The Cycle of Revolution

There is a cycle that takes place when major shifts in individuals,  systems, and cultures are realized. The cycle appears to be universal, though its expression varies greatly by those involved and the terms of the upheaval. It is not always completed, though it appears that it eventually will happen. This is a mere postulation to consider.

Phase One: Rebirth
In this phase, a new reality has emerged. Most are pleased with its arrival, as it trumpets the end of a previously experienced system. Not all are thrilled with the change, but at this phase in the cycle, their attempts to shift the change are mere exercises in vanity. The new reality is present and active.

Phase Two: Routine
The full experience of the new reality has arrived, complete with all its good and bad. It is presumed to be normal and the way things should be. There are few if any critics, as the system is still new enough for little irritation to exist.

Phase Three: Rumblings
The few perceptive begin to realize the flaws in the routine. These are those with imagination, who are looking for more than good enough. These are the avant garde, but they are rarely those who express their awakening through prose. Rather, these are often the poets, artists, and prophets who first express themselves through the language of slant. As Emily Dickinson penned:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Cirrcuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—

So the artists imagine a world with the mold on the walls of the status quo washed away, leaving a refreshing new system of creativity. These on the bleeding edge of society must find ways to awaken a spirit of energy in the masses that cuts their numbness with the blade of improvement. Satiation begins to be realized by the masses who had indulged in the cup of the realized consciousness.

Phase Four: Rebellion
Having been awaken by the artists, a rumbling of uneasiness begins to spill over. Dry bones connect. Sand castles are washed away. Red Seas are crossed. Speeches of dreams are uttered. The masses become pregnant with promise. Marches of frustration begin. Defiance is the new cool. Voices get louder. Violence may erupt as fear of never tasting change begins to become overbearing. The anthems of the artists are hoisted onto the tips of everyone’s tongues as the masses are awakened to the reality of a new imagination.

Meanwhile,  not everyone is blowing with the winds of change.

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who would profit by the old order, only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new. — Machiavelli

Every Revolution has enemies who have no desire to see their empire of reality crumble. From the very birth of rumblings by the poets, they have done all they can to hush and silence the dissenting opinions through threats, negotiation, and violence. Now that the artists’ message has become effective, its adherents are enemies of the status quo. Soldiers are summoned. Prisons are filled. The sword is raised to threaten the masses to succumb to the fist of power the masses previously granted them.

Many lower their voices or quit what appears to be a mere rebellion. This the breaking point for the movement. Have they been awakened enough to ignore the royal scepter of the king, or will they settle back into the routine that they had so despised?

Phase Five: Revolution
Rebellion is not enough, for the people have imagined the fruit of their labor and believe the opportunity cost is too great to nestle back into the system their kings demand. Uncertainty is the tone of the movement as they officially storm the status quo and dismantle it. The artists who led to their awakening are met with a choice: become the leaders of the new order or fade into obscurity. The gatekeepers of the previous era are in shambles: some on trial, some imprisoned, some hanging from a noose in the town square, some assimilating, some grabbing for a piece of the new fruit under the guise of joining in with the new system, and few still uttering accusations that the new order is illegitimate. The rebirth has happened. And the cycle begins again.

Thanks to Walter Brueggemann for the inspiration, and the thousands of artists who are awakening the masses to the reality of Caesar’s system.

Formation by Worship

Church services across the world, as well as across history, take different forms. Some are flowered with large doses of shouting and dancing, while others are characterized more by a solemn atmosphere and are intentionally contemplative. At the same time, some of the most formative parts of church services are what those in the audience are invited to say out loud.

Some traditions have utilized a call-and-response format to have everyone participate in liturgies. Many Protestant churches (mine included) follow a format with particular speakers one-at-a-time, while the attenders will speak primarily when they are singing songs of worship. If this is the case, the words we sing are critical, as they are to be the declarations of the values and pursuits of the community.

While I cannot attest to being a worship leader, I believe that the messages of the songs worship leaders select are possibly more formative for members of a church than the message that is verbally spoken. People in this culture of illiteracy tend to remember the arts much easier than they remember a spoken or written word. Singing involves more senses for the lazy who opt not to study or memorize, and thus, it is more likely to form a person’s pattern of thinking much faster.

