I began this little title of “I’m Kind of a Douche Bag” about a month ago when I was talking about things I have said in the past that were those insert foot into mouth moments. Here is another one of those posts.
A while back, I wrote a post about why David Archuleta must lose. It’s been great, because I’ve recieved many comments about how I am jealous of David A. and everything else that comes with it. My personal favorite I erased because it was under my “about me” and not under the post. It said, “After reading your About me, it is funny because David is also influenced by Stevie Wonder and will be working with Clive Davis. Jealous Much?” That made my day. The thing that I’ve realized is that David A. has a great fan base who believes that they must defend their idol, and rightfully so. I would do the same for somebody that I liked and believed that they were great though others may disagree. So, why does this go under the Douche Bag title? Number one, because of the reactions to my thoughts, and number two because I believe that he still must lose.
If you are a fan of David Archuleta, you MUST agree with me. If the past idols have taught us anything, the “great” idols lose: Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson. Only two winners have gone on to do something “great”: Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. So, if you want your “idol” to make it, you would want them to lose.
I’ve been seeing people come and go to my end of the blogosphere. I see that some of them even subscribe. Please don’t remain faceless. I just need to know who you are. Where do you live? What do you do? Tell me a little about yourself!
This always comes to my mind whenever someone talks about their fear for our country or “Christian Nation”. I read Greg Boyd’s “Myth of a Christian Nation” before. His blog is in my blogroll because of this book. I agreed with a lot of what he said in the book.
Today I was driving to some St. Arbucks training and thinking about a conversation I heard earlier. A guy I know was telling me and some friends that he votes for pro lifers only. Nothing else. He said that this is where our Christian values begin, from conception. As he went on about this, I began wondering about other things. If this is truly what he feels that he should vote for, where then lies the issues of war, immigration, poverty, etc. Also, I wonder how many times we have voted a pro lifer into office, but we haven’t seen to drastic of changes in these policies. Should we be voting solely for somebody who says that they are Christian or hold Christian values? To truly be a politician, he/she has to be a universalist. They can’t be solely a christian because of the supposed seperation of church and state. Not only that, but in order to gain votes here or there, you have to somehow fit in.
But now to this “Christian Nation”. Are we a Christian Nation? I don’t think so. Here are two things that I was thinking while I was driving:
1. Our nation’s introduction was introduced by the Puritans who were coming over to escape the Church of England and find a little bit of freedom with their religion. In the process of finding this freedom though, this country was introduced to slaughtering of people in the name of the Lord. So my quick conclusion: this country was not founded on Christian Principles – Killing people in the name of the Lord does not equal making disciples.
2. This was sort of related to number one. If this country was founded in the quest to worship freely, aka freedom of religion, then why do we get upset when other religions come to worship also. There seems to be this ginormous elephant in the room that is other religions. Christianity has been the big shot on the block for so long, that as other religions and philosophies gain popularity we put up our defenses. This is interesting to me.
These two thoughts led me to the conclusion that I don’t think we are a Christian Nation; we never were. We were not founded on Christian Values and even today we still don’t practice them. When we vote on one issue and no other, how then will this country ever run? Is the leader of Christianity elected into the White House? No. But as we continue to look at the United States as a Christian Nation, maybe we are looking at the President as a Christina leader. The US being a Christian Nation then may be an ideal that we have come up with in our heads.
My friend Chauncy is hilarious. I love when we get to hang out because he makes me laugh…a lot. Think of your funniest friend whose humor is way beyond their years. Now combine them with a Spanish Major who wants to get back to their roots and serve God somewhere in Latin America. Now picture him being giant. I mean GIANT – like 6′5″ – but he is a gentle giant. This is a description of Chauncy.
Chauncy had this interesting thought about worship that I wanted to share with you from his thoughts over at Team Chauncy:
Last thing before I take a nap before dinner. Sometimes people clap after praise music. Why do you do that? I don’t get it. Unless you’re clapping for Jesus, you’re confusing me. The people playing music may be good. Yes. I agree. But why are they playing music? Is it to put on a good show or is it to bring glory to God and bring people to a place of worship? I think the second one, or at least I would hope so. When we clap for them what are we saying? Perhaps we’re thanking them, but it feels less like that. It feels more like we’re getting done with praising God and then starting to praise people. Yes they have amazing talents and gifts. Tell them they played well after the service. It’s not about them, or me, or you. It’s about Jesus. Clap for Him if you’re gonna clap. I don’t like that either because He’s not putting on a show, but still it’s better than clapping for the people playing praise music. Clapping for them is like getting a present from your mom at Christmas that is handed to you by your uncle and then saying thank you to your uncle. It’s rude. Your uncle gave you the gift directly, but he didn’t buy it.
Do you like the TV show, How I Met Your Mother? You Should. Mainly because it is hilarious, but also because Doogie Howser’s, Neil Patrick Harris is in it – and he’s hilarious. If you have never seen the show, put it in your Netflix or BlockBuster. One disc, that’s all I ask, then you decide.
