Bullet in the Blue Sky

So, since I've been back on my U2 Kick (thanks Tyler for your influence), I was listening to Joshua Tree and reading "U2 Into the Heart:The Story Behind Every Song". Since my last post, and my hatred of war-like language when talking about faith, "bullet in the blue sky" caught my attention. So I read the story behind it and found something interesting. Just something to ponder that was said. Not my words, and no commentary...take it for what you will! Please note the context was Bono's trip to Central America during the 80's when US foreign policy was impoverishing parts Central America, making the area very unstable, as well as supporting civil wars in some of the countries. (sound familiar?)



"'I still believe in Americans' Bono added, 'I think they're a very open people. It's their openness which leads them to trust a man as dangerous as Ronald Reagan. They want to believe he's a good guy. They want to believe he's in the calvary, coming to rescue America's reputation after the 70's. But he was only an actor. It was only a movie. I think the picture's ended now and Americans are leaving the cinema a little down in the mouth.' 'Bullet in the Blue Sky' made one other connection, linking the disastrous US foreign policy under Reagan to his own religious fundamentalism and that of the Christian tele-evengelists who had flourished in his version of America. U2 recognized that imperialism is fuelled by a righteousness that denies others their OWN right to believe, and to express those beliefs.

"'I would say that none of my fundamental beliefs have changed,' The Edge said during 1986, 'but they've broadened and matured and been tempered with a wider experience of a) what's good about the rest of the world and b) what's bad about religion everywhere. I basically assume that every single religious group, or community, has a problem, is in some way screwed up. I don't believe that there is one, single, perfect spiritual way and, in realizing that, obviously you become a lot more open.'"

"The mention of the [former] preacher Jerry Falwell inspired anger, bordering on contempt. 'He preaches that God dresses in a three-piece polyester suit, is white, speaks in a southern accent, is from an Anglo-Saxon background and has a wife and children. And then you say, how does that relate to a Chinese peasant? And you realize it doesn't at all.

"or a southern black? The song contrasts the burning crosses of the [KKK] with the liberating sound of john Coletrane's saxophone breathing into the New york Night. America: the land of paradoxes. Everything that's great about the world, and everything that's repulsive about it. rolled into one. That's what 'Bullet in the Blue Sky' is about"

"Truth Wars" declares yoga a battlefield!

Surfing through my friend's blogs, I noted that Tripp had found this news clip:



Yoga? Really? oh modern mindsetted/literalist people, is there no area that you can't declare a warzone? Before you correct me, yes I know that yoga has it's roots in hinduism, but unlike Christianity, has allowed it to be secularized. Yes we protect our "sacred cows" from things like the postmodern worldview (what Doug Pagitt is representing)....but wait, hindu's are the ones that believe cows to be sacred?!!?! i'm confused...enlighten me master Macarther!

I'm really getting tired of Macarthur and his "War on Error" as he calls it (see his book "Truth Wars". Like evangelical "crusades" the language is far from culturally sensitive, and simply shows how callous some of these people can be towards the feelings of others. CHISTIANITY IS NOT A WAR PEOPLE!!!

Interesting how this is a one-sided war! It is either them or..... well no, postmodern Christianity allows and respects their viewpoints. Is that declaring war on innocent civillians? Wait....Macarther (and his like) are not commencing in war as much as they are deliberatly attempting genocide! They want to stamp out all who believe differently and are seeing the world and their faith through a new set of lenses, so that only those who hold to their version of "Truth" are the only ones left calling themselves "Christian"! Interesting huh?

Read Tripps blog to get his take....and thanks to Tripp for letting me repost this!

You Can Tell Everybody, This is Your Song...

I admit that it's been a while since I've been a part of the dating scene, but as I remember correctly, every relationship has to have an, "our song". This is supposed to be a theme song that captures the essence of that particular relationship. For a long time, I think this has been, and remains to be the theme song for my long romance (marriage?) with the Christian Church.



