plumcots and possibilities

i recently began doug pagitt's new book, a christianity worth believing: hope-filled, open-armed, alive-and-well faith for the left out, left behind, and let down in us all (that's a mouth full...). i hope to get back to it soon (via a little freenobling) because in just getting through the first chapter, there was already so much good stuff.

in just the first couple pages of the preface, he offers a great analogy that i intend to use in the future to talk about the emerging church. he tells of a friend who approaches him with something called a plumcot, explaining that it is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot. as unappealing as the name sounded to him, doug accepted the offer, expecting some sort of strange and pungent taste. much to his surprise, he says the plumcot was one of the most delicious things he had ever bitten into.

tasting and enjoying this strange, but delicious hybrid, he finds it analogous to the emerging church and how things have been shifting within the church for the last 10 or 15 years (or, one could argue, for decades). he writes the following:

the plumcot suggests that we live in a world of possibility. somewhere, somehow, someone imagined a new kind of fruit, a new flavor, a new color. whoever fiddled with the plums and apricots was probably not trying to eradicate plums and apricots from the face of the earth but to offer something else, an alternative to what was already out there. i think that behind the plumcot is an intuition that life, even if it's just the life of produce, is never really settled. there is always room for a new idea, a new thought, a new fruit.

read this again: whoever fiddled with the plums and apricots was probably not trying to eradicate plums and apricots from the face of the earth but to offer something else, an alternative to what was already out there. that's such an important analogy for us folks involved in this emergent conversation and the emerging church.

one of the unfortunate misconceptions and suspicions present within the "established" church is that us emerging people are trying to run them all off or push them out. this couldn't be any further from the reality. whereas we can certainly offer a pointed critique and become frustrated from time to time, the emerging conversation isn't intended as a covert operation to "take-over." rather, it's to offer a plumcot, an "alternative to what was already out there."

one of the beauties of the church is the unique diversity. god is bigger than a single set of theologies or worldviews or political perspectives or ages or sexes or whatever. god is bigger than just plums and apricots. he welcomes and calls people to create and eat plumcots.

so, let us come together as one body and feast upon both plums and apricots as well as plumcots.

the devil's iv

ladies and gentlemen: we have tivo.

this is the television equivalent to a crackhead actually being hooked up to a crack iv and just rolling around in a crack-induced stupor. this is what tivo is.

i really don't watch a lot of tv. sure, i have my must-watch shows (survivor, mainly), but i don't really sit around watching tv that often. i stay pretty busy and whereas the tv stays on consistently (mostly on cnn, because we're nerds like that), i don't constantly have to be watching something. i think tivo changes that. you end up recording a bunch of crap that you would probably not otherwise watch.

i love money. why not? we've got a tivo. judge greg mathis. of course. we've got a tivo. cheaters. what else is my tivo doing at 1:30 a.m.? anything on the cw. tivo says yes.

crack iv, indeed.

of course, the flipside is that in can also free you from tv. instead of having to be sitting down in front of the tv at 7 p.m. on thursday night to watch survivor, i can rest easy in knowing it will be there later. if you call me during survivor, i will still cuss you under my breath, but alas, i can just hit pause and talk 'til we turn blue in the face.

ah yes, the devil's iv.

ok, gotta run. i need to set up my season pass manager to record the simple life reruns and my super sweet 16.

find your own calcutta.

recently, tony campolo, on his weekly radio show across the pond (itunes link), sat down with shane claiborne, author of jesus for president and irresistible revolution, for a total of three full episodes. they were so good, i have considered posting them here on the blog. (rather than doing that, though, i would recommend subscribing to the podcast via itunes or via his rss feed.)

they discuss quite a few things, but one of the things that stood out to me was shane's discussion about his time with mother teresa. after graduating from eastern university, claiborne went and lived and served along mother teresa in calcutta, india. he told several stories about mother teresa, but the one that was most impactful to me was about a friend (i think...) who contacted mother teresa.

desiring to go to calcutta to serve alongside mother teresa, this friend tried over and over to reach mother teresa. after months of unsuccessful written correspondence and unreturned phone calls, his friend finally heard back. she actually received a letter in the mail that was personally mailed from mother teresa. excitedly, she opened it to see if mother teresa accepted her request. the letter contained only one short sentence.

find your own calcutta.

                        —mother teresa

simple, yet powerful.

my prayer is that each one of us find our own calcutta in our own backyard.

amen.

ray lamontagne: lover, not a fighter

as i've previously stated, i've been looking forward to ray lamontagne's forthcoming album, gossip in the grain for quite a while. the buzz on this record is that it's a bit of a new direction for ray, mostly in terms of lyrical direction and the use of his full band. lyrically, i've been looking forward to hearing a particular track, just out of pure curiousity. ray isn't one to gush about love and flirtatious desires, but on the track, meg white, he does just that.

now several weeks after releasing the first single, you are the best thing (itunes store link), meg white has leaked online. one could argue that the lyrics are just ridiculous, but i think it's supposed to have that quirky, playful vibe. it's a raspy folk singer gushing over a fair-skinned garage rock drummer. it should be weird.

also, apparently i was on musical sabbatical, but i completely missed that ray also released a second single, let it be me (itunes store link). if these three songs are any indication, i'm even more excited about the full length album.

you can hear both meg white and let it be me here.

meg white:

let it be me:

the perfect song?

in a recent conversation with a friend, i boldly declared that brandi carlile's downpour is the perfect song. it really is. it features an incredibly soaring, yet restrained female voice, sweeping, emotionally stirring strings and intelligent lyrics. if i'm in just the right mood, it can bring me to tears, no matter how many times i've heard it now.

