A pub-hymn-sing-a-long? Yes. Yes please.

It's Friday night. You walk down to your neighborhood pub for a couple of pints and to listen to some live music. As you settle onto your stool and order a hop-fresh IPA or a crisp kölsch the tunes start. You recognize the song and start to sing along. Is it a top-40 hit? Kind of...but from 1664. It's "My song is love unknown" originally written by Samuel Crossman and performed and arranged by New York based artist Blake Flattley. 

Flattley has been performing and singing for over a decade and says he loves three things: a great song, a great drink, and spending time with great people. "Why not have all of them in one place?" he asked. So was born the idea of the "'There Will be Rest' Pub-Sing-a-Long Tour." 

Releasing his newest album, "There Will Be Rest" -- a collection of re-arranged hymns and original music -- earlier this year, Flattley is now raising funds to host a series of pub-sing-a-longs all over the U.S. in celebration. He said, "the idea is this: we gather together in local pubs, sing some hymns, enjoy some great beer and hear some of my songs that you may be familiar with." The key is getting people in cities across the U.S. to support the tour. Flattley launched a Kickstarter campaign to get him across the nation. 

Below is an interview with Flattley about his music, his motivations, and his . You should definitely check out his music and consider having him to come to your favorite watering hole for a sing-a-long and some suds for as little as $5! 

• Tell us a bit more about your album and what you are trying to do with it...

View fullsize

Flattley's new album, "There Will Be Rest." 

I've been playing in clubs for a long time, and now, though I'm still playing clubs, I've been playing in a lot more churches outside of my own. I kept getting the question, "which of these cds have the music you just played during the service?" and the answer was none. Eventually, I had enough people ask and the timing was right. I'd been in New York City working with my church for about two years, and I connected with some fantastic musicians. It was a strange thing, I would throw out a musical reference and get a response back of, "I've played with them"(Sufjan Stevens, The Welcome Wagon, The Lone Bellow).

Once I set to work choosing the songs for the record, the theme really flowed out of my experiences in New York. The mantra of most New Yorkers seems to be that they are tired and busy. Not busy like most, where they say they are busy almost as some sort of status symbol. New Yorkers are busy because the rent is high and they have to take every gig they can to make ends meet. Its a matter of being able to make it. The title and title track, "There Will Be Rest", flowed out of that. I wanted to create a record that both sonically, and lyrically, embraced that theme.

• Why a “pub-sing-a-long” in particular?

I like the idea of a pub sing because it in some ways unites my two worlds. There's also the folklore behind so many great hymns about how they were written with bar tunes and then brought into the church. Though that is largely believed to be myth, I still like the concept. I don't want to take myself too seriously, and I like singing with people and enjoying their company over a good beer so, why not?

• What do you imagine this is going to look like? 

We'll gather together in local pubs and for about the first forty five minutes we'll sing some great hymns. I'll invite some of my friends along the way to join in with leading the singing. I'm putting together, essentially a digital lyric sheet for everyone, so if they don't know the hymn, they can pull out their phone and scroll through the lyrics. During the second set of the night I'm planning to sing some more of my arrangements as well as some original music that people will still be encouraged to sing along with. To be clear, it won't be a church service. 

• When are you heading out? Where are you going, or would like to go? 

I'll be kicking off the tour in January, heading out to the North West and then kind of bouncing around the country from there. I'm planning to essentially head anywhere there is a critical mass of people who show they are interested by supporting the kickstarter campaign. My thought is to head to Texas, California, Arizona, maybe the midwest and then of course a few East Coast dates. 

• Are you going to shut down the pub that night or just go for it with the crowd? For that matter, how do crowds react to your religious music? 

Really, anyone that wants to sing and have a good time. I don't want to shut down the pub but instead, sing with those that are there. Some people may not be into it and that's ok. 

It's interesting, I thought I was carefully splitting up my "religious" songs from my "secular" songs but once I started mingling them, I realized they're not all that different. One of my main goals as an artist is simply to make good art that explores the human experience. Religion is a part of that.

• Tell us what you are doing with music and ministry in NYC. How does this project tie in? 

View fullsize

I'm the director of worship and arts at Our Saviour New York. We're a church of two parishes, one in Queens and one in Midtown Manhattan. We do a ton with local artists, sponsoring songwriter rounds, holding artist showcases for storytellers, bands, comedians and we just recently started exhibiting visual art. We love to engage with our community and experience what they're creating and to see how we can support and encourage them. I also play a lot throughout the city at various venues, not typically singing hymns. In addition to all of that, I've got some new musical projects in the works, but its still a bit too early to get specific. 

This project was really just an idea that I thought would be fun. A kind of experiment. 

• Why do you think people are flocking to pub-hymn-sings, TheoPubs, and brewery-based missional communities?

I think for many people going to church is weird. Not in the sense that the experience is weird but they feel a weight of expectation. To perform in some way. A pub doesn't come with the same expectations. People can be a little bit more who they really are. You can hopefully do that at church as well but it just takes some folks a little longer.

• What’s your favorite beer? 

Its funny, the other day I went to Trader Joe's and they have the option to fill a six pack with whatever loose beers that they have. When I got home and was loading them in the fridge I realized that for every beer I had purchased I could remember who had introduced me to it. That being said, my favorite beer currently, I actually first got to try thanks to you, Sixpoint's Bengali Tiger (we also currently have this on tap at OSNY).

Speaking of favorites. Have people tweet at me with their favorite hymn @BlakeFlattley

The Spiritual Howcast: Islam 101

Matt Popovits is a pretty cool dude. He's a church planter, preacher extraordinaire, and a teacher who takes culture seriously. He's also asking, and tackling, some of the most real, difficult, and talked about questions in his podcast/videocast show "The Spiritual Howcast." 

