In Pictures

For those who want to re-live the Greatest Event of 2009 (the 2nd annual Mockingbird Conference), or for those who want to see what it was like, the pictures from the conference have now been posted. You can see (and download) them here. Or just check out the slideshow below.

A Few Quotes from Friday Night Lights

"I think that as a parent, the best thing you can do is just don't try to fix it, just be there for her, let her know you love her."
-Tami Taylor, coach's wife and high school guidance counselor, talking to Lila Garrity's dad in Season 1, Episode 9.

"You know what my momma used to say? 'God created sin so that we could know His mercy'."

- Lila's mom trying to comfort her in Season 1, Episode 10

"There's no weakness in forgiveness."

- Tami Taylor talking to paralyzed ex-quarterback Jason Street about Lila in Season 1, Episode 11

The entire series can be found, free and legally, here. It's not to be missed.

Christ as Donum (Gift) or Exemplum (Example)? A meditation on Oswald Bayer’s "Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation"

Preaching Jesus Christ is no easy task. There will always be serious opposition to anything which points to Jesus Christ as the unconditional gift, the ultimate atonement and the only true Savior for the sinner.

Both liberal and conservative theologians have a tendency to present Jesus Christ as an example, or a means to an end. When in fact Jesus Christ is the end! He is not a way to wisdom; He is wisdom (1Cor. 1:30). He is the Savior! It is true that Jesus Christ lived in perfect obedience, but when He is belittled to example, the gift of forgiveness and salvation is hidden from the hearer.

Turning Grace into Demand, Gospel into Law
Jesus Christ, in preaching, wants to be given as a gift, not as an example. Even when we speak about being gracious or forgiving, we run the risk of simply creating a new law. And this new law is not one of the Spirit, but of the Kantian method, which seeks to send us back into Aristotelian bondage. Once again you have something to do, so do the ultimate good for the neighbor! Grace is turned into law when response is demanded of the audience, or behavior is preached.

Where is the Absolution? The Promise is for you.
So I don’t need more preaching on better behavior. I need someone to absolve me with no strings attached! I need to know that Christ forgives me in the present. I need to hear that Christ's promises are for me; REAL forgiveness in REAL Time. It is Christ’s perpetual absolution that creates faith (Rom. 10:17). I need belief, faith, i.e. trust bestowed to me as a gift. So this is the job of the preacher, to do the word to the hearer (John 20:23).

So I need a preacher to give me Christ; the Forgiving and Active Word (John 1; Is. 55:11). Where is the absolution? Are we preaching discipline? (Christ as Example) Are we preaching a philosophy of grace? (Christ as Example) Or are we speaking Christ into the sinner’s life: His unconditional action for the paralyzed, in a conditional world, yet in real time? (Christ as Gift)

The great Dr. James Nestingen once said on the topic of absolution that listening is good and important, but in the end, it is really social work. Listening followed by the Gospel proclaimed (absolution) distinguishes Christians from social workers. “For goodness sake I have heard your exhortation, and it does me no good, but do you have any good news?” (Horton, Christless Christianity DVD)

For Further Reading:
Luther For Armchair Theologians by Steven D. Paulson
The Preached God by Gerhard O. Forde
Handling the Word of Truth by John T. Pless
Martin Luther: His Life and Teachings by James Arnes Nestingen

Hannibal Lector on Why We Need To Be Killed Daily

"We feel murderous things in our lives, and anyone who denies it is a liar. We're taught as children to repress all that stuff: Don't be greedy, don't be angry. We bury the feelings alive, and they never die. I think when you project on screen an arch-villain, whether it's Heath Ledger's Joker or Hannibal Lecter, it gets something to respond in us. It's making us acknowledge that we have those parts of ourselves."

- Anthony Hopkins in a recent Entertainment Weekly article.

See Sean's Paulson post below.

Clips from the Conference

Steven Paulson at the MBird Conference 2009

"God is so jealous for you that He will kill you to get you."

Referring to God's killing work in our lives putting to death our sinful and rebellious selves on the cross with Jesus Christ in order to raise us completely anew out of nothing.

Unknown Caller

On my way back from NYC I was rocking out to the new U2 album, trying to stay awake, and got stuck listening to this song over an over again. It made me think of Steve Paulson's - and the Bible's - words about death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins, and Jesus saying, "Go home" to the healed paralytic. Apparently Bono was thinking about this too (or alternatively, perhaps he just has a lot of problems with technology in his life). Either way I could relate.

