Ron Block – The Rabbit Room: Recent Episodes
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The Rabbit Room cultivates and curates stories, music, and art to nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world.
Andy Gullahorn is a fixture on the Behold the Lamb of God tour. I’ve watched him play and sing nearly every year at the Ryman, marveling at the clarity of his voice, his touch, dynamics, tone, and sweet sense of Read More ›
Rise and walk. He was saying this to a man who had lain there begging in dirt and filth for years. It was ridiculous to expect any action at all. To require such a man to rise, and even walk, Read More ›
When we were rounding out the record at the end of the process Jeff mentioned this hymn written Frederick Whitfield in 1855 and recorded it as a short interlude to go after “Come Away With Me.” Jeff on piano, and Read More ›
The song “I Am Hidden Away In The Bosom of Christ” began with Rebecca Reynolds’s poignant lyrics that speak of having peace and assurance in troubled times. She sent them to me in an email, and one day I was Read More ›
I saw a quote-photo posted on Twitter the other day: “I dread writing poetry, for, I suppose, the following reasons: a poem is a terrible journey, a painful effort of concentrating the imagination; words are an extremely difficult medium to Read More ›
One day Rebecca Reynolds sent me these poetic lyrics combining the imagery of a dead leaf falling to the ground, evensong floating out from a cathedral, and sunlight through stained glass, evoking thoughts of times of burnout, the still small voice, Read More ›
Rebecca Reynolds and I began writing songs together in August, 2011, and in Spring of 2012 she sent me these image-filled lyrics, inspired partly by an early morning she spent on Lake Barclay duck hunting with her Dad. It’s one of Read More ›
Kate Rusby, if you’ve never had the good fortune to hear of her, is a fantastic singer and songwriter from Barnsley, England, in Yorkshire. I first encountered her music when Alison Krauss & Union Station played some shows in the Read More ›
“Come Away With Me” began with Rebecca Reynolds’s beautiful lyrics inspired by the Song of Solomon, and I added the chords and melody. Like the Song of Solomon, “Come Away With Me” is a depiction of God’s love for us, Read More ›
The song “Trouble Go Down” began as a clawhammer banjo melody written by Jeff Taylor. We were sitting in my studio going through songs and Jeff said, “Hey, I’ve got this melody I want you to hear. Can I use Read More ›
Congratulations are in order for Ron Block, Jeff Taylor, and Rebecca Reynolds. Their new record, Trouble Go Down, has finally arrived! The album is now available in the Rabbit Room Store. Here’s Ron with a peek at another track. “Gather Read More ›
Trouble Go Down is a new record by Ron Block and Jeff Taylor, with lyrics by Rebecca Reynolds. It releases October 21st. “Like A River Glorious” is the first track on Trouble Go Down, done instrumentally with banjo, piano, and Barry Bales on Read More ›
Jeff Taylor and I have finished a duo record, with lyrics written by Rebecca Reynolds, called Trouble Go Down. It’s due for release on October 21st. Jeff is an amazing musician on piano, accordion, and other instruments, and it’s been a Read More ›
I saw Lester Flatt, of Flatt & Scruggs/Foggy Mountain Breakdown/Beverly Hillbillies fame, in 1976 when I was 12 years old, on television in southern California. The banjo in his band thrilled me, and Dad bought me a banjo when I was Read More ›
When Jesus heard Lazarus was really sick, he stayed two more days where he was, because, the Bible tells me, he loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
Does that sound wrong to anyone else? Wouldn’t you go immediately to the house of a good friend who was at the point of death?
Sometimes we get so wretchedly familiar with the events of the Bible that we miss out on how absurd and tragic and pointless some events must have seemed to the participants. Where is Jesus? Why hasn’t he come? Doesn’t he care?
When Eve stood trembling with lies, distrusting God, and then Adam, too, God stayed where he was. When Joseph was thrown in a pit, sold as a slave, accused of attempted rape, and thrown in jail for years, God stayed where he was. When the Hebrews became slaves for years, for decades, then for centuries, God stayed where he was. Abram and Sarai were desperate to see God’s promise fulfilled. Years had gone by. Childbearing years are long gone for me, but Abraham might still have a chance. Hagar. Take her into the tent. And God stayed where he was.
Most of us know all the stories. But do we know, really know as a gut-level knowing, the central theme, that shimmering thread that runs through all the biblical events? Resurrect.
