On Ordination

Tonight I got to participate in and watch something that I had not ever seen before.

Brent Corbin, former OURUF student and RUF intern, was ordained this evening and installed as the campus minister for RUF at the University of Tulsa.

Now, some of you who know me might be aware that I get emotionally nostalgic over things on a pretty consistent basis. While this has certainly proved true during movies, concerts (some of you remember the JMayer debacle of Spring '10), stage performances, conversations (yeah...sorry about that... you know who you are), one-on-ones with Doug (this is true almost like clockwork), and football games (Josh Voth, feel free to make comments about the OU-Florida crisis of faith, as I already know you want to), I think that this tendency of mine has also been known to be present when I notice things that I find particularly beautiful about Christ and His Church.

In fact, some of you have even noticed that I sometimes find life happenings to be so profound that they are as potent to me as quality sermon illustrations -- and have in recent months begun to (possibly over)use the phrase "This is the Gospel" when such events take place and move me.

But the thing is, I love to acknowledge beautiful things as being beautiful. I think it's only fair and right that we do that. And for some reason, I have found that I often express this acknowledgment of beauty by shedding a few tears in its honor. And so I cry at weddings. I cry at concerts. And I cry during communion. Despite this outward display of emotion, these are some of my favorite things to participate in!

Tonight's service was a different kind of ceremony than I had been able to participate in before. I've seen baptisms before, where believers dedicate themselves and their families to God and his service. I've seen weddings before, where two people come together in love and join their lives to one another. Tonight's service was different than each of these, of course, but it shared certain elements and a certain sense of holiness and beauty that was attractive in its own way.

It was exciting to see leaders in the church from around the state come together to welcome a new leader to their team. It was beautiful to be reminded of the work of the Lord in Brent's life and to pray for that work to continue and extend to the community he was being called to serve. It was sobering to remember that the church and its leaders and fallen and broken, but that the Lord can use even broken vessels to accomplish his work. It was encouraging to see the community of churches and students from Tulsa and the university hopeful for a future that will bring healing and restoration to a ministry that has seen its fair share of inconsistencies and devastation. It was moving to see a man come before the congregation and pronounce his first benediction with a spirit of humility and tearful joy.

The church is broken, and campus ministries are no exception to this, of course. There is a Messiah who has come to redeem us in our brokenness. And not only does he call us to himself and free us from our captivity, but he then brings us together in relationship with one another and calls us to serve one another and to bring glory to him through worship and the teaching and hearing of his word. We serve a good, good God. And if anything should bring tears to your eyes, it is that he has been, is, and will be good to you.

Hallelujah.

Doesn't know whether to return to thekatietracyspot or remain on sleepyseattle and finds the changing between blogs metaphorical for her changing life

Doesn't even really remember what the Album Project was or how it possibly

could have had six episodes.

Feels disoriented and doesn't remember what she used to write about before she

wrote about sight seeing and space needles.

Is unsure whether her blog has readers and wonders whether the lack

of them is enough reason to unwrite.

Wonders about that article she read recently about blogs being the death of authors

and true writing and whether idealism is adequate reason to write or

adequate reason to not write.

Feels sure that if her blog has any readers remaining, it has most certainly lost them

by now.

Finds writing for the sake of others only slightly motivating and more than slightly an

obligation she will likely at some point begin to resent.

Feels certain that if she does not imagine up some interesting anecdote in the near

future this blog will become obsolete and all of these words left forgotten.

Just spelled forgotten with three "o's" and sees her potential future in writing to

be nothing but bleak at this point.

A Summer Diversion

Seattle inquisitors may divert to Seattle's newest travel blog:

www.hellosleepyseattle.blogspot.com

Courtesy of Katie Tracy Enterprises, Inc.

The Album Project, Episode Six

The end of one song, a whole second song, and the beginning of a third song were completed today, thanks to a long lunch and a cancelled class.