Footnote: This song immediately follows the track "Moment of Surrender" in which Bono says, "I've been in every black hole, at the altar of the dark star. My body's now a begging bowl that's beggin to get back to my heart...to the rhythm that yearns to be released from control."



Unknown Caller

Sunshine, sunshine
Sunshine, sunshine

I was lost between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company
3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face
Speed dialing with no signal at all

Go, shout it out, rise up
Escape yourself, and gravity
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Force quit and move to trash

I was right there at the top of the bottom
On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be
I had driven to the scene of the accident
And I sat there waiting for me

Restart and re-boot yourself
You're free to go
Shout for joy if you get the chance
Password, you, enter here, right now

You know your name so punch it in
Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Then don't move or say a thing

From MBird Conference 2009

From Thornton Wilder's The Angel That Troubled the Waters:

The Newcomer: Oh, in such an hour was I born, and doubly fearful to me is the flaw in my heart. Must I drag my shame, prince and singer, all the days more bowed than my neighbor?

The Angel (Stands a moment in silence): Without your wound, where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble in the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love's service only the wounded soldiers can serve. Draw back.

[PZ throws his paper off the pulpit]

Friday 'chillax' music for those of us who could not be at the conference.

'Heaven' by Unkle. Directed by Spike Jonze (Who also happens to be directing the much-awaited 'Where the Wild Things Are' - edit: check out the trailer which was released yesterday! Our beloved Dave Eggers co-wrote the script...) As you will see, the video takes an amazing turn after 3:13...but you have to wait for it. Also, be SURE to don a set of headphones and then click the HD tab on the video's toolbar immediately after you press play!

1Cor 3:11-15 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what they have built survives, they will receive their reward. If it is burned up, they will suffer loss; they will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Final Conference Schedule

To download a pdf version, click here. If you haven't pre-registered but plan on attending, on-site registration takes place from 4-6:30pm on Thursday and 8:15-9:15am on Friday. We would love to see you! And for those of you that can't make it, the mp3s will be posted next week (God-willing). The blog will resume its regular activity on Monday.

Wingsuit Base Jumping

The Mockingbird Conference, which begins tomorrow, will be the theological equivalent of this:



I hope everyone is excited!

Flight or Fight?

"Luther laid the greatest emphasis of all on the fact that everything must be done freely and joyfully. At the very beginning of he Psalms Lectures we find references to the free, the joyful, the spontaneous will. God desires no forced service. Whatever action does not arise spontaneously from within, but is forced for a specific purpose at a particular moment, will not last; it is no real act of the will, and has no value at all in the eyes of God. "
-- Karl Holl The Reconstruction of Morality p. 34

Casuistry

Strictly speaking, casuistry is a case-based system of flexible moral reasoning which relies upon abstract methods in order to achieve an 'optimal solution' to a dilemma.

The video speaks to the very problem with this sort of arbitrary, human reasoning (as opposed to definite laws which are given by God) because no such human-derived solution exists, nor does life work this way. What usually happens in life is that we (the sinner) minimise and rearrange the facts of life to suit ourselves--thus the growing tattoo!

Historically, casuistry fell into great disfavor after Pascal criticised what he felt was the permissiveness of Jesuit casuistry and perhaps more than any other book, Luther's 'Bondage of the Will' uprooted the idea that the human will is autonomous or qualified to be a rational, moral guide...he also took issue with the practice of confession since he felt that it focused too much on the externals of sin and missed the spiritual component. (This was what I meant in the psychadelic kitty vid by the way--Jesus knew that appearances are always deceiving, the human is an iceberg with 90% of themselves submerged from view). Aristotle, on the other hand, was a proponent of casuistry and much of this sort of reasoning can be found/avoided in his Nicomachean Ethics.

From Henry James

From James' The American; the wealthy and self-made Christopher Newman describes an experience he had in a cab on his way to Wall Street to ruin a fellow businessman,

"'One day, a couple of months ago, something very curious happened to me. ... At all events, I woke up suddenly, from a sleep or from a kind of a reverie, with the most extraordinary feeling in the world--a mortal disgust for the thing I was going to do. It came upon me like that!' - and he snapped his fingers - 'as abruptly as an old wound that begins to ache. I couldn't tell the meaning of it; I only felt that I loathed the whole business and wanted to wash my hands of it. The idea of losing that sixty thousand

dollars, of letting it utterly slide and scuttle and never hearing of it again, seemed the sweetest thing in the world. And all this took place quite independently of my will, and I sat watching it as if it were a play at the theatre. I could feel it going on inside of me. You may depend upon it that there are things going on inside of us that we understand mighty little about. ... I seemed to feel a new man inside my old skin, and I longed for a new world."

