The Gospel In Three Minutes?

Obviously, a three-minute video is not meant to be an all-encompassing presentation of the entire story of redemptive grace; it's more of an opportunity to open a conversation with someone who perhaps has never heard that God's grace is not offered to us because we no longer sin, but it is given to us in spite of our sin.

That said, I think it fulfills this purpose well:

Pearl Jam promoting Death and Resurrection?

With Spring in full-bloom, I've had one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs "on repeat" in my mental playlist: "Thumbing My Way". It's a song of deep mourning and regret of lost love. Mr. Vedder is essentially describing a death, and he's hoping for resurrection, for the springtime ahead...aren't we all? Thankfully we don't have to hitchhike to Heaven, although the imagery brings back some fond memories of Michael Landon, and there is some passivity implied. Still, Jesus is more like a special forces unit in a van with no windows going around grabbing people off the street. Just kidding!...I just couldn't think of a more passive situation in light of the highway/passenger image.

Lyrics (I've highlighted my favorite lines):

I have not been home since you left long ago
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven

Counting steps,.. walking backwards on the road
I'm counting my way back to heaven

I can't be free with what's locked inside of me...
If there was a key, you took it in your hands.
There's no wrong or right,... but I'm sure there's good and bad
The questions linger overhead

No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven
I wish that I could hold you... wish that I had
Thinking 'bout heaven

I let go of a rope,... thinking that's what held me back
And in time I've realized,... it's now wrapped around my neck
I can't see what's next,... from this lonely overpass
Hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past

All the rusted sign we ignore throughout our lives
Choosing the shiny ones instead
I turned my back,... now there's no turning back

No matter how cold the winter,.. there's a springtime ahead
I smile, but who am I kidding?
I'm just walking the miles,.. every once in a while I'll get a ride
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven

Thumbing my way back to heaven
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven...

April Playlist

This one has it all:

1. Harmour Love - Syreeta with Stevie Wonder [Theme Song from Junebug]
2. Can't Hardly Wait - Justin Townes Earle
3. To Live Is To Fly - Townes Van Zandt
4. It Never Rains In California - Albert Hammond [Sr.]
5. That Same Song - The Beach Boys
6. Make The Woman Love Me - Dion [prod. by Phil Spector]
7. My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura
8. 1901 - Phoenix
9. I Don't Like Mondays - The Boomtown Rats
10. Joy - Mick Jagger with Bono
11. I Dreamed A Dream - Les Mis
12. The Power Of Love - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
13. Monkey Business - Michael Jackson
14. Love Walks In - Van Halen
15. Winter Hill - Doves
16. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab
17. Blues For My Baby And Me - Elton John
18. The Blues - Switchfoot

How Does An Expert View Heaven?

A GREAT video on Heaven. It's comforting to know that Heaven will be 1400 times the size of New York City. And please if you're going to watch it, watch it all the way through. I wouldn't want you to miss the special treat at the end.




I LOVE this stuff. Could watch it all day long. It's part of who we are, embrace it!

Malchus, Will You Be Ridiculous With Me?

Since the Mockingbird Conference I have been exploring some of Thornton Wilder's other plays from The Angel That Troubled the Waters, and there is one with which I particularly identified called Now the Servant's Name Was Malchus.

The setting is heaven, portrayed as the "Father's house with many mansions", and the conversation is between Jesus and Malchus, the High Priest's servant whose ear Peter cut off and who Jesus subsequently healed in the Garden of Gethsemane:

OUR LORD: ...Now what is it that you want of me?

MALCHUS: ...It's...it's hardly worth mentioning. Most of the time, Lord, we're very happy up here and nothing disturbs us at our games. But whenever someone on earth thinks about us we are aware of it, pleasantly or unpleasantly. A sort of something crosses our mind. And because I'm in your book someone is always reading about me and thinking about me for a moment, and in the middle of my games I feel it. Especially at this season when your death is celebrated, no moment goes by without this happening. And what they think is, that I'm ridiculous.

OUR LORD: I see. and you want your name to be erased from the book?

MALCHUS: [Eagerly] Yes, sir. I thought you could just make the pages become blank at that place.

OUR LORD: Now that you have come here everything that you wish is granted to you. You know that.

MALCHUS: Yes, sir; thank you, sir.

OUR LORD: But stay a minute. At this season, Malchus, a number of people are thinking of me, too.

MALCHUS: Yes, Lord, but as good, as great. . .

OUR LORD: But, Malchus, I am ridiculous too.

MALCHUS: Oh, no, no!

OUR LORD: Ridiculous because I suffered from the delusion that after my death I could be useful to men.

MALCHUS: They don't say that!

OUR LORD: And that my mind lay under a malady that many a doctor could cure. And that I have deceived and cheated millions and millions of souls who in their extremity called on me for the aid I had promised. They did not know that I died like any other man and their prayers mounted into vain air, for I no longer exist. My promises were so vast that I am either divine or ridiculous. [Pause] Malchus, will you be ridiculous with me?

