so indie it's embarrassing

What Have I Been Doing?

2011-06-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

This...

Don Miller and I have a book coming out this winter (February now) and that has consumed a tons of my time. I've also got contributed a chapter in The Center for Youth Ministry's upcoming It Happens: Dealing with Everyday Stuff in Youth Ministry, been an writer and editor for Augsburg/Fortress' re:form Traditions project all the while spitting up a cirrciuluum a month for the venerable Devozine and the good folks over at Upper Room.

In the meantime I'm trying to get all this transferred over to a new website for all my writing and speaking stuff which I'll link to soon enough.

So, that's the update. Nose around the archives if you like (there may be something there worth reading) and if you can't find something there go get the TPB of Sixth Gun. My new favorite comic! I'm obsessed.

Peace and love,
D

Film School: Where The Wild Things Are

2010-05-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

This movie polarizes people, either you love it or you hate it. We kind of felt that when we did it during Film School, however the themes are so rich and resonate I have to commend it to you. Part of me wants to add weeks to some of the notes because there is just so much there. Anyway, I loved this movie and think you will too. But remember - it's not for kids;)

Peace,
D

Where The Wild Things Are Week 1
Where The Wild Things Are Week 2
Where The Wild Things Are Week 3

After the Flood - Taking the Long View

2010-05-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

A week ago today Nashville endured the worst flood in her history. Lives were lost, families were displaced and property was destroyed. I live in one of the neighborhoods most affected and, though me and mine came through fine comparatively, the whole experience has left me disoriented.

I mean, I'm a youth minister and I have spent the last 5 summers traveling to the Mississippi Gulf Coast helping that community rebuild after hurricane Katrina. But now, I live in the place where youth groups want to travel to and volunteer to help rebuild. They have become me. There has become here. And it's put some things in perspective for me as I've watched the relief work unfold around me. If people are serious about helping in crisis situations like this one, it is critical that we take the long view. I understand the draw and emotion that goes into working for the first 1-7 days after a disaster. However, what is more difficult - and just as (if not more) necessary - is a commitment to long term relief.

One of my friends in the neighborhood used to do emergency disaster coordination for the Red Cross (He gave me the diagram embedded above) . He explained that after a disaster there is a honeymoon/hero period where everyone wants to jump in and help. This takes shape in everything from, neighbors helping neighbors and telethons to Sean Penn driving his boat down to New Orleans and pulling people out of the water. However, following this brief phase of volunteer energy and community cohesion is the steep drop off of disillusionment. You can hear this when people opine, "Are we still talking about _____?" or, "Why do they still need help?" Basically, the disaster becomes a nuisance because it prevents us from returning to normal life. But what the affected region is going to need most (and I've seen this first hand in Mississippi) is a sustained commitment to relief work that will bring the victims through grief and disillusionment and into a new future of reconstruction. This can't be done in a weekend and it can't be done alone. And as emotionally taxing as it on everyone from the volunteers to the victims, it proclaims resurrection in the face of tragedy.

It's this kind of long term commitment that I wonder about as volunteers pour into where I live in Bellevue. Are we as a city (and as faith communities) taking the long view regarding this flood? Are we preparing to walk our people and citizens through the disillusionment and challenge them to act in spite of it? In Nashville we do trendy well and this once-in-500-years event will be the litmus test of the character of our city. Will we stick by each other and walk the long road of reconstruction? I actually believe so. I've been impressed with Nashville so-far and think we've got it in us (even though I fear sometimes we don't).

So, when you hear disillusionment setting in around or within you speak to it directly. It's a natural place to end up, but not a sufficient place to stay. And as much as I hate the way my neighborhood has become a virtual parking lot because of all the volunteers going in and out, I kind of hope it doesn't subside anytime soon.

D

Status Report

2010-05-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

With the work on the book moving forward I'm embarrassed to admit that So Indie It's Embarrassing has suffered the way she has. So, in an attempt to right that wrong I'm going to put a lot of content up over the next 2 weeks (a few film schools and some ideas I've been kicking around) and get this thing back on track.

Thanks for reading at all and may grace and peace be with you,
D

FIlm School: Food Inc.

2010-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

If Upton Sinclair madea documentary film it would have been like this one. Food Inc. pulls the veil off the practices and policies of the food industry and sounds the loudest and most convincing alarm yet that it's time for a change. After watching the movie it's hard not to agree. But what's best about Food Inc. is the way it energizes and empowers it's viewers to act instead of simply demonizing what is clearly a broken system.

We had a power three weeks with this film but had to recognize that A.) Teenagers armed with compelling information about the wrongness of a system can turn into d-bags quickly. We warned ours to watch that. B.) The applications for teens can be tricky because they don't have control over most of their food choices. We worked for some good ones in part 3 of our study. C.) If you take kids through this keep in mind that they may prematurely to conclude that "business is bad". This is not true. Part 3 is all about business as a sacred activity and I think this point needs to be made and maintained throughout the movie. Otherwise we can fall prey to same dehumanization we want to decry these same companies of and that's not the Jesus way.

Also check out the movie's website for great information and other study guides. Let me know how it goes and bon appetit;)

D

Food Inc. Week 1
Food Inc. Week 2
Food Inc. Week 3

Film School: Back to the Future

2010-01-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

I love this movie and the month we spent studying it was gangbusters. The film is so fun and really holds up 25 years later (wow - 25 years!) All sorts of good stuff about honoring your parents, not repeating past mistakes as part of redemption and the glories of rock-n-roll.

If you use it we broke the movie up into roughly 30 minute sections and went four weeks.
If you use it, let me know how it goes;)

Peace,
D

BttF Week 1
BttF Week 2
BttF Week 3
BttF Week 4

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon

2009-12-25T06:06:00.001-08:00

Have a merry Christmas and get your action adventure on!
I will say the climax (even for all it's Monty Python aesthetic) kind of thrilled my kids on the scary side - and they were in the movie;)
So, keep your young'ins close.

Enjoy!
D

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon from Dixon Kinser on Vimeo.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon: Trailer 2

2009-12-23T00:40:00.000-08:00

Well the wait is finally over!
Our magnum opus, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon premieres right here at So Indie It's Embarrassing on Christmas Day, 2009.
Here's our final trailer to whet your appettie.

Enjoy:)

D

FIlm School: Iron Man

2009-11-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love this movie?!
Great conversation about technology, redemptive repurposing and how one defeats evil.
Bringing in some of the information on the material from "The One Dimensional Man" is helpful. Linking to the Wikipedia article here" for for a synopsis (I mention it in Week 2). This one makes a neat companion piece to Wall-E. Do 'em together if you like;)

Peace and love,
D

Iron Man: Week 1
Iron Man: Week 2
Iron Man: Week 3
Iron Man: Week 4

Film School: Wall-E

2009-11-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Love. This. Movie.
Did it last advent for FIlm School and it just soared. Great conversations about the nature of technology and what it means to be really human. (Hint - the robots are more human than the people).
On two of the weeks I reference a famous Wendell Berry article entitled "Why I'm Not Going to Buy a Computer". You can find it here.

Leave a comment below and let me know how it goes if you use this one.

Peace and love,
D

Wall-E: Week 1
Wall-E: Week 2
Wall-E: Week 3

Have a Missional Halloween

2009-10-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone has a great day on this October 31 wether you dress up or not.
Here is a link to a post I did a few years ago about why Halloween may in fact be the most God-ly of holidays and not the most God-less.

I re-read it today and thought it appropriate to put out there again this Halloween.

Peace and happy almost All Saints day,
D

The Conservative Bible and Syncretism

2009-10-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Youth Ministry is a missionary endeavor. The tools, techniques and philosophy are more akin to the work Christian missionaries have done over the centuries than anything else. As I’ve presented this approach over the two very helpful categories have been contextualization and syncretism.

Contextualization is the practice that missionaries employ when introducing a new culture to the Gospel (for better and for worse). Here the gospel is communicated using the vocabulary, language, signs and symbols of the host people. This has been the practice of the church for thousands of years (again for all it’s good and bad implications) and will continue for a thousand more. It is the reason any of us came to faith (or didn’t in some cases –jeez enough with the caveats;) and it is always to be the work and vision of the church. Examples of contextualization abound from English Bibles to the very term “Christian” itself.

Syncretism, on the other hand, is when the host culture changes the Gospel message to fit its own prejudices, misbehaviors and dangerous attitudes. Here the gospel doesn’t redeem or change the culture but the culture changes the gospel. As of late it has been hard to find a purely academic and recent example of syncretism - until last week.

On Monday the Tennessean ran this article on the front page. It is about a new translation of the Bible that is being developed called The Conservative Bible. Yes, this is a Bible that will finally get back to the pure message of Jesus by eliminating all of the liberal stories and translations that mire edgy versions like the NIV.

Think I’m joking? Think again. Because stories like the one in John 7 about Jesus and the woman caught in adultery seem too liberal they are excised. Don’t like the ambiguities and implications of Jesus encounter with the rich young ruler? You’re not alone – the Conservative Bible will smooth out all the rough edges by altering the wording of the story in order to communicate what it “really” means.

And that’s kind of the thing underneath all this. The reason this Bible is syncretistic is that it wants to unapologetically conform the message of the Bible to its pre-conceived agenda. The story of God’s redemption of the cosmos is pressed into the mold of a particular groups expression of conservatism. It is a project where the culture is changing the gospel and not the other way around.

Now, don’t we all bring our prejudices to the text and try to read our agenda into it? Or course. We are people and none of us can see this objectively – heck were not supposed to. But, when I find the places my biases are clouding the text I am want to repent and be challenged not gleefully embrace it. This why tradition and community are to be part of the interpretive processes and why I can’t see how the Conservative bible is a good idea.

So, link over, read the article for yourself and behold – syncretism!

D

P.S. Oh yeah and Stephen Colbert already got his hands on this one. Read the article to see how;)

No Convo?

2009-10-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts about why a "conversion experience" is not what I'm shooting for as I raise my kids in faith.
Sorry to get all video heavy here in the last 3 weeks.

More words coming soon;)

Peace,
D

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon: Trailer 1

2009-10-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Four months after we first rolled cameras, I've got a trailer cut together.
Once we get the effects shots together we can premiere this baby.

I'm proud of the kids and our work indeed!

D

Holy Orders!

2009-10-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah....
They never talked about this kind pastoral scenario in seminary.

This made me laugh so hard and so loudly that my kids demanded to know what I was laughing at. I didn't know how to explain it to them;)

What would you have said?

Insert your wisdom or snarky one liner here:
D

Why Twitter Marks the End of Church Pews

2009-09-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

It is my opinion that when Christian’s gather for worship the rituals they undertake function as a kind of training. What they do together gives shape, form and imagination to the kind of people they are trying to become. This is as true for the obvious elements of Christian worship (preaching content, song selection, giving, confession, prayer for the church and the world etc.) as it is for the more oblique ones (room orientation, seating configurations, vestments etc.). It is these oblique ones that I think will be most affected by a technology like Twitter.

Twitter is, of course, a relatively new technology that allows the user to update a personal web feed with what they are doing at any given moment. It provides a new and interesting way to communicate to be sure, but it is also indicative of the larger culture trends toward virtual relationships. These are the kind of relationships that are facilitated in spaces like MySpace and facebook and use email and twitter their means communication.

These media make it is possible to converse with many people, all over the globe on any given day but never look at another human being in the face. Even worse, these technologically based relationships can actually supersede the real thing (ever had somebody ignore you while you were talking to them to respond to a text?)

All this brings me to my point.

As our culture moves into more and more virtual forms of communication (for a scathing critique of this reality see the film Wall-E) will the church’s practice of meeting together become increasingly both counter cultural and crucial.
Christianity is a living way of life that requires relationship with other human beings. The kind of formation we seek (I am a Christian so I put myself in this camp) happens most authentically in community when face to face with other human beings. As more and more technologies crop up that draw us away from looking at other people in the face the more important the churches practice of relating to other people “in person” will become.

And this is why Twitter could very well be the death knell of the church pew. We all know that worshipping in pews requires very little face-to-face interaction. Yes we subvert this with some of our practices (passing the peace etc.), but for the majority of our community training we only see the back of our neighbor’s head. Will the increased need for face-to-face time in worship in response to our cultures increasingly virtual relationships finally call for the end of pews?

We need to look at one another and one of the technologies working against us is the church pew. Architecture is one of the intangibles of our Christian formation and its augmentation can really make a difference. Could this be the time?

It’s not like the pew has been around since the time of Jesus or anything. It’s usage came into vogue as another communication technology rose to prominence – the printing press (ever notice how a Basilica’s pews are shaped like the layout of a book?) Perhaps its demise at the hand of another communication technology is just the right kind of poetic beauty.

Or is it irony.

What do you think?

Peace,
D

Film School: Planet of the Apes

2009-09-19T19:29:00.001-07:00

This is a movie with a capital "M"!
The 1968 version of Planet of the Apes is a tour de force. As timeful as it is timeless (zoom in shots anyone), this movie's influence is nearly unmatched.

Evokes great discussions about the relationship between faith and science, power and religion and what it means to be a human being. Make sure you mention the fact that the Civil Rights Movement, Space Race and counter culture revolution of the late 1960's were all in play and show up on screen as the movie tells it's story. When Heston tells the young ape to "Never trust anybody over 30" it is an ironic reminder about his roll as a counter culture icon when the movie was made.

When I did the film with my group , I took one week to lecture on the history of Christianity and science and the way they are not suppose to fight like they do but modernity wouldn't have it any other way.

Good stuff here. Enjoy!

D

Planet of the Apes Week 1
Planet of the Apes Week 2
Planet of the Apes Week 3
Planet of the Apes Week 4

The State of So Indie It's Embarrassing

2009-09-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been two months, what gives Dixon.
Here's what's going on in the world of Dixon Kinser and So Indie It's Embarrassing:

I wrapped principal photography on Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon. The kids and I are in post production now and all my blogging time the last two months has been filled up with movie making. Still planning for a release this month!

My book is gonna happen - probably!
I spent the lion share of my writing energy crafting a kick booty (if I do say so myself) proposal and sample chapter of my youth ministry book called (for now) the New Adventures of Jesus. I'm really proud of what I've written so far and feel like I finally found my voice. We're shipping it around to 5 publishers next week. I'm hopeful.

dixonkinser.com
I've been trying to get all the content of so indie it's embarrassing moved over to my website at www.dixonkinser.com. However, Apple changed the iWeb software so I'm kind of in a holding pattern. My agent recommended the big switch over and so far it's been a big bust. You can also follow me on twitter now as part of the same Dixon Kinser media empire consolidation. Yeeha!

Vacation
Yeah, I went out of town and took time off too. Sue me.

I also got new glasses.

Look for a Film School on Planet of the Apes tomorrow!

What to do with the Psalms

2009-07-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

**I’ve been doing some teaching on the Psalm’s lately and this little observation has become a go to example for how to understand what kind of “song” a Psalm is. Everyone from teens to septuagenarians seem to respond well to it. Use it if you like.**

The Psalms are such a wonderful part of the scriptures and yet they can be difficult to access. They are songs, poems, laments and anthems but our inability to connect with them sometimes stems from (I think) our casual relationship with music.

People in the United States have a largely therapeutic relationship with our music. We listen to music because it makes us feel a certain way. Living in music city I see this more than I would like. Pop is crafted to go down smooth (can anyone say “don’t bore us get to the chorus”) and that’s just the way we like.

This is problematic when we related it to the Psalms because they don’t make us feel good. They don’t follow a four-chord chorus that resolves nicely at he end and they are also not available for down load on iTunes.

So what kind of songs are they?

I think the Psalms are like this kind of tune I sing to my kids:

“Clean up. Clean up.
Everybody, everywhere.
Clean up. Clean up.
Everybody do your share.”

When you sing a song like this in a living room full of toys there is a not-so-subtle expectation: the singer expect the listener to join them in cleaning up the toys. This song implicates the listener and demands action from them and at the same time. It lays claim on your future and really dares you to ignore its call.

The Psalms are like this kind of song. They implicate us in Kingdom living. They are meant to be heard as a call to action for this is what they are. When I read the Psalms this way, I am challenged but also enormously helped. Finally, I feel like I know what to do with them.
Peace,
D

Film School: Cars

2009-06-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is a one week discussion guide for the movie Cars. We wrote it for a family movie night so it has questions for kids and families as well as deeper questions for teens and adults. I love this movie and if you want to talk about anything from dreaming dreams that matter to creative non-violence (that's right!) Cars is a great choice. Enjoy.

D

Cars: Discussion Guide

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon: Cameras will roll!

2009-06-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks the first day of principal photography on the Kinser family's action adventure sequel: Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Komodo Dragon. We've spent the past year writing the story and scouting locations and the kids are about the pop they are so ready to start filming. The official plot synopsis is as follows:

"Indy and Marion race a former rival to Indonesia's hidden Temple of the Komodo Dragon. Inside is a diamond with mysterious power which legend says is guarded by a giant Komodo dragon. Those who seek it never return. Will our heroes overcome even these most treacherous of obstacles? Tune in this September to find out!"

I'm pretty stoked as well because the production values will be way up this year and it's going to test my technological abilities. Some of my friends that do professional video and TV stuff loaned me a whole bunch of higher end camera gear along with dolly tracks and lights. Likewise, our costumes are way cooler than last year (see the photo's below).

Our first sequence tomorrow is actually a stunt and will be our first use of a stunt double. This concept was hard for the kids to grasp at first, but once they did they thought the double should do lots of stuff. I explained that he needed to kept it to a minimum to keep it believable, but que sera.

Here's to a good summer of movie magic. I must admit, I love this stuff.

D

Theology with a Four Year Old

2009-06-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

I am leaving tomorrow for a week of work in Mississippi (hurricane relief year four) and my daughter was with with me while I was packing this afternoon. Here is the conversation we had:

"Daddy what are you packing for."

"I'm going on a trip with the students I work with to Mississippi. About the time you were born there was a really bad storm called a hurricane that broke a lot of things where I'm going. There are some people there that lost their houses and even their families because of that storm. We are going to help them and try to make things better."

"Are you going to put the bricks back in their houses?"

"We're going to help the people that know how to do that and we'll do a lot of other things too. We're going because we're Christians and this is part of what it means to love God and love our neighbors."

**Pause**

"Daddy"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Did Jesus build our house with Legos?"

Sometimes you can only go so far with these things;)

I will be in MS for the week concluding the trip with a little Jesus Dojo in New Orleans (The one I talked about earlier).

See you in 8 days.

peac
D

Film School: The Office

2009-05-29T05:29:00.001-07:00

The Office is one of the best shows on television right now. I love it indeed.
David Dark suggests that The Office is apocalyptic in that it reveals truth in a prophetic way. I agree.
This episode made for particularly good conversation about the nature and value of that dubious category "hot".

The Office: "Prince Family Paper" Study Guide
NBC Synopsis:
Michael and Dwight spy on a rival paper company while the rest of the office gathers around to have a dispute about whether Hillary Swank is hot or not. So they can get back to work, Jim decides to end all the arguing by conducting a poll. The poll ends up a tie.

Enjoy!
D

Graduation Season

2009-05-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am a youth minister. It’s what I do. As such, I have the unique experience of attending multiple high school and university graduations every spring.

This year alone I will watch more than 12 valedictory and salutatory addresses, hear 9 special music performances, consider the wisdom of no less than 8 guest speakers and finally listen to the names of more than 1200 students read a loud as diplomas are awarded. The hours I will spend at the ceremonies coupled with driving, parking and assorted after parties will claim the majority of hours in my workweek.

Like I said, it’s what I do.

But I do it all gladly and affectionately. I genuinely love the students who invite me and it’s an honor to be there. But the experience of attending someone else’s “once in a life time” several times a year always gets me reflecting. Two things this year:

1.) Is the best commission to give the graduates “Follow your dreams”?
This is the basic content of most graduation charges, but I always feel like, as a Christian, it’s a little hollow. Ones own self-actualization is not the ultimate expression of humanity. I watched the way high school and university education works to make us consider other people as the impediment to a life of peace when in fact they are the way towards it. The shalom of God does not come true when “your dreams are fulfilled”. It has far more to do with wholeness than happiness (we can fight abut those terms if you like) and it happens in and through a community of faith who are living out someone else’s dreams instead of their own.