just as boldly, after picking up jenny lewis' new record, acid tongue (which i hope to write a full review of soon), i think downpour has some competition. the title track from acid tongue is a beautifully stripped down song that marries perfect harmonies, engaging lyrics and and a vocal performance by jenny lewis that—much like carlile—soars while still being delicate and emotional. jenny lewis is one of my favorite songwriters because she knows how to tell a brutally raw and honest story while still coming off as somewhat "untouched" and pure. her voice is delicately powerful and she knows how to use it to move the listener the ways she wants.

anyway, you can take a listen for yourself. (by the way, the person singing the harmony in the chorus is chris robinson of the black crowes...another unique and amazing voice.)

acid tongue:

downpour:

clay gay (not to be confused with ray gay...)

breaking news: clay aiken is gay.

in other news, the earth is round and it revolves around the sun.

attention people magazine: you do not have exclusive breaking news. we all knew. we knew when we were watching american idol. we knew when his hairstyle began to look more like a cheap wig than real hair. we knew when his 50-year old friend got knocked up thanks to science. we knew when the claymates were trying to stand up for him and say that he was as straight as an arrow.

as i pointed out in my blog about ray boltz, i don't typically blog about these types of things because i don't want to sensationalize someone's time of public scrutiny and i don't want to make fun of anyone, but a phenomenon has come to my attention.

if you're name rhymes with gay, you're bound to be just that.

first ray boltz. now clay aiken.

so, i thought i would play the role of prophet or psychic or whatever and take a look at some candidates for coming out of the closet, thus falling in line with this frightening trend. which of these people will it be:

i'm no vegas odds-maker, but i think for safe money, you're probably going to want to eliminate jay and ray. it also seems like taye is all man. jk, hmmm...probably not. . ah...the backstreet boy...

you be the judge...

check back soon for more hard-hitting blogs like these...

why not to be a christian: reason #379

you know, if the god hates fags people didn't scare you away from being a christian, this will surely send you over the edge...

enjoy...or whatever....

maybe the fundamentalists are right...dancing should be a sin...or at least this dancing....

god hates blogs: the scurvy dogs

ah, the pirates. we can't forget the pirates.

the pirates' hilarity was the yin to the westboro crazies' sad yang. oh wait, the westboro people hate china...so forget the chinese philosophy reference...

anyway, the pirates completed the circle of absurdity friday and made for a good time. as stated in the first post of this series, the pirates weren't just your average run-of-the-mill wackies who just decided to celebrate talk like a pirate day. these pirates were on a mission...a mission from god the flying spaghetti monster.

indeed, these pirates are pastafarians: members of the church of the flying spaghetti monster. (notice the sign they displayed with their depiction of heaven: a cloudy land with a beer volcano and a porn palace...the beer must give the streets that gold sheen that the bible talks about...) let me offer a quick explanation as to what the church of the flying spaghetti monster is.

a few years ago, in response to the kansas state board of education's consideration of intelligent design being taught in schools, bobby henderson wrote a letter proposing that schools teach three creation concepts: the "traditional" scientific view, intelligent design and, finally, flying spaghetti monsterism. his point was that if intelligent design purports a designer, then that designer could be whatever we so choose to make it. for instance, it could be a flying spaghetti monster. since that time, the flying spaghetti monster—as a symbol—has caught on and is used commonly by atheists and agnostics ("spagnostic") as a defense against christianity. these people, who go by the term pastafarians are, by and large, a loosely connected group throughout, mainly, the united states.

these particular pirates are a part of the central arkansas pastafarians. i'm not sure if they meet regularly or if it's more relational than anything, but they are obviously organized enough to have planned this protest. (it should be noted, by the way, that pastafarians consider pirates divine being, thus the celebration of talk like a pirate day.)

so, friday when i went out there, upon discovering who these guys were, i was that much more interested. i walked up to one of the pirates and we exchanged that we both thought this was ridiculous and sad. he informed me who they were and pointed out their classy sign. needless to say, it's difficult to focus and have a normal conversation when you're standing with someone in a pirate costume, but nevertheless, i felt compelled in that moment to engage a conversation beyond small talk.

so, i decided it was a good time to tell this guy that i am a christian and a pastor. with a somewhat nervous look on his face, he said, "you're one of those preachers?" i informed him that i wasn't one of those kinds of preachers and that i, in this case, was part of his team. i told him that we might have some fundamental disagreements, but that didn't mean that we couldn't be friends and work together against something that is just plain wrong and against the faith that i know. he said he agreed and proceeded to shout, "hey everybody, we got us a preacher over here." oh boy.

upon hearing that news, a few other pirates buddies of his gathered around me (don't worry, no swords drawn...these were peace-loving pirates, fortunately). again, i thought to myself, "self, here's a great opportunity to create a bridge between a person of faith and a group of people who have probably been outcast and treated poorly by other people of faith." i told them basically what i told the first pirate: that i am a christian and a pastor, but that what the westboro people were doing had nothing to do with god and that it was actually opposite of the true message of christ. i told them that god loved gay people and that i was here to show support to the pirates and the people who stood up for truth and against hate.

so here we stood: one pastor and a bunch of atheist "pastafarians" in homemade pirate costumes yelling at a bunch of crazies holding signs that read, god hates fags. only in america, people.

as weird of a scenario this might have been and maybe as corny as this may sound, i sort of felt like a god moment was occurring. i think it was one of those things that god orchestrates that allows us to see that we don't have to agree to be friends and to be allies against hate and injustice. i think god's heart breaks at the current state of religion in the united states, particularly. for some reason, christians have adopted a philosophy of "all or nothing." basically, it's the idea that you have to accept every single miniscule piece of dogma that i believe in order to be friends or you obviously agree with nothing and that disallows us to be friends. this mode of thinking flies in the face of what jesus was all about.