If you’ve followed me for the past several years you may have noticed some big changes lately. Here’s why:
I've played with Alison Krauss & Union Station for 24 years and have been content to remain in the background. I’ve always been committed to the band for as long and as far as we go, and I still am. That band will always be my first priority in music. I love the chemistry of AKUS, the push and pull of those personalities in the music. Each one of us has a strong musical identity, and somehow those personalities create a unique chemistry. I have been a solid believer in the band, in its members, and in Alison in particular, for my entire tenure. They’re great people and some of the best musicians I know.
There are musicians who change the face and structure of a genre forever. In the 1940s through the 1960s, artists like Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Reno & Smiley, the Country Gentlemen, and the Osborne Brothers took the country music of their day, old-time fiddle tunes, blues, and swing and fused them all together. They created a new genre. Yes, bluegrass is the original American fusion. This spirit that respects tradition and combines it with innovation is the real spirit of bluegrass. I have recordings of Bill Monroe in the 1940s on the Grand Ole Opry. Earl Scruggs had just joined Bill’s band, and Earl’s banjo playing was so radically new and supercharged that people at the Ryman were cheering and screaming every time he played a solo as if it were the Titans winning the Superbowl. The following generations of musicians would all point to Earl Scruggs as the king.
Bluegrass lead guitar was fairly limited during those times. It was mostly given a rhythmic role in the early bluegrass bands, with the exception of a few players, like the Stanley Brothers’s guitarists---George Shuffler, Larry Sparks, and several others like Don Reno---the banjo player for Reno and Smiley, who would pick up a guitar and play lead now and then.
In the 1960s times were changing. We had the great Doc Watson on the scene in the east, who could actually play complex fiddle tunes note-for-note on the guitar, and Clarence White in the west introducing a more improvisational and syncopated approach to bluegrass lead guitar.
In the 1970s Tony Rice came along . . .
I’ve been lately enjoying George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie. Many of the ideas in those books echo the thoughts in one of MacDonald’s other fantasy books, Phantastes. MacDonald’s characters are often on a journey of some sort which prompts all sorts of surprises and discoveries. There is nearly always some sort of tension between faith and unbelief, virtue and temptation, courage and fear, and MacDonald never fails to give me deep, life-changing prompts for my own journey. I’ll highlight just a few of these to keep this post from being a novel of its own.
The first example is that of unbelief, that progressive losing of the childlike mindset that sees wonder and potential and possibility all around.
Curdie is a miner boy whose stealthy spying on the goblins in The Princess and the Goblin uncovers a plot to kidnap the princess. But in the beginning of the sequel, The Princess and Curdie, he is losing his grip on true reality:
I’ve started reading through George MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons. It’s a book I’ve read piecemeal for years, skipping around here and there, but for the first time I am reading it straight through as one long progression of thought. The gems of revelation in Unspoken Sermons remind me of Golg in The Silver Chair telling Rilian, “I have heard of those little scratches in the crust that you Top-dwellers call mines. But that’s where you get dead gold, dead silver, dead gems. Down in Bism we have them alive and growing. There I’ll pick you bunches of rubies that you can eat and squeeze you a cup full of diamond-juice. You won’t care much about fingering the cold, dead treasures of your shallow mines after you have tasted the live ones of Bism.” Here are some of MacDonald's live treasures:
Summer of 2012 found me flying over to Europe for three weeks of touring with Alison Krauss and Union Station. One of the best parts of playing in a band is that it funds my bent for wandering and taking in beauty. In the past 20 years, Europe, England, Ireland, and Scotland have skinned me of more shoe leather and per diem than I care to count. St. Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, the British Museum and Library in London, and Heidecksburg Castle in Rudolstadt, Germany, have all been food for the eyes and soul of this wandering boy.
Four days into the 2012 tour we flew to Oslo, Norway. It was a day off, but much of it was burned up traveling, so I walked around the town for a bit, bought some food, and went to my room. I got online to research Oslo, and a thrill ran through my stomach when I saw The Viking Ship Museum---three ships used for burials---was three miles away. Sound check at the venue wasn’t until later in the afternoon the next day.
Rebecca Reynolds and I wrote this Advent song during one of our Hutchmoot 2013 sessions. It is part of a larger collection of new but old-sounding hymns we've collaborated on with Jeff Taylor. We're scheduled to go back into the studio in mid-December, and we will finish the record in January and February with somewhere around 15 or 16 tracks. Credits: Jeff Taylor, piano, accordion; Ron Block, guitar, lead and harmony vocal; Luke Bulla, violins. Julie Lee, harmony vocals. Available here.
"Come Children of this Long Discarded Night"
(Music by Ron Block, Moonlight Canyon Publishing, BMI/Words by Rebecca Reynolds, Wynken Owl, BMI)
[audio:ComeChildren.mp3]
Come children of this long, discarded night Encumbered by the bonds of labor’s strain What burns against the pitch of heaven’s veil? To woo each mortal soul from Eden’s pain?
