Happy Halloween.  

Halloween, of course being a holiday rooted in Celtic tradition, which brings to mind other great Celtic celebrations such as PaulPierceMass and Larry Bird Tuesday.  It is an evil, evil day filled with the most horrendous darkness:

Evil Exhibit A:

Fear this evil.  It is unchristian.

Unlike the celebrations of Thanksgiving and, of course Christmas which are considerably more christian holidays.

Thanksgiving, a holiday whose current formation finds its history (partially) in Plymouth in the early 1600’s where religious outcasts from across the Atlantic were educated in the ways of sustainable agriculture by the people native to that land, thereby allowing them to eat healthily and grow strong enough to eventually eradicate those native people.  We celebrate this by gorging ourselves with too much food and drink.  

Christmas, of course, is the celebration of Jesus birth; savior of mankind from sin and self; friend to the poor and downtrodden, enemy of unjust power systems, whether they be religious of economic.  We celebrate His birth by increasing our credit card debt.

“Now, Justin, these are over-reaching generalities.”

Yes, you’re right. Let’ get back to the original point… Halloween is evil.

Evil Exhibit B:

Yeah, yeah.. I know it’s easy to write off the “prosperity gospel” as an extreme.  But the importance of knowing just how distorted this brand of christianity is stems not only from our ability to write it off where it is concentrated.  For example.. in the places to which we’ve exported it at the great expense of peoples’ livelihood and development…

It is equally important to recognize the cancer in its smaller, sneakier forms.

Sure, the most of us don’t buy the notion that the Lord is going to “buy me a Cadillac” or what have you.. but the subtle battle of divine expectations is constant and heavy.  For many of us, the experience of a life “in Christ” has been something dramatically different than advertised: Our jobs still get pulled out from beneath our feet, our relationships are still compromised by the worst parts of our nature, our children still die from genetic disorders they were born with and suffer from for no fault of their own… the happenings and circumstances of our lives often remain much the same if not exactly the same in life “with God” as life “without Him” which can lead one to wonder just how much of a difference there is between the two.

NOTHING in all of scripture, much less the long, difficult history of God’s people in relationship with Him proposes that He removes from us these daily burdens.  In fact, among Joy, Gentleness, Peace and the lot, Longsuffering is listed as a fruit of God’s spirit in the lives of those who follow Jesus.

Furthermore, I might even suggest that while Joy and Peace are characteristics one would expect from a person indwelt with the heart of Jesus, Longsuffering is where the rubber meets the road.  When things are brutal.. when dreams and expectations fail… when God disappoints… do I still call God “good”?  When what is “good” to God seems “evil” to me; when God’s hand does not move to alleviate suffering and bring light where darkness has claimed preeminence.. can I submit my will to His and say “not my will, but yours.. not my idea of good but Yours; though it confounds and perplexes and even angers me… You are King and I will trust You despite myself.”

So, while I don’t always click with John Piper, I couldn’t agree more with him in this:

Beginning with Bertrand Russell’s essay “Why I Am Not A Christian,”  I have made a point to seek out the voices of those most vehemently anti-christian or anti-religious.  This is not because I want to ‘know my enemy.’  Instead, I read these works because I regularly find so much commonality with the men and women who write them.  Bertrand Russell’s essay challenged some of the foundational misunderstandings I had regarding the practice of my own faith.  His criticism was an instrument that freed me to see more clearly that there were things about “being a christian” that don’t really have anything to do with actually being a christian; and that, if ‘being a christian’ meant holding to those external things, then I must be something else.  I suppose it’s fair to say I see the work of God in and through these men and their work.  Their challenge chips away at what is very often superfluous in religion; a theme that runs through the album Deconstruction.