Now, I’m not trying to discount the way folks need to be about their created purpose. I’m all in for that. Our Creator has made us in unique ways. I’m just noticing how graduations sometimes betray a story that is more shaped by a consumer culture than anything God is doing. Even though it is “your moment seniors” don't check your discernment at the door.

2.) To Name or not Name
There is too much to this to fully expound on here, but there is a lot communicated when a school names the college that its graduates are attending when they get the diploma. I am not getting ready to pooh-pooh higher education or suggesting that college is not important but what I do want to critique is why we assume college is important.

The narrative most of my students are offered by their schools (and indeed I was offered by my own high school) is that if you make the best grades you can, you can go to the best college you can (read best named college), then you can go to the best grad school you can, so that can make the most money you can (and reflect that prestige back on our institution). The accrual of wealth, status and class are inexorably enmeshed with the caliber of university one attends and high schools reinforce this dangerous narrative when they name where each graduate is going to school in the fall. I find this phenomenon most in the graduations of private schools but it is also to be found in the academic magnet schools that are gunning for their market share of students. The upshot of it all is that when college names are read aloud it’s not because students are going to sub-par schools. It’s because they are going to famous one and this brings me back to my point. By doing this it sends a powerful message to young parents, “You can buy success for your child”.

This reality is unwittingly disguised by the North American story, which boasts that everyone has an equal shot at success and the hardest working students will succeed the most. What a load of cr*p. It’s not true (even when our President is being used as exhibit A++). All students do not have equal access to the opportunities prestigious universities provide because not everyone is of the proper class to be able to be able to access those “avenues of power” (to quote Jacques Ellul).

Perhaps I’m opening up a can of worms and we can get after it in the comments section if anyone cares to, but I’ve been noticing this phenomenon more and more and Christians should not accept it as “normal”. It is not a reflection of the kingdom of God and its tacit acceptance can cloud our vision when it comes to seeking true justice for “the least of” our neighbors.

What are your thoughts on this? Do recognize these phenomenon? Let me know.

Peace,
D

Film School: The Dark Knight

2009-05-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

The movie that nailed the Zeitgeist of the year 2008. A powerful meditation on what it means to confront and defeat evil, I think everyone owes it to themselves to watch this movie and talk about it.

In hind sight I wish I had added some more stuff about how the Joker is really like the Satan in Job. He thinks that when the chips are down people will eat each other and he's out to prove that. Sounds an awful lot like the accuser who thinks stripping Job of everything he has will cause him to curse God.

Also, there is a repeat question in week 5 because we didn't get to it in week 4. Don't let that throw you.

Let me know how it goes if you use it.

Enjoy!
D

The Dark Knight Study Guide Week 1-5

Film School: A New Series

2009-05-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

I've been doing a Sunday morning class for the last six years called Film School. In the class my students and I do spiritual formation around popular and classic movies and it truly one of the coolest parts of my job.

There is lots I could say about why I approach Christian formation this wayl and what the method is to my madness, but that's got to be reserved for the book chapter. This post is to announce that I am starting a new series here at So Indie It's Embarrassing to share some of my class materials for any that desire to use them.

You see, as of late several youth ministries have adopted a similar kind of Film School in their parishes and they've called me for advice. For years, I didn't do study sheets or notes on the films we covered (other than my own journal entries). However, over the last 12 months I've codified our program a little more and moved to a small group structure for the conversations. This has required me to produce a "lead sheet" of discussion questions for my leaders each week. While this has resulted more work for me it has also created some "in-the-can" materials that I can give away to those looking to begin a Film School of their own. If you are such a person then this series is for you!

I've got a years worth of material completed and I'll be putting up a new film up every month. I've also changed the tags on the scant few posts I've done to this end in the past so you can find them too. They are under the tag "Film School"

It is important to add that all these discussion questions we're designed to function as jumping off points for our weekly conversations. They are not meant to work like a lecture. I've added some comments to clue my leaders into what concepts they need to master in order to best lead the discussion, but they are short hand and not meant to be read aloud.

It is also worth noting that our class structure is set up to accommodate watching about 25-35 minutes of the movie each week, in sequence, until it is completed. I did not include start and stop times in the discussion sheets (but you can guesstimate). This means that a movie like The Dark Knight took us 5 weeks to cover because it is 145 minutes long. Ergo there are 5 lead sheets. You may do it in less time and that's great.

If you have any questions shoot me an email. Hope this is helpful.
Peace and blessings,
Dixon

I See Dead People

2009-04-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

“Kind of looks like a coffin doesn’t it?”
This line always draws a reaction in the class that I teach because it comes in a context where the students least expect it: standing around the Holy Table, waiting to take Communion. You see during this week of the class we are teaching how Anglican’s approach the Eucharist and part of that lecture involves a little explication of the signs and symbols of our faith. One of the biggest (literally) being the very table we use to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Have you ever noticed, it kind of looks like a coffin? There is actually good reason for this.

When what becomes Christianity breaks out following Jesus’ resurrection, ascension and Pentecost it is initially seen as a heretical sect of Judaism. It is persecuted by almost everybody and driven underground such that, for a time, the safest place Christian’s could gather for worship were places called catacombs.

Catacombs were underground burial chambers used by Christians during the second century to bury their martyrs because their faith (and the way they dealt with the dead) was illegal in the Roman Empire. Worshippers would return to these same “grave tunnels” to commemorate the death of their martyrs. As Imperial abuse heated up the catacombs actually became the safest place for the Church to gather and it was during this time that a most unlikely tradition developed.

The commemoration of a saint involves celebrating of the Lord’s Supper (there are many great and important reasons for this I can’t get into here). However, because, there was no institutional expression of the Church in the second century, often these feats were celebrated on the actual sarcophagus of the saint whose death was being remembered. This was a way the community maintained their connection to the martyr being remembered and the communion of saints, knowing that the feast they eat that day was a precursor to the great Messianic banquet to come. At this “wedding feast of the Lamb” these Christians looked forward to eating together in celebration of God’s culmination of the old world’s redemption and the full establishment of the new heaven and earth. It is going to be great!

When Christianity morphed into the state religion of the Roman Empire buildings began to be built for public worship. Yet Roman Christians maintained their connection catacombs by building the altars of each cathedral on top of the actual bones (or at least a bone of) one of the saints. When the Church moved into Protestantism during the Enlightenment Eucharistic tables were built in roughly the size of a Roman sarcophagus to continue this connection. Through this practice the Christian church reminded herself of her roots in persecution, and her connection to the great cloud of witnesses the book of Hebrews references. We are not in this alone – not by a long shot!

I mention all this now because I was struck this Easter by the reality of the, how shall we say, trans-temporal community made possible by the resurrection of Jesus. The communion of saints is one of the beautiful mysteries of Easter faith and it is part of the gift we are given as followers of the Way. Jesus makes clear in his teachings and actions that he was (and is) making a new family. This family includes those who claim the name of Christ now, those who will do so in the future and (mysteriously) all those who have faithfully followed our God before as well.

The building I worship in on Sunday’s has stained glass windows depicting the likeness of many of the churches saints. One Easter Sunday I was overwhelmed with the experience that these are my people. These are some of the folks that make up the new family I’ve been grafted into as a member of the Church. These are the dead people I was compelled during the Eucharist by to “see” and, even more so, to eat with. Finally, the sarcophagus shaped table points toward the reality that death is not the end of the story, resurrection is!

May I be able to keep my eyes open and “see” through Pentecost.
The Lord is risen indeed!
D

Intimacy and Betrayal

2009-04-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

For Western Christians today is Good Friday. In my tradition this means we gathered for worship last night and read the story of Jesus’ expression of deep love for his disciples comingled with his betrayal. It all happens at a meal he turns into our Eucharist and it’s powerful stuff for me.

Yesterday I was struck by the dichotomy present in the story between intimacy and betrayal. The way John tells the story (Gospel of John chapter 13) you get great drama with John, the beloved disciple on Jesus’ right and Judas, the betrayer on his left. At a Passover meal their placement makes particular sense as the youngest would be laying to the right of the rabbi and the host (Judas) on his left (or behind him). Jesus is troubled because he knows what Judas is about to do and when he tells the group that one of them is going to betray him it make sense that John would be the one to lean on his breast (as it is written) and ask “Who?”

Jesus says it will be the one who gets the piece of bread he has dipped in the dish. Again, at a Passover meal this makes perfect sense as the host and rabbi would likely be sharing food at the table. However it is more striking to me is that this act of passing bread was a mark of special friendship. The narrative is showing us that what Jesus has with John (the “disciple he loved”) he is offering to Judas as well. The one who would betray him still gets the offer of special friendship even though he rejects it and leaves into the night.

This is deep and poetic as we see Jesus at the table flanked by both intimacy and betrayal. Because he is open to the former he is inherently exposed to the latter. But you know what, that’s how it goes. I was struck by this fact as we washed feet last night. Intimacy and betrayal (or the possibility of betrayal) always go together because to have true connection with another person we must be open enough to them that, if they so choose, they could hurt us. This is hard, but may be a small application in the way Jesus realizes the call of the prophet, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” (Is 50:6)

When I’ve experienced betrayal my inclination is to close off. When confronted with the reality of my vulnerability I want to self protect, not self-give. But the orientation of Jesus is the other way round. In the face of inevitable betrayal he offers special friendship. I don’t know how it will all work out, but I want to do the same this Good Friday. Perhaps in such risk what Jesus said about his disciples will come true; they’ll be known by their love.

May the same be able to said of me.

D

Balloon Station

2009-03-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a station that I think I stole from Johnny Baker. I think...
It's been a good one.

Balloon Prayer

Materials Needed:
- 1-2 packages of inflatable balloons (depending on you group size)
- Push pins
- Markers

Meditation

Pray. God is near.

This station is a way to pray for the friends, family and
circumstances in our lives.

Take a moment and reflect on who or what you would
like to pray for. Then, take a balloon and blow it up.
As you do pray.

Remember the man 2000 years ago who blew the Holy
Spirit onto his disciples. Remember the breath of God
that moves to make prayer reality.

Now, lift the balloon up.
Let it go.

This is a symbolic way of giving your prayer to God.
Practice letting it go as often as you need to.
A pray offered is Godʼs to answer.

Now, use a sharpie to mark your balloon as your own.

After worship, come back and pop your balloon
This serves two purposes:
a) to represent handing over
the prayer to God – the responsibility of this
person/event is no longer in your hands, but in Godʼs
hands.

b) This also helps you to stay awake.
Awake to God and present to life.

Pray. God is near.

Way of St. B's Update

2009-03-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've logged an entry here at So Indie It's Embarrassing. Lot's has been going on, but one of the neatest things has been the progress and formation of the neo-monastic discipline I've been directing called The Way of St. Bartholomew's. We are learning so much about ourselves and how hard it is to keep promises. However, through it all the practice of following our rule of life and maintaining our commitments has been better than I could have imagined.

Particulary cool was our trip to the Abbey of Gethsemani to fulfill the Pilgrimage portion of our vows two weeks ago. Initailly I planned an elaborate trip to a desert monastary in the South West, but the economy being what it is we had to revamp and improvise. We settled on taking a 2.5 hours trip north east to Thomas Merton's monastry and it was really effective. While it didn't serve to give folks the full experience of pilgrimage, it functioned perfectly as a Whitman's sampler of the discipine. Now, I'm not usually one for abbreviated spiritual practices, but in this case it really worked.

We hit all the high points of the historic pilgrimage (all the way down to seeing a relic or grave of a saint - Merton's grave is on the grounds at Gesthemani) and the "day trip" format allowed for maximum participation for the group. It was great to pray with the monks, introduce kids to monasticism in general and just be away for a day of meditation and reflection. I recommend this way of doing it for anyone looking to walk their students through the baby steps toward authentic pilgrmage.

Below are some pictures or trip (it was WINDY!)

Hope your Lent is going well,
D

Feasting Well This Lent

2009-02-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Jim Gaffigan is one of my favorite stand-up comedians. His jokes are that perfect mix of truth and silliness that get me every time. On his last record he has a bit where he examines all of our holidays and makes humorous commentary on how American’s traditionally celebrate them. Here’s what he has to say about Thanksgiving:

“Then there’s Thanksgiving. The tradition there is that we over eat. I’m thinking that’s not much of a tradition, I do that everyday!”

Gaffigan’s commentary on American gluttony is always spot-on but I think he also give Christians a good challenge in their practice of Lenten disciplines. We need to be as good as at feasting as we are at fasting.

Each Lenten season Christian’s all over the world engage the season by taking on a unique spiritual discipline. Often this discipline involves abstaining from a particular luxury food item or leisure activity. Common choices include chocolate, coffee, and video games. The point is to practice suffering and embrace it as a transformative Christian discipline. This is an extremely helpful custom, however, choosing the right thing in our culture can be a little tricky.

I believe this is because in order to fast well, on must also be able to feast well and that is something we do not know how to do. Sure, we know how to indulge and binge. As Gaffigan says, we do that every day. Unfortunately this robs us of our ability to actually take pleasure in the things we are consuming. We diminish our capacity for enjoyment through constant engorgement such that feasting seems not only odd, but out of place. But it shouldn’t be. Not for Christians.

This is why Sunday’s in Lent are marked as feast days. Not only is Sunday the day we gather to celebrate the feast of the world’s redemption (the Eucharist), but it is also the day we take up what we’ve abstaining from and practice enjoying it rightly. We test the waters of our souls to see how we are learning God-blessed enjoyment every time we feast. This is why feasting and fasting should always go hand in hand. Like work and Sabbath, we cannot know one without the other.

This is hard for Christians living in the United States to intuit. Our consumer culture predisposes us to crash-diet forms of ascetic spirituality as we try to compensate for the fact that we indulge all the time. This is where, oddly enough, Jim Gaffigan becomes a helpful spiritual teacher. Perhaps, the very things we over do everyday are exactly the right things to give up for Lent because we can practice enjoying it properly every Sunday. What if our orientation this Lent is to learn what to do with pleasure, as much as we learn how to do without it?

Consider this if you have chosen to give something up for Lent. Make sure you work on feasting as hard as you work on fasting. Celebration is a part of the kingdom of God that comes through suffering so we should work to keep them together. Then feasting will not seem absurd, like Gaffigan’s take on Thanksgiving, but like the most natural culmination of a fast well accomplished.

Racing the Batmobile

2009-02-13T19:20:00.001-08:00

Well, I've just come from the Pinewood Derby 2009 and I should let you know two things: 1.) The car turned out better than we could have hoped and 2.) we didn't win anything.

However, that really is beside the point. We had a great time, it was a growing experience for A___ and Chris and I had too much fun geeking out on this derby car.

I will say that our car was competitive, but suffered from an alignment issue in the second heat. Que Cera. It was the only Batmobile of all 100+ cars there that night.

I've included some pics for your enjoyment.

Peace,
D

Batmobile Baby!

2009-02-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

A____ and I are getting ready to enter the Pine Wood derby with his Scout troop and we've been designing the car (with a little help from my friend Chris of course). The question I put to him concerning the design was, "Do you want to win one of the races, or do you want your car to look like the Batmobile?"

You can guess what he chose.

So, we've been designing a 1966 era Batmobile-Pine-Wood-Derby car and our research led us to two pages that, while they probably won't surprise, will impress you.

The first is one called http://www.batmobilehistory.com/.
This is a comprehensive site detailing with trivia and images every iteration of the Batmobile from 1941 to the present. Also, and this one was central to our research, there is http://www.1966batmobile.com/ which goes into more detail than you can handle regarding the classic Adam West era car.

All told I took my son to the edge of the geek canyon and pushed him over. Fortunately Chris was already there to break the fall;)
I'll have pic soon.

Peace,
D

A Voodoo Parable

2009-01-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

This week I went to New Orleans for a day doing what I’m calling, “Dojo Reconnaissance”. I plan to take my group there this summer to do more post-Katrina relief work and have a conversation about how to deal with the pluralism (meaning the myriad of other religions and belief systems) in a healthy, redemptive and missional way. (If you want to know what I’m thinking on this check out the “The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society” by Leslie Newbigin.)

New Orleans’ French Quarter provides a singularly unique backdrop for a conversation like this in the way it blends old-school Roman Catholicism with any number of neo-pagan and new age religious systems. The following is a conversation I had with the proprietor and priest of one of the many Voodoo shops in the Quarter. As I was looking at a book full a pictures of Roman Catholic saints in front of a alter to a Voodoo Queen he approached me,

“Hey there, let me know if you have any questions. People usually have a lot of misconceptions about who we are.”

“Well, actually I do have a question. I’m unfamiliar with Voodoo, are you all are affiliated with the Temple down on Rampart Street?”

“Ahh, Miriam’s place. No, we’re not officially linked but she is doing good stuff there. Good stuff. ”

“So, are you all like a different – and excuse my lack of metaphors – denomination of voodoo? “

“No, it’s not like denominations. We practice New Orleans Voodoo, which is a mixture of Haitian and African Voodoo all mixed together. It’s different from what she’s doing.”

“So, how did you… (the phone rings)

“Excuse me for a moment. (he picks up the phone) Hello.
Yes. A hex? You’re sure it’s a hex and not a curse.

Ok, here is what you do. Go to the room you feel the hex the strongest in and take bowl full of sea salt, rosemary (and some other things I can’t remember). Throw a handful of the mix into all four corners of the room while reciting the Twenty Third Psalm.

Right, from the Bible. You know, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want…”

Uh, huh you can get one from the library. Or the Internet. Yep.

Then repeat that ritual in every room you still feel the hex.
Sure thing, you’re welcome. (hangs up)

Ok, I’m sorry, what were you asking?”

“I was just wondering how you came into this religious practice.”

“Well, I grew up half Cherokee and half Jewish. I went to a Christian school when I was younger and decided pretty quick that I wasn’t going to worship some bald old-man in the sky whose got a big stick and is ready to strike me down if I screw up, right?”

“Right, I wouldn’t want to worship that God either. So what drew you to Voodoo?”

“Well, it’s really individual. It’s a practice I do all on my own and it allows for personal expression. But mostly, I really connected to the way it honored the earth as being sacred, it allowed me to be connected to my ancestors , I mean we’re gonna have a big party on the other side! And it has active spirits that are apart of this life and doing some good in this world.”

(At this point another couple comes into the store and we move on).

As I’ve mulled it over, the conversation has kind of functioned as a back handed parable concerning Christianity for me. Those that have ears, let them hear.

D

What Makes Something Pornographic?

2009-01-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

This is a question I've been thinking a lot about as a result of the movie we're watching in my Film School class. The movie is called Cinema Paradiso. It's the story of a famous Italian film director who goes back to the village he was raised in when his father figure dies. It's a great movie (the directors cut is even better if you've not seen it yet) and one of the central themes in the picture is the movie is the influence of both the church and the cinema on the life of this man growing up.

The village he grew up in during WWII was small and had one movie house. Every week when a new movie would arrive the priest from the Catholic Church would sit through the picture and ring a bell every time there was a kiss (or other such "objectionable content") on screen. The projectionist would then cut those denoted segments out of the film such that this boy and his entire village had never seen a movie with a kiss that happened on screen.

That is until unforeseen events lead to different ownership of the theater. On the opening night of the "new" cinema the projectionist (our hero, now a young boy — the future famous director) keeps a kissing scene in the movie and the audience goes wild. They love it. Well, all except for the priest who stands to leave declaring "I won't watch pornography".

This sequence is in our section to watch this week and it's got me thinking, what makes something pornographic? Later in the same film our hero, now a teen ager, falls in love and kisses his one true love on screen in a beautifully romantic sequence. It's not the least bit pornographic and really accentuates the nuances of this question.

I've been thinking on this for about a week now and I've got some good ideas but I'd really be interested in your thoughts. How would you answer the question, "What makes something pornographic?"

A penny for your thoughts.

