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Collective EffortProphetic Poems End from the Beginning

Community: The ultimate collaboration

Trevor parkertakes us intothe Throne Room

We all need the best of us

The Color of community“God was just showin off when He made the color Purple”

-Alice Walker

2 Metatron Oct 2012

We live in a world full of options. Just try to figure out where to eat out with another person and the options will seem endless, because they are. Our unity as humanity is constantly fractured by all the things we can fit/depend on inside the four walls of our home. This becomes a comfort zone that is not easily penetrated by the imperfections of community. This is an action that is most necessary: you know the one where we step out into the vast world with its propensities toward failure and disap- pointment. Commu- nity, the place where hearts are broken and others soar up to the clouds. A place where the impossible becomes possible and dreams receive legs that walk into destiny. Commu- nity is an impor- tant concept to God. He is first named in the bible as Elohim which de- notes more than just one, but a community. Here we walk in covenant and establish our commitment to stay together. Later in Genesis God confused our languages (providing division), and this is why:

The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be

impossible for them.”(Genesis 11:6)Options of different languages, political beliefs, geographical locations, age, race, class, and gender all seek to define us. Ultimately it is more important for us to be together than to be in total agreement. We all have many more similarities than we have differences. The many options that offer to separate us are not options at all. We must search for reason to be together not be apart.

On August 28th, 1963, a coalition of community and national organizers planned a March for solidarity to the Lincoln Memorial. It became the pinnacle of the civil rights Movement, and the defining moment came in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I Have a Dream’. In it he demands justice for all disenfranchised people around the country.In addition, he makes an eloquent appeal for unity that crosses all lines of division. This seems to be a dream we are all chasing.

continued on pg 6

Metatron Oct 2012 3

oct/12 Vol. 1, #7

features9 The Songs of trevor parker The passionate worshipper

2 Color of community The boundless possibilities of unity

12 collective effort Rachael Tanger laces the country with mystery

8 review of what’s going on Bam and the iconic album that raised the bar

2

8

9

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Departments

Each month we profile artists, musicians and writers that rise into these medium categories. We hope

you come away with inspiration and encouragement.

Golden Notes

Music

8

Ripe Fire

Poetry/Prose

12

Im(age)

Visual Art

14

Miracleshout

Miracles

2

Community is about collaboration, not competition.

-Metatron Mag

Metatron Oct 2012 5

All of the poems were compiled into a chapbook entitled Ripe Fire, becoming the inspiration for the section of our mag with the same title.

Between Spring 2005 and Spring 2006, I attended the School of the Art Insti-tute of Chicago. During that time Illinois had a state senator named Barack Obama. As a budding poet I’d send poems out each week via email to all of myart school friends. On a whim I decided to alsosend them each week for a few months to thestate senator’s email address. I never got a response, nor did I ask for one. And I don’t even know if he read them. My art has alwayssought to be a source of encouragement. I began to publish them in the September 2012 issue, and l will be publishing more. Prophetic

Poems for thePotentialPresident

6 Metatron Oct 2012

Nathan “Bam Bam” Stanton Creative Director| Metatron magazine metatron@metatronmag.com

The heart of God yearns for His people to be one. We do okay apart but great is what waits for all men when united. And a God who will not hold ANYTHING back.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it isfor brothers to dwell together in unity!It is like the precious oil upon the head,

coming down upon the beard,even Aaron’s beard,

coming down upon the edge of his robes.It is like the dew of Hermon

coming down upon the mountains of Zion;for there the LORD commanded the blessing-life forever.