Big Foot Called My Unicorn an Antinomian

I came across a definition for the word Antinomian in a theological dictionary the other day which I think provides a wonderful opportunity for some clarification. Here it is:

ANTINOMIAN: from the Greek anti, against, and nomos, law. A term coined by Martin Luther in his controversies with Johan Agricola, who objected at first to the use of the 'law of Israel--specifically, the 'Decalogue' [10 Commandments]--in instructing believers in their obligations, and later also to its use as a means to call sinners to repentance, arguing that the preaching of the gospel sufficed for that purpose. Luther responded with a treatise Against the Antinomians, in which he defended the use of the Law in teaching and in preaching. . . .

So far so good. However, a little further down, it continues:

. . the term "antinomianism" has come to be applied by extension to all opposition to the value and use of the law in the Christian life. . . In the early church, Paul's struggles with the law and its insufficiency for salvation led some to establish a radical opposition between law and gospel.

While the entry does go on to further explanation, the implication is that anyone who "rejects the law as guide for Christian living" is an Antinomian. This is simply not true. The Antinomians against whom Luther wrote were, it is true, people who claimed that the law no longer held any sway for those "in Christ." However, their error was not that true Antinomianism was possible; it was their belief that we (Christians or non-) can ever be free from the accusatory power of the Law. As Luther wrote in the treatise, "For if you resolve to annul the Law. . . you do no more in effect, but throw away the poor letters L.A.W." Like Unicorns and a non-hilarious Tim Allen movie, and along the lines of thesis #13 of the Heidelburg Disputation, Antinomianism, after the fall, exists in name only.

Fundamental to our entire project here is to show how the power of the Law is at work through all institutions and in every life in a way that is specifically addressed by the Gospel. In short, we’re arguing that there are no true antinomians, although we all attempt to escape, explain away, drive away or ignore the Law.

We'll continue fleshing all this out, but the next time, or first time, or every time you hear the word Antinomian, know that there are purported Antinomians out there, but true Antinomianism--in light of the message of the Gospel--cannot really exist.

In the words of Mockingbird patron saint, Gerhard O. Forde: "Antinomianism is about the only heresy that is impossible to pull off. We might leave the church, but Law will go with us. You can count on that. Perhaps Johnny Cash’s song Sunday Morning’ Comin' Down catches that as well as any theological statement:

On a Sunday Morning ‘sidewalk, I’m wishin’ Lord that I was stoned. Cause there’s somethin’ ‘bout a Sunday, that makes a body feel alone, and there’s nothing’ short of dyin' Half as lonesome as the sound. As the sleepin’ city sidewalk And Sunday mornin’ coming’ down. (A More Radical Gospel, p. 107)

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Woman Getting Her Truck Towed

More proof that the Law is incapable of producing that which it commands:

An Amazing Headline...And Warning!

"Ohio Transgender Woman Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Exercising Husband to Death"

Click on the headline for the full story.

Opening Dialogue from Whit Stillman's Metropolitan

What better way to kick off Conference week than with some of the greatest opening lines in film history?! Metropolitan is Whit Stillman's first film (and many think his best - it's my third favorite), and even from its opening scene, it is clear that a remarkably fresh voice had arrived on the American cinema scene, one with a very distinct comedic sensibility. There really is no other movie like it, at least if you don't count Stillman's other two films, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco. Taken as a trilogy, I consider them the finest "comedies of manners" ever made. The script received a surprise Oscar nomination back in 1990 and finally came out on Criterion Collection DVD a couple years ago.

INT. FOWLER LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Sally Fowler's afterparty is in progress. In the foreground CHARLIE BLACK is seen in profile close-up talking to some person or persons o.s.; as the frame widens we see that his primary audience is the highly attractive CYNTHIA MCLEAN, although the group as a whole listens too.

CHARLIE: Of course there's a God. We all basically know there is.

CYNTHIA: I know no such thing.