D

P.S. Let me give you some stuff to start with - the word pornography goes from two Latin words meaning "words" and "prostitutes." So, pornography literally defined is just words about prostitutes. Also, this word originates in about the middle of the 19th century, so it's not even been around that long and may be why discussion about porn always arrive a some deconstruction of Victorian era sexual repression. Ok, there you go.

Haiku (Worship Station)

2009-01-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Ahh the blog. How she suffers when one is writing other things....
Here's a cool worship station our comunity enjoys a lot.
It can be cool to make a blog where you post the prayers from that month, or even pick a few to publish in your churches new letter.

Peace,
Dixon

----------
Materials Needed:

- Pieces of paper (half sheets of 8.5 x 11 work well) or sticky notes
- Writing Implements (Pens, Crayons)
- Bulletin Board (With thumb tacks) or White Board/ wall space (with tape).

Meditation
俳句
Haiku

Poetry is the tool we use to describe the indescribable. Poetry can give people eyes to see things they could not see before or empathize with anothers joy or pain. For Christians trying to demonstrate God’s new way of being to the world, poetry is a powerful tool.

At this station you are invited to be a creator of poetry.

The Haiku is one of the oldest and most traditional forms of Japanese poetry. It is simple at first glance and a good place to try ones hand at things poetic.

The flow of a haiku is roughly 3 lines with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. So, the first line will have roughly 5 syllables, the second 7, and then the third, again, will have roughly five.

Often one of the lines includes a reference (usually through imagery) to the season in which the haiku is composed.

A traditional haiku is:
an old pond—
the sound of a frog jumping
into water

Pray, God is near.

Write a poem, reflecting what God is doing in you, your heart’s prayers, the scriptures, your reflections on tonight's gathering, the scriptures we've read or anything connected to the things of God.

Try using this form of a Haiku.

Use the sticky notes, crayons, paper, tape, scissors to compose it and place it on the board, as you like, for others to read.

Create. Write. Worship.
God is near.

The Holy Name

2009-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, or should I say happy feast of The Holy Name.

The Holy Name January 1

Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name
of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart,
we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our
Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

I love this icon.
Hope your new year has been great thus far.

Peace and love,
D

Body Prayers for the New Year

2008-12-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas everyone.
As we approach the New Year I thought I’d offer two body prayers that our community crafted during Advent but would work well as New-Year’s-resolution type prayers.
Enjoy!

A Prayer for Balance

In the holiday season we often adopt practices that extend beyond God-blessed celebration and into all forms of gluttony. Furthermore, we find ourselves struggling with the rhythms of vacation and not knowing how to rest well. Often time off is the time we feel most out-of-sorts with ourselves, or families and our Creator.

The Lord Be with you
And also with you
Let us pray:

Posture: Shift your weight to one foot and lift the other off the ground. Extend your arms and work to keep your balance.
(After holding for enough time to have had to work to keep the posture)

Conclude with this collect:
Almighty God, Creator of all good things and the one who brings order to chaos, give us grace to arrange our lives such that they embrace healthy, God-blessed rhythm’s of rest and work, feasting and fasting and celebration and lament. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives ad reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever, Amen.

A Prayer for Satisfaction
In our lives we keep finding it’s hard to know when enough is enough. There is a way our greed is manifest most around the Christmas holiday’s consumer glut. We noticed the way children seem to be satisfied with simple things sometimes and often find great pleasure in the mundane. With this prayer we look to children to learn better the way of Jesus.

The Lord Be with you
And also with you
Let us pray:
Posture: Lay on the floor on one side of your body curling your knees to your chest. (This is the fetal position). This is the posture of children in utero but also protection in adulthood. Consider each as you pray.

Conclude with this collect:
O God, you have created us with the capacity for great pleasure and enjoyment, but we, in our sin are so often ruled by these gifts instead of receiving them. Redeem in us, we pray, this capacity to enjoy the good things of this earth, each other and the redemption of your Son Jesus Christ who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Supernatural Superserious

2008-12-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

I was talking to friend about the nature of evil the other day (you know something I do all the time;) and in the conversation he asked me about “supernatural evil”. His point was to say that while he understands where evil is manifest in humanity, human actions and a being-redeemed creation, what do we do with all the talk in the Bible about “demons and stuff”. What about, as he said, “supernatural evil”?

Well, we talked about a great many things, at this point, but what I’d like to comment in this post is how our conversation confirmed how much I don’t like the word “supernatural” as it gets applied to the things of God anymore.

I think this is because the term “supernatural” has become short hand for all things spiritual. You know there’s the natural word - things we can touch, taste, smell, hear and see - and then there’s the super-natural world. This is the world that is beyond our observational senses but is real non-the less. It is extraordinary – meaning out of the ordinary and connections to it are thus supernatural in origin.

And here is my problem with the word and its relation to Christian spirituality. Why should I consider my spirituality and God’s activity in the realm beyond empirical observation something that is un-natural? Why should I consider my spiritual self as something extra-ordinary instead of what it is, perfectly ordinary?! The answer is that I shouldn’t.

Humans are spiritual beings and we don’t have to move into the realm of super-naturality to understand ourselves that way. There is nothing super-natural about spirituality. It is part of the very essence of our creation in God’s image and we don’t need to parse one from the other. Therefore our connections to things spiritual don’t need a qualifier like “supernatural” less we say something untrue about the God who made us. God’s heavenly activity is completely usual. Magnificent and glorious yes, but not other-then natural, because it’s God’s created order in the first place. Do you know what I mean?

Now, my buddy didn’t mean any of this when he used the word “supernatural but it got me thinking about the way I’ve used and misused this word to make Christian spirituality into a type of Pentecostal Gnosticism. I don’t want to do that anymore. All things created hang together in Christ and far be it from me to start making distinctions that shouldn’t be there in the first place. A very important thing to remember as we prepare to celebrate the incarnation of our God this Christmas.

Thanks for hearing my rant/confession.
Peace and love,
Dixon

An American Story

2008-12-06T20:50:00.001-08:00

Whew, I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Memphis for the Great Emergence Event and an Anglimergent meeting. It was really cool and great to see friends!

One of my friends in Anglimergent, Bob Carlton, wrote a book for Zondervan on Barak Obama's story. It's called "Barack Obama: An American Story". He asked me if I'd contribute some content to the book's website regarding my faith and politics as they relate to a GOP figure. So, if you're interested link over here and you can read my essay on Kingdom Echoes and Michael Bloomberg. Oh, and while you're there ignore Sarah Miles offering from a few days earlier. It blows mine away;)

Peace all,
D

Walk (Worship Station)

2008-11-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

This is a cool station we did trying to get at kinesthetic prayer.
Here’s what we came up with. It was cool to experience. Let me know if you try it.

Best,
D

Walk

Materials Needed:
- School Bells (or other impliments that will ring or make noise when shaken - tambourine, jingle bells etc.)
- Area defined for walking.

Meditation

Pray. God is near.

Think about how you walk. Do you have a long or short gate? Do you have a limp or a swagger? Do you drag your feet?

Now, consider why you walk. Do you walk to get from here to there? Most of us do, but what does the way you walk say about you? How does it reflect what is inside you? Do you walk differently when you are rushed than when you are relaxed? What is the difference between rushing to class and a stroll?

This station is an exercise not in walking, not in order to accomplish a task or get something done; rather it is an exercise in walking with God.

God’s ways are not our ways and I wonder if a walk with God may be more deliberate and subversively slow sometimes than we remember. Tonight, you are invited to walk that walk. To practice a walking Sabbath with God.

Take one of the instruments. They all make noise. Now, stand up, hold it in your hand and try walking in a way that doesn’t make any noise. As you do pray. Consider what this deliberate movement with God might teach you. Is it restful and away from the “noise” of your everyday life? Is it more deliberate than you remember- being something you have to work at? Is it care free and enjoyable?

Take a bell and walk with God around the room. You can even go into the hall if you like.

Pray. Walk. God is near.

Neo-Monastic Youth Ministry

2008-11-17T08:15:00.000-08:00

Below is a Liturgy and explanation of the Way of St. Bartholomew's, a monastic vow/ rule of life discipline our youth ministry is experimenting with this year. This is a video intro to the post explaining a little of what I've been wondering and how it led me to adopt the spiritual discipline of "taking vows".
Enjoy.

The Way of St. Bartholomew

Between today and Easter Sunday, a small group of people connected to St. Bartholomew’s youth ministry are pursuing
intentional, Christian formation through the ancient practice of taking vows. Inspired by the great monastic traditions of the
faith, the five vows that make up this “Way of St. Bartholomew” are an exercise first and foremost in promise keeping. We seek
to be faithful as God is faithful, and we know that is something that takes practice. The Way of St. B’s should not be seen as a
rigid list of rules, as much as they are a tool and opportunity to learn how to “fulfill our vows to the Most High”. (Psalm 50:14)
That is why each participant has volunteered to undertake this rule of life.

This is where you come in. As with the vows taken in marriage, these vows require community participation. As we
experiment with this type of spiritual discipline we will need your help, encouragement and support. So, when we ask if you
who witness these vows will do all in your power to support us, we hope that you will answer heartily, “We will.”

Lastly, it needs to be emphasized that the “Way of St. Bartholomew” is a prototype of something we may integrate in our larger
community life should it go well. It is not the same thing as, or a replacement for Confirmation, nor is it an “exclusive club” for
super Christians. Instead, we are a group of people who readily admit to our weakness. We need discipline to be like Jesus and
keep our promises, therefore we are taking this ‘rule of life’ on as our spiritual act of worship. Please ask us how it is going
along the way and keep us in your prayers.

Participants have given their own specifics to each of these Five Vows. Feel free to ask about them.

Prayer : A promise to a personal discipline of weekly prayer and study anchored in the Bible.
Presence: A commitment to regular, face‐to‐face meetings with other participants for worship and spiritual direction. (Dispensation given to college students living out‐of‐town)
Practice: A commitment to personal development in one specific area Christian practice during the season of the vows.
Poverty : A commitment to living simply, transparently and generously with all possessions.
Pilgrimage : A commitment to make a spiritual pilgrimage once during the season of the vows.

Liturgy of the Vows (Way of St. Bartholomew)

The Rector says to the Participants
Rector Are all of you taking these vows adopting this rule of life of your own desire and accord?
Participants We are.
Rector Will you do all in your power to keep these vows and live by this rule of life between now and Easter Sunday?
Participants We will.
Participants Kneel

Rector Will you now commit yourself to a vow of Prayer, involving weekly devotion and study, anchored in the Holy Scriptures?
Participants We will with God’s help.
Rector Will you now commit yourself to a vow of Presence, involving face-to-face meeting for worship and spiritual direction?
Participants We will with God’s help.
Rector Will you now commit yourself to a vow of Practice, pursuing personal development in your chosen Christian discipline?
Participants We will with God’s help.
Rector Will you now commit yourself to a vow of Poverty, choosing to live simply, openly and generously with your possessions?
Participants We will with God’s help.
Rector Will you now commit yourself to a vow of Pilgrimage, taking time once during in this season to seek God on retreat.
Participants We will with God’s help.

The Rector now addresses the Congregation
Rector Will all you witnessing these vows do all in your power to uphold these persons as they adopt this rule of life?
People We will.
Rector The Lord be with you.
People And also with you.

Rector Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, you became poor for our sake, that we might be made rich through your poverty: Guide and sanctify, we pray, those whom you call to follow you under the vows of prayer, presence, practice, poverty and pilgrimage, that by their prayer and service they may enrich your Church, and by their life and worship may glorify your Name; for you reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Día de los Muertos

2008-11-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

For all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, and for
all the departed, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

Saturday I went to a Día de los Muertos celebration. There were lots of booths, food, vendors, and crafts for the kids. The event was hosted by at a local art museum/botanical garden and my family had a good time. They made the whole festival really accessible to outsiders like me and spiritually it was pretty benign.

After making some tissue paper flowers (which Q. was wearing in her hair) we were approached by a photographer from Cheekwood. She anted to get her picture (because she looked adorable) and suggested we get one while Q. put a note on the “Ancestor Tree”. Now, the “Ancestor Tree” is a literal tree where the practice at one of these festivals is to write a note to someone in your family who has passed away and then tie it to said tree in remembrance. It’s sort of an arts and crafty version of the way people “talk to” relatives by their graveside.

So, as Q. and I start collecting materials to write our note I get totally overwhelmed by the whole experience. First I have to consider who to write to. Should it be my brother (we’re not exactly on speaking terms right now), my grandmother, friends long gone? The immediacy and power of personally writing a note to someone who had died washed all over me in that moment. Not so much because we were being observed and photographed (which made it nice and awkward) but because this was all so different from the ways I usually engage the dead.
Here’s what I mean…

I’ve read about Day of the Dead festivals for years but I’d never been to one. The festival occurs on the same day the Christian festival of All Saints, but it’s far a more personal (and in some places creepier, that’s not my point here) event. All Saints Day is necessary and helpful to Christian practice because of the way it demands participation in the communion of saints. We’re not in this thing alone and our community of faith incudes a great cloud of witnesses that extends all the way into the past and all the way into the future. However, as cool as All Saint’s Day is, the people I remember during the feast are usually folks I’ve never personally met. I means I love Thomas Cranmer, and he inspires me, but I’ve never shaken his hand. That said, when I do broaden my focus to include people I know, it’s generally other Christians because, you know, it’s All Saints Day. It’s like the more public, corporate and liturgical the remembrance; the more anonymous and objective the remembered.

Culturally I get this. In Western culture grief is considered a private thing. We don’t want to bother people while they grieve (mostly because it makes us face our own mortality) and once the initial experience of anguish subsides, it’s something we spend a lot of energy trying to avoid. Who likes to revisit the pain of loss? No one. So we fight like hell to control our memories so we don’t have to feel that pain again. The problem is that right remembrance is critical to our health as we lament. Grief isn’t something you go through once and then try and avoid. It’s a process to be embraced.

This brings me back to Día de los Muertos and the Ancestor Tree. As Q. and I wrote our note (we settled on writing to my grandmother) it struck me that this would totally be the ritual of a people who pray for the dead every week in worship. Ergo, this stands to be a profoundly Christian liturgy!

In my tradition we pray for the dead in worship every week. The dead includes everyone from saints and martyrs to siblings and grandmothers and the prayers happen publically though they address private loss. It’s just like the Ancestor Tree. Here is a public festival calling me to address personal loss. Weird huh?

The whole Día de los Muertos celebration I experienced allowed participants to face death with courage and the very Christian attitude that dying well is part of living well. It was a communal celebration that didn’t segregate death and grief to the realm of “personal experience”. Instead it acknowledges death as a road we all must walk and something we all go through. Seems similar to the way of Jesus to me.

Now, I don’t know if I would recommend just any old Día de los Muertos celebration (some of them can be pretty sketchy) however, my experience was powerful and indeed blessed. Thanks for reading.
Pray for those who have died.
Silence

D

Jesus Dojo: Nashville

2008-10-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm having a blast this weekend running a Jesus Dojo in my own town, Nashville, TN.
More to come next week - but it's been great.
Just wanted to share.

D

I Voted

2008-10-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

This week they began early voting in Tennessee. I stopped by on Friday to do my part and earned this sticker.
If you have the option to early vote, I recommend it.

I, for one, am grateful for the opportunity.

D

Indiana Jones and the Cliff of Snakes

2008-10-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

After, 3 months and too much time learning Final Cut, So Indie Films proudly presents: Indiana Jones and the Cliff of Snakes.

Enjoy!
D

Something Beautiful (Worship Station)

2008-10-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

Our community utilizes little creative encounters we call worship stations during our gatherings on Sunday nights. Many of you probably know what I'm talking about and have experienced these things before. They are neat, full sensory ways for folks to connect with God and engage in God's activity in the world. We have been really blessed through them. They are an integral part of our spiritual formation.

I've been creating worship stations (some good, some bad) for the better part of the past 9 years but I've never posted one on the blog. It occurred to me last night that I should. Especially given how taken our community was with this one. So, consider this the first of many to come I suppose.

Here is a worship station called Something Beautiful. It is an invitation to respond to current world events from a theological and missional perspective. To "make beauty out of ugly things" (to quote the bard;).

Materials Needed:
- Local and national news papers and/or news magazines (the more recent the better)
- Glue sticks
- Scissors
- Push pins (or tape)
- Bulletin Board (or a blank wall)

Meditation:

Something Beautiful

Pray. God is near.

Our God is one who makes beauty out of ugly things. God takes pain and brings joy. Jesus takes violence and brings healing. The Spirit takes fear and brings peace.

Consider this description of God’s future.

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"
(Revelation 21:3-5)

We are invited to make this future a reality in our present. To actualize the bringing together of heaven and earth.

Before you are news papers with many stories from the last week.
Look over them.
Which one's strike you as scary, dark or unhopeful? Why is that? Are they written to evoke such feelings?

Pray, God is near.

Take the scissors, tape and glue before you and cut out the words of the article, glue them together on a card and use them to fashion a prayer.

A prayer for hope where there is hopelessness.
A prayer for peace where there is fear.
A prayer for light where there is darkness.

Tack your prayer to the board when you are done so others can share in it.

Use this station to image our God and make something beautiful out of something ugly.
Chase redemption.

Pray, God is near.

Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together?

2008-10-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Remember that old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial where two seemingly incongruous characters have an accidental collision and inevitably deposit one's chocolate into the other's peanut butter?

"You got put your chocolate into my peanut butter!"
You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!"

Then they taste the mash up and realize that these are "two great tastes that go great together". (Somewhere a marketer just got paid a residual because I remember this phrase. Anyway...) Imagine my reaction, then, to seeing this this Stephen Colbert varient, Amazing Spiderman comic book! It's two of my favorite media icons together in an unlikely paring! It's the stuff great films like 48 Hours are made of!

The book follows Colbert and Spidy in an original, albeit tounge-in-cheek adventure, illustrated by comics superstar John Quesada and I'm thinking,

"You got Spidy on my Stephen Cobert!"
"You got Colbert on my Spidy!"

Will these be two great tastes that go great together? Well, probably not. In truth, the Colbert/Spidy team up will probably be more like going to Putt-Putt when you were a kid and making a suicide at the fountain drink machine. The drink always turned out gross, but it sure was fun to make.

Check out this article at Wizard.com if you want more info or want to buy one.

Here's to the combo of truthiness and webheads,
D

Two Ladies Who Are Rocking My World

2008-09-26T05:27:00.001-07:00

Hey all,
With the Cliff of Snakes having premiered to rave reviews (I'm working up a YouTube-able version to post here) I getting back on the blogging horse with a post about monastic vows and youth ministry.

However, in lieu of that posts completion I have to tell you about two women who are rocking my world right now; Chrissie Hynde and Sharon Jones.

Chrissie is, of course, the front women for the venerable Pretenders and their new songs are ringing my bell! I heard "Boots of Chinese Plastic" on the local radio station here in Nashville and was so taken with it, I went home and pre ordered the album on iTunes. I just never do that. You can give that song (and a few others from their forthcoming album Break Up The Concrete) a listen at the bands official site here. If you dig on great Americana song writing combined with punk rock energy and attitude from some folks that really lived it, then this is for you.

The other lady that is ringing by bell right now is Sharon Jones. She is a soul singer and part of a neo-soul revival happening right now in American music. I'm kind of late to the party with Jones as everybody I talk to about her just nods knowingly usually adding, "She's the real deal".

The thing is, she is. Her records sound like they could have been produced in in 1969, but this is not a retro thing. Jones is tapping into the stream of this distinctly American music and bringing it into the present with authenticity and urgency. And man just sounds so good to my ears right now. When Jones says that Soul music is about singing while, "making the ugly face" you know she's right. If you dig on late 60's Temptations, James Brown and Otis Redding, do yourself a favor and pick up some Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

Or just nod right now and agree that she's indeed the real deal.

Peace,
D

Indiana Jones and the Cliff of Snakes (Trailer #2)

2008-09-03T13:46:00.001-07:00

Hey all,
Just to prove I'm still working, here's a new trailer for the Indiana Jones and the Cliff of Snakes film my family is doing. We're shooting for a September 14 or 21 premiere.