Need proof? We speak often of the phenomenon of a song getting “stuck in our heads,” or “ear worms” as researches call them. This isn’t just an odd thing – researchers at Dartmouth University have published incredible findings about this. Songs are trigger a part of the brian called the “auditory cortex.” Dartmouth learned:

When they played part of a familiar song to research subjects, the participants’ auditory cortex automatically filled in the rest — in other words, their brains kept “singing” long after the song had ended.

Certain songs get stuck in people’s heads for different reasons, though the primary reason, according to many researchers, is that the song contains thoughts that our brain is trying to suppress, but is unable to shut down. The melodies, rhythms, and meanings continue to play like a skipping record.

For the worship leader, the ability to have the themes of the Kingdom of God etched in the brains of worshippers can be incredibly formative. Couple this with something even more incredible: Those in the service aren’t just hearing the songs – they are also (presumably) singing them, as well. The use of multiple senses at once is a slam dunk way to cause a person to remember something more and to be formed by it much faster.

It is for these reasons that worship leaders must choose their themes very carefully (as, thankfully, ours do). Music (and perhaps video) has replaced literature as the dominant way our culture is formed. We must harness this fact in order to present an alternative culture for Christians to engage to reform God’s good world into what He had in mind from its foundation.

Lamentations

I recently listened to a speaker take several hours to relate how the book of Lamentations relates to everyday life today (this one message, for example). I could not help but nod my head at many points, but shake my head in dismay at others. Let’s be honest: Americans have lost the ability to grieve and weep. Let’s be more honest: We don’t usually like it when people grieve and weep.

Rembrant - Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem

Tradition says that several hundred years before the birth of Christ, a prophet named Jeremiah nestled into a cave to spend time alone. There, “The Weeping Prophet” spent an agonizing time sobbing with pen in hand, writing poetry to attempt to make sense of a disaster of earth-shattering and life-altering proportions. He begins:

Oh, oh, oh… How empty the city, once teeming with people.
A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations,
once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen.

And later:

Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything,
when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help.
Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence.

Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast.
All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface.
Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.

Jeremiah had easily one of the most difficult ministries of any person in history. He recognized a series of sins and faults of Israel and with groaning, put words to it.

Elsewhere in Scripture, we see other instances of people weeping and expressing their grief in outward ways. Ezra ripped his clothes. Jesus wept. Job went on a verbal tirade, then witnessed God, Himself, go on one of his own. Jeremiah’s entire book has several gut-wrenching prayers and muses about things not going well. Most of the lesser known books of prophecy are that way.

Fluoxetine, aka Prozac, aka Happy Pills

Americans have an addiction to happiness and entertainment, myself included. We must constantly have something to push, watch, or hear. Most Americans would rather take a happy pill to make them happy for the rest of their lives than know how to deal with human feelings. This makes for very productive lives, but lives of suppressed feelings. People can go decades without grieving major life changes like injuries, deaths, and shattered dreams without allowing their emotions to have their time to settle. Its much easier to watch a movie with someone grieving than to grieve ourselves.

What’s more damaging is our inability to help others to grieve. There is nothing worse than having someone there to listen to us grieve something that cannot be fixed, but they keep saying that “everything will be okay” or try to “fix it.“ I’m not going through anything right now, but if I were, that’d be the last thing I’d want to hear.

In a person’s darkest hour what they need more than answers is someone to help ask the questions. A person who will sit in silence and not feel the need to “move things along.” A person who promises to bring dinner every day to ease things. A person to babysit the kids. A friend who will cry, too. Weeping is not for girls – weeping is for humans.

When we encounter someone else in their darkest hour, we should shut off our cell phones, toss our watches, and pull up a chair. Jeremiah’s laments would have been a whole lot easier if it were a cave for two.

When we encounter the worst day of our lives, we should not be afraid to spend time alone sobbing. Its okay to ask a lot of questions and not have a lot of answers. Its okay to protest injustices. But we must remain steadfast with our convictions that God is a good God, who knows what it is to suffer both as a human and having created humans who derailed His plans through sin. God is acquainted with grief, for He has suffered.