I can identify with Malchus because there are times in my life that I have been made to feel ridiculous for my beliefs, and perhaps you have, too. But then I'm reminded of how Christ was ridiculed, and I think what better company with which to feel ridiculous.

As C. S. Lewis put it, Jesus is liar, lunatic or Lord, and each of us has to make up his own mind. Each of us places Jesus in one of these three categories, and two of the three are packed with ridicule.

But this is how Malchus answers Jesus: "Yes, sir, I'll stay. I'm glad to stay. Though in a way I haven't any right to be there."

Hope for Today

I've been thinking a lot about something that Steven Paulson said at the Mockingbird Conference a few weeks back. Referring to a correction that Martin Luther made to one of St. Augustine's teachings, he said, "We don't live where we love. We live where we hope." The more I thought about it the more I discovered it was true; I cling to hope.

It is a matter of survival it seems. I cannot get through my day without some thought of what I

have to hope in. Often times I think my hope lies with something material or physically comforting like the thought of winning a new Porsche 911 in a raffle I entered a couple weeks ago at the NYC car show. The money for the ticket is going to diabetes research, so my conscience is clear:) While the thought of tackling a curvy Long Island road in a cherry Porsche is certainly a nice one, it never actually stands up to what my day brings at me. It never truly proves to be hopeful.

The day has a way of cutting through the B.S. I continually build up my idols only to find them smashed to pieces in the face of real stress, real pressure, real pain. They can't even stand up to one screwed order from the local Subway. I hate when they give you someone else's sandwich! Anyhow, my point is that the false things in which I place my hope prove to be just that, false, when I'm hit with the day's concerns. There is no hope in them.

This leads me to Romans 7 and 8. Romans 7 is St. Paul's description of his everyday. It is the reality of life smashing any notion that he can put hope in himself or his ability to "keep it together". He connects with the truth of our twisted, conflicted selves in a way that is unparalleled, and he is left with no hope in a sense, with death. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? - Rom. 7:24

The result of this "getting down to the nitty gritty" (Nacho Libre, if you haven't seen it, watch it!) is that he finds his true hope, or more accurately it finds him. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! - Rom. 7:25 In chapter 8 Paul really brings it home, and it is truly the water that satisfies, and causes us never to thirst again (John 4:1-15).

Some excerpts from Romans 8 (I encourage you to read the whole thing too this morning. It's worth it.:)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - Rom. 8:1-4

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ - Rom. 8:14-17.

[W]e ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. - Rom. 8:23-25

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. - 8:28

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? - 8:31-33

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - 8:37-39

Our hope is in Him today and always. He is for us, and He is with us. He has promised to never let us go, and He never breaks a promise.

Some Tuesday Morning Youtube Rock N Roll

1. We posted a Billy Preston clip a while back of his show-stopping performance of "That's The Way God Planned It" at The Concert For Bangladesh (produced by Phil Spector!), but just in case you didn't know this piano man could move:



2. My favorite Elton John record, Tumbleweed Connection, ends with the Gospel-tinged number "Burn Down The Mission". At first blush, you could interpret the song as your typical anti-clerical pioneer anthem, but I prefer to see it as a cry from the heart for something more direct and unmediated - i.e. something Protestant. Here he is performing it in 1970:

Go for it?

Sometimes I think those of us who love the church the most are also faced with the need to be its harshest critics. I was more than a little crushed to see this spin on the upcoming sermon series at our church (which will remain nameless). FYI, it is a large Episcopal church with a strong evangelical bent. Yesterday's sermon (devoid of 'cross language') did little to assuage my concern that the church is contributing to the idea that being a Christian = being a theologian of glory, but I could be totally off.

This brings me to the point of my post, which is really about the question whether preaching must always speak about the cross. Is it possible that when we talk about the law/gospel dichotomy, we're being unfair to texts like these which appear to be about issues like money and stress? Are we skipping over large chunks of Jesus' teaching ministry unnecessarily? Is there truly anything wrong with a sermon series such as this?

Anyway, this is what came to my inbox last week:

How often do we just go with the flow, or take the path of least resistance – and end up feeling our life is only half-lived?

God wants us to live life to the full, and wants to help us to go for it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents challenging and risky approaches to money, stress, revenge and integrity, among other things – but says if we're prepared to go for it we could make a real difference in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

APRIL
Sunday 26 April : Money - Matthew 6:19-24
MAY
Sunday 3 May : Stress - Matthew 7:25-34
Sunday 10 May : Future - Matthew 7:24-29
Sunday 17 May : Integrity - Matthew 5:33-37
Sunday 24 May : Influence - Matthew 5:13-16
Sunday 31 May : Revenge - Matthew 5:38-48
JUNE
Sunday 7 June : Anger - Matthew 5:21-26
Sunday 14 June : Prayer - Matthew 6:5-14
Sunday 21 June : Giving - Matthew 6:1-4
Sunday 28 June : Priorities - Matthew 5:1-6

P.S. Out of respect for the church's anonymity, I ask you not to fish for it on 'google', I would just like to hear what you guys think...