[Psalm 133]That sounds really good to me. As a people who need community, we will thrive when we are together. Hurt happens, and it seems more beneficial to walk away from close community. But we must stay close. How else will we reach heaven? God knows we can accomplish the most when we are together, full of diversity and freedom. He likes to show off that way.

continued from page 2

Metatron Oct 2012 7

metatronEditor-in-Chief

Erica Henry

Creative DirectorNathan “Bam Bam” Stanton

Web DesignerJeremy Pennington

Account ManagerLiz Stanton

Contributors: Rachael Tanger, Trevor Parker,

Cecie Wilson, Jamie Solorio Photography Terry Hogg,

Josh Russell, Francesco Sideli, Kara Stewart Photography,

Dream Chicago, Anthony Allen, Exodus Music, Dana Gioia, Beni

Johnson, Johnny and the Beloveds, The entire GCC family, the entire Bethel family, the entire Stanton/Muse family, the entire

Lex family

Special ThanksThe Trinity, all of our subscribers, the spouses and children of team members,most of all to the Creator who makes it all happen.

SubscribeToday! andRecieve a

*free work of art

metatronmag.com

Take a removed picture of the 70’s and no work of art stands out as distinctly as this album. Amidst uncertainty of war and urban unrest, Marvin Gaye composed the greatest album, ever. Many will make a case for several other artists (Beatles, etc.), but this one is truly the Creator at work speaking through one man. At many times he was troubled and could not understand the gravity of his gift. This is a lovingly crafted protest album. His previous portfolio was full of songs about love and the trappings of fun. With inspiration he took a real look around and deviated from the usual Motown content. Onits own it stands as an opus to a sterling career. The words and sound brim with frustration and anger neatly drowned by love and hope form mankind. Ever need inspiration? Listening will connect you to creativity many rarely get to experience.

I had to review this album, or I never would have gotten the chance to use the 7 m-halos. The exquisite detail makes the 9 tracks fly by. While relying on Christian themes such as in “Wholy Holy,” Marvin led a dangerous life fueled by success. Nonetheless he always strived to reach out for the better part of humanity. I once heard someone say he “wasn’t the best singer, but would make you feel every word.” This is what sets him apart and has turned his singing of the national anthem at an all-star game into legendary status.

We’ve all dared to imagine a world full of diversity, joy and peace. While those thoughts were on everyone’s lips, Mr. Gaye went ahead and gave the vision life. Executing a great vision in the only way possible, with great genius. “What’s Going On,” engenders a love for humanity that burns bright to this day. Passion in plenty, so much so I wish I could travel back to that great decade with a quick stopover to discover a work of art that changed my life.

golden notes musicReview

8 Metatron Oct 2012

What’s Goin OnMarvin Gaye

Motown Records/May 1971

7 M-halos out of 7

-Bam

Trevor Parker, a high school English teacher, husband, and father of one, never imagined he would someday perform with a worship band on stage, but that is what he is now doing as part of a regular lineup of worship leaders at Greater Chicago Church (GCC). Trevor has been singing since he was a child—he did his first solo in Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah as a kindergartner, and he studied voice throughout college—but this new role was not part of his vision. Nevertheless, when I talked to Trevor for this interview, I could feel his excitement about this opportunity that has seemingly fallen into his lap.

Trevor says his favorite part of leading worship at GCC, where he has been attending for four years, due to his wife Megan’s original enthusiasm and in spite of his own original heel-dragging, is being in the moment. He explains how that is also what makes the best music for the congregation to worship with—when he forgets about everyone else and lets the music and the presence of God take over. Though he admits it is sometimes hard to let go of his concerns about whether the crowd is enjoying the song or wondering how or if the Holy Spirit will fill the room with glory, he knows that everything unfolds best when he forgets about the questions and lets himself worship through his voice and music.

Trevor grew up in the Lutheran denomination and being part of a more charismatic congregation with modern music was not appealing to him at first. In fact at first, the biggest turn-off for him about GCC was the music itself. Over time, however, he has grown not just to appreciate the music and the musicians, but to become an integral part of the community, even writing songs that are regularly sung during services. Trevor explains that Megan was the one with the original hope that he would be given the opportunity to lead worship at church, but Trevor felt like “it was a lottery ticket type of prayer: That’s never going to happen, but I would like it to happen.” In fact, just singing in a band at all is a dream come true for him. He explains,“I always had a dream of singing in a band, but I never stepped out in that way… I still kind of pinch myself every time I realize I get to play with a band of musicians.”

