All posts in Reconciliation

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Ted Nugent and Convicted Civility

Acting like a jerk in order to draw attention to my ideas doesn’t make my ideas more interesting, it makes me seem like a jerk. Of course, I’m thinking of Ted Nugent but also of the larger arena of conversation. I’m thinking of the hundreds of folks who applauded him yesterday and the many more who have applauded him since.

I don’t have many thoughts on Ted Nugent’s political positions.. I’m not interested in them. Not because I think I’ll disagree with him but because every time I’ve heard him communicate his ideas, he’s been insulting and degrading of those he disagrees with. Ideas that cheapen people are cheap ideas and rarely worth anybody’s time or effort to consider or even argue with.

At the Q conference in DC, I enjoyed watching Jim Wallis and Richard Land not only share ideas and share a stage but share a sincere and mutual respect for one another. Wallis is a prophetic and insightful leader of the political left, while Land is a brilliant commentator and champion on the political right.  They disagreed about Immigration, Abortion and the Federal Budget.. but not completely.. they met in several areas on each of those topics and their respect for one another framed their disagreement with hope that two brilliant and convicted men can work together for the common good.

At the same conference, Gideon Strauss introduced the room to a phrase I will be chewing on for the foreseeable future: “convicted civility.”  That respect for the opposing ideas of others, and more to the point, respect for those who hold those opposing ideas does not mean compromise of my convictions.  In fact, I ought to believe the things I believe with my whole heart and still engage in conversation with those who disagree about those things because people are more important than ideas.

People are more important than ideas.  In fact the goodness of an idea is established in the goodness it brings to people.  Therefore, my goal in engaging with ideas I disagree with cannot be the destruction (politically or otherwise) of the people who hold them.

28 days ago /  Tagged: , , 3

 

So, you’re right. They are wrong.

So what?
What now?

It seems to me that the value of “rightness” or “being right” is measured by it’s impact or effect on people.  To be right about a diagnosis benefits the patient. To be right about geography benefits those on the trail or in the car. So, what good is it to be right unless I can offer my insights in love and charity?  There are no points to be earned by being right.  What good is it to be right if I do not have relationships to offer such insights to?  To use a terrible example: What good is it to be right about the best or only exit out of a burning building if the people in that building don’t trust you to lead them out?

It is not enough to be right. Trusting, loving relationships give right-mindedness a purpose and a place.

200 days ago /  Tagged: , , 5
cmyksimpletrans

CMY(K): Artist Statement

CMYK is a color spectrum most of us have encountered. If you’ve ever looked closely at a printed image you may have seen the tiny cyan, magenta, yellow and black dots characteristic of the CMYK color printing process. Each color is important, otherwise the printed images aren’t as vibrant as they should be. My desire with the CMY(K) project is to highlight “colors” in the spectrum of the human experience that are often regarded as too dark or even ugly when isolated. In part I’ll do this by arranging them next to  “colors” of the human experience that are more readily recognized as good, true or beautiful.

Midway through Terrence Malick’s brilliant film “Tree of Life” is a sermon in which appears the phrase “He alone sees God who sees when God turns His back as well as when He turns His face.” Those who say that God is ‘unfair’ or ‘absent’ are saying something as vital and as true as those who say that God is ‘just’ or ‘faithful.’  Therefore, experiences and expressions of disappointment or abandonment are necessary elements (colors) in a picture of the good life, rather than defects that need treatment.

Many of the songs that make up CMY(K) are stories of friends whose picture of life and God is a great deal more dappled and complicated than they expected. Some are songs for friends who no longer consider faith in God possible at all. Some are personal reflections on the facets of life that have affected these loved ones of mine.  All of them are songs that fit within the long, multicolored Christian tradition of seeing God both face to face and with His back turned.

—–

The first installment of this project is available now.

303 days ago /  Tagged: , , , , , , 11

CMY(K): They Don’t Mean What They Used To (“C”, Track 1)

 

I met a young man in S. Carolina who had recently become the pastor of a church.  His father and grandfather had pastored churches before him.  The pastoralvocation was as much a part of his identity as his race or gender. He was made to serve God as a shepherd of people. Then, in the years following his installation as pastor, a series of tragedies had beset his family, including the death of their youngest daughter.  He told me that the truths he preached and sang were still true to him but that they did not mean what they had meant previously.