i don't know if jesus would have been out on the street corner giving "argh's" for honks, but i think it's safe to say that jesus would have already known all these pirate pastafarians by name because he probably would already have spent time with these guys in their homes or their pastafarian gatherings. if jesus spent time with criminals and prostitutes, i don't think it's too far of a stretch to think that he would be hanging out with atheist pirates.

christians are so afraid that if we get too near "evil", that we'll be tainted. jesus didn't start sticking people with homemade shanks because he hung around criminals. he didn't start swindling little old ladies because he hung around greedy, lying tax collectors. i never saw jesus hanging around prostitutes so much that he started turning tricks and doing blow in dirty alleys. certainly we're not jesus. but certainly, we are called to be like jesus.

so when the popular christian subculture or your church or whoever tells you to avoid "the enemies", listen to jesus instead. go find a dude in a pirate costume. go find your local pastafarian gathering. go find the drunk. go find the militant atheist. go find these people with love and understanding and compassion and open and listening heart. be friends and build bridges.

a quick break from the westboro crazies...

so, tomorrow, i turn 28 years old. that's right, it's my birthday. i'm not really a big birthday person. it's great and good to acknowledge it, but i don't really ever particularly want anything or require any kind of get together or whatever (although we are having a small shindig with the parentals tomorrow night and i did have a "birthday day" yesterday...which i'll discuss in an upcoming blog).

there's not really a lot of significance to being 28 years old. the main point of realization/conversation with turning 28 is that it means you're only 2 years away from being 30. honestly, i'm kind of looking forward to turning 30. there seems to be some kind of distinguishment (is that a word??...) about being hitting your 30's. i'm not quite sure what you're supposed to do when you're in your 30's, but i guess i've got 2 years to figure it out. although, as stated, i'm not a big birthday person, i have decided that i would like to spend my 30th birthday in either new york city or san francisco. those just seem like good options. i guess i'll spend those 2 years figuring out what to do in my 30's also figuring out where we'll go.

i decided to take a look at which celebrities i share a birth year with, and i have to say that the results are a mixed bag.

the good:

ryan gosling (the notebook, half nelson). he seems like a decent guy and a good actor.
christina ricci. admittedly, i think she's really hot and i've liked some of her movies (while some i have not...).

the bad:

macaulay culkin. hmm. home alone: classic. sleepovers with michael jackson: not so much.

venus williams. it's not necessarily that i don't like venus williams, it's just that i'm completely indifferent.

christina aguilera. ok, i'm just gonna keep it real: in my moments of musical weakness, i can be found in the car rocking out to dirrty or getting emotional to beautiful.

the ugly:

jessica simpson. oh man. this is bad.

this one takes the cake for all-time douche bags: nick carter. yes, ladies and gentlemen, nick freakin' carter. in the year of my birth, some poor woman also squeezed out nick carter. gee...

alright, i'm going to bed now. i need some birthday beauty rest.

god hates blogs: the demigods

truly, this is sad.

it's sad. and it's anti-god.

as eager as i was to go see the commotion behind our office, when my coworker told me who was out there, i was almost dreading seeing the reality of the situation. sure, we had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and at how absurd the westboro baptist people were, but it was still sad and heartbreaking and deflating and embarassing.

these people are not christ followers. they do not represent christ and are in direct opposition to the true story of god.

before i go any further than these opening remarks, let me give a little background on this group of crazies for those who may not know.

as mentioned, this is a group from westboro baptist church which is based in topeka, kansas and led by fred phelps. although they confess to be primitive baptist calvinists, they do not officially associate themselves with any other churches and all the major calvinist denominations have publicly denounced the group. founded in the mid-50's, wbc, which runs godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com, is adamantly opposed to the following: homosexuality, catholicism, muslims, jews and many countries including the united states, china and sweden (because don't we all have plenty of reasons to absolutely abhor those dirty swedes...).

throughout the years, innumerable groups have tried to sue wbc, but thanks to the freedoms and rights afforded by the country they hate and protest against, they have been able to escape unscathed and continue their hateful protests. although they have been picketing events and organizations for years, in the past several years, the cult has received a great deal of press because of their protests of iraq soldiers' funerals. so, there's a little background. if you want more info, you can follow the provided links.

you know, ideally, i would like to simply ignore these people—and for the most part i do. they want press and media coverage. the problem, though, is that their message of hate toward homosexuals—as absurd as it may seem—has taken hold in subtle ways. several years ago in some research, participants were asked to identify characteristics of christians. at worst, you might assume that people responded by saying weird or out of touch or jesus freaks or maybe even pushy or only out to convert people. those responses would be unfortunate. christians can only wish, though, that the responses would have been that kind. overwhelmingly, the number one response was anti-homosexual.

that is sad and embarrassing and heartbreaking.

let me boldly proclaim something: i don't blame people for that response based on the way that many christians have railed against homosexuals, participated in discrimination and closed the church doors to this community.

i'm not saying that there aren't some people out there with agendas against christianity or some kind of score to settle, but this research by the barna group surveyed 440 non-christians and, equally, 440 christians. this wasn't just people with an axe to grind against christianity.this was christians! you can click here to see a very brief summary of the findings. it's really sad.

let me unequivocally state that to hate homosexuals and to let homosexuality override any other sin is a sin in and of itself. it has nothing to do with christ. it is wrong and sinful.

scripture is pretty clear about hating others. in 1 john we find,

the person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about god, because god is love—so you can't know him if you don't love.

pretty cut and dry. to hate is to not know god. when the wbc people state that god hates..., it's clear that they don't know "the first thing" about god. it isn't that god loves, but that god is love. it is indistinguishable and inseparable.

so when you have a group of people parading up and down the streets of my city holding signs that say, god hates fags, i bristle to say the very least. this is not the god that i know and follow. if you are gay and reading this and feel that christians hate you, please know that, at bare minimum, this christian loves you. god loves you. it doesn't matter what you do, god doesn't hate you and the people who are truly following christ don't hate you.

on behalf of christians who have shown hatred toward homosexuals or anyone else, i offer an apology.

the crazies that loitered around markham and scott the other day do not represent the faith i know and for them, i apologize and repent.