This week Matt and I talked about "Understanding Islam." The 8-minute program takes you through some basics & introduces you to the world of Islam. More than anything else, it's a primer on how you can get to know Muslims beyond the headlines, the books, and the tracts and instead get to know the people of an "other" faith. 

Take a listen...

...or, if you're a real religion nerd like me, you can read the entire transcript of my responses below:

1. What are the origins of the Islamic faith? What does the word "Islam" mean?

First, a note about Islam. There is no single, monolithic, “Muslim world.” While we can speak of there being one “Islam” there are many “Muslim worlds” and/or “worldviews.” As Talal Asad said, “Islam is a discursive tradition” that emerges from multiple perspectives and discourses across its global 1.5 billion member population, often determined by local political, social, and cultural contexts which produce diverse communities of mystics, extremists, nominal Muslims, progressives, and more. 

So, what I’m saying here represents the vast majority of Muslims, but there may be some, or even many, who would take me to task on these statements or interpretations. 

With that said, it is generally agreed that Islam emerged out of the 7th century Middle East when Muhammad, the prophet, sought to introduce an uncompromising monotheism and belief in the one God’s revelation in the Arabian peninsula’s pluralistic and polytheistic tribal milieu.

Muhammad, influenced by Christians and Jews he met as part of the caravan trade, began to speak of his own revelatory experiences — which became the Qur’an — and began to teach of God’s long line of prophets, an ethical responsibility and accountability based on God’s revealed word, and a coming day of judgement. 

This message undercut the social, cultural, and political establishment of the day and Muhammad was run out of town, from Mecca to a town to the north called Medina. This sojourn is known as the hijra, or migration, of Muhammad and his followers. It was in Medina that the Muslim community was eventually founded and the term “Islam” initially used to describe the movement. The word “Islam” comes from the Arabic root “aslama,” which means “submission.” Particularly to God. 

2. In the Christian faith one is saved through the work of Christ on behalf of mankind. How is one "saved" in Islam? What is the "big idea" of the Islamic faith?

That’s a great question, but, really it’s a bit misguided to talk about “salvation” when it comes to studying other religions beyond Christianity. Each religion has different goals, different problems, different leaders, different texts and discussions. 

Of course, our tendency, as Christians, in studying world religions is to familiarize the “other” and the “strange” by making comparisons to our own theology and practice. It’s natural, it’s the oldest trick in the travelers trade. But, too readily familiarizing can obscure just as much as it reveals. 

What I’m trying to say is this — is “salvation” the right term for Islam? Is that the goal? I think your “big idea” terminology is a better way to go about this question. The big idea in Islam goes back to the root of the word itself — submission, or perhaps, “surrender.”

Islam, according to the Qur’an — its revealed holy text — and the Hadith — the traditions and teachings of the prophet Muhammad, is the “straight” or “right” path to surrendering themselves in all ways to Allah — the one true God. They do this through right practices such as prayer and alms, right beliefs such as in angels and the proper prophets, right living such as through the law, or Shariah, and right rituals such as fasting and the hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca. 

3. What, in your opinion, is one of the most common misperceptions that Americans, in particular Christians, have in regard to their Islamic neighbors?

Our viewpoint of Muslims is still largely driven by an inherited and compounded “orientalism,” or viewpoint that neatly, but errantly, divides the world up into “East” and “West” (orient and occident) as if one is civilized (the West) and the other uncivilized (the East). This is an artificial boundary we’ve created and it was laid out on the basis of the concept of creating a “them” to define an “us.” 

Part of this orientalist perspective on the world that artificially divides up God’s creation is to define the “Orient” and particularly the “Muslim world” as non-Western, premodern, and savage. 

We think of Muslims and our thoughts immediately turn to billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers. We dream up images, and consume them on TV, of horrors, harems, and turbaned horndogs. Meanwhile, we picture ourselves as middle class, peaceable, and respectable. 

The truth is that Muslims come in all shapes and sizes. They are rich and poor, peaceable and ready to anger (sometimes for good reason), male and female, liberal and conservative. 

We may think that all Muslims are “out to get us” with shariah, terror, or their lies, but in truth if you pursue relationships with Muslims you find they are some of the most hospitable people in the world, well-reasoned in their faith, and ready to enjoy your company and kindness. 

4. What benefit is there from a person of one faith taking the time learn about a different faith?

I always like to quote Max Müller, for all his faults, who said, "The person who knows only one religion, knows none.”

View fullsize

Learning about another faith, and more importantly, forming friendships with people of different religions is SO important and vital in a world torn apart by misconceptions, forced divisions, and violence. 

While education and instruction are good, ending undue negative opinions and actions against Muslims — Islamophobia — will also require relationships, interaction, and experiential exchange between U.S. Christians and Muslim Americans. Not only are Christians compelled to do something by the commands of Scripture and the example of Jesus, but we are liberated to do so as well.  For followers of Christ, our identity is not wrapped up in our culture, our creed, our country, or our carefully constructed conception of the “religious other.” Instead, our identity is founded in Christ, and Christ alone. Indeed, it is an essential aspect of Christian faith that we, who were once far off — strangers, aliens, and outsiders — have now been brought near in Jesus. As the apostle Paul put it, “the dividing wall of hostility” has been broken down in Christ, “who is our peace” (Ephesians 2:11-22).

This message is immensely liberating. We, who are no longer defined by our animosity to God and our alienation from his family, likewise no longer need to identify ourselves by our opposition to the other. We are no longer enslaved to cultural constructions of antipathy such as Islamophobia. 

So we can look to the example of Jesus and pursue a course of hospitality, collaboration, and faithfulness with our Muslim neighbors and friends rather than worrying about security and/or persecution.