With Or Without You-U2
See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised,
shes got me with
Nothing to win andNothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away
With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you
With or without you
With or without

President Bono Bush

Who knew that Pres. Bush likes to sing U2 to congress?

In Repair (pt. 3)- Vaticinium ex eventu

Vaticinium ex eventu (Prophecy after the event)! Why Can't these things forwarn you rather than narrate your life?


Photo by Justin Bowman...fortunes are mass produced!
*sigh

In Repair:
Click for part 1
Click for part 2

Blindsided

So I was on my way back from grabbing lunch today when I bore witness to one of those things that you never expect to see in your life. PLEASE NOTE! IN NO WAY AM I MAKING LIGHT OF THIS EVENT! In fact, the event and the individual involved have been on my mind all day.

Near the intersection where I turn off of HW55 to go home, I happened to see a deer sprinting to get across the road about 120 yards in front of me, past the intersection. Traffic was heavy but slow, and the deer was going fast! Somehow it missed EVERYTHING in the first lane of traffic (I counted 3 SUV's and 2 Pickups that he could have hit in that lane depending on his timing). However, unfortunately, he was not so lucky getting across the second lane of traffic going the opposite way. The deer was not hit, rather, he did the hitting. Again out of all the possible reinforced cars, trucks and SUV's he could have collided with, he hit the worst possible target of choice: a man on a motorcycle!

Having just passed through the heavy traffic intersection the man wasn't going very fast, The deer however, was scared and running full speed! The poor gent never saw it coming. The deer hit him hard in the side, so hard that neither the man nor the deer got back up after the encounter. The man was flung from his bike and eventually found grass off the curb. He seemed ok (relative to the deer and the other possible outcomes), but I am sure will suffer some broken bones, bruises, and stitches. The poor guy was blindsided completely and never saw it coming!
____________________________
Now this may sound at first insensitive to use this as a correlation moment, but wait on it. (I really have been worried about the man that was hit!)

I've been working on a worship service about our spiritual journeys, and in particular remembering and encountering my own spiritual journey. Somehow I've fooled myself into thinking that along the many years of my life I have had some say in where my journey has led me. I mean, I know that there are times in each person's life that are out of their control (death of a loved one, tragic life-altering experience), but I never realized how we think we can take credit for the many other things that influence our journey. We may pick some things (what school to go to, what to major in, who to marry, where to live, when to have kids, etc...) But if we are honest with ourselves even those things are really outside of our control!

We can't determine when we are going to meet our future spouse. I don't personally think we can choose who we fall in love with. We can pick our school and major, but what happens once we get there is mostly up to chance (or divine providence if you prefer). Where we live is often determined by outside circumstances like our job, or for me, the fact that my wife has always lived in Apex and thus opportunities have kept us here up until this date.

So in looking at my journey, more specifically the forks in my road where the path branched off, I see that I've made choices, yes, but they all seem to be in reaction to whatever that fork was! This may not seem enlightening to anyone else, but I see 2 options that help explain where and who I am today!
1) we can chose to follow the path of uncertainty willingly, where God seems to break you further and further away from the "accepted" view of Christianity!
or
2) we can chose the path of false certainty where we decide not to change no matter what caused the fork, even if that means believing something in total contradiction to whatever experience caused the fork!

Whichever path one chooses, just like the experience that causes it, the only certainty is that, just like the man on the motorcycle who was out for a nice Sat. ride, sooner or later something in life is going to blindside you and once again you will be faced with the same choice! path 1 or path 2? The only problem with path 2 is that each time someone chooses it, it seems to separate them further and further from reality!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to go and see if the local news reports on the motorcyclist's condition, and praying that he's going to be ok!

A Budding Paradox

Flower in the crannied wall

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower--but if i could understand

What you aare, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and Man is.

--Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Always more questions than there are answers... that's living my life in the gray.

Patriotism (Reimagined)

It is amazing how something that you read many years back can be read again today and mean something completely different. Today this spoke to me!