Need a way to open up to God? Try brutal honesty – He likes it.

Starry Night

I recently started reading a great book called “Divine Commodity” by Skye Jethani. This work attempts to reveal the pitfalls of consumerism quenching our thirst for imagination and perspective, and thus far, does a fantastic job of it.

Jethani utilizes the perspective and works of nineteenth century Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh to illustrate many of his thoughts. Most of us have seen van Gogh’s most famous painting, an oil on canvas konwn as The Starry Night.

Now, I’d seen this several times, myself and thought it to be dreadfully uninspiring. I never much like impressionism, so I was already fighting an uphill battle. The winds and clouds seemed uninvolved in the rural countryside below, the sun was dreadful, and it just really didn’t evoke any emotions.

Jenthani pointed out something that has made me revisit this infamous painting with reverence and awe. Look at the buildings in this painting and look for something…missing.

Here is the church.
Here is the steeple.
Open the doors.
Lighting no people.

van Gogh

In the midst of a typical night, with God’s lights up above shining bright over a village, one building that should be reflecting the light like a bicycle reflector is more dark than the rest of the community.

One might immediately think, “Well, of course. The church is empty because everyone is at home.” But van Gogh seemed to have other ideas as he sought to “tell it slant.”

“When I have a terrible need of-shall I say the word-religion, then I go out and paint the stars.” -Vincent van Gogh

van Gogh made a habit of hanging out on a hillside, glaring at the open sky. Perhaps this perch was his source of imagination and creativity. But looking now at this painting, I have a new respect for it. When an artist exposes the truth of a culture, brings conviction, and makes those of his particular religion seek to fix their wrong, there’s a word for it. A word most contemporary Christians would much rather ascribe to a televangelist raising money for bigger sets, fancier limos, and a still darkened faith (despite its bordering fraud and manipulation).

Prophet.

Starry Night

Muses (Second Edition)

Several unfiltered, un-thought-out thoughts I’ve had today.

 

Listening to “The Benjamin Gate,” I realize I really miss this band. My favorite South African band rawked.

The American Church is headed for an identity crisis, the likes of which we may have never experienced before. I am confident that we will survive, but fear there will be a lot of pain.

Even in a five year span, the issues we face in MYC Remnant (then “MYC Internship”) have accelerated. We’ve gone from talking in classes and needing to go outside to sexual abuse/confusion, fighting, needing to define “Christian” and more. Unbelievable.

The Oscars aren’t cool anymore. At all.

If 12 year old girls with cell phones got a hold of Twitter, the fail whale would reign 24/7.

Giving up something that shakes up your routine & mental clarity for lent really makes you re-examine life. I highly recommend it.

Humans aren’t made to live a college lifestyle. The more I look at it in hindsight, the more I am baffled that society expects this.

I’ve said for a long time that LOST island isn’t in a place so much as a time. I predict the re-institution of Dharma before the show ends next year.

I’m more and more turned off when Christians are overly into politics. Let’s be honest: conservatives have as many answers to the worlds problems as liberals. And none of them will work.

Having a puppy is awesome.

I am impressed more and more by the Apostles Creed. That document was unbelivable.

Sky Angel feux-satellite network, which features a bazillion Christian networks and is sponsored by TBN, is unbelievably odd. I find it comical that they have FOX NEWS, but no CNN. Talk about targeting your market.

I haven’t had Buffalo Wild Wings in a week and a half. I might be getting restless…and its Boneless Thursday.

Empire (Part Five)

Since the tragic fall of humanity at the Garden of Eden, humanity has been the stage for a battle that is so spiritual, its physical. The Bible chronicles incredible encounters within an invisible realm where odd things happen, showing this at work:

• Michael, an uber-angel argued with Satan (leader of darker spiritual forces) over the dead body of a great follower of God, Moses
• In a showdown between Moses & prophets of another religous system, a friend of Moses named Aaron threw a staff on the ground that turned into a snake. The other prophets did the same thing for the other side!
• Satan once had a bet with God, himself, over what’d happen if God stopped blessing and helping one of his followers, named Job (pronounced “Jobe”)
• A person named Judas, who betrayed Jesus at one point, had Satan enter into him. That’s a pretty rough thing to have Satan at the joystick of your life’s controller.

