It happened.

Perhaps it was inevitable despite its being entirely unnecessary.. .but it did happen..

the “Christian alternative to Twitter.” It’s called ChristianChirp.

Within minutes of its launch, ChristianChirp featured profiles by both @Jesus and @Satan as well as the likes of @ImholierthanU and @WTF.  It wasn’t long before monitors began deleting posts by certain users and then blocking those users altogether…

I echo the sentiment of many who collectively wondered aloud what the point was of creating such a thing in the first place.  Most of the answers to this line of questioning generally ran along the lines of “it’s good to have a place where our values are accepted and celebrated instead of rejected” (as opposed to Twitter, where christian values are very clearly monitored and excluded) Or “thanks for making a social network for christians” (as opposed to the way Facebook is targeted at Janists and Sufis).

The misled and misleading idea underlying all of this is that God is present to and in only the places His people have prepared for Him. Places christians feel safe gathering and talking about Him.  Of course, in light of the smallness of the ‘christian marketplace’ this paints a picture of a god who is not in or present to very much of the world in which we live or at least finds most of our environments too unsavory to dwell in; in case you haven’t noticed, Christ has not been active on his Friendster profile for about 2 years.

“It’s not that big a deal; Just let it go, man.”

I disagree (with the imaginary detractor.. funny how quickly straw horses fall over).  I believe that this is another symptom of the very sickness that is rotting christianity from the inside.

The desire among the christian faithful for products and services like ChristianChip stands in direct opposition to the Incarnation (a relatively important concept in christian thought) and the life of Jesus in general; both of which propose that God is pleased to dwell among His people and that “His people” are seldom those whom religious power-centers identify as His people.  But maybe there is something about the lack of such a belief that is revealed in the creation of these controlled environments…

It seems to me that it ends up being about control: so long as our environment is safe, we don’t have to risk finding out if all this stuff about the power of God and the resurrection is real… Nothing of what we believe about life has to come into contact with or be tested by the larger culture.  The belief (or the hope) that Jesus can change/transform the world around me comes at the risk of being exposed to that larger culture; the avoidance of agendas or values contrary or other than those representative of Christ and His Kingdom belies a fear that Christ and His Kingdom can’t handle the pressure.

This is not a matter of simply disassociating myself from a distasteful or embarrassing part of my family.. This is saying that what I know of Jesus is not represented (much less encapsulated) by what the christian marketplace finds sellable.  And before someone else says it.. I know these aren’t new thoughts or novel; they are, as I see them, important enough to repeat ad nauseum until the din of chaos produced by the multitude of false gods the christian market produces has some counterbalance… because the bottom line for me is this:

-I believe “the heavens proclaim the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His Hands” (psalm 19)
-I believe “the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it” (psalm 24)
-I believe in the power of God to change lives and I believe that power extends far beyond the confines of christianity
-I believe the beauty of God is revealed in the larger culture (see: The Beatles, Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Rothko, Picasso, Dostoevsky)  which is why culture is not optional and must be engaged by those who seek the face of God rather than avoided.
-I believe these things because my life has been changed by the power of God through Jesus when He connected with me outside the boundary lines drawn by religious culture which is where He continues to meet me.

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:

Driving home from the studio last night I noted that there is a new billboard on the side of the freeway, advertising Islam.  The design was overall boring but got the point across: “Islam” it read “the message of Mohammed, Abraham and Jesus” or something along those lines.  After glancing at it I thought someone should make a pair of phone calls.  The first call should probably go to Jesus cuz I’m pretty sure He’d want to know he was a Muslim or at least a supporter.  The second phone call could come from any slew of Christian congregations or organizations and ought to be placed to the Muslim group who erected the sign.  The Christians should let the Muslims know that we’ve tried this kind of thing before with rather poor results.

I mean, advertising religion with a billboard will likely attract a certain kind of person to your religion, much as shouting from the sunroof of ones car at the opposite sex will attract a certain kind of date (I’d suggest that, in the latter case, it’d likely not be the kind of person you’d want to spend the rest of your life with… though that might not be what you’re after) So, in either case, perhaps it all depends on the kind of audience or clientele or follower you’re after..