One of the main reasons I love about the show is that it comes up with all of these little catch phrases that can be applied to any situation. Here is a YouTube video of one of my favorites: Slap Bet. It’s legen…wait for it, wait for it. I hope you’re not lactose intolerant, ’cause the last part is dary. that’s right legendary.
Last night I couldn’t sleep. It was 12:30, and I was up in my office looking through various books to share with my worship intern this summer. During this process I came across a book that I’d bought for 25 cents at TWU and I’ve been wanting to pick up and read titled, “A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church” by Father James Kavanaugh. I was thumbing through it and I found this bit:
How did we ever produce the legalistic Church that Christ promised to take away? How did we pass from the gospel of freedom and love to a system that can tear husbands from wives in the name of justice? How did we manage to replace religion with the subtleties of a dead theology? Theology is meant to be a science that tells a man in every age how he can better love his God. It should take the treasures of the gospel and transform then into works and ideas that can tell a modern man how to live and love. Our theology, however, has become a scholars game. It is a code of rules accumulated in the petty wars of religious bitterness. It is a tale of tired truths which only serve to rob man of personal reponsibility and reduce him to the listlessness of a frightened slave. Theology took away his freedom and robbed him of the romance that should attend his search for God…
This passage really resonates with me lately. I wrote about questioning earlier in my posting about Theology and Death Cab for Cutie, and this passage from Father James Kavanaugh really speaks into that idea. Our theology has become simply rules – “a scholars game”. Exactly what Jesus came to take away. When the romance is taken away from our pursuit, our relationship with Jesus simply becomes like that old couple who watch Matlock together but never say a word to each other. Each knows that they are there, but the conversation and romance is long gone. This is what our relationship with God can become if we are not asking questions and discovering new characteristics and ideas of God.
Basically, a lot of people visited my blog over the weekend based on my entry on the Death Cab show and my mention of my friend Kelly Huckaby. It made the Death Cab for Cutie forum! Go over and visit them and join in the conversation here. I didn’t realize that Kelly was such a rockstar. I went and apologized to him for “outing” him, but he said it happens to him all of the time.
So far, David Archuleta and Death Cab for Cutie have led a lot of people to the brown kid. Pretty Cool, and I hope that a lot of them stick around and join in on some conversations. I guess my wonder of you out in the blogging world is this: What have you written that got you a lot of different people showing up to your end of the world? Has this ever happened to you? Let me know…
So the Death Cab show was all that could be expected. It was my first show, and it was great. I met Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmon, and Chris Walla and a bunch of Kellys other scenster friends. Kelly played a bit of the new CD for Matt and I on the way down (it’s great but a lot different than “Plans”), and they opened with a new song. They also played a bunch of songs that I love including, Why You’d Want to Live Here, Crooked Teeth, New Year, and quickly becoming more of a favorite of mine, Soul Meets Body. My favorite Death Cab song, “I Will Follow You into The Dark”, was the first song of the encore last night. As they played, I realized how much I love this song simply for the hook:
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.
These lyrics made me think about an orthodox prayer I had heard while at TWU. “…may we one day find the caverns of Hell to be empty.” Something that I think has happened to the artists in the church is that they have been discouraged to think. What I mean is sometimes we are told to speak only truth and never ask questions. Lyrics like these could be viewed as theologically incorrect. Personally, I believe they are, but sometimes I wonder what would happen if there is no heaven? What if there is no hell? What does this look like?
What is happening is that as artists and christians, people are being told not to question but to only give truth. But what if these questions lead to answers? What if these questions lead us closer to God?
Tonight I am going to the Death Cab show with my friends Matt Martinson and Kelly Huckaby. If you are a Death Cab fan, then yes, this is the Kelly Huckaby that they wrote the song, Song for Kelly Huckaby, for. Anyways, I am excited to go, because I get to hang out with two of the smartest, funniest and coolest guys I know.
Matt and I have known each other since we both became Christ followers. We are survivors of youth ministry, mega churchdom (both working at and going to), and all around great ULT (Unappreciated Leadership Team) meetings that were had during staff meetings that we were never asked to attend…even though we were technically on staff. Matt is a genius. He hides it well under his Canada Sweatshirt and his love for The Beatles. We’ve had many discussions around church, AC/DC and lots of different books. It is his birthday today, and so we celebrate with a concert.
Kelly and I know each other also from working in Youth Group. Kelly is what you would call a “hipster”. He wont call himself that, but let me run down what makes him fit that label. Kelly looks good in a fedora hat, is always on the cutting edge of music, manages a diner in downtown Bellingham which is only open until 2:00 in the afternoon, and is a history buff who likes discussions on history/philosophy/religion and the like. Throw in a cigarette and you have a hipster. If you have a friend that you know is cool, then this is Kelly. Kelly oozes cool.
So we head off to Bremerton tonight to the Death Cab for Cutie show. I am really excited. It supposed to snow in Washington today/tonight. Yes, you heard me correct, snow in April. Late April. This winter/spring is killing me. So we will drive safe. If you’ve never heard or listened to Death Cab, here is my favorite song below for you to listen to. It’s called, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”. See you later.
