letters on a screen

"If I did not believe, if I did not make what is called an act of faith (and each act of faith increases our faith, and our capacity for faith), if I did not have faith that the works of mercy do lighten the sum total of suffering in the world, so that those who are suffering on both sides of this ghastly struggle somehow mysteriously find their pain lifted and some balm of consolation poured on their wounds, if I did not believe these things, the problem of evil would indeed be overwhelming."
----Dorothy Day

I have to agree with this quote and hope that somehow on this trip during the summer that our prayers will be effect even though we may not see direct results, and that our interactions with people will show the love of Jesus, even though we may never see any change while we're there. God is big, and I have to keep remembering that He is continually drawing people to Himself all the time, even when I don't realize it.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

I just read a great article at over on Relevant Magazine's site, and I was just struck by how similar it is to my last post. Interesting. To quote the author:

"When did the politics of prayer become more important than helping the poor? When did legislating about evolution on a state level become more important than living according to God's tenant of loving your neighbor as yourself? I'll tell you when. It happened when we found out it was really hard to do those things. We had developed enough political strength in numbers and fervor for the things that don't matter. We had not found the way in our hearts for the things that do matter. "

Wow. Check out the article here.

I leave for Amarillo tomorrow, and I can't tell you how glad am I to be leaving. Not that Amarillo is that great, and I definitely am not looking forward to the agony that is support raising-- but I am just burnt out and tired of "Christianity" in this town. The whole culture we have attempted to create around our self-made idea of what the church is hasn't helped the gospel-- it's hurt it.

I don't want to launch into a long tirade on here, but suffice it to say I'm just tired of all the hypocrisy. And yes, I'm probably one of the biggest hypocrites, which is even more frustrating.

Questions:
Where did Jesus say create your own Christian culture in the world?
When did standing up for righteousness become more important than loving people?
When did the "good-news" shift from a relationship w/ Jesus to a method of behavior control?

I could go on and on. Sorry for such a "down" post, but I've just been frustrated with what is being paraded around as "Christianity" here.

Growing up in the typical evangelical tradition meant that Sundays were anything but "a day of rest." While yes, many times I would fit in a nap on Sunday afternoon, waking up early and having your day sandwiched between church services does little to actually provide rest.

Things are different now. I usually wake up to no alarm on Sunday, sleeping as late as I want to. After that I wake up and fix myself something for breakfast. I then shower and head up to Coffee Station. For some, spending the afternoon at the coffee shop may sound boring and tiresome, bringing back memories of weekend cram sessions in college. But for me, it's a very relaxing time.

I'll usually get some sort of coffee drink, and then begin to read the Sunday edition of the New York Times. This usually takes about 2 hours-- and those 2 hours are 2 hours I really, really enjoy. Somehow over the past couple of years I've become an avid newspaper reader. It was probably a combination of things: the "free" subscription to the local paper, The Eagle, that we somehow managed to get my senior year of college (i.e. the paper just kept getting delivered to us, day after day, even though we had never signed up for it or paid anything), the lack of TV watching that I've always done, the conflict over the Iraq war that made me much more interested in politics and current events, and the daily morning routine that I grew accustomed to working the 8-5 job. But I digress... regardless of how it all happened, I now love reading the paper. Living on such a tight budget, my subscription to the Times is one of the few guilty pleasures that I enjoy.

So I'll read the paper, and then usually log onto the internet like I am now. Blog something, or just read up on something I'm more interested in. Today I'm also going to be continuing to work on a support letter for this trip coming up in July.

Later in the afternoon/evening I'll squeeze in dinner sometime, and then go to church at Aldersgate, followed by our PGDG group. Both Aldersgate and PGDG have been very "life-giving" for me over this past year. With Aldersgate, it's really hard to pinpoint why I like that group so much and how exactly it's helping me. They aren't particularly hip or cool (not that they're uncool), and they don't do things drastically different from any other college or young adult group around here. What I do think separates them though is their willingness to be real. For the most part, I feel like people there don't put up fronts and are open and honest about their problems and weaknesses. The cliques seem few and far between, and regardless of how you view yourself socially, there is a value put upon you at that church. If nothing else, they have truly seen the value of community and how it is central in becomming the "body" Christ called us to be.

PGDG (or our Post-graduate dialogue group) has been an evolving source of joy for me. What started out as more of a group focused on dialogue over how we as Christians should respond to certain social issues has morphed into a group of friends who share a couple of commonalities: Jesus, and being out graduated in a city full of undergrads. Why the group has been effective is a mystery to me. But God is good and I'm so thankful for the community that He's given me among these people. I feel like I've learned a lot from each one of them, and grown so much in both the way I see the world and the way I relate to people. Yay for PGDG.

Perhaps my Sundays are so good because I get a little bit of everything I enjoy. Alone time to read and process my thoughts, time to pray and talk to Jesus, time to meet in community with other Christians to worship and enjoy God together, and time to interact with a small community of people who care about me and continually are challenging my positions and ways of thinking.

God, you have blessed me with so much, and I am forever grateful for all that I have in You.

There it is... sorry if it's hard to read. 

