Saturday, July 10, 2010

my useless major of choice

My family's been getting on my case about being a religion major. My mother thinks I should double major in ENGLISH (because that's clearly even more practical than religion?).
And they won't back the f off about what am I going to do with my life. I'm 19. Like heck if I know. Grad school is definitely a must. But after that I don't know yet.

No, it's not a business degree, or a degree in some science-type thing. Or even a language. It's a humanities major, and since I'm a sophomore, I see no reason to panic yet. Silly family.

I may go to seminary. Or I may be a professor. Or I may follow a ridiculously crazy dream and try to start a ministry to young people that encourages questioning and exploration...I have yet to find anywhere that truly does that, a place that doesn't say "this is the answer" but instead says "Here are lots of things people have considered. What do you think? Let's all think about this together, and pray about it, and talk about it, and read about it, and see how it shapes our faiths." Maybe a place with incredible music, a combination of old school church music (I have a distinctive fondness for the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal), modern religious music (dcTalk, Newsboys, Matisyahu etc.), and music that isn't technically church music at all like Daniel Bedingfield, Mason Jennings, Avril Lavigne...

Anyways, that's the dream. But for the next few years, I've got a lot of learning to do, and I don't intend to worry more than necessary (admittedly, I worry plenty on my own) about the future. I never cease to be amazed by the way God works, and I am confident that no matter where I end up, it will be the right place, the right vocation for me, so long as I work diligently and faithfully and just trust that it will be all right. After all, that's just what Matthew 6:25-34 says, for goodness sake!

And just for fun, since I mentioned my favorite non-church music that I find religiously inspiring, here's a few of my personal favorites!:
"Draw You" by Daniel Bedingfield
"I Love You and Buddha Too" by Mason Jennings
"How Does It Feel" by Avril Lavigne
"You're Not My God" by Keith Urban
"Faster than Angels Fly" by Big & Rich
"The River" by Garth Brooks
"Standing Outside the Fire" by Garth Brooks
"Shower the People" by James Taylor
"Everything I Own" by Bread
"When I Look to the Sky" by Train
"Jumper" by Third-Eye Blind
"Beautiful Thing" by Sister Hazel
"I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden
"Seasons of Love" by the Cast of Rent
"Sooner or Later" by Michael Tolcher
"Feel the Silence" by the Goo Goo Dolls
anything by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo (I adore their chanting albums.)
"Angelina" by Earl Klugh
"Love Comes" by The Posies

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