I think this is where I am today:

PATRIOTISM

"If patriots are people who stand by their country right or wrong, Germans who stood by Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich should be adequate proof that we've had enough of them.

"If Patriots are people who believe not only that anything they consider unpatriotic is wrong, but that anything they consider wrong is unpatriotic, the late Senator Joseph McCarthy and his backers should be enough to want to make us avoid them like the plague.

"If patriots are people who believer things like, 'Better Dead Than Red,' they should be shown films of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, and then be taken off to the funny farm.

"The only patriots worth their salt are the ones who lover their country enough to see that in a nuclear age it is not going to survive unless the world survives. True patriots are no longer champions of any one country in particular, but champions of the human race. It is not the homeland that they feel called on to defend at any cost, but the planet earth as home. If in the interest of making sure we don't blow ourselves off the map once and for all, we end up relinquishing a measure of national sovereignty to some international body, so much the worse for national sovereignty.

There is only one sovereignty that matters ultimately, and it is of another sort altogether."

-Frederick Buechner "Beyond Words" (p299-300)


I'm sick of being called "unpatriotic" by this administration because I care enough to ask the tough questions and challenge my government. Perhaps my patriotism is not what should be in question as I exercise my rights as "we the people..." Perhaps my patriotism has been re-imagined!

Escaping the Secular: Christians and the School System

For the original/full story click here

Ok, so today's paper (Sunday, Aug. 26th if i post after 12am), I have to say when I had heard what made the front page of the paper I was a tab bit shocked! The day before traditional schools start, and the Raleigh N&O runs this story (which I think they do unbiasedly) because of the school relation and Christian (specifically Southern Baptist) parents opting their kids out of the public school system.

Alright, so I know this isn't a new thing. And please know, as a pastor said this morning about this topic, I am in full support of a parent's decision to do what they think is best for their kids. I know that in some places private school is the only option for a truly decent education, but that is def. not the case in the Wake Co. School systems of NC. I also know that there are times that a parent sees the need to home-school their child because of special needs. Again, I completely am in support of that decision.

However, I draw attention to this because of the REASON that is stated by the president of Southeastern:

"In the public schools, you don't just have neutrality, you have hostility toward organized religion," said Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. "A lot of parents are fed up."


Now I went to public schools, both of my parents have worked within the NC public school system, my mother-in-law was a RR teacher, and my wife is a proud counselor in the Wake Co. School System! There are some strong Christians (esp. my wife) within our public schools! As my wife said on her facebook note, she is proud of the kids that she has the opportunity to help each day!

Now again, I can understand pulling your kid out of public schools for a lot of reasons, but the accusations made are simply unfounded. THERE IS NO HOSTILITY TOWARDS ANY RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. But therein lies the problem for these Christians. The Schools are being respectful of all religions and not pushing Christian principles on the many Hindus and Muslims that we have in our area. They are upholding EVERYONE'S constitutional right of freedom of religion.

Now IDK, if anyone watched God's Warriors: A CNN Special, especially the 3rd part about God's Christian warriors (if not, click on the link, and check some of that out!), but this is exactly how the religious right is going. Another quote from the N&O:

"Southern Baptists have become convinced that fighting to change the system is futile. They say public schools have long demonstrated a commitment to teaching evolution over creationism, world faiths over Christianity, sex education over abstinence, moral relativism over Christian claims of truth."

So herein lies the real issue: These religious people with this view (The Religious Right) want to shelter themselves from the "evil" culture. They believe that their kids being exposed to the scientific theory of evolution, the understanding of other faith positions, and responsible sex education (where, News Flash, abstinence is still taught as the foremost sexual choice) will make them "unclean". Hmmm......now there seems to me that I remember some other group of people back in the day that didn't want to be "unclean"....who was that??? OH YEAH, the pious Pharisees!!!! That's right I remember that now! Wasn't there someone who told them they were wrong.... who was that guy??? It wasn't Christ was it? No, it couldn't have been! I mean these guys in the SBC are Christian aren't they? That means that they would follow the teachings of Christ right? They wouldn't become like those Christ put the smack-down on! soooo...I guess I'm at a loss on this one.

