:: in.a.mirror.dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

While working on one of the study guides for my theology book, I have rediscovered a fantastic book that has been on the shelf in our bedroom: The Wisdom of Daughters. This book is a collection of short essays by Christian feminists that addresses just about every issue and doctrine out there.

The articles were originally published in a magazine called The Daughters of Sarah, but dropped out of circulation in 1996. The Wisdom of Daughters is a great step toward preserving these voices.

I have been particularly impressed by an article weighing the challenges of theology in a postcolonial world. I’m about to go to bed, so I’ll do my best to paraphrase the gist of this.

First of all, in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, the West had a colonial approach to missions where the natives were perceived as knuckleheads who needed to worship God like Westerners. Native culture was attacked and tossed aside by Western Christians.

Today, Christians are repenting of their ways and trying to embody the Gospel message within a context, while still using the cultural language and customs in a positive way. Here is where things get sticky.

Every culture has its fair share of “knuckleheadedness,” and so Christians have the dual roles of working with the positive aspects, but challenging the negative aspects of culture. Patriarchy in South Korea and India came up as big problems for Christian theologians to confront when it comes to supporting women’s rights as part of the Gospel message.

I apologize for my horrible approximation. If you found it remotely interesting, I guarantee you will enjoy this book!

If you want to see why many people are turned off by Christianity, why Christians are leaving the church, and why Christians are increasingly irrelevant, see the documentary Jesus Camp. This film tells the story of a children’s pastor named Becky and several children who attend her summer camp for Christian families and children.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the film is the extreme guilt and pressure applied to these children. Julie and I were wondering if this children’s pastor actually likes children at all because all she did was talk about how serious they had to take God and how much the fate of our nation rested on them. It seemed that just about every five minutes she had the kids weeping and raising their hands.

Instead of preaching the love of God and the new life that comes through the Gospel, the pastor described the children as culture warriors who had to win America back to God. There is no room for phonies or compromise, there is no room for failure because our nation is depending on these children, most of whom aren’t older than 12 or 13.

Does that strike anyone else as completely messed up?

I’m all for intercession in prayer for more of God in America, and I’m all for teaching children to follow Jesus, but the heavy-handed, guilt-ridden gospel that pits these children against the secular tide is too much. There were absolutely painful moments as one poor little girl, bearing the guilt and demands of those around her, swallowed her fears and walked right up to strangers to share little Gospel tracts. Keep in mind that I have no problem with kids sharing what God has done for them, but her reasons were no doubt tainted by the pressure of adults.

I could go on. There’s the home school curriculum for Christian children that not only attempts to disprove evolution, but also teaches that global warming is a myth of the political left!!! I don’t know when disputing climate change ended up being a religious issue, but it is. I kept thinking, Christians are just eating out of the hands of Republicans.

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Back in August Julie and I heard an interview of Eugene Hutz, the front man for the gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello. The story of his life, growing up in the Ukraine, moving to Burlington, VT, and then starting his band in NYC, is fascinating, especially the part about his father’s tendency to hog the spotlight to the extent that Eugene didn’t know he was a talented singer until his high school years.

During the interview they mentioned that Hutz also has a major role in an independent film with Elijah Wood (Frodo that is) called Everything is Illuminated. Of course we had to see it.

This is a movie dealing with weighty, difficult issues that are significantly lightened by the cross-cultural blunders of Wood, an American Jew looking for his family roots in the Ukraine and Hutz, his translator who always picks the wrong words. For example, Hutz’s character asks Wood if he was “proximal” with his grandmother, or describes himself as carnal with the ladies. The search for Wood’s family is described as “rigid.” The dialogue is just right enough to be understood, but just wrong enough to be awkward.

Picking up on the road trip theme, Wood travels with Hutz, Hutz’s grandfather, and the grandfather’s “most officious seeing-eye bitch” dog named “Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.” And the best part? Hutz’s grandfather is the driver. Tension erupts during the journey when Wood alerts his guides that he does not eat meat. Hutz asks, “How about steak? Chicken? Not even sausage?” It’s just as wacky throughout the whole movie.

In the background of this blundering road trip is the heart-breaking tale of Wood’s family who escaped their primarily Jewish village that was devastated by the Nazis during World War II. It’s a story about cherishing one’s past, learning where we come from, and small relics of history that we exist to find.