CHARLIE: Of course you do. When you think to yourself - and most of our waking life is taken up thinking to ourselves - you must have that feeling that your thoughts aren't entirely wasted, that in some sense they are being heard. Rationally, they aren't; you're entirely alone. Even the people to whom we are closest can have no idea of what is going on in our minds. But we aren't devastated by loneliness because, at a hardly conscious level, we don't accept that we're entirely alone. I think this sensation of being silently listened to with total comprehension - something you never find in real life - represents our innate belief in a supreme being, some all-comprehending intelligence.

CYNTHIA: That seems awfully subjective.

CHARLIE: Of course it is. That's just my point. We all subjectively know God exists. Then, usually in adolescence, we decide that that's silly. Still later -

[Cuts away to a quick scene of two young ladies talking about a young man, and then rejoins the conversation.]

CYNTHIA: I don't see what that has to do with proving God exists.

CHARLIE: What is shows is that a kind of belief is innate in all of us. At some point most of us lose that, after which it can only be regained by a conscious act of faith.

CYNTHIA: And you've experienced that?

CHARLIE: No, I haven't... I hope to someday.

[The scene in question begins at 3min 25sec.]

I mean, who starts a movie like that?! Especially a comedy... But it goes on from there and the humor grows. I promise if you stick with it and listen/watch carefully, you'll see that there is a LOT more going on than a bunch of preppies talking in a room. Stillman is a true hero.

A MBNYC Conference Playlist

1. Today- Smashing Pumpkins
2. Omaha- Counting Crows
3. Jesus, What A Friend For Sinners- Matthew Smith
4. (Nothing But) Flowers- Talking Heads
5. Sometimes- James
6. Shady Lane- Pavement
7. On A Plain- Nirvana
8. Once- Pearl Jam
9. Climb to Safety- Widespread Panic
10. Screaming Infidelities- Dashboard Confessional
11. Song For a Future Generation- B-52's
12. Paper in Fire- John Mellencamp
13. Red Rain-Peter Gabriel
14. Runnin Down a Dream- Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers
15. Rusty Cage- Johnny Cash
16. Say You Will- Fleetwood Mac
17. Seasons- Chris Cornell
18. Get Down Tonight- KC & The Sunshine Band
19. She's the One-The Beta Band
20. The Grateful Dead- China Cat Sunflower
21. Love Will Find A Way- YES
22. Since Your Gone- The Cars

4.5 Links 4 The Weekend

1. This weekend sees the release of the comedy I Love You, Man, starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd. Having been a serious Segel fan since his days on Freaks And Geeks (top-five tv series ever!), I am considerably more excited for his next project - writing and producing the new Muppet movie. An early version of the script leaked this week and sounds very promising. According to AICN, "the movie revolves around The Muppets reuniting after a huge falling out to save The Muppet Studios in Hollywood." If anyone can do justice to the spirit of Henson, it's them.

2. You may have heard about the findings of the American Religious Identification Survey, which was released last week. The big news seems to be a significant rise in the number of Americans claiming no religious identity - 15% of those polled, nearly double the percentage from 1990. And New England has officially surpassed the West Coast as the least believing region of the country. Statistics are statistics are statistics, but the trend is undeniable (the survey's chief investigator describes it as the "erosion of the religious middle ground"). I think Aaron's post from last week spells out our feelings on the matter.

3. As part of our ongoing eulogy for David Foster Wallace, here's one of his final stories for The New Yorker, entitled Good People. It's a powerful sketch of two Christians struggling with an unwanted pregnancy. It is also an excerpt from his final, unfinished manuscript.

4. An astonishing blogpost by Stanley Fish over on the NY Times website about the financial crisis, comparing Christian doctrine with economic theory. Fish quotes George Herbert's poem Redemption at length, explaining, "The rich Lord has made himself low and wiped away the sinner’s ever-growing debt with his blood". Wowza.

4a. The series finale of Battlestar Galactica airs tonight, and many of us will mourn its passing. That is, until Caprica premieres in April (or The Plan comes out in June). The reviews for the finale are very positive thus far, though I frankly don't see how it could possibly live up to my expectations. So say we all?

4b. We try not to take many overt political stands here at Mockingbird, but we just couldn't live with ourselves if we didn't join our good friend Jamin Brophy-Warren over at the Wall Street Journal in speaking out against Zombie racism.

4c. THE CONFERENCE! T-minus 6 days and counting...