Trevor began songwriting in high school when he recorded a tape of “probably terribly melodramatic and romantic songs” for a girl, but the writing continued throughout college as he began composing both songs inspired by

Metatron Oct 2012 9

Trevor sings with the angels

10 Metatron Oct 2012

passages of scripture and by his wife who he dated at Carthage College. He explains, “My first year of college I wrote my first kind of worship song… on this idea I had from Psalm 5 about lifting my morning supplication to the Lord.” The only songwriting “drought” he ever experienced was during his first couple years at GCC as he struggled with questions about faith. “I wasn’t able to confidently write a piece of music or song. I want to be totally confident in the idea I want to press into… I wasn’t sure what I was I supposed to be writing, or I wasn’t sure who I was as a person or a believer or who God was fully for me to be able to write for him at that point anymore.” When speaker Dan Mc-Collum visited the church and prayed an impartation over Trevor, all of that changed, and he experienced a new evolution in his songwriting. Two pivotal songs came directly to Trevor from the Dan McCollum conference. He explains that Dan “said one phrase, and I took that phrase and ran with it. He taught on this idea of your song being unique to God’s ear and that the worship you provide to God touches his heart in a special way. I was like, ‘That is amazing. That feels like a revelation I am believing in, and I have to write about that.’ I guess that’s what makes me a songwriter. When I feel a revelation coming, I have to write about that. I don’t want to think about it and I don’t want to write a poem about it, I want to sing about it.”

Trevor’s musical inspiration comes from a few different sources. “The first band that kind of broke the mold for what I thought

Christian music was or had to be was the Newsboys. It was like they were saying something real but they weren’t saying it the same way every other Christian music artist was saying it.” He also liked them because, “they were a real band, not just a Christian band, if that makes sense.” Additionally, Trevor felt like their lyrics were accessible: “You could

think about them, but you could also

easily receive them… You could receive

what they were saying to you and

not feel judged or feel like you

were striving, but you could also feel this inspiration of what God had for you through their music.” On the other end of the spectrum,

opera (namely Wagner’s

operas) is Trevor’s

“music of choice.” As a self-proclaimed

recovering perfectionist, learning to

let go while leading worship has been Trevor’s path to rewarding experiences on stage. “Early on when I was leading I would want to pick the perfect songs and the perfect set and I wanted to get through all the songs because that was important to me… It was like the song was the thing that was important. Since growing from that, knowing that he is going to do some-thing that you are not expecting is more exciting. Feeling his presence come and knowing that if I give the

