Thirsty for Water

Evolving Grace...

2007-11-26T00:32:00.000-05:00

I found myself frequently thinking about the processes of human evolution today. My knowledge on the topic of evolution is limited to a college Biology class and many discussions with friends who are biology majors, but I've learned enough to know the basics of evolutionary theory.

I was thinking in particular about how our evolutionary history affects most, if not all, aspects of human behavior. For example, a couple of weeks ago I heard a feature on the BBC on stress. The gist of the program was that the feeling of stress has its origins as a basic competitive advantage; people that had a higher sense of stress were more capable of surviving in the wild than those who did not, were able to reproduce more, etc (the basic notion of survival of the fittest). In other words, the idea of stress they discussed was born directly out of the need for self preservation. If you had a healthy sense of stress, and as a result were more aware of animals that might try to eat you when walking through a wilderness, you would have had a better chance of surviving. If such an animal appeared and your stress levels increased to the point that you were forced to run away and escape or be eaten, your chances of survival would again be greater, and survival is basically the name of the game.

So this is one example of how evolution has affected our emotions and behavior. There are countless other examples of how the process of evolution has shaped us. What I was thinking about today was the basic evolutionary notion to compete. Everyone (and everything) in the world must compete in some sense for resources that enable survival. The question I was thinking the most about today was whether this desire to compete is our most basic instinct. If it is, doesn't the concept of competition stand in direct opposition to the heart of the gospel?

Christ called his followers to be self-effacing not self promoting, give away all they had and follow him, consider others better than themselves, etc. These behaviors would put most people at a competitive disadvantage. If the world order was shaped by evolutionary forces, did Christ come to undo the scientific processes by which the world was created?

I think there are a couple of ways (among others) this question could be taken. One way is to reject the concept of evolution completely as unfounded scientific theory that should not be taken seriously. Another way is to reject one of the premises that lead to the question, like maybe that Christ didn't actually teach his followers to behave in the way I've outlined, or that those behaviors are not actually a disadvantage. The third way, and the way I'd answer, would be that yes, Christ did come to undo many of the natural processes of evolution. In fact, I would say that many of the evolutionary impulses that shape our behavior are also the basis of our sinful nature.

John Calvin's notion of depravity was that humans are basically selfish, which caused our sin. We'd rather love ourselves than something or someone outside of us. Isn't that the basis of survival, as evolution would explain it?

To be continued...

Tipping Points

2007-09-30T01:48:00.000-05:00

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point." It was a very informational read and I enjoyed it. To summarize, the book examines the ways in which social epidemics are started. Gladwell's writing style is very entertaining, as most of his points are made through illustrative stories to the point that each chapter almost feels like a separate narrative.

Gladwell defines a Tipping Point as the moment at which a social movement, fashion, or product becomes a phenomenon. There are many ways that movements "tip", but most often there is not one single cause of a Tipping Point. Usually many different, smaller causes combine to transform a movement into a phenomenon.

In many ways, I feel as if I'm ready for a tipping point in my own life, and am hopefully on the verge of one. The Tipping Point I hope for is the one that causes me to embrace the life Monica and I have chosen in Seattle. We're on the verge of realizing many of our goals related to moving here: I think we're about to become a part of some great communities, we're ready to settle into a (two?) church(es?), we're meeting people who perhaps might help us attain gainful employment, we're settling into this geographic region by spending time both inside and out of the city, and we're learning more about married life.

My hope is that this Tipping Point is the culmination of what we've been working towards during and after college. In college we realized many of the things that were important to us about our future lives, and felt that by moving we were setting ourselves up to best fulfill those values. I think that our tipping point is coming, but which way things will tip I am not entirely certain of.

Jobs

2007-09-02T02:01:00.000-05:00

I don't have a job right now. That is frightening and hard for me on many levels, because I often feel like I need to be doing something productive to feel useful. I also feel like every time I send out a resume or have an interview that I never hear back about, that someone has reviewed my qualifications--and more so me as an individual--and has rejected me or deemed me not qualified. In some circumstances I'm fine with their decisions, especially when I feel like I may not have been qualified for the position anyway. But sometimes, when I don't hear back from people whom I believe I have something to offer, it just hurts a little.