The Twilight Phenomenon

Slate ran a fascinating article on Thursday, provocatively titled "Mother Suckers":

Vampires are having their moment in, well, if not the sun, then certainly the Twilight. Author Stephenie Meyer's series of books about the romantic yearnings of an undead teen are the, uh, lifeblood of the book business these days. According to USA Today, one in every seven books sold in the United States in the first quarter of an otherwise dismal 2009 was one of the four Twilight stories. On Amazon.com, half of the top 10 is made up of Twilight. (Each of the four books holds a spot, and the collected series takes up another one.)

Readers can't get enough of the forbidden love affair between a human girl named Bella and her bloodsucking but good-hearted beau, Edward. He's emo! He's chivalrous! And glittery! (Meyer takes some liberty with horror-movie convention; instead of burning and shriveling up when sunlight hits them, vampires literally sparkle.) What more could an adolescent girl want in a fictional boyfriend?

The real-life plot twist here, though, is that it's not 'tween and teen girls who make up Twilight's ardent—and profitable—fan base. It's their mothers.

I wish the article had explored this discovery more deeply (i.e. the middle-aged-mothers'-secret-yearning-for-16-year-old-high-school-boyfriends angle), in the way Camille Paglia might have, for example. And of course, for those of us who remember The Graduate, this is not entirely unfamiliar territory. (Or, on the flip side, Lolita.)

The key line in the piece from my perspective is:

"Amazon's customer discussion forums tackle the question of whether it's appropriate for grown women to crush on an undead, underage hunk. The answer: a resounding yes."

The most crucial thing happening, in other words, is not the need itself but the desperate desire for the need to be "ok." These women are locked in a fantasy which threatens them, especially given their soon-to-be teenage sons and their friends. They feel the terrifying and absolutely righteous "long arm of the Law" smiting and accusing them -- "You WICKED woman. How dare you?"

And so, bereft of the Gospel (unconditional forgiveness extended from the Cross to bound sinners), they turn to casuistry. It's OK because: it's fiction not reality, it's just thoughts not actions, the hunk-in-question only LOOKS 16 but he's really 93, and so on.

Genuine Christian Theology is about the Promises in Christ, as opposed to Philosophies of Grace

An excerpt from Oswald Bayer's Theology the Lutheran Way:

(On Psalm 51)
The words of the psalm compel us to speak of sin and grace. Theology can have no other theme. But even sin and grace can be spoken of philosophically, meaning "metaphysically", "morally", or "historically." The "rule" Luther uses to judge the genuineness of theology is this: "By divine promises and laws, not by human rules, 'so that you are justified in your words'" (v.4). To speak theologically of sin and grace means to speak of God's promise (promissio) and of his law (lex), of the accusing and killing law (Gesetz) and the comforting and life giving gospel (Evangelium).

4.33 Links 4 The Weekend

1. Maybe it's because it's so nice out, or maybe it's because we completely forgot to mention his fantastic Conference talk in our recent newsletter, or maybe it's because his Good Friday and Easter sermons were so inspired, but we urge you to check out the following write-up over mardecortesbaja.com.

1a. Supplied by above preacher, here's an another priceless quote from Thornton Wilder. From his one-act play "Pullman Car Hiawatha", the following comes out of the mouth of (the character of) Robert Louis Stevenson:

"There is so much good in the worst of us

and so much bad in the best of us,

that it ill behooves any of us

to criticize the rest of us."

2. The Onion reports this week, "God Makes Surprise Visit To Local Church" and asks, rather brilliantly, "Should We Be Doing More To Reduce the Graphic Violence In Our Dreams?" [Warning: it gets a bit bloody, in a surreal way.]

3. Some exciting self-promotion: Jacob Smith's post about A Theology OF The Cross Vs. A Theology ABOUT The Cross has legs - it was chosen as last week's blog-post of the week by the highly respected theology radio show Issues Etc! At about 3 minutes in host Todd Wilken gives the plug. Congrats again, Jake!


4. In other radio-related news, courtesy of Andrea Zimmerman, be sure not to miss last week's episode of This American Life entitled, "This I Used To Believe". Andrea sums it up perfectly:

"Act two of this piece is a perfect example of Christian apologetics backfiring. The girl in the piece [whose good friend had just tragically died of cancer] gets such an earful from the [Christian] football coach - including being told that her logic is the same as Hitler's! - that she tells Ira Glass that he is more loving to her than the coach who was trying to convert her. This girl wants to believe in God and she really tries to hear what the coach is telling her... I can't believe she stuck around so long. I wonder what would happen in situations like this if Christians just listened instead of spitting out jargon and judgment."