Enjoy the silliness.

What Have I Been Doing? Making a Movie!

2008-08-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

So, if you're actually returning to this blog you've noticed that I haven't been blogging very much this month. The reason for this is simple, I've been making a movie.

This year for Father's Day the kids got me a digital video camera. I was excited, but wondered if there wasn't something fun we might do with it. The answer came to all of us when we decided to make our very own Indiana Jones movie over the summer. The film is called called Indiana Jones and the Cliff of Snakes (Aidan's title) and I must say, it's awesome. The kids have walked the project through with me from concept to completion (or near completion), we've been shooting on location and it's just been a hoot.

It has also been a huge time commitment.

The spare time I normally spending blogging has been re-appropriated to working on the movie this month. I hadn't connected those dots until Kristin asked me about it a few days ago, so, I figured I should cut together a sloppy trailer (which I did this morning) just to show you all I've not been goofing off.

Look for a release date on Cliff of Snakes right here on So Indie It's Embarrassing in early September.

Peace and love,

The Story of Stuff

2008-08-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kristin is watching the Story of Stuff right now and it's really powerful.

If you've not seen it, it's a 20 minutes animation hosted by Annie Leonard that tells the story of American consumption and challenges it's unsustainability. Right she's talking about how Eisenhower saw the purpose of human life in America as being a consumer and that assumption help post- WWII economists design the consumer society we experience today. Oo, and now their doing stuff on planned obsolescence, which is when your goods (like computers) are designed to be replaced by a "newer" "better" model, even when your old one works fine.

The show is good stuff and does a neat job connecting the dots whether you think about this stuff a lot or not.

I've embedded a teaser trailer below.

Check it out here.

Let's make a better world!

Peace and good things,

Dixon

I'm Cutting You Off!

2008-08-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

On our way out of town for vacation last week the family stopped at Subway for lunch. We like Subway. We really do. Of all the fast food chains, it’s the one that seems to offer the healthiest options most consistently. They have even built their brand identity around this fact.

What’s more is when my kids eat at Subway, any toy option the restaurant is using to sell its kids meals can be substituted for another kid’s side menu item. At Subway, these include things that are actually worth eating – apples, raisins, baked chips etc. Real food instead of food-like-products (if you include pre sliced apples in a packet real food. I tend to round up, so I’ll give it to them.)

My kids really like to eat at Subway, and actually, I don’t mind. I means if their gonna do fast food every once and awhile, I will take Subway over McDonalds any day. I feel like the restaurant actually helps our family interrupt our consumerism a little (instead of playing to it – thank you happy meal) and embrace a more whole lifestyle.

So, back to my vacation story.

We order our food and when we sit down and start eating another couple comes in through door. They get in line to order and my ears prick up when the guy orders a foot long, Subway Classic BMT, double the meat. The sandwich this guy was going to consume with chips and a soda was going to top his daily caloric needs. This fella was already not in prime physical health and (having been in that place myself) I recognized the characteristics and menu choices of someone whose eating patterns are working against their health.

Kristin and I started talking about the way New York City recently passed a law mandating that fast food companies post nutritional information next to all menu items in their stores. The idea is that if people know something is bad for them, they will avoid it. So, take ‘em while you can get ‘em Subway. As soon as that nutritional information goes up, your days of peddling double meat anything are through. But we all know it’s more complicated than that.

People, myself included, do things that they know are bad for them all the time. We choose it willingly. This is what leads to the drunk at the bar getting “cut off” by the bartender when she’s had too much. There comes a point where her ability to understand when she’s had enough is internally impaired. She needs outside intervention to make a healthy choice. Enter John at the bar, “I’m cutting you off. Give me your keys.”

This brings me back to the double meat BMT. At what point should a restaurant be expected to do this same thing? At what point is the purveyor of food, required to step in and say enough is enough? When should John the server start acting like John the bar tender? In a country where obesity is a national epidemic, should it only be socially acceptable to limit someone’s alcohol abuse, but not their overeating? When both are destructive to the person whose responsibility is it to say “enough is enough” or “double meat” is too much?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. A drunk driver endangers someone else’s life and not only their own. Maybe so. But, food addiction wreaks as much havoc in the lives of families as any other addiction. It also sets up the family patterns that can lead the children of over eaters into childhood obesity the same as alcoholics. Butt I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in Subway when the guy ordered the double meat sandwich. I’m starting to think they’ve got no business offering something like that, even if people will buy it. Certainly a company building it’s brand on “healthy choices” ought to be the first held to a higher standard.

So, what do you think? How would this work? In a world where money talks, how can our financial choices change things? Or should I just let it ride?

A penny for your thoughts.

In closing I probably ought to say something like this:
Do you hear that Subway, I coming for you! And don’t try to divert my attention by pointing me to opium dens of epic calorie ingestion like the Cheese Cake Factory. They’re not trying to be anything more than the adult bookstore of chain restaurants. But you Subway, claim virtue like you’re the family friendly Barnes and Noble kid section.

In the words of Stephen Colbert, “Subway, you’re officially on notice!”
D

Alright, Alright!

2008-07-28T05:56:00.001-07:00

Never have I been more happy to be wrong.

The Dark Knight is sweeping the box office and I'm pleased indeed. It should, and I'm glad it is. Again, I've never been more pleased to be wrong. For all your haters out there who think I'm bad mouthing the movie - I'm not. It's excellent - I just didn't know if a culture that makes Miley Cyrus a superstar gazillionaire could turn out for this one the way they did for Pirates 3. I'm glad we will.

So, go see the Dark Knight and enjoy it...if you can handle all the truthiness;)

The Dark Knight is a Loser: And That's a Good Thing!

2008-07-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

I just saw The Dark Knight and I have to say, this movie will be a loser.

What do I mean? Well, in the race that is the summer box office tallies of 2008 this new Batman movie will not win. Why? It’s not because it’s not an excellent film (it is). It’s not because, it doesn’t have the best performances of any film I’ve seen so far this year (it does – EVERYONE brings their “A” game). And it’s not because it doesn’t have the high-octane spectacle of the other super-competition (it’s got action in spades).

No, the reason The Dark Knight will lose the summer box office competition is because it is too true.

Indy and Iron man are quintessential summer escapism and their grosses will reflect it. That’s what people want this time of year. They want to get away and forget about life for two hours. The Dark Knight offers no such respite.

Even more so than Wall-E (an excellent 90 minute meditation on what it means to be human), The Dark Knight tells the truth about the real struggle between good and evil in all of humanity, how tempting it can be to give in to the latter in service of the former and just how high the stakes are in this whole thing. I was moved to tears several time by this film because it hit so close to home. We had all better listen, see and pay attention.

Furthermore, The Dark Knight is the quintessential post-9/11 superhero movie. I’m not sure this story, even as it borrows from some of my favorite ‘80’s Batman books, would have the resonance it does in a pre-9/11 world. When they talk about the Joker being a terrorist there’s a great double ring going on. I hope it’s not lost on the audience. While we watch Batman and Harvey Dent struggle with what it means to defeat the evil and chaos of the Joker, I couldn’t shake the fact that both Abu-Graib and Guantanamo Bay had been in the news just 24 hours earlier. I know Captain America addressed the war on terror in his comics a few years ago, but this movie is doing something altogether different. Pay attention to the way the Joker is finally defeated. This movie is asking what way, truth and life are as we negotiate our current global crisis. Again, I hope everyone is listening and Christians are making the connections.

All this is why a movie this good (it’s going to make 10 best lists for 2008 and may receive Oscar nods - if you care about that sort of thing), deep and true couldn’t make huge bank. And that’s OK. Verizon tie-ins and action figures be damned, I’m glad Christopher Nolan doesn’t care. He’s made a movie where Batman might not just save Gotham, but our real world as well. Those who have ears let them hear.

Peace,
D

One Year Later...

2008-07-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

The blog has been silent for the past two weeks because the following post has been haunting me. It is a post reflecting on the anniversary of my brother’s death. I know that writing it will do me some good, but it’s an emotional drain. I had to wait to post it, because part of my process (as you’ll see below) is not memorialize Ed’s life on the day of his death. But waiting means this thing has preoccupied me. So, if you’re willing to be part of my experience of grief and healing please read on. If not, wait a week and come back. I’ll probably have Batman reviews up or something I’m sure.

Here goes…

The end of last month marked the anniversary of a day I have no desire to distinguish, the day my brother Edward took his own life. His death was a suicide so the coming and going of the day he did it marks the end of a year of walking through anniversaries, memories, rituals and traditions all recast in the shadow of this dark event. To this end, passing the one-year mark has felt a little like crossing the finish line. There are no more yearly rituals to go through without him. We are finally moving on.

I was with my parents on the day but couldn’t quite decide how to handle it. It’s not as if this day is more sad than any other since it happened. But we wondered, “Do you say something, or do you not?” “Do you call family and friends, or don’t you?” “Do have a day alone in private mourning or do you get out and do something celebratory as a way of redeeming the wound left in all our hearts?” (We did this – hiking with the kids and a picnic was great.) “Is email too impersonal a way to express my care?” I imagine our extended family and friends wondered the very same things in regard to corresponding with us.

What we did come to was ultimately pretty simple. We decided not to mark the day of Ed’s death in any big elaborate way at all. Instead, we recognized that it was ‘what it was’; talked about how we were feeling and sat with one another as the lull of late afternoon gave way to some tears. We didn’t do any kind of ritual or “official” remembrance at all and it seemed really right.

I think the reason for this is that the day I remember my brother, at least for me, should not be the day of his death. I know for many folks the day-of-death is a helpful anniversary when the departed can be missed, remembered fondly and their life celebrated.

“Wow, can you believe it’s been a year since grandma passed.”
“Boy I miss her.”
“Remember all the good times?”
What a great life she led.”

…This sort of thing.

But with Ed it’s a little more complicated. His death being a suicide and all, I don’t think I’m ready to “celebrate his life” yet. I’m still pretty hurt, sad and angry. His life was also pretty tragic so it’s not as if I want everything back like it was, or ‘one more day’ with Ed or anything like that. But things were getting better with him and we all had so much hope. That’s makes this all the more a kick in the gut – it’s not just the loss of the person we’re grieving but also the death of our hope for him as well. Like I said, complicated.

That being said, I think the day we’ll celebrate Ed’s life will be his birthday. This should be the time to tell good stories and, albeit bittersweet, remember the life of my brother. I’m not sure how long it will take us to get there, but I am confident we will.

Finally, the photo above is a bone box. In Jesus' day, one year after someone died their family would return to the tomb, collect their bones (now free of all flesh) and put them in a bone box for final internment. After grieving through the rhythm of a whole year without the departed it's time to visit them again and, as a family, put them to rest. That year long time line makes sense to me in a new way after this process but we're not yet ready for our bone box. Our process is a little stilted because of the circumstance. However as I said before, I think we'll get there. That bone box is what I'm shooting for.

Thanks for reading. It feels good to say it and looking forward to moving on.

Peace and love,
Dixon

Self Aggrandizing Vacation Photos!

2008-06-27T07:19:00.001-07:00

Photo's from our Durango trip last week.

It was a great time!

D

Kristin and I at Mesa Verde. Fishing at Lake Andrews.

The kids in La Plata Canyon.

Me fording a river in the jeep!

Anybody recognize my hat?

Biking the Sabbath

2008-06-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

I live in a neighborhood in Nashville where there are lots of orthodox Jewish families. Every Saturday I see them walking down streets that were not made for foot traffic, to practice a way a being that is counter to most of the cultures in which it is observed. I see them walking to synagogue to pray on the sabbath. This ritual of walking to synagogue has deep roots and exists in part to declare to the surrounding culture that there is a better way of being human - and this is it! This way of Torah and it's requirement of sabbath shows the best way to be in rhythm with the Creator God. Furthermore, by walking to prayers each sabbath day the Jewish people make visible their obedience to God, proclaiming that there is more to life than work.

Why do I bring this up?

Well, for the last month and change I have been biking home from work. Because I live about 16 miles away from my office and my fair city is not built for foot traffic this involves riding a bike on a few roads that were designed only for cars. While this is dangerous indeed, there is a understanding on certain through fares that cars and bikes should share the road, each making room for the other. This is a symbiosis I greatly appreciate, especially when the cars are"making room" for me by blowing by at 55-mph.

I didn't always feel this way. Before I started riding (and you should see me in the riding get-up by the way. I can't be taken seriously;) bikers were a nuisance. They were at best an obstacle and at worst my enemy.

"Get out of the way!"

"You're so selfish, hoggin'' the road like that!"

"Can't you see I'm late?"

Seriously, I found myself wondering not if it was morally wrong to tailgate a rider, but whether or not it was effective. "Do you think it will work? I don't know let's try." I also intentionally ignored how my on-the-road communication habits (cell phone) were putting people's lives at risk.

Imagine how my attitude changed once I became the vulnerable one on two wheels. But that's not my point...

When I see bikers on the road now they are kind of like those Jewish families in my neighborhood walking to sabbath. The presence of a biker on the road reminds me of a better more sustainable way to live. I'm not just talking about the health benefits of riding verses walking either. I'm talking about the way seeing a biker now reminds me to slow down and take my time. I am reminded that life is about more than my schedule. I'm reminded that driving this car is a bizarre way to be human (at least in the scope of human history) and it changes how I am required to care for my body and how many calories I should put in it. I reminded that I always seem to be in a rush. In this way riders are calling me to a more Godly way to be - a sabbath if you will - much like my Jewish neighbors.

Now, I realize there is really no comparison between a Millennia old spiritual practice that is deeply tied into the cultural identity of an entire people group and my recreation habits. But I just did it. For better or worse, this is how I saw it today.

Remember in the sabbath day and keeping it holy. Oh, and stop talking on your cell phone in the car,

Enter the Dojo

2008-06-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, if you're looking for me this week I'm in San Francisco doing the Jesus Dojo again with my community.

Link here if you want to follow our exploits. We're trying to post once a day.

Peace,

Dixon

(on break in China town yesterday)

Got a Bite...

2008-06-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

We heard back from the publisher yesterday and they are interested in one of the ideas I proposed!

Kind of exciting. I am in the process of generating a full proposal and selling them on my platform. It's the latter of the two that will be most challenging but I'm hopeful.

I may be writing a book this year after all. Who'd a thunk it.

Peace,
D

Book Stuff: The Latest

2008-05-31T09:34:00.001-07:00

Alright race fans here's the update; almost a full year after getting turned down I've got two new books ideas written up and headed to an editorial board meeting this Tuesday.

The process of writing has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. Not because arranging sentences is so difficult (I mean it is, but that's not my point) but because this process is making me face a lot of my fears, doubts and insecurities - and that's just in generating the sample content;) So, we'll see how this all shakes out. My agent and I met with the acquisitions editor of a major Christian publisher who is excited about the possibilities.

I think I am too.

Here we go again.

Peace,
D

Indy and Iron Man: A Quick Reflection

2008-05-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new Indiana Jones? I just did and had a blast!

I really liked it, and I think my enjoyment is directly correlated to the expectations I had going in. I knew what I was getting into and therefore loved it. Some of the action set pieces were as good as anything the series has ever produced (the car chase through the streets of New Haven made me spontaneously applaud.) and I loved old-Indy. I like that they didn’t try to make him forever young and, though they missed some real opportunities to show Indy being slapped in the face by time or struggling with his life long fear of romantic commitment, this is as worthy an entry to the Indiana Jones canon as either of the other two films.

But wait you say! Are there not four Indy films? Indeed there are, which brings me to what I feel is the biggest draw back of this and all other Indiana Jones films; they all have to follow Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a perfect movie. For pacing, development, action, story telling and directing it is a cut above all others. Not only is it among the top three action films ever made it is without question one of the greatest movies of all time. This is why every sequel it has generated will show its cracks. Even though they have the same ingredients, kitchen and oven to make the cookies, Raiders shows how film craft is an art and not a science. With Raiders there is a magic that, like the crystal skull of today’s film, is not made by human hands. It just gets it right in a way that is not a given even in hands as talents as Speilberg’s.

Furthermore, it was after Raiders of the Lost Arkthat Indiana Jones became an icon and that every following film became an Indiana Jones movie. They are even titled to reflect this “Indiana Jones and the … “ But not Raiders (that is until this recent DVD re-release) it retains it’s own unique title which I always thought appropriate because it is indeed a horse of another color.

So after seeing it, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull falls exactly where I thought it would in the canon of Raiders sequels; under Last Crusade yet above Temple of Doom. (Though Roger Ebert makes a great argument using sausage as to why one shouldn’t rank them)

Also in a class by itself is Iron Man. Holy mackerel! I just caught up with everybody else in the country and saw this class “A” super hero flick on Friday and was blown away. Not only is Robert Downy Jr. a dynamo as Tony Stark, but the film does that rare and special thing good comic movies do by challenging us all to consider what it means to really live our lives well.

Iron Man never makes the lazy mistake of trotting out “the usual suspects of villainy” (“big business” & “bomb makers” here) only to knock them down with a club made of moral smugness. Instead it does something much braver, it suggests that the same evil alive in corporate greed and amoral WMD profiteers exists in every one of us too. The question Iron Man leaves you with is what will you do with that knowledge. Will you have the courage to chase redemption like Tony Stark? Only time will tell.

Not bad for a popcorn movie.

I can hardly wait for The Dark Knight.

Best,
D

Making Stuff Up

2008-05-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those people who things that Christians should be making new stuff up. By that I mean our spiritual practices should not come only by pirating the past. Instead we should also be contributors to the pantheon of Christian practices. We should be making stuff up.

After all, everything we've had passed down to us is something somebody made up one day to better follow God. It seems to me we should just be engaged in that same activity - crafting in spiritual practices for our day the way our ancestors did in their own. Since, the term tradition comes from the Latin word that means to "pass on" I feel challenge to have more to offer to "pass on" to my grandkids than was offered to me.

Our community has been writing our own little missional Invitatorys for the past couple of years. These are call and response prayers/rituals we use to invite each other into worship. My friend Adam wrote this one and it seemed appropriate to share today, this Trinity Sunday.

Thanks Adam. Enjoy.

D
------------------------------------------------
Call: Loving Father, You invite us to live our lives in concert with You. Give us the wisdom, the will, and the humility to move in this world with Your purpose, in Your presence, and with Your passion.

Response: Amen.

Call: Loving Savior, the road to reconciliation and life is a road of brokenness and sacrifice. Grant us the courage to walk with You on this narrow road, that we, along with our world, may know life to the fullest.

Response: Amen.

Call: Loving Spirit, we give to You our weakness, selfishness and fragility, that we might know Your strength, compassion and wholeness. Form us into instruments of Your peace for our world.

Response: Amen.

All: Glory be to the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit, in this place, in our lives, and in our world, now and forever. Amen.

Why Parenting Is Like A Jr. High Dance

2008-05-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Judgment.

It’s something every parent fears being subject to and yet struggles not to dish out. That horrible fear of being misunderstood and critiqued because of your child’s behaviors, dis-abilities and/or failures may come out of my own experience of raising a special needs child, but I think the sentiment is pretty common.

But no matter how awful judgment is it doesn’t stop parents from doing it to one another. Every parent I know struggles with (or relishes in I suppose) ascribing value judgments to other people’s parenting. Especially when it’s different from theirs. And like every addict who continues to use in spite of adverse consequences, the outcome of all these comparisons is either smug self-righteousness or condemnation. You’d think we’d all figure it out by now.

But we haven’t and that’s because the underlying motivator in all this judgment is insecurity. Every parent I know, we’re all scared to death.
Am I going to break this thing?
What if I’m not good enough?
I’m not good enough!
Oh crap!!

Now, it’s what we do with that anxiety is what makes real redeemed grown ups out of us. By embracing the outrageous responsibility that is parenting and walking into it with hope and humility we become the kind of people who can actually raise children. In this act of faith we become better people than we’ve ever been before.

But where have I seen this kind of collective insecurity before?
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Oh I know!