I know that people are busy at work and that there are many imperfections in the ways we communicate that sometimes may prevent someone entirely from reviewing my resume and qualifications. I also know that I shouldn't take it personally when I do not receive any kind of formal reply from a company. It just gets old after a while. One can only take so much.

I think that work will come soon, at least I'm trying to make it that way. I've tried to stay busy while not working, but lately I've found myself with a lot of downtime that I either can't or won't use for anything productive. That bothers me on many levels, because there's plenty of things I could be doing that are productive. I've also come to value the times when I feel like I'm doing something normal, or something that I should be doing. For example, going to bed. That may sound strange, but when I go to bed I feel like "ok, this is something that I need to do and I'm doing it." It feels like a small victory.

Also, despite not working, I still really look forward to the weekends. On the weekend I feel normal again, because I know that even if I had a job, I probably wouldn't be working, and that a lot of people who do have jobs aren't working while I'm not, as they would be during the week. It's just nice.

I guess all this is to say that I often realize in my self that I am obsessed with what I cannot or do not have. When I'm not working, I strongly desire to work. When I was in school and swamped with work at the end of a semester, all I could think about was when I wouldn't have any obligations and the freedom that comes with that. I guess the lesson I've learned during this time is that like so many areas of life, I need balance in my working life. Even now I don't desire to be swamped with work, and I'm sure that the next time I'm overwhelmed with work I won't desire complete freedom from my responsibilities, because both situations aren't balanced. I think everyone has a different balancing point, but I admire people who know their's, and I hope to be one.

Catch Up

2007-08-24T12:09:00.000-05:00

So I'm settling in to city life (and married life) quite well. I've enjoyed being able to walk to most places we need to go, use my bike as a viable form of transportation, and sit around in our apartment and watch people go by through the window. And with no work, I've had a lot of time to do these things.

Seattle really is a beautiful place, especially on days like today when the sun is shining brightly. The summer temperatures here is seem to often be close to perfect. Mid 70's during the day, then cooling off in the evenings to the point that you are comfortable wearing just about any clothes you'd like. When it's clear here, the city is surrounded to the east and west by mountains, and Mount Rainier looms over the city to the South. When combined with the 3 main bodies of water that surround the city, it's quite a sight to behold.

I'm looking forward to being plugged in to some good communities here. With our family we already have created one community that I appreciate very much. It will be good to make more friends though, because it will make this city feel like our personal home. I also hope to find work soon, because summer can't last forever. That will be good.

Spring thoughts

2007-04-20T08:44:00.000-05:00

Notre Dame football is wrapping up spring practice this week with an intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday. The number one question going into spring practice this year was: Who is going to be the starting quarterback next year?

Notre Dame has more depth at quarterback now than they've had in years (maybe ever, but I don't know for sure) thanks to the recruiting efforts of Charlie Weis. As of now, it appears that James Clausen and Demetrius Jones have emerged from the pack as the favorites for the starting job come fall. This assumption is speculative in nature, based on the rosters for the upcoming spring game. Jones and Clausen were put on the same team for the game, a team which has a significant amount of projected offensive starters, and a low amount of defensive starters, thus creating the situation of first team offense against first team defense when they have the ball.

Which brings us to the number two question surrounding the team going into the spring (at least in the minds of most fans-or this fan): How effective will new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown be at implementing the new defense? By all accounts, the answer seems to be very effective. The switch to the the 3-4 front not only seems to fit the personnel currently on the team better, but it also projects to be a schematic advantage, due to the ability to bring many different rushes from the same formation.

All that being said, it's going to be a very interesting fall. I guess the third question would be: Is there someone on the team who can make a field goal in a game? But the answer to that won't come until the Irish take the field against Ga Tech.

Easter Thoughts

2007-04-09T07:02:00.000-05:00

I had the privelege of spending easter in Florida with family. We went to a sunrise service on the beach, and it is a beautiful setting for a church service--if you can stay awake.

This particular sunrise service has a wide appeal, so literally thousands of people show up, and I can't help but feel like the service ends up being a little watered down because of the desire to appeal to "seekers". I think pastors feel pressure on holidays like Easter when they think that some people are only in church because it is Easter and as a result they have to take the opportunity to reach those people with the message of salvation. Many times this attempt is made in vain, leaving people scratching their heads as to what they did wrong, or how else they should try to reach out to those they deem not yet saved.