[Pardon the lack of movie post today. The feature returns next week.]

Eisegesis Friday: what St. Paul really meant...

Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. Philippians 3:2

The Gospel of Incomprehensible Unfairness

I found it interesting how Mark Galli, the managing editor of Christianity Today, drew a gospel lesson from the current furore surrounding the $165 million being paid out to high-leveled executives of the troubled insurance giant AIG (read all about it in The Scandal of the AIG Bonuses).

In the article he wryly notes that this scandal is nothing compared to the scandal of the gospel; "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). The "free bonus" of grace given to totally undeserving miscreants cannot help but incense the masses; unless we happen to be one of the villainous miscreants.

If the gospel we preach doesn't turn a few heads, and cause the man in the street to cry out at the scandal, the question begs as to whether what we proclaim is truly "good news"?

As Galli says in his conclusion...

I wonder if we are preaching the gospel if we don't scandalize a few listeners, maybe even ourselves, with the incomprehensible unfairness of it all. When Paul talked about the gospel, many were shocked and appalled. It sounded as if God wanted to reward sinners, to give a bonus to scoundrels! They scoffed, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Rom. 6:1). And when they figured out what exactly he was preaching, they got so angry that they told him to fall on his sword, and then formed a mob to run him out of town.

May we be as "scandalous" as Paul as we declare the gospel of the cross on which our Lord bled and died...for us!

Something To Look Forward To (Beyond The Conference)

Substitutionary Atonement

Along with being one of the best songs ever relating to substitutionary atonement, it is the first rap song ever made. Big John by Jimmy Dean.

The Intolerable Message of Forgiveness

An official "Certificate of Debaptism," is now available for download. By signing this certificate, over 100,000 people (according to the website) to date have declared that:


I ________ having been subjected to the Rite of Christian Baptism in infancy (before reaching an age of consent), hereby publicly revoke any implications of that Rite and renounce the Church that carried it out. In the name of human reason, I reject all its Creeds and all other such superstition in particular, the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed by Baptism of alleged ORIGINAL SIN, and the evil power of supposed demons. I wish to be excluded henceforth from enhanced claims of church membership numbers based on past baptismal statistics used, for example, for the purpose of securing legislative privilege.”

There are so many things to be said about this but, for the moment, I'll just let this stand. If you’re interested, there is an article here and the official website here.

1 Cor. 1:18, "The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

For the Maladjusted

"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society,"

comforting words from Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986).

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Tonight at our Mockingbird Meeting, we're taking a look at the music of The Smiths and the life/persona of their lead singer Morrissey. I don't think it's a stretch to say they're responsible for the the best non-GNR music of the 80s. And Morrissey's lyrics are certainly rife with Gospel connections. No song captures his gift for insightfully and poetically combining wit, self-pity and misanthropy more than "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now".

In reference to the song's greatest line, Morrissey once explained, "When I had no job I could pinpoint my depression, but when I did get a job, I was still depressed." In other words, our real problems are rarely circumstantial (Mark 7). But perhaps the true brilliance of The Smiths lay in their ability to illustrate the (often) stark divide between our exterior and interior lives by setting Morrissey's melancholy lyrics to bright, happy tunes. Enjoy:



I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now

In my life why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die?

Two lovers entwined pass me by
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now

In my life why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die?

What she asked of me at the end of the day
Caligula would have blushed
"You've been in the house too long" she said
And I (naturally) fled

In my life why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?

Matters of the heart...

'Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.' Matthew 23:25

A Few More from W.H. Auden

Man must either fall in love
with Someone or Something
or else fall ill.
---------------
Who can picture
Calvin, Pascal or Nietzsche
as a pink chubby boy?
---------------
Knowing that God knew
that what she really liked best
was not the stable
but the crowded inn, she built
a fine hospice for pilgrims.
---------------
Lonely he may be
but, each time he bolts his door
the last thing at night,
his heart rejoices: "No one
can interfere with me now."
---------------
How could he help him?
Miserable youth! in flight
from a non-father,
an incoherent mother,
in pursuit of -- what?
---------------
Few can remember
clearly when innocence came
to a sudden end,
the moment at which we ask
for the first time: Am I loved?