It’s a Jr. High dance!

Oh, yes. Is there any place more riddled with insecurity than the Jr. High dance? I can’t think of many. It’s gender segregation, bleacher riding denizens, and awkward social contract make it the too-perfect metaphor for this weird little part of parenting kids.

But it is the dance where difference is seen as a threat! (Screw those preps, or girls are icky) The dance is where judgment is used to defend us against our own fear of failure? (Look how stupid she looks dancing. Yeah, she seems to be having fun, but dancing is for chumps!) And it is the dance that drives us to see the few folks who seem to have it together as both appealing and annoying. (Check out the cool kids slow dancing to Night Ranger – I hate them. And yet, I long to be them;(

The Junior High dance is the place where everyone kind of wants to be, but no one is completely at home. That’s how parenting feels to me sometimes and I’m so thrilled to be here. However, I keep wondering if I’m going to wreck the whole thing.

Here’s a health to that journey.

Now I have to run. My mom is picking me up at 9:00.

D

Why So Indie?

2008-05-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Indie posted a comment last month that reminded me how I've wanted to explain the title of this blog. Well friends, to day is the day. So, following here are the mostly unremarkable origins of the title So Indie It's Embarrassing. Enjoy...

When I lived in Pittsburgh I was really into a band called Brandtson. They were one of my darlings and came through town every so often. Because my band was of the same genre we ended up doing some shows together, the first of which was at the legendary Milllvale Industrial Theater.

The MIT was a concert venue in the loosest sense of the word. Though self described as a "250 seat performance venue", the distinction "theater" was only true in the same way squatters call abandoned houses "home". The MIT was FULL of rotted out couches, dilapidated, well, everything and a certain je ne sais qua that made the borough of Millvale christening it "Unfit for Occupancy" completely unsurprising.

It was at the MIT that my band first played with Brandston and I was really excited. However, seeing the venue through the eyes of a band I wanted to impress seemed to turn the volume up on the theater's dinginess. Sitting outside the door of scorched warehouse that stored MIT were at least 5 rusted out soda machines, a decomposing car chassis and some piece of unidentifiable machinery being overtaken by the tendrils of an unknown vine.

Eyeing this display on the night of the show I commented to our singer,
"I hope Brandston (and the other bands on the bill) aren't scared off by MIT's - earthiness."

He responded,
"Dude, it's just really indie."

To which I said,
"Yeah, but it's so indie it's embarrassing."

And, there it was. So indie it's embarrassing thrust into the lexicon of my life. It's "all the best music with the worst production value" astethetic being summed up in my memories of that conversation. This is why the title is such a term of endearment for me. I come from the independent music scene and feel very at home in that world. Therefore when I wanted to bring a certain self-effacing tone to the blog, "So Indie it's embarrassing" and that conversation at the MIT seemed to get just right.

It's as if to say, "May I never take myself so seriously that I won't play the MIT." In this way the MIT and my memories of it, become a benchmark of unflinching and shamless authenticity.

May this blog continue to be also.

Peace,
D

Text Messaging and Simulacre

2008-04-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts for your Monday morning.

I should add that
Here are some of the outtakes if you're interested. Because of my kids interest in the camera it took almost 10 tries to complete the post;)

Peace,
D

Turn Off The TV Week

2008-04-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday began everyone's favorite week of self-discipline, National Turn Off The TV week. I know it's Tuesday but it's not too late to start!

Take the next six days to join the Kinser's (we're so in!) and thousands of others in shutting off the proverbial idiot box and finding a different rhythm of life.

Check out here and here for more information. Also, check out this page for some great ideas about how to spend your non-TV time.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Isn't this week the return of Lost?" Yes. (tear...) but in island time it's only like waiting and extra two days right, so I'm thinking it's not that hard;)

Yours in turning off the TV and turning on life,
D

A Craigslist Sharing Violation

2008-04-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of a big musical equipment purge right now and Craigslist has been my go-to way to sell off the gear.

One of the items I'm selling is a bass cabinet (which, if you don't know is basically the speakers of a bass amp) and through Criagslist I had found a buyer and settled on a good deal. We planned to rendezvous this Sunday to make the swap until I got this email:

Hey there, I'm really sorry, but I can't buy your cab. I'm not sure where your spiritual convictions lie so I don't know if you'll understand, but God has shown me that I'm a materialist and love the things of the world. And this world won't last, so it's vanity for me to spend lots of money on things that give me a false sense of fulfillment. Bass Cabs will only make me joyful for a time, but God moves me to be joyful over Him always.

I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you in any way. And I pray that you would consider Jesus, and the hope God desires to give the people of this earth through Jesus. You have my phone number if you'd like to hear more. If you have a bible I would encourage you to read the second chapter of Ephesians.

Have a good day and God bless,
(Name)

p.s. this isn't exactly common for me to send a message like this to a random stranger. I just feel moved to explain why I cannot buy your bass cab. I hope you understand. Thanks.

Now I understand this guy's convictions and I applaud his choice to choose wholeness in God instead of buying something. Seriously, I am in full support of that way of life. But turning a reneged deal with a stranger into a spiritual confession and ham-fisted evangelism attempt over email is awkward at best.

But I wish I could say I haven’t done the same thing.

I’m call this all a faux paux because I have committed it many times myself and seen how poorly it’s turned out. I even broke up with a girl using the "God told me to" excuse. And while God had indeed been clear about the future of that relationship (which was due more to the mess we had made of it than anything else) using the "God told me to" rational really only obfuscated things.

I think this is because unwittingly I used it (and this posture) to get off the hook. "I'm just being obedient" allows me to piously shroud my bad behavior in some sort of divine plan instead of doing what Christians (and grown ups) should do; take responsibility for their action. This is not to say God isn’t involved in the decision making process (I think God should be) but it takes a certain kind of relationship and trust to bring that reality into a conversation. I’m not sure that email with a stranger, or on the side of the road with a cop (guilty!) or over dinner with a friend’s future in-laws (guilty!) is the right place for it all to begin.

But that’s just me.

I say none of this to judge my ex-Craigsist-customer, doubt the sincerity of his convictions or proclaim my own superior ability to “hear God.” Please don’t misunderstand me. The whole exchange just reminded me of how culpable Christians are of "spiritualizing" their bad behavior- myself included. If honoring God is the value in all this then owning our failures openly and with humility is a great place to start.

So, if you come from an expression of Christianity where this sort thing happens put an end to it by not doing it anymore. If you’re prone to over commit yourself don’t try to wiggle out of a double-booked appointment by explaining that that don’t feel called to it anymore. In the name of Jesus let’s both take our lumps and recognize that our personal spiritual crisis isn’t always appropriate for sharing. Let’s not give unhelpful content to something as special and marvelous as God’s participation in the life of people by using it to excuse our own shortcomings. But that’s just my little editorial, and you know what, I may be wrong. I have been so many times before.

Now it’s back to the Craigslist drawing board to sell that bass cab for me.
Anybody interested?

D

Working!

2008-04-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

Ahhh the blog, how she suffers.
I'm feeling guilty about the lack of substantial content here at so indie it's embarrassing. This is due partly to the intensity of work right now ad book deadlines all coupled with family demands, house guests and the like.

Holly is in town today and we're working on two new chapters. I'm stoked.

Until later,
D

I Suck at Doing Press

2008-04-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

Arrrrgh!
Last month got a call from a magazine doing a story on the Emerging Church and post-modern Christianity. The author got my name off the E/V website and wanted to interview me as a cohort leader doing this po/mo Jesus thing in southeast.

Great.
Fine.

The interview went well enough. We had a great conversation and I even said some things I was happy with (correcting some of the problems that led to me being misquoted in some other publications). Then the magazine came out.
Sure enough, there is my carefully nuanced answer used out of context to prove a point I don't agree with.

Arrgghh!
I suck at doing press.

I know you need to give strong, 8-10 word sound bytes, but d*mnit! I'm no good at that.

I want to be like Dana Perino. Man, she is bullet proof. I may not agree with what she does with her job, but I am in awe of the way she does it. Like I said, bullet proof.

So, here's my open letter to you all. I need help. Direct me to some resources for doing press well. Help me help the media.
If I keep getting these calls (and if can't say for sure if I will) I need to work on this. In the meantime, I guess it feels good just to whine.

Thanks for listening.

Best,
D

Accelerate!

2008-04-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

“Music will provide the light you cannot resist”
- “I’m Gonna DJ”

Four years ago, R.E.M. released their last studio album, Around the Sun, and I said two things:

First, that So Indie It’s Embarrassing would always “cover” new R.E.M. releases. This is because they are my favorite band ever and new music from them (even bad music - which the last record almost certainly was) often overwhelms my common sense and critical faculties. I have to talk about it. So here we are in 2008 and I’m making good on my word.

Second, in response to Around the Sun’s listless affect, I remarked:

As someone who wanted (R.E.M.) to make a really angry political rock record:  (this one is) real mid-tempo. I miss the rock.

Well, friends I am happy to say that with Accelerate, their 14th studio release, they have fulfilled and exceeded my deepest longings! The rock is back 1980's style on this record that showcases the band at a “new peak of their powers”.

Accelerate is blisteringly vital and as angry as it is hopeful. One reviewer commented that, “It’s like finding the band’s 1982 EP Chronic Town playing in your CD player at the same time as Never Mind the Bullocks Here’s the Sex Pistols.” The record is fast (11 songs at 34 minutes), punchy (all songs get to the chorus in under 45 seconds) and best of all – good! Really good! In fact I would say it’s almost great. I put Accelerate on par with other R.E.M. records I mark as indispensable (Murmur, Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Out of Time, Automatic for the People) marking a return to form with an album Rollingstone calls, “…one of their best ever.”

I did have an inkling that it would be this good. Back in July of 2007 the band did 5 nights of working rehearsals at Dublin’s Olympia Theater. There they worked out the new material in front of a live audience and bootlegs of the shows were on the net within a week. Fans like me knew something special was afoot from how visceral the new tunes sounded, especially interspersed with the chestnuts the band packed around them (Second Guessing, Boxcars, West of the Fields). The songs we’re great, even in their pre-recorded form but it was when I heard Supernatural, Superserious on the radio and I recognized how much better it had gotten since the Dublin show that my expectations soared!

My geeky fervor was so stoked that when mp3’s of the record were posted online the week before the record’s release date I spent 20 minutes on the phone with my friend Bob dissecting the ethical and sonic implications of listening early. Will the fidelity hold up? We’ve waited this long, isn’t it a discipline at this point? It’s kind of like sex on your wedding night right? Don’t you want to hold the artwork in your hands while you listen? If my pre-ordered copy comes early, should I listen or wait? Is that like opening your presents on Christmas early? This sort of thing. No other band inspires such strange, Kevin Smith styled, angst in my life. But I digress…

R.E.M. bas returned and though I never left you, it’s good to have you back!

Something occurred watching the promotional rollout the band has done (with the energy and creativity of a band ¼ of their age – Open source videos, mock press announcements, streaming audio, the Colbert Report) is how close R.E.M. came to calling it quits. That affected me because I don’t know what it would be like to have a favorite band that wasn’t “doing it” anymore.

I know lots of people do (Zep fans I feel you), but I was suddenly aware of what a distinct privilege it is to love a band that is still making art as vital and important now as 20 years ago. Not many bands can claim that truth and not many fans get to have that experience. I am having it and I count it as a gift.

Peter Bucks tells a story about being at Bono’s house in Dublin, while R.E.M. were doing the Olympia shows. Bono remarked that there are only about 8 bands in the world that can still claim what U2 and R.E.M. can; To come out of the political, cultural and social milieu of the 1980’s, become the biggest band in the world on their own terms, stay together through into the next 2 decades and keep making great music. Not many folks can say that indeed. I should also mention that both bands recorded their “still-got-it” albums with Jacknife Lee (producer on Accelerate and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb). I think we owe him a thank you note as well.

In closing I must say that as excited as I am about the overwhelming critical praise (4.5 stars in Spin, 4 stars in Rollingstone, “Essential” in Time) of Accelerate I am more excited about how much I just enjoy this record, how much it challenges me and the possibilities for a future with R.E.M. If Bruce Springsteen is any indication, some of R.E.M.’s best work may lie ahead. That’s something worth being geeky about.

Fresh Content on the "So Indie Cast"

2008-03-28T07:48:00.001-07:00

For the three of you out there that sample my podcast (the So Indie Cast) I wanted let you know that there is a bunch of new content up. iTunes doesn't seem to be adding it for subscribers and I'm not sure why.

There is a lecture on "Organizing Youth Ministry in a Post Modern World" that I did for a seminary back in January + a presentation on "Doing the Gospel". I'll also have a sermon I preached on Maunday Thursday up early next week. So, if you're interested in hearing me prattle on-and-on link over and check it out.

AS for why iTunes stopped updating the podcast through their service, I don't know. I just realized this was happening when I checked the site recently. I'll get to the bottom of it.

Again, thanks for listening.

Best,
D

Alleluia! He is Risen!

2008-03-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Michael Dawson = Barabbas: A Good Friday Reflection

2008-03-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

**This is another shameless post connecting Lost to things Christian and theological. I can’t help myself. **

Yesterday I was part of a Good Friday Liturgy and the sermon focused on Barabbas. Barabbas, as you may or may not know, is the insurrectionist (possible murderer) set free due to the Jewish custom at Passover instead of Jesus’ by Pontius Pilot. The sermon invited us to talk a walk in Barabbas’ shoes after his release. What was his life like? Did he change? How did his neighbors treat him when he returned home?

As my mind wandered through the possibilities I found myself thinking two things. One, any relief Barabbas experienced from being released was cheap because the currency used to purchased his freedom was the mob’s blood lust not their mercy. So, did liberty lead to any life change in him? It probably wouldn’t in me - not under those circumstances. Likewise, how kind or warm do you think the mob/community that freed him really was after all that? Do you think they invited him into their homes or celebrated his emancipation?

I doubt it.

Because, the crowd let him go in order to kill Jesus, and not to show mercy, I’ll bet Barabbas was socially scorned by some and/or resented by others. I wonder if being freed that day was really such a great thing for Barabbas?

And it was when number Two hit me…

Michael Dawson is Barabbas. That’s right, it’s Lost reference, and even though this is two in as many posts, I hope you’ll hear me out.

Michael purchases his freedom from the island under nefarious, dark and unjust circumstances (betrayal and murder for starters). Then, as we saw this past Thursday, his life has not worked out well since. Yes, he got off the island, but he didn’t find freedom. Release, perhaps, but not freedom and certainly not redemption.

So, there you have it, Michael Dawson is Barabbas and that’s how I would have preached the whole thing! How did it work out for Barabbas? I can only imagine. How will it work out for Michael? We’ll find out April 24.

D

Yeah for Revelation!

2008-03-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Right now I’m walking our youth ministry community through the book of Revelation (Apocalypse of St. John the Divine etc.) and I’ve come to a conclusion:

This is the best time to teach Revelation ever!

Seriously, as inaccessible as the letter is and as unhelpful, uneducated and dangerously improper as many popular interpretations have been, I still say yeah for Revelation in 2008! These are my top three reasons why.

1.)New Scholarship

One of the biggest problems with popular readings of Revelation is that they tend to ignore the most obvious tell of the letter, and that is it's literary genre. Yes, the book is strange and unusual, but that’s largely because it is a type of writing that doesn’t exist in any contemporary form called Jewish Apocalyptic Literature.

Apocalyptic (the genre) is the literature of the subjugated. It is written to people who have the boot of an oppressor on their neck and are losing all hope. To those who would be tempted to give up and give in, Jewish apocalyptic says, “Hang on! God is with you! God will make this right!” To those who are giving in, apocalyptic says, “Don’t give up and quit giving in! You’re choosing the wrong way in this struggle and your moving against God!” Finally, to any empire or power wearing the aforementioned boots, “Your time is going to come! You’re acting against God’s people (and therefore against God) and God will not have it! God will act mightily to save and you will get yours.”

To communicate all this, apocalyptic tends to traffic in outrageous word pictures that are used, not to describe a literal turn of events (sun burns out, moon turns to blood, skies falling), but instead, to turn the volume up on the message (In the case of the aforementioned images of the sun, moon and stars they are each references to the undoing of the created order. It’s as if the letter says, “Hey church! Your capitulation to empire, unfaithful people, is cataclysmic in its implications. You are undoing the created order as you give yourself over to ways of life that are not in rhythm with the covenant God’s mission in the world! This thing your up to is frustrating the dreams of God so much the best way to describe is to paint a word picture of the creation regressively imploding.

All this brings me to the point. The only reason I can write this little blip about apocalyptic literature is thanks to the work of scholars who have recovered this tradition and the new writing that information is generating. Twenty years ago the pickings were a lot slimmer (sadly because of, I think, the anti-Semitism of much Bible scholarship through high modernity) but now, the connection of these texts to their Jewish roots is happening more and more.

All this frees us from approaching the text as if it’s a cosmic crossword puzzle waiting for us to piece together the hidden meanings, or a train schedule for the end of the space-time continuum. It’s more than this. Better than this. And we can now be free to disabuse ourselves of a century and a half of unhelpful readings and crazy popular novels.

All this is why New Scholarship is reason #1 for why 2008 is a great year for Revelation!
(** And if you really don't believe me, check out time magazine this week. It came to my house the day after this post and there is a segment about how influential the re-judaizing of Jesus is going to be. Good stuff!**)

2.) I Can Give You Something Back
As much as a love deconstruction, it’s hard to access a text like Revelation by only saying what it’s not. Somewhere, some time, you have to describe what it is (even in the narrative/dialogical way we preach to each other). This becomes especially tricky for Revelation because, as I said before, it’s a genre of literature that simply doesn’t exist anymore. But, fear not, 2008 offers us some great points of connection.

If Jewish Apocalyptic Literature is a writing that traffics in fantastic imagery, rich subtext and (I didn’t mention this yet) symbolic-narrative echoes, then might the best place to look for a modern likeness is the television showLost? Well, Lost mixed with a really, really compelling commercial, but hear me out…

On Lost this season we meet an anthropologist named Charlotte. Here full name we discover later is Charlotte Staples Lewis. C.S. Lewis.

I know right! Well, you may be aware that Lewis wrote some amazing theological science fiction, not the least popular of which is a series of books about a magical place called Narnia. It is in another reality, accessible to a particular group of people who live out and bring forth a cosmic redemption on its stage. The dangers there are real but the books traffic in beautiful allegory regarding the vast struggle of good verses evil and the co-participation of divine and human agents in the latter’s final defeat.

So, when the writers of Lost drop a character named C.S. Lewis into their show (and they have other characters with equally significant names) in an episode that suggests some sort of time travel and/or extra dimensional reality is required to access the island, you start to feel something like the imagery of Revelation.

Is this because the Island =Narnia? No. Not remotely. If you have ears to hear, then you bring all the magic, mystery, allegory and divine redemption of the Narnia stories to bear on your experience of watching Lost. The writers want to echo’s of Narnia bouncing off the walls of your mind and heart as you watch this season unfold. They want that story to color how you interpret their own.

This is exactly the kind of things going on in Revelation all over the place. Take the woman and the Dragon imagery of Revelation 12-13. The writer of Revelation wants the reader of the letter to hear this part of it and have echo’s of another woman and dragon story from the same region that is also used to make sense of the cosmic battle between good and evil: The Greek myth of Apollo’s birth and his slaying of the dragon python.

Read in this way we are free to find the transcendent context of the suffering of God’s people in our own day, repent of the places we are more the agents of evil (beast/dragon etc.) than those working with God (angels) and finally put all that “who is the anti-Christ” crazy talk to bed.

Furthermore, I’ve found cubist paintings, especially the Guernica, to be helpful is describing how all the numeric references function in the text. All the numbers means little in and of themselves. Instead (in my humble opinion) they are meant to provide a connection to some bigger themes present throughout the whole book as well the entire Old Testament.

So, just as the Guernica was originally painted to draw international attention to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil but now symbolizes the horror of all war, so function the numbers in Revelation. To try and decipher what each one “means” is like trying to discover where Picasso found a horse that weird to put in his painting ad figure our where you ca get another one. No, if you did you’d be missing the point of the art right. So it is with Revelation.