Many thanks to Matt Graham for this absolutely wonderful article. If you've ever been around Christian culture much, or even better, been to a Christian Music Festival, this is for you.

Some excerpts:

---Jerry Jenkins must blow his royalties on crack.


---I was a ways from the stage, but I could see well enough. Something started to happen to me. The guys in the band were middle-aged. They had blousy shirts and half-hearted arena-rock moves from the mid-'80s.

What was...this feeling? The singer kept grinning between lines, like if he didn't, he might collapse. I could just make out the words:

There's a higher place to go
(beyond belief, beyond belief),

Where we reach the next plateau,
(beyond belief, beyond belief)...

The straw slipped from my mouth.
"Oh, shit. It's Petra."


---In the midst of all this, I began to hear, through the shell of the twenty-nine-footer, Stephen Baldwin giving a talk on the Fringe Stage—that's where the "edgier" acts are put on at Creation. If you're shaky on your Baldwin brothers, he's the vaguely troglodytic one who used to comb his bangs straight down and wear dusters. He's come to the Lord—I don't know if you knew. I caught him on cable a few months ago, some religious talk show. Him and Gary Busey. I don't remember what Baldwin said, because Busey was saying shit so weird the host got nervous. Busey's into "generational curses." If you're wondering what those are, too bad. I was born-again, not raised on meth.



It's a great article.... I think you'll like it.

So for another post that is not near as important as political rants, but will get far more comments:

I really, really like the newer album by The Streets, "A Grand Don't Come for Free." Basically it's this British hip-hop guy who is doing a concept album about a day in his life. The title is talking about how he lost 1000 pounds and what he does the rest of the day.

I think I like it because it reminds me of being in England, and it's just fun to relate to all his frustrations that he goes through. And it's catchy.

I like this.... 

One of the things about having a blog is that it sparks you to think of things to write about. It seems like for everything I actually put down on here, there are about 5 other things that during the day crossed my mind sometime as being something good to blog about. Alas, they never seem to make it. So far recently it's been: an essay on why Shaun of the Dead is one of the greatest movies ever (seriously) and griping about our mingling of patriotism and theology in this nation. But, since I really don't feel like writing either one right now, I'll just point you to a few other things.

I do my best to keep the links on the right side of the page updated. I just added a few new music links, and the link to Jeff's blog is up as well. You should also check out the link entitled "Buy Jay Stuff!"... not so much because I want you to buy me things (although that's nice), but I think there are quite a few books on that list that look pretty good. You might find something new to read, or look into. Also, I've recently become addicted to Myspace... you might want to check that out as well.

Ok well... until I feel like blogging something of more depth... adios...

I think he's going to make a great pope. 

Jeff.... it's time to start a blog.

You need to, it would be fun to read.

Call it "Lessons from a corporate tool"..... haha.


No, seriously though, please do... we would all enjoy reading what's going on in your life.

Ok.... enough begging. Just do it.

If this is remotely true, then that is really upsetting. What in the world possesses people to be like this? It really pisses me off, to be honest. If you read that and have ever seen Control Room, it really makes you wonder if we are seeing the true side of all this Iraq stuff. And we wonder why they hate us? Hmm...

**************************************************

More about the interview Moby in Relevant. Here's a quote:

The problem, according to Moby, is that some of us have our priorities all wrong; Christians seem to be concerned about things that shouldn't merit that much attention. Homosexuality and abortion, he points out, are two examples of behavior often condemned by Christians but never addressed directly by Christ. But his favorite example is the outrage over Janet Jackson's wardrobe faux pas at Super Bowl XXXVIII, the same outrage defended by some of his conservative Christian friends. "[My friends say,] 'Well, you know with Janet Jackson and the Super Bowl, I think people are more offended with the direction our culture has taken.' And I'm like, 'Well, why not be offended by the Super Bowl? Why not be offended by the crass commercialism--that buying a new car is going to provide you with happiness and salvation? Why not be offended by the notion that grown men who beat the s--- out of each other get paid $15 million a year, while schoolteachers in the inner-city get paid $24,000 a year?' That's offensive. If we're going to start talking about things that are offensive, a bare breast is at the bottom of the list.
(p. 62, Relevant Magazine--Issue #14, May-June 2005)

Wow, I think he makes a good point. Here's another quote that I think addresses the same thing:

(This is a quote of an address given to a large group of Christian college students by Tony Campolo)

I have three things I would like to say today.
First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition.
Second, most of you don't give a shit.
What's worse than that, third, you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.
(Tony Campolo)

Are our priorities out of whack? Seriously, do you ever wonder if we, as the church, are getting upset over all the wrong issues?

Sometimes I wonder what Jesus would be more upset about: The fact that gays want to be married and have their marriage legalized by the government, or the way most Christians treat gays.

Again, where are our priorities?

It's much easier to see the speck in someone else's eye than to notice the log in your own, and it seems to be much easier now to point the finger rather than to love.

The new issue of Relevant magazine is out now, and it features Moby as the cover story. I never really thought an interview with Moby could be that interesting, but I really enjoyed their article on him. If you get a chance, pick up the magazine and read about his perspective on God and Christianity. I really enjoyed it.