Come trouble of the slow, forsaken years Bent low from friendless journey o’er the earth While hearts of men have worn to sod and stone, What brightness hearkens like the fires of home?
CHORUS: Oh, hear the shining thrill of grace resound! The ancient throng in wonder now declares That Love is born! That Love is born! All glory be to God on high, All peace, good will toward men in Him is found.
Come children of each dark and distant land From stories of a kind and noble king These winds that stir thy thrumming heart’s desire Proclaim the hope that this glad even’ brings.
Come impulse of thy tired, waning joy Come thirst, and want, and pining, bitter grief Lift up your eyes, behold what radiance stirs To remedy each sorrow sprung from earth.
CHORUS: Oh, hear the shining thrill of grace resound! The ancient throng in wonder now declares That Love is born! That Love is born! All glory be to God on high, All peace, good will toward men in Him is found.
All peace, good will toward men in Him is found.
Since late August I've been co-writing songs with Rebecca Reynolds (aka "Becca" here on the RR). As a songwriter, never prolific, and often completely mired in a swamp of doubt when writing, I have read many books on art and creativity; Art & Fear by Bayles & Orland, The War of Art by Pressfield, On Writer's Block by Nelson, On Writing by King, Walking on Water by L'Engle, The Music Lesson by Wooten, along with books like The Success Principles by Canfield, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey. In talking with Rebecca I quickly became interested in her research on creativity and how it operates, due to my personal search and frequent sense of lack in certain areas.
What Is Love? Part I - Definitions What Is Love? Part II - Gethsemane
Jeanne Guyon wrote, "You must see the wisdom of God's plan in allowing . . . troubles to happen . . . There are two ways of handling little children. One is to give them all they want when they want it. Another is to give them only what is good for them so that they will grow up into maturity and not be spoiled. Your wise Father chooses the best way for you." (Intimacy With Christ)
If we are parents, giving our children a strong sense of being loved through attention and affection is the foundation. But it is also imperative to allow appropriate suffering into our children's lives. Without it they cannot grow; without it they will be left without empathy, compassion, self-discipline, respect for authority, and will not accept responsibility for their actions.
What Is Love? Part I - Definitions
No discussion of love can be complete without regarding Gethsemane. In this second Garden, the divine love of the Father in the spirit of Jesus wrestled with the soul of Jesus, a war inside one body. This Man who had gone around saying “I and the Father are one” and “When you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” saw a separate will within himself, self-preservation rising up, self-love. “If there is any other way, let this cup pass from me.” I don’t want to die by execution, have my soul be despised, rejected, and to become sin and have my spirit separated from my Father. Anything but that. Was it wrong to feel this way, wrong to desire a way less painful? Obviously not. Temptation is not sin.
“Let this cup pass from me.” He wrestled, like Jacob with the angel, but Jesus wasn’t saying, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.” It was, “Please, if there’s any other way, get me out of this.”
The world has a lot of definitions for love. Deep affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment; devotion, adoration, doting, idolization, worship; passion, ardor, desire, lust, yearning, infatuation. Compassion, caring, concern, friendliness, friendship, kindness, charity, goodwill, sympathy, kindliness, altruism, unselfishness, philanthropy, benevolence.
When I see the Jesus of the Gospels, I see the best of these definitions displayed, his deep affection for John, the tenderness toward Peter after his denial. I see his compassion and goodwill poured into the woman in John 8, and that little man Zacchaeus. I also see his anger toward the Pharisees, a love for sinners turned upon the self-righteous weapons of comparison and self-vaunting used to destroy lives.
Although we may believe Jesus died for our sins, and has given us Heaven, we often carry the weight of a lie within our hearts, thinking the commands are there to obey by exerting the power of our will; we attempt to find our identity in obedience. We think success in obeying means we are "good," and failure means we are "bad." This is the living death of which Paul wrote in Romans 7. It is the wretched-man existence, not the new creation life of union with Christ. It is a Christian saved from Hell in eternity by grace but trying to get free from the hell of his present sins by the exertion of his own will power.
This is the backwards Christian life. To oversimplify, we think erroneously that we’re saved from Hell so we’re to try by our will power to show God how grateful we are in return by being good, by trying to keep his commands.
This must be reversed.
Our identity in Christ has profound practical applications, and each one of those sounds across the landscape of our new life with the promise of hope and strength. We are new creations, holy, one spirit with the Lord. We no longer live but Christ lives in us as our righteousness. We now are to live by reliance on him. These statements ask us to move differently into each day we are given, but what does it look like experientially to put our entire spirit, soul, and body into faithing in the new Reality?