Pastoral Theology

Facebook and Identity

Recently I read an article written by a middle aged woman about her experience on facebook. After signing up for an account, the author reveals how she felt confronted with her past. She received friend invitations from nursery friends, high school teachers, and college chums and discovered pictures of her from when she was sixteen years old. She says, "Ever since I signed up a couple of months ago, I have felt thrust into a perpetual episode of “This Is Your Life” (complete with commercials)... I am by turns amused, touched and horrified by these gentle breezes and icy blasts from the past." For the author, she had spent her entire life reinventing herself with each geographic move. She says, "as a survivor of the postage-stamp era, college was my big chance to doff the roles in my family and community that I had outgrown, to reinvent myself, to get busy with the embarrassing, exciting, muddy, wonderful work of creating an adult identity." Facebook meant that these self reinventions were no longer possible. Were she to try and become a different person in a new city, her old self would cling to her electronically (Romans 7?).

She then wonders what it will be like for her nieces and nephews to grow up with Facebook and whether they will be equally hindered in their self-inventions. While I have had my fair share of awkward friend invites and unanswered wall posts, (I may be showing my age here), but I couldn't disagree with the author any more.

Having been a part of face book for roughly 25% of my life, I have found that facebook does not hinder changes in identities, but dramatically enables it. The day I got glasses for the first time in my life, I posted a picture of myself on facebook and (instantly!) I became a card-carrying member of the coke bottle club. When my friends have had relationship difficulties, their status changes from "in a relationship with____" to "it's complicated." My profile allows me to post my favorite bands, books, quotes, movies, or anything else I'd like to make known. With each subtle or drastic change, the new identity has been given platform to make itself known.

Yet, this new, hyper-reality platform for my identity has had an unintended effect upon facebook profiles. Instead of reflecting a true identity, the public scrutiny of Facebook has led to the creation of false, digital identities.

In my profile, I let the world know only what I want them to know about me. I edit my digital identity according to how I would like to be seen by other people. I may choose obscure bands to demonstrate my elite musical tastes (Hanggai?), or I join groups of causes I wish to support (the Free Rice Challenge). I do not include embarrassing details of my life (unless I think they're funny, and would like others to laugh with me). If I lose my job, I simply remove it from my "info" tab with no fanfare. Profiles rarely reflect the pain and meaninglessness of life, yet it is the method by which I check in on old friends to see how they're doing. They are about as honest as a job resume, or a 10-year high school reunion.


In this way facebook represents a projection of my identity, instead of anything remotely accurate. The facebook profile is the ideal self that one wishes to be. It is the future that has yet to be attained. At the root of it all, much (though not necessarily all) of the appeal of facebook is that it provides a venue to receive the love and recognition of other people. I project the identity that I think will bring me the most comments. I earn people's respect through demonstrating that I'm funny, cool, creative, thoughtful, etc.

Yet, the good news of Christianity is that "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." We do not need to create an acceptable identity to be acceptable to God, rather God loves us in all of our ridiculous mess. Yes, God loves neurotic type A's, the lonely, the arrestingly insecure, Barry Manilow fans, the unemployed, and yes, even those who will forever re-live an embarassing picture.

JAZ Church:

A Spring Playlist

1. Pilgrims-Widespread Panic
2. Pretty In Pink- The Psychedelic Furs
3. Buffalo Stance- Neneh Cherry
4. Cut Your Hair- Pavement
5. Wrong Number (Acoustic Version)- The Cure
6. Hit the Heartbreaks- Black Kids
7. One Too Many Mornings- The Chemical Brothers
8. Dyslexic Heart- Paul Westerberg
9. Big Time- Peter Gabriel
10. Brakhage-Stereo Lab
11. Copperline-James Taylor
12. Deadbeat Club-The B-52's
13. Blue-Smashing Pumpkins
14. Disorder-Joy Division
15. A New Found Harmonium-The Penguin Café Orchestra
16. I Thought I Held You-Wilco
17. Waterfall-The Stone Roses
18. Love is the Law- The Suburbs
19. Wild Wild Life- Talking Heads
20. Don't Go- Yaz
21. Say You Love Me-Fleetwood Mac
22. Temptation (7" Edit)-New Order

(More) Brilliance from The Onion

Christian Salt Introduced

After reportedly tiring of hearing chefs on television recommend kosher salt, a retired barber has introduced Blessed Christians Salt, which is sea salt blessed by an Episcopal priest. What to you think?

Karlen,
Systems Analyst
"Great, now I can go to hell for eating the wrong salt.”