(there will be an "official" announcement on the blog hopefully very soon, but let me offer a "soft" announcement of what's some very big news in our life.) in the coming year, we will be starting a church here in little rock—hopefully with our place of gathering in the downtown area. again, if you are a homosexual reading this, let me offer a very early open invitation to our community. you will be loved and respected and engaged just like any straight person who walks through the doors. on a broader note—whether you're gay or straight—if you've ever felt unwelcome in a church or culturally out-of-place or bored or put off by hypocrisy or whatever, this will be a welcoming community where we will honor open dialogue and unifying relationships that reflect christ. (again, more on this big news to come...)

check back (hopefully tomorrow) to read the final part of this series where i'll be discussing the pirates/pastafarians. i think it will be some good stuff and some much-needed insight.

god hates blogs: demigods and scurvy dogs

as my last blog teased, it was quite the day friday at the office. wow...i honestly don't even know where to begin. to avoid making this a ridiculously long blog, i think i'm going to revert back to the 3-post experiment that i tried last week. most likely, i'll write them all today, but it will at least break them up into digestible chunks. this first post will basically set the scene and be more journalistic in nature. the second and third posts will be a closer look at the two groups represented with a little personal insight.

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

upon my arrival friday morning at work, a coworker—who is a faithful blog reader (shout-out to amanda) (did i just use the phrase shout-out??...)—immediately came to my desk to alert me that something was going on behind our office that would be a ryan byrd blog dream event in the making. i hopped up and headed out the back of the office. this is what i found:

one side of the street:

other side of the street:

yes. this is real life.

one corner of markham & scott: the one and only god hates fags crew from westboro baptist church in kansas. the opposite corner: dudes in pirate costumes.

again, yes. this is real life. and i was there.

after going out and introducing myself to my newfound sea-faring friends, i learned that the westboro baptist people were there protesting the national conference of editorial writers (who were having their conference at the neighboring statehouse convention center). (not ones to waste a trip to arkansas, they also spent the day protesting the clinton library and the air force base.) i didn't really understand this until i learned that editorial writers are a part of the media. you know, the gay-loving, anti-god liberal media (except fox news, i'm sure). yeah. so, they brought their crew consisting of 3 men, a woman...and three children, each bearing two hate-filled signs at their hip. the oldest kid couldn't have been any more than 11 or 12 years old and they were hovered over by their father who kept instructing them, "pick 'em up. hold 'em up where the workers of iniquities can see them."

you might be thinking, "what the heck do pirates have to do with anything?" good question. the most obvious answer is that friday, coincidentally, happened to be talk like a pirate day. how convenient for these dudes. beyond this coincidence, though, these guys did have something else more important in common (and just as awesomely hilarious, for the sake of my blog). these guys are all from the local church of the flying spaghetti monster (where pirates are viewed as diving beings). seriously. known as pastafarians, these guys—draped in the finest of pirate costumes—came to "deflect attention" from the "christians" that the flying spaghetti monster followers so adamantly oppose.

as the day went on, the pirates/pastafarians were joined by a handful of lesbians (who loudly played katy perry's i kissed a girl on repeat in their car), a couple of just crazy people and at least one gay guy who just seemed to be having a good time. it was a beautifully bizarre conglomeration of people.

fortunately, the day never got out of hand. there were a few people that just didn't understand that yelling at them only fueled them and that getting upset only made them the winner, but all in all, it wasn't too bad. as i anticipated, there was one guy who decided to confront the crazies. this guy seemed like a very intelligent, successful guy who professed to be a christian (you know, the actual christlike kind), but his attempt was all for naught. you just can't out-argue these people. they are trained to rebut any argument that is thrown at them. they can quote scripture out of context with the best of them and it's extremely difficult to "one-up" them. it's just not worth. these people aren't going to change their minds—especially in the midst of holding up hateful signs denouncing "fags" and proclaiming that recently-murdered bill gwatney is in hell. it's just not going to happen. you can see from this picture that this guy approached the most militant one and it didn't go to well:

as you can tell, it was quite the day in the neighborhood on friday. i spent about 30 minutes over there and it was plenty of time to see the good, the bad and the ugly (mostly ugly). on the one side, it was painfully sad to watch these people and children who have clearly been brainwashed by fred phelps and the westboro baptist church. on the other side, though, it was absolutely hilarious and, by and large, people were friendly and happy. you know, if you would have stood in the middle of the street, you would have been on some kind of bipolar emotional roller coaster. :)

alright, there's the overview. hopefully the other two will be up very soon (tonight???). they will give some more in-depth thoughts about the two primary groups represented. i think it could be some helpful and thought-provoking insights. (or i may just ramble on for awhile while you are sitting wondering how many sporadic thoughts my brain can process at one time...). you be the judge. :)

by the way, i've posted a flickr set (on christen's page) of some of the stuff i shot. go check them out (and check out christen's stuff while you're there).

god hates upcoming blog teasers.

ok, quite the day in the neighborhood today... hopefully tomorrow i'll get a chance to write all about it on the ol' blog, but in the meantime, here's a couple pics to serve as a teaser...

check back tomorrow!

happy belated anniversary

a couple weeks ago, i blogged about the anniversary of hurricane katrina. yesterday, in the busyness of my day, i forgot a truly important anniversary that serves as a cultural and political milestone in this great nation.

exactly one year ago yesterday, we heard the following truly life-changing phrase uttered:

don't tase me, bro.