It was true that God was faithful.. but that did not mean God always protected young children from the harms of the world.

It was true that God was good.. but that did not mean God explained Himself or His ways.

It was true that God was real… but that did not mean it appeared that way.

He asked me if I would write he and his wife a song. That was almost seven years ago. It has taken me that seven years grasp a small piece of the frustration, confusion and courage he and his family were wrapped in.

I’ll sing these songs for you
But they don’t mean quite what they used to
I’ll sing these words to you
But only really cuz I’m supposed to

Her absence is a presence
Far more tangible than yours
Her silence has a volume
So much louder than your voice

You give me words to read
And yet my eyes are tired of reading
Light by which I can see
And yet I’ve grown so tired of seeing

Her life my greatest blessing
They say you give and take away
So as I gave I take away my praise

Cuz I can’t stop thinking about it
I won’t stop thinking about it

And so I run to you
If only to tell you that I’m leaving
What hope I’ve left in you
Is that you’ll finally hear me screaming

Cuz I can’t stop thinking about it
I won’t stop thinking about it
No, I can’t stop thinking about you
I won’t stop thinking about you

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You can pick up the EP at iTunes.
It is also available at my web store.
For more on the whole CMY(K) project, visit the CMYK info page.

 

303 days ago /  Tagged: , , , 2
cmyksimpletrans

Silence Before The Storm

Forgive the long silence. I’ve been in the studio recording my next project. The blog will soon be plenty active with conversation about the songs and themes of CMY(K).

307 days ago /  Tagged: , , 2
Osama Bin Laden

“We” (further reflection on the death of Bin Laden)

Earlier this week, I posted a short piece not so much on the death of Bin Laden but the nature of the response to his death, particularly among christians. A few conversations I’ve had since then, as well as a few of the comments on the blog entry itself, led to this further thought… 

In the shadow of a common enemy, our idea of who “we” are tends to become a bit more inclusive. Unfortunately this kind of inclusion is predicated on a common decision on who “we” will exclude.  It is self-defeating.

One of the more pervasive sentiments throughout the recent aftermath of of Bin Laden’s death was the sentiment that ‘we’ shared in the event. “We” were safer, many wrote. “We” could breathe easier.  This was (is?) true because “we” are all Americans.

But tomorrow, something one of “us” will say or do will be the cause of our becoming a “they.”  Our inclusion of “others” can be quite fickle.

We are all Americans… until we our politics don’t agree. Just as, in certain contexts, we are all christians… until our theology or sociology come in conflict.

The life and work of Jesus points at and exemplifies a kind of inclusion that is predicated not on circumstances and commonality but on choice.  “We” become a people chosen and called together by God… a choice that comes at great cost to the chooser.  Our differences are by no means diminished but become part of the way we understand the depth of grace in the heart of God, who chose “them” just as he chose “us” to be “His.”`

 

376 days ago /  Tagged: , , , 11

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

I cannot possibly imagine the kind of catharsis Bin Laden’s death brings about for those who lost loved ones either on Sept 11, 2001 or during the subsequent military actions.  I don’t at all blame some among us from feeling some sense of release.  Were I among that number, I too would feel a great sense of relief today.

And yet, the christian narrative is one in which we await and long for the complete restoration/reconciliation of all things to God. Any other “solution” to brokenness is second best and a form of brokenness itself.

Bin Ladin’s death is one more death in a long chain of violence that began long before his birth and will continue long after his death.  I hardly expect anyone in my social setting to sincerely lament his passing. I do not. But celebrating his death (or any death, really) is revealing of a profound misunderstanding of the nature of war, the nature of evil, the nature of violence, the nature of death and, I believe, the heart of God.

Nothing has been won.
It is only another loss that can, for now, help some of us to feel better about the losses closer to us.
But that’s not a victory. It’s a compromise.

Death ought always be greeted with a sense of sobriety.  Because, though it may feel good (and that is fully understandable) death does not heal. Death does not solve.  Death does not fix. Every death is a reminder of brokenness.  As a christian, I must hope for and celebrate something better than this.

 

381 days ago /  Tagged: , , , 63