Holy Spirit space to really move, then I get to be a part of that too and not have to feel like I am in control. Once I started operating out of a place of fullness with him rather than from a place of trying to balance everything and be perfect on everything, then I saw him moving more in the places where I was leading worship when really I was letting Him lead the worship.” Trevor gets enthusiastic when he explains what it is like letting go and giving the Spirit control. “There’s just a joy that wells up in me. Not that I am people watching up there, but I feel like I have the best seat in the house sometimes… To get to look into people’s eyes and see the pureness they are experiencing God with and just the joy that they are praising him with or just that they are getting wrecked by his mercy or by his grace. A lot of times I can’t open my eyes. I have to keep my eyes closed because I am so emotionally wrecked myself by what’s going on out there. ‘I can’t take that God. Let me just be per- sonal with you and not experience what eve- ryone else is experiencing.’ It’s just so overwhelm-ing that he is able to move and work in people so differently at the same time. I guess that’s what I am taken by the most. He is doing some- thing different in that person; he is do- ing something in that person; he is doing something in that person. But it’s still all happening right now. Just to be part of that constant presence is miraculous. It’s amazing. That’s why I continue to pursue it all the more, because there is nothing like that for me and for other people… And that’s why I lead worship. That’s what it would come down to.”Of course I had to ask Trevor about hearing angels sing during worship, something that numerous people have reported from time to time. He spoke as nonchalantly about it as he would describe a member of the band. “It feels like there is a choir singing or there are some other harmonies going on that we are not producing up there. Sometimes you ques-tion that. Is that really possible? Is that really going on, you know? And then you just realize how powerful His presence is, and that’s the actual reality. That’s what I consist-ently want to be broken of, the idea that my reality is the highest or the thing that needs to be valued most. It is actually this mystery and this thing that can’t be fully understood that we want to experience more… not to try to understand it more in a knowledge sort of way but just to be wrapped up in it.”Recently, two other opportunities have opened up for Trevor. He was invited—apparently, by accident—to join a street evangelism team over a year ago, and he agreed to partici-pate. As these coincidences go, being involved in praying for people’s healing and their hearts on the streets of Chicago has become one of Trevor’s very favorite activities. He explains that he would even choose that over leading worship if forced to pick one. Additionally, in early October, Trevor was asked to perform as part of a line-up of GCC singers in a non-church setting, at Fitzger-ald’s Nightclub in Berwyn, IL. Suffice it to say, you should be on the watch for studio albums to come from Trevor.-EH

Metatron Oct 2012 11

“I still kind of pinch myself every time I realize I get to play

with a band of musicians.”

12 Metatron Oct 2012

The first thing that anyone saw was smoke. It drifted up above the trees from the chimney of the old Habber place at about 9:00 am on Monday and suddenly Car-radene Walker thought it was probably time to take the dog up to Doc Balusic to have his limp looked at. But really she was just dying to get up to the Balusic’s pole-barn veterinary offic-es and find out what anyone knew about the Habber place. Otherwise, Carradene would never even think of taking a limping dog to the vet’s. Limps on dogs are like fleas on dogs: annoying, but nothing to bother yourself about too much.Everyone saw the Doc. And everyone chatted him up to pass the time while his arm was up the rear end of one of their cows, checking for gestation. So there was no one better to talk to if you wanted to know what-was-what.But when she called Doc Balusic’s place she got Mrs. Balusic, Ellen, who said the Doc had been out all night with a bad calving up at the Cotton’s and was prob-ably going to sleep until at least 10:00. Carradene thought that was just silly and that a vet should be used to being up all night.

Since she had her on the phone, quickly, before Ellen could hang up, she said, “I happened to see some smoke from the chimney over at the old Habber house. You don’t know anything about anyone buying that old dump, do you? Certainly can’t be anyone from around here; I mean to say, who’d buy it?”But all she got from Ellen, horrible, close-mouthed woman, was a, “Hunh”, and a, “No, haven’t heard anything. Gotta go now. I’ll put you and Jesse Boy down for tomorrow at 3:00.”

The second thing that anyone saw was the clothesline. Someone put up a new clothesline, right out in the front yard. And then they hung stuff on it; which might have been useful because you could drive by and just by checking the laundry you could see whether it was a Man and Wife, Man and Wife and three kids, Man and Wife and two half-grown sons. Oh yes, you could learn a lot from a line of laundry. Which is why the back yard is a better place for a clothesline. Even the side yard is reasonable; putting it in the front yard is just calling un-necessary attention to yourself. But the items on this clothesline were inscruta-ble.

This clothesline was full of things that might have been from a school musical, maybe, like the time the Fulton Township High School did The Music Man. The High School Drama & Music Teacher was all the way from St. Louis and wanted to do Gypsy that year, but that was right out of the question. Parents called for two days straight saying that of course Gypsy was okay for the big city, but not

Collective Effortan Excerpt By

Rachael Tanger

would never walk her dog. She didn’t personally know any-one that walked their dog except her brother-in-law’s sister who

lived in New York City and walked dogs profession-ally. Carradene sort of pictured the sister living in a box in a subway sta-tion somewhere and walking dogs as a semi-respectable way to avoid out-and-out begging. Because, really, who would pay someone to walk their dog?

