The Bon Iver Gospel

I was driving home from work listening to SiriusXMU, a channel on satellite radio, after a particularly stressful day.  They played the song "Blood Bank" by an artist named Bon Iver.  I can remember when the song came out in 2007 and I really didn't care for it or Bon Iver.  It's a slow-tempo, brooding melody with lyrics sang in falsetto.  Pretty off-putting at first listen to those who've never heard him before.

As it turns out Bon Iver is actually a pretty cool dude.  He secluded himself up in a cabin in northern Wisconsin, grew out a beard, wore flannel or whatever else he wanted, and wrote music.  Later in 2011 he released a self titled album featuring more falsetto and deep, dark tones that are tough to relate to at first listen.  Give the music to the general public and you're likely to get extremely negative responses (i.e. why is this guy trying to sing like a girl?)  Regardless, Bon Iver went on to receive a Grammy award in 2012 and received widespread recognition.  It topped many 2011 year end charts and brought loads of attention to an otherwise obscure musician who was just trying to do his thing.

I was one who started paying attention and he sure fooled me.  After initially rejecting "Blood Bank," the tracks from Bon Iver started to draw me in.  I paid more attention to the instrumentation and really began to resonate with some of those melodies.  I went to one of his concerts and bought the album.  (I also got to go with a very pretty date, but that's unrelated.)  I was totally onboard with this guy after really not being able to relate.

SO where am I going with this?

I think I feel the same way about the studying the Bible.  First step I guess was deciding on my own - that is, without being forced - to start attending church.  Church isn't mandatory for everyone.  But I would feel pretty confident in saying the vast majority of our culture can and does benefit from attending some type of church. That point is an entire post in itself.

Anyways, the Bible.  The ancient texts written thousands of years ago.  The old testament - full of obsolete knowledge, names, and words.  The new testament - the story of Jesus, a bunch of letters, and a really cool story called Revelation that I understand 0.5% of*.  The preceding, sadly, was the extent of my biblical knowledge up until about a year ago.

Just like when I heard "Blood Bank" many times when it was on rotation back in 2007, I just could not plug in to the Bible.  Especially to church sermons and services on biblical topics.  I understood the general message they were preaching, but did I really read?  Did I understand and comprehend what the preacher man was trying to evoke from the passage he selected?  The scary question is - Did I care?

For the most part that changed when I took a second step and started to make myself a little more accountable.  I started attending a church regularly, and even made friends with some of my peers.  Difficult to do when you're introverted as I am, and you really don't like to leave your comfort zone.  As it is though I guess one of my talents is that I don't mind speaking in public and this little character trait landed me a job co-leading one of our church's discussion groups.  Our task was to study a book of the Bible.

Finally, I had been challenged.  But that little spark was all I needed.  Well, that, and a Bible that has really good footnotes.  I love the footnotes.  One of the most off-putting thing about reading the Bible is that sometimes it seems as though you're reading a foreign language!  Finally, it's like having a study partner - so when you read a verse and it makes zero sense to me I just look down to see if there is a footnote.  Additionally footnotes can help understand translation meanings, subtext, historical context, interpretations, and so much more.  It's definitely a personality thing for me and some people may not relate to it as well.  But I found out that I like to study the Bible.  I can't believe I can honestly say this - but it really is like a book that you can't put down.  To know that every word carries so much weight in the history (and future) of the world is truly fascinating from so many perspectives.

I'd like to comment more on studying- Old & New testament, the actual task itself, benefits, etc.  But first I just wanted to share the enjoyment I've been able to experience by finding this out about myself.

So take a risk.  Learn the instruments and melodies and see what you like.  Just because you've only heard one song on repeat your whole life, that shouldn't stop you from experiencing the real thing you've been missing.


 notes:
*Even people who could care less about the Bible have to admit Revelation is awesome.

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