These and other reasons in Scripture show this battle is at hand.  Even within society, the forces of anti-Kingdom have been at work to steal from God’s plan for peoples lives, kill their dreams and destinies, and destroy their hope for God to intervene.

Some people propose that this war is overtly obvious and dedicate their lives to praying for victory for God’s side. The truth is, this conflict is fought in a more subtle way: person-to-person. But that person-to-person battle, when played out, becomes bigger. It then becomes family-to-family, generation-to-generation, and more.

Christians often make a tragic mistake by attempting to turn the conflict into a bordered conflict between nations, labeling one as right and one as wrong. Even within their own borders, Christians will proclaim a certain political movement to be God’s Kingdom at work. This process has been played out again and again (and is happening in America), but never leads to the results promised. Jesus Kingdom is political in its conflict, but not to be engaged politically. It is a spiritual movement to reclaim a lost humanity.

 

Lord Vader

The conflict between the sides of Kingdom and anti-Kingdom sets the stage for the real conflct of Empires. Its not as simple as Darth Vader against his son, but instead takes the guise of two great empires on Earth constantly ebbing and flowing – the Empire of Christ and the Empire that opposes Christ. It is a conflict that is fought in battlefields rarely involving bloodshed, but rather, for brainpower, creativity, and household recovery.

All the global empires discussed in depth over the course of this series have been expressions of anti-Kingdom, that is, this world system, attempting to oppress Christ’s movement. Rome sought to execute Christians to put down the love revolution. Egypt opposed Israel leaving oppression to form a society of Christians. Even America’s political system, while more subtle (and perhaps less severe), is a system designed to get people to dedicate their lives to wealth accumulation, entertainment at all times, finding security through military, indebtedness, materialism, revenge, pride, and more.

The belief that a certain political movement, military conquest, political party, financial system, or individual can rescue a people in peril or crisis is a system of anti-Kingdom. Consider:

• Military conquests alone cannot bring Christ’s Kingdom without people who desire to seek Christ
• No financial bailout from a government system will bring happiness to people. Our source is not the government, for we are to put the government of our lives on the shoulders of Christ.
• No president, king, congress, justice, or politician, can bring the sort of change humans really desire. The change humans desire is a return to God’s original intent for humanity. This can’t be found through wealth redistribution, a contract with America, a radio show host’s opinions, or a stuffed ballot box for one candidate or the other.
• The Church’s biggest political movement ever was a disaster that is still providing advances to anti-Kingdom. Quite simply, the Crusades are perhaps the biggest scar on the Church ever beheld.

Christians really executed Jews and Muslims?!?

Christians must devote themselves to bringing the restoration of the Empire of God through the teachings of Christ. His message can and will repair Creation through the processes of discipleship, salvation, and love. Christians are called to spread Jesus message not through billboards, t-shirts, campaign promises, military conquest, or wealth transfer. We have a better banner. Our Kingdom doesn’t come by brute force like other religions propose. Christians have a banner that is appealing and unique. I like the trend in Minnesota bumper stickers to put it best:

Empire (Part Two)

If I were an Egyptian growing up circa 1200 BCE, it would be difficult for me to understand the culture in which I lived. People rarely venture to other nations or read history to gain a perspective of their own, but have their ideas shaped by an ellusive term.

“They.”

We speak often about this concept when imagining new concepts, inventions, frontiers, injustices, and opportunities. “They” are people who have the ability to influence cultures, borders, arts, minds, and more. But to those who are not part of a culture, thanks to stereotypes and nationalities, everyone is a “they.”

I’ve been reading more of the “wrong books.” Enter two more suspects, and their impact.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians

In growing up in an empire called Egypt, with a very revered Pharaoh named Ramesses in whom people placed their hopes and trust, I would know little of the problems my empire was producing. Hebrew slaves being tortured in the name of yet another elaborate pyramid. Forced worship of a political deity. Firstborn children ordered to be executed upon birth. Wars fought to extend borders, with human casualties chalked up as little more than tally marks called “collateral damage.” Starvation of the poor in the midst of a lavish lifestyle for those in power. And the truth is, those at the top of the power structure had no intention to improve things, as they needed to prosper to maintain their power.