(pause for a moment of silence and remembrance, please.)

yes, i know it's hard to believe, but andrew meyer, a university of florida student, became famous one year ago when he tried to railroad a john kerry appearance at the university. meyer was wrestled to the ground by like 30 cops twice his size and subsequently tasered, all while some fellow students—in god's divine comedic plan—videotaped the entire event.

when it initially happened, my visceral reaction was that this was yet another case of excessive police brutality. honestly, i still feel that way (as do many others), but when i could step back from the situation, it was pretty freakin' hilarious. the line don't tase me, bro will be forever forged into the heart and mind of pop culture.

we salute you andrew meyer.

for your viewing pleasure, here's a video of can't tase this.

ray gay (not to be confused with r&b star ray j...)

there are two types of people in this world: those who give a rat's who ray boltz is and those who don't.

ok, so maybe there's more than two types, because i happen to fall into the category of "knows ray boltz's music, but wishes they didn't...". i assume that probably about 75% of the people who read this blog don't have any clue who ray boltz is and the remaining 25% would know him if i mentioned a couple songs of his (thank you, the anchor holds, i pledge allegiance to the lamb, etc.).

for thos who don't know, ray boltz is a beloved christian musician who rose to prominence in the late 80's and early 90's. fortunately, even in the apex of my love for christian music in the 90's, i never fell into the ray boltz trap. his music is ultra-corny and is still prominently used and listened to by cheesy youth groups and middle-aged mullet-wearing people around the world. (notice the picture above and it will all make complete sense...)

in kevin max's blog, in discussing the scrutiny he went through during a very public divorce several years ago, he alludes to the fact that ray boltz—the good ol' beloved christian singer—came out of the closet this past week.

that's right: ray's gay.

now, let me be very clear. i'm not blogging about this to condemn ray boltz or make fun of the situation or anything like that. i discovered in the past few years that i'm not god, so it's unnecessary for me to cast judgment on anyone. further, in this time of scrutiny for ray boltz within the christian subculture and music industry, i don't need to pile on.

what i do find, though, interesting about this announcement is to see the impending reaction within the christian community. like i said, ray boltz is just a mullety step below jesus himself to a lot of people in the church, so i'm very interested to see the reaction. my assumption could very well be very wrong, but i'm afraid that as word gets around, pastors and leaders within the church are going to begin to publicly denounce the use of ray boltz's music.

this brings up an intriguing point of conversation, but i would like to remove the issue of homosexuality. the issue of homosexuality as a sin is a debated topic amongst various christian groups, so let's pick something that is 100% universally considered sinful: satan worship.

so, here's the scenario: ray boltz or michael w. smith or steven curtis crapman chapman or fill in the blank with any other beloved christianese celebrity came out and said they became a satan worshipper. wait a minute, better yet, let's say that billy graham came out and said he decided to become a satan worshipper. does this take away from the fact that they created music or preached sermons that were truthful and of christ? certainly it shouldn't. truth isn't negated by a future non-truth.

if i state that today that cars have wheels and then tomorrow state that flowers have teeth, does that change the fact that cars have wheels? absolutely not. certainly my credibility may be questioned, but truth is still truth.

the point i'm making here is that for anyone reading this that—god forbid—uses ray boltz's music in their church or listens to his music for personal enjoyment, don't quit just because you think gay people are going to burn in hell. we could go a long way in the church by affirming truth no matter the source. we can peacefully and cordially agree to disagree with this point and that point, but we can still affirm the fact that people we fundamentally disagree with can be sources of truth from time to time. i believe the bible is the story of the true god, but there's plenty in the quran that is truthful. i believe that people who worship satan will be eternally separated from god, but, undoubtedly, we could find common points of agreement. when we write people off because we can't agree on every little point of dogma, we do a disservice to the gospel and to the unifying spirit of christ.

so, i really don't want to encourage you to go listen to ray boltz's music, but hey, why not...go grab you up some ray boltz and party like it's 1989...(a sober, very hetero, mullet and moustache-themed party, of course...)

emobama

everybody's voting for obama...even near-suicidal, angst-ridden teenagers wearing skinny jeans and a studded belt...

i implore you. go buy music.

notice the use of the word implore in the title... i like to keep it semantically fancy...

anywho...so, i consume a lot of music. i'm kind of a junkie...truly a disease. much like a crackhead stops getting high after so many tokes on the ol' pipe, i kind of get numb to new music. so, when i get excited about upcoming albums, it says a lot. there are actually several upcoming albums that i'm really excited about.

first and foremost, i'm looking forward to ray lamontagne's new record, gossip in the grain which releases october 14. gossip in the grain is supposed to be a lyrical change of sorts for ray as compared to trouble and till the sun turns black. apparently, this is more emotionally revealing and personal. also, it's the proper recorded introduction of ray's full band (which has played with him live for several years). the first single, you are the best thing has received mix reaction, but more has favored toward the positive side. it's hard to say if the 70's horns sound will be fully indicative of the album's direction, but i would welcome it if it did.

i've also been looking forward to—for quite awhile—oasis' new album. yes, i'm still an oasis fan, almost 14 years after (what's the story) morning glory. yes, liam and noel are still, at times, complete douche bags. yes, they still sound like guys who worship the beatles. but yes, they're music is still relevant and as good as the mid-90's version of oasis (in a different way). on october 7, they will release their 7th studio album, dig out your soul. much like ray, oasis will unveil a slightly new sound. frankly, i don't anticipate it being some kind of reinvention of the wheel, but this album does debut songwriting from more than just noel (although i think noel is an amazing songwriter), featuring equal songwriting billing from noel, liam, gem and andy.