Cameron Benoy,
Unemployed
“Blessed or not, I don’t care. God made bland food for a reason.”

Mike Prussman,
Apartment Maintenance
"This just might pave the way for my Lutheran hot dogs."

My comments: 1) It's a good thing it's an Episcopal priest, so the blessing really counts. 2) I would give almost anything to be that priest. 3) I eat so many hot dogs already, the moral license (just kidding, you pundits!) that Lutheran theology offers is the last thing I need. 4) A guy in my congregation just got cast as a news anchor for The Onion News Network!

Here's the link to the original. As always when clicking around on The Onion, watch for hilarity, potty-mouthedness, hilarious potty-mouthedness, and potty-mouthed hilarity.

4.5 Links 4 The Weekend

1. Michael Jackson has just announced 50 dates in London. He's claiming THIS IS IT, as far as live performances are concerned (at least in London). The pre-sale for the first ten shows set a record for fastest ticket sales of all-time. In other news, yours truly has a 30th birthday coming up... You can watch the press conference here - is it just me or does his voice sound a little lower?

2. The 60 Minutes story of a woman who had identified the wrong man in a rape case nearly 15 years ago. When DNA-testing revealed the real culprit (11 years after the fact), the innocent man was released from jail and met his accuser. The video is long, but if you can make it to the 10-minute mark, you will hear an absolutely incredible account of guilt and forgiveness.

3. A fascinating article about a semi-Chris Brown/Rhianna-related attempt to legislate date violence. John Stamper wisely notes, "all the grownups quoted in the piece are convinced that, with just some clear advice, a good instruction manual, people will fly right. The only dissenter was a boy in high school who observed: “… some people think they’re in love, and they won’t listen no matter how many people tell them it’s a bad relationship.”

4. For this week's Mockingbird At The Movies column, check out Jerry Lewis, Frank Tashlin and God (Oh, My!) over at the supremely edifying film site/blog mardesdecortesbaja.com. The author is a true aficionado and in my mind, a walking combination of his three subjects.

4a. Speaking of nerds, having long lived on the outskirts of sci-fi, I find it one of the more endearing, not to mention hilarious subcultures around. In tribute to the greatest Late Night host ever, albeit with a slight raunchiness warning:



Bonus: We don't normally do this on here, but considering his recent guest appearance on Battlestar Galactica (as Starbuck's father and possible long-lost Cylon Daniel), we wanted to wish Mockingbird's own Sean Norris a very happy 30th birthday! It was yesterday, and we hope it was a frakking good one.

Fathers, Sons, and the Reformation Part II

"...Go forth into the world, there thou wilt learn what poverty is. But as thou hast not a bad heart, and as I mean well by thee, there is one thing I will grant thee; if thou fallest into any difficulty, come to the forest and cry, "Iron John," and then I will come and help thee. My power is great, greater than thou thinkest, and I have gold and silver in abundance."

- From the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Iron John

If there is one thing I have noticed over the years about the male gender, it is the need. There is an interesting contradiction in the masculine. On one hand, he will run up the stairs of a burning World Trade Center tower to rescue survivors, cover a live grenade with his body in order to save his friends, endure unspeakable torture in order to keep faith to his country, and defend his family's home to the death. On the other hand, a negative word from a father or respected elder will fold him like a house of cards. There is a deep, deep need in the inside of a man.

The industrial and technological revolutions of the past couple of centuries have done a lot of good in terms of material prosperity and quality of life. The ill it has done, however, is to take fathers away from their sons at critical junctures. Gone are the days of the father teaching the son about seasons of planting and harvest, the habits of the whitetail deer, and the various uses of particular timber stands. Of course, these skills are not the important thing. What is important is the amount of time spent with the son... that the son is worthy of time and effort and vitally important to the family.

The industrial and technological revolutions have placed a premium on a high level of expertise. They have also created a workplace away from the home and that leads to the father's absence for most of the day. Boys are placed in schools which are often geared toward feminine ways of learning (a good documentary to watch on this subject is Raising Cain). Frustration sets in and self-worth deteriorates. The essence of who he is seems to be obsolete and even frowned upon. He then grows up and the same pattern is repeated with his son. The need of the boy to be affirmed by an older male is acute and underestimated by society.

Sadly, the male reticence about expressing emotions is frequently assumed to be indicative of emotional hardness. Nothing could be further from the truth. A denial of blessing often leads to a quite desperate young man.