And yet, from Mount Horeb, an agricultural nobody who had survived as an infant in a basket raft emerges from obscurity to organize a revolution of slaves. These oppressed, numbers growing expoentially, had cried out to God to end the cycle of death. This empire, structured to make the greedy succeed, was strangling them of their ability to live their lives. Ramesses couldn’t afford this giant labor union to suddenly walk out on his job site. It was as if every construction worker in a region suddenly wanted to quit work and walk away.

Jesus for President

Empire thrives on cooperation. Empire demands having, under its god, just one nation, indivisible. It must have adherents who return to its throne, seeking the treasures of awe and allegiance. Empire cannot survive a people who question its lavish spending, its distrust for the leaders of the state, or taking the dominant script and feeding it into a paper shredder.

And yet, there’s this little problem. This man, who history calls “Moses,” led a slave rebellion for these Jewish families to start something new and fresh. A departure from a system of confusion. Empire hadn’t brought liberty and justice for all. What they needed was an exodus.

Moses’ people started their own nation, which a few generations later, mirrored what they left in Egypt, With the lavish temples, polytheism, and pursuit of military prowess to expand the empire through shock and awe, this small nation bit off more than it could chew. They faced judgement for not doing justice and pursuing their own grandiose vision. This nation-state called Israel was swallowed up by a bigger empire.

And another.
And another.

The Hebrew Testament and New Testament have a name for this endless system of empires, kings, caesars, rulers, presidents, and senators. Its a word that means “confusion,” and does little more than twist God’s agenda for the human race. In the guise of freedom, prosperity, and the will of God, Himself (in whom empire allegedly trusts and is blessed), its called Babylon.

Moses’ nation spent years crying out for a release from the occupation. They were forced again to work to build a kingdom that was designed to keep them building a kingdom. They cried for an end to it all. A release. Freedom.

And in the midst of a land they spent generations living, they had fashioned a cradle. Their cry gave birth to the answer to their passionate pleas for help.

In the form of a baby’s cry.

To be continued…

Empire (Part One)

I never much liked reading the book of Exodus. Can I say that? Yes – I just did. I knew it was important, what with all the miracles and leaving Pharaoh. But what does that really have to do with a modern boy in Nowheresville, USA?

In the last several years, some key Christian thinkers have been releasing books and speeches that re-position Exodus in a way that screams something else. Something fresh. Something – modern.

One of the more prominent books is Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination, written in 2001. Walter speaking with authority and power, defines the term “empire” in ways that would make politicians cringe, history professors dance, and everyday people’s eyebrows stand at attention. It isn’t that he explicitly spells out what the empire “is,” but the applications are violently intense.

Imagine that I went to Epypt or Rome at the height of their rule as a journalist and returned home to compose an article about the things I saw. I would think it could look something like this:

I went to the empire everyone’s been talking about for a visit and saw sights of great majesty the likes of which mere mortals could not have constructed on their own. The buildings were massive, constructed by men with great wisdom, though the people I saw building them were not very wealthy. They had other nations craving to meet their political leader, who had great charisma and was revered almost like a deity, himself. At his crowning, they held a lavish festival with music, dancing, dining, and speeches that heaped praise upon him. This empire had a story of their history, where they were once an oppressed people, but fought off their enemies, gained independence, and built a better way of life. They were proud of their way of government, even willing to conquer distant countries in the name of spreading their government and renown. On their currency, images of their historic leaders, revered forever for their infinite wisdom in laying the foundation for such a great empire. Their people turned the country, itself, into what amounted to a religious system, where they believed their system was one that brought peace to the world, and from every mountside to shining sea, it let freedom ring.