Then again,..

part of what I’d like the Christian advertisers to tell the Muslim advertisers is that the seats of our churches are often filled with the butts of folks who responded to our advertising but, unfortunately, could never move past it.  People who saw the ads, intentional and subliminal, for a faith that was comfortable and safe, driven by God’s deep, deep like of us and His faithful commitment to preserve our way of life and have been reeling ever since at the divergence between the sales pitch and the Person of Jesus they run into periodically at these meetings. And now we can’t seem to get the most of them to help so much as stack chairs after our services, much less commit to a life of service reflective of the life we were hoping to see grow in them once we’d suckered them in.

We’re trying to re-work our communication to avoid such things in the future and it’s proving to be a rather difficult process. As it turns out, the reality of the thing we’re advertising is what is known as a “crappy product.”  It seldom seems to work the way we tell folks it’s going to and generally ends up costing quite a bit more than most folks are normally willing to pay.  If we were being honest, our billboards would read something like:

“Join us on Sunday (plus every other day besides) and prepare to give your time/energy/money/life to people you don’t understand for the sake of a God you can’t really grasp very well either.”

See? That’s just not gonna bring the masses… but.. maybe the masses aren’t what we’re looking to gather after all?

“Cliche is the enemy.  Cliche tells listeners (or readers) that you either do not know enough or care enough about your topic to communicate in more imaginative or energetic language.”

I wrote that to myself in a moment of clarity so that, whenever I was temped to simply lean on what “works” as a songwriter, I’d remember to wait.  This comes up again as I arrange the songs for this covers project. I am continually struck by the depth of creativity writers like Aimee Mann, Trent Reznor and Tom Waits bring to their craft.  Much of the reason these songs have rested so long in my soul is that they have given life and shape to thoughts, feelings, concepts.. realities.. that had either been shapeless or non-existent before my listening.  The word was sung and new things were formed in me; grief, healing, peace… old things were revived or reshaped; friendship, trust, courage..

I long for my work to do that.

In “Hopeful Imagination,” Walter Brueggemann writes: “I suspect that we lose vitality… when our language of God is domesticated and our relation with God is made narrow and predictable.”  I take this to mean that the pervasive use of cliche images and words to communicate, examine or celebrate ones relationship to or experience of God is much more serious than being simply a songwriting problem; It is reflective of a disconnect between artist and subject.  Quoting Bruggemann again: “Predictable language is a measure of a deadened relationship in which address is reduced to slogan.”

Cliche, at its worst, is the evidence of a compromise having been made in order to accommodate the Market’s desire to appeal to what is safe, unchallenging and strictly sellable.  Certainly, marketability is not an evil in and of itself; but should it become the driving force behind my creative choices, I am no longer making art, I am only making a product,.. a slogan; that it is, in fact, more important to make something sellable than to make something beautiful.

My experience of life has been varied.  My understanding of God has been characterized by passion, imagination and vitality.  I want my art to reflect this.

I shared with y’all a few days ago that this Saturday, Aug 1st, I will be celebrating my 10th anniversary. I’ve really enjoyed my marriage and look forward to the next 10 years.  So, here are a few thoughts I’ve been chewing on as I’ve spent some time recently reflecting on the things that have marked our marriage over the past 10 years.

-I Don’t Need You, I Choose You
I’m not at all saying that I don’t need Amy’s help or insight (or that she doesn’t need mine) from time to time, even often. But our need for one another is not the foundation of our marriage.  Need implies usefulness and usefulness is a bad motive for relationships; I keep shoes around because I need them and then discard them when I’m done with them; their use is depleted.

Love and necessity have a very strange interplay in a marriage but the bottom line is that Love has to say something more than “I need you.”  It has to move past usefulness to something more like “if you were of no use at all, lost all your beauty and ability, I would still be here because I choose you. I did not marry you because I can’t get along without you;  I married you because I don’t want to do life without you.”