It also seems like pastors feel the pressure to constantly re-invent the salvation story in order to remain relevant. But this attempt to stay relevant is futile. The gospel story is by very nature relevant, because when portrayed accurately it speaks to the heart of the human condition. If people actually thought "what would jesus do?" before they acted, can you imagine how relevant the gospel would be? If believers actually sought to live lives inspired by the Grace God has freely given by seeking to love our neighbors as ourselves, by seeking to act as salt in the wounds of our world, by seeking peace--how relevant would that message be?

When I read the Easter story, I can't help but be amazed by the work Christ did on the cross. What is often left out of the Easter story is that even those who were directly responsible for the death of Christ were not excluded from the grace he offers. Can you imagine being put to death in order to save the people who were responsible for injustly killing you? What kind of ridiculous love is that? I think it frames nicely the message of the Easter story. We often identify the most with the followers of Jesus when we read the crucifixion story, because we are so good at persuading ourselves that we are actually better than we are, . We think of the Pharisees as those other people who are not followers of Christ. But that's a misreading of the message at the heart of the story. We're all much closer to being Pharisees than disciples.

Someone I know put it nicely once. He was talking about "The Passion of the Christ," and the charges of anti-semitism that were brought against Mel Gibson. He said that Mel Gibson was asked during an interview, "Who really killed Jesus?" to which he responded "We all did." This seems like a satisfactory answer, but it's only half true. My friens said "It's not only that we all did kill Jesus; it's that we all would."

We all would like to kill someone who comes to challenge the very nature of what it means to be human, who rejects the confines of this world to offer us something immeasurably better, who claims to know the true meaning of scripture when that meaning is contradictory to our interpretation, and who spends his time with those who warrant no esteem from the respected institutions of society. That man would not be taken seriously by those whom we have deemed the religious authority, and would challenge the very nature of their belief.

One final quote that I hope wraps up all this rambling. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy asks "Is he (Asland) safe?" The response she receives is, "Well, he's not safe--but he is good."

He's not safe-- but he's good.

Two good, clean jokes

2007-03-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

One day at recess, Ms. Smith cathces bobby making faces at some of the other children. She pulls him aside and says, "Bobby, when I was a child, I was told that if I made ugly faces, my face would be stuck that way." Bobby looks up at her and says, "Well, you can't say you weren't warned."

Jon is driving down Highway 208 talking on his phone one day, when he gets a call from his wife on the other line. When he answers the call, she says "Jon, I just saw on the news that there's some crazy person driving down Highway 208 the wrong way. Please be careful!" Jon replies, "Honey, the news report was wrong. There's not one person driving the wrong way, there's hundreds!"

the bank of love

2007-03-05T23:24:00.000-05:00

first of all, it was 65 degrees at home when i was there this weekend. it's 65 degrees less than that here now.

i got some good advice recently, or at least what i consider good advice. I was talking to a guy about relationships, and he compared our relationships to an account at a bank. the goal of a bank account is to always have a positive balance, and we do that by making more deposits than withdrawals.

i think this analogy holds for all of our human relationships, but it is particularly helpful for romantic relationships. i know that if i bring my fiance flowers, or if i plan a nice activity for us that she enjoys, i am making a deposit. by the same token, i know that if i stop at cabelas on the way back to school, i'm probably making a withdrawal. that's a silly example, but it gets at the point i'm trying to make.

so the challenge is to keep a positive balance, otherwise you get overdraught charges, maybe a poor credit rating, and all kinds of negative repercussions. but if i put the work in, deposit my earnings, and withdraw them as they are needed, I think I'll be able to afford all I've ever needed or desired.

ccm

2007-03-01T01:25:00.000-05:00

I've gained a new appreciation for Contemporary Christian Music lately. I'm using the local ccm radio station as my alarm clock. Nothing gets me out of bed and over to shut off the alarm faster.

name change

2007-02-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

If anyone reads this thing, you may have noticed that i changed its name. It was inspired by this song (i'll give you 1 guess who wrote it).