I walked down our gravel drive along the fence and saw a little fruit-pod on a vine. God started me to thinking about it.
A tree grows in good soil. It produces fruit. The fruit carries the seeds. The fruit hangs over other ground. It falls, and bursts open. If the ground is receptive, another tree begins to come up. The fruit, the flesh of it, is the thing that carries and eventually nourishes the seeds as the fruit falls and time goes on.
What if in the church we were often rejecting real, full-on spiritual fruit production and trading it for a little fruit mixed with a lot of self-effort and busy-work? What if we were so infected by the way the world thinks and operates in its "Just Do It" attitude that we are missing out on the miracle of being branches dropping love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, humility, and faith into the lives of those around us - effortlessly, easily, freely?
In Genesis 15, God speaks to Abram and says “I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward. Abram says, “What will you give me, seeing I have no children? At this point my servant Eliezer is my heir!” God then reiterates the promise made to Abram in chapter 12 of making him a great nation, with descendants as many as the sand and stars. Abram faithes in God, and God counts Abram’s faith as righteousness. But then God says, “I’ve brought you from Ur to give you this land as an inheritance.” And Abram pulls a Gideon on God: “How do I know this is true?”
So God makes a covenant. Animals are killed, and the pieces divided, and normally both parties would walk between the divided pieces, amidst the blood, to make a covenant together.
But God puts Abram to sleep, and walks the covenant alone. He was making a point; this was to be a one-sided promise, God keeping his word, not based on whether or not Abram fulfilled his side of a contract. It was a covenant of grace to Abram which did not depend on Abram’s performance, the promise of an heir.
In my dialogues with others about grace, forgiveness, and our new identity in Christ, the question is often raised, “What about the commandments? Don’t we have to keep the commandments?” Let’s look at the Ten Commandments for a moment:
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You shall have no other gods before Me.
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You shall not make any carved images to bow down to.
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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
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Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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Honor your father and mother.
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You shall not murder.
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You shall not commit adultery.
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You shall not steal
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You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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You shall not covet what belongs to another.
A fairly daunting list, but that’s only ten, and in very simplified, easy form. Jesus came along and said that to hate someone in our heart is the same as murder, and to look upon someone with intent to sexually desire them is the same as adultery. Then the Apostle Paul comes along and says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for her.” That makes “Don’t commit adultery” look like child’s play. Husbands, love your wives sacrificially, patiently, lovingly, never giving in for a moment to selfishness or being a tyrant or passivity or a harsh word. Likewise, “Do not steal” in the New Covenant becomes “give, give, give,” the opposite of stealing.
First of all, what is the good news? What exactly is the Gospel? Is it that Jesus paid my sin debt so now I can go to Heaven? Well, Heaven is part of the Gospel trip, but there’s a lot Read More ›
Some months ago I had a friend redoing my basement after it flooded last May. During his time at my house he mentioned he had been designing the set for a movie being shot at Grace Chapel’s big old barn Read More ›
I recorded this the other night for fun in my basement studio with a 1938 Martin D28, playing both parts. The older I get, the more these words resound in my heart; we have a Friend who will never leave Read More ›
From a letter written by Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, to his sister. “…I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was – how to get it out. He was rich truly, Read More ›
I first heard bluegrass as a 12 year old in Southern California. Lester Flatt, once a leader of Flatt & Scruggs of Beverly Hillbillies fame, was on television. I pestered my Dad for a banjo after that, and he often Read More ›
The dictionary definition of omnipresence is “(of God) present everywhere at the same time.” I’ve been thinking on this for the past month and wonder how many of us really live from this very orthodox truth on a daily basis. Read More ›
As Christians we are so often asking for what we’ve already received in Christ rather than thanking God and affirming what we’ve been given. This is one of my favorite Major Ian Thomas quotes on the subject. How did they Read More ›
The last installment of the Hutchmoot session given by Andy P. and me. The last post dug into the false self and its origins; this one continues the same thought and moves into a conclusion. A quote from a book Read More ›
The next installment of the Hutchmoot talk by Andy P. and me. The last post introduced the idea of the true self as found in the works of Lewis and MacDonald. In this post we come to the dark side. Read More ›
This continues the series of posts on the Hutchmoot talk by Andy P. and me. The last post, beginning my part, spoke of the inconsolable longing which Lewis awakened in my heart with Narnia. By my mid twenties I had Read More ›
