Waving or Drowning?

Where Was I?

Just sitting here watching A Closer Walk (about HIV/AIDS) on PBS, and thinking about this comment that came in a One.org email this morning:

Laura from Texas writes:

“I believe the fight against AIDS and global poverty is the fight of our generation. I recently asked my father where he was during the American Civil Rights movement, and if he felt a pull to be involved. As I listened to his answer, I thought, "What will my children hold me accountable for?" In the years to come, when my children ask me what I did to fight AIDS in Africa and how I tried to keep millions from needlessly dying of poverty, I want to have an answer. A real answer. This is the fight of my generation, and I will not pretend I don't understand what devastation will occur if I do not act. The ONE Campaign gives me a voice in this most important battle, and I intend to use it.”

Free Derek Webb

I've been meaning to write about how much Derek Webb's album Mockingbird has impacted my thinking over the last month or two. If you've been hanging around here for that time you've read some of Derek's lyrics, and my take on them. I wanted to write so much more, but alas, the time is getting away from me.

Suffice to say that as of tomorrow you can download the album for free.

Why would an artist give his work away? Here's how Derek puts it:

i love music. i have grown up with music as a close confidant. and i believe in the power of music to move people. there’s something remarkable about the way a melody can soften someone to a new idea.

as an artist (and often an agitator), this is something i am keenly aware of. my most recent record ‘mockingbird’ deals with many sensitive issues including poverty, war, and the basic ethics by which we live and deal with others. but i found that music has been an exceptional means by which to get this potentially difficult conversation going. and this is certainly an important moment for dialogue amongst people who disagree about how to best love and take care of people, to get into the nuances of the issues.

one of the things that excites me most about the future of our business is how easy it is becoming to deliver music to people who want to hear it. i heard a story once about keith green caring so much that people were able to hear and engage with his music that he gave it away for free, which was a very difficult and expensive thing to do at that time. it’s actually never been as simple as it is today to connect music with music fans. and i want people to have a chance to listen to mockingbird and engage in the conversation.

so this is why, on september 1st, we’re launching freederekwebb.com, a place where anyone can go online and not just hear but actually download, keep, and share ‘mockingbird’ completely for free. In addition, freederekwebb.com will give you an opportunity to invite your friends to download ‘mockingbird’ in order to get them in on the conversation as well.

we hope this bold campaign will provide a jumping off point for conversations about all of these issues, and communicate my commitment to playing my part in starting them. so please help us spread the word: on september 1st, ‘mockingbird’ will be set free!

Some of you will love it, some of you will hate it. Either way, we can talk about it. So join the conversation, spread the word, and tomorrow... download the album.

A Heretic's Guide... to Chapter 2

Wow... I have been really bad at keeping up with these posts. I'll try to make up for it in the next few days. No promises though.

Section One
Questioning Grace: The Future of Faith

Chapter 2: Grace Beyond Religion

More discussion of religion, and more thoughts that really resonated with me.

Part of my journey has been to (re)discover the beauty of mystery. Like a lot of Christians, I was raised in a system that didn't really know what to do with unanswered questions. Actually, it didn't know what to do with questions at all, so generally it didn't allow them.

Questions indicated doubt, and doubt was not faith.

As Spencer and Barry put it, "the desire to have our religions cover every aspect of human life is so strong that even when the sacred texts are silent, we'll find a way to make a connection." (28) So we continue to add to the system of religion, to build into answers, and build out of it questions. But, it never works. "When life takes an unexpected turn or throws too many curve balls, these systems are revealed for what they are: finite attempts to capture the infinite." (28)

Of course, when one rejects a religious system, the danger is we will throw the spiritual baby out with the bathwater:

"Indeed, the challenge of moving beyond religion is to go beyond wallowing in some sort of postmodern spiritual narcissism. For me, this temptation is remedied by remaining deeply committed to the teachings of Jesus." (36)

Me too, although I might need to change the word "remaining" to "becoming." Religion, to me, was the box that the teachings of Jesus came in, and I think we spent more time admiring and worshiping the box than we did exploring its contents.

A final thought from this chapter: The authors win me over with the statement that "[i]n the twenty-first century, Christianity reflects the culture it finds itself in--consumerist, materialist, and corporate." (44) They then go on to quote Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, whose writing I used extensively in my papers this summer, and who I quoted just last week at Cultivate.

Religions are pre-packaged and marketed, so now we find ourselves with Brand Christianity, which brings us right back the idea of mystery. Brands and products have features and benefits, not unanswered questions and mysteries. Like the authors, I believe "[w]e need to present the message of Jesus outside of Brand Christianity. We need to present grace in such a way to generate genuine wonder and amazement."