Mother don't worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
Mother don't worry, I've got some money I saved for the weekend
Mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me?
Mother remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body?

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds, flying upward over the mountain

Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison
Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons could be birds, taken broken up to the mountain

Mother don't worry, I've got a coat and some friends on the corner
Mother don't worry, she's got a garden we're planting together
Mother remember the night that the dog had her pups in the pantry?
Blood on the floor, fleas on their paws,
And you cried 'til the morning

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds, flying always over the mountain

My mom came to visit this weekend and i've been thinking a lot about our relationship lately. I guess that's why i love this song right now. I am imperfect and broken in every way, I'd like to think there's hope for me yet. Thus, "Upward Over the Mountain" seems like a nice metaphor for life.

Lion's Mane

2007-02-25T20:22:00.001-05:00

run like a race for family
when you hear like you're alone
the rusty gears of morning
and faceless, busy phones
we gladly run in circles
but the shape we meant to make is gone

and love is a tired symphony
you hum when you're awake
and love is a crying baby
mama warned you not to shake
and love's the best sensation
hiding in the lion's mane

so i'll clear the road, the gravel
and the thornbush in your path
that burns a scented oil
that i'll drip into your bath
the water's there to warm you
and the earth is warmer when you laugh

and love is the scene i render
when you catch me wide awake
and love is the dream you enter
though i shake and shake and shake you
and love's the best endeavor
waiting in the lion's mane

Iron and Wine
"Lion's Mane"
The Creek Drank the Cradle

Jesus the Mexican Boy

2007-02-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

Now for my monthly post. I should try to get better at doing this blog thing.

Iron and Wine is probably my favorite band right now. I have a recording of their show at Calvin in 2005 (don't tell, please), and I've been listening to it constantly for the past few days. If I'm not listening to it, then I'm singing one of the songs. You get the picture.

Anyway, Monica went out and bought a few more of their albums this weekend. She gave me the disc "The Sea..." I forget the title right now, but it's about the sea. This song, Jesus the Mexican Boy, is on the album, and here are the lyrics:

Jesus the Mexican boy
born in a truck on the fourth of July
gave me a card with a lady naked on the back
Barefoot at night on the road
Fireworks blooming above in the sky
I never knew I was given the best one from the deck

He never wanted nothing I remember
Maybe a broken bottle if I had two
Hanging behind his holy even temper
Hiding the more unholy things I do

Jesus the Mexican boy
Gave me a ride on the back of his bike
Out to the fair though I welched on a $5 bet
Drunk on Calliope songs
We met a home-wrecking carnival girl
He's never asked for a favor or the money yet

Jesus the Mexican boy
Born in a truck on the 4th of July
I fell in love with his sister unrepentantly
Fearing he wouldn't approve
We made a lie that was feeble at best
Boarded a train bound for Vegas and married secretly

I never gave him nothing I remember
Maybe a broken bottle if I had to
Hanging behind his holy even temper
Hiding the more unholy things I do

Jesus the Mexican boy
Wearing a long desert trip on his tie
Lo and behold he was standing under the welcome sign
Naked the Judas in me
Fell by the tracks but he lifted me high
Kissing my head like a brother and never asking why

Ahh...what a great little poem. There's many ideas one could draw from this work, but I'll share a few that strike me.

The first is the idea that if Jesus were born today, he'd be a mexican boy born on the fourth of july. I'm not sure what the fourth of July signifies here, but the idea of Jesus being from Galilee in Israel being allegorical to him being born a mexican in America today really strikes me as fairly accurate: low on the socio-economic ladder, not highly esteemed by most of society, and largely ignored by the powers that be.

The second thing that strikes me is the sinfulness of the first person speaker in this song. His incessant sinning is met with incessant love from Jesus. That's comforting to a fellow sinner.

So, there's my cursory treatment of this wonderful song. Listen to it for yourself, along with some of Iron and Wine's other works. They're wonderful--at least I think they are.

I own nothing...

2007-01-10T04:28:00.000-05:00

Gerard Thomas Straub was the speaker at Calvin's "January Series" today. After leaving a glamorous life in Hollywood, he makes films about people living in poverty around the world. He claims that after years of being an aetheist, he had an encounter with God, and his life was forever changed. He was convicted of his materialistic and self-centered lifestyle, and his new mission in life was to expose the plight of the poor.