Seriously though (that was all sarcasm by the way), It deeply saddens me that here in this article, as well as on the CNN special, that all of the Conservative Christians are hiding in their bunkers from the world. This goes back to my last post, they are scared! I just can't wrap my head around what they're so scared of. Well, they've pigeon-holed themselves into a corner by how they've systematically boxed in their God, and ground themselves on the 3 "major" issues (gay marriage, abortion, and abstinence only ed. in the schools), so that as one person said on the CNN special: "they can never admit their wrong, because [in their eyes] that would mean God's wrong! That's what happens when you take a completely literal, black and white, "I know everything about God and I can't be wrong" attitude towards Christianity.

Here's an option; teach kids to think for themselves and stop indoctrinating them (in other words, allow them to become real human beings with all the critical thinking abilities that God gave them), love them and talk to them at home, and perhaps those kids will turn out fine in the end. Of course, I know many people that went to public school and turned out just fine!

The most sad part to me is that Christians sometimes feel like they have to create a "counter culture". This is in their view, a pure Christian culture separate within the existing culture of America. Basically this is a fantasy Role Playing Game where everyone will (idealistically) remain pure because they only listen to Christian music, unmarried men and women are separated and "court" (see the book "I kissed dating goodbye" and the likes), they are taught
creationism only, as well as abstinence only education. Thus enters the mass marketing of Christianity (saved for a later post). However, Christ came into this world to teach us to heal this world and interact with it's culture, not to create a protective bubble and cut ourselves off. Something just doesn't seem to fit well with those 2 perspectives!

yes, I know this is a lot of ranting, but I just want people who live like this to see what they are doing. Because the tighter you pull into that nice Christian bubble, the faster it will implode! Yes, I think that these Christians (esp. politically) are hurting our country and our faith, but according to the Sacred text of the USofA: The Constitution (no not the Bible contrary to some popular thought): they have every right to believe what they choose to believe because of freedom of religion. It would be sad if they killed themselves off just because they refused to live and act in the realm of reality!

Under Construction: A different view of the Church

La Sagrada Familia Bascilica ("the holy family"): Barcelona, Spain
picture from website below


La Sagrada Familia (as you can see from the picture) is a church under construction. However, unlike most basilicas that we saw during our tour of italy that were under renovation, this church is still being built. The interesting thing is, it's construction was started in 1882.

La Sagrada Familia, is the artistic vision of Antoni Gaudí, who died in Barcelona in 1926, obviously never seeing his architectural/artist dream come to it's fruition. Adorned within it's architecture are beautiful scenes representing the story of Christ from all 4 gospels. When finally complete in 2026 it will hopefully be all that the architect dreamed it would be, although from other people's hands.

This brings up something that I have been thinking about lately about the Church; specifically the American protestant church. It has been mentioned in conversation to me, that especially in the south, the Church is at LEAST 40 years behind what's really going on in the world today. So far behind, that the modern Church can't even dialogue with the world because they are not speaking the same language (the language of a POSTmodern world)! They are too caught up defending their fort (the same old issues that the rest of civilization moved on from a while back), and in doing things "the way they've always been done"!

now I know that isn't a new argument, and younger people in the Church have heard it for more than one generation. I'm sure it wouldn't take me long to go back through my blog posts to find more than one occasion where I talk about how much I hate that sentence!

The Church needs to change in order to stay relevant in the world today, and on into the future. More people are finally seeing that and struggling with what the next "model" of doing church will be. They look to the Mega-church movement, and try to apply templates. They look at things that Emergent is doing and try to faddishly use an approach or two to bring in more people so that they feel like they are not dying!

But here's the new perspective for me on this "way we've always done it". There NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN A "WAY WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT"! Yes, there are models that served us well in the 50's, but has lost it's effectiveness every year. Yet the Church will cling desperately to those "programs" long after they've died. No wonder the Church is so far behind in it's dialogue with the world; it's too busy trying to remain relevant to those who have always been in their halls.