Amen.

Previous Post(s):

A Heretic's Guide... to the Foreword

A Heretic's Guide... to Chapter 1

A Heretic's Guide... to Chapter 1

White Water Adventure

Just for the heck of it, yesterday Pete and I rafted down the Thompson to where it joins the Fraser at the town of Lytton. Why not? The highlight would be jumping out of the raft and running one rapid hanging onto the side. Yes, on purpose.

The other point of interest would be rafting under the offending trestle and watching workers vacuum up the spilled coal from the Lytton derailment earlier this month. 5 cars still under water.

A great day, and we lived to tell.

Celebrity... and Stars That Shine

From previous posts you can infer some of my thoughts on the phenomenon of "celebrity". I think our need for icons is a sorry commentary on the state of society, as well as a hint of our desire for the Kingdom, for the true Hero.

But every once in a while a celebrity comes along who makes me smile. Invariably they demonstrate a simple pattern:

A. They acknowledge that celebrity status is absolutely ridiculous, then

B. They determine to use this "currency" for the benefit of humanity.

I've just added Matt Damon to the list.

A star determined to shine on Africa
Like his pal Brad Pitt, Matt Damon is coming to the Toronto film festival and wants to make his celebrity count for something charitable

SIMON HOUPT
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

NEW YORK — 'It's the most pointless thing," says Matt Damon, speaking of fame. "If not for something like this, if it can't be used to try to shine some light on some issues, what could celebrity possibly be for?"

Read the rest here.

Official Archived Coverage of AIDS 2006 Available

Well, the crowds have gone home, the banners have come down, and Steve has crept back below the tree line, so AIDS 2006 must be over and done with. Those interested in accessing the incredible amount of information and media generated during the conference will want to take note of the following email I received from the good people at the Kaiser Foundation:

We want to thank you for choosing kaisernetwork.org to provide you with official coverage of the XVI International AIDS Conference earlier this month. Archived, online coverage of AIDS 2006: XVI International AIDS Conference is now available from kaisernetwork.org in partnership with the International AIDS Society.

Archived coverage includes:

• Webcasts and transcripts of each day's sessions, including the opening and closing sessions, all plenary sessions, and selected other sessions and press conferences;
• French, Spanish, and English audio podcasts of select sessions; 
• Slide presentations from select sessions;
• Daily narrated video highlights;
• Interviews with newsmakers and journalists summarizing conference developments; and
• Special coverage of select sessions as well as news summaries from international media in the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report.

The coverage can be accessed at any time at: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2006  Archived coverage of the 2004 and 2002 International AIDS Conferences is also available.

To follow HIV/AIDS news and developments, subscribe to theKaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, a free daily email and online report about the pandemic's economic and epidemiologic effects, research breakthroughs, and prevention and treatment initiatives. Read today's report at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv and sign up for the free daily or weekly email at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/email.

Thank you!

Move Along

B.C. bylaws targeting homeless face court challenge
SHANNON KARI
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — Should municipalities have the right to make it illegal for people to sleep in public spaces if there isn't enough shelter space for the homeless in the community?

The criminalization of poverty continues. Read the rest here.

It occurs to me that this is an excellent (and unfortunate) example of the inverse of what we've been talking about with justice and mercy (scan the linked post for definitions.) On the level of mercy, none is being shown. And on the level of justice--well, that's another story. Instead of looking to see what systems are contributing to the problem of homelessness, we're in fact designing new systems (such as these bylaws) which only compound the problem. (I say "we" because if we live in cities with such bylaws and do not speak out against them, then we are complicit...)

David to Africa

Today we had some HUGE news from our friend and fellow whatever-ite David! (And a good call it was on the part of World Vision. That dude is so talented.)

And I can say I knew him when...

Robert on The More Things Change

(Mike's note: Our friend Robert came across an interesting quote the other day...)

Great minds think alike:

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering, Nuremberg

So maybe W does read history after all.

Religion vs. Transcendence

I left this as a comment on a recent post of Jordon's over on the Resonate blog. It's one of those things that just popped out of my head without much thought, and now I'm going to sit with it for a bit. See what you think:

I think the search for religion drove our parent's generation to church, and the search for transcendence is driving ours (and others younger than us) from it.

(Additional thought: I'm not a big believer in the generational divide implied here, but it does tie in with the original post from Brian McLaren that Jordon was commenting on.)