just in time for a good 1-day-late birthday present, i'm super-excited about jenny lewis' new album acid tongue which drops next tuesday (september 23). 2006's rabbit fur coat is one of my favorite albums of probably the 2000's. following in the trend of the music featured in this blog, this will apparently be a slight transition from her last album. fur coat was sort of a foray into her alt country and folk roots, whereas, from my understanding, acid tongue will explore some of the more stripped down rock pop sounds of early rilo kiley. recorded in complete analog and with no vocal dubbing, i'm interested to hear how raw this could potentially be.

a couple other albums worth quickly mentioning are lucinda williams' little honey (october 14) and the kings of leon's only by the night (september 23). lucinda williams, if nothing else, is reliably good. with her down-home rawness and small town lyrics, listening to a lucinda williams record is like sitting on a truck tailgate, but talking to a bitter ex-girlfriend from the city. this record, surprisingly, is supposed to be, lyrically, a little brighter, so that should be interesting. i'm not just a huge kings of leon fan, but the word on only by the night is that it's a significant progression from 2007's because of the times, which i thought was a really solid record. so, this will be one that i check out if i find a few extra bucks lying around at the end of the month.

so, go check out these records, as i will do the same. i'm sure some reviews will follow, so check back soon.

what's in my [proverbial] 6-disc changer

1. the duhks: fast paced world

2. metallica: death magnetic

3. needtobreathe: the heat

4. samantha crain: the confiscation

5. the avett brothers: emotionalism

6. the black crowes: warpaint

a generous paradoxy: an inconsistent truth

this is the third of a series of 3 blogs titled, a generous paradoxy. if you missed the first 2 posts, you can catch up here and here.

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

let me begin by unequivocally stating something: i am passionately opposed to abortion.

i value life—born and unborn. i believe that life begins at conception (i could actually argue that it begins long before that, but that's another conversation altogether) and that an unborn child has the same right to life as me and you. i believe that abortion is one of the great epidemics in our country and a cursory look at the number of abortions since 1973 further support this claim (the numbers i've seen are somewhere around 46 to 48 million). to me, it's truly heartbreaking.

now, before i go any further, let me state a few things. while i passionately oppose abortion, i do not passionately oppose the people who choose to have abortions. i do not condemn those who make that choice. if anything, i have more compassion and love for these people because they are most likely in a place in their life of desperation or loneliness or financial uncertainty or something that pushed them to the place of choosing to have an abortion. i oppose those who choose to self righteously use people's time of hurt to make political and religious points and i oppose those who demonize women who make the choice to abort their child.

in my opposition, i stand with millions of christians (and others, for that matter) across the united states. there is a great paradox, though, when it comes to a consistent ethic of life.

let me, again, unequivocally state something: i am equally passionately opposed to both the death penalty and war. i am opposed to anything that takes the life of another—especially when it's state-sanctioned.

in regards to the issue of inconsistency when it comes to an ethic of valuing life, i am simply amazed, to say the very least. i am puzzled as to why people can be so enraged and attackful about taking the life of an unborn child, but can be so adamantly in favor—to the point of invoking the name of god—of taking the lives of others via the death penalty and war. christians, particularly, are probably the most inconsistent when it comes to an ethic of life of any other group of people.

why do we pick and choose what kind of killing is okay? killing an unborn child is an atrocious thing.

and so is killing an iraqi.

so is killing someone convicted of murder.

so is killing a terrorist.

so is killing someone who couldn't afford adequate legal representation.

so is killing someone involved in the 9/11 attacks.

so is killing someone who has killed your family member. or your spouse. or your child.

god is a god who honors all people because he created them in his own image.

it's time the church come together and proclaim the truth of scriptures that says that when we take someone's life, we have taken a part of god's creation. it's time to lay aside the great paradoxical ethic of life that says that some lives are valued and some are not.

it only seems fitting to end this 3-part series with another derek webb song. in this case, appropriately, it's his song called a consistent ethic of human life. a simple outro for this experiment called a generous paradoxy.

the most profound mystery

parenting is a profoundly mysterious thing.

after missing a couple naps today and having a rough night last night, lucy's eyes began to droop at about 7:30 (she usually goes to bed around 8:30 or so). with several unsuccessful attempts under my belt, i finally left lucy in her crib about an hour and a half ago. i have been laying here in bed ever since listening to her cry.

crying doesn't really bother me, but laying here in the silence—only hearing the sound of her tears—is a difficult thing. it's not that i am running low on patience or on the verge of exploding on her. in fact, for me, it's quite the opposite. when all you have to do is lay here and think, you begin to realize how deeply you hurt when your child hurts. in this case, it isn't like lucy is hurting (she just thinks someone is going to come "rescue her" from bedtime...), so i'm not in some kind of emotional agony. it's just that these are the times that you get to thinking about how deeply you love another person.

i love christen beyond words. she is an inseparable part of me. truly, two have become one. while my spouse forever gets top billing in my heart, one's children are a wholly different thing. it's a mystery that i can't expound upon in full adequacy or wax poetically enough to do justice. there is a piece of me that lives within lucy. in her pain, i hurt. when she breaks, i break. when she falls, i fall with her. when she cries, i cry.

so now, in some kind of divine timing—as i wind down my thoughts about this profound and mysterious love for my baby girl—lucy has surrendered and gone down for her night's sleep.

in her rest, i now find peace.

good night, little girl.

cancer research: overrated.

you say tomato, i say tomato...ok, that doesn't really work in print...

how about this: you say pop, i say coke... yeah, so, depending on where you live, you probably have a certain way of referring to soft drinks. the godly way, of course, is to call them cokes. it's not pop, it's not soda and it's most certainly not a combination of the two. coke. plain and simple.