So this brings us back to La Sagrada Familia. I think that this amazing and beautiful structure, still under construction, can teach us something. The Architect had a grand vision. He didn't live long enough to see it through, so it is continued by his "disciples". Have things changed from his original vision? I'm sure they have. I'm sure that the designers and workers now do their best to keep with his original vision, but it will probably not end up exactly like Antoni Gaudí imagined. More concretely, technological ingenuity has changed the way that the structure is being built. Advances in architecture, technology, and art since the late 1800's and early 1900's have CHANGED the way we build structures! The designers have remained in dialogue with the scientific advances over time and instead of rejecting them and not moving forward, they have utilized what they could in constructing this church.

A model of ministry, a technique, an idea is only effective for so long. One thing the Church has been horrific in doing, is evaluating their approaches and letting go of those things that are no longer relative in today's world. In essence, they are clinging firmly to their sacred cows, although their cows were never really sacred and died a long time back. In fact they've been clung to for so long, that the rotting meat isn't even salvageable. By that, I mean that whatever could have been salvaged from the dying program and reused in a NEW vision, has been clung to and forced upon people so much that they aren't even receptive to even those good things any more.

Ok, so you have my beef (no pun intended), now what is my proposal? Well, first, we need to do away with templates. THERE ARE NO TEMPLATES OF HOW TO DO CHURCH IN A POSTMODERN WORLD! It is all about a) who are you trying to reach, b) what are their needs c) what are your strengths and weaknesses, and d) what can you do with a,b, and c to be effective?

Second, while we're throwing away the idea of template ministry, we also should chuck the idea of "the way we've always done it." The church's architect (Christ) had a vision for his bridegroom. However, I think he knew it was always going to be in flux. That's perhaps one reason that he never spelled out what the perfect church looks like! This is the revolutionary idea (and I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it, but as of right now the first I've heard say it), that even when we catch up to the world and find something that works, as soon as it starts to be ineffective, we throw it out. There will never again be a "model of ministry" that sustains us through all eternity, and I strongly believe that there was never MEANT to be one in the first place. Yes other models worked for a while, and we will find things that work again. But the Church has to look past their bunkers and learn how to be a church in flux; always changing in order to be relevant to the people they are trying to reach!

So like La Sagrada Familia, we need to be a church that is ALWAYS under construction. we need to be building up young leaders with new ideas, not shutting them out as radicals! We need to be more open to what the needs are, and what is going on in the global community with which we should be in constant dialogue! I've talked about a church in transition (see Tim Conder's book in sidebar), but the misconception of many people is that we will transition from one stable model to another stable model. I think that way of thinking should be (this time I take full responsibility for the pun) Left Behind! The Church needs to become the Church in transition, but will have to realize that it will have to always remain a Church in transition!

The Rapture Song!?!

Left Behind (The Rapture Song)...musical parody of "wish we'd all been ready"


I've read a lot of the comments on youtube and thinkchristian blog. of course there are mixed reviews! HEY PEOPLE! you know it's ok to laugh at things in Christianity!!!!

Altho, i have to say that that the reason i became a Christian and ran down that isle was because i was scared out of hell, not because I wanted to devote my life to following the teachings and mission of Christ... so yes it does bring back some bad memories. I'm so glad the Church is past that way of thinking now! (please feel free to read sarcasm in that last line...in case you missed it!)

enjoy!

Every Aspiring Musicians Dream Gig!

I have to watch this EVERY time i go to the movies lately. Now I don't really like country music (personal prefernce), but I can't help but laugh at this! I wonder if Vince looked @ Amy one night and just said, "man, I love my undies! I just want to do a song about undies!" And, after checking his tag, asked, "I wonder if those fruit guys can sing?"

P.S. I REALLY like how serious the girls are when they show them singing along in the audience!