In the end she gave in to desperation and yanked out the light blue sweat suit she wore to bed in the winter, when there were blizzards every other week and the temperature was below zero. Carradene Walker was going jogging. Or walking, or shuffling. Her movements were somewhere in the middle of all of those and were designed to be as slow as possible but still look like some sort of exercise. But she was only able to do this once. James Cotton, Sr. drove by when she was headed back home and when he saw her shuffle-jogging by the side of the road his mouth fell open in a droopy u-shape and he almost forgot to wave at her until he was halfway passed. Mortification doesn’t even be-gin to cover the palpitations Carradene suffered. So that was the end of that.

Metatron Oct 2012 13

for their High School. So they did The Music Man and the Cot-ton’s next-to-the-oldest, James, was in it as the Music Man himself. And Janet Cotton had helped to sew the costumes, so her clothes-line was full of interesting items for at least a month or two.At any rate, no one driving by could make heads or tails of the clothes. There were a lot of sort of dress things and some stuff that might have belonged to a man, but the colors were pretty confusing. The whole thing was a mystery.

By the end of the week Carradene Walker was beside herself. She’d been to Doc’s place and had Jesse Boy given the once-over; but not only had she paid $15 for that privilege only to receive no practical rea-son why the dog should have such a limp, she’d received no information about anyone or anything to do with the Habber house. She’d never thought of Doc Balusic as a cheat before, but a man that took $15 dol-lars off of a person only to say that the leg wasn’t broken and to call if it got worse was flirting with dishonesty in her opinion.She couldn’t even pretend to walk the dog past the house because of Jesse’s limp. He’d make it down the driveway and down the road a short piece before he’d just kind of slump down alongside the tiny ditch edging the road. Normally, Carradene

14 Metatron Oct 2012

"SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,

EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'"

IM(age)

Jesus Enters Jerusalem (b&w ver), 2010

Zechariah 9:9

Metatron Oct 2012 15

here once was an army that chased another back to the scene of what was maybe one of the most improbable victories in the history of warfare. They arrived by the thousands to find their great warrior’s head being

reattached to his body by way of his own sword! They stood around and remarked at the power at work in the young man who managed to reconnect the body to the head. Then the warrior arose as if from a slumber and repelled a stone from his forehead. Surely this was some sort of alchemy when the stone found itself in the leather sling of the young boy, then in his hand, and at last at the bottom of a stream. As the stone disappeared just as the mortal wound of the warrior had, a fierce scoff broke out and echoed through the valley, causing the trees to shudder. The war- rior’s newfound lucid state had a terrifying effect on the normal-sized men on the oth- er side of the battlefield. The young boy then began to expound on the blasphemies uttered by the warrior, saying, “You have de- fied the armies of the living God, and He will give you into our hands.” This part was a bit confusing because he’d just brought him back with the sword. Maybe that means he who dies by the sword shall live by it. Later an eyewitness swore he heard the boy say he would feed the warrior to birds from the air or something to that effect, to which the warrior unimaginatively answered the same words, although in a less poetic manner. The young boy then found himself striding back into camp, putting on armor in the king’s tent, then shedding it immediately after. The king beckoned him away from his quarters and back to the soldiers in the battle lines where he once again heard the warrior threaten the safety of all of Israel. The young boy’s brothers were there and angrily accepted his presence. After a short inquiry into the best way to gather supplies to take back to his father, he visited the baggage handler and exited on his donkey, laden with cheese and grain. His father welcomed him home, and before long he sat back amongst the flocks of his family and strummed a harp, completely at peace because God had shown him what was to come. The end from the beginning.

r e - v e r s eIconic stories from the Bible

told backwards. What will the end be?

MIsaiah 45:3