Just wanted you to know I hadn't given up or forgotten about this project yet. Song count is up to 9. We're nearly there, folks. Get ready for some contacting about studio time.

Who would come to an album release party?

The Album Project, Episode Five

Something you will not believe has happened. It has not been seen before and likely will not be seen again.

2 songs took shape this evening, in a little under 3 hours. Yes, that is productivity at its finest.

Song 1 is one that I am REALLY excited about. Its story is this:
A friend of mine (who will remain unnamed but you all who know who he is) has been lovingly nicknamed the "baby" (this being baby as in infant and not baby as in a pet name for a romantic interest) by two of my (also unnamed) roommates. This is a long story, and not relevant to the current story, so I will omit it. But as a joke one night when discussing songs, our "baby" friend suggested that I write a song about him in the form of a lullabye. I wasn't exactly ready to write about my actually-not-an-infant friend in terms that illustrated him as-an-actual infant, but I didn't hate the idea of writing a lullabye. So I went with it.

What it has turned to is more than I expected when I first sat down to attempt it. The lullabye is a lullabye in style towards the beginning and discusses sleep, but eventually it intensifies as the song goes on and towards the end you realize that the singer is likely singing this lullabye to a lover who has died. And even more so than that, the singer may or may not have killed said lover, and it may or may not have been an accident or on purpose.

WHOA. Yes. I went there. It's a haunting tune and I think it has a lot of dimensions and depth and I'm excited to see what people think about it. It's definitely different.

Song numero dos is the Peru Song I thought would likely materialize from Peruvian experiences. This song needs some slight revising but I think it paints a beautiful picture of our last evening in Peru and the culmination of what we were able to do throughout the week and what we were able to see the Lord working, so I'm excited to present this to people as well.

Things are coming along quite nicely! This is exciting.

KT

The Album Project, Episode Four

A new record was set this evening, as a new song took shape in just about 1.25 hours.

It's something that I didn't see coming, but nonetheless took shape pretty fluidly. This was exciting, and it is also exciting because I think it is a song that speaks truth and hope and those are the things that I want to be singing about.

It maybe could be interpreted as a war song, but it's not the war song as mentioned in Episode 3. That's not the main message, which I feel good about. We'll see what happens.

If you'd like an exclusive listen, a random drawing will be taken from the first 10 commenters, and the winner will have the opportunity to listen to the song live before the rest of the world. Trust me, this is an elite* privilege.

In other news, I leave the country for Peru in less than 12 hours. Thoughts and prayers are absolutely appreciated, and maybe even some well wishes that inspiration would be found? How awesome would it be to have a Peru song on the new album?

Oh yes, I get to see Amanda. I am lucky. Maybe there will be an Amanda song.

The Album Project, Episode Three

This episode of The Album Project comes to you "on location."

I sit in piano practice room #3. My intention was to come to the practice rooms to practice the songs I need to prepare for my midterm in my piano class next week.

I was, however, distracted by the idea of piecing together a third song for the infamous (by this I actually mean "not famous" and not "extra famous") Album Project, which fell out of priority last week when several school projects, an illness, and fundraising stood in the way.

I have now, for you, a conundrum.

I am currently working on a piece concerning my sentiments on war. This is not a topic I particularly like to soapbox on, but will if invited, and since this is, after all, my album project, I felt that the invitation had been extended.

So "The War Song" (as it will be referred to hereafter) has been impeded in its progress by this (seemingly) simple question: A major or a minor key?

While this may seem a question that would easily be answered through the evolution of the song, it seems that the song has reached a crossroads at which I must ask your help in discerning the proper way to turn. A minor key would express the emotion I feel that most of my words are trying to convey. However, no one (really) likes to hear angry white girls sing about injustice (go figure) so for this reason, I hesitated in making the final decision. There is a major key option, which would cause the audience to focus on the message of the lyrics and be less distracted by the medium through which it was being delivered. But would the message be cheapened altogether?

Thoughts, please. I stand befuddled.