There are two kinds of people on the covers of magazines in supermarkets: those whose lives are falling apart and those who have their act together. The majority of society hovers somewhere in-between, but never mind that for now. Have we stopped to think about this enormous contradiction between adoring competence and gawking at broken lives?

Divorce, unfaithfulness, pregnancy out of wed-lock, and marital disputes fill up half the magazine covers while tips for losing 5 pounds in 5 days, how to get the man of your dreams, and how to feel great about yourself are just a side panel on the positive, you-can-do-it-because-I-did-and-I-was-a-fat-loser-who-is-now-hot magazines.

What are we after with this mix of crazed and constructive? If only the makers of each magazine could send copies to the subjects of the other respective magazines, then perhaps we’d be getting somewhere. The perky perfect people would learn to live dangerously and do the occasional stupid thing so they have a good story to tell at their perfectly planned cocktail parties, and the overdosed celebrities would learn a little moderation and control. Can’t you feel the world getting better just by reading that idea?

I suppose it’s always comforting to read about people who are far more troubled than ourselves and at the same time to read about solutions to our problems that are so simple we can’t help but try and fail. It’s so much easier to pick up a magazine from the check out line, read the 3-page article about changing your life, and then making up excuses for why it didn’t help while reading about some stupid celebrity in a gossip magazine.

God’s solutions are something like this: give up and let me take over, but you can’t pick up something like that in the check out line of the supermarket. Even if God’s offer is free, it’s a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be easier to buy a candy bar and a magazine or two about changing your life?

Sometimes I wonder why most Christian worship music cannot hobble anywhere close to Delirious?: a band that has consistently produced quality records for years. With a fine mixture of songs that rock and songs with a gentle melody, Delirious? combines a passion worn on their sleeves with imaginative lyrics on their latest release: The Mission Bell.

Most Christian artists haven’t figured out how to really rock or how to slow things down without resorting to cheesy, sentimental melodramatic mush. If you listen to most Christian  lyrics, you’ll hear the same collection of words used in every other Christian song reshuffled, lest we confuse God by worshipping him with new metaphors and adjectives.

Just about every mainstream worship mix CD evidences this glaring deficiency, but fortunately Delirious? breaks the mold of Christian artist clones. Beginning with a simple, but powerful call to worship with “Stronger,” they jump right into the meat of the album with “Now is the Time,” a Christian pep rally neatly bundled into a fantastic song.

“Here I am Send Me” is a creative tour of God’s revelation throughout scripture with a strong application for today that manages to take a familiar concept and make it fresh. “Solid Rock” and “Our God Reigns” take older songs and completely revamp them, causing me to even forget that I’ve heard them countless times in church.

The momentum of the album comes to a head with “Paint the Town Red.” Though the metaphor is a bit grisly, it works well enough and the song is flat out one of the best I’ve ever heard from a Christian artist, taking the prize in the raw energy category for sure. I’m trying to make myself only listen to it once a day, lest I drive it into the ground.

Even if we still had telephones and electricity, I felt like I had entered the stone age at work yesterday when we couldn’t use our computers and our water was shut off. Water and computers have become the very bread and butter of life at an office. Without them we wander lost. Let me explain.

For many people working in an office, the computer has been as essential the telephone is in the home–and for some people as essential as a cell phone. Speaking for myself, all of my work is now on a computer. I very rarely print out documents and file them, especially because my physical filing system leaves much to be desired. The filing system on my computer on the other hand is excellent, and typically backed up on a CD.

When the computers had to stay shut off for roughly an hour or so yesterday, employees wandered about aimlessly. Some ate lunch (around 10:30 am) and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I could do without my computer, a task that consumed more time than accomplishing the work I dug up. When all else fails, the break room or kitchen is the best move.

But without water, we were stymied from social interaction around a cup of coffee. There was no water available to make it. And so the wanderers continued to make their rounds, while others shuffled through the bits of paper on their desks, looking for anything to do.  

Within a few hours the well was pumping water afresh and the computers were humming, and life was just as it should be. Nevertheless, our brief return to the “Stone Age” was a reminder of just how fragile our modern world can be.

I picked up NT Wright’s commentary on Romans 1-8 called Paul for Everyone at Otter Creek Bookstore last week. Besides bowing to the urge to use his name in a pun whenever I can, I always enjoy books from this insightful, chatty, and accessible series on the New Testament.

This past weekend was spent renovating my office, and during my breaks I snatched up Wright. As many fans of Wright know, he emphasizes the cultural/racial issues in the book of Romans. The unity of the Jews and Gentiles in Christ is a very important issue for Paul. Even if he’s even on theology throughout, Paul wasn’t just slamming down a heap of doctrine.