4a. Mitchell Hurwitz's animated follow-up to Arrested Development, Sit Down Shut Up, debuted this week. Initial reviews have been mixed to negative, which I sadly have to agree with. Let's hope this one's a "grower"! Fortunately the same cannot be said for Parks And Recreation, which so far has been way outshining it's older sibling, The Office. And HBO's Grey Gardens was almost as charming as the documentary itself (Drew Barrymore - who knew?!). Finally, I haven't heard much about the Caprica dvd yet - has anyone seen it?

Mockingbird At The Movies: Junebug and Rambling Rose

Two sleepers from the South:

When I was at the Mockingbird conference last month, two nice fellas from NYC were talking to me (from Georgia) and my friend Jeff Hual (from the Florida panhandle = more redneck than Alabama). At some point they asked where we were from, and I said "We're from down south" and one of them said "Ummm... yeah we could sort of tell."

In a spirit of shameless cultural ambassadorship then (Jeff may one day be known as the Apostle to the Yankees) -- and in what is a bit more of an Easter spirit than my last Good Friday column -- let me commend two movies to your attention, both hailing from considerably below the Mason-Dixon line.

Junebug (2005) is just wonderful. Lovely ensemble acting by everyone -- touching and utterly truthful performances that are rooted in what PZ calls "reality." They are all good, but pregnant Amy Adams is more at the heart of the film than anyone else. Watch the Youtube clip and you'll see what I mean.


And, as a bonus, you'll get a chance to hear a version of "Softly And Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling" that will knock you out cold.

Rambling Rose (1991) is probably my favorite movie ever -- though that depends on what day you catch me. Laura Dern is the heart of it but she has this incredible cast of supporting actors: Diane Ladd, Robert Duvall, and Lukas Haas. Now you may not recognize that last name, but he's the same actor who played the little Amish boy who sees a murder in Witness (Harrison Ford). When he was 15 he played the other character at the heart of this movie, and he's stunning.

The other great thing about these movies is that they are Eminently Quotable. They've got some great lines, that is. Of course, what matters more is that they combine great dialogue with totally truthful content.

PS. If you have already seen either of these movies, do yourself a favor and see them again. You'll be glad you did.

Roose's Ruse

An article by Eric Tucker on today's AP wire discusses Kevin Roose, a young man who transferred from Brown University to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in order to write a book about his experience. In his recently released, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University, Roose describes how his stereotypes about the university as a hothouse of "hostile ideologues who spent all their time plotting abortion clinic protests and sewing Hillary Clinton voodoo dolls" eventually gave way to an amazing shift in his opinion of Christians.


Apart from the fact that the Liberty rulebook was unable to change everyone's dancing/dating habits, what is so encouraging about Kevin's account is his willingness to cross the divide and come into the 'enemy's territory', not to conquer him, but to understand him.

Financial Villains, Regulation, and St. Paul's understanding of the Law

In the review of the book “The Match King,” WSJ journalist, Chancellor, discusses how Bernie Madoff was not the first to commit fraud on Wall St (and will certainly not be the last!). The conclusion of his review echoes St. Paul's view of the law and its inability to engender what it commands.

“Regulation can do little to prevent this state of affairs (financial villainy, etc.) from repeating itself. Regulatory agencies were created to protect the world against future Ivar Kreugers (the Match King/1932 Financial Villain). Yet the same agencies failed to heed warnings about Bernard Madoff. Policymakers are now calling for new rules that, they say, will prevent future crises. The tragic, timely story of "The Match King" suggests that this is wishful thinking.”

From Romans 8:3- "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."

Mockingbird

The Appeal of Susan Boyle

Within a week it seems that Susan Boyle has become a world-wide sensation. Last weekend I was over at a friend's house when someone put on the youtube clip and all 15+ of us were mesmerized by her surprisingly angelic voice. She was featured last week on Mockingbird and nearly everyone who watched the video commented that they were touched, speechless, or tearful.

Now a week later, people are beginning to take a step back and wonder why there so much fuss over an unemployed woman from Scotland.

Andy Crouch, the editor of Christianity today said this: "It offers a picture of our age’s übercynical critics surprised by joy. It gives a glimpse of the creative capacity latent in who knows how many lives. And perhaps therefore it gives us a glimpse of the embodied glories that await us, the grace that waits just around the corner of our hopes and fears."

Entertainment Weekly uses the Boyle phenomenon to shame Americans for its preference of style over substance, pointing to Britian music stars such as: David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Van Morrison, and Adele.