In Rod Rosenbladt's presentation on the theology of the Reformation as it relates to fathers and sons (which, along with the amazing t-shirt below, can be purchased at New Reformation Press), he places his finger squarely on the problem and the solution. The problem is described above: there are precious few (if any) ways for a young man in our society to receive the blessing of an older male (particularly a father). A lack of initiation rites, if you will.

The solution comes in the form of an analogy to the insights of the Reformation. The Reformers found that Scripture teaches an imputed righteousness, i.e. the blessing of God given to sinful men and women, acquired only by grace and only through faith. The essence of this righteousness belongs to Jesus Christ only. But it is given freely. In this way, there is a sense of reality for the person who is justified. It is called simul iustus et peccator in the Latin. This means simultaneously right before God and yet conflicted.

It is not a "school marmish" idea of superficial improvement. Nuns are not rapping your knuckles with a ruler. There is no program of a progressive increase in virtue. There is no self-deception about inherent righteousness. It is the deep magic that is not magic. It is a free one-way blessing that positively re-orients you to your Maker. It is a real righteousness that covers a real, and continuing, flailing about. It is becoming a grown-up. It is the blessing of God the Father which in itself, affirms, creates purpose, and breaks the curse.

Name that Syncretism

Want to play a game? First, let me set it up.

In 2007, an Episcopal priest (the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding) converted to Islam. But it was a different sort of conversion. She (supposedly) didn't disavow Christianity but simply blended in her Muslim beliefs. People termed her an Episcoslamic Muslipalian.

Last month, the diocese of Northern Michigan elected Father Forrester, a professed Zen Buddhist, as their bishop. Now a Muslim-Christian makes a bit more sense since both are monotheistic traditions. But blending a theistic religion and non-theistic philosophy seems difficult. People have called him a Buddhapalian.

This isn't just a Christian + "other religions" phenomenon. Recently, I had a conversation with someone who referred to himself as a "Jew-Bu" (a hybrid of Jewish and Buddhist).

Instead of arguing against this shmorgisborg approach to religion, let's play a game. What's the most creative religious pairing you can come up with? For some inspiration, you might want to visit a discussion at SoulPancake and read answers to the question "Is it possible to be a part of more than one religion? Do you have to choose?"

I'll start. "Scientatholic" is Scientology + Catholicism. This guilt isn't free. You have to pay thousands of dollars for it.

Mockingbird: Bringing You the Gospel (pt. 9)

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland...I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people." (Isaiah 43:18-20)

Truth & Longing in Radiohead

Everything in its right place
Everything in its right place
Everything in its right place...

Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon...

There are two colors in my head

What is that you are trying to say?

Second Hand News

Some recent cyber-items of note from around the World-Wide-Web.

• An interesting article in First Things called Proclaiming the Good News, that talks about the descriptive/proscriptive hermeneutic from a Catholic perspective--this will probably fuel the urge in many to "swim the Tiber."
• A discussion between Italian Philosopher Paolo Flores d'Arcais and Jürgen Habermas on the question of Religion and the Public Sphere
• Here, here and here are few of the many (and varied) responses to the article entitled "On the Coming Evangelical Disaster" that Aaron reviewed in his recent post. . . .but be sure to check out (regularly) "Adventures in Mormonism," for their take not only on this article, but as a daily reminder of Galatians 1:6. Rest assured, Aaron's is by far the most helpful and insightful.
• While we're on the subject of theological vacuousness, perhaps the coming disaster is a result of "the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. Taken literally, without knowledge of the historical controversies from which they emerged, or regard for the religious fanaticism and intolerance of the 16th century, and without taking cognisance of skewed and partial nature of many of the Reformers’ pronouncements---hmm, we'll see.
• An interesting interactive grid that details the percentage shifts in Religious affiliation on a state-by-state basis. North Carolina, raise up.
  
• This article from the Atlantic, entitled "One World, Under God," is a perfect illustration of the logical end to the false (neo-Marxist) assumptions of the New Perspective on Paul--it also has this amazing sentence, "In the days before modern anesthesia, requiring men to have penis surgery before they could join a religion fell under the rubric of disincentive". . . indeed.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Thank you for the moment (or six) of self-indulgence, and although I wanted to leave you with my current favorite boat song, for the sake of our family-friendly rating, I'll settle for this: