscience of a believer that it carries through all emotional highs and lows. And yet, again, this is not a second conversion experience, as it were, but rather a deeper and fuller appreciation of the first and only necessary conversion, a greater vision of what we perhaps only barely and minimally perceived upon salvation (comparatively speaking).

Imagine you are driving down the road and your car stalls at a railroad crossing. You are understandably nervous as you try to reignite the car’s engine, but you become even more so when you see a train turn the corner in the distance and begin quickly closing the gap between it and you. The train engine’s horn is blaring and the engineer has thrown on the brakes, but you are too close and he’s coming too fast. You move from trying to get the car to start to trying to unfasten your seatbelt, but fear has made your hands stiffen and shake. You can’t get your seatbelt unfastened. The train is rushing toward you, and you know you’re going to be hit. And you are. Suddenly and from behind. A man in a truck behind you has decided to ram into your car and push you off the tracks, even as he is destroyed by the impact in the very spot you once occupied.

You get out of the car, shaken and still frightened. You are terrified by the gruesome scene, in shock over your rescuer’s sacrifice. You are grateful in a way you’ve never been grateful before. You wish you could thank the driver of the truck for saving your life. Even in your terrified awe, it feels good to be alive. You feel woozy, so you sit down on the trunk of your car, and as you’re trying to retrieve your cell phone from your pocket to call 911 and marveling at how little damage the violent shove did to the rear bumper, you hear a whimper from inside.

You didn’t know that before you’d left the house, as your kids were playing hide-and-seek, your youngest son decided to hide in the trunk of your car. As you open it up frantically and discover that he is miraculously unharmed, you suddenly realize the total greatness of the loss you almost suffered. Your gratitude, your amazement, your new outlook on life takes a giant leap forward. That is the difference between the gospel wakefulness of conversion and the greater gospel wakefulness that often occurs later.

• Read Gospel Wakefulness

A while ago, I got an iPad for work I do with Church of the Cross. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first but it really has turned out to be quite productive. I can write my sermons on it, take it to meetings and have access to multiple resources all at once.

Though it has proved to be quite practical, handy and helpful, one of my frustrations with the iPad was that I couldn’t find an easy way to copy and paste text from the Kindle app. I have been hesitant to switch to the e-book format, partly because I like to really interact with books. I highlight, make notes, etc.

Many of you are probably already aware of this, but I recently discovered kindle.amazon.com This site keeps track of your highlights and notes, and allows you to copy and paste the content into your documents. It’s not an ideal fix, but it’s the best one I’ve found.

Have you run into this situation too? Is there an easier fix that I’m missing?

Did you read the book before seeing the movie? Steve Taylor is adapting Donald Miller‘s Blue Like Jazz and recently released the teaser trailer. What do you think?