All said these kind of contemporary (and quasi-contemporary) examples continue to make 2008 a great year for Revelation!

3.) Our context of Empire!
Revelation was written to a church contending with an increasingly hostile and unraveling empire. For this reason, there may be no better text to explore in our own context of empire than Revelation’s apocalyptic call to hang-on, choose God’s side and look out if you’re doing any oppressing. The church in our day is certainly guilty of all three but there is a thrill in communities of faith that will honestly and fearlessly wrestle with these questions as the letter address them.

How do we live as “lamp stands” in our neighborhoods and nations, turning on the light so people can see “what’s what?” (Rev 1) In what ways are our practices anti to the Christ? Where are the places we are willing to bear the mark of the beast (the agent of the imperial power) in order to protect our economics choices and status? (Number of the beast anyone?) (Rev 13).

These are some of the questions I have been delighted to engage with our community and challenged to answer. This is why I name our present context empire (as unraveling and desperate as it is) as well as the churches complicated role as both oppressor and victim (To quote Ricky Ricardo, “We have some ‘splainin’ to do.” )to be reason #3 why Revelation looks so good in ’08.

So, there you have it. My top three reasons why Revelation is on the Tiger Beat hot list for this year. If you’ve made it this far in my over long post I thank you. That you would give your time to my thoughts is an honor. And, while I’m sure I’ve not answered enough of the questions I’ve asked and certainly not taken time to prove all my assertions adequately, I hope these wonderings will be helpful to you and (possibly) yours.

Peace in name of the one who walks among the lamp stands,
D

Stuff White People Like

2008-03-11T08:58:00.001-07:00

I have a new blog that is killing me. It's called Stuff White People Like.
It is an on going list of the stuff White People like and with entries like #81: Graduate School, #13: Tea, #67: Standing Still at Concerts, #14: Having Black Friends and #44: Public Radio all I could say was, guilty.

I'm white. If you are too, check it out.

I emailed the link to a friend who studies critical race theory and he asked if there was a "Stuff Black People Like"? (There is). But at the time I didn't know, so I said, "Probably. In fact, I bet it was around first and this blog stole the idea in order to piggy back on it's cultural authenticity. White People would like that;)

Yours in my whiteness,
D

**PS** Thanks to Sam Davidson for this link to Racialicious "Variation on a Meme". Want more on the Stuff Black/Asian/Educated Black/Black Asian/Other People Like. Read here. This moves out of snark and into cultural commentary. Dig it!

Update from the Show

2008-03-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from the show Saturday night. The evening was really amazing and most importantly we raised $700 for blood:water mission. Good stuff!

Now, as great as our spot on performance (in my humble opinion of course) of Murmur was, the coolest part of the evening was karaoke. After we finished performing the record we took a short break while Charlie Lowell (from Jars of Clay – who started the charity) spoke about blood:water and gave out some literature. Then, we opened up the stage to anyone who wanted to sit in on vocals or instruments for any song on the rest of the set list. Then the weirdest thing happened, people did!

We had vocalists, drummers, keyboardists and bass players join us on half of the hits we played and they weren’t even all folks we know. Some of them were just locals who happened to be at the Tap Room that night. One of them even pulled me aside and said, “I think there’s like a church group here or something? I don’t know why they would be into this, but that’s cool.” Cool indeed.

It was our encore (and very impromptu) performance of Driver 8 that generated the evening’s most post-modern moment. Because, we had not worked out the tune ahead of time we had no lyrics printed. The guy who wanted to sing said he felt like he could fake it well enough if we could, so we cranked it up. Then, in the middle of the first verse, I look over to see someone from the crowd handing him an iPhone with the lyrics pulled up from the Internet! It made me think that this is either an object lesson or commercial concerning our changing world. I’m just not sure which. Here’s to technology huh?

So, all told it was a great night that seemed to demonstrate the Kingdom in manifold ways. I’ve never run a fundraiser in a public space before so, even though the learning curve was steep, we’ll have the bugs worked out for next time. Which brings me to my closing thoughts.

The evening was such a big success people are very eager to do it again. So, what should we do? We have to find the right mixes of zeitgeist vibe, cultural authenticity (I can’t play Marvin Gaye), musical popularity and hits (for the karaoke). We are fielding all suggestions.

Right now the Clash, The Cure and the Police are on the short list.

I have to end by thanking the Creator for all this goodness. I have wrestled with my need for musical expression and how that works with being a grown up. Never in my wildest dreams could I have seen this coming when we started it all a year ago. God’s imagination is so much better than my own.

Peace indeed,
D

What I've Been Up To..

2008-03-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

What I’ve been up to…
It’s been more than a week since I’ve posted here at So Indie. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
1.) Getting Well. For the record, it took me 3 official days to get over being sick. However, the fun lasts for much longer as anyone who has had “it” can attest to.

2.) Watched Quarterlife - wasn't impressed.
Did anybody else see this uber-hyped show? I don’t know if it’s the fact that the show is new and finding its voice or if our post-Real World age has forever sullied the authenticity this kind of snapshot-of-generational-angst TV, but I wasn’t impressed. It felt too much like the dialogue was written to sound like what twenty-somethings would say, instead of just being that. Do you know what I mean?

However, there were enough cool commentaries of power, sexuality and friendship to entice me to try it for one more week. We’ll see if this show skews toward Lost (best episode yet this week!) or the Bionic Woman.

3.) R.E.M. Fundraiser/Listening Party. The lion share of my free time this week has gone toward pulling together a fundraiser/public performance of R.E.M’s first record, Murmur.

Remember that group of guys I was playing RUSH covers with? Well, that party morphed into playing R.E.M. songs and that morphed into playing Murmur in its entirety, which then morphed into hosting a listening party for friends who’ve been wanting to hear us play these songs which finally morphed into this benefit for Blood:water mission at the 12 South Tap Room tomorrow night. So if you’re in town and looking for something to do this Saturday, lease come on out! The information is listed below.

--------

The NPE plays R.E.M.'s Murmur: A fundraiser for Blood:water Mission
Saturday March, 1
8:00pm
12 South Tap Room
No Cover

On March 1 we are performing the founding document of alternative music in its entirety, R.E.M.'s Murmur, as a fundraiser for Blood Water Mission. We would love to have you there!

The party begins at 8:00pm at the 12 South Tap Room (http://www.12southtaproom.com/) it is all ages and there is no cover (please consider donating generously to Blood Water instead).

Our Manifesto:
More of a listening party than a concert this NPE event is about raising money for a great cause and enjoying a piece of culturally important music together. We sort of see it like going to a symphony benefit, only instead of having a 200 year old piece of music performed for you we will have a 25 year old one.

NPE stands for Nashville Performance Ensemble. This is the name gave ourselves as a group of folks who love music and think that the energy of the live show is second to none. For this performance the NPE is Adam Wirdzek, Tony Welty, Monique Ingalls, Bob Melvin and Dixon Kinser, but next time it could be you. Take the name use it. It's hard to gig in this town with out one;)

Likewise we will be performing some of R.E.M.'s biggest hits and fan favs to close out the evening. We'd like to do this karaoke style.
So if you're coming and would like to sit in on vocals, drums, bass or guitar the floor will be open. Here's the set list:

All tracks from Murmur +
Wolves Lower
Seven Chinese Brothers
So. Central Rain
Begin the Begin
These Days
The One I Love
It's the End of the World As We Know It
Orange Crush
What's the Frequency Kenneth

See you there!

I'm Sick

2008-02-19T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well it's official, I'm sick.

Kristin has had "it" since Thursday and just got over it today. So wouldn't you know, today I start getting all fevery, having chills, and begin a cough and runny nose.

Mother scratcher!

I feel so helpless too, because I can feel the train coming and there's not a d*mn thing I can do about it!
Anybody want in on how long it takes me to kick this thing?

I'm wagering 3 days.

In sickness and in health,
D

Think Tank/Watchmen/Famine

2008-02-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s been forever since I’ve posted and you might be wondering (probably not;), but might be - wondering what I’ve been up to. Here are three things that happened this week….

Episcopal Think Tank in Minnehaha
I spent Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday in Minneapolis as part of a “think tank” trying to figure out weather Anglicanism can emerge through our post-modern context. I felt WAY out of my league. Among this group of 18 or so were folks like Phyllis Tickle, Sarah Miles, Karen Ward and Fred Burnham (Diana Butler Bass and Bob Carlton couldn’t come this time) and I must admit, I was a little star struck when it came to Phyllis.

Anyway, somebody got some money from somewhere to fly all of us up to Solomon’s Porch up in Minneapolis and get Tony (Jones) and Doug (Pagitt) to consult, walking us through conversations about the issues germane to Anglican emergence. It was a really phenomenal time. While Fred’s presentation about Network Theory (he’s kind of an expert) and the new science’s contribution toward alternative polity structures was mind bending, it was Phyllis Tickle who took the cake.

She presented some material that is at the core of her forthcoming book, The Great Emergence. In short, her thesis is that every 500 years or so, the church, as she says, “has a rummage sale” where things get shaken up and resettle. This happens in response to and because of great cultural emergences that affects everything (religion included) and that this is just the way it goes. She traced back from our own post-modern time to the shake-ups that happened 500 years ago (the Reformation), through 500 years before that (the great Schism), through roughly 500 years before that (Constantine on the Milvian bridge) to roughly 500 years before that (the Resurrection).

Inside each emergence there is a definitive pattern of development and common theme to how those within them respond. She claims each has about a 150-year ramp up, 100 years of shakiness, and about 250 years of stasis and stability until the ramp up begins again. What’s more remarkable is how’s she’s presented this material to Jewish and Islamic groups who note the same pattern in their own histories (for the Jews the rabbis went from the fall of the temple, to the Babylonian exile, back to the Judges, back to Abraham she said, really amazing).

Anyway, it’s all in her new book coming out at the end of this year. Can you see why I was star struck?
Above is the little picture ENS took of us

The Watchmen
In the mid 1980’s two graphic novels changed the landscape of American comics, cinema and I would even say, popular mythology. One is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (which I commented on here) and the other is The Watchmen.

Written by Alan Moore in 1986 and 1987, it is hailed by Time magazine’s as one of the top 100 novels written after 1923 while Damon Lindelhoff (co-creator of Lost) says it is, “The greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced.” High praise indeed, and not without warrant. The psychological dimensions of the characters are astounding, the art is beautiful and the depth, complexity and intricacy of the storytelling is one of a kind.

However, with all this praise being true, I have to say that I finished The Watchmen this week not knowing what to do with it. All the heroes (only one has real super powers) are morally ambivalent, neurotic and caught dealing with complex moral and ethical situations that don’t resolve in, well, predictable ways. The ending of the story is this mix of tragedy, comedy, hope and remorse. Again, I don’t know how I feel or how I am suppose to feel. What I do know is only that The Watchmen is GOOD.

Anybody else read it? I’m still processing. They are making a movie too, so we’ll see how that turns out. I suppose I’ll write more later.

The Revenge of the 30-Hour Famine
If you’ve been following my love/hate relationship with the 30 Hour Famine then it shouldn’t surprise you to know that I’ve been working up another subversion of this group fasting World Vision fundraiser this year. Our famine date is this Saturday.

So, in an attempt to discover a helpful discipline of fasting and include those in our community for whom eating disorders are a reality, we have decided to totally ditch the group fasting dynamic of the Famine opting to eat the whole time we’re together.

That’s right instead of a group fast, we will spend our event discussing a theology of food, farming and the body working on a local organic farm, eating locally and having some conversation around why the poor in other countries are starving while here they are morbidly obese.

I’ll defiantly have more on all this later as well. I’m pretty stoked!

So, that’s about it. Kristin is nursing a cold and I’m watching the kids. Consider yourself in the loop!

Peace,
D

I'm Lovin' It?

2008-02-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

Nashville has lots of churches. Probably too many for it’s own good. Whenever I hear someone telling me how they feel called to move to Nashville to plant a church, I can’t help but think, “Are you sure about that? We’ve got enough to go around.”

Now, I don’t want to limit God, and would claim to speak definitively for the Lord of Heaven and Earth, but seriously – another church started by someone who doesn’t even live here? But I digress…

So, imagine my internal tension when metro-Atlanta’s North Point Community Church decides to “franchise” one of their mega-churches here in, the holy-or-holies, Franklin, TN. Imagine my further confusion when I discovered that this church gathers on Sunday to watch videotaped presentations of founding pastor’s, Andy Stanley, sermons from last year in Atlanta.

My critique of this whole thing from the get-go was that they are attempted to “franchise” a church by apply a turn-key systems business approach to their ecclesiology and that’s a bad idea. In this paradigm the gospel in this becomes a “product” to be bought, sold and marked instead of life lived and that is a distortion of the invitation of Jesus.

Well, after reading an this article from ChristanityToday.com's bog, it looks like I can take all those quotation marks off words like franchise and product because, not only is my critique right on the money, it happens to be EXACTLY what this community is going for! Seems the pastor of the Nashville church compares himself directly to a Chick-FilA storeowner, conceives of the gospel as a “product he believes in” and even sees this model as the way of the future.

The irony is overwhelming.

Or is it the wave of the future? Depends on whom you ask. I'm sure if we ever meet we can talk about.

This is the body of Christ, the bread of heaven. Do you want fries with that?

D

*Thanks to Chris for the new image. Too perfect!*

Act "Cool" Again for Lent

2008-01-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

Hey! We’re doing the Cool Lent thing again this year! If you want join in sign up here and go to our blog here. If you just want to know what I’m talking about, read on below…

Next week begins the ecclesiastical season of Lent. Christians generally engage in some sort of spiritual discipline during the seasons 40 days in order spiritually prepare for Easter and often it is linked to some sort of abstention (giving up caffeine, meat, chocolate etc.).

However, last year a group of us asked the question, “What if one’s Lenten discipline did not involve an inward, personal sacrifice but an outward communal one instead? What if instead of giving up something personal, we took on something together. What if we acted instead of abstaining?”

To answer this question we turned to my friend Sam’s social activism website, Cool People Care (CPC). Their tag line is, “Because there’s no such thing as not enough time” and one feature of the site is a daily list serve where subscribers get an email telling them how to make a difference in just 5 minutes that day. These challenges involve everything from recycling your old cell phone, to bringing your own stirrer to the coffee shop, to (ouch) driving the speed limit. Each action is simple, doable and, in my opinion, connected deeply with the Kingdom of God.

So, last year a group of us took these “5 minutes of caring,” challenges on as our Lenten discipline. In this way our holy observance of Lent indeed involved 40 days of sacrifice, but sacrifice that was manifest through outward demonstrations of caring and action all directed by the CPC list serve.

The way it worked was that each of us first signed up for the email list serve from CPC. Then we covenanted together to complete of each “5 minutes of caring,” challenges to the best of our abilities for each of the 40 days of Lent. So, whatever email came down the pipe Monday through Friday, we all tried to do it - no matter what. Then, because this is a Lenten discipline, we took Saturday and Sunday as catch-up and feast days.

The result was remarkable and we stayed connected through a one face-to-face gathering during Lent and weekly contribution to a blog.

This year, we’re at it again and invite any of you to join in no matter where you live.

If you would like to participate in this Lenten discipline with us for 2008 (or do it with your own faith community) go here, register for the list serve here then link over our blog, add a comment and let us you’re in!

Butt like I said feel free to take this discipline and do it where you live. The invite is open to all and if you start a Blog, let Sam know so he can add you to the Cool Lent Page on the site.

So, in the name of the Church, I would like to invite you to the observance a Holy Lent…through positive, Kingdom of God focused spiritual direction, personal formation and community activism. Are you in?

Dixon

Fasting From Public Worship

2008-01-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

The church in the United States is addicted. We are addicted to meeting attendance. In fact for many churches meeting attendance has become the benchmark for Christian practice, instead of, well, Christian practice.

Take for example, the conversation I had with a friend at lunch yesterday. After explaining to the free-spirited, ultra enlightened family she nannies for that she considers herself a Christian the husband asked, “You mean you go to church every Sunday?” The assumption being that commitment to Christianity involves first, foremost and (this is my thesis) simply the attendance of a new meeting – “church” on Sunday morning.

Here, “Christianity” is reduced to yet another extra-curricular activity. It is like community league soccer, gymnastics or guitar lessons. Each f these are good in their own right however if money, interest or something important like school (that’s right high schoolers I’m talking to you!) won’t permit, then you gotta prioritize and one of the “extra” meetings has to go.

The problem is I don’t see many church disagreeing with their lives to this misperception of the gospel. We mark our success and failures based on who attends our meetings and /or how many they come to. The indication of vibrancy and growth in many parishes is the addition of bodies to a primary meeting with increased spiritual maturity being measured by extra religious meeting (elder board, campaigners bible study, Wednesday night discipleship group etc.) In this way the church is complicit in betraying the invitation of Jesus because Jesus has not called anyone to a meeting, but to a way of life.

How sad that we KNOW this, and yet we still undercut this reality with our lust for robust meeting attendance. And, while I’m all for the Sunday worship gathering (it’s is crucial ad perhaps the most imperially subversive and counter culture action a community can do) it is meant to be an expression of our commitment to the way, not the full instantiation of it.

If you feel my tension here, I have a radical idea. What if faith communities took a designated amount of time to fast from our corporate worship?

No, wait, here me out before you link to my email and say nasty things.

Think about the discipline of fasting. Classically, it involves giving up something, good, healthy and indispensable for life – food – for a certain amount of time in order to connect to God in a new way. A fast is about abstaining from the necessary to reconnect to the eternal. A fast shakes up the fast-er , often providing vital re-orientation and spiritual clarity.

So, in the same food is not bad or to be abstained from at all times neither is pubic worship. However, giving it up in a fast might generate some new life, hope and perhaps a necessary re-orientation.

Now, it’s important to qualify – this is a discipline that is impossible to take on alone. In same way a food fast can be mismanaged if it’s coupled uncritically with an eating disorder so too might a fast from public worship if it’s uncritically partnered with individual discontent, cynicism or burn out. No, a people need to be in this together, giving up something they love and will be eager to return to. Otherwise, this is just an exercise in consumerism or worse, ecclesiological pouting.

But think of a public fast done right! The exploration, discovery and cultivation of what kind of Christianity we truly inhabit in the world. The exposure of what is left when public worship is withheld from Christian identity for a season. Perhaps, we’d begin to rediscover the “way” of Jesus again and see how it can change the world. Perhaps our public gatherings will be evaporated with fresh missional energy and new orientation.

Or perhaps it will be a dismal failure. I can make no promises.

However the thought intrigues me. I’ve had some experiences of things like this with youth ministries I’ve led, and the results have been remarkable. Could this be a way to break our addiction to meetings? Could this be a path toward decentralizing the church for a postmodern world?

I wonder.

Peace,
D

The Best Church Association Ever

2008-01-12T12:33:00.001-08:00

On our way home from Texas last week I took a wrong turn trying to follow some back roads and we found ourselves off the beaten path in Waxahachie, TX.

Waxahachie has long been a punch line between Kristin and I that refers to any person, place or thing that we deem to be comically obscure or unfindable. So if ask, “Who was that Waxahachie Phil guy we used to know in Pittsburgh?” It means I never expect her to come up with the answer. But I digress…

So, imagine our surprise when we ended up in Waxahachie looking for breakfast only to realize that the town has become one of those historic-tourist-destination places. They’ve got an old Victorian era courthouse, a re-furbed town square and a cool little café adjacent to the restored 19th century hotel. I even starting thinking, “How charming. How quaint. Maybe this place isn’t as obscure as we thought?”

That is, until we saw what was two doors down from the café. That’s right, it’s the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches!

Now, I’ve heard of a Cowboy Church and I’ve even seen one (It’s off the frontage road on I-35 heading south between Dallas and Austin), but had no idea that there were more of them. Much less that they were state-wide. Much less that they were associated. Looks like I was wrong on all counts.