I really believe that atheism, agnosticism and deism are pieces in a conversation much larger than any one of those platforms of belief alone.  For this reason, I’m looking forward to seeing Collision.  From what I can tell from previews and whatnot, it seems to be a pretty well balanced (fair and balanced? lol.. hehe..  ahem…) take on this piece of that conversation:

http://www.collisionmovie.com/

There was a time not so long ago (okay it was actually 15 years ago) when I had sworn off television entirely.  While I was raking in preposterous sums of money on Young Life staff, I went without TV for nearly 4 years, seeking much grander forms of entertainment such as eating regularly.  Since being married, Amy and I have gone back and forth with the TV question and have recently come around to wanting TV again. We don’t watch a ton.. mainly, we reserve our consumption to shows like LOST, The Daily Show/Colbert Report, So You Think You Can Dance, a few cooking shows and, of course, Nancy Grace.. er.. um..

With the many services available to us, we climbed back on the horse we’d ridden most recently by returning to the service I will henceforth refer to as the “Beamed From Space” television service.  Because we had previously had the “Beamed From Space” (BFS) television service which mean a much speedier return to the land of the over-advertised.  But the ease of returning to BFS meant another engagement with the world of Customer Service

And if you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know what that means… that’s right. Another installment of “Adventures in Customer Service.”

—

Beamed From Space Television Services Customer Support Representative: Thank you for choosing “Beamed From Space.”  Because you are returning to our service we are offering a special package.

Me: Interesting. Tell me about that.

BFSTSCSR: We’re offering, on top of the channels listed in your third rate, low-level, not-as-good package these other channels that are for people more serious about television.

Me: Um.. Well, I don’t really watch much more than a few things..

BFSTSCSR: You’re totally gonna want these ones.

Me: What are they?

BFSTSCSR: The “Movies For Romantics” channel, the “Movies For People Who Like Violence” channel, and 75 channels of Department Store Music: all beamed directly from space.

Me: Alright, whatever.

BFSTSCSR: and should you, in 2 months, 3 weeks 1 day, 14 hrs, 17 min and 4 seconds, forget to call to cancel these channels, you will be charged $19.99 per minute until you do. So let’s finish the rest of the…

Me: (cutting her off) wait.. What was that about canceling those channels?

BFSTSCSR: which part?

Me: The part where you are being conniving and sneaky.. That part.

BFSTSCSR: All you have to do is call the 800 number at that precise time, from a rotary phone while facing Mecca, ask for Larry and use the code word I gave you earlier in this conversation to cancel those channels.

Me: You gave me no code word.

BFSTSCSR: Well, sir. It wouldn’t be much of a code word if it were obvious.

Me: I’m not so sure I want to do this anymore.

BFSTSCSR: You’ve already been registered sir. Our agents are currently on their way to your home to install the Space Beam Receiving and Translation Equipment.  You do NOT want to anger our agents.

Me: I don’t want to anger anyone but I’m also not going to use your service. Please go ahead and cancel my account.

BFSTSCSR: As you wish, sir. Just be aware that this will result in a rather significant early cancellation fee and may be a risk to the lives of any pets you keep outside at night.

Me: WHA? I just called you 10 minutes ago.  I don’t even have service yet. How can there be a cancellation fee?

BFSTSCSR: I assure you, sir, that the signal is currently being beamed directly from space to your home.  If you are having difficulty receiving the signal, there must be some kind of equipment malfunction on your end. I will send a team of Space Beam Receiving and Translation Equipment Repair Specialists/Assassins to your location.

(KNOCK KNOCK)

BFSTSCSR: That would most likely be them…

Me: Amy, do NOT answer the door!!

A few years ago I was invited to lead music at a conference in Santa Cruz, CA. I learned a bit about about the group and what kind of music they were used to so that I could prepare a song-list they’d find familiar and singable. Upon arrival, I noticed the poster advertising both the speaker and myself. The poster read “The Reverend Speaker VonSpeakenstein (not his real name) will be delivering the Word and Justin McRoberts will bring the worship.”

Read the entire post at Soul-Audio.