Poverty alleviation is something I am passionate about, so I was interested to hear what he had to say when I heard what he would be speaking about. He opened his lecture with clips from some of the films he has made, then talked about his life for about half an hour, and finally closed his time with more of his clips. While watching his films and the images of poverty he managed to capture I was moved. My initial reaction to the clips was anger--I was angered by the injustice I was witnessing. My response was emotional in nature, and I felt like there was something I was supposed to do, but I wasn't sure what.

After talking with friends about their reactions and crtiques of the lecture, my reaction changed. Some of my friends felt that the films were de-humanizing in nature by only showing one aspect of the lives of the poor--their material deprivation. Others felt that the film was meant to evoke an emotional response, a strategy that is in dangerous territory.

This evening, there was a full length showing of one of Dr. Straub's films. My reaction after watching this film was much different. I felt that the film was flawed in many ways, but still managed to be effective in raising awareness of the issues surrounding injustice and the resulting poverty. My response to the film was that it did a good enough job accomplishing the task it sought to accomplish, but that since I was already aware of many of the issues it raised, the film was not intended to speak to me on a personal level.

Then I went home. My friends and I were excited to discuss the film we viewed tonight at length, and so we did just that. We then hung out for a while before calling it a night and heading to bed around 1am.

So now it's almost 5am, and I have not gotten a wink of sleep. I laid in bed for nearly three hours before deciding that my efforts to fall asleep were futile, and I should do something productive (this is the first time I've ever given up on sleep in my life). Once out of bed, I was moved to pull out my Bible, thinking I'd try reading to help me fall asleep. The book of Amos seemed especially relevant tonight, and since I had never read through the whole book before, I decided I'd start at chapter one and see how far I got.

Nine chapters later, I was into Obadiah. I was moved by Amos' words, because I find them so relevant today. When I was reading, I found myself identifying with the powers that be that Amos so viciously criticized. After viewing so much abject poverty from around the world tonight, I couldn't help but feel like Amos' critique of the wealthy, priveleged, and powerful was directed at me. At first while I was reading, I was replacing "Israel" with "America," but I was sure to distance myself from the America that I was picturing.

When I got to the end of the book, I couldn't believe my eyes, and I read this passage multiple times over:

"Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,'...they will fall, never to rise again."

I couldn't believe that my name was right there on the page. It stunned me. Talk about bringing something close to home.

So I finished Amos and just tried to dwell in what I had just read. As I was brooding, I was struck by the fact that everything truly does come from God. Absolutely everything we have. It was very convicting in light of the poverty I had witnessed earlier in the night and made me think of how I could best use what I have to further the kingdom of God.

There is now no doubt in my mind that God demands absolutely everything of us if we are to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

New Year

2007-01-05T00:18:00.000-05:00

I've never been one for new year's resolutions, but if I figure that if there was ever a year where I wanted to change something about myself or my behavior, this would be the year to do it. When I sit back and reflect on the tremendous amount of change that I will undergo this year, it's rather intimidating. I'll graduate college and experience everything that goes along with that, get married, move to a new city, and probably end up working 50 hours a week doing something I'm only moderately excited about. Why not add something like lose 20 pounds, or be more serious about discipleship on that list? What have I got to lose?
I was sitting on the bus riding to school recently, and while riding I was listening to the conversation my friend was having with a cook he works with in the on campus dining halls. I would say this cook is between 60 and 70, and he was giving my friend a lot of life advice by telling him many stories about his life. Most of what he was saying I thought was rather irrelevant, and then he said "but I'll tell you what, the only thing constant in life is change." The saying sounded trite and trivial at first, but the more I thought about it the truer it became. I'll have plenty of practice in dealing with change in the upcoming year, and I guess that's not a bad thing if I'll be experiencing change for the rest of my life.