A USA Today article breaks it down into several categories:
guilt - "when we see [our] judgments were premature, we overcompensate by going so far the other direction"
-
hope - "we want to believe in something higher, that there's meaning in life and that the ugly duckling can become the beautiful swan."
-
distraction - Life's hard right now, and "this was a feel-good/underdog story"
-
empowerment - If she can do it, I can do anything...
-
authenticity - "she is perceived as the real deal... People want their idols to be authentic." ,

In a sense, these categories are all the expression of the same thing. I'd suggest that a recent CNN article by Peter Bregman hit the nail on the head when it suggested that Susan Boyle's popularity is really a form of abreaction (Mockingbird's new favorite term):

"But there's something else Susan Boyle awakens in us as we watch her come out of her shell: our own selves. Who among us does not move through life with the hidden sense, maybe even quiet desperation, that we are destined for more? That underneath our ordinary exterior lays an extraordinary soul? That given the right opportunity, the right stage, the right audience, we would shine as the stars we truly are?"

We know ourselves to be plainly average and, like Susan Boyle, wish to be a "diamond in the rough." This Cinderella Story appeals to our hope and longing for true authencity and ability to transcend our finititude. Susan Boyle stands before the judgment seat of Simon Cowell and leaves him speechless. It unearths our own feelings of condemnation and the hope that we can avoid such judgments ourselves.

The hope of Susan Boyle is not that we too can be Susan Boyle. Susan Boyle cannot provide what she promises and what we hope to be true. We are not Cinderella. We are not all special. The wheel in the sky keeps on turnin and we still can't make it through today.


Yet on the day that true love died (see Phil Wickham), we are freed from condemnation and seen by God as already perfect. The hope of Susan Boyle in a small way points to our only hope: the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Wisdom Of W. Axl Rose, pt 1

On the misuse of God's Law and the importance of a low Ecclesiology: "I was brainwashed in a Pentecostal church. I'm not against churches or religion, but I do believe, like I said in "Garden of Eden," that most organized religions make a mockery of humanity. My particular church was filled with self-righteous hypocrites who were child abusers and child molesters. These were people who'd been damaged in their own childhoods and in their lives. These were people who were finding God but still living with their damage and inflicting it upon their children. I had to go to church anywhere from three to eight times a week. I even taught Bible school while l was being beaten and my sister was being molested. We'd have televisions one week, then my step-dad would throw them out because they were satanic. l wasn't allowed to listen to music. Women were evil. Everything was evil. I had a really distorted view of sexuality and women. I remember the first time l got smacked for looking at a woman."

On the genesis of GNR and the bondage of the will: “I have a lot of damage, and I’m not saying that like ‘Oh, pity me’ or anything. Instead of being myself, I was definitely a product of my environment, and that was something [GNR] has thrown back in the world’s face. ‘You don’t like us? [Shame on] you! You helped create us! Your ways of doing things helped make sure we exist the way we are.’ We didn’t have a choice to exist any other way.”

On the appeal of GNR and the role of Abreaction in Heavy Metal: "There’s a lot of people involved in rock n roll who were running from something. They got involved with drugs and alcohol to help ease the pain. A large portion – probably the majority – of rockers and metal fans are damaged people who are trying to find some way to express themselves. They can relate to the anger, the pain, the frustration of the band that’s performing.”

Following Into the Dark...Death Cab and a Cry for Love that Casts Out Fear

If you have never heard Death Cab for Cutie's single, "I Will Follow You Into The Dark," then you are missing out. The chorus is haunting, but it was the second verse that caught my attention:

In catholic school, as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son, fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

If I were told that fear is the heart of love, I wouldn't have gone back either. I wouldn't be a priest and I have no idea where I would be today or what I would be doing. Statements like that are so crushing. I feel the message of the gospel is clear when it says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment." (1Jn 4:18)

He Heard the Music. . .

Happy 30th Birthday to our fearless founder, David Zahl. Without his (and Cate's) initial vision, commitment, sacrifice and a (seemingly inexhaustible) passion for all things Beach Boys, we would be up the Mockingcreek without a Mockingpaddle. On top of that, thanks to him, we're all just a little bit cooler.

And no, he doesn't look a day over 29:)



Happy Birthday Dave.

Goodness Kills Love

At all events when, after many hours, the door was opened and people thronged in, they found the murderer unconscious and in a raging fever. The prince was sitting by him, motionless, and each time that the sick man gave a laugh, or a shout, he hastened to pass his own trembling hand over his companion's hair and cheeks, as though trying to soothe and quiet him. But alas he understood nothing of what was said to him, and recognized none of those who surrounded him.

If Schneider himself had arrived then and seen his former pupil and patient, remembering the prince's condition during the first year in Switzerland, he would have flung up his hands, despairingly, and cried, as he did then: "An idiot!"
- From Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot

Jacob Smith's wonderful entry about a theology of the cross vs. a theology about the cross last week inspired some fresh thinking about what is (to me) a familiar subject. Familiarity does not exactly mean exhaustive knowledge, however. Indeed, it is sufficiently counter-intuitive so as to demand a lifetime of contemplation and living to connect with its meaning. So if only for my own benefit, I would like to explore this idea of the "theology of the cross" once more.

