The Rants of Issachar

Ha! I'm listening to Q on the CBC Radio 1 stream right now, (obviously that link isn't going to point you at what I'm listening to right now, and the Jian Ghomeshi is interviewing a couple of musicians. Their new record is called Lucky and the title they played after the interview was See these bones.

The guy was talking about how he was reacting to the idea of authority and how he realized he wishes there was one. And he mentioned he grew up Episcopalian, but in a "faking" way. (i.e. They'd fake it when they were over at his grandmother's house). But then he mentioned that his father grew up in a fundamentalist Christian cult in London during the blitz.

Then there's another detail...

It's a little cult called the "Plymouth Brethren". LOL. That's the church I grew up in.


Update: 10:44pm
I still don't know who was being interviewed, but I decided to throw up that post right away so I could claim the liveblogging bit. (Lame I know). See These Bones is a good song...


Update: 10:48pm
Okay, I googled the song and I found out that the group is called Nada Surf, and Lucky hasn't been released yet. I won't be able to figure out which one of the guys being interviewed grew up in the "cult" though. :P

Based on the "no radio, no newspapers" bit that he mentioned, I'm assuming that his father was in the exclusive brethren. Not sure though. Anyway, it almost goes without saying, but the Plymouth Brethren are not a cult. They absolutely are fundamentalist Christians, but they're certainly not a cult. Funny... :)


Update: 10:54pm
I don't know how long this link will last, but Nada Surf has a player on their site that will play Lucky. Enjoy.


Update: 11:06pm
I must have been listening to a recording because CBC has the podcast of the episode up. It's amazing how much I can pull up off the net sometimes in just a half hour while I'm listening to the radio. Anyway, the Plymouth Brethren reference is at 22:25 and it's Matthew Caws whose father grew up Plymouth Brethren, but the CBC cut the part where they played Lucky from the podcast. (Copyright issue I assume).


Update: 11:17pm
I need to go to sleep because I have work tomorrow, but Fr. Justin (Edward) Hewlett, (my friend and former coworker at MRCS who also grew up Plymouth Brethren, but subsequently became an Orthodox Priest), left a comment and got me thinking further on the Exclusive Brethren theme.

Garrison Keillor also grew up Plymouth Brethren, and I think his family was exclusive brethren. I love his work, and I was listening to his recording of The Hopeful Gospel Quartet after dinner at my parents place on Sunday. Beautiful music, but also really funny. Did you know Gospel music mixes well with humour?

Posted by:  eHewlett

Having grown up PB myself, I would certainly concur that they are not a cult - although there are some sects of the "exclusive" Plymouth Brethren which are actually quite cultish - at least in the social sense of the word. The sect of the Raven brethren at whose school I taught for a year would not eat, drink, or even share a driveway with someone who was not a member of their circle of meetings, would not go on to university lest it corrupt them by association, and shunned anyone who left their fellowship - very socially cultish, whatever their theology may have been.

That being said, not all the "exclusives" were like that - my great-grandfather, who was exclusive brethren, actually wrote a tract against the sect at whose school I taught, and my grandfather, who was also "exclusive" recognized clearly that there were many genuine Christians who were not "exclusive Brethren" - and exhorted his brethren to unity and love towards all (as in this poem of his).

Posted by:  issachar

Hey Edward... It's been a long time!

Yeah, the Highway Gospel Hall in Westbank aren't exclusives, so I don't have the same experience as Matthew Caws' father, but I still get a laugh from hearing my childhood church referred to as a cult. :P Odd sense of humour I guess.

Posted by:  issachar

I also like the poem. Poetry doesn't run in my blood and I have no insight I'm afraid, but I enjoyed it. (Does that count as properly appreciating poetry?)

Posted by:  eHewlett

It has been a long time. Too long! That was a post I simply had to respond to, though...

I suppose I could also mention that the Highway Gospel Hall that my grandmother went to was "conservative", not "exclusive" - and that my grandfather's marrying my grandmother at all was another evidence of his inclusive exclusivity - even though they never did end up going to the same church!

And, yes, enjoyment of poetry is the original and genuine form of "poetry appreciation". :-)