The Merry Monk

Felicitations my soul bruthas and sistahs,

Recently, here in ‘Lando, FL, we had Star Wars Celebration V, and it put me in a Star Wars kind of groove.

So with that in mind, dig on this: Imagine Lando Calrissian starring in his own blaxploitation film. It might be a little somethin’ like dis:

After all that excitement, I think I need to relax. Perhaps some Star Wars Yoga (not a typo) will do us all some good:

Click here for all the poses.

I LOVE the Reclined Jabba, Salacious Crumb variation!

After some yoga, you wanna hit the dance floor and show off your skill and you wanna smell good, right? I’m not talkin’ that Old Spice Guy smell, either. I’m talkin’ smellin’ like a legitimate businessman, you need Eau Lando! It comes with a FRIKKIN’ CAPE!

And for the ladies, you can get more scoundrels in your life if you smell like Princess Leia!

Ever wonder how baby AT-ATs pass the time? Well, find out anyways:

And finally, lest you think the title of this post was apropos of nothing:

BAM

That. Just. Happened.

Dig it.
The Merry Monk of Funk

This is absolutely BRILLIANT! So fun. Be sure to watch it all the way to the end. Thanks to The Merry Monk of Max for passing this one on.

P.S. Did you find yourself quoting all the lines before they came up on the screen like I did? All the signs that George Lucas hijacked your childhood too.

Sufjan Stevens – To Be Alone With You from Andrew Gill on Vimeo.

“Don’t be ashamed, don’t cry in the bath
For it’s the story of, story of, morning glory story
It’s the gloriole that comes to your path

There is a time when the lights will arise
For the mother is, the mother is the glorious victorious
The mother of the heart of the world

Go on! Little sister! Go on!
For your world is yours, world is yours
All the wilderness of world is yours to enjoy

Go on! Little sister! Go on!
For you’re beautiful, beautiful
All the fullness of the world is yours”

- Sufjan Stevens (“Djohariah“, All Delighted People EP)

Greetings from Funkytown,

I thought i’d kick things off with this awesome jam by the Funky President himself, James Brown. It’s a medley of “Brother Rapp” and “Ain’t It Funky” in Paris 1971. The transition from the first song to the second around the 3:45 mark is absolutely SICK! This show also features the Bootsy Collins on bass (although you can hear him much better on the live album of this show: Love Power Peace Olympia, Paris 1971.

Now that you’re swimmin’ in the funk, groove on this:

Mother T’s got some chops! I heard Jesus was too busy making this meteor shower happen to join in the jam:

Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

That’s some divinely funky stuff. Feast on it, baby!

The Merry Monk of Funk

I just found these guys. Holy monkey nuts! Funny stuff. Makes me ashamed of the crap I pump out here at TheMerryMonk.com.

If you like that last one, check out “Things you CAN’T do when you’re NOT in a pool.”

…wouldn’t you like to be a mystic too?

This morning I watched a video of Brennan Manning talking about the future of Christianity. He quoted Karl Rahner saying, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will cease to be anything at all.” Of course I thought this was right on. I am, after all, a whiskey mystic and I always get off on Brennan Manning. Here’s the video:

Then my daughter threw up. Meetings. Emails. More throwing up. Now I’m sitting here listening through tomorrow’s talk show. Ah the life of a mystic.

As I’m sitting here listening, I’m bouncing around the Internet and I just came across this link from Mike Morrell to a post by Ian Morgan Cron titled, Are You a Christian Mystic? Ian used that same quote from Karl Rahner that Manning used. Coincidence? Not for a mystic. Check out the piece. You might be surprised to find out that you’re a mystic too.

Here are a few questions Ian asks to help take the “mist” out of mysticism:

Have you ever found yourself inexplicably capable of forgiving someone who has deeply wounded you?

Have you ever been surprised by your ability to maintain a spirit of faith, hope and joy in the face of crushing circumstances or perhaps even in the face of unspeakable horror?

Have you ever spontaneously laughed out loud at the absurdity of life?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sense that everything in your life is a gift?

Have you ever been given the gift “seeing the inner splendor” of something in creation?

Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by the sound of wind moving through a stand of trees or by the sight of a markless snowfield illuminated by moonlight?

Have you ever received the Eucharist and felt tears of gratitude well up from your soul?

Let me know what you think. If you’ve hung around me for any amount of time, you know I eat this stuff up. As I’ve said before, I need way more than ideas about God. I need experience. I need to eat and drink and breathe God…to know him in the Biblical sense. I want to dive naked into the divine and live to tell about it.

So funny. Here’s another that’s not exactly safe for the little ears. If you’re one of my kids, don’t watch this unless you’d like to receive a fatal beating.

Donald Miller is bribing me. He says he’ll fly me and a friend to Portland for his upcoming conference if I just do what he says. The first thing I have to do is post this video.

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Scarred For Life Caption Contest. Regardless of whether your name is drawn or not, you’re all winners in my book ; )

I thought it would be fun to have my kids draw the winner. And now, here are some children who aren’t scarred for life (yet) to do the drawing for the $25 iTunes gift card.