And there could be no more perfect place for this little Ecclesiastical Ranch than the fabled town of Waxahachie? Not for us! I was so impressed I took a photo (you can see me in it if you look close ☺.).

And while there were other more significant moments from our 14 hour trip home (Aidan lost his first tooth, Kristin and I committed to go vegetarian) I’m blogging about this one today. What does that say about me? I’m scared to speculate.

Maybe I want to be a cowboy too.

Yee-haw?
D

Dennis Kucinich is My #1?

2008-01-07T19:47:00.001-08:00

Last month I was having a conversation with my dad about politics. He and I have an interesting convergence of opinions on some things and divergence regarding others but when he forwarded me an interesting little political survey it sparked an interesting conversation.

The way to survey works is by marking each presidential candidate’s emphases on issues and comparing it with your own based on a series of questions you answer regarding each issues solution and importance to you. In short it records who cares about what you care about, they way you care about it. (And the answer may surprise you.) My top 3 was Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd and Mike Hukabee.

But here’s the point; after I got ranked Kucinich, my dad didn’t really know who he was. I began explaining how he is in favor of a number of things that I am including universal health care and that’s probably why he was my #1. Immediately my dad asks, “So, you’re all for BIG government then?”

I felt a little taken aback because I hadn’t considered the question before. Is that me? Am I a BIG Government kind of guy? Does my sympathy toward universal healthcare put me in that camp – of course not, But just when you think you’ve got dad pegged, he surprises you. “The last people who know how to handle taxpayer money are the federal government! Look at the fiasco in Iraq,” he said, “You want to give them more money and control? They can’t do anything right!” Point taken.

So, here is my quandary; I’m not a “Big Government” ideologue but I’m also not the libertarian my dad is (privatize everything he says!). I’m trying just to make theologically meaningful decisions regarding my politics and that means I really care about the poor, peace and everybody getting what they need.

So, I’m stuck with fact that while I totally agree with my dad – the feds are bone heads with our money, country and systems and it’s not hard to see that - I don’t see another organization or system in place that can distribute the resources of our nation rightly EXCEPT the federal government. Arrggh! I’m not for big government in principle or anything (I’m registered independent for Cri-i-i) but what else do we do in 2008? How do work toward people getting what they need?

Could the church step up to fill this gap after the failure and bad boundaries of the faith-based initiatives? I don’t know. Is there another way than the whole Small Government vs. Privatization vs. Big Government tri-chotomy our social problems get boxed into? Where is the new imagination politically? I’m sure you have opinions.

As for me, I wait. I pray. I wonder.

Peace,
D

The Top Sevens of 2007

2008-01-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone, I am writing this years ”best of” list from the great state of Texas and I must say it is glorious here in Austin!

In case you are new to my year-end-best-of-list you should know that I won’t be offering any definitive # 1 picks. Instead I’ll be keeping my so indie tradition of offering one pick that is not necessarily at the top of my list for each category but is definitely in the top seven (because its ‘07’s list). So, without further adieu here are the picks that made my Top Seven Top Seven’s of 2007.

Top 7 Books
Teaching to Transgress
Runner Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Bell Hooks book about alternative pedagogy (or educational method) that draws on her experience growing up in pre-integration black schools ad moving into post integration white ones demonstrates how education can and should not just hand down information but really change the kind of people students are! It is up there as the most challenging and inspiring book I read this year and should be required reading in all seminary homiletics classes.

Top Seven Habits
Joining the YMCA
Runner Up: Kinser family Sabbath on Saturday’s
In September ’06 a new YMCA opened within waking distance of my house. Over the next 16 months individual and family trips to the Y have become the norm. This is the most consistent exercise I’ve ever had in my life and it feels great!

Top Seven Film
Knocked Up
Runner Up: No Country for Old Men
I know, I know, No Country is getting al the buzz and is probably the best movie of the year, but I have not seen it yet! So, as a flaming Coen Brother’s fan, I put No Country as runner up by faith alone not by works. That should make all you Lutherans happy ☺.

That said, no movie went as deep and said as much about the real challenge of growing up, embracing responsibility and choosing self-sacrifice as a way toward wholeness than Knocked Up. Yes, it is crude (in all the right ways!) but this movie should be watched, discussed and meditated on by all pre-married, married and with child couples in my opinion. Jud Aptow is up to some goodness here.

Top Seven TV
30 Rock
Runner Up: The Henry Rollins Show
Tina Fey’s little-sitcom-that-could was my dark horse this year, but no show made me laugh harder, longer or more consistently than this one. Alec Baldwin is amazing indeed, but Tracey Morgan’s Tracey Jordan character has been giving him a run for his money. “Live every week like it’s shark week” may be the ‘00’s top non-sequeter!

Top Seven Tunes
The Arcade Fire “Neon Bible”
Runner Up: R.E.M. “Live at the Olympia Theater – bootleg”
2007 was the year I officially lost the race with pop culture. Oh, sure I can and do follow it (I read Rollingstone etc.) but my own life style choices coupled with raising children well has moved me from being the “I’m there opening weekend!” kind of movie goer to a “I’ll add it to my Netflix que and see it in 8 months” kind of movie goer.

The same has been true for music, however in may ways this has helped me make choices based on taste and art not hype. That being said I was so pleasantly surprised when “Neon Bible” lived up to it’s early ’07 hype. Textured, catchy, beautiful and crazy Jesus-i-fied (as my friend Bob says) the Arcade Fire’s sophomore release is on my Best of the ‘00’s top 10 list as well! Love it!

Top Seven Web
New American Dream (Carbon Conscious Consumer)
Runner Up: Advent Conspiracy
I have been a fan of The New American Dream site for a while but their Carbon Conscious Consumer Campaign was been a delightful challenge to my uncritical consumerism. If you want some do-able bite size ways to change your life and live green, check it out.

Top Seven So Indie Post
Jesus Action Figure (Series 1-4)
Runner Up: Why Halloween Might the Most Godly Holiday
These JAF entries were just so fun and have been some of my favorite to create of 2007. Thanks for all the great feedback as well.

A Graciously-Assertive-Existential-Denial Position On Santa

2007-12-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well, the Christmas has finally come when Santa Claus mythology has taken root in my children (Aidan can be a little slow on the uptake). Consequently, Kristin and I have had to figure out what to do and thought we've been talking about this every Christmas for the last three years, this Christmas theory must become praxis.

I don’t know where all of you stand on the whole “Santa issue” and I’m not putting this post up as a line in the sand or and attempt to keep-Christ-in-Christmas or anything like that. I’m just someone trying to live missionally in the USA and I’m always open to this conversation because Christmas is a confusing time for missional Christians.

That said, our guiding value on the Santa thing has been, to quote Walter Bruggemann, the following; “Talking to kids about God should like talking to kids about sex; never tell them something that you know you’ll have to take back later.” So, if the stork doesn’t bring the babies, don’t make that your explanation for where babies come from. Make sense? It does to us, so we’ve adopted what can best be described as a graciously-assertive-existential-denial position when it comes to Kris Kringle.

This means we are not telling the kids that Santa Claus is real and pumping up that idea, but when they bring it up and get real emphatic about how Santa is gonna come on Christmas because some kid at school was going on about it (and they do!), we don’t try to win the argument.

So, for example when Aidan asks (as he did two days ago), “Dad, is Santa Claus going to really come down our chimney and leave present s in our stockings? I responded, “No, buddy, because Santa is not real but pretend (and we have a fake flue anyway). Do you want to make believe that Santa is giving us the presents?” To which Aidan invariably responded, “No Dad! Santa is real! I’m talking about the real Santa!” To which I then said…nothing. I let it ride. And you know what, it’s been really helpful. By not trying to win that argument I’ve succeeded in a.) Telling the truth, b.) Not lying to my child about a supernatural deity (which can make other questions around the Christmas story like “Dad are angels real?” really confusing) and c.) Not turning him into one of those bratty kids that going to try to spoil it for someone else.

All I can say is that so far it’s working. Not so much is dissuading his belief in Santa Claus (because I gotta tell ya, we’re swimming up stream against that story), but in strengthening our relationship, making all of us into better people and honestly, in a weird way, honoring Jesus which it seems is the point. When my kids do find out there's no Santa at least that won't come part in parcel with knowing that we deceived them - that's gotta count for something right?

Now, is this a good way to go about all this? Ask me in 10 years and I’ll tell you;)

A Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
D

Some New Music For Ya!

2007-12-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

I'm into music the way other people are into sports. I find joy not just in the music but also in following the stats and minutae of its production.

For example, I willn that read the liner notes of an album to see who produced, engineered and played on the project and then geekily call friends to discuss the connections those artists have to other work. So, if you didn't you know that the producer of the new R.E.M. record also worked with Snow Patrol or that Metallica is writing their new record in standard tuning at the request of their producer Rick Ruben, fear not, I did.

Mea culpa's aside, I've got two music recommendations for ya...

The first is a band of some friends of mine are in called good night, states. Their new album, short film on self control, came out last week and though I've not heard the whole thing, the tracks I've sampled give me that whole Wilco meets the Shins/indie-Americana vibe I love so much. If you dig that kind of sound too, link over and give them a listen.

My second recommendation is not a new release, but is quickly making it's way to the top of my "Best of 2007" list. Sinead O'Connor has a new record out called Theology and it is devestatingly good! It came out in June and I've been meaning to blog about it ever since because the whole album is Sinead doing songs based on the Old Testament Prophets (If You Had a Vineyard, based almost word for word on Isaiah 5, is one of the best). The package (or download) comes with two CDs each representing a different version of the same set of songs. The first has been recorded in Dublin with stripped down acoustic intrumentation, while the second was done in London with a full band. The result is just gorgeous, moving and spiritually forming. I came back to Sinead a few years ago with her reggae/dub record Throw Down Your Arms, and ever since I've become a full blown fan.

Below is a video of her doing Something Beautiful off Theology live. It is the Dublin version of the song and it's great! Give it a look/listen.

Peace,
D

Unlikely Christmas Movies

2007-12-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

Ah, Christmas…‘Tis the season for movies, right!

Be it a serious Oscar contenders or blockbuster fantasies, Hollywood trots out some of its heaviest hitters this time of year and you know what, I’m all in! Consumerism aside; I just love the movies!

You also can’t deny that, whether it’s a new release at the multiplex or a longstanding family tradition, movies play a big part in the way American’s celebrate the holidays. Therefore, being a film geek and an American, I’ve been particularly conscripted into this practice over the years.

However, this season I’ve found my cinematic palate craving some more – how should I say – untraditional fare. I’ve begun to call these items my “Unlikely Christmas Movies”.

Indeed, like the archetypical “pregnant mother who craves pickles and ice cream” (two great tastes that don’t appear to go great together) I have found myself drawn to films that I have inexplicably connected to this time of year no matter how far a field their ethos may be. So, in the same way others might be drawn to watch It’s A Wonderful Life every December, I am drawn to these titles year after holiday year and I’m discovering that I’m not alone.

It seems that lots of folks have their own list of “Unlikely Christmas Movies” and you know you're one of them. I’ve listed three of mine below, please feel free to add a comment tell me yours. Merry Christmas!

D

My Unlikely Christmas Movies of 2007’s

Die Hard & Die Hard 2
Though both these action adventure thrill-rides are set during Christmastime and the latter had a December release date, they maintain the blow-it-all-to-hell aesthetic of the best summertime popcorn extravaganza. But even though “Yippie-kayee Mother f**ker” isn’t quite the same as “Ho, Ho, Ho!” my holiday association remains strong. That’s why I put these classics (like the first Die Hard - arguably the best action movie EVER) on the top of “Unlikely” list opposite “A Christmas Story: on my “Likely” one. Sort of the yin and yang of Holiday classics if you will ☺.

LA Confidential
This one, I can’t figure. It had a mid-fall release date and the only overt holiday reference features a (pre-fame) Russell Crowe jerking a string of Christmas lights off the exterior of a house in order to draw out a wife beater he plans to, um, chide ever so gently. Other than that, this James Elroy story about the seedy underbelly of Hollywood is the pickles to my Christmas ice cream. Even still, every December I’m reaching for my DVD (the 1998 version - when “interactive menu” constituted a special feature) which is always on my top ten list.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy
These movies are so deep in the collective conscious of my generation that it’s impossible to bond them to any one season. For that reason I’ll only say that, for now, they are more of a Christmas thing in my world.

This may be due to the fact that the VHS, letterbox release of the original films happened around this time of year when I was in college (more than 10 years ago - Holy Moly). It could also be all of Star Wars merchandise I received over the years as Christmas presents during my childhood. However, the utter lack of mistletoe and holly coupled with all three films' overwhelming cultural significance puts them squarely, albeit at the bottom, of my “Unlikely” list this year.

P.S. This post marks the completion of a personal goal. In January of this year I committed to make one post to this blog for every week of the year and with this post I have succeeded! So, I’m cheering on the inside ☺.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

(*This post is a slightly different version of an article I wrote for the St. B's newsletter this month. It culls together some of ideas and practices I've been adopting regarding Christmas and Advent over the last 3 years and I thought it would make for some good so indie fodder. So, if it reads like a newsletter article know that it is one. All you readers of The Branch, I apologize.)

"Happy New Year!"
That's right, I said “Happy New Year” because tomorrow, December 2, 2007 marks the beginning of a new year according to the calendar of the Church (or at least my tradition who rolls that way). You see, for the Church, the rhythm of our life is arranged around the story of Jesus and, following the lead of the Gospels; this begins four Sundays before the feast of Christmas during a season called Advent that begins tomorrow. So, Happy New Year!

Now, because it is after Halloween in this country I know you are reading as one already fully aware of the Christmas onslaught. That being the case, I wanted to take this post and offer three ideas you can use to engage Advent, Christmas and consequently all of 2008 in ways that are helpful and in step, not with the market, but the Kingdom of God.

Idea #1: A Different Rhythm
The Jesus agenda first takes root inside a culture dominated by the Roman Empire. Consequently, many of the practices, rituals, rhythms and vocabulary of the early church reflect the Gospel’s subversion of the power of Caesar.

One way Rome would reinforce its mythology was through public gatherings and festivals where accounts of the Empire’s great victories were reenacted. The very rhythm of life in Imperial Rome was arranged around these festivals such that one could tell what time of year it was by which festival one was attending. Rome’s story was the cadence of all Imperial life.

It should be of little surprise then that Christians sought a different rhythm than the one determined by the Empire. Rome’s story was not the narrative of their being, Jesus’ was. So, a new calendar and new festivals began to develop as an alternative to the Imperial galas and assemblies with Christians even borrowing the name of one (ekklesia, i.e. church) and taking it as their own.

Now, because we too practice the way of Jesus in the context of Empire and our Empire’s high holy day is December 25, Advent offers a great opportunity for families and communities to adopt a pace of life that is alternative to and subversive of that Empire.

One way our family has done this is by eating dinner in a different room of the house during Advent. Gathering around the table in a different location (for us it’s our dining room, but you could even reorient the table in the room where you normally eat), lighting the Advent wreath and eating together each night has served as a powerful marker that our orientation is not dictated by the holiday rush or shopping push of the Christmas extravaganza, but instead by the story of an unwed mother and her divine child. We slow down in order to practice the patience of Mary and Elizabeth as we await the coming of Jesus who was and is and is to come. Then we fight about who gets to blow out the candles☺

Idea #2: It’s Not Your Birthday!
Remember when you were a kid and your birthday was about getting everything you wanted? I can remember having the expectation that on my birthday I would get to pick out my favorite food to eat, choose the kind of cake I wanted and get all the presents I had asked for. My birthday was all about me.

It has been a helpful, therefore, to remember that Christmas is not my birthday. It is Jesus’ birthday and so orienting my holiday around generosity instead of greed has been so life giving. How can you use your energy this Christmas to benefit someone else?

One way is by giving the gift of livestock instead of stuff. Organizations like Heifer Internationalal and World Vision provide services where you can buy animals for people in need around the globe as a gift for others. Don’t know what to get your uncle who has everything, why not gift an Alpaca to a village in South America in his name.

World Vision and other organizations like Blood Water Mission go a step farther by also providing clean water to some of the world’s poorest countries. You can participate with them by donating money in a loved one’s name that will go toward a well or even gifting some of their merchandise (T-shirts, arm bands, etc.) the proceeds of which go toward the organizations goals. Often these groups have printable (or hard copy) gift cards that you can wrap and send to the person you are gifting and I have even gone so far as a buy the figurine of the animal I’m donating (or a bottle of water if it’s a well) and included that in the gift.

In these ways you gift you are giving Christmas morning is about doing for the least of these, and that is a big part of what the Jesus agenda is all about.

Idea #3: What Would Jesus Reuse?
NEW! FLAHY! SHINY! There can be little doubt that having the latest, newest and shiniest items is a temptation every Christmas season. But who says that newest = best? One way to live outside this temptation is to intentionally buy used items instead of new ones.

Do your kids need clothes? Consider a consignment sale, or the thrift store. Looking for a kitchen appliance or musical instrument? Try a site like Craigs List (www.craigslist.org) or ebay (www.ebay.com) where you can pickup a pre-loved item instead of a new one. This can help disrupt our allegiance to the come-on of advertisers (a good thing) and provide great gifts at a fraction of the cost (also a good thing).

Along the same lines, consider making a present instead of buying one. Do you crochet? Try making a scarf, stocking or stuffed animal for your friend’s kids (as our friend Holly has done for ours). Making a gift, even if it’s as simple as a mix tape, can communicate the Kingdom value of sacrifice over consumption and even make a memory to last for years to come (remind me to tell you about the five legged giraffe we got one year).

These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling for you this Advent. Check out websites like Cool People Care and The New American Dream for more ways to live differently and make a difference this Christmas and beyond.

Happy New Year indeed!

Represent!

2007-11-30T10:58:00.000-08:00

Some of you have asked about the status is on my whole book thing. Here’s the skinny:

The newest news is that today I have officially procured literary representation. In other word, I got an agent. Actually, it’s not just me, but Holly and me, as the project I’m being repped for is that Liturgy book we’ve been trying to get off the ground since April.

In other news I met the acquisitions editor of a publisher who is interested in two other projects I have on the back burner. We’ll see if anything happens with that and if I can keep all my boundaries straight as to whom I talk to about what when.

Consider yourself in the loop.

Peace,
D

Green Funerals

2007-11-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

Last Spring I took our Youth Ministry community away on a death retreat.

Over the course of the weekend we practiced prayer mediations in hospitals, visited funeral homes and had four different conversations; 1.) Why We Are Afraid to Die in America? 2.) Living With Death: Why Almost every Christian Symbol connected to Death and Dying. 3.) The Afterlife Part 1: What’s the Deal with Hell? (Hint - It’s not what you think.) 4.) The Afterlife Part 2: Nobody Goes to Heaven After They Die.

The weekend was really profound (I have been meaning to blog a full report for 6 months now) and if you ever want to host one of your own I’m happy to share what I learned. However, none of these are the point of this post. What is, is a phenomenon I discovered while researching the conversations for the death retreat and while watching the finale of Six Feet Under; Green Funerals.

Green Funerals are earth friendly, natural alternative burial practices that not decrease the amount of carbon and chemicals that are released into the atmosphere and the soil, but keep very much in line with the Christian discipline of dying well. While I am energized by both these wonderful outcomes, it is the latter that continues to spark my imagination.

Green Funerals eschew embalming (the corpse can be kept cool and doesn't need to be embalmed by law) and favor biodegradable pine boxes (see picture) or burial shrouds to the industry standard steel casket and concrete vault. Likewise, a green burial doesn’t take place in a cemetery, but instead scatters burial plots in random places along a secluded woodland or nature preserve marking them with natural shrubs and trees (as well as a GPS tracker) instead of a tombstone to ensure future generations can find the site. Furthermore, the fact that human remains have been interred on the land virtually guarantees it will not be developed into suburban track homes or a shopping mall. (And if you’ve seen Poltergeist you know what a bad idea that is;)

The most attractive thing the practice is how it maintains a close connection between the living and the dead. There is a subversive bent to choosing green funerals in our world of sanitized death. Death is scary. We don’t want to think about, touch it or smell it. Indeed part of the pain of death in our culture involves the very awareness that were dying. (Which is why so many people want to “go in their sleep”) Green Funerals invite both the dying and their family to walk through this death well, awake and in the presence of each other and the Creator. I see that as a profoundly Christian practice.