You have heard it said here that "judgment kills love and love births goodness". I would like to add this sub-header to that maxim: Goodness Kills Love. You may ask, “How can what is good in this world kill love?” I would, in turn, point you to Thesis 4 of Martin Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation: “Although the works of man always appear attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins.”

The understanding of this actually lies in the 3rd chapter of Genesis: But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5) The reality of mankind’s condition of self-justification and self-deification does not need biblical support to be proven empirically and finally. The Bible simply and truthfully says what exists. It is this condition of self-deification that takes whatever is available and distorts it as a means to justify oneself before some perceived jury of peers or some other concoction of the subconscious. Most commonly, it is a sense of victimhood that suggests an inherent goodness.

What triggered my renewed thinking about this is a woman I know in the Midwest whose husband had been unfaithful. Old story, I know, but it is not some common societal abstraction to the one who suffers through it. In any case, there was a divorce and now the woman hates her ex-husband. And it is a palpable hate that radiates and can physically be felt. It has infected the children of the marriage and the father has been utterly destroyed and exists today in an equally palpable despondency. The transgression has opened the floodgates of consequence and life has stripped bare the preposterous veneer of self-justification.

Ironically, the offender or violator is in the position of being the one for whom Christ came to save. A miserable offender. On the other hand, the victim (or the one who sees herself as justified) is the very one about whom Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken.” (Luke 13:34-35a)

In his earlier entry, Smith noted: “Therefore, a theology of the cross, as opposed to simply inoculating our conscience to sin and our own culpability in it, finds us guilty of the sin that we have committed, and states that we should be justly condemned for it, while at the same time stating our penalty has been paid for and we are 100% forgiven.”

For the one who is good or the one who is justified, the idea that WE should be forgiven is an affront! The victim who comforts and gently caresses a murderer is an idiot! With goodness aided by its worldly ally justice, love is killed and the world wastes away with a clenched fist and a finger on the button of the electric chair.

It can simply be said that one loves and shows compassion to the exact degree that he has been loved and has been shown compassion. Everyone on this planet is a candidate for unmerited favor or “grace”. Goodness is an obstacle to grace and the theology of the cross creates love.

Bart Ehrman on The Colbert Report

Old news by now, but great nonetheless [thanks, Jake!]:

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The Gravity of the Law

In a recent Atlantic.com article entitled Class Dismissed, Sandra Tsing Loh, through a book review of Paul Fussell’s Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, offers an interesting analysis of the current financial situation which, in and of itself, is an interesting and entertaining read.

However, for our purposes, it works better as (yet) another example of how an attempt to craft a particular identity for onesself through conscientious consumption (biodiesel anyone?)--what is known theologically as relying on "works of the law"--is not only futile, but ultimately leads to disillusionment, despair and, whats worse, debt.

Here are a few quotes to jump-start a conversation at your next cocktail party, sales convention or rodeo:

The Argument:
"Fussell argued that although Americans loathe discussing social class, this relatively new, rugged country of ours did indeed have a British-style class system, if less defined by money than by that elusive quality called taste."

The Attempted Solution:
"[nevertheless] Fussell believed in an escape pod from his tyranny of classhood: residence in a special American psycho-emotional space called “category X.” . . . [which] were essentially bohemians, the young people who flocked to cities in search of “art,” “writing,” and “creative work,” ideally without a supervisor. Xs disregarded authority; they dressed down on every occasion; they drank no-name liquor (“Beefeater Gin and Cutty Sark Scotch betray the credulous victim of advertising, and hence the middle class”); they wore moccasins and down vests (in 1983, Fussell considered L.L.Bean and Lands’ End natural X clothiers); they carelessly threw out, unread, their college alumni magazines.

Roger that. Even today, I think one’s relation to one’s alma mater is fraught with haute-bourgeois peril. In descending order of coolness are:

1. Dropped out of prestigious college;

2. Graduated from prestigious school, never bring it up unless asked—then as joke;

3. Graduated from prestigious school with honors, bring up quickly, no irony;

4. Graduated, have become garish, cheerful head of alumni booster committee.

The Result:
"But perhaps these times of hardship will see a return of the true bohemian, as in the days when the Left Bank was actually squalid. Stylistically, some artistic people are returning to thrift chic (either Goodwill retro wear, or something akin to the party a girlfriend threw recently called “Bitch Swap,” where you trade around the rags you’re tired of). Surely now the honestly eco-conscious will lead a bold return to—gasp!—tap water. (Because what’s worse for the environment than drinking water … out of plastic bottles … flown in from Fiji?) As Starbucks stores close around us, what’s more nostalgically amusing than Folgers Crystals? To save gas money, I’d forecast a mass movement from cars to cruiser bikes, but for that you must live in a groovy, bike-friendly (expensive!) city. However, listen for poignant, witty Frank O’Hara stories about transformative experiences that occur on public transportation (in the rain), on This American Life.