But there is a darker side to this empire. People are born into poverty with little ability to climb out of it because those in power have the wealth to educate their children, while those on the underside of society have little hope to bring their kids to wealth. War is an expensive side-effect of this system where battles are fought in the name of security of empire, but are really designed to expand its borders. Immorality is rampant. Leaders are trusted with their power, but distrusted to wield it with integrity. The empire consumes resources at will, even to the detriment of other nations who have not yet joined. Children are trained to think like the empire, and scolded for questioning it. Battles are fought in public places to progress people to an ideal empire, either one with unlimited empire rule, or one that mirrors the ideals of its founders, who themselves were more godless than we thought.

This sort of article would be blasted by those in power for being incoherent and irrelevant. The results of the empire’s prosperity would be heralded, while the darker side of empire would be hidden. The writer, perhaps better labeled a prophet, would be cast into a prison for speaking out against empire, or, at the very least, lose credibility.

What if this empire isn’t just history that we can’t see and touch?

To be continued…

Muses

Unedited. Very little thinking behind these. Possibly deep. Possibly shallow. A stream of original, ponderable statements.

 

If your schedule had no voice, would your life speak the message of Christianity?

With no true authority for the global church, how can heresy be made heresy, doctrine made doctrine, and theory theory?

Prayer is a skill.

In a generation of increasing illiteracy, perhaps the answer isn’t more images. Perhaps substance will trump shallow.

Is exclusivity the new big event?

False teachers and prophets never went away. We just created more sophisticated words for them like artists, politicians, founders, and leaders.

In a world where everything is spin and opinion, apologetics becomes less about facts and more about application.

Discipleship is messy. As soon as it can be defined, its scope and ability has been limited.

Every life has a song. Sometimes it isn’t the lyrics that say anything. Its the melodies, rhythms, and cover art.

The Cost of Costless Christianity

I work in a local youth ministry that is wrought with rewards and challenges. Today, I’ve been working on developing a program set to start in February for teens that is supposed to train them to be genuinely equipped to thrive as Chrsitians in their everyday lives.

In designing the program, I found myself perplexed by a question that has the potential to haunt me for weeks and radically alter the way I view initiatives in churches.

How do you disciple a generation that has no desire to read, study, or pray?

I really don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but most “Christian teenagers” aren’t actually performing what would seem to be requirements to be a Christian. Their everyday lives are lived void of:  spiritual disciplines, investigating their character, repentence, examining Scripture, communication with a God who is interested in their lives, etc.

While it could be said that by just getting them to church we are affecting them, I tend to lack much hope for this notion to prove itself true. It is nice to think that we are “sowing seeds,” but we really shouldn’t chalk all spiritual pursuit up to being something that takes place one day.

Christians centuries ago, and even across the globe, engage in a Chrisitanity that contrasts with ours in ways unfathomable to today’s youth. Consider these truths:

•  A relative of mine in Korea has a small group Bible study nearly every night of the week, not out of duty or religious fanaticism, but out of desire
• Many Christians in Orissa, India have been tortured for refusing to publicly convert to a different faith. One was recently tied to a tree and forced to watch others rape his wife until he renounced his faith
• Christians in Egypt have a huge meeting that is a huge secret for fear of persecution from Islamic adherents
• Jesus warned potential followers that to be one who follows Him, they’d have to be willing to turn their backs on any family members. This wasn’t out of hatred for family, but the reality that Christianity led to fratricide on a regular basis
• It was considered a normal day at a Roman sports stadium to put Christians in the midst of the field and cheer as starving lions are released to rip their flesh to shreds. For Christians, it was more necessary to refuse to be just like the Romans than it was to preserve their own lives.
• Statistically speaking, you haven’t read the Bible in even the past week.

One of the side effects of telling Christians they will all get to go to Heaven (and now all is well) is that, unless you give them something else to strive for, their mission is accomplished. Compare this to these scenarios:

• Telling a deer hunter he doesn’t need to bring ammo because by going hunting, he’s already a hunter
• An NFL quarterback not practicing because he’s already “made it”
• A would-be chef not reading any cook books because by cooking, they are a chef
• An auto mechanic being hired because he wants to be a mechanic with no questions or proof of skill of knowledge

Christianity that costs nothing will get no investment. Christian leaders must elevate the meaning of being a Chrisitan to where it is a struggle to feel like adherents have it all together.