At the outset of Romans, Wright sets the stage in a way I’ve never quite thought of before. First of all, the Gospel came to Rome most likely through Peter, and a few Jews converted.

Then, all of the Jews were expelled from Rome for a few years, leaving any believing Gentiles as the only Christian gang in town. When the ban ended, the Jews returned to find a Gentile Christian church.

Enter tension.

It’s a familiar enough story-line. The parents leave, so to speak, the kids take over the house, and when the parents return there is conflict. The Jews probably returned to Rome and said, “What have you Gentiles done with this place?”

Though we mingle facts with speculation, such a context is helpful to keep in mind when reading one of the heaviest theological letters Paul ever rambled together.

Technorati Tags: Romans - Wright - Paul - Bible - commentary

Until Don Imus made disparaging and racist remarks about the Rutger’s University’s women’s basketball team, I knew nothing of the man or his radio/television show. Now his show has been dumped in part because the public deemed it so, but more likely because key advertisers threatened to drop out and the big corporations had to consider their financial situation. But that’s a cynical post for another day.

After making two pans of brownies (by the way, if you ever want to diet, bake all of the time so you know how much sugar and butter go into baked goods), I was scrubbing away at our few pots and pans that aren’t packed in boxes. I began thinking about ways for Imus to find redemption in the midst of this scandal. Apologizing is a good first step, but there has to be something that works for the long term.

I don’t know Don Imus or his show all that well, but here’s what I’m thinking. Imus’s gift is his voice. He used it to make veritable bushels of greenbacks for himself and for the big corporations. On occasion Imus held fundraisers on his show, and he poured a lot of money into his ranch for children.

Now, no matter how awful Imus’s remarks were, I think we all want him to come out of this changed and singing a different tune. I hope no one wants him to be ruined. So my thoughts for his redemption go along this line: use his voice, or radio show, for nothing but nonprofits, charities, and other social causes.

There are thousands of nonprofit organizations working for equity in housing, providing healthcare and other basic human services, tutoring, counseling, teaching, and building better communities. These groups are always in need of ways to get their messages out, and what better way than a radio show dedicated to such groups?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if Don Imus started over with this new show, and on the first episode he interviewed a group working for racial equality? And the best part is he could still have his fair share of controversy, the people who run nonprofits are typically advocates for a cause and they are usually not very shy.

It’s a pipe dream at best and a stupid musing on a Friday morning at worse, but if anything, I wanted to illustrate a possible scenario with repentance and redemption. I think it could really work in the long haul for Imus, but what do I know? I’m just a blogger with two trays of brownies and a bunch of clean pots and pans in the kitchen.

Technorati Tags: Imus - redemption - radio

It’s curious that the vast majority of the discussions regarding women in ministry do not spend more time on the Old Testament passages with women leaders. Scott McKnight listed these passages on his blog a few days ago: here.

233+ comments suggests that he’s struck on a very important topic . . .

 The other night we watched The Illusionist. I have never heard of it, but was quickly drawn into the story and dazzled by the camera work.

Set in Austria in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, an illusionist wins a tremendous following because of his seemingly supernatural powers. When his childhood love is engaged to the crown price, he turns his powers toward reuniting with her and attacking the prince.

This movie truly has all that I could have asked. The filming is so good that we actually rewound some scenes just to appreciate how well they were done. The characters are developed and believable, the dialogue and action flow, and the ending was perfect. I’d say more, but then I’d be guilty of spoiling the whole thing.

I recommend renting it because it’s so much more than a movie. It’s a good story that is artfully crafted.

Technorati Tags: illusionist - movie  

It helps to laugh at yourself sometimes.

In my early years as a Christian I struggled with anger and was generally kind of down. My headphones were on and Nirvana was blasting into my brain.

And then Philippians 4:8 came to mind:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.”

I took off the headphones, grabbed all of my secular music, and tossed it into the trash can. While I can’t say this for all of my music at the time, most of it–including Nirvana–fed my anger instead of relieving it. In other words, I viewed music in terms of its affect on my spirit. Add a conservative church that supported such a move into the mix, and you have my personal views on music for about eight years of my life.

About four years ago I began lightening up. And now I laugh at myself. I laugh because I was so naive to think secular music = bad and Christian music = good. There are such things as good and bad music, but these things can be found in both camps. I still believe that we should not knowingly pollute our minds with music that has ridiculously violent or sexually explicit lyrics, but the line between what’s acceptable and what is not has become gray in my estimation.