As I sat there at the Hutchmoot listening for the first time to Andrew’s talk, I was thrilled to see how our two parts fit together. I’ve broken this into several parts for the good of the blog. I first Read More ›
The question was raised here recently whether the artist’s pursuit is selfish. There is no template that covers everyone on the “making a living at art” issue. We are all individuals in different places in life and with varying temperaments, Read More ›
A passage worth reading from Thomas Wingfold, Curate, on making a living while following Christ: “‘Jesus buying and selling?” said Wingfold to himself. ‘And why not? Did Jesus make chairs and tables, or boats perhaps, which the people of Nazareth Read More ›
An airplane is such a sterile but dirty environment. It’s sterile in an aesthetic sense, plastic and vinyl and white luggage racks, like a line of drawers in a morgue, or bunks on a Navy battleship. It’s dirty because everyone Read More ›
This says it better than I’ve ever heard anyone say it. From Biblical Ethics: The Bible does not deal with sin as a disease; it does not deal with the outcome of sin, it deals with the disposition of sin Read More ›
From Screwtape: “The enchantment of unsatisfied desire produces results which the humans can be made to mistake for the results of charity. Avail yourself of the ambiguity in the word ‘Love’: let them think they have solved by Love problems Read More ›
Faith has to be connected to something – an object. Every human being operates by faith everyday; I may believe intellectually that a chair will hold me, but I faithe in the chair when I sit. Faith is based on Read More ›
The Spirit-born Christ-abider is not always going to look “right” to human eyes, especially to those caught up in being judgmental and religious. John chapter 3 in the Wuest NT says, “That which has been born out of the flesh Read More ›
“Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.” (Josh 1:3) This blessed inspiring word greeted Israel as they faced the Promised Land. They had the promise of it before; now they Read More ›
Much of the Christian life is confronting the difference between our programmed world-think and the Word of God. We’re to make a faith-choice on the side of the Word. Author Dan Stone once said, “People say what they really think Read More ›
My Mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just a few short months ago. Despite my aunt’s continual efforts to study up and get her to the best doctors, and even after a completely successful operation at Johns Hopkins, a short Read More ›
I saw Iron Man for the first time a few months ago. I like superhero movies; my favorite ones exemplify a desire to do what is right no matter what the cost, to help those who can’t help themselves, and Read More ›
I spent two weeks in July with my family up at my in-laws’ ranch up in the Peace River country of Alberta, about an hour from Dawson Creek, BC. My father-in-law came up to the Peace River and homesteaded with Read More ›
We are so used to running from temptation because we are so often unbelieving. We don’t believe in the power of Christ in us, so we cut, run, and hide. Temptation is opportunity. Without it we would live out our Read More ›
God’s opportunities are always coming our way. Weekly, daily, hourly, we are being handed situations by which God wants to manifest Himself through us. What many believers don’t know is that these situations often take the form of a temptation. Read More ›
I’ve sometimes wondered if many of the books I read are not just piling up more perceptions in my dusty mind cluttered by too many options. Parenting books are a good example. I’ve got a shelf full, and I’ve learned Read More ›
Adam, in his original state, was not a sword but just an untempered hunk of metal. He had to be hammered out in the fire and on the anvil of his wrong choices, like Moses, like Abraham, like Paul. Is Read More ›
We can’t read white letters on a white page. Light needs a dark background; think of all the nuances of shade an artist uses.Without the human race falling into sin, grace would not be apparent. God has purposed to use Read More ›
As our new, real self in Christ emerges from the prison of years of false self-activity, we more and more realize that because Christ is in us we have no needs. We literally have “everything we need for life and Read More ›
When we finally faithe in our real identity, that we are complete in Christ, whole, holy, new creations beloved by God, the weight of circumstances comes against us. We fight “a great fight of afflictions.” There will be people among Read More ›
When we begin to faithe in our true identity in Christ, that we are kings, priests, holy, beloved, having no more neediness but having everything we need for life and godliness in Christ who dwells in us, we step into Read More ›
I picked up my banjo this morning to practice. Lately I’ve been working on speed, and correcting deficiencies in my technique that have crept in as a result of tension. The first thing that happened was my plastic thumb pick Read More ›
I see myself in Moses, and in Gideon, arguing with God. “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?,” asks Moses. “How shall I save Israel? My family is the poorest, and I am the least,” said Gideon. And Read More ›
From The Saving Life of Christ: The only ultimate source of divine activity in all spiritual life is God Himself – “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). The Church is so slow to learn. It admires and Read More ›
In our desire to be effective expressions of Christ we often fall prey to a subtle trick of the enemy. A temptation arises; we feel the pull of flesh-desires. It doesn’t matter what it is; a thought to use our Read More ›