I think keeping in mind the constancy of change helps me to not be so anxious about new situations I'll experience. Everything will work out, as it always has, especially if I work hard for the things that matter most to me. I worry about losing the close community of friends that I've formed over the past 3+ years of college, but I hope that I'll be able to recreate that community in another place after I leave this station of life. I worry about finding a career (or vocation) that will allow me to pursue something I'm passionate about, but I know that I have some control over realizing my goals in that regard. Not being able to control the future is daunting at times, but I am comforted by my hope and faith that there is some kind of purpose to what I am doing.

Christmas

2006-12-24T21:50:00.000-05:00

How are you supposed to get excited about Christmas when you're not a child anymore? Responses are welcome, please.

Kohls Commercial

2006-12-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

While watching TV in my house one night this week, a commerical for Kohls was aired. In the commercial, they show a bunch of different people doing different tasks related to celebrating Christmas. While showing these people in each scene a voice over describes what is happening, saying things like "Why do you give presents?" or "Why do you cook?", as each scene represents some holiday activity. I thought the resolution and answer to these questions at the end of the commercial was going to be some trite saying about the commerical aspects of Christmas, but I was pleasantly surprised. The commercial ended with the announcer saying we celebrate Christmas beacuse "love transforms everything."

This struck me as something profound in the midst of our materialistic culture. I know that Kohls was not saying that Christ coming into the world was the ultimate expression of love and that this lone act transformed history, but that's the thought that came to my mind. I thought that love does transform everything, as the grace that is offered us testifies.

The commercial made me want to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas too by heading over to Kohls to get started on some shopping, and that's when I realized what had just happened. Kohls had used religious undertones (or overtones) to serve their own retail purposes, attempting to draw consumers into their stores by co-opting a Christian message of love.

Needless to say, it pissed me off, and made me want to withdraw from the whole Christmas celebration. But then this damned reformed education I've received kicked in, and I knew that withdrawal from culture was not an option, as appealing as it sounded. So I'm left to figure out how to celebrate Christmas in a way that doesn't worship at the throne of corporate America, but refocuses my attention on the baby in the manger and the resulting transformations I've witnessed. Happy Christmas.

Costly Grace

2006-11-29T22:47:00.000-05:00

I just read a chapter in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship." Since I read the chapter for a class, I had to write a response. I thought it was appropriate to share that response here. Sorry if the terminology seems redundant, these are the ideas currently on my mind.

Bonhoeffer’s explanation of “cheap grace” rang very true to me, especially when considering the modern American Christian church. Often times it seems that our praxis, or the practical applications of our faith, do not ring true to the confessions of our faith. We confess to believe in the sanctity of God’s creation, but we often act as pillagers of our environment rather than stewards. We confess that we seek to be peacemakers, but we quickly justify war when we are provoked. We confess to pursue justice, but we often turn apathetic when faced with injustice. Such practices have resulted from the loss of a concept of costly grace.

The concept of cheap grace is rooted in the idea of the forgiveness of sins being a universal truth, if we simply accept and acknowledge that we are indeed sinners. Often times it seems that the gospel of salvation is presented in this way: that all we must do is acknowledge Christ died for our sins in order to attain grace. This concept of salvation can divide our lives into “secular” and “spiritual” parts, and our faith is reserved for the spiritual compartment. Thus, the secular side of our lives, or the side that is in contact with “the world” outside of the church, can be little affected by the reality of grace in our lives. Bonhoeffer argued that this idea of grace leads to a life that is lived as if unaffected by the grace we have been given and does not help promote a healthy idea of discipleship.

Perhaps the idea of cheap grace is most often manifested in our churches by the promotion of the sentimental. Bonhoeffer hints at this idea when he talks of Christians who attend church for one hour on Sunday and live the rest of their lives as if they have not been fully redeemed by Christ. They go to church because it makes them feel uplifted, and it recharges them so they have the energy to face another week. This type of church experience can be little more than a sentimental experience, if not deeply connected to our praxis. If our church services do little more for us than take us to a climax emotionally, only to be let down once we leave the building, then our faith will have a hard time making its way into every area of our life. If we go to church to be revived and uplifted by fellowship with believers, partaking of sacraments, and sharing of the Word, in order that we may better seek to be a part of the coming kingdom of Christ once we leave the building, then our church service has successfully instilled a healthy concept of grace into our lives.