As Borders stores shutter, perhaps we’ll see a reflowering of public libraries. In any case, unable to secure those astronomical loans, more Xers will have to start rubbing shoulders with The Other, living in truly mixed neighborhoods, next door to such noncreative types as Kohl’s-shopping back-office workers and actual not-yet-ready-for-their-close-up-in-Yoga- Journal immigrants. More members of a once-creative class may now have to live like immigrants, if not 12 to a single-family home, at least with roommates, or other family members—and not necessarily one’s favorites. Speaking of which, even the self-actualized may not be able to afford the heady liberation of divorce. Get the Rick Warren tapes out! Enlightened women may have to stay not just married but in for the night—what with restaurants being so unaffordable, home life will be all about the hearth, the candlelight, the guitar (and not a vintage Les Paul)."

4.5 Links 4 The Weekend

1. That Phil Spector lost his case came as no surprise to many of us. Still, as a long-time Spector fan/fanatic, the whole thing has hit me rather hard. Let us not forget that in 2002 he told a reporter, "to all intents and purposes I would say I'm probably relatively insane, to an extent...I have devils inside that fight me. And I'm my own worst enemy." The best segment I've seen on it is here.

1a. Oddly enough the news arrived the same week that the long-awaited Beatles reissues were announced (due 9/9/09) and one day before George Harrison finally got his Hollywood Star. I consider All Things Must Pass not only Harrison's greatest achievement, but Spector's as well.

2. Go over to Confessing Evangelical to read a flattering and insightful response to our very own Jacob Smith.

3. Inspired by Susan Boyle, I've spent much of the week abreacting to the pure 200-proof Law/Gospel of Les Mis. You have to admit, Sean Connery makes a pretty great Jean Valjean...

4. This week's Mockingbird Meeting tackled the worthy subject of Batman (aka the fictionalized Michael Jackson - unbridled self-deification flowing out of a profoundly traumatic childhood). Say what you will about the Joker, but his take on human depravity and the bondage of the will are undeniably more Mbird-friendly than Batman's.

Late-edition 4a. Bono's NYTimes Easter column is worth a read.

Fear of Sitting Quietly

Why fear gnosis? For it is but "knowing".

If Jesus Christ is the Way, it's truth and it's life, then surely the end of knowledge points to this.

I believe that it does point to this. I also believe that Buddha brought the Way and is the truth.
Surely you are! The point of Zen is to wake up to what actually is. Do we not proclaim Jesus Christ? Every moment?

Every moment we are dying and being born anew. Mockingbird is empirical evidence of this! And it daily reminds me of this.

Love according to C.S. Lewis

By far, Lewis' best book (IMHO) is the book he wrote while abreacting the death of his beloved wife, entitled A Grief Observed. The following is his understanding of Mr. Magoo, er.... love.


"For this is one of the miracles of love; it gives... a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted. To see, in some measure, like God. His love and His knowledge are not distinct from one another, not from Him. We could almost say He sees because He loves, and therefore loves although He sees."

How To Make A Funeral More Depressing

There was a thought-provoking piece on NPR this morning about the rising popularity of "non-religious" songs being chosen for funerals. Interestingly, the song at the top of the list was Sinatra's "My Way". Here are the lyrics:

My Way
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

This is not at all a commentary on Sinatra himself, but the thought of this song playing at the end of someone's life (especially the last stanza) is more than a little depressing to me. The thought of rocking out to some savory "non-religious" tunes at my funeral, however, is a fine thought indeed!

So I'm just wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for a song that celebrates Love or resurrection, rather than my unfortunate legacy of "doing it my way". For me I'm thinking something by my hero, Billy Joel. And since he seldom writes any songs that relate to anything I believe in, I think I'd go with "Only The Good Die Young" because it would be funny (at any age) or "Movin' Out" just because it's an awesome song. Unfortunately, "River of Dreams" (which may actually be about resurrection) is kinda lame. Forgive me Billy.

The Stones Cry Out, Pt 1

1. "Saint Of Me" from the otherwise lackluster Bridges To Babylon. Without a doubt the highlight of their dirty-old-men phase and as far as I know the only Stones song that namedrops Paul, Augustine, Jesus, John The Baptist and Herod. (Thank you, AZ!) Remarkable:



2. "Joy" from Jagger's underrated 2001 solo record Goddess In The Doorway. A straight-up Gospel duet with Bono and Pete Townshend. Do I smell a conversion...?

'Twelve Angry Men' Produced in a Lebanese Prison and Everyone Abreacts

From a Wall Street Journal Theater Review:

Every Sunday for four months, inmates from the all-male prison, Roumieh, have performed an Arabic version of Reginald Rose's "12 Angry Men" (interspersed with their own music and personal testimonials). The actors are rapists and murderers. The prison's other inmates include the top al Qaeda convicts and leading suspects from Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination.