-Two Whole Persons
“You complete me” is a really cute line from a mediocre movie but shooodang, it is a horrendous practice in relationships.  I valued Amy because of who she was without me.  She’s still a whole person without me and I value her for everything that makes her who she is.  I’d have a difficult time respecting someone whose identity was so tied to mine that she doesn’t know who she is without me.  I respect Amy as her own person and am glad to share life with her.  I can admire and root for her in her own pursuits and gifts just as I can in they ways we share life.

-Shared Mission
One of the best aspects of our marriage has been the adventure of our shared mission.  From our commitment to our local community to our partnership with Compassion International (the decision to sponsor 5 children as well as to travel as advocates), we’ve been on the same journey to live missionally and generously. It is heartbreaking to see folks get married to someone in hopes that the other will either slow down their pace of life or pick it up.  While there may not be a formula for determining which person is “the right person,”  I would suggest that if you don’t find yourself headed down the same roads at the same pace and with similar passions, you may want to take a long look at sticking together long-term.

-Fun
Our courtship was a blast.  We actually dated long-distance for over a 18 months, during which time we competed to see who could get the most impressive item sent through the mail.  She stamped a frisbee and sent it, I wrote a letter on a rubber duck, stamped it and sent it.  She wrote a letter on a giant rubber ball (almost waist high on me), stamped it and sent it.  I wrote a note on the sole of my shoe (ew.. I know), stamped it and sent it.  She sent a dozen eggs upon which she had written a letter with a clear wax pencil; the intention was that I dye the eggs in order to read the message.. I ate the eggs… She did not think that was funny.  There were many more exchanges like that.. It was how we fell in love.

Now, It’s easy to think that this kind of stuff is all part of the ‘game’ by which we impress the ones we’re trying to win.  I’m learning even now that that ‘game’ (if we want to call it a game) is never over.  The emphasis changes from trying to win the attention of someone we want to know to creatively expressing to that same person how much we still want to know and enjoy them.. Even after 10 years, I have more fun with Amy than with just about anyone (exceptions include dogs who wrestle).

-How Many People Are In This Marriage?
I remember being told that I’m not just marrying Amy but marrying her entire family as well (In Amy’s case this includes a twin sister, divorced parents, generous and insightful in-laws and Italian relatives) That’s also been true of the community we live in.  Our church community is uniquely close and I can say with great assurance that the health of our relationship owes a great debt to the folks we live life with.  They have shared in our victories and our defeats.. They help us keep laughing and praying etc… The people who make up Shelter Covenant Church are as much a part of this marriage as our legal and biological families. Our marriage is more than just the two people in it.  We’re better with our families, our friends and our community.

-2 Lists
It’s fun, easy and helpful to make the list of things we adore about someone (particularly someone we want to spend the rest of our lives with).  That list is also pretty easy to commit to.  It’s the OTHER list that becomes more important as time passes.  One of the truly pivotal moments in our pre-marital counseling was being asked to make a list of things we knew we did not like about one another.  Once we made those lists, we exchanged them to see what it was about us that was about us that the other did not like (so much fun) and then took them back.  Our counselor asked us to take a long look at that list and ask this question: “What will I do when none of these things change?”

This made it really clear that we were each marrying a flawed person.  It’s been important for us to know that we committed to both lists; enjoying and benefiting from the one while having grace for and carrying the burden of the other. If either one of us had held onto the expectation that we would change the other then we would have ended up sorely frustrated and disappointed.

-Sex
Do it.  It’s really great.  Of course, sex takes on a much different character the longer you are married.  It’s centrality and importance tend to wane while it’s meaning grows and deepens exponentially (or sexponentially.. haha. he.. ahem).  Sex becomes less a matter of impulse and freedom and more a way in which you share yourself with your spouse; a way to serve one another rather than a way to satisfy a need.

-Being Her Biggest Fan
This is key to both sides of a healthy relationship but I’d suggest it’s a more important discipline for the fellas.  With regards to the things she is interested in (athletics, art, academics.. whatever it is that gives her life to do), you must be her biggest fan.  A friend of mine ran a half-marathon last year.  Her husband did not run the race but showed up every 2 miles or so at an intersection or crossing to cheer his wife on.  That’s what I’m talking about.

—–

I’m being told this is a problem..