It’s too bad that all too often the idea of costly grace goes unexplored, because our Christian witness suffers as a result. If we can only make music that we deem has a “positive” message—which is often narrowly defined as something with “confessional content”—then our ability to create good art suffers. As a result, our witness to a fallen world about what it means to be affected by God’s grace is hindered, if not lost completely. Again, the sentimental can take precedent in our communication about our life of faith, and we create music, film, and art that focuses on the good feelings that result from a life of faith, rather than bearing witness to the role sin plays in our lives and how profoundly in need of redemption we find ourselves.

Sin has a deep impact on everything we seek to do as humans. As a reaction to the presence of sin in our lives, Bonhoeffer states that you should act with the knowledge that: “You are a sinner, so be a sinner, and do not become what you are not. Yes, and become a sinner again and again every day, and be bold about it.” At first glance, this seems to be an invitation to sin all the more that (cheap) grace may abound. But to Bonhoeffer it is an invocation to live every day with the knowledge that we have been saved from our sins by the wonderful grace freely given by Christ. With such an attitude we will welcome all trials that result in suffering as gifts from God, because they remind us of the reality of grace in our lives--a grace that cannot be gotten on the cheap.

No Surprises

2006-11-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here listening to Radiohead. I've recently had my interest in their music piqued by a book I just read called Everyday Apocalypse. It's written by David Dark who is the best articulater of a Christian reaction to art that I have come across. His chapter in the book on Radiohead was amazing. The whole book is based around the idea of good art being "apocalyptic," and in turn calling us as Christians to lead "apocalyptic" lives. It's not apocalyptic in the sense of people disappearing from cars and a person from a former Soviet Bloc country taking over the UN, but rather in the sense of a radical rethinking of the way things are and the way they should be. Or, "apocalyptic" reveals and exposes truth. Apocalyptic art challenges our notions of reality, or at least offers us alternative visions of experience, and that's why this kind of art should be a crucial part of our lives. Apocalyptic art pierces sentimentality--an idea that tempts us to compartmentalize our lives into "spiritual" and "secular" parts. If we are to live out the "apocalyptic" life, we must realize there is no reality but the coming kingdom of God on earth and everything we do is firmly grounded in that perspective.

I think this idea of the revelation of truth in art is what makes Radiohead's music so darn good. The way I read their song "No Surprises" (which is informed by Dark's reading) is that the more sentimental we make our lives, the more damage we do to ourselves. I can't do the song justice by explaining it; you'll have to listen to it for yourself and see how it strikes you.

The last idea of Dark's that I want to mention is from a question and answer session that we just had with him in my Media Criticism class yesterday. We were discussing this idea of sentimentality as it relates to "The Passion of the Christ." Dark has not seen the film, but he said that he feels any film about the crucifixion of Christ that is disconnected from the ethic of Jesus' life ultimately falls short of portraying the true story of Christ. In order to illustrate this ethic of Christ more fully, he discussed Mel Gibson's response to a question he was often asked during interviews relating to promote the film. Gibson, being accused of anti-Semitism in his portrayal of who really killed Christ, was often asked the question of "Who really killed Jesus?" His response was usually, "We all did." I've heard this response before and I've thought it makes sense, being the sinners that we are. But Dark took this perspective a step further. He said, "It's not that we all did kill Jesus, it's that we all would." I was so struck by this statement, because I think that he's dead on. When I think about it, I do not live a life that is pleasing to God, but rather one that is filled with pursuing my own selfish desires. Too often I devalue people with whom I do not agree, people who have hard truths to challenge me with. To have the ramifications of my sinfulness brought home in this way, by thinking that I would crucify Christ today if given the opportunity, felt to me like a truly apocalyptic experience.

Blogging

2006-11-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

I'm fascinated by this idea of blogging. I'm fascinated by the potential to communicate this medium offers. Often times I think online communication falls short of its potential, but I think that when used correctly, communicating online can contribute greatly to our human community. Therefore, I hope to use this medium to communicate what's going on in my life, mind, and faith with those who I can't always communicate with in other ways. My hope is that I'll be able to communicate effectively and in a way that strenghthens my relationships with those around me.

So it begins

2006-11-28T01:02:00.001-05:00

I've started a blog. It's done. I think it's time.