There is some great literature on the topic too. This article was the first I found and it is a great primer on the practice and if you want to go deeper I recommend Caring For the Dead by Lisa Carlson.

I am planning my own Green Funeral and see this being part of our families heritage for years to come. If you are interested in it check out Green Endings, Natural Death for services that do these funerals as well as this page for lots of links on the topic (if this link is still broken google Green Funerals and it will be your first hit).

Peace in the Resurrected One,
D

We Give It Back

2007-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Last week I was the narrator for a Thanksgiving program at my son’s elementary school. I was kind of shocked by the way they were telling the kids the Thanksgiving story. The script trafficked in many racist and sexist stereotypes (are we still saying Indian? And why are the Pilgrim women painted as helpless Scarlet O’Hara types? ) handed out some pretty obvious misinformation about the event itself. I was, and I say this at the risk of sounding like some lefty fist-shaker, more aware than ever of how empires reinforce their narratives through the education of children. Makes me want to home school sometimes….

So the point of my story here is this, after the first rehearsal (which I’ve recorded for the so indie cast – you gotta hear it) I had lunch with a friend who listened to me lament my plight. She asked how Kristin and I were handling it all at home and I relayed to her this conversation I had with Aidan after dinner one night.

Aidan: Dad, remember how the Pilgrims came over and met the Indians. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about.

Me: Sure buddy, that is part of it. But, in or house we talk about “Indian” people as “Native Americans”.

Aidan: Native Americans? Why do you call them Native Americans?

Me: Well, India is a country and the people living there are called Indians. But the “Indians” from the Thanksgiving story didn’t live there; they lived in the lands we live in now called “America”. And, “Native” means someone who lived in a place first.

So, because they were the people who lived here before the Pilgrims came it is best to refer to them as Native Americans. They were here first.

Aidan: Then the Pilgrims and the Indians all lived together?

Me: Well, sort of…it’s actually kind of a sad story. You see our people took the Native Americans land.

Aidan: Stole it?

Dixon: Unfortunately, yes. And what do we do when we take something that isn’t ours?

Aidan: We give it back.

Dixon: That’s right buddy. We give it back.

So, that’s how were handling these things so far. May God give us strength and courage to do justice and tell the truth in our day because it’s just not as easy as it looks on TV.

Peace,
D

The New Fish

2007-11-12T07:27:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday Aidan got some new fish for his fish tank.
This was a conversation in my house last night:

Kristin: Aidan, I can’t remember the name of this fish. The one with the red tail.

Aidan: I can’t either. I think I’ll make up a new name for him.

Kristin: Oh, wait I remember now. It’s Fin.

Aidan: No, mom I’m already making up a new name.

Kristin: Ok, what’s the name.

Aidan: I will name him Michael Stipe.

Kristin: Michael Stipe?

Aidan: Yes! Michael Stipe

So there you have it. My son’s fish are now named,

Olivia
Joshua
Aidan
Spaceship
& Michael Stipe.

An honor or disgrace for Michael Stipe? You be the judge.

D

Staying As the New Going

2007-11-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

Will Samson was in town yesterday to talk about his book Justice in the Burbs at both the Nashville Cohort and a public gathering hosted at St. B’s . Will is a friend of mine through Emergent and I think both the book and Will’s presentations were excellent.

The thing I have been mulling over most since last night was a comment Will made about seeing “staying as the new going.”

This quote came up in regard to the question that always arises in conversations about justice, “Should I just sell everything and move in with the urban poor?” “Is that the only way to do justice?”

The answer is, “Yes…for some of you.” Some of you are indeed being called to live with the urban poor and do justice in their midst. However, the laws of physics alone would dictate that every Christian in North America couldn’t do this. Not to mention that in the last 10 years there are more poor actually living in the suburbs than in urban areas.

So, what gives then? What does one do?

To this dilemma Will offered that Christians are to embrace a theology of place. We are called image God where we are and for many North American Christians that place is the suburbs. So, Will continued, if you really want to live counter culturally for justice and the gospel in North America, consider staying where you are!

You see in a suburban (and some urban redevelopment) culture of planned transience (I’m only in this house until I can afford a new one and move – I’m in this job until I can get my next promotion and move on etc.) choosing to actually stay in a place or with a community and put down roots is a radical gospel maneuver. It images God’s fidelity and subverts the “Quick-fix”, “I can knock this out in 40 days of purpose” mindset that plagues our country and the North American church. This is important because it is in “staying” that real relationships can develop and the long view that true just living requires can be taken.

So, what to do in the face of injustice? How do we make a difference? One answer is not to go and do something, but instead to stay.

And what would it do to our neighborhoods if we told out neighbors, “I just want you to know, I’m not going anywhere. I plan to really make my life here and make this place as good as it can be”, or, “I’m planning to raise my children here.” I wonder.

Or what if people like me who work in a church, said, “I just want everybody to know, I’m putting all my chips on this place and this community. I’m not waiting around until something better comes along. I’m sticking this out for the long haul.” It might start to change the values of those places pretty radically and release our imagination to live justly where we are because we don’t see our communities as disposable. Our fates are all bound up together.

Will had lots of great stuff to share with us (the book has even more) about the interconnectedness of everything in just living and what practical moves you can make to get started right where you are (his contention that if you try start living justly by solving poverty in Malaysia you’ll give up because it’s too big, was well received by me). I highly recommend the book and if you’re interested the audio for the Cohort conversation will be up on the so indie cast in the next day or so.

Thanks for everything Will.

Peace and love,
D

I Got Flyerd

2007-11-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today I went out to my mailbox to find a flyer advertising the church down the road wedged under the flag. One side of the flyer listed the programs of the church (Youth and family staffing, Gulf Coast mission trips, culturally relevant messages, etc.) which I was invited to “Come and See”, while the other listed their doctrinal beliefs:

• The Christian is called to welcome and nurture the neighbor
• Jesus Christ offers salvation.
• God offers salvation freely apart from works.
• The resurrection is a key teaching of the Christian community.
• Baptism provides the gift of salvation. Holy Communion offers the gift of forgiveness.
• The creative act of salvation and the Good News of Jesus Christ is disclosed in scripture.

I was like, “Really, you’re going to lead your invitation to me with doctrine?” As if I’m sitting here thinking, “Man, I really want to go to church! If only one would come along and entice me with their sotieriology.” If I’m not following Jesus, this is all very obscure language. And even though I’ve done this very thing (door knob hangers at Christmas time, mailers for Alpha programs etc.) it’s such a strange and unhelpful approach to being church in my opinion.

But it’s not like this trend is limited to more traditional reformed parishes. I want to pull my hair out (not that I have any) every time I see a poster advertising “authentic”, “emerging” or even “postmodern” worship services. Seriously folks, once you slap the phrase “authentic” on a slickly produced poster you’ve moved from the genuine to the ironic. Let’s try to appreciate that difference. And whom are you talking to when you use the phrase, “postmodern worship service”? It all just reeks of your mom trying to use hip lingo to impress your friends.

Unfortunately, for all this strangeness individual Christians often mimic their institutions obtuseness in the way they invite others into life with God. How many times have I taken kids away on a “ski-trips” only to back door them with the gospel on Saturday night? (Which is, as my friend Corrie pointed out, what cults do.) How many books have been published about “defending your faith”, assuming a well reasoned polemic about doctrine is going to be the door opener to life in the way of Jesus. These approaches move from genuine to ironic pretty quickly but it’s not always easy to appreciate the difference.

Anyway, this is more of a rant that I expected. Sorry about that.
I’m off to see They Might Be Giants tonight and that it reason to celebrate.

Peace,
D

Will Samson in Nashville Next Week

2007-10-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hey!
If you're in the Nashville area, a group of churches and the Nashville Cohort are hosting a conversation with Will Samson, author of Justice in the Burbs next Thursday night November 8 at 7:00pm.

The event will be at St. B's and is free to all.
Hope to see you there.

Peace,
D

Why Halloween is the Most Godly Holiday

2007-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

This time next week there will be crowds of children, young and old, roaming through my neighborhood in costume asking for candy because next week is that most glorious of holidays, Halloween.

I grew up thinking Halloween was great (free candy, costumes, quasi-acceptable vandalism – what not to love), began follow Jesus and was taught that it was bad, but now believe it’s great again. In fact I would even go far as to say, that of all the civic holidays we observe in this country Halloween might be the one that is, in fact, the most Godly. Now before you chuck a razor blade laden apple at me, I’ve got two reasons for my thesis.

First, Halloween is all about community and relational connection. Many of the major league holidays in our country emphasize either family/couple togetherness (Christmas, Thanksgiving Valentine's) or travel/parties (Labor and Memorial Day). In observance, these holidays most often exists as closed-door events, where only a few are invited to participate in the festivities.

But not so with Halloween! It’s all about open doors where everybody is invited to join in. In fact, it’s the one time of year when EVERYBODY spills out onto the streets of their communities and actually mingle with their neighbors. On Halloween the social pressure of the culture is not in the direction of privatized individualism, but actually toward public connection.

Furthermore, on this night I’m actually encouraged to bang on my neighbors’ door (after dark no less) and engage them. Sure it all under the pretext of my 2 year old getting a piece of candy, but on this evening I am welcomed and encouraged to come to by in order to greet others face to face. This kind of intentional connection is close to heart of God and deeply redemptive for people in the USA who feel increasingly lonely in their search for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Second, Halloween welcomes the vulnerability of public creativity and art making. What other time in public life do so many people put their own hand-made art on display for the enjoyment of their neighbors? I can’t think of one. Indeed, what is the whole Jack-O-Lantern phenomenon if not a huge public art party?! Wether you’re going traditional, creative, avant-guard or lazy (and if you’ve ever carved one of these you know what I’m talking about) at Halloween people abandon the insidious “I’m no artist” lie (don’t ever believe it), and get out there making art with a gourd and a kitchen knife.

Then, in a final subversive stroke, they frame and light their art for gallery display (read, put a candle in it and stick it on the front step) in order to bless strangers. Because, who sees the Jack-O-Lantern? Not you. It’s the children who come to your door. At Halloween we make art again, and not just for ourselves, but for the enjoyment of others! This sort of corporate risk taking and selfless giving is close to heart of God. It can really change the people who practice it.

So, all this is why I’m tempted to believe that Halloween is really a very Godly holiday (perhaps even Godliest ☺) after all. It reflects God and the things God is up to. Now, there are certainly ways it is misses the point, but so do all the holidays we celebrate. Halloween is at least getting at some redemptive things in its practice that others don’t even consider in their theory. Maybe Christians don’t need an alternative to this holiday as much as we need to see where it grasps things right about God already.

So, next week take a few minutes to savor the beauty and Godliness of this unique holiday. And don’t worry about somebody trying to take the “Christ out of Christmas” next month because the way of Jesus is alive and well every Halloween.

Peace,
D

The Lion of Judah

2007-10-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a friend introduce you to a band you’ve never heard of before, and that band, then becomes one of your favorite bands? And it’s great because the band has had this long history and lots of fans before you ever got to know them, but for you it’s all new so everything is fresh and wonderful and your just glad to be part of the party you never knew you were missing.

This is it what it was like for me to discover prayer with icons. As a young Jesus follower I was so excited and perplexed to explore the world of iconography and this particular devotional method has, far and away, become one of the most formative of my Christian life.

Now, if you’ve ever seen an icon much less prayed with one, you figure out pretty quickly that your dealing with a different kind of image. Everything in the picture is highly symbolic, designed to illustrate spiritual truth instead of historic realities (hence icons of the incarnation where 6 years worth of the story are all depicted in the same icon). The other thing you may notice is that the way the characters are dressed in an icon is pregnant with meaning. Each color, be it blue, red, gold, green or black, communicate meaning about the being of its subjects and their story. None of it is accidental. Take this famous icon of Jesus by Andrei Rublev. Here Christ’s robes are blue covering and inner red one. This is to show Christ’s humanity (the blue color) shrouding his divinity (red) thus with color alone the the God-become-flesh mystery of Jesus in declared. (There are icons of Mary where the colors are reversed as she is the theotokos “God-bearer”).

This is all stuff about which I have been very geeky, read books on and even taught seminars about. However, in all that time I’d never thought to ask, “Why is he wearing robes?” To be sure, Jesus the Jewish rabbi wore robes, but they didn’t look a lot like the ones depicted in most icons. So, where did these icon robes come from?

Iconic prayer has its roots in the Greek east. If you’ve read the books of Acts you know that the Jesus agenda makes a radical cultural leap in Acts 15 that is culmination of thousands of years of history and promise. YHWH’s rescue mission fully embraces the non-Jewish population of the world. This was a BIG deal for the early church whose lives had been arranged around knowing that the salvation of YHWH was indeed for the whole world, as long as they first became Jewish. God, or more correctly, the Holy Spirit moves radically outside this box, connecting Gentiles (Greeks in the NT mostly) to the life of God fully, without the mediation of the Jewish law.

What’s my point?

That in Acts 15 and many of the epistles we see the outworking of the Jesus agenda in an entirely new cultural context, a Greek one. The gospel then begins to shape that cultural context just it did in the Jewish one. There is too much to say about all this here, but my the point is that Christianity makes this shift into a Greek culture saturated by empire and that’s a good thing. In fact this kind of move has been the hallmark of the church from its earliest days. As the gospel goes into all the world this sort of translation should occur.

However, around AD 300 a significant change occurs. Constantine makes Christianity the state religion of the empire and the center of the Jesus movement moves into a “Hellenized” (meaning influence by the Greeks – like Plato, Aristotle, stories of Zeus etc.) culture. This shift affects the way we read even the Jewish parts of the bible today - and that's been an unhelpful dynamic. (If you’re into this sort of thing pick up “The Foolishness of the Greeks” by Leslie Newbigin . It’ll flip your switches).

So, when iconic prayer develops in the Greek east many of the Biblical figures take on the form of the most highly regarded culture shapers of the era, the philosophers. This was great missional work on the part of the church as they were attempting to communicate, among other things, that Jesus was the philosopher par excellence. If the best and brightest of humanity is found in the academy, then the one who shows us what it is to be truly human might be found there in this Greek setting. That would at least be a point of connection and I'm glad the church was trying to make it.

Ergo we find Jesus, Mary, Elijah, Moses any and everybody dressed in symbolically colored robes like the Greek nobility in these icons and that’s fine, because it’s not the historic reality were going for in these anyway, it’s spiritual truth.

Now, I thought I was cool with this reality, until I saw this icon.

It’s the Lion of Judah depicted as a Hassai Warrior by Robert Lenz. Intense huh? It kind of freaked me out at first until I let it settle in that what I was observing was another translation process. The icon is using the imagery of the most powerful change agent in Hassai culture, the warrior, to depict a truth about Jesus’ power of redemption in Rev 4 and 5. Is this any different or more culturally bound than those Greek robes were 1200 years ago? Probably not. But still, it’s intense and really stretches me because it’s a Jesus that is unrecognizable to me.

It is for this reason I’m actually going to get a copy of this icon. I need to remind of the reality that Jesus often appears, but (at the risk of sounding gretting card-y) his presence goes unrecognized by those around him (see Matthew 25 and his appearance to Mary Magdalene for more on this). I also need to be challenged by God in the ways I try to make God too small and think that different = wrong.

Now if I was to really do the translation work, what do you think Jesus would look like were he dressed in the clothes of our own culture? What represents the best of humanity in our culture? Would the clothes of the academy or the street most befit Jesus? What color would his skin be if we are talking about an American context? And what spiritual truth is most needed by Christians in the USA? Now those are provocative questions.

To quote an old tune:
Hail, hail Lion of Judah.
How powerful you are!

Peace,
D

A Few More Thoughts About the Bible

2007-10-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

This post contains two observations about everyone’s favorite topic, the Bible. The first is about its sometimes "unusual" usage while the second is just a funny anecdote. For the record, I'm trying to be as funny as I am meaningful:)

Enjoy.

Unusual Usage
I attended the graduation ceremony of a large, private Christian school this spring and observed (again) an interesting ritual. When it was time for the awarding of diplomas each graduate came forward, waited as the headmaster read list of “compliments” picked by the faculty and then listened as a scripture verse was read out loud over them. This is a school in the reformed tradition and they personally select the verses for each student because, “The Bible is really important”, yet this year it really struck me; this is an unusual use of the Bible.

I say “unusual” and not wrong, because I do not think the practice is in error or anti-Christian. Furthermore, I understand the way Christians in this tradition would want to actualize their high value of the Bible through this ritual. I think strikes me as odd given what the Bible really is, a story.

The narrative that is the Bible is wide, sweeping, will change your life and is a key player in the coming of the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. It has long been the temptation of modern Christianity to fit this book into the mold of whatever seems to have the most authority in our day (a la the Bible as answer book, law code, constitution, science text etc.) instead of giving ourselves to what we actually have, a “controlling story”.

This term controlling story is N. T. Wright’s and it’s helpful in describing the way the story of the Bible functions to catapult the church, “with scripture in its hand and heart, to speak and act for God in his world.” He’s got this famous little “5 Act Play” metaphor that describes the Bible as a 5 Act play of which we have all but the last half of the fifth act. Based upon the suggestions through out the play of its conclusion we are to faithfully improvise our way toward the conclusion of the story, while the previous 4 acts shape our extemporization.

A narrative like this is meant (and was written for) the church to read aloud to worship and in festivals. Its story is the kind of thing we get down into our bones and wrestling with the implications for how we live the gospel in our world.

It is for this reason I found the public reading of one (or even sometimes just a half) verse of this huge story over the students (as if they should have a special connection to it now) kind of unusual. Sort of like if you were to use the Bible to hold up a lamp on an end table, or hollow out its pages to hide something inside. It’s not morally wrong in my opinion, you could do these things with the book but that is not what it is meant for. It is an unusual usage of the text.

“A” for Emphasis
Because I practice faith in the Anglican tradition of our corporate worship involves the public reading of scripture. This is a wonderful practice but over the last few weeks I’ve noticed that whenever someone reads a sentence with the word fire in it (which has come up several times in the last few months), they emphasize it like Beavis and Butthead would. ☺ It’s as if the very presence of the word fire in the sentence necessitates the readers accent every time.

In this way, the reader’s emphasis actually becomes a player in the interpretation of the story (and I can’t help but chuckle because it’s always a little punitive even if the context is not.), but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I do it too. Part of my role in worship is public scripture reading and I am very deliberate in the way I inflect the readings, because I am intentionally trying to convey a helpful orientation to the stories through my reading.

For example, it seems to be customary to read most of Jesus’ teachings with a more ominous-yet-knowing tone. Some might call this using a “church voice”. I say, why not read them matter-of-factly? As if to say, “This is the way it is, the life of God is here, live into it.” However, if you come from the perspective that the Jesus agenda is a threat to those who do not believe, then ominous is your best bet. However, if you come from the perspective that this proclamation is actual good news for the here and now as well as the hereafter then perhaps matter-of-factly is the way to go. This has certainly opened up whole new ways of understanding the gospels for me so I recommend it, especially for corporate prayer.

In fact, what if you get your Bible study together and give everybody a copy of the text for the week. Then spend 30 minutes exploring the context of the scripture and read it out loud to each other letting each member give it their own emphasis. How does the message change from one reading to another? Is this good or bad? How can you tell what to emphasize? How can you tell when a particular emphasis is helpful and when it is not? Etc. etc. Doing this might help our communities be more active interpreters with the Bible, which I think is a good thing.

Well, having finished this post I’m wondering if this wouldn’t have made a better audio blog (R.I.P) or podcast. Perhaps I’ll add an audio clip here to illustrate the difference later this weekend. Perhaps not. All told, please read with a tone of charity, joy and a little irreverent humor. And whenever you read the word fire, read it like Beavis!

Good things to you all,
D