apparently, someone—to which we all owe a great debt of gratitude—stepped up to the plate and engaged some very important and timely research on this matter. while others were doing research on ways to cure cancer or how to curb poverty, these guys surveyed a couple hundred thousand people on how they refer to soft drinks. brilliant.

they have published their findings and here's what they've come up with: (click the map to see it in greater detail)

new kanye west track

look, i'm as surprised as you that i'm blogging about kanye west... the fact is, while kanye west is probably the world's biggest "word that rhymes with smouche blag"...he does make good music. the other night, the one single, non-slutty highlight from the mtv vma's was kanye closing out the night with his new single, love lockdown. like other rappers of late (snoop dogg, lil' wayne, etc.), kanye basically sings the song. it's really good, actually. again, he's done some really creative new kind of stuff. there's no rapper out there putting out stuff like this.

rumor is that he'll drop another new album in december, with speculation that the title will either be 808's and heartbreaks or good ass job... yeah... anyway, kanye, in all his great benevolence, is giving away the track for free on his website. or, if you want to just listen, here it is.

slacker uprising

being a consumer of a lot of media, it's been nice to see some bands like radiohead, derek webb and nine inch nails begin to understand the power of giving away media for free via the internet. that could be a whole conversation unto itself.... all this to say, though, that we're now seeing a "major" movie maker get in on the action.

on september 23—for three weeks—michael moore will offer his latest documentary slacker uprising as a free download on the website www.slackeruprising.com. whether you love him or hate him (sicko: loved it, fahrenheit 9/11: ridiculous...), it's cool to have an entire feature film offered for free. i doubt that a lot of filmmakers will hop on the bandwagon, but you never know.

you can find out more at this website and/or you can watch the trailer here.

a generous paradoxy: i pledge allegiance?

a couple days ago, i began a 3-part series called a generous paradoxy with peace through weakness. in continuing with that theme, i wanted to share about something i saw here in little rock last week.

while driving down i-430, one cannot miss a particularly imposing church. it's unnecessary and helpful to say who it is, but let's just say it's a very prominent church in little rock with several thousand members. what struck me this particular day, having driven past it hundreds of times, were the three flags waving over the church.

flying highest was the american flag. to its right, flying slightly lower was the arkansas flag. to its left was the flag that caught my attention. as you could probably guess, this flag, flying at an equal height of the arkansas flag, was the christian flag.

let me offer a couple quick notes. first, i am generally opposed to flying the american (or state, for that matter) flag in the context of the church (inside, outside, whatever). i've talked before about the mixture of christianity and nationalism and it has dangerous effects (as we've seen throughout history). i'm not opposed to being proud of your country (i certainly am) and i'm obviously not opposed to faith in christ, but when the two become indistinguishable, it's very scary. second, i'm also opposed to flying the christian flag, quite frankly. clearly, flags, at the most rudimentary level, are simply symbols of identity. if i carry an american flag to ireland, it identifies me and the symbols on the flag say something about my history and tradition. likewise, there's a sense of identify given by the christian flag. the problem i find, though, is that there's an heir of imperialism and pride and exclusivity to flags. historically, i'm taken back to constantine imperializing christianity and marking his soldiers' shields with the cross. there just seems to be an inherent imperialism to me about the christian flag.

with that said, what most struck me was the fact that this church was making a very clear statement by the way they chose to fly their flags. flying the american flag above the state flag implies that the united states are more important and more revered than the individual states. it's a clear and universal symbol. what, then, does it mean that the christian flag is flown lower than the american flag? it's a matter of allegiance.

part of what's scary about wrapping the bible in the flag is that when that happens, what is hidden is the bible, not the flag. it seems that our nationalism has become the key hermeneutic in interpreting scripture and not—as it should be—the other way around. (not to insult your intelligence...but by key hermeneutic, i mean the thing that "unlocks" the way you interpret the bible. it's almost like the lens in which you view scripture.) when we begin with national pride, it's easy to make scripture it into that mold. if i believe that america is the savior of the world, one could easily (and it happens often) see the united states as a surrogate "chosen people." that's scary. and it's sinful.

i'm not suggesting that this church is more concerned about the united states than it is about christ. clearly i don't think that's the case. i do believe, though, like many churches around the country, they have pledged allegiance to what are often competing forces.

i didn't plan this, but much like my first paradoxy post, i am reminded of a derek webb song. in a king and a kingdom, webb sings,

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man

my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood

it's to a king & a kingdom

powerful stuff. take a listen.

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

i'll be back soon with my final post in the series with, a generous paradoxy: an inconsistent truth.

indie music fans hate themselves and are lazy...

ok, well, that may be a little strong, but that—in a crude way—summarizes the findings of professor adrian north of heriot-watt university in scotland. at this university, north engaged the largest and most in-depth research project concerning music and personality that has ever been done. more than 36,000 people from around the world participated in a series of questions regarding musical styles and their personality.

as the music fan that i am (and also someone currently working in advertising, which this research addresses), i find this particularly interesting. of course, like any research, as in-depth and thorough as it may be, there are still a lot of broad assumptions and generalizations that have been made. it's far too easy to sum someone up in a quick category, but i'm sure professor north has some very lengthy research behind what i will post here and what i found on a website.

here's some of the findings (i condensed this list to just the most prominent styles of music. for the entire list and story, click here.)

a generous paradoxy: peace through weakness

i'm going to do a little experiment in which this will be the first of a series of 3 posts with the title of a generous paradoxy. so, we'll see how this works out...