Today I listen to David Crowder and Neal Morse, but I have also added Johnny Cash and U2: two artists I would have never listened to five years ago. And that goes especially for U2 (In my opinion Bono is an acquired taste).

And now I’ll leave the rest open for comments.  : )

Technorati Tags: music - secular - christian - u2 - david+crowder - philippians

Steve Jobs says, “Let our music go!” in an open letter. According to NPR, the music industry won’t listen, but they probably should because of a 20% drop in profits in the industry.

Andrew Jones has been tracking the latest with the Ted Haggard scandal over at tallskinnykiwi: Haggard and Haggard and the Hazards of Hotels.

Enough has already been said about this issue by others. Andrew has some good content to ponder for sure, especially a comment by Will Samson:

Please pray for Ted Haggard and his family - Even if you do not agree with all of his politics, he is in the middle of a private hell that most of us cannot relate to. This is true whether the allegations are confirmed or not.

Mark Driscoll has some thoughts worth considering over at Resurgence, though some of them will be controversial (as usual).

With so much political, spiritual, and sexual chaos swirling about, I have decided to take a slightly different track. I think this tragic situation should be an immensely important lesson on leadership, the celebrity status of leaders, and what we expect of them.

Keep in mind that Haggard was the pastor of 14,000 AND the top guy at the National Association of Evangelicals. Either one is enough to cause a good man (or woman!) to crack. The two together sounds like a recipe for disaster. Even the saintly Bill Hybels had a break down as the pastor of Willow Creek Community Church.

I’m not saying that Christians can’t lead large organizations and remain pure. Billy Graham pulled it off. But his ministry was very focused on presenting the Gospel at certain events. He did other things for sure, but he was not a pastor of thousands AND an world-traveling evangelist.

Every person with power and pressure will be vulnerable to sin. Immorality abounds in Washington D.C. among our politicians, and even Martin Luther King Jr. had a mistress. Power and pressure do not equal sin, but they make it far more likely.

And this leads to my point: do we really need celebrity pastors of huge congregations? Are we expecting too much out of our church and parachurch leaders? I think we are.

Spencer Burke was a top pastor at a huge church in California when one day he broke down emotionally at a men’s retreat. He did not fall into sin. Spencer backed out before the stress and pressure ate him up.

He moved on to serve as an elder at Rock Harbor, another growing church in California. Sure enough the pastor of this large congregation had an affair. Is any of this starting to make sense???

In my view we can have pastors of large churches, but I agree with church planter Neil Cole who says that mega churches should not be the norm.

Small is beautiful and allows the church to distribute leadership more evenly. We can have paid pastors, but must also be wary of expecting too much from them. In the midst of the ruins surrounding Ted Haggard and his church, I pray that we can find new leadership models and church structures that do not set up pastors for break downs.

My absolute favorite pastel artist is showing her work at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Skye Forest is an award-winning pastel artist who has a fairly hectic job working with children.

Her paintings offer a counter-balance with some of the most serene, magical scenes you could ever imagine. They have an almost photographic quality, while also possessing something else that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Her latest batch of landscapes explore a wide variety of colors, including purple sunsets, golden fields, and the usual interaction with blue streams.

Though I do not seek out violent or depressing films, I am not a stranger to them. In fact, one of my favorites is Saving Private Ryan. This is not because I have a lust for violence, but because this film shoes war in all of its ignominy and asks important questions about the value of life.

Munich is another such film that confronts terrorism and counter-terrorism, showing the endless depravity that grips both sides. There are no heroes in this movie, only small pieces caught up in something far larger and more ruthless than they can ever imagine.

With a series of assassination attempts and murders, it is by far the most violent movie I have ever seen. It’s disturbing in many ways, but it has to be.

I have always been astonished by the endless circle of violence that is so easy to perpetuate. The Middle East is certainly caught in it and has been for some time. One of the main points of the movie was that with each assassination, another terrorist who is far more violent rises to replace the fallen leader.

The main Israeli assassin is confronted with this truth along with the approval of many at home. They see him as a patriot who is defending their country.

The final shot of the film shows the disillusioned main character standing in a park by himself with the twin towers looming in the background (remember this took place in the 70’s). That haunting scene is a challenge to the way in which we deal with terrorism.

Read more about Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli assassination campaign.