The play's director is a woman from the outside, a non-inmate, and every week 200 people crowd into a small room in the Lebanese prison to watch the production. The audience consists of many people who have never been inside a prison. The play is performed in a black-box setting where the audience is right up close to the prisoners, and at times during the show, prisoners/actors pop out of the audience as a part of a scene. Remember the scene in the play when one of the jurors pulls out a pocket knife and stabs it into the table? This scene, too, is presented - although the knife used in this version: a butchers knife. The prison's electricity often cuts out during the production, and the director shouts "Blackout! Stay where you are," and then when the electricity comes back on, the play starts back up again....

My main point here is that EVERYONE is abreacting!! EVERYONE in the play and watching the play is releasing major emotions because of/through the play. There are incredible Gospel reactions: the prisoners are experiencing freedom and the audience is experiencing guilt.

A few quotes from the folks involved (the first being a priceless Dorothy Martyn-esque one from the director):

From the Director: "The Lebanese system, based on the French Napoleonic Code, has no trial by jury. Ms Daccache (the director) says the actors call 12 Angry Men 'fantasyland' because the play's event couldn't take place in Lebanon."

From an actor: "I hugged my mother for the first time in 18 years today. We're not allowed physical contact during normal visits. Until I joined this project, I had no friends, no hope. Since age 17, I'm serving a life sentence for murder..."

Another actor's testimony described by the WSJ writer: "...a convicted rapist tells his story, apologizes for the damage he caused everyone and himself. He didn't know any better, he says. He was a street boy and joined a militia as a kid for survival's sake."

From the audience: "By evening's end, the crowd is on the side of the performer-inmates, even though many admit their crimes during the various extratextual scenes."

More audience: "An older thespian swathed in silk scarves thanks the players, chokes back tears and says: 'You are not the only prisoners- we are prisoners in our country, in the whole region. You are us. We are you.'"

Osteen: Great Smile, Crushing Theology

Pastor Joel Osteen is, in the words of (fake) fashion icon Mugatu (played by Will Ferrell in Zoolander), “so hot right now.” The 46-year-old pastor heads America’s largest church, the Houston-based Lakewood Church, with 43,000 people in attendance per week. His 2004 book, Your Best Life Now, was a New York Times bestseller, as was his 2007 Become a Better You. He is hugely popular and hugely influential. Many people at the church where I work read his books, watch his shows, and listen to his sermons. He’s a really likable guy.

Steven Waldman, the founder and editor of Beliefnet.com, the Internet’s “largest faith and spirituality website,” recently interviewed the always-perfectly-coiffed Osteen, providing the good people of Mockingbird a lot of food for thought. (The article appeared here in Monday’s Wall Street Journal.)

Here are two noteworthy Osteenisms:

"I believe that when you think of the negative, and you get up discouraged -- there's nothing good in my future -- I really believe it almost ties the hands of God. God works where there's an attitude of faith. I believe faith is all about hope."

"I believe God's keeping the records, and I believe you will be rewarded even in this life. Somehow, some way, God will make it up to you. It may be He protected you from an accident you never knew. You can't give God something without God giving you more in return, whether it's peace or joy or satisfaction."

How should we respond? I’ll keep it short and simple. Osteen’s articulation of Christianity is totally conditional: Think good thoughts, and good things will happen to you. Think bad thoughts, and bad things will happen to you. You pull the lever, God gives the prize.

The problem with this is twofold. First, this conditional relationship makes you more powerful than God. The level of your faith determines God’s ability to act in your life. The idea that my mental state could, as Osteen says, “tie God’s hands” is frightening. I don’t want that much power. (Although, Osteen puts this in a pretty package, one that ultimately appeals to the ego.)

Second, Osteen’s conditional Christianity gives people an impossible task. Just stay positive? What about the very real bondage many people are in? The human condition, described in the Bible, is that “no one seeks God”—rather, we are bound to seek our selves, our own good. To tell bound people, people enslaved to compulsive self-destructive behavior, to just change their thinking is dead-on-arrival.

In the Bible, God is seen as a Savior—someone who rescues people when they are at their worst, not when they are thinking positive thoughts. St. Paul met Jesus while he was still “breathing out murderous threats” against Christians. In Acts 27:20, St. Paul and St. Luke “abandoned all hope of being saved” in a storm at sea, before Paul comes to his senses and affirms God’s presence with him. In Matthew 26, Peter denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus went to the cross to save him (and everyone else). In the Old Testament, God chooses Israel not because of their greatness and strength, but because of their smallness and weakness.

So if you have total control of your mental outlook, and if you are able to always do the right thing, Osteen’s your man. However, if you are frustrated, tired, unable to do the thing you ought to do, I suggest you look to Jesus.

PS--the real question is: Why is Osteen so popular? Thoughts?