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

i've enjoyed watching the political conventions over the last couple weeks. they have been the best of politics and the worst of politics. most definitely, they were a sharp contrast to each other, which i hope to blog about in the coming days.

one of the observations regarding the republican national convention that most stood out to me was 2004 election deja vu with one night's theme of god and country. with a barrage of patriotic prayers, contemporary christian singers and country "artists" (who, of course, are all christians because they sing country music...) littering the stage, it was hard to distinguish between republican the party and republican the christian denomination.

in the midst of, i believe, john mccain's acceptance speech on thursday night, i noticed something that caught my attention. as the camera panned across the crowd, it zoomed in on a person (probably wearing some awesome american flag cowboy hat covered in buttons that read, drill here, drill now or something about colors not running...) who was hoisting a poster that read, peace through strength. this poster really caught my attention and got me thinking.

this mantra has been prevalent in the republican party ever since the reagan era and has become particularly prominent in the last few years due to the political climate concerning the war in iraq. doing a quick google search will yield plenty results as to the nature of this statement, but in essence, it's the idea that when we have a big military and can strike fear in our enemies, we can have peace because nobody wants to mess with us. the cold war, for example, was based on this mutual fear of annihilation. peace through strength is fear mongering at its best.

recently, i finished reading jesus for president by shane claiborne and chris haws (i think i mentioned it before and hope to blog in length about it very soon) and the peace through strength poster really reminded me of a broad theme throughout the book. in addition, i was reminded of one of my favorite—if not my absolute favorite—derek webb songs, my enemies are men like me.

in the midst of this convention that, at times, resembled a large denominational gathering more than a political convention, i couldn't help but to think about the strange phenomenon—that claiborne and haws spend a long time dealing with—whereas christians are probably the largest contingency of people who are supportive of war and the idea of "peace through strength." one of the themes of jesus for president and webb's my enemies are men like me is that jesus regularly instructed believers (and people, in general) to love our enemies and seek peace by ways beyond the sword. there was never instruction to intimidate others or use the threat of retaliation and as a means to peace. somewhere along the way, we've lost that. peace through strength, at best, is a generous paradoxy. at worst, it's simply a frightening continuation of hundreds of years of violence and war in the name of the christian god.

for some reason, christians in the u.s., by and large, have preferred to see jesus as some kind of war monger who beats up his enemies and bullies satan into submission. my good friend mark driscoll speaks for the majority when he says,

Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.

that's sad.

it's probably needless to go on and on about this. i think you see where i'm coming from. honestly, this is less of an "assault" on republicans than it is as a challenge to christians to take a close analysis of the way jesus interacted with his enemies, thus compelling us to rethink our unwavering party affiliations. by no means am i saying that christians should align with democrats, but equally, it shouldn't be with the republicans. well, i won't get started on that yet...more on political affiliations and paradoxy to come...

in the meantime, take a listen to derek webb's my enemies are men like me. (and go pick up a copy of jesus for president!)

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

on the next episode of a generous paradoxy, we bring you a generous paradoxy: i pledge allegiance?

on the border, off the job...

so...anybody for a little projectile vomiting, fever and body shakes...??

thanks to my friends at on the border, i have had all the above... wednesday night, christen and i were lucy-free, so we thought we would go out for dinner and a movie (we saw traitor and it was really good...more on that to come, potentially...). what you need to know is that i don't do mexican food. it's about the equivalent to drinking gasoline mixed with a little cayenne and general nastiness. what you should also know is that christen loves it and regularly craves it in her state of craziness pregnancy. so, i thought i would be nice and suggest we go to on the border.

that's where it all went downhill.

let's just say that i was up the next morning—still tasting the brisket tacos that i ate the night before—hugging porcelain. from what we can figure out, food poisoning is the culprit. ugh.

that brings me to the now. i'm currently laid up in bed at home, missing work. i can't say that it's bad having a day off work, but i think i would rather be parked at the ol' desk than to be in this state.

so, to my friends at on the border, i bid you all adieu. no thank you for the shakes and revisiting of your brisket tacos a full 40 hours later...

death of an ironic legend

speaking of irony, here's a little somethin' for ya...

if there's one thing i truly hate in this world, it's country music.

except jerry reed.

for those who know who jerry reed is, you will know that me liking him is very strange. for those of you who don't know who he is, here's a quick glimpse. the main thing he's known for is two movie roles: cledus snow in smokey and the bandit and coach red beaulieu from (adam sandler's) waterboy (he was the mean coach). waterboy is great, but i've never even seen smokey and the bandit (and hope to never see it...).

what others know about jerry reed—and what i find embarrassingly enjoyable—is his music. he's won a few grammy's for songs such as eastbound and down, but i'm more interested in his songs that are just ridiculous, like amos moses, koko joe and when you're hot, you're hot. these songs are hilarious in an i'm-a-redneck kind of way.

yesterday, jerry reed left this world at 71 years of age. for years, he's had a lot of health problems and he finally succumbed to his battle with emphysema.

now, no one's death is a laughing matter, but i think even jerry reed could point out the irony of this. one of the songs that he's most known for is called another puff. in this song...well, actually, just listen to it...

new kevin max track, take 2

a couple weeks ago, i blogged about a couple new kevin max tracks. he's released another one from his forthcoming crashing gates ep. like the others, this is another very rough demo, but you can get a pretty clear feel where he's headed musically with his new stuff.

this one's called baby, i'm your man. admittedly, the name of the track sounds a little sugary...but it's a really good track. so, check it out.

truth/Truth

one of my values in ministry and life, in general, is that we do ourselves, others and god a disservice when we seek truth only in "sacred" things. sometimes profound truth comes in packages that look more "profane" than "sacred."

in talib kweli's give 'em hell, there's a powerful line for which i created a little artwork. i used it as a desktop wallpaper for a while and it created quite the conversations...